But that's all extra. The way this story starts is with Tamahiko, a disabled boy, cast away by his family and sent to live in seclusion. Feeling worthless, hopeless, ready to give up and die, he finds himself visited by yet another unfortunate soul—a young girl, sold to pay off her family's debts. In an offhanded gesture of familial obligation, Tamahiko's father purchased the girl—Yuzu—to look after his disabled son as his promised bride.
Both of these characters have every reason to give in to despair, but Yuzu, in spite of being sold for money and promised to someone she has never met, chooses to make the best of it. She treats Tamahiko with all the warmth she can muster, tending to his every need even when his depression-fugue and disability render him largely useless.
This is the first notable event in the anime, and it starts a chain-reaction of kindness and generosity that improves the lives of everyone this unlikely pair come in contact with. Everywhere in the show you will see people turning from hopelessness and grief toward productiveness and joy, all of this change stemming from that first act of unconditional love.
I've seen some claim that this anime is pandering to a particular group of people who have an obsession with seeing a capable female character look after a passive, depressive male, and while I can't deny that's what it looks like in the first six episodes or so, Tamahiko grows so much by the end of the story that he is no longer that character. And that, for me, is where Taishou Maiden Fairytale separates itself from the rest. This isn't just an anime about two people getting affectionate with each other. It isn't just a show about a strong woman taking care of a helpless man. It's about the infectious nature of kindness—how one act of love begets another, and how we should push ourselves to do more good, not less, in moments when we are lost and afraid.
There is some fair criticism to be lobbied against the show's art and animation, but those who damn it for this singular shortcoming are like those who would miss out on befriending a warm, kind, and generous individual just because the individual in question is wearing an ugly sweater. I beg you: please don't be like that.
