Review of Fairy Gone

I want to say congratulations to P.A. Works. Congratulations on making an original anime that I found almost as lifeless as Glasslip. Mind you, that’s an impressive feat. I’m a big fan of P.A. Works when it comes to their work so saying this wasn’t easy. But man, Fairy Gone is a show that I wish I watched on an airplane so I can forget about it after I land. P.A. Works seems to have two modes for their projects: it’s either really creative that makes a supreme impression or something that looked like it could’ve be written by a college dropout. As a fan ofP.A. Works, I’ve seen anime that were great, average, and terrible. Fairy Gone gets the honor of being uncharismatic trash. Because to be honest, even when there are garbage like Glasslip out there, that show managed to deliver some unintentional humor. Fairy Gone’s humor is just…gone

At first glance, I may sound a bit outspoken about this original show. Fairy Gone’s premise and story concepts sounds interesting on paper. I mean, just read that thing on the MAL page. “Once upon a time, fairies were tools of war”. When you get an impactful statement like that to start off a synopsis, it sounds like a deafening roar for potential. Even the setting sounded creative enough for world building. My initial vision for the show is a tragic, memorable fantasy war story with meaningful characters and breathtaking plot. After watching the first few episodes, a voice told me I was dead wrong for it managed to drop the ball week after week and after week. To get a general idea, we meet the main female protagonist Marlya Noel, a girl who survived and lives in the aftermath of the War of Unification. With an ability to see fairy primordials, she has one goal in her mind and that’s to find her childhood friend, Veronica. It doesn’t take long for the audience to meet Veronica as she debuts in the very first episode. Her true goals are a mystery but involves collecting pages of a mysterious artifact known as the Black Fairy Tome. It doesn’t help that the show throws info dump about the war at you with a lot questions that needs answers.

But backtracking a bit, Fairy Gone isn’t that confusing as a show together. I mean, we have anime about supernatural organizations with main characters dealing with tragic pasts in recent years. Bungou Stray Dogs, Kekkai Sensen, P.A. Work’s own Sirius are just a few to name. What makes Fairy Gone troubling is its oversaturated character cast with a weak set of main stars. I’m not going to lie, Marlya doesn’t give me the impression of a special snowflake despite her unique gift. There are scenes in the first few episodes that makes her feel helpless compared to some of her comrades. On the other hand, there’s Veronica who will no doubt make us wonder why she exists. Unfortunately, I don’t really get Veronica as a character. On the surface, there’s the childhood relationship between her and Marlya. As explored through some flashbacks, it’s told through with words and scenes to make them look like close friends. But do we care? I’ll be honest because I don’t. It feels way too scripted that follows some sensational dialogues and face expressions. Somehow, the show seeks to make a memorable impression of this character relationship. When in reality, it missed the mark by a long shot.

In the present, we also meet characters like Free Underbar who partners with Marlya during their missions. Joining them in the Dorothea branch also includes Klara, Serge, Lily, Robert, Oz, Nein, Chima, and some doctor’s name I can’t remember. Oh right, Eleanor Need. Mind you, this is just one branch consisting of characters with given names. With such an oversaturated cast, most of them are left in the dust with little screen time compared to the main stars. It’s a shame because our main characters can’t carry the show at all with their uninspiring personalities. You can bet that none of the others can either.

Fairy gone more or less follows a war story with its themes. Director Kenichi Suzuki previously worked on titles such as Drifters. However, it’s definitely not charismatic as that show. To be fair, Fairy Gone losses its energy almost whenever a character opens their mouth. The dialogues sounds so scripted that I can’t imagine how much I can endure after every week. As time went on, even some of the fights begins to look scripted although it does manage to bounce back occasionally with its cinematic performances. At the very least, P.A. Works seems to have a tolerable budget to work with this anime given the overall animation quality. On the other hand, I do wish they stop overusing similar music every episode during the big fights. It makes it look more like an AMV than a fight at all.

This is a disaster. It’s a disappointing disaster considering what potential it had. When Fairy Gone was first advertised with its trailers, narratives, and key visuals, I was hoping to see another worthy show to join P.A. Works’ original lineup. Instead, forget about all that because this is one of those anime that failed with what potential it had. There, I just saved you many boobless hours.