Monsters and royalty

Kaibutsu Ojo (TV and DVD)

It's a monster party as every Universal Studio monster makes a guest appearance on the new anime series Kaibutsu Ojo (Monster Princess), currently airing in Japan.

This action comedy finds a poor high school student called Hiro suddenly serving the second daughter of the King of Monsters.

Kaibutsu Ojo is an original manga work by Mitsunaga Yasunori which is serialised in the anthology magazine Shonen Sirius. The anime series is produced by Madhouse Studios, famous for making shows like Ninja Scroll, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust and Cardcaptor Sakura.

Hiro Hiyorimi moves to a new city after his older sister Sawawa finds work as a maid there. As Hiro tries to find the manor where she works, he sees a blonde goth girl who is about to be crushed by a falling metal girder. Heroically, he pushes her aside, saving her but getting crushed to death himself.

In the morgue that night, the same girl resurrects him. The bewildered Hiro makes his way to the manor where he sees the blonde girl fighting what appears to be a werewolf.

After defeating the monster, the girl tells Hiro that she brought him back to life and, as long as she lives, so will he. She then tells the unfortunate Hiro that he is now her servant and to call her Hime (Princess).

Hime's siblings are battling for their father's throne. Although Hime is not interested in the fight, her brothers and sisters persist in sending monster assassins to try to finish her off.

A quirky and often hilarious anime that has a cute blonde running around swinging a chainsaw against werewolves, the Invisible Man and the Creature from the Black Lagoon.

Del Ray is publishing the English manga version under the title Princess Resurrection. The first volume of the anime should be on DVD soon.