Fall Anime Impressions – Hakushaku to Yousei (Earl and Fairy)

I believe this was one of the first of the season’s anime to air and one of the last to get fansubbed. That probably means something, but I don’t know what. This is another shoujo show but I enjoyed Skip Beat so I popped this one in with only a little trepidation.

Rating: 9/12 A-

Earl and Fairy showed it’s shoujo roots more then Skip Beat during this first episode. The gratuitous amount of eye and smile sparkly pron was absurd but wasn’t enough to really dampen my enjoyment of the episode.

The story takes place in the England during the 19th century. We are introduced to a young woman that has the ability to see fairies and she lives as a fairy doctor, a person that helps people with their fairy problems. This being the enlightened 19th century, not many people actually believe in fairies so she doesn’t get much work. She is on her way to London when she is tricked into following a devilishly handsome aristocrat. This aristocrat claims to be a descendent of the Earl that’s in charge of the fairy nation but needs a special sword to prove it so he needs her help to find it.

Before I go on, I should admit to something – I’ve seen A&E’s 5 hour version of Pride and Prejudice at least four times now and needless to say, really enjoy it. Therefore, I conclude that I might have a weakness to shows that take place during this time period. If that’s the case, your mileage my vary with this title but I found myself being drawn into the world and becoming interested with the characters. Also helping my enjoyment of the show was the talking cat, though I was a little disappointed that the cat didn’t sound like Cary Elwes (The Cat Returns, Princess Bride).