Man, that title might just be the most obvious one could go with for this particular episode. The actual episode title, ‘Loudly Laundry’ is somewhat better. Also, we’re going backwards from the previous episode and taking a look at case 16 this time around.
Before I get going, one thing I want to highlight is how the subtitles use proper British English – considering the show is set in London, that adds to my immersion of it. I’ll be honest here: the prevalence of American English in official subtitles is something that annoys me.
So when a brilliant show comes along with subtitles that reflect the setting, such as in Princess Principal, I appreciate it a whole lot.
All right, enough about subtitles – let’s take a look at Princess Principal‘s seventh episode.
Team White Pigeon infiltrate a laundry mill
A killer known as Poison Gas Jack is on the loose, and Ange and the others have determined that he is a soldier. However, they aren’t able to infiltrate the army as it is full of men, so instead they opt to go for a laundry mill – one that cleans soldiers’ clothes.
The idea is to test the uniforms for certain chemicals, which should lead them right to their target.
The five girls adopt different names whilst working at the mill. Beatrice goes with Becky, Dorothy goes with Dorothea, Chise goes with Chieko, Princess goes with Priscilla and Ange… well, she gets into her role as Alice.
Ange getting into her role as Alice is very amusing
Ange pretends to be a delinquent who wants to turn over a new leaf but can’t hide her bad attitude. Dorothy’s initial reaction to ‘Alice’ is pretty good.
Alice turns out to be pretty good at driving people away, and as a result, avoiding any unnecessary questions.
Marilla
After finding out that Marilla has the most skill with an iron, Chie approaches her and asks for her guidance. Marilla has her watch, and encourages her to ask any questions she has.
When the machines stop working – not even an hour into their shift – the girls go for a break. Chie doesn’t seem to understand why the girls are so happy to go on a break.
The reason for the frequent breaks soon becomes apparent
The machines in the laundry mill are in poor repair, and as such can be dangerous. Chie rushes to the aid of a girl who’s arm is set ablaze. She sees that both the girl, Rita, and Marilla, bear scars from the malfunctioning machinery. That was the reason that Marilla was insistent on the frequent breaks.
Ugh, it’s this guy – Franky – again
The mill is in debt, and Franky is there to collect the money. If he doesn’t get it, he intends to close it down which means the girls working there will be unemployed. It will also put a halt to the spies’ mission to track down Poison Gas Jack.
Princess offers to buy the mill. Franky thinks she’s being absurd, but when she insists on it he tries to lash out.
Threatening Princess in the presence of Ange is a very bad idea
As we saw from the previous episode, Franky clearly learned nothing from this encounter. Princess is able to buy the laundry mill without any problems after that, and she plans to do the place up and increase the revenue.
Ange and the others renovate the laundry mill
After all that about British English subtitles, here’s the show spelling ‘honour’ incorrectly…
With the improve machines and more efficient layout, the girls are able to get through a week’s worth of washing in almost no time at all. There’s even a jaunty little song that they sing whilst they work. That’s where the plan to increase revenue kicks in – Dorothy shows some girls how to wear make-up and takes them out to persuade people to had over their dirty laundry so they can clean it.
Dorothy’s plan works out quite well
As they work, Chise hands a bandage to Marilla and introduces her to the concept of the hachimaki.
You know what? Chise is great
Meanwhile, Princess finally discovers the uniform belonging to Poison Gas Jack. His true identity is Private William Rickard of Platoon 2. He also happens to have arrived at the mill to try and retrieve his uniform. He tries to sneak up on Princess, but Chise catches him in the act.
Chise fights William with an iron
Marilla happens to witness Chise fighting William, and she doesn’t stick around once the fight concludes.
After that, Princess and the others leave the laundry mill. Before she goes, Princess makes Marilla the new foreman (shouldn’t that be forewoman? The subtitles disagree, though…). Marilla asks Princess to pass on a message to Chise for her, and the episode ends.
So I guess we’re still going with episodic plots for the moment with Princess Principal. Seeds of the main plot have taken root with Princess’ ambition to become queen, but it seems we’ll have to wait a little longer to see them bloom.
Still, I enjoyed this episode. It was a more relaxed case, but not all espionage has to be high octane action – sometimes more mundane roles are required to carry out missions. Ange’s personality as Alice was great though – definitely a highlight from this episode.
Chise using an iron to fight was pretty entertaining as well, though oddly enough, that’s not the first time I’ve ever seen something like that. It was done before in Ga-Rei Zero.
I wouldn’t call this episode the best that Princess Principal has to offer, but it was certainly something that I liked watching.
Rory Muses 
Have to agree that this was hardly the best episode this show has put forward, but it was enjoyable enough.
Thanks go to one of my peeps pointing out the episode’s theme of showing us the hardships women had to go through back then in the job industry and some still go through today. Also Chise getting the spotlight again was nice.
Ange’s delinquent alter ego was delightful. So Dorothy wasn’t the first badass babe that gave those thugs a hard time.
“who gave”, not “that”