Taishou Otome Fairytale might potentially be the sweet and slow romance I am looking for this season, however it is going to have to move quickly to overcome some of the issues from this first episode. Actually, the biggest issue is main character Tamahiko Shima. Fortunately his ‘woe is me’ attitude is being balanced out by the resolutely cheery Yuzuki.
Taishou Otome Fairytale has potential but didn’t have a spectacular opening act.
Overall this episode of Taishou Otome Fairytale establishes the premise that I presume will frame the rest of the series for this romantic, slice-of-life. Tamahiko’s family send him away to a villa in the mountains after an accident leaves his right hand crippled (also his mother dead). So that the family don’t have to take care of him, Yuzuki is sent to become his bride (to pay off her family debts).
While Tamahiko isn’t exactly welcoming Yuzuki, he’s also not cruel. When she arrives in the snow he warms her and shows her to her room. When she’s cleaning he doesn’t get in her way or interfere. While he hasn’t thanked her for her efforts yet he’s also not been a jerk to her, which at least gives the potential for a romance here.
Yuzuki on the other-hand is one of those girls… you know the one who was told by her school friends she would make a good bride because she can sew and cook. She’s also excessively cheery and resolved to do right by her husband to be, including washing his back. I’d make a comment about this trope being dated except that Taishou Otome Fairytale is set in the Taishou era so obviously it is dated.
Despite that, Yuzuki actually was the best thing about the episode and I kind of hope her character gets fleshed out a bit more as the series progresses.
I loved her ‘worry’ and how she calmly deals with the situation she finds herself in.
Though getting back to Tamahiko, he kind of annoyed me. Sure he lost his mother in a tragic accident and has injured his arm. Interestingly enough this is one of those anime situations where his arm is crippled and occasionally its even bandaged but it isn’t visibly scarred or misshapen. Taishou Otome Fairytale is also being pretty non-specific about the exact nature of his injury in fact. There’s also some inconsistency in whether he is moving said arm at all or whether it is handing limply.
More than that, while it was his dominant arm, it doesn’t really appear like anyone, Tamahiko or his family, considered any other option for a future for him. I mean, as far as debilitations go it is hardly a life ending one. Yet to here Tamahiko narrate it his whole world ended. He even makes a comment about school now being impossible. I guess we can put this in a Japanese context but it still feels like everyone gave up on this situation way too easily.
Given I’m watching this after the first episode of Platinum End where yet another protagonist wanted his life to end because he saw no hope or point in moving forward I can’t help but feel that Taishou Otome Fairytale didn’t really want to spend too much time on setting up the premise and merely wanted to get to the two characters living together.
Which given it is labelled as a slice of life the technically could have just dropped us into the story well after the two had started living together and filled in the why later so perhaps once this anime has a few more episodes it will find its comfortable flow.
All things considered, I’m going to watch a bit more of Taishou Otome Fairytale before deciding.
Images from: Taishou Otome Fairytale. Dir. J Hatori. SynergySP. 2021
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Karandi James
I quite liked the first episode, but I’m cautious. For example, the losing-your-arm-is-the-end-of-the-world thing. It’s overdone, but there are a few angles I can see that would make this interesting. The first is the class system: it’s clear that the two characters come from very different backgrounds. Had Yuzuki lost her arm, she wouldn’t have been carted off to a mansion of her own, would she? And the second is that I’m unsure how reliable our main character is. We get all the backstory from his point of view, and there may have been things he left out, or saw more single-mindedly (as moody teens are sometimes wont to do). That said, it’s entirely possible that the anime just ignores all that. I’ll probably like the show either way, but it’d probably be a better experience for me, if the show were to address either of these points.
As for Yuzuki’s characterisation, I’m similarly cautious. I got the feeling during the scene when she told her friends at school, that the anime knows what it’s doing (something about the timing of hesitation before she answers, which makes it clear that the cheerfulness is something of a coping mechanism.) The problem is that the anime might be idealising that, and all we’ll get is “she takes herself back like any good wife should”.
It’s really interesting that this airs one season after Shinigami Bocchan; I can’t help comparing the shows. (I ended up loving that one, actually.)
I still haven’t gone back to the duke of death. The cg and I weren’t getting along for such a character focused show. But yeah, very similar set up. So far I am drawn more to this but I will be interested at the end of ep 3, which is where I paused Duke, on how I feel about the two shows.
And I know I am watching Tesla Note which is horrifically animated but genre makes a difference. I don’t need the same level of connection with characters in an action as I do in a drama or romance.
I fully understand being turned off by the CGI; it’s horrid. However, for me the scene composition and colours more than make up for this, so that in the end I enjoyed the visually (belief it or not, one of the better looking shows for me, despite me hating CGI, and this isn’t even good CGI).
In terms of story, there’s actual gradual development for all the characters, and I don’t think you’ve seen the witches yet (I love the duo; great addition to the cast). It ended up one of my faves of the season. But, yeah, you have to be able to get past the CGI.
I’ve already read the manga, and that was pretty cute, so hopefully the anime will follow the source material. I’m definitely putting this on my watch list. Hopefully it’s not Crunchyroll or Funimation.
I think I watched this on Funimation.