gretchen09 - 2015-07-01 17:09:48

Story: Season Fairies create and control the weather using special musical instruments. They make the wind blow, the snow fall, the sun shine; if it's something weather related, they are the ones who make it happen.
Sugar, an apprentice Snow Fairy, and her friends Salt and Pepper, all want to become full-fledged Season Fairies, and the only way to achieve this is to search for and find the "Twinkles" that will make their magical flowers bloom. The only problem is that none of them have any idea what a Twinkle is.

They enlist the somewhat unwilling help of Saga, a human girl who can see Season Fairies. Much to her annoyance, Saga's perfectly planned and ordered life has just become a little too lively for her taste. Together, they search for the mysterious Twinkles while trying to perfect their magic.

But despite the somewhat silly premise, this is actually kind of a creative one. I like their idea of how the weather works in the world and they do take advantage of its unique set up from the different kinds of weather fairies, to the roles that they all share. It's very interesting and I like how they portray it in this show especially as we get toward the end.

So by reading the summary(s) though, this would seem like it would basically be a simple story which sounds and is a bit childish and formulaic... right? Well not exactly. It does seem like that at first, after two episodes of properly introducing our main characters, the first few episodes consisted of the fairies trying to figure out what a twinkle is and trying to get it but to no avail. You do find out eventually what a twinkle is, which I will not give away what it is.

It's not until after 7 or 8 episodes that the show really starts to get good. The show slowly reveals itself as a drama, not just a comedy fantasy. Normally, I'm not very fond of this at all (since if it says its a comedy and not drama the latter should not overtake the majority of the show in my book), but A) the comedy for the most part sucks and B) the drama in this is really good. And I mean really good.

It does topics such as loss of a loved one, growing up, etc. and it works tremendously. I'll never forget the arc with theater play or the last arc with the Saga's mother's piano. The character's in this start off two dimensional, but the development is so strong, you'll end up feeling for the characters by the end of it, which is great storytelling. The conflicts aren't super serious, but there very personal to them, and since you know why it means so much to them, and you'll feel for these characters. And they don't just say how they're feeling, you see them change for better or for worse. The ending is also a very feels like one. Hope you have tissues when watching it.

There is some problems with the story sadly. First thing, the first few episodes aren't very good. It basically has a formulaic plot point with the fairies trying to find out what a twinkle is and getting nothing accomplished. And when that isn't happening they are annoying Saga to no end and argue with her. I'll get to the characters later, but let's just say, they got better.

Another thing is that the pacing is sporadic at places at first. At first it goes by quickly (except for episode 1 which does a great set up introducing the characters) but then in the second half it goes by slow and steady. Not a big complaint but it was still noticeable when I was watching it for the first time.

Animation: The character designs look very simple and nice to look at. The background designs are fairly average, but for 2001, it was pretty impressive for that time. The lip syncing isn't the best, but its not too bad either. Movements are nice, there are stiff moments at parts but you need to watch carefully in order to find them. For the most part the animation is pretty good.

Sound: The opening is... eh, not too great IMO. I don't know why, maybe its the singer sounding weird, or the way she sings, or the lyrics like 'SUGAR FAIRY LOVE'. But it sounds pretty weird and mildly annoying. The ending song on the other hand sounds very somber and mellow, which sounds very nice to listen to but is also pretty sad. The background music is a mixed bag, sometimes its good sometimes its bad.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJM9i_r-RIQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llsZn2xHLqE

Now about the voice acting, I'm going to talk about the English dub of it not the Japanese version. As far as it goes, its not that bad. The humans all sound very believable and are good at acting their parts. They perform the emotions well, but when they talk, its either good or bad depending on the character... also Gretta and her stupid laugh.

As for the fairies, it takes a while to get used to. Sugar in particular, just has an annoyingly cute voice, it gets especially grating when she constantly talks and whines in that voice. Thankfully she and the other fairies mellow out and they do get genuine heartfelt moments later on in the show.

Characters: Let us start off with the humans. Saga is a very likeable main lead. She is obsessed with planning and scheduling her day nearly to the minute and can get frustrated when her plans go off schedule. She's still a very kind and caring person deep down. Saga isn't always happy and smiling, she can get angry and sad on occasions, and there is a good reason for why she's obsessed with making sure her day goes out ok. Oh yeah, she also loves the piano.

The other humans are pretty typical and two dimensional, but I still never thought they'd leave such a positive impact on me like I thought it would.

There's the typical best friends Anne and Norma. Anne is more intelligent and quiet, while Norma is more bubbly and loves old-style fashion. She also loves plays.

There's the typical geek Phil, whose super passionate about his work and is very optimistic. I think he likes Saga since he constantly tries to impress her and ask her to help with his inventions, but he could just be a friendly kind of guy to everyone.

And there's the typical rich girl Gretta who is the self proclaimed rival of Saga. She's pretty haughty and egotistical, and has an annoying laugh, but she does make an unintentionally hilarious punching bag. And by that I mean Gretta is a butt monkey for the majority of the show accidentally (or without anyone actually meaning it). Even in the opening :P

But she's not completely a tool. Later on we see she does have some emotions and soft sides, although Gretta doesn't want to admit it to anyone, especially to Miss Saga.

The other characters fill there typical roles also.

Now to talk about the fairies. The main girl Sugar is a female snow fairy apprentice working to learn how to be a full fledged fairy. In the beginning of the series, I freaking despised her. She's clumsy, whines and complains about everything, never shuts up, and tries to bother and annoy Saga, even full knowing that Saga is the only one who can see her, making her life a mildly living hell. Thankfully she does mellow out and become more likeable and caring.

Pepper is calm, quiet, and loves animals. Salt is more boyish and cool, but he's pretty dense in some aspects. The other fairies sadly don't have much personality or development in any regard, but they do play off each other pretty nicely. The only characters I don't like are Basil and Cinnamon are being rude, immature, and mischievous with basically no development. I feel this might have been better if they did get developed.

The same goes for the other fairies like the Elder. He's set up as a down to earth guy who is a voice of reason for the main trio... but at the same time he's a perverted asshat who tries to hit on Ginger whose clearly out of his league. He's like Brock from Pokémon except not funny.

I like the characters regardless, but I feel some of them could have been better.

Enjoyment: If you can stomach the first few episodes and its premise, then you'll find a lot more to this show than meets the eye. I wish more people would know more about this show though, it doesn't seem to be well known for some reason. If you like these types of shows, I have a feeling you'll really enjoy this anime.

Overall: Waffo! This anime is surprisingly deep and mature despite its silly premise :) Yeah I got nothing else to say.

Pros: Deep story, gets better as it goes on, animation is good for when it came out, voice acting for humans is good, well developed characters, the emotions are high in this.

Cons: First few episodes are weak, fairies start off annoying, seems dated in some parts, some characters could have been better.

Also recommend: Kobato; Bottle Fairy

Thanks for reading my 87th review~