D4 Princess is a manga series created by Shotaro Harada. The story was adapted into an anime series. The anime is composed of 24 thirteen-minute episodes and is part of the anime program Anime Complex II; it ran from April 6 to September 28, 1999. Despite its light-hearted nature and its humanistic climax, it is chided by some Internet anime critics for its slow pacing and its even slower story development, which is partly the reason it has yet to be licensed in North Americadespite its age.
Summary
A panzer is a powerful costumed fighter who uses a "tool" as a weapon. Anybody who wants to be a panzer can easily buy a kit that is currently mass-produced. As a result, one in ten people is a panzer. Doris Rurido is one of those panzers. Thirteen-year-old Doris comes from a family that owns an advertising firm and has lived a very utopic lifestyle, even regarding herself as a princess. But when she attends the all-girls Teito Academy which is known for its Panzer League, she not only faces very new things as a typical rich girl such as junk food, the lack of servants, and studying in school, but also faces challenges as a panzer, especially her inexperience and small stature. To help Doris advance as a panzer, her sister Doria came over and gave her training sessions that to Doris were "very mean". During a break in training, Doris was challenged by a panzer known as "Raging Beetle", who uses a pair of large hedge trimmers as weapons. A panzer fight consists of two thirty-minute rounds, each with a field giving an advantage to one of the two contending panzers. The panzer that knocks out the other wins. A panzer can also win on points. Their first encounter was a disaster as Doris, billed as "Drill Princess", was overwhelmingly routed by Raging Beetle. Due to her loss, Doris was being mocked by other students. Not taking the stares any longer, she demanded a "revenge match" against Raging Beetle. The rematch was set and Doris won on that return match. Doris then faced a fighter dubbed "Tornado Motor", who uses a vacuum cleaner as a weapon of choice. Despite an injured hand from trying to open and close a hard-to-turn faucet, Doris not only managed to drive her drill through solid steel, but also managed to transform into a sexier and more powerful fighter without her awareness, winning the fight in the process. Thinking that she was strongenough to face her dream opponent, Nejiru Gaou, Doris confronted her and verbally gave her challenge to fight her—one that Nejiru accepted. Despite Doria's best efforts to stop it, the match was set anyway. Doris's progress as a panzer and Nejiru's rustiness after a long absence figured in that bout, which ended on a draw based on points. Nejiru was fatally injured while she and Doris were rescuing some construction workers from a collapsing structure using their powers as panzers. Knowing she failed to rescue Nejiru, Doris was overcome with guilt and grief as she is the only person outside the Gaou family to remember Nejiru. But she found enough courage and some solace from Nejiru's little sister Nejiri to continue her quest to be a good panzer.
