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EP. REVIEW: Fairy Ranmaru


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PotatoGirl



Joined: 16 Dec 2016
Posts: 78
PostPosted: Sat May 01, 2021 7:20 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
- Some eagle-eyed viewers brought up the flashback from Uruu's episode last week. I'm in agreement now that Uruu probably walked in on his boinking Ranmaru's dad, leading to his Ranmaru's dad's punishment.


I'm sorry, do you mean "...Uruu probably walked in on his mom boinking Ranmaru's dad..."?

Also, you're the first person I've seen who thinks it was Ranmaru's dad and not Homura's. Not that it matters, the real trauma was probably from seeing them do it in the punishment chair. Laughing
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ANN_Lynzee
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PostPosted: Sat May 01, 2021 9:05 pm Reply with quote
Oh you're right, I meant Homura (although it wouldn't kill them to have Ranmaru do something interesting...)
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Agent355



Joined: 12 Dec 2008
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PostPosted: Tue May 04, 2021 1:10 pm Reply with quote
Ugh, I hated episode 4’s idol plot—it was trying to say something about idol “purity” culture by...pitting female idols against each other as rivals and shaming an idol for using sexualized tactics (that we all know are subtly encouraged in the industry), rather than calling out the industry itself on its hypocrisy. It was anti-feminist and a wasted opportunity to make a meaningful message. Juka learning to appreciate his “cuteness” was much better, but not enough to wash the idol story’s taste out of my mouth.

I haven’t given up on this show, but I rated this episode 2 stars.
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Violet Park



Joined: 18 Jul 2018
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PostPosted: Sat May 08, 2021 4:33 am Reply with quote
Of all the places I thought they would go with Takara's promiscuity, sex work to survive and feed his boys and pet wasn't one of them. It makes a lot of sense in hindsight since we never saw clients at the cafe but still, it's really heavy stuff.

I wonder why the Metallum clan prefer men to inherit when they are so difficult to get and there is a fairy queen. It's very unpractical. Also interesting that the queen's butler is on Takara's side and the queen allows it. And it's just me or the scene of Girloftheweek and her dad with the lawyer implies they are being scammed again? We never see his face and a lot of emphasis is put on his heavy jewelry.
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SHD



Joined: 05 Apr 2015
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PostPosted: Sat May 08, 2021 7:37 am Reply with quote
Agent355 wrote:
Ugh, I hated episode 4’s idol plot—it was trying to say something about idol “purity” culture by...pitting female idols against each other as rivals and shaming an idol for using sexualized tactics (that we all know are subtly encouraged in the industry), rather than calling out the industry itself on its hypocrisy. It was anti-feminist and a wasted opportunity to make a meaningful message. Juka learning to appreciate his “cuteness” was much better, but not enough to wash the idol story’s taste out of my mouth.

I really don't think the show was trying to do any of what you seem to think it was trying to do... Generally though, what part of this series made you think that it was going to have any righteous/wholesome messages? So far the show has been more cynical than anything, even if in a tongue-in-cheek way. It's not like the fairies are here to Do Good and actually make the world better. They're just doing the job of collecting love, everything else is none of their concern.

Episode 1: The client is being bullied by a girl who is jealous of her. Result: the client is free of bullying and gets the boy her bully liked (note, it's never confirmed that the client actually likes him), but the cycle of suffering continues, since the former bully is now a victim herself. And who is bullying her? ...well, that's left to the viewer's imagination.

Episode 2: Shitty editor is bullying and exploiting a mangaka, thinking that a cutesy moe character will sell better than her idea of a male protagonist. In the end he's punished, yes, and her work gets picked up... but the character she ends up drawing is pretty much the same pandering fanservicey stuff just the other way around (and yes, the show is absolutely self-aware enough not to have to use large neon signs to point this out). Oops.

Episode 3: By far the best episode so far. At first look it's about a poor girl being in a toxic relationship with a guy who doesn't appreciate her and cheats on her. As it turns out, it's more like closeted gay fledgling idol callously using a fan who won't leave him alone, and feels entitled to his love just because she sacrifices so much to help his career, partly out of love yes, but also partly to show off and reap social capital. In the end she gets the worse punishment, while yes, his idol career is done for, but it also means he's now free to come out and live his best life.

Episode 4: Probably the most straightforward episode so far. Fledgling idol wants fame and success, but is being held back by a rival who uses underhanded methods to stay popular and destroy her rivals. Upon being punished for this, the client proves that just being an underdog in a vulnerable position doesn't mean one is automatically a good person and above doing the crappy things everyone else does in the industry.

Episode 5: Also a rather straightforward story, gullible family gets into trouble for being scammed. After having Takara save them from the scammer, it's heavily implied that... they're walking into the exact same situation again, either because they haven't learned anything, or because the world sucks and they have no other choice/option.

Based on these episodes I really don't understand why people are upset about the show not being about calling out social injustices and whatnot...
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Agent355



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PostPosted: Mon May 10, 2021 12:59 am Reply with quote
SHD, you’re right; this show is more cynical than it seems on the surface. It does seem to have *some* social commentary, such as Juka learning that it’s ok to be “cute,” but the conclusions of the client-of-the-week stories are open to more negative interpretations (I did not get the impression that the father and daughter fruit stand owners were about to be scammed again but you could be right). I should lower my expectations accordingly.

I did like episode 5, though, much more than episode 4. I appreciate when a show deals with a character’s tough backstory with empathy, and I felt like there was a lot of empathy in how they revealed Takara’s past and why he became a sex worker. I’d like more world building/lore (why does the Metal clan insist on male heirs when they serve under a Fairy Queen?) But there are still episodes to go over that if they want to.
Some details:
—Takara tells his customer that he can’t kiss...because he’d transform if he does.
—How many parents around the world tell their kids to eat everything on their plate because there are kids starving somewhere? But Takara actually has personal experience with food insecurity, so it’s actually impactful coming from him.
—Are all the Fairy main characters their clans’ heirs?
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SHD



Joined: 05 Apr 2015
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PostPosted: Mon May 10, 2021 3:51 am Reply with quote
Agent355 wrote:
(I did not get the impression that the father and daughter fruit stand owners were about to be scammed again but you could be right).

Well, whatever they're getting themselves into involves this man, so I'm fairly certain it's nothing good...

Agent355 wrote:
—Are all the Fairy main characters their clans’ heirs?

I think so. Uruu, Homura and Takara are, so I would assume Ranmaru and Juka are as well.
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Kirki



Joined: 11 Jun 2019
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PostPosted: Fri May 21, 2021 2:54 am Reply with quote
If anything, I like Fairy Ranmaru's cynical side. In this type of stories the "client" always seems to be a perfect benevolent being, but in Fairy Ranmaru it is often acknowledged that they have shortcomings of their own. The messages aren't happy ones but that doesn't make them less valid: There are people willing to hurt you and emotionally manipulate you and not everyone deserves forgiveness because not everyone is sincerely asking for it. Even so, Ranmaru put down his sword and that enraged Chilka, so the framing of the situation seems to agree with Ranmaru's forgiving nature, even if he had to fight in the end.

Ep 7 seems to be more of a part of a bigger plot than a stand alone episode, so I don't think we can draw many conclusions from it as of now, aside from the fact that Homura is starting to act like his father and making some steps into understanding and accepting what happened to him as much as he can. Most of the juice of the individual case is probably that people just like drama for the sake of drama and that allows others to use it as a weapon against the ones they have a grudge against. It's a sad realization but a valid one nonetheless.
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Violet Park



Joined: 18 Jul 2018
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PostPosted: Fri May 21, 2021 4:46 am Reply with quote
I don't completely agree that the plagiarism scandal would have solved on its own. As the assistant said, people care more about polemic than about the truth and the truth isn't exactly easy to prove here. As for Uruu, I think he is way more prideful than Homura and Homura's near death was the wake up slap he needed.
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SHD



Joined: 05 Apr 2015
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PostPosted: Fri May 21, 2021 6:18 am Reply with quote
Quote:
Also for anyone concerned about the shady looking lawyer that helped the grocers, I'm pretty confident he's a former fairy who broke fairy law (probably attachment to money) and now works as a lawyer. Takara visits him again to share the news about Chilka/Sirius being active.

I wouldn't be so sure. The guy is doused in visual signifiers that scream "THIS PERSON CANNOT BE TRUSTED". From being half in shadow to the camera angle, never mind the huge, tacky but clearly expensive jewelry/watch combo, everything here is like a small collection of Unscrupulous Money-Hungry Capitalist tropes. Sure, it might all be just red herring and the show will do a "ha, tricked you! he's actually a good guy!" reveal later, but for now... it doesn't seem so.

Also interesting is that Takara seems to be playing his own game behind the queen's back.

Re: the message and pride, I think it's clear that the story here is meant to be a parallel to whatever happened with Homura & Uruu's parents and how they both reacted to it. Homura is doing the same thing his dad used to do, and by doing so he involuntarily hurts people, as well as Uruu in particular. The "pride" aspect here is that Homura (as well as his dad) is too conceited, wrapped in his own sense of justice and self-importance, that he fails to see how following his own principles hurts other people. The word Uruu uses, "gouman" specifically has an overtone of haughtiness/conceitedness, and that is exactly how Homura behaves.

In this episode, we see the results of Homura messing up by allowing the rookie mangaka to remember his fairy form (either deliberately or by incompetence), inspiring her to create her Hot Fairy Dude manga that became so popular it inevitably ends up fostering resentment in the industry. (And again I don't think the show needs huge neon signs to point out that the popularity is likely fueled not in a small part by the hot main character being hot.) Uruu mentioned in episode two that Homura's clan has a tendency to leave problems smoldering under the surface, which is exactly what happened. And now, facing the problem he inadvertantly caused, Homura forcibly inserts himself into the situation, even though nobody asked him to, and indeed against the wishes of the mangaka, being sure that he can solve everything - again re: pride and not seeing beyond one's principles.

In the end Homura manages to save the mangaka, but he ends up suffering for it. Which is exactly what seems to have happened to his dad as well, that seems to have resulted in pain and suffering for Uruu.

tl;dr: Homura (and his clan) has a tendency to be all holier-than-thou, without considering how this affects others.

Violet Park wrote:
I don't completely agree that the plagiarism scandal would have solved on its own. As the assistant said, people care more about polemic than about the truth and the truth isn't exactly easy to prove here.

I think that's not really the point here. The situation would have been solved insofar as her manga would've been axed. However, she wouldn't have hit gold with her manga in the first place were it not for her memories of Hot Fairy Homura. She wasn't "meant" to make this manga and become so popular that it draws resentment from other, more seasoned artists. Basically everything snowballed from Homura messing up, and now if her manga is axed she's basically back to where she was supposed to be after episode two. Eventually she'll make a new manga, after all, it's not like there are many mangaka whose career was irreparably broken after revelations of plagiarism.

Violet Park wrote:
As for Uruu, I think he is way more prideful than Homura and Homura's near death was the wake up slap he needed.

I don't think Uruu is prideful. He's spiteful and jaded, but not particularly prideful.
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Violet Park



Joined: 18 Jul 2018
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PostPosted: Fri May 21, 2021 6:41 am Reply with quote
SHD wrote:

In this episode, we see the results of Homura messing up by allowing the rookie mangaka to remember his fairy form (either deliberately or by incompetence),
Violet Park wrote:
As for Uruu, I think he is way more prideful than Homura and Homura's near death was the wake up slap he needed.

I don't think Uruu is prideful. He's spiteful and jaded, but not particularly prideful.


While Homura getting involved again with the mangaka may have been a mistake (from the mission's perspective) I don't see how her remembering is his fault. He didn't do anything different of the other fairies, so blaming him for it it's far-fetching.

And regarding Uruu and pride, I'd say going against the rules and attacking his client because he decided he knew better is as arrogant as Homura not listening to the mangaka this episode. And in general he is the one lecturing everyone and acting like he is perfect.
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SHD



Joined: 05 Apr 2015
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PostPosted: Fri May 21, 2021 7:04 am Reply with quote
Violet Park wrote:
While Homura getting involved again with the mangaka may have been a mistake (from the mission's perspective) I don't see how her remembering is his fault. He didn't do anything different of the other fairies, so blaming him for it it's far-fetching.

Well the other fairies are blaming him (OK, Uruu does, but the others also acknowledge that he messed up), so clearly something is going on there? It's not made terribly clear but what I'm getting is that his feelings for the client, be it romantic feelings or just being too involved in the case because of his sympathy for her, ended up leaving her with a memory of him.

Violet Park wrote:
And regarding Uruu and pride, I'd say going against the rules and attacking his client because he decided he knew better is as arrogant as Homura not listening to the mangaka this episode. And in general he is the one lecturing everyone and acting like he is perfect.

Homura's arrogance is more than him just not listening to the mangaka, see all my blabbering above. It's him basically forcing his own way on others, only concerned with how something makes him feel. Uruu is not acting like he's perfect, he's lashing out because he's been hurt by this attitude before, and is resentful. And as for attacking his client, that wasn't because he decided he knew better - that is irrelevant. It was simply going against the rules of y'know, not hurting your client. But the client was being terrible, in a way that clearly hit a nerve with Uruu, so he did what he did.
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#Synaesthesia



Joined: 30 Jan 2019
Posts: 157
PostPosted: Fri May 21, 2021 10:38 am Reply with quote
"Another Brick in the Wall" was written by Pink Floyd, not Pearl Jam lol

and were you trying to reference a different song? 'cause I don't see any relevance to the episode.
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Mizuki-Takashima



Joined: 10 Sep 2011
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PostPosted: Sat May 22, 2021 4:21 am Reply with quote
Uruu is my favoriite Fairy Boy, but as of Episode 7 he's really starting to teeter towards "Unlikeable Jerk". I hope we start to get more episodes that empathize with his struggles and perspective because I think he's the prettiest boy there.

Homura is someone I genuinely want to be friends with though. His dad was also a wholesome Chad that didn't deserve to be punished. Uruu's mom was probably just sad and lonely Sad
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Agent355



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PostPosted: Mon Jun 07, 2021 2:02 pm Reply with quote
From the 6-7 review:
Quote:

Shiina modeled her not-Nezuko character after herself. She also has some resemblance to Homura's deceased mother.

I did not catch that Shiina’s manga was an homage to Demon Slayer, cool! (Also, how can we tell?) I definitely didn’t catch Homura’s mother in the story at all—anyone have screenshots?

I’m not sure that the show was criticizing Homura’s actions with Shiina. The Fairy rules are really rigid, and sympathetic characters like Takara have been flouting the rules from the get go. Uruu and Ranmaru are the characters most particular about the rules, and Uruu is incredibly unhappy and coming from a place of trauma, and Ranmaru is dealing with amnesia and doesn’t seem to have full range of his emotions. Meanwhile, Homura’s approach put him in danger (due to Chilka’s involvement/interference, IIRC), but worked out very well for Shiina. I think we’re supposed to be rooting for the fairies to bend or break fairy law.

Shout out to episode 8 for highlighting under appreciated, overworked, underpaid early childhood educators. But while there are unscrupulous directors, I don’t think anyone is getting rich off daycare.

Episode 9 was the most interesting episode so far, finally revealing Uruu’s backstory from his perspective. I don’t blame Uruu for believing what his father told him as a child; that Homura’s dad was really trying to orchestrate a coup or political uprising. In fact, that’s probably the “official” story and why Homura’s dad was executed. It is also hard for kids to see things from their parents perspective, so it would be difficult for Uruu to understand how unhappy his mother was with his father and how much happiness her relationship with Homura’s father gave her. I don’t like how much the story used suicide to emphasize the tragedy of these stories—I get they wanted to give Uruu’s trauma real weight; but having the client’s mother mirror Uruu in that way, especially when the circumstances of her affair (the trustworthiness of the guy) was so different, was so sad and unnecessary. And I hated that she didn’t get a memorial and her daughter didn’t even get to grieve her properly. It sends such a bad message. That mother was more than her bad taste in men and poor choices!

But I do hope we continue to see Uruu evolve emotionally, and I love that his relationship with Homura is becoming a genuine friendship. Based on speculation on Twitter and Reddit, I’m wondering how much *Homura* knows about his father’s relationship with Uruu’s mother, too.
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