Prétear weaves the Russian version of Snow White, with seven princes instead of dwarves, onto the screen. © ADV Films.

Prétear. V.1-4.
TV series (13 episodes), 2001. Director: Kyoko Sayama. V.1, four episodes/100 minutes; v.2-4, three episodes/75 minutes. Price & format: DVD bilingual $29.98. Distributor: ADV Films.

The subtitle of this 13-episode TV series, Prétear: The New Legend of Snow White (Shin Shirayukihime Densetsu: Prétear; broadcast April 4 through June 27, 2001; animated by Hal Film Maker Co., Ltd.) makes one of its inspirations obvious, although it is the Russian variant of the legend with seven handsome princes rather than dwarves; and there is a bit of Cinderella in it, too. But mostly this is another "magical little girls" TV series for young adolescents, like Sailor Moon.

Sixteen-year-old Himeno Awayuki is the daughter of a widower who has just married one of the richest businesswomen in Japan, a widow with two daughters of her own. Himeno has moved with her comedy-relief Dad into stepmom's palatial mansion, and transferred into her stepsisters' snooty private high school. Only one of her new sisters is really nasty, but the other is still devoted to her deceased father and resents her mother's "betrayal" by remarrying. Her new classmates ostracize her because they consider her father a fortune-hunter, and her as "common" because she loves raising flowers and getting dirty gardening (including spreading fertilizer) instead of leaving it all to the mansion's grounds staff.

Enter seven supernaturally handsome boys who inform her that they are the Seven Knights of Leafe, the guardians of the life-force in all living things. Each has an individual fairy-tale princely costume and power: Hayate is Wind, Sasame is Sound, Kei is Light, Go is Fire and so on. They protect the world from Fenris, the Princess of Disaster who would suck out the life-force and leave the world a desolate wasteland. But they need a Prétear, a pure maiden who loves all life and has the psychic energy to restore life to the people, animals and plants that Fenris has drained. Their worldwide search has led them to Himeno as the destined next Prétear. When Fenris and her Demon Larva monsters attack, one of the Knights (a different one depending upon the nature of the monster they must fight) must spiritually enter Himeno's womb to enable her to produce life-energy to combat it.

This is such a blatant metaphor that Himeno almost dies of embarrassment on the spot, and must be the reason for Prétear's 15+ age rating since the series seems otherwise suitable for younger girls. Himeno gets a different beautiful gown/super heroine costume and magic weapon (Wind Sword, Sonic Arrow, Fire Axe, Water Flail, etc.) depending upon which boy-spirit has merged with her. She initially wants nothing to do with it, but since all life on Earth is at stake — and the Princess of Disaster will target her and her family as her special enemies in any case — she has no choice.

Naturally there are romantic complications between Himeno and the apparently arrogant leader of the Knights, Hayate. When it is revealed that the Princess of Darkness is actually the former Prétear who was seduced by the Dark Side of the Force (well, that's what it amounts to), Himeno has self-doubts that her own moral strength will be sufficient to withstand the same emotional stresses and hormonal snares. Prétear is a pleasant frilly romantic fantasy for adolescent girls facing their own first confrontations with mature temptations.