Anime Hajime Review: Fairy Ranmaru

Original Run: April 8, 2021 - June 24, 2021
Number of Episodes: 12
Genre: Action, Fantasy, Magical Girl

***Warning, the following may contain spoilers for Fairy Ranmaru. Reader discretion is advised.***

Series Synopsis

The fairy realm exists off human attachment. However, recent developments have critically drained the once-abundant supply. To reverse this course, the five fairy clans send representatives to the human world:

• Ranmaru Ai (voiced by Shougo Sakata)
• Homura Hoterase (voiced by Kousuke Tanabe)
• Juka Mutsuoka (voiced by Taichi Kusano)
• Uruu Seiren (voiced by Yutaka Balleta)
• Takara Utashiro (voiced by Akihiro Hori)

This group sets up a base at Bar F, where instead of money, they accept the hearts of their customers. But as these fairies go about their mission, the truth behind their home’s current state becomes clearer and more sinister.  

Series Positives

This review will be short because Fairy Ranmaru’s most remarkable aspect was its unremarkableness. This series, in every sense, was a whole lot of nothing. Well, nothing except a waste of my time.

Fortunately, Fairy Ranmaru was not a slog to sit through. On the contrary, this show was over in no time. Granted, that had nothing to do with the story, the characters, or anything about this show being decent. Instead, everything was repetitive; you could easily skip half an episode and not lose track of the narrative’s progress.

Be that as it may, there were elements to Fairy Ranmaru that allowed it to be a curiosity. This is a series I can imagine people going out of their way to watch. Not because it’s good. This show strikes at specific interests, which we will cover momentarily.

As for something Fairy Ranmaru did well, it might surprise you to know that I can give this show praise.

The action in this series was not special. However, the action scene settings were. For some reason, unlike any other location in this show, these Fairy Worlds were visually interesting. I can’t even speculate why inspiration shone down and then limited itself to these scenes alone. Still, there was an impossible-not-to-notice uniqueness to them.

Nevertheless, these Fairy Worlds did nothing to nudge this show into the direction of being entertaining. After all, these scenes always came when this series was at its most rinse-and-repeat.

For a strange comparison, in the great state of Idaho (the one that looks like a giant finger pointing up to Canada), there is the Idaho Potato Museum. Should I ever get the chance to visit, you better believe I am going to buy out the entire gift shop. And yet, the fact of the matter remains – what the hell am I doing in Idaho? The same is true for Fairy Ranmaru.

And actually, no, that’s false; I have a dear friend who lives in Idaho. Therefore, I have more reason to visit the freaking Potato Museum than you have reason to watch this show. Or, that might be the case.

Fairy Ranmaru has the same appeal as anime with big-boobie girls – fanservice. Simply replace the reality-bending breast-physics with muscle-toned men in tight/revealing clothes who occasionally kiss each other.

Like I say about any other fanservice-heavy anime with a crap story and even worse characters: If that’s your thing, more power to you. Just know that is all you’re going to get out of this show.

Regardless, it doesn’t change how dull and forgettable Fairy Ranmaru is. At the end of the day, this was twelve episodes of nothing.

Series Negatives

 If I could only say one thing against Fairy Ranmaru, it would be this:

It felt lazy.

Initially, I was going to use the word “cheap,” but that didn’t feel appropriate. While this series did a ton of copy-and-pasting, its visuals weren’t awful to look at. Sadly, the more well-done a piece of animation was, the easier it was to notice when the show reused it.

I’m left wondering what Fairy Ranmaru’s target audience was.

This series was like a storage room filled with boxes. At first, it looks as though there is a lot. But once you start opening things up, you notice all the boxes are empty.

Many “So what’s” were in this show:

• There were five main fairy clans. So what?
• The clans didn’t really get along. So what?
• Fairies used human attachment to fuel their world. So what?
• Four of the five main characters disguised themselves as high schoolers. So what?
• There were ten unbreakable fairy laws. So what?
• The characters then frequently and openly broke said laws. So what?

And this went on and on for twelve episodes. Nothing about Fairy Ranmaru felt like it mattered, and even less went to telling anything resembling a cohesive narrative.

Fairy Ranmaru was too consequential to consider it to be a tongue-in-cheek play on the traditional magical-girl formula. However, it was also too silly to take it seriously. If this show was a parody, it missed the mark. And if it was a genuine attempt to tell a new story, it failed miserably.  

Getting any anime to air takes money and time. Fairy Ranmaru expended both but with nothing to show for it.

I could have spent this review talking about how this story was more hollow than a balloon or how this cast of characters was thinner than air. The thing is, though, Fairy Ranmaru wasn’t worth the effort. This was merely a poorly conceived and badly executed anime – no more, no less.

Final Thoughts

I know all shows can’t be winners, but I usually understand why a studio makes an attempt. I can’t say the same for this series, so please let me know in the comments below if you have an answer.

This show was a whole lot of nothing that occasionally had decent animation. However, more often than not: The story went nowhere, the characters were merely around to look pretty, and now that I think about it, I’m not sure there was a resolution to anything. This series came, went, and will most likely end in obscurity.

You can skip Fairy Ranmaru.

But these were just my thoughts. What are yours? Have you seen this series? How would you advise Fairy Ranmaru? Leave a comment down below because I would love to hear what you have to say.

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