It spends twenty episodes making you laugh at a seventeen-year-old stuck in a ten-year-old's body, then quietly breaks you. Yucie's rivals from the other worlds are the whole reason it works: Glenda swanning in from the Demon World with her nose up, Cocoloo half-asleep and talking to things nobody else sees, Beth's celestial snobbery, Elmina grinding harder than anyone because her family has nothing. Everyone is chasing the Platina Princess crown and the single wish that comes with it, and the show is honest enough to admit that means four girls lose. Gainax dresses it as frilly candy and then hands you a story about what people give up for each other. Gunbard, the retired knight who raised her, is the reason the last stretch lands like a punch. You come for the gags and end up ugly-crying over a tiara.

Yucie's stuck in the body of a ten-year-old thanks to a curse that won't quit, but her relentless optimism keeps her moving forward. She has just turned seventeen, yet nobody takes her seriously, and she longs to finally grow into an adult. Then an extraordinary opportunity lands in her lap: she is chosen as a candidate for the title of Platinum Princess, an honor awarded once every thousand years to whoever proves worthy of the Eternal Tiara, a crown said to grant any wish. Four other candidates are chasing wishes of their own, so Yucie enrolls at the nearby Princess Academy to grow her heart and earn her place. Her family, her rivals and the academy's principal all lend a hand in this lighthearted magical girl comedy with touches of romance and everyday life.