Alternative TitlesEnglish: The Snow Queen Synonyms: Yuki no Jo-Oh Japanese: 雪の女王
Information
Type: TV
Episodes: 36
Status: Finished Airing
Aired: May 22, 2005 to Feb 12, 2006
Duration:
20 min. per episode Rating:
PG - Children
L represents licensing company
StatisticsScore: 7.311 (scored by 220 users)
Ranked: #19372
Popularity: #3712
Members: 1,337
Favorites: 4 1 indicates a weighted score
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SynopsisBased on the children's story by Hans Christian Andersen.
Gerda and Kai have been neighbors and best friends since childhood. Gerda is eleven, Kai twelve. They were happy children who worked and played as they should. All that changed when the Snow Queen's mirror broke. The shards spread all through the world, each containing evil. If a shard went inside your eye, it would turn your heart to ice. A shard went into Kai's eye. After that, he grew cold to those he loved.
One night, the Snow Queen came in her carriage and took Kai back to her ice castle at the farthest north point of the world. Everyone in Kai and Gerda's village didn't know where he went and believed he died from drowning in the frozen-over lake. Gerda doesn't believe this, for she dreamed of seeing Kai enter the carriage. When a drunk man admits that he also saw this, Gerda starts realizing that maybe what she saw wasn't a dream. She packs her things and goes on a journey to save Kai and bring him back home.
(Source: Wikipedia) |
Characters & Voice Actors
Staff
Reviews
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Mimi_Taylor
10 of 13 people found this review helpful
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36 of 36 episodes seen
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| Overall |
8 |
| Story |
8 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Character |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
Who didn’t love fairy tales when they were a child? Most of us are probably familiar with stories written by Hans Christian Anderson, such as The Little Mermaid and Thumbelina, among many other titles, thanks to Walt Disney. Only a handful of them have been adapted into anime, the most recent one being The Snow Queen (2005). I wasn’t entirely familiar with the story, so I decided to check it out, despite the odds of the last 13 episodes ever getting English subs.
Assuming that you read the detailed synopsis, the series is mostly a collection of short stories. While searching for her best friend, Gerda meets many different kinds of people along the way: suffering families, famous travelers, kings, warriors, witches, and other fantastical creatures. Being such a strong, kind-hearted girl, she always seeks to help them out with their troubles. Nothing too important happens for a while, so if you like things to move quickly, you’re going to need a lot of patience. Later on, Gerda teams up with a mysterious minstrel named Ragi, and his animal companions, a monkey and a wolf. Their friendship, which develops through many crazy experiences, is my favorite aspect of this fairy tale. And what is Kay doing this entire time? Oh, he’s just playing around in the castle, getting spoiled by the Snow Queen, and giving the trolls a hard time!
What’s wonderful about the individual stories is that they’re so heart-warming, adventurous, and filled with charming characters. They make you feel like a kid all over again. Meanwhile, the Snow Queen’s mysterious aura and her enemies really draw you into the classic tale of good vs. evil, complimented by a majestic soundtrack and a beautiful, yet harsh wintry setting. It gets very interesting at episodes 23, 26, 27, and 33-36, which are well worth your patience to see. Trust me, the finale is ACTION-PACKED! Unfortunately, they’re not subbed in English yet, but the action is enough to understand what’s happening in general.
The Snow Queen might be a very famous fairy tale in literature, but the anime is a hidden gem that deserves more attention. It truly has a great premise, and the main characters are extremely likeable and well-developed. As far as children’s anime are concerned, it is one of the best I’ve seen, as well as being an excellent adaptation. Anyone who likes Studio Ghibli’s works, Princess Tutu, and fairy tales in general should give this gem a chance. read more
Recommendations
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Snow Queen is an anime adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale, ahem, well this particular fairy tale should probably be a little familiar to most of you...
The young girl, Gerda, is a witness to her beloved childhood friend, Kai's, disappearance so she sets out on a journey to rescue him and with very little assistance most of the time. She oftentimes succeeds based on the power of will and determination alone. Only a few other characters in her journey believe in her story, and the very few whom acknowledge the Snow Queen's actual existence are able to give her more clues where to go next. The story revolves around good, evil, happiness, sadness, life, death, cruelty, hope, finding love and compassion. Sooo...if that doesn't sound like the makings of a wonderful story then when else can I say? Also, if you don't think that sounds a little bit similar to Monster's plot then what else can I say? There are also characters in Snow Queen the anime that share the same names as a few of the characters in Monster (i.e. a little girl named Johanne, her mother named Nina, and her father named Karl).
Oooh, seriously, I can't stress enough how both shows have astounding art and rather accurately drawn settings: Monster is set in Czechoslovakia/Germany and Snow Queen is set in and around Germany/Denmark (I think?). You will also notice the art style used in Snow Queen is very whimsical and at times when circumstances are no longer sweet and innocent it can be a little jarring. It is almost as if Franz Bonaparta's storybook characters would be right at home in this kind of atmosphere...yeah, try to ignore that I'm intentionally creating nightmarefuel, okay?
You should expect, however, that Snow Queen is NOT nearly the kind of demented fairy tale à la Monster storybooks, then again it is NOT quite as innocent a children's fairy tale à la Disney movie (perhaps with the exception of the tragic Disney short film "The Little Match Girl." "Pinocchio," also, feels a little similar at times to "Snow Queen.") One more thing, Snow Queen has only been subbed in English up to episode 23 and is very slowly being subbed, unfortunately, but I still recommend whole heartedly that you check it out if you liked Monster or vice versa. Both shows get a 10/10 from me!
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Love fairy tales? Princess Tutu and Snow Queen both have a classic good vs. evil plot, a collection of short stories, orchestra music, and a main female lead who desires to save a boy from the clutches of evil. They also share the same magical elements, such as talking animals, fantastical creatures, and magical powers. Snow Queen is very adventurous, while Princess Tutu is more of a ballet school/romance setting, but they have a similar atmosphere. Definitely check one out if you enjoyed the other~
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Opening Theme"Snow Diamond" by Mariko Chisumi
Ending Theme"Daisuki na kimi ni" by Kazumasa Oda
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