History Anime / OtogiJuushiAkazukin

[[quoteright:288:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/otogi-jushi_akazukin_899_3530.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:288:''Juushi~'']]

Official English title: ''Fairy Musketeers''.

In the past, the world was powered by magic and science. However, [[GodIsGood a wise and benevolent god]] grew concerned of mankind's power and split the worlds into two; from then on, one world relied on the power of science and the other on the power of magic. This is the story Souta's mother had told him when he was but a small child. Now, several years later, he lives alone, and all he remembers about his mother is a dream where she is abducted by a monster, he himself being saved by a girl with red clothes.

The dream soon turns out to be reality, as history repeats himself when Souta is attacked by a monster on his way home from school. He is saved first by a strange talking wolf called Val and soon after by a girl wearing the same red clothes as the girl from his dreams. She introduces her as Akazukin (Little Red Riding Hood), one of the three legendary musketeers from the world of magic. Her mission is to find and protect the "key" which connects the two worlds - Souta himself.

Souta quickly acquires a QuirkyHousehold of strange magical characters, as Val and Akazukin are soon joined by ice mage Shirayuki-hime (Snow White) and the narcoleptic Ibara-hime (Sleeping Beauty). Souta's female childhood friend Ringo is not amused by this turn of events...

Otogi Juushi Akazukin was, at first, a single-episode OVA which came with an Akazukin figurine, aimed {{moe}} at figure collectors than at anime fans. However, the OVA had some popularity with the PeripheryDemographic, and so the concept was soon retooled as a standard children's TV show in the vein of ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura''.

You can also watch it for free now at [[http://www.crunchyroll.com/fairy-musketeers Crunchyroll.]]
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!!This show provides examples of:
* AllMythsAreTrue: All Fairy Tales are true.
* AngelsPose - Juushii~!
* AccidentalPun - Juushi is somewhat [[http://konachan.net/post/show/4027/akazukin-galaxy_angel-gretel-ibara-hime-kinoshita_ pronounce]] as JUICY.
* BigDamnHeroes: All the time in the early episodes. After reaching Fandavale, Hamelin takes over this role.
* {{BFS}} - Gretel's got one so big no character can lift it (without help from magic), which actually makes sense since its TALLER THAN THE ENTIRE CAST.
* BitchInSheepsClothing: Ibara-hime is a mild example. When she's half asleep she is very sweet and innocent. When she's fully awake she's very blunt and [[BrutalHonesty brutally honest.]]
* BlackMagicianGirl - Shirayuki-hime
* BrainwashedAndCrazy - Hansel is [[MindControlEyes pretty obvious]]. Also [[spoiler: Trude who is actually Souta's mother]]
* CainAndAbel - Jed don't like his [[HalfHumanHybrid half-human]] brother Kain, and to kill him, he destroyed the whole village where he lived with his human mother. [[spoiler: Even Akazukin thought he didn't survive, even though he is with her all the time]]
* CallingYourAttacks: Shining Edge!
* CharacterizationMarchesOn: In an odd, non-character related example, we have Gretel's massive sword. Late in the series it's revealed that she needs her [[TrickedOutGloves mittens]] to lift it. Sounds reasonable, except she was clearly seen wielding it [[http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/7186/bh2r.png bare handed]] twenty or so episodes earlier.
* ClingyJealousGirl: Ringo
* DarkMagicalGirl: Gretel
* DefeatMeansFriendship - All but a few major bad guys perform a HeelFaceTurn later.
* DefrostingIceQueen - Again, Shirayuki-hime, though it happens pretty quickly. Note that Shirayuki is a literal Ice Queen (or rather, ice magic-casting princess)
* DoomedHometown - Akazukin's hometown was destroyed by Jed's werewolves
* EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses - Fairy tales need 'em.
* FantasticRacism - Jed, who hates humans in general
* FrillyUpgrade: Princess Mode.
* FunnyBackgroundEvent: While Souta records his goodbye message to Ringo, bahind him we see the aftermath of Val and Akazukin waking up sleeping beauty
* GenkiGirl: Akazukin
* GenreBlindness - Apparently, Grimm's Tales don't seem to exist in Souta's world (even though he's a fairy tale nut), since he doesn't raise an eyebrow to the fact that the girls are obviously well-known fairy tale characters. It ought to be noted that when they meet [[spoiler:Rapunzel]], it's Souta who comes up with the cure for the Prince's curse, by [[spoiler:asking them to go ahead with the marriage anyway. He's the only character unsurprised when Rapunzel's kiss changes the Prince back from a frog into a human, explaining that 'ThePowerOfLove [[AntiMagic cancels evil magic]]' is a standard of fairy tales.]] This makes him somewhat more along the lines of 'Selective GenreSavvy', as the show itself ''portrays'' him to be GenreSavvy concerning Fairy Tales to a scholarly point.]]
* GratuitousEnglish - We have such winners as "Grimm Taler" (with bonus StealthPun since the weapon is essentially... tailoring scissors), "House of Gravity", "Missing Gravity", "Shining Edge", "Leaf of Mirage" and "Stairway to Heaven".
** One of the strangest is "Garden of Eden", which is a mass of thorny vines wrapping around and crushing a target. So much for Paradise.
** How about "Doll Gravity", "Dark -- Cendre" , "Blood..", "Comet Ladle", "Ice Basket", and "Aqua Field" to name a few more.
* HalfHumanHybrid - [[spoiler: Val, who is actually half lycan(werewolf) half human but lost his ability to turn human due to an injury]]
* HaremCast: Akazukin, Ringo, Ibara-hime and Shirayuki-hime tend to behave like this sometimes, though most of the time they are just TrueCompanions to Souta, mainly because of age demographics.
* HowDoYouLikeThemApples - Ringo.
* IAmNotWeasel - Val gets rather annoyed when people calls him a dog, though in the process revealing himself being a TalkingAnimal and gives him even more unwanted attention.
* IHaveTheHighGround - Parodied. Hameln descends from virtually nothing. Lampshaded by Ringo who calls him up on it. Hameln, being who he is, answers with "It's a secret".
* IllGirl - Ibara-hime, though she's more sleepy than ill.
* KickTheDog - Replace "dog" with "flowers", add to the fact that the hero can *talk* with flowers (who are shown to be sentinent beings) and you have yourself some horror.
* LaserGuidedAmnesia - [[spoiler:Randagio's 3 friends who sacrificed themselves to become a nightmarian was freed by from the curse, at the price of their memories.]]
* LighterAndSofter - From OVA to TV series.
* LittleRedFightingHood: With Sleeping Beauty and Snow White, they form a MagicalGirl PowerTrio.
* {{Meganekko}} - Shirayuki-hime
* MindControlEyes - Very visible on Hansel since early on. Later, it is lampshaded when Gretel commented that she knows someone is being mind controlled by looking at their eyes.
* MusicalAssassin - Hamelin
* MusicalEpisode - Episode18 has to be the most THINLY disguised attempt at [[TheMerch trying to sell]] [[ImageSong Image Songs]] [[TheMerch to the show's audience]]. I mean, the girls are [[AssPull conjuring 'song' attack cards out of nowhere]] and while they're singing we're [[ClipShow shown snippets from past episodes]]. They didn't just break into song, [[spoiler:they broke into ''music video''.]]
* NobleWolf: Val is a guardian wolf and a friend to Akazukin.
* NotBrainwashed: Gretel. She is not mind controlled in any way, and but fights for BigBad because Hansel is.
* ObfuscatingStupidity: Ibara-hime
* OlderThanTheyLook: The core characters -- Souta, Ringo, Akazukin, Shirayuki-hime and Ibara-hime -- are all '''fourteen years old'''. In that regard, ''juushi'' may be pun, since it can mean "fourteen" when written in different kanji.
* OneToMillionToOne: The flea nighmarian that the crew fight in one episode are like that.
* RecurringTraveller: Hamelin keeps popping up with perfect timing for no reason whatsoever. Why doesn't he just travel with the crew?
* PowersAsPrograms: TV series only.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: The girl Souta meets when he enters the various chapters of the two worlds story often gets translated as "Marlene" Due to the sound of her name (Mah-ren) and the trouble with L and R in Japanese. However, [[spoiler: in addition to being Cendrillon's younger form]] her story is actually based on the Fairy Tale, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maid_Maleen Maid Maleen]].
** Similarly, the name for "mundane" world, "Ehrde", is pronounced as "Ehlde" (again, due to standard L/R swap convention), but it is actually "Erde", German for "Earth"
* SquishyWizard - Shirayuki has trouble even to lift a bucket of water without magic.
* StandardFemaleGrabArea - GenderFlip Inversion: The DarkActionGirl restrains the male lead Souta like this.
* TheMerch: Inverted with the original OVA which came as a bonus for buying the figurine, played straight with the TV series which is aimed more at children.
* TheGlassesComeOff: [[spoiler: This is Subverted and subversion lampshaded]]. {{Meganekko}} Shirayuki-hime takes off her glasses [[spoiler:when she turns dark. However, it's all part of a ploy to fool the enemy, as [[BlindWithoutEm she can't see a thing without her glasses]]]].
* TookALevelInBadAss - This trope may apply, by extension, to the original, real-world Fairytale versions of the characters. The majority of the characters are based on fairytale characters, often ones who were quite soft and/or generally defenceless in their original stories. Little Red Riding Hood is suddenly [[spoiler:a knife-wielding demi-fire mage,]] Snow White has become [[spoiler:the most dangerous ice mage in Fandavale]], and Sleeping Beauty [[spoiler:has to remain in a permanent state of half-sleep lest she accidentally wreak havoc on her surroundings]]. Hansel and Gretal have become [[spoiler:a dark mage and DarkMagicalGirl / Heavy Swordsman respectively]]. And Cinderella.. we get to see her [[spoiler:''go'' badass as Marlene, twisting a city's symbol of hope into a power source-slash-mind-control device for the horde of zombie dark mages she'd created in the process.]]
* TransformationSequence: When Akazukin powers up to Princess Mode.
* VerbalTic: Akazukin's 'Zukyun' gets especially obnoxious in the later half of the season. At least Randagio doesn't ''scream'' his "nya".
* TheCameo: Goemon of the GanbareGoemon series made a cameo via a cosplay contest.
* WhyDidItHavetoBeSnakes? Pumpkins in Hamelin's case, well thanks to Akazukin who always scares him when they're little.
* YouHaveFailedMe
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http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/otogi-jushi_akazukin_899_3530.jpg
[[caption-width:288:''Juushi~'']]

* GratuitousEnglish - We have such winners as "Grimm Taler", "House of Gravity", "Missing Gravity", "Shining Edge", "Leaf of Mirage" and "Stairway to Heaven".

* VerbalTic: Akazukin's 'Zukyun' gets especially obnoxious in the later half of the season. At least Randagio doesn ''scream'' his "nyan".

* VerbalTic: Akazukin's 'Zukyun'
** Ibara-hime also has her yawn.

* WhyDidItHavetoBeSnakes? Pumpkins to Hamelin's case, well thanks to Akazukin who always scares him when they're little.

In the past, the world was powered by magic and science. However, a wise and benevolent god grew concerned of mankind's power and split the worlds into two; from then on, one world relied on the power of science and the other on the power of magic. This is the story Souta's mother had told him when he was but a small child. Now, several years later, he lives alone, and all he remembers about his mother is a dream where she is abducted by a monster, he himself being saved by a girl with red clothes.

But the dream soon turns out to be reality, as history repeats himself when Souta is attacked by a monster on his way home from school. He is saved first by a strange talking wolf called Val and soon after by a girl wearing the same red clothes as the girl from his dreams. She introduces her as Akazukin (Little Red Riding Hood), one of the three legendary musketeers from the world of magic. Her mission is to find and protect the "key" which connects the two worlds - Souta himself.

Souta quickly acquires a QuirkyHousehold of strange magical characters, as Val and Akazukin are soon joined by ice mage Shirayuki-hime (Snow White) and the narcoleptic Ibara-hime (Sleeping Beauty). Of course, Souta's female childhood friend Ringo is not amused by this turn of events...

Otogi Juushi Akazukin was, at first, a single-episode OVA which came with an Akazukin figurine, aimed more at figure collectors than at anime fans. However, the OVA had some popularity with the PeripheryDemographic, and so the concept was soon retooled as a standard children's TV show in the vein of ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura''.

* BigBadassWolf: Val

* GenreBlindness - Apparently, Grimm's Tales don't seem to exist in Souta's world (even though he's a fairy tale nut), since he doesn't even raise an eyebrow to the fact that the girls are obviously well-known fairy tale characters.
** It ought to be noted that when they meet [[spoiler:Rapunzel]], it's Souta who comes up with the cure for the Prince's curse, by [[spoiler:asking them to go ahead with the marriage anyway. He's the only character unsurprised when Rapunzel's kiss changes the Prince back from a frog into a human, explaining that 'the power of love cancels evil magic' is a standard of fairy tales.]] This makes him somewhat more along the lines of 'Selective GenreSavvy', as the show itself ''portrays'' him to be GenreSavvy concerning Fairy Tales to an almost scholarly point. Oh, and apparently the Fairy Musketeers are [[spoiler:authorised to perform marital ceremonies.]]

* MusicalEpisode - Episode18 has to be the most THINLY disguised attempt at [[TheMerch trying to sell]] [[ImageSong Image Songs]] [[TheMerch to the show's audience]]. I mean, the girls are [[AssPull conjuring 'song' attack cards out of nowhere]] and while they're singing we're [[ClipShow shown snippets from past episodes]].
** They didn't just break into song, [[spoiler:they broke into ''music video''.]]

* StoicWoobie: Shirayuki can be seen as this due to her past with her father and step mother.

This show provides examples of:

* KickTheDog - Replace "dog" with "flowers", add to the fact that the hero can *talk* with flowers (who are shown to be sentinent beings) and you have yourself some NightmareFuel.

* HaremCast: Akazukin, Ringo, Ibara-hime and Shirayuki-hime tend to behave like this sometimes, though most of the time they are just {{Nakama}} to Souta, mainly because of age demographics.

Otogi Juushi Akazukin was, at first, a single-episode OVA which came with an Akazukin figurine, aimed more at figure collectors than at anime fans. However, the OVA had some popularity with the PeripheryDemographic, and so the concept was soon retooled as a standard children's TV show in the vein of ''CardcaptorSakura''.

[[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/otogi-jushi_akazukin_899_3530.jpg http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/otogi-jushi_akazukin_899_3530.jpg]]

* FrillsOfJustice: Princess Mode.

* VerbalTic: Akazukin or