Sugar Apple Fairy Tale

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

I feel really bad for shoujo manga and light novel fans. They hardly get any decent adaptations of recent properties and really have to either get into manga or settle for less then stellar works. But SAFT is really bad, to the point of being indefensible. Yes, Im talking about the slavery shit.

Its an unwritten rule in these types of fantasy shows that if for some reason there is slavery its very downplayed or the slavery feels nothing like real world slavery. However, SAFT goes out of its way to present slavery in a very realistic way with the fairies being an underclass, the property ... value that's assigned to it, the violence inflected against them, the way in which even decent humans can end up embodying the society's privileges when certain situations arise... Its uncomfortable. In a better show this would be fleshed upon and make for an interesting fantasy show about prejudices and societal hierarches. But here its played dead fucking straight with no meaningful commentary. To the point they just end up treating the situation as mundane, and inadvertency condones slavery through its carelessness.

While this show is not going to being back slavery, this is the kind of show that alienates communities and ethnicities that still feel the effects of slavery, specifically black anime fans. Yes, the fairies are not a one to one analogy for black slaves in the US but how are black fans supposed to feel safe and welcome when this show just shits on the system that they still feel the echo's of in their everyday life?

In conclusion, the anime community needs to be harsher on these kind of shows. This kind of explicit depiction of slavery while not challenging the system it presents shouldn't be expected. And for the anime industry, we deserve better shoujo then this. There is no shortage of great fantasy shoujo out there, and the market is ready for it. But do better.

2/10

"Shallow" doesn't even begin to describe how unbelievable cringe this show is. Anne states that "the thought of marriage...living as someone's wife...I want to live my own life!" A solid two and a half minutes later, she basically falls in love at first sight. Hey, don't worry, we're just going to insert some insanely hot guy as a slave for an adolescent girl that's attracted to him. The premise around the fantasy setting around fairies and them being enslaved by humans is used only for an excuse for Anne to eventually own a hot guy elf slave for the romance.

I get that this show isn't ... actually trying to analyze the morality of slaves, war, and human nature and it just wants to get away with some soppy romance/generic fantasy story, but still. Anne is supposed to be a "strong, independent, woman," yet the first thing she does is purchase an elf slave (a practice she apparently hates) to protect and escort her. She even pays the slave trader to fuel the industry even more. Seems kind of like the show throws any reason out the door.

This anime has, BY FAR, one of the worst endings I have ever come across in an anime. It is so utterly disgusting and stupid and annoying that it completely rewrites my opinion of the anime as a whole.

They should’ve just ended it with the duke’s confection and called it a day or just completely redid the ending. Now I’m not one for this type of anime but I actually would rate it at an 8 or maybe even 9 up until the last like 15 seconds of the anime.

You could totally see it coming but up until those last 15 seconds you ... still hoped it wouldn’t end that way and then it does end that way and rather abruptly at that. Whoever thought this was a good idea for an ending seriously needs to get slapped in the face. If you’re not one for atrocious, garbage, horrible endings DO NOT watch the last episode… Or do and wish you hadn’t…

Sugar Apple Slavery Tale purposefully presents an idiotic female protagonist to absolve her of deplorable actions, primarily: Buying a slave. The plot is an excuse for a romance between an edgy bishounen fairy and the self-insert lead. However, Sugar Apple possesses a lot of self-awareness. The show makes an effort to frame slavery as an evil act, and that our heroine is only doing this because she absolutely must—that she definitely wants to treat him well and free him (eventually). Her artificially good natured personality feels like an act, and her moe character design seems engineered to manipulate your expectations. She’s not a bad person, ... she’s just ordering her slave because that’s what the rules say! It’s similar to when a person acts overly nice to you, but they’re secretly writing an anime about a cute slave owner.

At the very least, it's intriguing from a meta level! Seeing the writers struggle to evade criticism provides entertainment. On the bright side, the series looks and sounds good so far. J.C. Staff are working within their limits, which means minimal animation to maintain consistent art quality. The water-color background art, expressive character designs, and vibrant colors are really all it needs. On the music side, it’s solid as well. Good OP and relaxing ED. The composer’s use of chimes for transitions and magic effects really suits the fairy tale aesthetic. If you're immune to slavery apologia, this could make for an entertaining and relaxing watch.

Shoujo is a genre deserving more recognition, this is not the way to do it. From the outside, this apple looks beautiful, but peel back the skin and it is rotten to the core.