Fairy Gone

"Once upon a time, fairies were tools of war."

The story takes place in a world where fairies possess and dwell in animals, giving them mysterious abilities. By removing the organs of a possessed animal and transplanting them into humans, fairies can be summoned as an alter ego and be used as a weapon. Such individuals who used fairies as war tools were called "Fairy Soldiers." Once the war was over and they completed their roles, the soldiers lost their purpose. Some began working for the government, some joined the mafia, and some even became terrorists, as each chose their own way to live.

Nine years have passed since the war. The protagonist Mariya is a new recruit of "Dorothea," an organization which investigates and suppresses fairy-related crimes. Amidst the unstable political situation, criminals with lingering wounds from the war and past conflicts emerge and engage in terrorism as an act of revenge. This is the story of Fairy Soldiers, fighting for their own justice in a chaotic postwar world.

(Source: MAL News)

Noel, Marlya Main

Ichinose, Kana Japanese

Underbar, Free Main

Maeno, Tomoaki Japanese

Thorne, Veronica Main

Fukuhara, Ayaka Japanese

Row, Wolfran Main

Hosoya, Yoshimasa Japanese

Aular, Nein Supporting

Sonozaki, Mie Japanese

Kysenaria, Klara Supporting

Suwa, Ayaka Japanese

Diese, Schwartz Supporting

Hashi, Takaya Japanese

Dawn, Lay Supporting

Tsuda, Eizou Japanese

Risker, Bivi Supporting

Egawa, Hisao Japanese

Tova, Serge Supporting

Nakajima, Yoshiki Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Oowada, Tomoyuki Producer

Maeda, Toshihiro Producer

Watase, Shouta Producer

Reviews

Jun 25, 2019

Raggadish

Recommended

I´m actually a bit surprised about the amount of hate, negative critique, bashing and low scoring Fairy Gone Part 1 has received both during and after its airtime. I really can´t understand most of the foundations of said hate and bashing either, I thought the show had several good qualities and enjoyed most parts of it. So, I will give my slightly more positive point of view in this review.

Shortly described, Fairy Gone centres around a continental scale political intrigue in a post war society. Before the war several nations existed, which most fought for its independence, but the outcome of the war was the ... unification of the continent under one leader and the war came to be called the unification war. In this world creatures called Fairy´s exists, which has different special abilities and strengths. Humans as they are had found a way to exploit that in the context of war, by taking organs from the Fairies and implant them into compatible humans. The Fairy enhanced humans can therefore summon the Fairy and use it as they please, which was a crucial part of the outcome of the war. After the war ended, these types of human-fairy hybrids became illegal to produce, and the ones left was ordered to work for the government owned agency Dorothea or classed as outlaws. The story takes place some 10 years after the wars end, where a fragile peace is threatened by multiple sources, and we get to follow characters on different sides of the brewing conflict.

In addition to the main political intrigue, there is side themes such the search of a childhood friend, and the mystery about something called the Fairy Tombs which is old texts written by scholars who studied the Fairy´s and collected the knowledge into five books. These books are now highly wanted and valued by many, especially the Black Fairy Tomb, which explores something called “Fairy possession”, which is a rare occurring phenomenon of a Fairy fusing with a human without any surgery.

As foundations, I think these are interesting themes which they use, explore and develop during these first 12 episodes. Overall, this is more a story driven show rather and character driven one, which could be a `yay`or `nej`for some. The pacing is typical for this kind of plot, with some shorter arc format, where we get to know the characters and their connections, the structure and background of their society, and clues to the schemes that brewing in the Empire. I liked this concept and was always looking forward to a new episode and what it would explore. Is this the most unique and well written work ever done? Of course not, but I found it enjoyable in many aspects, and it do build on itself nicely. I much prefer these types of stories from P.A. Works before their slow-paced unrealistic dramas that they usually produce.

Fair waring though, Fairy Gone do demand your attention and focus to understand the connections of all story threads it has going on, geographical places and to keep track of all the characters (there are quite many). So, if you are looking for something you can enjoy while browsing your phone or watching with just half your attention, don´t bother. It will not be enjoyable since you will have no idea what´s going on.

There are some direction issues, where they choose to just show short glimpses of backstory (often non-linearly and geographically hard to place as well) spread out over several episodes instead of having one proper backstory episode were things would been more coherent. Fairy Gone also has so many things going on at the same time, and a large cast, which did not make it ultimately best watched on a weekly basis. I highly recommend watching it as coherent as possible time wise to get a good flow which will allow you to have all the names and places fresh in memory, and the experience will for sure get better that way.

We mainly get to follow Marlya, a teenager who´s village was destroyed by one of the now ruling dukes when she was a child. She was one of the few that escaped alive together with her slightly older childhood friend Veronica. They get separated shortly afterwards, and Marlya has been looking for Veronica ever since. So, to survive alone in the world she joined a mafia group, and during an assignment she runs in to the Dorothea agent Free. During an incident that evening Marlya comes in the possession of a Fairy and joins Free to work for Dorothea.

It is mainly though Marlya and Free and their missions we get to explore the story´s themes. Free is a fairy veteran from the war and carries the baggage that comes with it – lost comrades, the experiences of the battlefield and all the destruction it holds. Marlya is like most young women, slightly naïve in her world view, strong in her believes and emotions, but also struggles with self-doubt and survivals guilt. Even though neither of their characters was super unique or deeply developed I enjoyed them as mains and their dynamic. They form a bound throughout their journeys and starts to trust and support each other with a tenderness rarely showcased in anime. Their interactions were actually one of the highlights of the show for me. There so many more characters, and many still haven´t been explored nearly enough either, such as the more important characters Wolfarm and Veronica, which only have gotten the base exploration so far. But with 12 episodes left in the second cour, I still have my hopes up.

I think P.A. Works has done a great job with the art and animation; it looks good. It also holds the quality along the way, and some parts like the CGI fairies even improves (they looked kind of out of place in the beginning). The characters have their own distinct design which can´t be confused with any other works. The backgrounds are often detailed, beautifully coloured and highlights the scene. Like a golden lit stone cobble street at night, a library filled with books in the light of an open fire or the ruins of a long-abandoned castle, it all looks very good and creates a suiting atmosphere. The fight scenes are fluid and detailed, and the animation overall besides the CGI is seldom jerky or sloppy. Cuddos to P.A. Works for that.

The soundtrack is probably a hit or miss for most people, it contains a lot of vocal tracks. I quite enjoyed, and for most parts I think they matched the music well with the scene. The VA´s was well matched and did their job well, no complains there at all.

I might belong to the minority that actually thought Fairy Gone Part 1 was a good and interesting show and was enjoying it, but I guess I belong to the minority of this site as well (female and 30+). I think it had a lot of good things going on for it with just some miner downsides that I could easily cope with. And with 12 more episodes to go, it still could develop from good to great, depending on which themes and routes they decide to develop. So, I can warmly recommend Fairy Gone to any that can live with conditions I just mentioned and enjoy it for what it is.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Jun 24, 2019

LegendAqua

Mixed Feelings

"Once upon a time, fairies were discount Jojo's Stands..."

Fairy Gone was one of LA's most anticipated for the Spring 2019 and well...LA won't drag this along but Fairy Gone was underwhelming and for this being a first season, it didn't give LA the best impression for this anime. Like Fairy Gone from it's outset was a PA Works original anime and with the setting of it being in an aftermath of a fairy war, so LA would have thought this would be a much dramatic, serious and character driven anime, it got one out of the three.

Fairy Gone follows Marlya Noel voiced by Kana Ichinose, ... a fairy soldier who's extremely unlucky in her life with her trying to find her long lost friend Veronica Thorne voiced by Ayaka Fukuhara, she latter joins the Dorothean Army to uncover Fairy Weapons, a push to another Fairy War and again...to find Veronica again. Marlya does have the narrative focus in the anime, but Free Underbar voiced by Tomoaki Maeno also gets narrative focus with similar instances to Marlya in finding someone. The premise itself is fine, it's just the execution in it all and how slow-paced, bogged down in world building of the political structures, massive expositions and huge character backstory dumps that ultimately makes Fairy Gone an absolute slog. yes Fairy Gone DOES have it's moments, especially when it actually goes into it's climax and things starts going into motion, but it's the build up and how slow paced everything is just made the experience watching Fairy Gone.....meh.

Fairy Gone's world building and character development was at LEAST decent in this respect and one of the core strengths to the anime, world building is very fleshed out especially with backstory of the previous war, current tech of the world of Fairy Gone and how intrinsic the fairy powers are (as much as it's apes from Jojo's Stands that LA joked at the start of the review) but Fairy Gone's world building was nonetheless very fleshed out. Character development does make the characters....decent, some not even needing backstory or development and we get their personality very easily. Of course Maryla and Free does get the majority of the character development and backstory but some of the Dorothean cast gets some backstory, sometimes outta nowhere...like Klara Kysenaria voiced by Ayaka Suwa. But again with how focused Fairy Gone is with it's world building and sporadic character backstory...it of course will slow down and bog down what is already very precarious, heavy plotlines and setting.

PA Works nonetheless did a great job in the animation, cept in the Fairy Jojo Stands and the humanoid mecha, where the CGI was janky which is given some grace with the humanoid mecha, but man the Fairy Jojo Stands were blatant and out-rightly...ugly at times. JOJO's STANDS were animated better than this. PA Works nonetheless great in it's character designs and it's backgrounding, everything else....just meh...yes even the FIGHTS....and uhhh that's saying something.

The voice cast at least make sup for it as the entire cast sounded like they did their all in this anime, from Kana Ichinose as Marlya, Tomoaki Maeno as Free and Ayaka Suwa as Klara. LA will gives special props to Kana Ichinose as Marlya and really the voice cast at least held up and they sounded like they did their all.

Fairy Gone will have a second season but as much as this first season did go out with a bang at the ending, Fairy Gone's first season DID NOT give LA a best impression and with it also being one of LA's anticipated animes of Spring 2019 and failing in multiple elements....yeah...LA was HIGHLY disappointed by this without a doubt as it's weakness of being such a slow-paced, scattershoted expositional, character fillery plot just outweighed it's strengths of fleshed out world building and some decent character backstory. In the worse light reminded LA of another PA Works work, Glasslip where it fleshed out it's supernatural element but did NOTHING with it's characters or plot (at least Fairy Gone HAS some motivation with it's characters and it's story elements are utilized to a fair degree). And no just "waiting for it to get better" doesn't work for as LA is looking at the first season and first season only and LA was not impressed to say the least and with it announcing a second season...LA isn't jumping at the notion of watching the second season but LA WILL get to watching it, one time or another. Fairy Gone's first season can for LA be summed up in three words...

Slow and DISAPPOINTED

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Jun 23, 2019

Stark700

Not Recommended

I want to say congratulations to P.A. Works. Congratulations on making an original anime that I found almost as lifeless as Glasslip. Mind you, that’s an impressive feat. I’m a big fan of P.A. Works when it comes to their work so saying this wasn’t easy. But man, Fairy Gone is a show that I wish I watched on an airplane so I can forget about it after I land.

P.A. Works seems to have two modes for their projects: it’s either really creative that makes a supreme impression or something that looked like it could’ve be written by a college dropout. As a fan of ... P.A. Works, I’ve seen anime that were great, average, and terrible. Fairy Gone gets the honor of being uncharismatic trash. Because to be honest, even when there are garbage like Glasslip out there, that show managed to deliver some unintentional humor. Fairy Gone’s humor is just…gone

At first glance, I may sound a bit outspoken about this original show. Fairy Gone’s premise and story concepts sounds interesting on paper. I mean, just read that thing on the MAL page. “Once upon a time, fairies were tools of war”. When you get an impactful statement like that to start off a synopsis, it sounds like a deafening roar for potential. Even the setting sounded creative enough for world building. My initial vision for the show is a tragic, memorable fantasy war story with meaningful characters and breathtaking plot. After watching the first few episodes, a voice told me I was dead wrong for it managed to drop the ball week after week and after week. To get a general idea, we meet the main female protagonist Marlya Noel, a girl who survived and lives in the aftermath of the War of Unification. With an ability to see fairy primordials, she has one goal in her mind and that’s to find her childhood friend, Veronica. It doesn’t take long for the audience to meet Veronica as she debuts in the very first episode. Her true goals are a mystery but involves collecting pages of a mysterious artifact known as the Black Fairy Tome. It doesn’t help that the show throws info dump about the war at you with a lot questions that needs answers.

But backtracking a bit, Fairy Gone isn’t that confusing as a show together. I mean, we have anime about supernatural organizations with main characters dealing with tragic pasts in recent years. Bungou Stray Dogs, Kekkai Sensen, P.A. Work’s own Sirius are just a few to name. What makes Fairy Gone troubling is its oversaturated character cast with a weak set of main stars. I’m not going to lie, Marlya doesn’t give me the impression of a special snowflake despite her unique gift. There are scenes in the first few episodes that makes her feel helpless compared to some of her comrades. On the other hand, there’s Veronica who will no doubt make us wonder why she exists. Unfortunately, I don’t really get Veronica as a character. On the surface, there’s the childhood relationship between her and Marlya. As explored through some flashbacks, it’s told through with words and scenes to make them look like close friends. But do we care? I’ll be honest because I don’t. It feels way too scripted that follows some sensational dialogues and face expressions. Somehow, the show seeks to make a memorable impression of this character relationship. When in reality, it missed the mark by a long shot.

In the present, we also meet characters like Free Underbar who partners with Marlya during their missions. Joining them in the Dorothea branch also includes Klara, Serge, Lily, Robert, Oz, Nein, Chima, and some doctor’s name I can’t remember. Oh right, Eleanor Need. Mind you, this is just one branch consisting of characters with given names. With such an oversaturated cast, most of them are left in the dust with little screen time compared to the main stars. It’s a shame because our main characters can’t carry the show at all with their uninspiring personalities. You can bet that none of the others can either.

Fairy gone more or less follows a war story with its themes. Director Kenichi Suzuki previously worked on titles such as Drifters. However, it’s definitely not charismatic as that show. To be fair, Fairy Gone losses its energy almost whenever a character opens their mouth. The dialogues sounds so scripted that I can’t imagine how much I can endure after every week. As time went on, even some of the fights begins to look scripted although it does manage to bounce back occasionally with its cinematic performances. At the very least, P.A. Works seems to have a tolerable budget to work with this anime given the overall animation quality. On the other hand, I do wish they stop overusing similar music every episode during the big fights. It makes it look more like an AMV than a fight at all.

This is a disaster. It’s a disappointing disaster considering what potential it had. When Fairy Gone was first advertised with its trailers, narratives, and key visuals, I was hoping to see another worthy show to join P.A. Works’ original lineup. Instead, forget about all that because this is one of those anime that failed with what potential it had. There, I just saved you many boobless hours.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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