Fairy Gone – 13

OP Sequence

OP: 「STILL STANDING」by (K)NoW_NAME

「雨音の罪と白雪の罰」 (Ameon no tsumi to shiro yuki no bachi)
“Rain Sound’s Crime and White Snow’s Punishment”

With fall chocked full of sequels and isekai (especially isekai *something something current zeitgeist*) it would be easy to forget Fairy Gone is also back for more, but here we are returning to P.A. Works’ latest (and less than successful) foray into anime original territory. I’m sure quite a few haven’t really paid this one any mind after it abruptly ended over a season ago, but there’s always a chance for redemption and nothing says a fresh start cannot bring about some improvement. And yes, if you don’t want to be spoiled I firmly recommend watching the first season before reading on.

For anyone who’s forgotten the gist of Fairy Gone in the preceding months (and to be fair it’s been pretty easy to), we have a part of fantasy world recently united through war under an emperor which is now experiencing some, shall we say, less than desirable moves on the part of certain empowered lieutenants to the throne. The selling feature of course is that power in Fairy Gone is largely contained in the form of fairies, ethereal creatures capable of bestowing Stands great powers into those they inhabit/merge with, and after the unification war fairies and fairy technology was monopolized under force of law by the ruling government under an agency called Dorothea.

Last time we left off Schwartz Diese’s assassination attempt of the emperor was thwarted by Ray Dawn, and our main girl Marlya (Ichinose Kana) was largely left halfway between the happiness of friends and despair of still lacking meaning in the events of her life. It’s somewhat fitting then that this episode is all flashback, covering a lot of what we previously knew, but also filling in some of the previous blanks. We know now for example that Suna is slightly more important than originally apparent, being one of a handful of villages harbouring fairies which guardians (of which Marlya’s father was one) help protect. Ray Dawn’s father likewise was a guardian, and it was Ray’s brother who cared for Marlya when she was little. The big reveal though was Ray destroying the village purely to eliminate a potential threat—and also going further by killing every inhabitant. This development of course is in line with the show suggesting Ray being the true villain of the story (a la Veronica’s vendetta), but whether he actually becomes that form of enemy is a lingering caveat. There are a huge number of moving pieces left to explore in Fairy Gone, and until we see what the next (mini) arc will focus on, it’s anyone’s guess just who—or what—the puppet master will ultimately be.

With a whole season to get through and a main story still waiting for its grand reveal, Fairy Gone has everything required to show what it’s made of. The doubt may be real and the first season an undeniable dud, but after such a start there’s nowhere to go for this one but up.

 

ED Sequence

ED: 「STAY GOLD」by (K)NoW_NAME

Preview