Fairy Tail may be a classic anime involving magic and adventure, but even with its namesake, it doesn’t exactly exude the classic, vintage, nostalgic, or even magical feel as compared to these other series involving the more classical sense of fairy tales. The addition of these little stories within the overarching story of the anime gives a more whimsical experience and often more diverse forms of artistic expression, such as different style choices that give a more textured, tactile contrast to the bright, clean animation.
Although they can be seen as simplistic and puerile for those thinking they have more mature palates, children’s fairytales are often more than they appear, especially some of the more traditional or classic tales. Often having darker existential horror or including mature lessons that even adults can shudder and ponder at, these folklore and fables bring an air of mystery and whimsicality to not just the real world, but also to the worlds within these anime.
Fruits Basket: “The Most Foolish Traveler in the World”
The tale is about a traveler who is deemed foolish because he seems naïve and gullible. Every person he meets, taking advantage of his kind, charitable nature, takes everything the traveler has through their guile and lies eventually leaving him without even clothes on his back. Continuing his journey through the forest, he meets monsters who also try to take what they can from him, which is his body they wish to devour, requesting limbs and parts until the traveler is nothing but a head. The last thing he gives are his eyes to a monster who gobbles them up. As a show of “gratitude”, the monster leaves him with a “present”, a slip of paper calling the traveler an idiot. Even then, the traveler is still grateful for the only gift he’d ever received.
Alongside the main storyline of Fruits Basket including the tale explaining the Chinese Zodiac, “The Great Race”, Momiji Sohma, the Rabbit within the family of Zodiac characters, recalls the tale of “The Most Foolish Traveler in the World”. The main characters, Yuki and Kyo Sohma, contemplate whether the traveler in Momiji’s story was truly stupid. But when they think of the traveler, the character reminds them of their dear selfless, generous, and kind-hearted friend, Tohru.
The 2019 remake of Fruits Basket can be streamed on Hulu and Crunchyroll.
Monster: “The Nameless Monster”
This tale is about a nameless monster who desperately wishes to have a name of his own. One by one, the monster convinces citizens to allow him to inhabit their bodies and names in return for superhuman strength. But, one by one, the monster ends up devouring his hosts and creating a cycle of receiving and losing others’ names, eventually coming to inhabit the existence of the prince who inevitably ate the entire kingdom’s population. Although with the prince’s body and name, the monster was left with no one to call him by the name he’d finally settled on.
Part of the plot in Monster revolves around uncovering the mystery behind author Franz Bonaparta and his children’s stories. While there are actually a few fables featured in the series such as “The Person with the Big Eyes and the Person with the Big Mouth” and “The God of Peace”, one story in particular is closely tied to the overarching plot: “The Nameless Monster”. The tale creates a uniquely unsettling folklore surrounding the similarly unnerving antagonist that the main character, Dr. Kenzō Tenma, must track down on his journey to prevent others from becoming victims of this elusive, monstrous adversary.
Monster can be streamed on Netflix.
Princess Tutu: “The Prince and the Raven”
“Once upon a time, there was a man who died… The last story he was working on was about a brave and handsome prince who vanquishes a crafty raven. But now it seems their battle will go on for eternity… The prince took out his own heart and sealed the raven away by using a forbidden power… Thus sealed, the raven troubled them no more, but the prince’s heart was shattered and the shards scattered all over town… The prince lost his kindness toward other people and even his memories of having fought bravely. Meanwhile… the shards of the prince’s heart sought places to settle and found their way into people’s hearts which had a void in them. Among those possessed by the shards were some who ended up making their own tales go awry.”
While there are a myriad of fables and fairytales dispersed throughout the series from various media folklore, ballet, literature, and opera, the tale of “The Prince and the Raven” creates the core story behind Princess Tutu. As the last story Drosselmeyer was working on when he died, the story sets the scene for the continuation of where the tale left off, revealing more characters such as Princess Tutu herself and Fakir as the Prince’s Knight.
Princess Tutu can be streamed on Prime Video.
Lonely Castle in the Mirror: “The Wolf and the Seven Young Goats”
Kokoro Anzai was a student at Yukishina Junior High School until she began avoiding going. Now attending a child development support class, she otherwise self-isolates at home. But when the mirror in her bedroom opens a doorway, she’s transported to a fantastical castle where she meets the self-proclaimed Wolf Queen, a little masked girl, and six other kids. Dubbing them Little Red Riding Hoods, the Wolf Queen gives them the task of finding a key hidden within the castle that will grant one of them a single wish along with a few stipulations. At first, the seven simply use the castle as a sanctuary and develop friendships amongst each other, but they begin putting the pieces together as to each of their deeply personal reasons for skipping the same school.
“The Wolf and the Seven Young Goats” is an actual fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm and published in Grimm’s Fairy Tales. The tale is about a mother goat who temporarily leaves her seven kids at home warning them to be wary of the sly wolf who may try to gobble them up, similar to the Wolf Queen’s warning for the seven children to follow the rules lest they be eaten by a wolf. Kokoro is able to solve the castle’s mystery when she notices the depiction of the fairy tale.
Lonely Castle in the Mirror doesn’t currently have a subscription streaming home in the US, but can be rented or purchased on Google Play, Apple TV, Amazon, and YouTube.
[RELATED: Netflix’s The Grimm Variations Anime Announced]
Raven of the Inner Palace: “The Summer King and the Winter King”
Told through visuals resembling Chinese shadow puppetry, “The Summer King and the Winter King” is admittedly depicted as more of a historical record. With its mythological and folkloric ties, the story still makes for a unique explanatory tale to the overarching plot. When emperor Ka Koshun expresses that he pities the Raven Consort Ryuu Jusetsu for being unfairly hidden away, she retrieves the historical record containing the story of the Summer and Winter Kings. With the truth revealed, Ka Koshun promises to treat Ryuu Jusetsu as his equal as the Winter King.
The tale tells of how the goddess Niao Lian came to establish the kingdom where the King of Summer and King of Winter ruled in tandem. War eventually broke out when Song the Summer King murdered Sui the Winter King. Many a Summer King continued the lineage, but the place of the Winter King remained vacant. That is until a general named Luan Xi and a young girl chosen as the Winter King, Xiang Qiang, were able to bring the war to a close with Luan Xi ascending to the throne. With the conundrum of fearing war breaking out again with two Kings and that either King cannot exist without the other, Luan Xi hid Xiang Qiang away in the inner palace, giving her the title of Raven Consort.
Raven of the Inner Palace can be streamed on Crunchyroll.
Darling in the Franxx: “The Beast and the Prince”
The story of “The Beast and the Prince” tells about the wishes of a beast princess to become human so she could be united with her princely human love. While a witch grants her wish and the princess thinks she’s obtained her happily ever after, the princess eventually succumbs to the magic turning from a blessing into a curse as she herself begins turning into a horrible monster. Pleading for the witch to stop the curse, the witch gives her two options: either suffer the consequences and turn into a monster, or kill the prince and be spared from the torment by returning to her original beast form. The princess, wanting to spare her beloved prince, fled, fated to succumb to her curse and never to be seen by her beloved again.
“The Beast and the Prince” depicts the divide between a human and a beast in love, much like the main characters, Hiro as a human and Zero Two as a human-Klaxosaur hybrid. While their peers fear Zero Two as a monster, Hiro falls in love with her and she with him, the two unknowingly having once met before to share the tale and promise to be together. Later reuniting and falling for each other for a second time, the two decide to rewrite the fairy tale to have a happier ending.
Darling in the Franxx can be streamed on Crunchyroll.
Re:Zero: “The Red Oni Who Cried”
As the word for the characters in this story is often translated to ogre, the more precise term is oni (demon). Re:Zero has created close ties with the tale through the twin pink and blue oni characters Rem and Ram. Despised by the other oni, the twins were each born bearing a single horn instead of the typical pair. Although such twins are usually culled, Rem and Ram were allowed to live with only each other as friends. Wanting to impart some of the stories from his homeland, Natsuki Subaru suggests recounting the tale of “The Red Ogre Who Cried” to Ram.
Subaru recounts the tale about a Red Ogre and a Blue Ogre who were friends. When the Red Ogre wanted to befriend the people of a nearby village, the people were too scared. So his friend, the Blue Ogre, came up with a plan for himself to make trouble in the village and have the Red Ogre save them. The plan worked and the Red Ogre was able to befriend the villagers. But as time went by, the Red Ogre noticed the Blue Ogre’s absence. A letter on the Blue Ogre’s house was left, wishing his friend the Red Ogre happiness with his new friends and saying he left as to not draw suspicion. The Red Ogre cried, missing his friend.
A popular Japanese tale written in 1933 by children’s author Hamada Hirosuke, references to the story are depicted in many anime. Cautioning about the cost of assimilation and the importance of friendship and forgiveness, whether as a key plot point or a fleeting reference, the entire story and themes are sometimes carried over into the references, but are sometimes simplified down to just depicting red and blue horned characters. For instance, Hiro and Zero Two in Darling in the Franxx could be considered as a reference in appearance and in some themes.
Some other references to the story in anime include: in My Love Story!! as allegory for Takeo’s love life; in Tokyo Godfathers when Hana uses the story to illustrate a point; in Gintama when Gintoki fights the blue ogre-looking Onijishi while wearing Kidomaru’s red demon mask; in Dragon Ball Z where Goz and Mez are two red and blue oni who are watch-keepers of Hell; in Sgt. Frog when Keroro, moved by the story, devises the strategy dubbed “Operation Blue Oni” and when Keroro accidentally chooses Setsubon, a traditional national holiday where soybeans are thrown to drive away demons, to dress up as the red oni only to be pelted with beans by Natsumi.
Re:Zero can be streamed on Crunchyroll.
What’s your favorite anime fairy tale? Let us know down in the comments if there are any other series featuring fables!
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