Sugar Apple Fairy Tale

I can't give it a 10 as yet as all the English Dub wasn't out and I don't know how it ends - but my heart was moved.

I don't even know why I clicked on this anime, as normally I stay away from animes that look fluffy, I got that wrong for sure.

This anime is warming for the soul. The main character is determined, trusting, and driven by the love her mother installed into her and her sweet nature.

The other protaganist is a fairy who is cautious, guarded it is his defense mechanism. Through the female lead he learns to trust and open his heart to her initially. They learn and grow together as great companions. I am intrigued to see where their story goes and how they overlap.

I'm excited for a second season.

This is a tale of long ago when the kingdom was a land of fairies.

Ann Halford loves stories about fairies. Fairies created silver sugar and Anne is a sweets artist. Fairies are at odds with humans now, but their confectionery arts never went out of fashion. This year Ann is 'doing' the sugar confectionery exhibition. Nobody's going to stop her, not even her friend Jonas.

Based on a light novel (and later adapted to manga), SAFT is a 2023 release that is rated 7.48 on MAL. It is 2 seasons each consisting of 12 23-minute English dubbed episodes with CC available. The setting is fun, but it's beside the point - This is a love story.

The adventure starts in the very first town Ann encounters. A fairy hunter is brutally torturing a fairy (Mythrill Lid Pod) who is only about 6 inches high. The brutal practice is to steal one of their wings and force them into slavery. They can't escape without their missing wing and squeezing the separated wing is torture for the poor creatures (this would be alittle much for young children). Ann watches in horror and finally she can't take it. She comes up from behind the brute, buckles the back of his knee, manages to get the fairy and the wing as he collapses, and the little guy escapes. (He will join them later). She grieves the plight of the fairies. This is especially true when she goes to the fairy market and sees them chained up or locked in little cages. She asks for a battle fairy? "We would never keep anything that dangerous! But the guy at the end has one. Don't even bother, though. It's damaged goods." Fatefully, Ann goes to that last tent at the end of the last row, and peeps inside. There's a full size man fairy. He's beautiful.

"Oh, it's only a scarecrow.' What's he saying? "You. You're just a scarecrow." He's talking to Ann. The shopkeeper enters. "This one's dangerous. He killed three fairy Hunters when they captured him. He's difficult, too. He insults all my customers." Then the captive asks Ann to buy him. The shopkeeper's astounded. "He's never done that before." Ann gets caught up in the moment and decides to purchase this beat up, slightly used warrior, even though she was looking for a bigger and more burly one. The road to Lewiston where the exhibition is held, is dangerous.

Shall Fen Shall is the warrior. He's dark, handsome and brooding. He's brought to life in English by Ivan Jasso, whose voice is gorgeous. Ann promises to return his wing when his job is done. She's a naive girl who believes that fairies and "filthy humans", eh, humans can be friends. Immediately, he's agressive-flirting with Ann. He hates her. He hates ALL people. But there is something /there/.

The Bloody Highway is 1200 miles long with only fort shelters between them and Ann's destination. Not a single town is on the way. "Go ahead and start praying. Reaching the first Fort shelter alive won't be easy," Shall actually sounds bored. He's the cool type. With his sophisticated and graceful sword craft, he's lethal. He's so beautiful, however, that everyone assumes he's a "companion" fairy. 😻 Wrrrooww ~ go ahead and fan yo-self, ladies!

Things go sideways at the exhibition, so Ann's on the road. She does a stint with a sugar master and then goes to a Duke's castle. That is one of many adventures. It's a romance. Nothing less, nothing more; better than more, bested by less. The plot, writing, character development and directing are easily above average. Ann might be naive, but she doesn't seem any less significant a person then Shall.

The simple instrumental background music is amusement park worthy, but it's fine. People are drawn with the finest of lines, old-style round eyes and simple elegance. Pale colors and pastels are the palette. Many scenes have a watercolor look about them. Some of the backgrounds are flat drawings like a book illustration. It creates an air of whimsy.

The dynamics of racism and slavery are on display. Slave owners presume their superiority. That deceptive feeling is necessary to undergird their heinous practices. The treatment of the subjugated fairies is horrific and, well, just wrong. People manage to become comfortable in the midst of all kinds of horrors. Even the "kind" people drop the facade when they don't get their way. As soon as things get inconvenient, the fairies pay the price. No wonder Shall is despondent and somewhat hopeless while fighting back bitterness and hate.

We watch Shall slowly thaw around the kind and loving Ann. By the end of S1 he's devoted to her. She is still oblivious (sort of) to his inclinations, but he seems to be aware of his feelings by ep12. So much so, that he makes a grand sacrifice. As S1 ends they are separated. Shall gave up his freedom to help Ann. This sets up S2. She's going to get him back.

In S2 the concept that humans and fairies should "stick to their own kind" surfaces. A fairy king emerges, though Ann calls him a fraud. We learn about Shall's origins as well. He was made from Obsidian. S1 ends with Ann's 2nd sugar exhibition and Shall must trade his wing, or freedom, to find her stolen refined sugar. As S2 begins, Shall is stuck at the Paige Workshop with the owner's daughter, Bridget, who developed an obsession with Shall.

Ann's practically forced into working at this school, which might be the smallest one, so that she can be near Shall and try to win him back. Bridget chafes against her father's traditionalism and rigid mentality. She hasn't been able to pursue her dreams because she's a girl. She, in turn, tries to control Shall. She becomes fixated on him. On the one hand, controlling love is what she knows from her father, but on the other it's quite hypocritical.

Ann's influence lands them a top-notch gig: the yearly church festival. It's a national celebration and success will have a very positive effect on the ebbing school. A positive effect will be rewarded with Shall 's freedom, Ann's been promised. The headmaster has given his word. They are sequestered at a dilapidated castle outside of Lewiston to complete the work. One thing after another goes wrong. Most of it is due to deliberate outside interference. The main project the Paige team takes on has a snow theme. They labor over ornate snowflakes - hundreds of them. It really is very beautiful.

The manga goes on. As S2 closes, they aren't "official," but they are 90% there. Everyone else can see it and takes them as a couple. "What are you going to do?" Ann queries Shall. "Keep my promise. Stay with you. So you can be happy and free to live your life to the fullest. I'll be at your side... forever. Do as you please. Go as you wish, find someone you love. I'll support you." Ann repeats something similar back to him. Sounds like they've exchanged vows.

The anime adapts 6 of 18 volumes, so to find out what other promises they do and don't make, and maybe even a first kiss, one would have to read on, an idea as tempting as a 🍭.

QUOTE🗣 If you want to be a king, revenge and control or not things that you should enjoy.

IMHO〰🖍

📣7.5 📝7 🎭7.5 💓7 🦋7.5 🎨7.5 🎵/🔊6 🔚? ▪ 🌞6 ⚡4.5 😅2.5 😭4 😱4 😯3 🤢2 🤔3 💤0 🤗6.5

Age 11+ Language: d@mn just once, maybe twice. It's Quite romantic but pretty tame. Rated TV-PG-13: Parents Cautioned

Re-📺? Hard to say. The whole world of anime awaits.

From lite&trite to heavy&serious, here's some recs ~

Toradora-8.5, Ao-chan Can't Study-7.8, Emma-7.8, Hakkenden,, Here Comes Miss Modern-8, Honey, Kayuga Sama Love Is War, Land Of The Lustrous 8, Love Chunibyo And Other Delusions-8.4, Maid Sama-10, My Happy Marriage-8.3, Ouran High School Host Club-8, Princess Principal 8.6, Real Girl-7.5, Special A Class-8.2, Violet Evergarden-9.5, YOUR LIE IN APRIL-9.

I loved this so much! It's such an interesting plot and I love the animation! Their chemistry made me kick my feet and feel butterflies in my stomach. But my greatest takeaway is probably how inequality and misogyny were displayed in this anime. The way Anne was treated because of her talent and sex reflect modern society, especially in a male-dominated industry. And I honestly wasn't mad about the ending. Ya'll can just read the manga/novel or something and pick up where you left off. If you hate cliffhangers then don't watch this. If you don't have any plans to read the manga, this is not for you. To ya'll who enjoyed this despite the ending, cheers to you for loving this! We're getting season 2 soon! :D.

Tbh this anime was random boring and the little romantic scenes of her falling and him catching her were embarrassing and random, but for some reason I couldn't stop watching this anime, it was alsmost so stupid that I couldn't stop watching. So I guess that's good. I'm rating it a 7 just because it's a slow but randomly dramatic anime that makes no sense but it's still interesting to watch especially if there's nothing else to watch. I like putting things on in the background while I draw so this was a great show. Def worth a watch if there's nothing else to watch. I didn't like the ending though because it was an abrupt cliff hanger that showed for a season two. But I don't STINKIN know what else they could do with this show! 12 episodes seems like enough of a girl running around making sugar sculptures and almost getting killed for it. Like what.. but what ev, can't wait for season 2, y'all should watch it!

A teenage girl called Anne, blessed with exceptional craftmanship in sugar arts, is the main character her, but her personality ruins the whole series in my opinion. Starting from the first episode she constantly yelling, screaming, shouting, crying etc and during the series this mess is getting so annoying, it makes me frustrated. It is usual in other animes to show female heroes as emotional, but in this anime it is unreasonably more than enough. She is basically acting more like a toddler not like young and talented lady she supposed to be in my oppinion. Being a fragile women, but still strong in her heart shouldn't be like that, at least all the time. By the way her mother is died - a narrative often used to bond us to the character, but this doesn't make me feel sorry for her. I actually started to think it would be better when her mother would be still alive, from a story point of view it would be even more interesting.

On the other side, Shall Fen Shall, a charming but little bit gloomy fairy man, is total opposite to her, but despite to complement Anne's personality, he looks mostly like tired and suppressed of Anne's behavior. I really like him and in my opinion he deserve something better. It looks like he is encountered in the wrong fairytale! So I don't get the romantic connection between them there should be at all... And suddenly I feel it was waste of my time. So sad, because actually the story isn't so bad and visually it looks dreamy and sweet like cotton candy.