Princess Tiara, and her sassy ferret-looking partner Japolo are sent from the Guardian World into our dimension to retrieve the stolen Throne of Yord, a painting that is significant to her people. She disguises herself as a college student during the day, there she finds her old friend from home, Lena. It turns out that she was also sent to retrieve the Throne of Yord. With the two having the same objective in the human realm, the two renew their old rivalry.

Lena and Tiara battle each other, until Kagetsu interferes and tries to legitimize why he stole the Throne of Yord. Lena leaves with Kagetsu, the two seem to have a hidden agenda that does not include Tiara. Apparently Lena and Kagetsu are trying to extract Sarah, Kagetsu's younger sister, from the painting. When Tiara is absorbed by the painting and finds herself face-to-face with Sarah; Tiara proclaims that she will save her as she is helplessly pulled out of the painting.

Lena and Kagetsu get absorbed into the painting, and Tiara finds herself back inside the Throne of Yord. She finds Lena acting strangely, who sends Leon against Tiara. Apparently the Throne of Yord possessed Lena, and Tiara fights to try to find some answers to the relationship between the painting and Sarah. Before the battle ends, Sarah reveals herself, which reduces Tiara to tears.

While Tiara and company are absorbed into the painting, the Throne of Yord reveals itself and gives a lengthy monologue condescending upon the magic user's existence. Tiara and Lena have to unite to fight it; but when both fail, the Throne of Yord fuses with Kagetsu, and Tiara fuses with Sarah and fight in a climactic battle.

This plot is a prequel to the first four episodes. It begins with a young Tiara in the Guardian World summoning a creature from another world. She decides to name him Graham and begins to develop him as her partner (or assistant). At the same time, she has to learn how to control her own powers in the form of Shadows. In attaining control of the Shadows within her, along with training her partner, she then becomes a Guardian magic user.

Tiara and Graham by this time have grown into an effective duo of Guardians, fighting roaming Shadows. Graham has become loyal to his master and his duties to protect her. But when Kagetsu's sister Sarah was sacrificed to the Throne of Yord, Graham is the only one that stands in Kagetsu's way when he steals it and tries to escape the Guardian Word.

Mix the feministic heroism of "Sailor Moon," and the dark mysterious mysticism of "Vampire Princess Miyu" and you get the "Shamanic Princess." This anime provides an eerie vibe with its elaborate battle scenes and a plot chock full of drama, credited to the mind of Mitsuru Hongo, who also directed "Outlaw Star." Each battle scene is reminiscent of a 2-D fighting game, such as "Dark Stalkers" or "Street Fighter Alpha," which was enough to intrigue me as a viewer. Every battle includes transformations of some kind, which is animated in an elegant way. The animation is very spectacular. But the 13+ rating is misleading because the amount of drama in certain scenes is too much for anyone's attention span, let alone kids barely breaking the 13-year-old age barrier. There is one lengthy monologue given by the Throne of Yord (Tristan Goddard) in episode 4, that made it difficult to stay awake, except when it said, "I am tired of this shape." 'Shape' sounded like a vulgarity, which forced me to rewind it a few times to realize what he really said.

The story concludes at the end of episode 4, and proceeds into a prequel in episodes 5&6. This gives a fresh new perspective on the protagonists and gives depth and emotion to the purposes they served for in episodes 1-4. It also gives you a reason to watch the whole darn thing over again. Actually, the anime was a lot more bearable after viewing the prequel. The continuity from the last episode to the first is flawless, which gives the DVD new life (not to mention a reason not to return it for a full refund).

"Shamanic Princess" is a graduation from gateway anime like "Ranma 1/2" or "Sailor Moon." It is unique, beautiful and definitely an acquired taste. Yes, there is a good amount of drama, but thank the person that put in the ferret-looking Japolo for a bit of comic relief. The soundtrack fits very well with the backgrounds and there are a good amount of metaphors to give this story many dimensions. Everything is in balance for this anime to stand on its' own. The "Shamanic Princess," is a title that will haunt its viewers as long as they consider themselves otakus.