In the previous Crown Handler film, Charlotte and Ange were thrown into crisis when they realized that the Queen’s longtime butler was not only a highly placed spy working for the Commonwealth but had figured out their dual existence as well. Unsure of how to treat their fellow spy—especially as he could guarantee their deaths by exposing the pair to either the Commonwealth or Kingdom—Ange was forced to spend an extended period as the royal she was born to be. And while all their worries were ended tragically by an assassination in the night, this was but the first of many to be attempted against the Royal Family and those closest to them.
Crown Handler – Chapter 2 picks up the story shortly after and follows two major plots. The first one is self-contained and is centered around the creation of the world’s first super-weapon: a Cavorite bomb capable of destroying even a battleship in a single blow by increasing the surrounding gravity to near-singularity proportions. The good news is that to start the chain reaction needed to ignite the bomb, you need an entire Cavorite reactor—which aren’t exactly lying around the Kingdom. The bad news is that the Commonwealth has no idea where the bombs are. Thus the Princess’ team’s mission is to find the creator of the bomb and use him to find the location of any bombs already produced.
As you probably would expect, there is a lot of cat-and-mouse spy work going on in this side of the story—though it rarely feels personal. The personal stakes come from the other, overarching plot: someone is trying to kill off members of the Royal Family. The film opens with the return of Prince Richard, who has been serving as the governor of the colonies in the New World. He is immensely popular among the common man—so it is a shock when he is gunned down in the streets.
While he survives, this attempt throws the royals into a frenzy. But the one it hurts the most is Mary, the second in line to the throne. Younger than Charlotte, Mary, is far more vulnerable—both physically and emotionally. She is trying desperately to act confident but on the inside is a mass of fear.
Image source: 『プリンセス・プリンシパル』公式 on Twitter
Narratively she is a parallel to both Ange and Charlotte—who, thanks to the revolution, had to reinvent themselves amidst the chaos of their star-crossed situation. However, while Ange and Charlotte were alone in their respective struggles, Mary has someone to lean on: the pauper-turned-princess herself. While Ange, Dorothy, and Chise are tracking down the Cavorite bombs, Charlotte finds herself trying to navigate family politics while protecting Mary as best she can.
The other interesting aspect about Mary is that she is the one person in the Royal Family to know only Charlotte—not Ange. The original Princess was stranded outside the palace walls before she ever had a chance to know the child. While this is not a major plot point in this film (as Ange has her own mission to take care of) it will likely become important in the next as the assassin’s continue their attacks.
And unlike the first Crown Handler film, this one ends on a cliffhanger. While the film’s twist is rather obvious to anyone who is familiar with spy stories, the way it’s discovered is rather shocking. It puts one of our heroines in a life-threatening situation with only seconds to think and no easy way out. No matter what choice is made, the dynamic between the characters and the various countries involved will shift drastically based on what happens in the moments after the film ends. It makes it more than a little hard to wait for the next film. At least we have a killer theme song to listen to while we wait.
Princess Principal: Crown Handler Chapter 2 was released in Japanese theaters on September 21, 2021.
Top image source: BANDAI NAMCO Arts Channel on YouTube.
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