Bottle Fairy 5/10

I can handle a series about the adventures of little fairy girls once every year. The last one was Risky Safety, the year before was Sugar, and the year before that was AMG Mini-Goddesses. Now this year's offering is Bottle Fairy. Does the saccharine sweetness of Bottle Fairy stand up to it's predecessors? Read on.

Being a new show (2003) it's got all the bells and whistles one has come to expect from anime these days. Scanned and computer coloured art, consistent animation, nice backgrounds, and pretty standard music throughout the 13, 15 min. episodes. The VA's are pretty much standard as well except for the the annoying girl next door who's voice makes my neighbours' dog howl. The only thing that really stands out in this show is the kinda catchy OP theme and the artwork during the end credits that changes with each episode. As for the style of the show I liked it OK but I'm not a fan of the eyes without pupils. Other shows usually reserve that look for characters that have died so I sometimes see one of the fairies and wonder if the creators wish their creations were dead. Probably not.

This series is about 4 little fairies that came from/live in bottles with this dude they call Senseisan (Mr. Teacher). The show doesn't really setup the situation much but the deal is that the fairies are there to learn about being human and living in the human world. This is unlike traditional European fairy stories where fairies capture humans that stumble into rings of toadstools and eat/have sex with them. Not necessarily in that order. The show is split into 13, 12 minute episodes, one for each month and a final episode where the story finishes up.

The episodes tend to follow roughly the same format; Senseisan goes off to do something human and appropriate for the month the episode is occurring in, the fairies misunderstand what it is he's doing or get an insane explanation from the little girl next store, they act out or do whatever Senseisan has gone off to do in their own way with mildly humorous results. The fairies are kinda dim with them following some standard stereotypes. There's an excitable one, a tomboy one, a stupid one, and a cultured one. They don't fight with each other but they each have a different take on whatever it is they're doing because of their differing personalities. It reminds me a little of Muppet Babies with their vivid imaginations.

I didn't mind this show but it's not as funny as I would normally like. However I DID like the final episode which has a bit of a twist and is funnier than the rest. This show IS rather informative though since it teaches the viewer about Japanese culture and annual traditions in a unique way. Recommended if you want somewhat a silly presentation of information about Japanese culture or like little fairies.