Taisho Otome Otogi Banashi

Title:Taisho Otome Otogi Banashi
Taisho Otome Fairy Tale
大正オトメ御伽話
Overall:Watch
Keywords: , , , ,
Notables: AIZAWA Saya
Animation - Synergy SP
KOBAYASHI Yusuke
A century ago, Tamahiko Shima lost his mother and the use of his right hand in an auto accident. His heartless father cannot tolerate a less than perfect heir and disowns him. Tamahiko is banished to a remote family villa where he lives alone and sinks into depression and pessimism. Then, one day, Yuzuki Tachibana shows up. She is the daughter of a man who cannot pay off a debt to Tamahiko's father, and a deal has been struck that Yuzuki will marry Tamahiko instead.

12 episodes
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Watch 8 7 7 6 5 5 Ggultra2764 [series:4400#1552]
Taisho Otome Fairy Tale has a major issue in that it chooses to focus heavily on the positive side of things in spite of the fact several of its characters, including male lead Tamahiko, have harsh circumstances in their personal lives they are dealing with and somehow female lead Yuzuki is able to totally change their lives for the better with a simple smile and gestures. Unlike a series like Fruits Basket that has a similar focus yet depicts its characters as being fleshed out and gradually becoming better people, Taisho Otome Fairy Tale seemingly has its characters becoming better within the span of a few days and the characters don't have much to show in terms of dimension beyond whatever character types they stick with, particularly with how nasty members of Tamahiko's family come off to be in trying a bit too hard to make them as unlikeable as possible. This is especially an issue with the titular otome of the series, Yuzuki, largely being pretty one-note as far as her personality goes and I just don't see her as believable as someone like Fruits Basket's Tohru Honda who is still an inspiration to others with her personality, yet also having her own internal issues to work through throughout her title's run. As is, Taisho Otome Fairy Tale seems too focused on superficial optimism in how unnaturally quick Yuzuki's character conveniently changes the lives of those whom she helps out and largely turned me off from the show due to how shallow it ultimately is.

Last updated Saturday, July 08 2023. Created Saturday, July 08 2023.
Unevaluated Stretch [series:4400#628]
(Three episodes watched):

Tamahiko is a pretty messed up guy--though, as usual, his problems are entirely somebody else's fault. God forbid that he had been disowned as a result of flunking out of school or something like that. Yuzuki, of course, has been forced into a marriage she didn't choose. This story is set back in 1921/22, when Japanese women were obedient to a fault. So we have two underdogs we can root for. Despite their grim situations this show seemed kind of goofy and lightweight to me once Yuzuki arrives. I found myself wishing that the plot would move forward a little faster rather than there be more scenes of her washing his back or cooking for him or tending to him when he's sick or whatever. We still haven't gotten to know her, or even him, all that well. But it was good enough to persuade me to watch episode two. I suspect Tamahiko will insist that Yuzuki return to school and graduate.

Episode two reinforced my impressions from episode one: I wish this show would be a little grittier, include a little human fallibility on the part of the main characters, rather than ones who are virtuous to the point of being kind of boring. On a whim the couple pays a visit to rapidly modernizing Tokyo, though not to confront Tamahiko's father or anything like that. His father screws him over yet again, then his obnoxious sister decides she also wants to make use of the villa where him and Yuzuki are staying. I wondered what that would entail, but in the end it was pretty lightweight: the sister makes a 180 degree personality turn after being touched by Yuzuki's generosity and selflessness. My patience with this show ran out. It seemed unlikely that this story would get very deep and sophisticated; it is, after all, basically a fairy tale.

Last updated Friday, November 05 2021. Created Friday, October 22 2021.

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