Review of Sugar Apple Fairy Tale Part 2

Part 2 of the continuous fairy tale of sugar confections that the apples now don't inspire that much, and with intense drama, does it hold up as well or better as Part 1 should? Maybe, but my feelings are largely unchanged as per Part 1, except with some aspects that Part 2 did better than its Winter 2023 premiere counterpart. To remind ourselves again, Sugar Apple Fairy Tale targets the Shoujo demographic, so whatever romance elements it had between the main leads of Anne Halford and her warrior fairy of Challe fenn Challe still remains the same as Part 1 does. Only that in Part 2here, both the romance and story aspects are taken to the next level, involving lives and reputations at stake as Anne has become the Silver Sugar Master and is set to, and leaving off from the obnoxious Bridget Paige obtaining Challe for her own satisfaction, but treats him the same since he is a fairy serving humans regardless. On top of that, Anne's position as the Paige Workshop's new artisan head in the preparation of the Holy Beginnings Festival right after the Royal Candy Fair, is in jeopardy since there were not many women artisans, and she serves as the sole inspiration that would help to inspire many other girls to take up the sugar artisan job while still maintaining her best.

But in the process of progression, comes a villain that will change the trajectory of both Anne and Challe's journey: the Red Fairy, first bought by Bridget under the alias Gladus, though his real fairy name is Lafalle, which should surprise no one that he is affiliated to Challe in the same manner of whence they came from. Gladus/Lafalle is the embodient of the villain who still believes that only one race is superficial, since the fairies had always been under the rule of humans under the contract of trading one side of their wing as loyalty regardless of how they're treated, and he wants the fairies to reign supreme and reclaim their glory. The irony is, how Lafalle operates his MO, it's no different from the "humans treating fairies as slaves" premise, and he's just your stereotypical villain who wants his satisfaction be met in a world where much of both the human and fairy population have already moved on to life as per usual and given to the circumstances as it always has been. And indeed, Sugar Apple Fairy Tale had no short amount of drama, from the jealousy and abrasiveness of Anne's childhood friend Jonas Anders in Part 1 to Part 2 with Lafalle who's a serious threat to the Silver Sugar Master and her loyal warrior fairy to be the proclaimed Fairy King.

Otherwise, everything is as the same as it should be of Part 1: the same drama beats that's just as ever affluent, J.C.Staff's still beautiful production values, and the new OST...which while it's good, I still prefer Part 1 overall.

I can see that novelist Miri Mikawa has good intentions on wanting to make her work be known through the anime, but as I've mentioned in my review for Part 1, it took more than a decade (13 years to be exact) for the anime to come out. And by that time, it would have aged poorly against the test of time to redeem whatever the Shoujo market for AniManga has left in its wake. It's a decent showing when combined overall, though I would not want to dabble with future seasons down the road if the show has some, because it feels cumbersome to sit through all of the unhinged drama that this has and will continue to offer.

My sincere compliments for Sugar Apple Fairy Tale's 2nd try, but the skeptical in me still feels that this potential has already been lost to time.