Yuzuki and Tamahiko continue to learn how to live together in episode 2 of Taishou Otome Fairytale. Of course, because this is anime, that does mean that Tamahiko is going to walk in on Yuzuki bathing and somehow that leads to her apologising to him, but then the episode kind of settles down a bit and delivers some sad moments as well as some super sweet ones.
Taishou Otome Fairytale – Two ways to deal with a bad situation.
Tamahiko is the kind of character who is left alone could become quite irritating to watch. He constantly reminds himself he’s a pessimist and on receiving a letter from his father essentially shuts himself off from the world before plotting how to die (we’ll discuss the letter contents and why his father is perhaps my candidate for worst anime dad of 2021 in just a moment).
Fortunately, Taishou Otome Fairytale isn’t willing to either let Tamahiko continue to mope nor is it willing to leave his response stand as the only way to deal with misfortune. While Yuzuki’s circumstances are different from Tamahiko’s, she’s still been sent to the isolated mountain villa to live with someone she never met and has had to leave friends and family behind. While her positive outlook may be a little too cloying at times, it perfectly off-sets Tamahiko’s rampant negativity and is enough of a jolt to get him thinking about things a little differently.
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Yuzuki may very well be the best thing that could have ever happened to someone like Tamahiko and she is exactly what this story need to stop it spiralling down into depressing and keeps things light and sweet.
But I should get back to Tamahiko’s father. Possibly with a butcher’s knife. I mean terrible anime father’s is pretty much a trope that we’re all familiar with. Evangelion certainly set the bar high with Gendo. And while Tamahiko’s father hasn’t set a secret plan in motion that will destroy all humanity, he certainly doesn’t exactly have any humanity.
First his response to his wife dying and on getting injured is to call the son a disgrace and an embarrassment and to send him away (episode 1). Secondly, Taishou Otome Fairytale wouldn’t actually exist except that you used another families debt to then send their underage daughter to your son to become his ‘wife’ in the future and to look after him in the meantime. And then to top it all off you decide it isn’t in anyone’s interest that they remember the crippled son so you declare him dead and inform him of this in a letter.
As much as Tamhiko’s emo side is annoying, when you consider the parenting he received it is hard to imagine he could have been anymore emotionally capable of dealing with hardship than he is.
All things considered, this episode of Taishou Otome Fairytale could have been a bit of a downer but instead Tamahiko himself, once he recovers, realises he owes Yuzuki and so suggests a trip to Tokyo where he takes her shopping to replace a kimono that was stained while she cared for him after he got sick. This is the perfect mood-lightening segment and Yuzuki’s sheer delight at the expedition makes it hard not to smile along with her.
That and I think I just found my new favourite anime reaction.
Honestly, Taishou Otome Fairytale isn’t an amazing show. It’s a little on the slow side and heavy on emotional manipulation. But at its core the relationship between the two main characters has so far been sweet to watch develop and I think they bring out the best in one another. Whether that’s enough to sustain the series and whether the introduction of the sister into the villa is a good idea or just going for added drama we’ll find out soon enough I’d imagine.
Images from: Taishou Otome Fairytale. Dir. J Hatori. SynergySP. 2021
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Karandi James
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