A retelling of Grimm Brother's fairy tales in a different light. That's what this show is supposed to be. And it's been done over and over again, but I am okay with that. Completely okay. Because it's always fun.

And this version might have done it in the best way yet. First story we take a look at is Cinderella. Told in a messy way. What if Cinderella was actually an evil schemer? And what if she drove her evil stepsisters into madness?
God, the psychological aspect works so well. None of you have any idea. I was sooo invested.
Though I have to say, during the scene when one of the servants got beaten, I was actually sick...

The second episode was the tale of Little Red Riding Hood and it was the most predictable thing ever, but with a wonderful "twist". Not a story twist, but the show itself took a twist from something psychological to gore-ish tale from the future itself.
I must say, I enjoyed this episode a lot. Despite the blood and the twisted nature of it, I was completely into whatever the heck was going on, on the screen.

I was the most excited about the third episode, which was a Hansel and Gretel retelling. Needles to say, I still didn't learn my lesson - don't get too excited about anything.
It was just "what if The Promised Neverland went this way" unoriginal type of story. I didn't enjoy it, I didn't like it - the emotional twist did absolutely nothing for me, and I was actually disappointed at the "happy end".

With that, I didn't have much faith into the rest of the show.

That turned out to be a hurried conclusion. The fourth episode brought great characters, cute design of the "villain" and a morale that is applicable to all of our lives.
You do you - at your pace, to the best of your abilities. It doesn't matter what others say - the only thing that matters is your happiness and the joy your life brings you.
Just the way you decide to live it.

It was out of place for the Grimm's retellings, but I enjoyed the fourth episode and I am happy they choose this kind of interpretation.

Moving on onto the fifth episode! The Town Musicians of Bremen is retold as a western story - our main cast consists of four strong women - Dog, Cat, Doney and Rooster. The four of them stand up to Wade brothers - cyberpunk criminals.
The morale of the story is simple - don't let hatred change you into a walking revenge and try to find a place where you belong, because that's where you'll be happy.
In the end, the four girls end up working together at a western bar, cooking and serving guests, happy that they belong somewhere... I guess.

For a story about four such amazing women, I felt disappointed with how they ended. Though I understand that they didn't chase an adventurous life, but rather a place to call home.

Last story brings into focus a young girl Maria, who jus cannot wait to be someone's bride. Sound quirky, huh? Well, the real plot is more eerie than that.
Maria lives in a village that is stripped of all things, beautiful and ugly. Everyone is following strict rules to "survive", but that's not how we can lead our lives.

One day, a beggar comes to town. Or a traveller if you will. A change, simply put.

The main antagonist of a story, Maria's teacher, strips the beggar of all their belongings, stealing them for himself and imprisoning the beggar. Taking a picture of two lovers, he can only see something rotten and ugly, impure. At first, I was confused, and I thought maybe the picture showed something different for everyone - but no. The real reason was that he saw his own feelings.

You guessed it - he had feeling for the 17 year old Maria. Curious girl who was promised the world (becoming next village chief, Grand Code) was betrothed to a man who people considered a brute. That made the teacher's blood boil and he tried to pull Maria closer by showing her beautiful things, and tried to convince her to marry him.
All Maria cared about was meeting the traveller, so she deceived the teacher and slept with him, just to find out that the beggar escaped.

Following this relationship was the most horrid thing Grimm's retelling offered the whole show. It was slimy, uncomfortable, quite honestly disgusting. Not even the fact that she was the predator changed anything about the situation. Two adult people were going "ew ew ew" during half of the episode and that only says one thing - what an amazing world building.

Maria, knowing that even the ugly things are precious about life, lets the beggar take her away and she becomes the next "piper", telling tales to young souls and showing people that life has to be lived and we will not escape anything, much less our fate. We still might take it in our hands and change it though.

I've seen someone else rate the episodes (from best to worst), so here goes nothing:

1. Cinderella
2. Pied Piper of Hamelin
3. The Town Musicians of Bremen
4. The Elves and the Shoe Maker
5. Little Red Riding Hood
6. Hansel and Gretel

All in all. Grimm Kumikyoku, while not original in it's idea, are very unique stories, told in a sense of "the main heroes are always righteous... but what if they weren't" and I enjoyed it.
I am critical of the music, of the way they drew faces and lazy designs (Little Red Riding Hood and Dog looked the same, not to mention every story had a red-haired important character)... but I am a huge fan of the psychological aspect and the twisted stories.
That makes it so hard to this show. It's either a 6 or an 8 - but not 7. It simply does not fall in that category. What decides it in the end is the simple fact that I honestly believe that in few months, I will still remember Grimm Kumikyoku. That being said...

8/10