Grimm Kumikyoku

I haven't read the original works for the same. You might have mixed feelings while watching the anime if you have done so.

Episode 1: Cinderella - The best one for sure. It keeps you hooked up till the end. Stories like these you don't see often. 10/10 for sure.

Episode 2: Little Red Riding Hood - Worst one of all six and waste of time. There was no actual story. 6/10

Episode 3: Hansel & Gretel — If you have read TPN manga, you will feel like watching some downgrade version of it in a parallel universe. It is still watchable and interesting. 7.5/10

Episode 4: The elves ... and the shoemaker — I think that this episode is a great find. Fulfilling and entertaining. Ending felt unfinished due to some vague scenes at the end. Still a solid 9.5/10

Episode 5: The town musicians of Bremen — Orthodox anime story but a perfect one. 8/10 for sure.

Episode 6: The pied piper of Hamelin - Again a downgrade from the previous episode. Strange ending. 7/10

Abstract; Best to Worst
1>4>5>3>6>2

PS: BGM is perfect and animation is top notch.

I watched this when I was sick and was looking for something to watch on Netflix. This was probably the driest anime I've seen in 2024.

The anime is a retelling of various Grimm fairy tales, which is an interesting idea, but it was so poorly done. It was already clear from the beginning that it wouldn't be a big hit.

The stories they chose at the beginning were okay (Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Hansel and Gretel) but after that there were some that I didn't know existed. Most of the stories were retelled in a very similar way or they added a random twist and ... that was the special thing about the story. In addition to the Grimm fairy tales, there are two guys and a little girl, who we don't know anything about, but they also appear in a few stories and you just wonder why, but there is no answer.

The fairytale collections of the Brothers Grimm, yassified for the modern audience of anime fans to whom the aesthetics of "anime" have become a selling point far greater than any adherence to authenticity.

Each episode starts with a short framing device depicting handsome anime hunk versions of the Grimm Brothers, the 17th century German scholars that they are, because of course, about to tell their sister one of the stories. This then leads to the episode proper.
The stories themselves are loosely based, although they're anything but, on their respective fairy tales; although, vaguely reminiscent would be a much more fitting way to describe their relation to ... the original tales.

#1 Cinderella
Set in early 20th century Japan with "Cinderella" as the villain of the story, a generic spooky anime girl. It's pretty lame.

#2 Little Red Riding Hood
A futuristic cyberpunk murder thriller whose relation to the original story is a mere reference to it, which merely exists as a known tale in this world the same as ours. Like a futuristic American Psycho but edgy, lame and lacking any greater meaning.

#3 Hansel and Gretel.
This one just takes the framework of Hansel and Gretel and reworks it into what is essentially just Promised Neverland.

#4 The Elves and the Shoemaker
There are no elves, just a strange little girl; the ending is radically different, to the point of completely reversing the moral of the original story; and it's about a modern day author, instead of a shoemaker.

#5 Town Musicians of Bremen
This one's basically just the original story told as a human western; which works quite well, as the original story is basically the plot of every other western already: A stranger comes into town and ends up taking care of the ruffians terrorizing it. Yojimbo style. And funnily enough, not the first loose anime adaptation of this story either.

#6 Pied Piper of Hamelin
Story about a teacher wanting to fuck his student, who're living in an isolated cult-town. There is a piper, but she doesn't really perform the same role. It's weird, dark, and arguably fucked up, but so are many of the folktale classics. Though it's similarity to the Pied Piper of Hamelin is pretty much just in the time and setting, I like this one the most, as it feels most like an old fairy tale, rather than a sci-fi anime...
Or so I would've liked to have felt, but the final scene, and I mean literally the last 30 seconds or so, completely ruins that feeling.

It's still the best one, or maybe #5, mind you they're neither good, just the least bad. #2 is complete and utter garbage, the others are just rather forgettable; though perhaps that'll be the case for the whole series in about a week's time.