Review of Fairy Gone

Oof. I really wanted to like this one, but it ended up being a huge disappointment. First I'll start by saying this is one of the most bland anime I've ever seen. It's like a rice cake, except you're not even allowed to add any toppings of your own because that would at least be a little bit exciting. When making this show it seems they wanted to avoid taking any risks, and that killed any chance Fairy Gone had for being memorable or special as a show. 1. The characters. Characterization is generally a thing you want to have in your show, but Fairy Gonesays nah to that. Marlya wants to find Ver - that's the most motivation you'll get. But Ver only shows up early in the show and again in the middle, then disappears. What really is Ver's motivation? What is Marlya's motivation? We get brief shots of Ver and Marlya together as kids, but you barely get a sense of connection between the two. Hell you barely get a sense of connection between anyone. What is Free's motivation? What does Free enjoy - where is he from - what are some of his quirks or special talents? Apply this to all the other characters, and you begin to realize you know absolutely nothing about these people. They're cardboard cutouts with overly tragic backstories that spend 95% of the plot talking about the plot instead of acting like real human beings. Marlya's backstory: "I'm a cursed child. Everyone around me is dead. As soon as I was born, both my parents died." The joke writes itself.

Combine this with too many characters, and I end up not caring about anyone or anything that's happening to them. I know next to nothing interesting about these people and their lives, connections, motivations, etc. My favorite character, incidentally, is the little blue creature Marlya finds because it's adorable and I want to pet it. Talking about the magic blue creature transitions well into the second point now:

2. The fairies. This is a big one for me. One of the things that surprised me most about Ancient Magus Bride was how the magic actually felt, well, magical. It brought the world to life and was intertwined in almost every aspect of the show. So what do fairies add to this show?

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I got interested by the story initially because I thought it might tackle the idea of fairies being used wrongfully by humans for war, but no, this is never brought up for even a second. In fact, fairies have zero connection or meaning to the humans they're bonded with. This is easily one of the biggest missed opportunities in my mind. You could've had a story where fairies fights alongside their humans pokemon-style, but they also act like spirit animals and have personal connections and backstories to the people they're bonded with. Imagine characters with meaningful ties to their fairies, and with a bunch of fairy technology and lore integrated into the fantasy world too. You could've done sooo much with magic fairies, but in Fairy Gone they're used as nothing more than occasional fighting gimmicks, and the world feels about as magical as the real life of your average otaku shut-in.

'Fairy Gone' is an accurate title, come to think of it, because the fairies don't do shit in this show.

3. The story. You like exposition dumps? Yeah I'll bet you do. On paper, this show's story isn't actually that bad. It's mostly about war and betrayal and royalty in power and stuff, which is fine, but the way it's told could've been done a lot better. When it isn't dumping boring technical info about the war, it seems like Fairy Gone keeps jumping between locations and plot points without much care for what's happening. Suddenly there are "fairy weapons" we need to get. Suddenly there's a new thief we need to chase. Suddenly there's an evil evil colonel who loves to fight because he's evil. The story doesn't feel focused at all, and yet it's the only thing the characters talk about. What's the next place to go? What's the next item to find? How about the black fairy tome? Well that sound interesting, maybe we'll get to learn more about how fairies work and why they're important to the world! ...nope.

4. The animation and sound. I've never been one to hate a show too much for its animation/sound, so I don't have a lot to say on this. The action scenes are okay and maybe the most enjoyable parts of the show. The characters seem off-model a lot though. Combine this with awkward fairy CG and I'll pass on the art department. The Japanese voice acting is solid. I hate the opening theme, and a lot of the background music too. Pass on the sound.

Last observations. There's a character named Bitter Sweet. There's a character. Named. BITTER. SWEET. Incredible. (She also disappears midway through and never appears again)
Back to that cute little blue creature - someone said it could detect fairies and magic and stuff. So why is it never used once in the story? Why are there not more of these creatures or any other magic creatures shown? Again, the magic setting means absolutely nothing to this show.
Evil guy whistling as he slowly walks toward soldiers shooting at him. Really.
The politics are dull and forgettable. I don't remember any of the involved character's names, years of the war, etc.
So much stuff from the beginning of the show was forgotten about by the end. How did Marlya absorb the fairy? What is Wolfran doing? Who are all these mafia groups? Why am I still watching this?
That ending. Despite everything I've said so far, I wan't groaning in annoyance at most of the show, I was just bored. The ending changed that too.

Overall I thought this show was really bad. My love for fantasy stories is the only thing that kept my attention to the end, and I admit I'd still take another season of this over most harem anime or lucky-star style comedies any day. I can't see a second season bringing this one back, but they could do it if the characters got complete overhauls to have more personality, more inner thoughts and motivations, and better connections with the people around them. And for the love of god, do something, anything, with the fairies and the magical world you've created. Is that too much to ask?