Adorkable: Lisbeth from "The Old Woman in the Woods" is full of endearing awkwardness and enthusiasm. Just watch her gush over the things she receives thanks to her key.
Angst? What Angst?: In The Magic Heart, Frederick seems to take his sudden transformation into a donkey rather well, and barely worries about the fact that he's no longer human after his initial surprise wears off. He even seems more concerned with continuing to eat the magic cabbages that caused this in the first place. In contrast, the witch and Lisbeth react to it in a much more frightened way once it happens to them. Though to be fair, it's probably because Frederick was overcome with starvation when he was eating the cabbages, and came across how to reverse the transformation fairly quickly to boot.
"Bluebeard": Bluebeard is a seemingly charming rich gentleman, but in truth is a vicious Serial Killer who keeps the corpses of his murdered wives locked in a dark room. When his previous wife discovered his dark secret, he murdered her in a blind rage. Seeking a wife who would not disappoint him, Bluebeard woos a young maiden, Josephine, and coerces her into marriage, offering her riches and all his treasures, but warns her not to enter his cellar, for fear of her discovering his dark secret. When Josephine disobeys him—he had given her the keys to all the rooms—and discovers all of his previous victims, Bluebeard flies into a rage and chases her throughout the mansion, sword in hand, intent on killing her for her disobedience. Vengeful and unforgiving, masked by a polite exterior, Bluebeard was just as vile as his literary counterpart.
"The Six Swans": The wicked queen marries the kind king, whereupon she attempts to murder his seven children. When this fails, she turns his six sons into swans, forcing his one daughter to stay mute for six years and sew special shirts to break the curse. The Queen proceeds to murder her husband, finding her stepdaughter with a new family, whereupon she throws her stepdaughter's baby into the woods to die and frames the princess for it in an attempt to have her burnt as a witch.
Die for Our Ship: Both Snow White and her Prince are blasted for getting together, when the fans preferred Snow White with her and the Prince's friend Klaus. The Prince is accused of "stealing" Snow White from Klaus (because according to the fandom Klaus is "owed" love by Snow, whereas in-story he never chased after her), whereas Snow is called a shallow Gold Digger for choosing the Prince over Klaus (because again according to them, a girl must marry a guy that she doesn't romantically like, just because he was nice to her). Problem is... she dreamed about Klaus. People don't generally dream about people that they do not romantically like.
Heartwarming Moments: Although it is a tragic moment, the fact that the godson of Death was willing to sacrifice himself for the princess's life demonstrates that he genuinely cares about other people's lives.
Iron Woobie: Princess Elise from "The Six Swans" is a living testament to endurance for loved ones, as despite all the tragedies and hardships she faces, she remains true to her vow of silence out of loyalty to her beloved brothers, even to the point of nearly dying for crimes she was innocent of since trying to defend herself would involve breaking it. Even when she's about to be executed, she cries quietly but refuses to say a single word, thinking of her swan brothers...
Love to Hate: All the villains to some extent, but the Queen in "The Six Swans", The Step-Mother in "Brother and Sister" and The Fairy in "The Iron Stove" in particular. They are all evil through and through, but they are just so gleeful in their wickedness, it's kind of hard not to find them entertaining. Likewise, the titular "Bluebeard" is quite entertaining because of his ruthless demeanor.
Some fans have claimed that including "King Grizzlebeard/Thrushbeard" here is a bad thing, since the tale is seen as misogynistic for supposedly shaming women into submitting to men. In reality Helena wasn't punished for mocking her suitors and not wanting to marry any of them... but for being an immature, stuck-up and needlessly cruel Royal Brat who treated people like shit when they didn't deserve it.
Similarly, some fans apply Draco in Leather Pants to none other than Bluebeard and blame Josephine for being his target. Sure, Josephine did go through Acquired Situational Narcissism after marrying him and being suddenly showered in riches, but it still doesn't compare to Bluebeard killing the women he married before her and then trying to murder her for finding out.
The stepmother from "The Six Swans" crossed into "truly irredeemable" either when she killed her husband the king, or when she kidnapped the princess's infant son, leaving him for dead, and made it look like she ate him.
The witch in "Rapunzel" crosses it when not only she cuts Rapunzel's hair off with a knife, but beats her with her walking stick and comes dangerously close to killing her and her unborn son. And not only that, but unlike in the original where the Prince falls off the tower on his own, she pushes him off the window.
It was bad enough when the original Wicked Stepmother from Brother and Sister killed Rose aka the Queen/Sister and had her replaced with her own daughter, but it wasn't not much better in the anime version when she "only" captured Rose... but then not only she took her to a very creepy mountain, but mocked her when she woke up and was horrified at her terrible situation.
Jorinde's song in "Jorinde and Joringel". The lyrics use certain phrases like "Flower Power" which sound incredibly awkward and out of place.
I am but a little bird and you can see me fly I'm just a little bird, my love for you can fill the sky At the appointed hour, remember love has power So never fear should you shed a tear Remember the red flower Your love's magic lies in Flower Powernote There are few variations of the song with slightly different lyrics. This is the first variation heard.
In "The Six Swans", the Hot Witch's Karmic Death becomes this because it's so very stupid. Who the fuck tries to attack other people with wind magic while standing next to a not-fully out pyre?!
On top of that, her magic words are as follows: Abra Cadabra, Cadabra Kadoo.
There's also the Wolf's "song" from the English dub of "Little Red Riding Hood" which, unlike the Japanese version, is just him talking rhythmically in a very cringey way.
Older Than They Think: The Beauty and the Beast episode isn't actually based on the familiar French versions of the tale by Villeneuve and Beaumont, but on a variant from The Brothers Grimm's first edition of their tales called The Summer and Winter Garden. This explains why it differs in so many ways from the familiar French version, including how Beauty's (Maria's) sisters are nicer than in Villeneuve's and Beaumont's takes, and the fact that the father dies. In the Grimms' later editions of their collection, this tale was replaced by a different animal bridegroom story, The Singing, Springing Lark.
Popular with Furries: The Wolf from Little Red Riding Hood and Mrs. Fox from The Marriage of Mrs. Fox have some recognition amongst the furry fandom. Mrs. Fox's cute cat maid also gets attention, being a totally loveable Genki Girl.
The Latin-American Spanish dub had several VA's that either were kinda well-known or would become very famous some years later: Patricia Acevedonote (Cinderella's Dove Friend, Little Red Riding Hood, Princess Helena in King Grizzle-Beard/Thursbeard, Gretel, Sleeping Beauty/Briar Rose, Maria/Beauty from Beauty and the Beast, Josephine from Bluebeard, the eldest Princess in The Worn Out Dancing Shoes), Araceli de Leónnote (Rapunzel, the Witch and Rapunzel's child, plus Maria/Beauty's sister Hana and Sleeping Beauty's Good Fairy), Luis Alfonso Mendozanote (Hansel, Cinderella's Prince, the Frog Prince from The Princess and the Frog, Joringel, the Big Bad Wolf, Frederick from The Magic Heart, the soldier from The Worn Out Dancing Shoes, , Josephine's youngest brother Friederich in Bluebeard), Elsa Coviánnote (Heidi aka the girl from The Water Witch, Aleia from The Coat of Many Colors, the unnamed Princess from The Iron Stove, Princess Elise from The Six Swans [plus one of the Swan Brothers ], Hildegard from Mother Winter, Rose Red, Snow White, Lisbeth from The old woman...), Rocío Garcelnote (Snow White's birth mother, Jorinde, the Queen Mother in Cinderella, the Witches from Iron Stove and Sleeping Beauty, Lisbeth from The Magic Heart), María Fernanda Moralesnote (Cinderella's mean stepsister), Genaro Vásquez note (the Bear Prince from Snow White and Rose Red), Martín Soto note (Maria's father in Beauty and the Beast, the titular King Grizzle-Beard/Thursbeard, Rapunzel's father), Juan Alfonso Carralero note (The titular Iron Stove/the Prince, Elise's father aka the King from The Six Swans), Belinda Martínez note (Snow White and Rose Red's mother, Sleeping Beauty's mother), Salvador Delgadonote (the Bear Prince's brother, Bluebeard), Jesús Barreronote (Puss in Boots), Yamil Atalanote (Sleeping Beauty's Prince), Cristina "Cris" Camargo note (Mother Winter), Mónica Manjárreznote (Princess Lenora from Princess and the Frog), Laura Ayala note (The Wicked Stepmother from the Six Swans), Eduardo Tejedo note (Klaus from Snow White, the boy from "Godfather Death", the eldest of Elise's brothers in The Six Swans), José Luis Orozco note (The Prince from Rapunzel, Josephine's eldest brother in Bluebeard), Ricardo Mendozanote (Elise's youngest brother from The Six Swans)etc.
Some of the people from the original Japanese version were quite well-known too, including: Mitsuko Horienote (Rapunzel, Briar Rose/Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Elise), Ryūsei Nakaonote (The Rooster in "The Musicians from Bremen", the Hedgehog from "the Hare and the Hedhehog"), Kenichi Ogatanote (The Cat from "Musicians..."), Mami Koyamanote (Hansel), Chieko Hondanote (Gretel), Hiromi Tsurunote (Jorinde), Masami Kikuchinote (Jorindel, one of the Six Swans), Hideyuki Horinote (the Young King/Elise's husband from The Six Swans), Unshō Ishizukanote (the King/Elise's father from The Six Swans), Kōichi Yamaderanote (another of the Six Swans), Shigeru Chibanote (the Frog Prince), Miyoko Asonote (the Wicked Witches from Hansel and Gretel, Jorinde and Joringel, and Rapunzel), Yuriko Yamamotonote (Rose/Sister), Mayumi Tanakanote (Rudolf/Brother) etc.
Ron the Death Eater: The titular fox from "The Wolf and the Fox" is jumped on by some viewers who feel like him setting up the wolf to die at the end of the episode was too cruel. Never mind that said wolf had practically threatened the fox into either being his slave or being eaten alive, forced him to go search for food during the winter, and later started denying him of the food he'd find for himself.
Sacred Cow: Saying anything bad about the anime is a no-no. Most children who grew up with Nick Jr. in the 80s have fond memories of the show, even if the dubbing can be considered mediocre by them. This is especially more so for the Japanese version, too.
Leonora, in "The Frog Prince" is not looked back on too fondly, for being a lying spoiled brat who actually ends up killing the frog amid throwing a tantrum out of disgust, and immediately fears for her own fate should her father find out, but due to some fairy tale mumbo-jumbo ends up breaking the spell and living happily ever after with the handsome prince.
Likewise the King in "Rumplestiltskin", is remembered as an unduly harsh Jerkass towards Gretchen, the miller's daughter, after her father's boast of her spinning straw into gold. He openly concedes he realizes the poor girl, who arrives and tries to explain her father's fallacies, is frightened and threatens to have not just her father punished for his lies, but her as well if she cannot perform the task by the next morning, going on to justify his threats and near tyranny as proper ruling. After finding the gold the next morning, he forces Gretchen, who only wants to go home, to spin more gold for another night claiming he is falling in love with her, all the while threatening her life should she fail once again. To top it all off, many consider him unattractive when compared to the other male love interests in the show.
As the "Snow White" story ends, we're told Snow White married...not Klaus, who's her oldest friend, who helped her to escape from her stepmother, who nearly managed to get her to the protection of his uncle's castle, whom she dreamed about and missed and who searched nonstop to find her again. This is understandable, since you could argue they're more Like Brother and Sister than anything else, and Snow White isn't a prize Klaus automatically earns by helping her out — but then we learn she marries Klaus's friend the Prince, who only shows up in the last half hour of the story, whom she never says a word to and who has nothing to do with her waking up. Granted, this is whom she married in the original fairy tale; but since Klaus is far more developed while his friend is barely even a character, why didn't they just make Klaus the Prince?
An even more potent example occurs in "Snow White and Rose Red" The prince's younger brother declares that he loves Rose Red and asks her to be his wife. She accepts, which would be nothing new for the series except that this happens despite their knowing each other for less than thirty seconds.
Suspiciously Similar Song: Some English home video releases of the "Beauty and the Beast" episode include a song by Haim Saban and Shuki Levy that sounds very similar to "You're the Inspiration" by Chicago.
Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: "The Marriage of Mrs. Fox" suffers pretty heavily from this due to none of the cast being particularly likable or decent. The main character is a paranoid jerk who suspects his wife is cheating on him and, after some goading by an evil entity, pretends to die to see what her reaction will be. The cruel trick continues for quite some time as better and better suitors line up to marry the widowed fox, leaving her a sobbing wreck. While initially insistent on mourning her dead husband Mrs. Fox is quick to change her mind once it's pointed out she has no means of sustaining her income without her husband and quickly goes through a long list of good potential suitors who fall short of her incredibly high standards. Finally settling for a fox that is as physically attractive as her "dead" husband (not to mention rich) she finally agrees to be his bride and Mr. Fox reveals the ruse. This results in a massive fight erupting that causes Mr. Fox to violently chase everyone way, including his beloved wife. Now alone and miserable Mr. Fox is then told by the evil entity that it was a part of him all along and compelled him to do bad things, meaning Mr. Fox essentially ruined his own life over a fit of random paranoid jealousy. Unlike the other stories which mostly have happy or at least bittersweet endings this is where the tale comes to a close, finishing everything on a sour note and making the whole slog feel absolutely pointless.
Values Dissonance: The dissonance of violence and frightening material is the reason why the English dub censored a couple of scenes, and did not air 12 episodes on Nickelodeon. Japanese children television programs have no qualms with scaring young children, something which the United States discourages.
In a more general sense there's also the fact that the stories themselves were all more or less presented exactly as they were originally told with little to no editing, thus often averting Politically Correct History and containing subject matter that would be heavily looked down upon in the modern era. For example, the kings in the stories "King Grizzle Beard" and "The Worn Out Dancing Shoes" offer up their own daughters as prizes to random men without a thought to their consent or opinion in the matter. (The princesses in both stories make it abundantly clear that they don't agree with this at all with the one in "King Grizzle Beard" loudly complaining and throwing a tantrum every chance she gets and the three in "The Worn Out Dancing Shoes" resorting to drugging the would-be suitors with a sleeping potion and getting them sent to the dungeon to avoid marrying them.) Needless to say such a thing would be unthinkable in most civilized places in modern times but back in the day that was really how such matters were usually settled.
What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: This show is clearly aimed for kids. However, it contains many scenes of intense cruelty (such as a princess being falsely accused of killing her baby in the episode "The Six Swans", characters being beaten by abusive guardians in "Brother and Sister" and "Rapunzel", and the main character being framed by his brother's cruel trick in "The Water of Life"), as well as semi-frequent use of violence and Nightmare Fuel. One episode is based on the Grimms' story "Allerleirauh", which features a princess fleeing from her father who wants to marry her. Another, which actually went undubbed, "The Crystal Ball" features a wicked witch who literally drains the youth and beauty from a young princess...every night. The darkest episode was perhaps "Bluebeard", which features the title character killing his wives and nearly kills the most recent one until her brothers save her. In addition, later episodes had brief instances of child nudity, such as when Rudolf gets turned back to normal in "Brother and Sister." Much of the dark imagery was toned down for the English dub, but the show was still quite dark considering its target audience. The catch? This show was aired on Nick Jr., which is known today for very sugary shows such as Dora the Explorer.
Princess Alea from "The Coat of Many Colors". Her insane father tried to force her to marry him, she narrowly escaped burning to death when the castle caught fire, and she ends up all alone in a foreign kingdom. It's no wonder the poor girl is traumatized.
Gretchen from "Rumplestiltskin", who's caught in a terrible situation because of her dad's lies to impress the Jerkass King, and has it worse when the one who helps her out turns out to be a huge jerk too.
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