StoryAfter suffering through a recent deluge of epically engrossing shows, I
was looking for a quick anime fix. Having seen several amusing AMVs
related to a short series known as Bottle Fairy, I knew I'd
found what I was looking for. However, with adorable characterisation
that quickly became a vomit-inducing bowl of sugar-coated aspartame, Bottle Fairy's
short length was ultimately a god send. In this case, the AMV creators
clearly had far more creativity than a professional production studio.
While the story follows the quirky daily adventures of four
bottle-occupying fairies, the girls' naivety soon wears thin as sweet
innocence turns into borderline stupidity. The pixie quadruplets add
their own spin to Christmas, Golden day and New Year celebrations as
they interpret many human, and more specifically Japanese, cultural
events. I learned a great deal about festivals and customs, and
although it becomes obvious that Bottle Fairy's target audience is
pre-teens, there is still much a non-nippon native can glean. As an
older viewer, I found the childish jokes to unfortunately be hit and
miss; while I sometimes cracked a smile, the puerile shenanigans and
trite one-lilners mostly caused me to frown in disbelief or gaze with a
blank expression.
Bottle Fairy's writers had every intention for viewers to fall
in love with their adorable and innocent creations, but any
self-respecting pervert will instead see them as a lolicon's dream. In
particular, the July swimsuit episode screams more of fan-service and
less of cherubic purity. Numerous costume changes are quite often the
focus of a pretend plot-line, adding to the paper-thin story. Every
episode consists of a rinse and repeat visit from the farie's
neighbour, Tama-chan, who sets the dense girls into a spin as they
attempt to understand her lacking explanations. To top it off, the
ending feels far too sudden; although the final episode holds a glimmer
of promise that would benefit from a second season, the banality of the
preceding twelve-episodes make me question my own conjecture. Perhaps
it's because I’ve indulged in too much cuteness recently - the
exceptional Shugo Chara Doki topping the bill - but Bottle Fairy proved one of the weakest moe comedies I have seen since Paniponi Dash!. Cuteness and silliness without substance does not a good anime maketh.AnimationClean lines, bright colours and a simplistic artistic approach suit the
overall tone of the series. The diversity of the mystical girls
culminates in four identical faces framed with different hair and
blotches of eye colour. Although simple and inoffensive, the artists
take no risks with the artwork; routinely recycling the backgrounds,
very little variation is furnished on the visual lives of the fairies.
Instead, the show focuses on the chibi mannequins parading round in
charming cosplay-type outfits.SoundIn a heroic attempt to sample more animation with a dubbed cast, I
plunged into the deep-end to embark on what can only be likened to a
painful crawl through a bed of nettles. For some reason, the Japanese
language and seiyuu always seem well suited to the high-pitched
kawaii-ness of young girls - if only this were true for the English
voice actors. Instead, the sub-standard vocal performance heightens the
shrieky shrillness of the fairy four and makes me question how these
people make a living out of a career in dubbing.
Chock-full of intelligent lyrics such as “Lan, lan, lan, la, la, la”
sung by Chipmunk wanna-be’s, the opening track is going to appeal to
only those with hearing impairments. For people with more reasonable
musical tastes, be prepared to skip the first one minute and ten
seconds of every episode. However, the lyrics should be read at least
once to get the background to the bizarre story. The closing track is
bearable, consisting of crooning romantic lullabies that help
obliterate the aural rape that came before.CharactersBottle Fairy, as a story written for younger viewers, moves the
focus away from character development and instead becomes a competition
to discover which charismatic sprite you prefer. The fab four each have
their own distinctive personalities designed to make the viewer favour
one of the group. I found the militant Sarara the most affable, with
her determination and drive often causing trouble for the innocent
additional trio of sprites. Although, this was not a difficult choice
when faced with the backward Hororo, bossy Kururu and overly emotional
Chiriri. The idiosyncracies of each fairy complement the others
perfectly and the teeny troupe would be engaging, if not for the fact
that they irritate the hell out of you. To make matters worse, the
girls’ human companion, Sensei-sama, serves no real purpose in the
show. His two-dimensional character could be easily replaced by a
non-speaking cardboard cut-out and nothing would be lost.OverallFor a show aimed at a juvenile crowd, Bottle Fairy lacks
action/romance/comedy/plot-line to appeal to most anime fans. That
said, there is a certain innocuous charm in a show that will teach the
viewer much about Japan. If there was a little less immature comedy and
a little more character development, this could have been an excellent
gag-filled apprenticeship in culture. Instead, frivolity takes the
lead, both obscuring the dainty leading ladies and making Bottle Fairy as a whole an annoying chore to watch, rather than a pleasurable pastime.