Original Japanese title: Otogi-Jūshi Akazukin
In the past, the world was powered by magic and science. However, a wise and benevolent god grew concerned of mankind's power and split the worlds into two; from then on, one world relied on the power of science and the other on the power of magic. This is the story Souta's mother had told him when he was but a small child. Now, several years later, he lives alone, and all he remembers about his mother is a dream where she is abducted by a monster, he himself being saved by a girl with red clothes.
The dream soon turns out to be reality, as history repeats himself when Souta is attacked by a monster on his way home from school. He is saved first by a strange talking wolf called Val and soon after by a girl wearing the same red clothes as the girl from his dreams. She introduces her as Akazukin (Little Red Riding Hood), one of the three legendary musketeers from the world of magic. Her mission is to find and protect the "key" which connects the two worlds: Souta himself. She must protect him from the Wicked Witch Cendrillon, who wants to use the key to conquer both worlds.
Souta quickly acquires a Quirky Household of strange magical characters, as Val and Akazukin are soon joined by ice mage Shirayuki-hime (Snow White) and the narcoleptic Ibara-hime (Sleeping Beauty). Souta's female childhood friend Ringo is not amused by this turn of events.
Fairy Musketeers was, at first, a single-episode 2005 OVA which came with an Akazukin figurine, aimed more at figure collectors than at anime fans. However, the OVA had some popularity with the Periphery Demographic, and so the concept was soon retooled as a standard children's TV show in the vein of Cardcaptor Sakura. The anime series aired from 2006 to 2007 for 39 episodes.
You can also watch it for free now at Crunchyroll.
Tropes:
- BFS: Gretel's got one so big no character can lift it (without help from magic), which actually makes sense since its TALLER THAN THE ENTIRE CAST.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Ibara-hime is a mild example. When she's half asleep she is very sweet and innocent. When she's fully awake she's very blunt and brutally honest.
- Bittersweet Ending: Cendrillon is sealed and Souta is reunited with his mother again, but Souta, Ringo, and Souta's mother have to stay in Elde while everyone else has to go back to Fandavale. However, Souta and Akazukin in particular hold out hope that they will see each other again.
- Cain and Abel: Jed don't like his half-human brother Kain, and to kill him, he destroyed the whole village where he lived with his human mother. Even Akazukin thought he didn't survive, even though he is with her all the time
- The Cameo: Goemon of the Ganbare Goemon series made a cameo via a cosplay contest.
- Characterization Marches On: In an odd, non-character related example, we have Gretel's massive sword. Late in the series it's revealed that she needs her mittens to lift it. Sounds reasonable, except she was clearly seen wielding it bare handed◊ twenty or so episodes earlier.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Again, Shirayuki-hime, though it happens pretty quickly. Note that Shirayuki is a literal Ice Queen (or rather, ice magic-casting princess)
- Doomed Hometown: Akazukin's hometown was destroyed by Jed's werewolves
- Funny Background Event: While Souta records his goodbye message to Ringo, bahind him we see the aftermath of Val and Akazukin waking up sleeping beauty
- Genre Blindness: Apparently, Grimm's Tales don't seem to exist in Souta's world (even though he's a fairy tale nut), since he doesn't raise an eyebrow to the fact that the girls are obviously well-known fairy tale characters.
- The Glasses Come Off: This is Subverted and subversion lampshaded. Meganekko Shirayuki-hime takes off her glasses when she turns dark. However, it's all part of a ploy to fool the enemy, as she can't see a thing without her glasses.
- Gratuitous English:
- We have such winners as "Grimm Taler" (with bonus Stealth Pun since the weapon is essentially... tailoring scissors), "House of Gravity", "Missing Gravity", "Shining Edge", "Leaf of Mirage" and "Stairway to Heaven".
- One of the strangest is "Garden of Eden", which is a mass of thorny vines wrapping around and crushing a target. So much for Paradise.
- How about "Doll Gravity", "Dark — Cendre" , "Blood..", "Comet Ladle", "Ice Basket", and "Aqua Field" to name a few more.
- Half-Human Hybrid: Val, who is actually half lycan(werewolf) half human but lost his ability to turn human due to an injury
- I Am Not Left-Handed: Snow White reveals in the final episode that she has spent the bulk of the series with a handicap. She had been maintaining a protective barrier on Ringo since shortly after they met to keep the muggle girl safe, and when she releases that barrier, she suddenly has a LOT more magic power at her disposal.
- I Am Not Weasel: Val gets rather annoyed when people calls him a dog, though in the process revealing himself being a Talking Animal and gives him even more unwanted attention.
- Kick the Dog: Replace "dog" with "flowers", add to the fact that the hero can *talk* with flowers (who are shown to be sentinent beings) and you have yourself some horror.
- Kissing Discretion Shot: In the final episode, Souta and Akazukin share a goodbye kiss before the latter leaves to return home to Fandavale. Before they kiss, you can see Akazukin leaning in while the camera pans down to their kissing shadows.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Randagio's 3 friends who sacrificed themselves to become a nightmarian was freed by from the curse, at the price of their memories.
- Mind-Control Eyes: Very visible on Hansel since early on. Later, it is lampshaded when Gretel commented that she knows someone is being mind controlled by looking at their eyes.
- Noble Wolf: Val is a guardian wolf and a friend to Akazukin.
- Not Brainwashed: Gretel. She is not mind controlled in any way, and but fights for Big Bad because Hansel is.
- Older Than They Look: The core characters — Souta, Ringo, Akazukin, Shirayuki-hime and Ibara-hime — are all fourteen years old. In that regard, juushi may be pun, since it can mean "fourteen" when written in different kanji.
- Recurring Traveller: Hamelin keeps popping up with perfect timing for no reason whatsoever. Why doesn't he just travel with the crew?
- Squishy Wizard: Shirayuki has trouble even to lift a bucket of water without magic.
- Took A Level In Bad Ass: This trope may apply, by extension, to the original, real-world Fairytale versions of the characters. The majority of the characters are based on fairytale characters, often ones who were quite soft and/or generally defenceless in their original stories. Little Red Riding Hood is suddenly a knife-wielding demi-fire mage, Snow White has become the most dangerous ice mage in Fandavale, and Sleeping Beauty has to remain in a permanent state of half-sleep lest she accidentally wreak havoc on her surroundings. Hansel and Gretal have become a dark mage / Heavy Swordsman respectively. And Cinderella.. we get to see her go badass as Marlene, twisting a city's symbol of hope into a power source-slash-mind-control device for the horde of zombie dark mages she'd created in the process.
- Verbal Tic: Akazukin's 'Zukyun' gets especially obnoxious in the later half of the season. At least Randagio doesn't scream his "nya".
- Why Did It Haveto Be Snakes? Pumpkins in Hamelin's case, well thanks to Akazukin who always scares him when they're little.
