Fairy King

I honestly just found this while scrolling the bl tag on anilist and was immediately drawn in by the art. Upon watching it, the art was indeed beautiful but the plot jumped off from a very odd starting point. It all came together in a sensical ending, but they really threw the watcher off the deep end. If the characters and backgrounds hadn't been so beautiful, I doubt I would've stayed watching. The character designs were beyond magnificent, especially for the female character. The aforementioned mermaid/sea serpent was designed impeccably to serve maximum slayage. The art had a flowing, ethereal quality I find is often lost by modern animations snappier tendencies. I adored the watercolor backgrounds that really supported the setting of a magical fairy kingdom. The blending between fantastical and mythological was also done very well. I really enjoyed the rot fairies that fermented grapes. As someone with a passing interest in natural sciences and anthropology, it was interesting to imagine how humanity conceptualized concepts like decay in the past. The film is a very enjoyable 60 minutes and well worth the watch for the art alone. It has that 1980s animation that I often find myself missing nowadays, and the story actually ended up quite engaging. I enjoyed the character arcs, especially Pucks. The ending felt a bit abrupt, but then again the whole story felt rushed. I don't know if it was due to a lack of source material or what, but plot points shot out of nowhere and resolved just as quickly. There is a story about halfway through, with a mermaid and a nymph(I think?) that I found interesting. I wished Jack's character development had more of an impact on the story, rather than him being a passive vehicle for the story to flow around him. Every side character did more, made more decisions, than he did. Even the mermaid. I like that every single character was bisexual? at least those that disclosed their interests or preferences. Felt wild that they expected us to believe a story involving mythical characters from the United Kingdom and Ireland were having a romp around Hokkaido of all places, but I guess they needed some reason for them to be speaking japanese? On the topic, all the choices made felt intentional. as blinding as the pace of the plot was, never did they let a thread drop unresolved. I appreciate that. All in all I think it's a good way to spend an hour of your time and it's nice to see something from 1988 Japan be so progressive in its characters and its themes. I wonder how a modern recreation of this film would look in both character design and storytelling. I don’t think they would be allowed to get away with showing as many breasts.