TV-Series
Description
Prince Baka Ki El-Dogura, usually referred to simply as Prince Baka, is the first prince of the planet Dogura and the central character of Level E. The name Prince Baka carries a deliberate double meaning, since the Japanese term baka ouji can be read as both Prince Baka and stupid prince, and the story plays on both interpretations. He is a young man with a handsome face, long blonde hair, and blue eyes, and he has the habit of changing his clothing frequently, favoring theatrical and royal outfits that suit his flamboyant manner. Most people in the story never use his full name and simply call him Prince.
His background begins on the planet Dogura, where he is the eldest son of the royal family and heir to the throne. He has a younger brother, the second prince Mohan, and he has been promised in marriage since before birth to Luna, the first princess of the neighboring satellite planet Magra. While traveling as the Dogura representative to a conference of the universe's major powers, his ship suffers an accident and he crash-lands on Earth, temporarily losing his memory in the process. He subsequently forces his way into the apartment of a high school student named Yukitaka Tsutsui and becomes his uninvited roommate, and it gradually becomes clear that at least part of his arrival was staged as one of his personal amusements.
In terms of personality, Prince Baka possesses an exceptionally high IQ, widely described as one of the greatest intellects in the universe, but he combines it with what is just as widely described as one of the most problematic personalities in the universe. He is egotistical, self-centered, and sadistic. Watching other people struggle, worry, and squirm is his favorite pastime, and he treats those around him like experimental subjects whose reactions he observes for his own enjoyment. He is almost entirely indifferent to the inconvenience or distress he causes as long as he is entertained. His behavior is driven by a strong intellectual curiosity and a desire to test people, and he consistently prioritizes his own interest over ethics, morality, or the feelings of others. His schemes are not random cruelty, though; his stated principle is to torment people without losing their goodwill or support, and his pranks are meticulously calculated to stay just within what his royal position can tolerate.
His central motivation is the avoidance of boredom. He becomes bored easily and treats the world as a source of entertainment, devising elaborate pranks, games, and experiments partly for amusement and partly to probe the loyalty, honesty, and character of the people around him. Despite his irresponsible appearance, his intelligence regularly proves essential when genuine threats emerge. He is targeted by hostile aliens from other planets at various points, and he uses his cleverness to outmaneuver them, protect Earth, and help preserve peace among the many alien species that inhabit the planet.
His role in the story is that of the protagonist and the engine of the plot, although he does not appear in every episode. In many arcs he functions not as a conventional hero but as an instigator, an antagonist, or even a storyteller; he may set a disaster in motion and then step back to observe how the other characters respond. He works as a trickster whose unpredictable behavior deliberately breaks expectations and pushes events in directions no one can anticipate, which makes him the source of both the series' conflict and its humor.
Among his key relationships, his bond with Yukitaka Tsutsui is the most important. Tsutsui is his first Earth victim, his involuntary roommate, and one of the few people who openly stands up to him and criticizes his behavior, which makes him the prince's closest companion despite the unequal nature of their arrangement. Around him are three royal guards: Craft, the captain who has served him for ten years and is the only person willing to openly defy him; Sado, a calm biologist on the guard for five years who observes the prince's behavior with a kind of resigned understanding; and Colin, the newest member and the most naive, who is also the most sensible and good-natured of the Dogura characters. Prince Baka also involves himself with the Earth girl Miho Edogawa, a curious neighbor who accepts the existence of aliens without much difficulty, and with the five elementary school students he kidnaps and forcibly transforms into a superhero team called the Color Rangers for one of his games. His fiancée Luna is a particularly important figure because she is the only person who can consistently outmaneuver him; her determination to marry him becomes a major source of conflict, and his desperate attempts to escape the wedding drive several storylines. His brother Mohan, by contrast, is earnest and well liked by the people, and he works to ensure that Prince Baka eventually takes the throne.
His development across the series is gradual and never fully reforms him. He resists responsibility, the crown, and his arranged marriage, even enlisting his guards to help him avoid the ceremony, but in the end he marries Luna and is crowned king of the unified Dogura and Magra dynasty. The later chapters show him as a husband and the father of a seven-year-old daughter named Kana, traveling on a delayed honeymoon. Even as king and family man, he remains the same trickster at heart; his circumstances change, but his fundamental personality and his love of mischief do not.
His notable abilities come mainly from his genius-level mind and his access to Dogura's advanced science. He is a master strategist and manipulator who can read people's psychology, predict their reactions, and construct elaborate situations that test them. He uses advanced technology to create gadgets such as the transformation bracelets of the Color Rangers, through which he can communicate directly with the wearer's mind and listen to their surroundings, and he once constructs an entire real role-playing game by remodeling a whole planet. He is also a skillful actor and deceiver, capable of disguising himself and convincingly playing different roles, and he knows how to feign his own death in a convincing manner, a technique he uses to test the loyalty of others. In practical terms, his most defining ability is his sheer unpredictability; his schemes are so layered that even the most cautious worst-case planning by those around him fails to account for what he will do next.
His background begins on the planet Dogura, where he is the eldest son of the royal family and heir to the throne. He has a younger brother, the second prince Mohan, and he has been promised in marriage since before birth to Luna, the first princess of the neighboring satellite planet Magra. While traveling as the Dogura representative to a conference of the universe's major powers, his ship suffers an accident and he crash-lands on Earth, temporarily losing his memory in the process. He subsequently forces his way into the apartment of a high school student named Yukitaka Tsutsui and becomes his uninvited roommate, and it gradually becomes clear that at least part of his arrival was staged as one of his personal amusements.
In terms of personality, Prince Baka possesses an exceptionally high IQ, widely described as one of the greatest intellects in the universe, but he combines it with what is just as widely described as one of the most problematic personalities in the universe. He is egotistical, self-centered, and sadistic. Watching other people struggle, worry, and squirm is his favorite pastime, and he treats those around him like experimental subjects whose reactions he observes for his own enjoyment. He is almost entirely indifferent to the inconvenience or distress he causes as long as he is entertained. His behavior is driven by a strong intellectual curiosity and a desire to test people, and he consistently prioritizes his own interest over ethics, morality, or the feelings of others. His schemes are not random cruelty, though; his stated principle is to torment people without losing their goodwill or support, and his pranks are meticulously calculated to stay just within what his royal position can tolerate.
His central motivation is the avoidance of boredom. He becomes bored easily and treats the world as a source of entertainment, devising elaborate pranks, games, and experiments partly for amusement and partly to probe the loyalty, honesty, and character of the people around him. Despite his irresponsible appearance, his intelligence regularly proves essential when genuine threats emerge. He is targeted by hostile aliens from other planets at various points, and he uses his cleverness to outmaneuver them, protect Earth, and help preserve peace among the many alien species that inhabit the planet.
His role in the story is that of the protagonist and the engine of the plot, although he does not appear in every episode. In many arcs he functions not as a conventional hero but as an instigator, an antagonist, or even a storyteller; he may set a disaster in motion and then step back to observe how the other characters respond. He works as a trickster whose unpredictable behavior deliberately breaks expectations and pushes events in directions no one can anticipate, which makes him the source of both the series' conflict and its humor.
Among his key relationships, his bond with Yukitaka Tsutsui is the most important. Tsutsui is his first Earth victim, his involuntary roommate, and one of the few people who openly stands up to him and criticizes his behavior, which makes him the prince's closest companion despite the unequal nature of their arrangement. Around him are three royal guards: Craft, the captain who has served him for ten years and is the only person willing to openly defy him; Sado, a calm biologist on the guard for five years who observes the prince's behavior with a kind of resigned understanding; and Colin, the newest member and the most naive, who is also the most sensible and good-natured of the Dogura characters. Prince Baka also involves himself with the Earth girl Miho Edogawa, a curious neighbor who accepts the existence of aliens without much difficulty, and with the five elementary school students he kidnaps and forcibly transforms into a superhero team called the Color Rangers for one of his games. His fiancée Luna is a particularly important figure because she is the only person who can consistently outmaneuver him; her determination to marry him becomes a major source of conflict, and his desperate attempts to escape the wedding drive several storylines. His brother Mohan, by contrast, is earnest and well liked by the people, and he works to ensure that Prince Baka eventually takes the throne.
His development across the series is gradual and never fully reforms him. He resists responsibility, the crown, and his arranged marriage, even enlisting his guards to help him avoid the ceremony, but in the end he marries Luna and is crowned king of the unified Dogura and Magra dynasty. The later chapters show him as a husband and the father of a seven-year-old daughter named Kana, traveling on a delayed honeymoon. Even as king and family man, he remains the same trickster at heart; his circumstances change, but his fundamental personality and his love of mischief do not.
His notable abilities come mainly from his genius-level mind and his access to Dogura's advanced science. He is a master strategist and manipulator who can read people's psychology, predict their reactions, and construct elaborate situations that test them. He uses advanced technology to create gadgets such as the transformation bracelets of the Color Rangers, through which he can communicate directly with the wearer's mind and listen to their surroundings, and he once constructs an entire real role-playing game by remodeling a whole planet. He is also a skillful actor and deceiver, capable of disguising himself and convincingly playing different roles, and he knows how to feign his own death in a convincing manner, a technique he uses to test the loyalty of others. In practical terms, his most defining ability is his sheer unpredictability; his schemes are so layered that even the most cautious worst-case planning by those around him fails to account for what he will do next.