Sugar Apple Fairy Tale

In the kingdom of Highland, fairies lived freely until humans betrayed them. Once a fairy has been stripped of a wing, whoever possesses it holds the fairy's life in their hands. Taking advantage of this, humans enslaved fairies, but 15-year-old Ann Halford longs to see the day when fairies and humans are treated as equals.

The aspiring confectioner dreams of becoming a Silver Sugar Master just like her late mother. In order to achieve this lofty goal, Ann sets out for the capital of Lewiston, home to the annual Royal Candy Fair. However, to be bestowed the elusive title, Ann's confection crafted from silver sugar must be recognized with a royal medal at the event.

Ann hires a sharp-tongued warrior fairy, Shall Fen Shall, to be her bodyguard for the perilous journey ahead. After saving him from his cruel fairy trader, she promises to return Shall's wing to him once they reach the capital, much to his confusion. But as the pair travel further along, the time they spend together grows, and they learn more about each other and their true desires.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Shall Fen Shall Main

Mizunaka, Masaaki Japanese

Halford, Ann Main

Nukui, Yuka Japanese

Mythrill Rid Pod Supporting

Takahashi, Rie Japanese

Hingley, Alph Supporting

Terashima, Takuma Japanese

Benjamin Supporting

Suzuki, Minori Japanese

Powell, Keith Supporting

Uemura, Yuuto Japanese

Mercury, Hugh Supporting

Maeno, Tomoaki Japanese

Anders, Jonas Supporting

Kawashima, Reiji Japanese

Cathy Supporting

Yamane, Aya Japanese

Dale Supporting

Ichikawa, Aoi Japanese

Matsukura, Yuuji Producer

Ogura, Rie Producer

Matsui, Yuuko Producer

Takahashi, Kanako Producer

Reviews

Apr 1, 2023

todorokoo

Recommended

I have arrived in defense of one of my favorite releases of the season. Sugar Apple Fairy Tale is dramatic, angsty, beautiful and SO shoujo.

As someone who is a massive shoujo consumer, be it in manga or anime form, I can with confidence say that it has been a while since we got a shoujo adaptation that had a big budget and where the studio didn't seem to give up on it halfway through the season. This is a massive plus in my book because shoujo deserves GOOD adaptations as much the shounen and seinen demographic (don't even get me started on josei because we ... live in the trenches).

The story of Sugar Apple Fairy Tale is very dramatic but at the same time also very slice of life. Personally, I think that they balanced these two very well. There are some extremely annoying characters in this (Bridget, I hate you so bad), but also some very lovely characters. Our MC Ann is a flawed protagonist; she's a hypocrite at times, she's idealistic and she's very stubborn. These characteristics, however, are what make her interesting and multidimensional. We still have a lot to learn about Shall, as of now he's mostly a mystery to both the audience and Ann. I'm excited to see more of him in July. The side characters are less developed, but they all have their own quirks and motivations that we slowly see throughout the season. Mythrill Lid Pod might have been my favorite character of this series, his presence is delightful, and he brings lots of happiness to the show.

The art and color palette are beautiful. The animation is smooth, and it is one of the best we have had for shoujo in recent years, J.C. Staff did an excellent job.

Certain aspects of this show, such the slavery, are for sure problematic. Nevertheless, there's also commentary on these topics and they aren't just brushed off and never brought up again. Most characters are very flawed and the villains are sometimes just too corny. I do like how the story touches on e.g. sexism and misogyny, even if it is a fantasy setting.

[SPOILERS FOR EP 12] The finale was definitely bittersweet, I may or may not have shed a few tears. This just shows that I have grown to really love Ann and Shall these past few months. I'm going to be honest, if this show didn't receive a 2nd cour it would have affected my opinions on it a lot. For now, I'm hopeful and look forward to their reunion. Based on what we have seen from Ann we can definitely expect her to not give up on Shall!

Overall: I can 100% recommend this to fellow shoujo & josei fans and if you are new to the demographic, I hope you can watch this without bias. I'm so happy that the shoujo demographic has received a worthy adaptation, and I can't wait for the return of this show!

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by todorokoo (3)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Mar 24, 2023

Mcsuper

Mixed Feelings

This show was a colourful and vibrant fantasy that had some good ideas, but also showed us another shoujo series where the romance just isn’t all that interesting. Sure, I could go for the low-hanging fruit and criticize the slavery themes, or the age gap in the romance, but I’m not going to focus on that. Instead, I want to highlight how modern shoujo anime follow a very similar formula that just isn’t all that engaging.

Granted, I’m not very familiar with shoujo anime, so if you disagree with what I say, feel free to enlighten me on the subject, but from the ones I have ... seen, there’s always a somewhat ditzy female protagonist, who ends up liking a “pretty-looking” male protagonist. Now, I get the aim of shoujo anime is to get us to “squee” when there’s a bit of fan service, but sometimes, I feel that the fan service is quite over-done, to the point where it just detracts from the fantasy elements and world building that the time could have been used to do instead.

Another problem that it has is incredibly shallow villains, whose very existence is just to trip the protagonist up with no real substantial reason whatsoever. For example, in this show, for anyone who has watched it, knows that Jonas is a very hated character by many. The reason why he became the antagonist was so dumb and shallow, which only made it worse. The other villains just don’t have motives other than being discriminatory or rude for no apparent reason other than sexism.

The other problem I find with modern shoujo anime is the contrived misunderstandings, as many of times, the “drama” revolves around the protagonist seeing their love interest in an “out-of-context” situation, and get down in the dumps because of that, even though they have no idea what is going on. It just doesn’t feel like drama that goes anywhere, rather, it gets solved quickly, and doesn’t feel fulfilling when it inevitably gets solved. This show has these issues as well.

With the problems out of the way, I also found this show to be quite rich in world-building and creative in some ways, with building sugar confections as the main theme. Ann Halford, the main protagonist, strives to be a silver sugar master, like her late mother, and seeing her improve her craft and believe in herself while facing hurdles was nice to see. The backgrounds and colour palettes really give a sense of a fantasy atmosphere, and it had some beautiful shots. Some of the animation was a bit limited, but it didn’t take away from the plot. Overall, the production was not bad at all. I do wish the soundtrack was a bit more noticeable though.

There were some questionable themes around slavery that I must mention, but I won’t dwell on it. In this kingdom, for many years, humans enslaved fairies by keeping one of their wings. The other main protagonist, Shall Fen Shall, is a warrior fairy, and gets bought by Ann to be her bodyguard. As you can expect, there were some romantic developments as well. I’m glad the slavery aspect became less of a theme as we went along, and it was more of a fantasy/adventure show more than anything else.

Overall, there were some highs and lows, with the animation and world building being the highs, and the characters being a bit of a weak part, especially the antagonists. It’s as sweet as its namesake, but my only wish is that future shoujo anime get a little more creative with how the drama unfolds.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by Mcsuper (114)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Jul 10, 2023

Rift_Warden

Not Recommended

Funny

To say that the ending ruined the whole show is an understatement... This is a show of suffering. It should be called Sugar Apple Fairy Hell

The show sells itself as quite a laid back and feel good anime, but at the end, I feel everything but this. I'm writing the review because it was a bitter ending, not sweet in the slightest, nor warranted.

To start, characters who had committed irreperable deeds had been kept relevant throughout the show. There were constant feelings throughout of revenge and vengeance, but by the very people who were the perpetrators. Even the MC, who had suffered throughout the show, ... never showed signs of revenge, and if they were even slightly sane, probably a few annoying characters might be dead or in jail.

The main character is extremely spineless when it comes to others, she battles to save them from simple situations, yet when she is in peril herself, overcomes insane feats, (maybe because she has the support of many and can't do anything alone)

Anyways, the show has some nice points throughout, but one would expect it to mainly leave people feeling bitter

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by Rift_Warden (1)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Nonschool/Adult Romances

by Majoux

50 Entries · 821 Restacks

pretty men ♡

by mayoise

14 Entries · 3 Restacks

Comfort Romances

by beelyfreely

11 Entries · 17 Restacks

'Sugar Apple Fairy Tale' Second Part Airs in Summer 2023

The 12th and final episode of the television anime adapting Miri Mikawa's Sugar Apple Fairy Tale light novel announced on Friday that the second part is set to ...read more

Mar 24, 2023 9:18 AM by Hyperion_PS | Discuss (5 comments)

Winter 2023 Simulcast List [Update 1/26]

In this thread, you'll find a comprehensive list of television anime acquired for simulcast release during the Winter 2023 season. Anime series licensed for hom...read more

Dec 30, 2022 12:58 PM by Snow | Discuss (51 comments)

	Poll: Sugar Apple Fairy Tale Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) Stark700 - Jan 6, 2023	127 replies	by sunshine_inpiece »» Mar 29, 6:27 AM
	Unpopular opinion: I’m gonna defend Bridget >3 AngelMilky_15 - Jul 17, 2023	14 replies	by zaverix »» Mar 5, 7:16 AM
	Poll: Sugar Apple Fairy Tale Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) Stark700 - Mar 24, 2023	166 replies	by WanderingGoddess »» Jan 29, 11:39 AM
	Poll: Sugar Apple Fairy Tale Episode 11 Discussion Stark700 - Mar 17, 2023	46 replies	by Beweya »» Dec 6, 2023 10:59 PM
	Poll: Sugar Apple Fairy Tale Episode 4 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Zaxphred - Jan 27, 2023	87 replies	by CarbonMD »» Dec 5, 2023 7:17 PM