The Little Prince meets Pokemon.
Guardian Fairy Michel (or just Michel in English) is a 2006 Korean animated series for children. It was released in English by the former ADV Films.
Kim White is a pilot, and the daughter of a famous scientist, Dr. White. She's constantly at arms with the Black Hammer Gang, a group of thieves with giant robots who'll go after anything so long as it vaguely resembles treasure. She goes after them one night after they steal a precious gem, and the two sides end up lost in a gigantic cloud formation known as the Devil's Coast. Strange, glowing lights pull Kim deep into the heart of the storm, and she fears it may be over...
...But she wakes up in a place with a clear sky, unhurt, beneath an enormous tree. A mysterious young boy named Michel greets her, and explains that she's landed on Sitel Island, home of the Tree of Life that keeps the balance of nature in check. Michel is a friend to the fairies of nature that live on the island. And Kim would be having a lovely time getting to know them, if she hadn't accidentally led the Black Hammer Gang to the island with her. With their robots, they kidnap all of the fairies, causing the tree to wither—and, in the process, transform all of the fairies into monsters!
The tree is destroyed, but there is hope—it will regrow from its seed if all of the fairies are rescued. Laura, the spirit of the tree, tells Kim and Michel to rescue all of the fairies. Michel is the Guardian Fairy, and can use his fairy friends' powers once they've been rescued. Kim is given the Arrow of Light, which can revert monsters to their fairy forms. Together, they must save the fairies, stop the Black Hammer Gang, and restore the balance of nature!
This series contains examples of:
- 2D Visuals, 3D Effects: Honeybee and the Black Hammers' base are CGI, but they're cel-shaded so they usually blend in. However, in at least on episode, the inside of the Black Hammers' base is all none-too-subtle CGI.
- Absurdly Spacious Sewer: The Big Applesauce features these in Episode 13.
- Ace Pilot: Kim can pilot Honeybee no matter the situation, and uses it to fight against the Black Hammer Gang.
- Action Girl: Kim White. Sharpshooter, killer pilot, friend to fairies everywhere.
- Adjective Noun Fred: Although the English version just uses a plain old Character Title.
- All That Glitters: Frequently serves as the Aesop to many episodes. The Black Hammers go hunting "treasures," as they assume all treasures are wealth-based. However, the "treasures" either end up being something they can't really spend, like seeds that can grow in any soil, or non-material things such as the love of family or the beauty of a city.
- Amusement Park of Doom: The amusement park in episode 14. It's probably a nice enough place in the day, but Kim's there at night, and happens to be facing off against the Fairy of Light and Dark.
- Animal Motifs: The Black Hammers' robots are all shaped like animals.
- Animesque: Despite looking exactly like an anime, it's technically not one.
- Audience Surrogate: Kim is told about the fairies and often learns lessons related to the episode.
- Base on Wheels: The good guys have Sitel, and the bad guys have their flying castle thing. All the better to chase each other around the world with.
- Batman Gambit: Salome often employs these; in episode 8 she attacks with a Wind Fairy—and steals Rena the Flower Fairy while they're busy, knowing that she can turn into a rare flower to gain treasure.
- Big Applesauce: The city in Episode 13 isn't named, but is at the very least a New York copy if nothing else.
- Big Good: Laura, the spirit of the Tree of Life, advises Michel and Kim on their mission.
- Bittersweet Ending: The Black Hammers lost all the fairies they captured and the Tree of Life is saved but Michel dies in order to rejuvenate the tree, and Kim leaves the island. It's played as more happy than bitter, as Michel will be reborn later, Biam is with the fairies again, and Kim reflects on her experience fondly and feels that Michel will remember her when he does return.
- Blow You Away: Baron, the wind fairy, has this power.
- Bound and Gagged: Michel and Kim end up trapped in a net, then tied up and gagged in episode 3 to prevent them from telling the truth about Salome and her gang to a prospective mark.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: This happens to any fairy forcibly transformed into a monster.
- City of Canals: Precia, obviously based on Venice (it even played home to "Parco Molo"). However, it's been consumed by trash and the canals stink, which is unusually realistic where this trope is generally concerned.
- Cool Plane: The Honeybee, a vintage plane with transforming capabilities that never seems to run out of fuel.
- Creepy Child: When Kim first meets him, Michel's supernatural calm is a little bit unnerving. He becomes more energetic later on, though.
- Cucumber Facial: Lady Salome puts the cucumbers everywhere but her eyes, oddly.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: As soon as the fairy's light is found, it only takes minimal effort from Michel and Kim to turn the fairy back to normal. This is averted with Biam, whose fairy light is camouflaged.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Kim set out for revenge against Salome after she stole her father's inventions and killed him during the escape.
- Dark Action Girl: Lady Salome uses robots and fairies to fight Kim and Michel.
- Decomposite Character: The Fairy of Light and Dark, Lighkness, was a single creature. As a monster, it's two separate creatures.
- Do-Anything Robot: The Honeybee, while more of a plane that a robot, has pretty much whatever powers are needed for the plot.
- Enemy Mine: Episode 14, with both Salome and Michel kidnapped, has Kim and the Black Hammer Gang work together to free them.
- Episode 23 has a long-dead evil pharaoh with magical powers arising to kill the heroes, forcing Michel and Salome to team up against him.
- Fairy Companion: Besides Michel and Poyo, Rena fits this the most, as she has no combat abilities but sticks around to heal the Tree of Life. She also delivers exposition at times.
- Fusion Dance: By fusing with the fairies, Michel gains their powers and then some, showing exactly why he's the guardian.
- Biam and Polly accidentally fuse once, creating a forest dragon.
- Gadgeteer Genius: Dr. White was one. So is the Evil Genius Meggi.
- Gender-Blender Name: "Michel" is a perfectly respectable male name, but it's pronounced the same as the female name "Michelle," which is more well-known in English.
- General Ripper: Chief Doyle from episode 13 will stop at nothing to catch Kim and Michel, even though they aren't the thieves he's after.
- God Guise: The Black Hammers pretend to be messengers of a rain god to one highly-secluded village. Their guise actually takes on some legitimacy, thanks to the fact that they can use fairies to summon dark clouds, lightning, and rain.
- Goldfish Poop Gang: The Black Hammer Gang turn into this as the series goes on, in later episodes usually being defeated by the fairy they tried to control.
- Gotta Catch 'Em All: Kim and Michel have to rescue all the fairies or else the World Tree can't be renewed.
- Gravity Screw: Salome expresses surprise that there even is a gravity fairy. And yes, it causes gravity to turn wonky. Which has been overtaxing marathon runners for several months in a certain village, as it turns out.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: It doesn't take much to make Salome angry, whether it's her minions annoying her or a slight delay in her search for treasure. Her default mood when not smug is to angrily shout when something goes wrong.
- Hammerspace: Salome makes sure her gang lives up to its name with her hammer-from-nowhere.
- Heel–Face Turn/Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Biam is turned into a monster against his will, and reforms in the finale.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: The Black Hammer Gang are often done in via the fairy monsters, happening more often as the series goes on.
- Husky Russkie: Ian and his sister in episode 7.
- "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: When Baron gets turned into a monster, Rena begs her to remember her existence as a fairy and stop harming things. Electro is brought back in a similar way, but thanks instead to Jimmy, the human boy who befriended him.
- In Medias Res: We begin with the Black Hammers stealing a diamond from a museum, and things take off from there.
- Innocent Plant Children: Rena and other fairies from act something akin to forest children and live deep in a forest away from other civilizations.
- Interspecies Romance: Sir Brown the fairy fell in love with a human princess. Thanks to a war, it never worked out.
- I Will Wait for You: Sir Brown waited so long for his beloved princess, he turned into a tree. A tree of death.
- Karma Houdini: Salome stole Kim's father's inventions and the resulting explosion killed him, but at the end of the series she still has Dr. White's floating castle and robots.
- Lean and Mean: Boogy is the thinnest of the Black Hammer Gang besides Salome, and is her second-in-command.
- Leitmotif: The Black Hammers' theme, and the six-note Tree of Life theme.
- Level Ate: One episode features a city founded by a gourmand, and it looks like food.
- Ma'am Shock: Salome hates being called an old lady, and it's the only thing Poyo can say.
- Magic Feather: A variation in one episode. The people of a certain village believe that a floating golden feather in a glass orb helps the people of their village become great runners, and when the feather falls, the people begin to run out of energy and lose their ability to run. The variation comes from the fact that while the feather falling and the people failing to run are connected, it's a third, external force causing it: The manipulation of gravity. The feather is implicitly magic, but it was gravity's fault.
- Master of Illusion: The illusion fairy, who resembles a manta ray. Effects range from Lotus-Eater Machine to tricking Kim into nearly destroying Honeybee.
- Message in a Bottle: A variation: The character sending them isn't deserted, just lonely because he lives in an isolated place.
- Mission Control: Biam often stays behind to pilot the Black Hammers' castle, and briefs them if something is going on in missions.
- Monster of the Week: Every episode has a fairy turned into a monster that the heroes must stop and purify.
- Mood Whiplash: The trailer has pretty shots of the Tree of Life and talks about nature and a boy who protects it... then giant sci-fi robots. And then back to the tree.
- Morph Weapon: After Laura repairs it, Kim's gun can turn into a magic crossbow.
- Ms. Fanservice: Salome is quite attractive, and many of her outfits show off her long legs.
- Namedar: The little girl who found the Winter fairy just happened to give her her real name, Queen.
- Noblewoman's Laugh: Lady Salome's. "Ooh hoo hoo hoo!"
- The Nose Knows: Salome can smell treasure.
- Not Even Bothering with the Accent: Mahamina has a vaguely Middle Eastern accent, but her brother has none at all, despite them being from the same tribe.
- Not-So-Harmless Villain:
- The Black Hammer Gang are comedic, and seem like they're going to end up in Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain territory... until it turns out they're not that ineffectual. Some episodes' plots are kicked off because of an early-episode victory by the Black Hammers, and sometimes they do get away with a treasure, though it usually ends up as a Worthless Treasure Twist.
- The last few episodes have the Gang invoke this, as they only have a few fairy monsters left and must rely on their own skills as well.
- Oh, Crap!: Salome's reaction whenever Kim pulls out the Mirage Blaster.
- Ominous Floating Castle: The Black Hammer Gang's. It's also used as transportation.
- One-Winged Angel: The cute fairies get transformed into huge monsters in their evil forms.
- Opening Narration: Kim describes the story so far, maybe a legend relevant to the plot, and, in the opening episode, the legend of the Tree of Life.
- Outside-Genre Foe: Episode 23 has a long-dead evil pharaoh with magical powers arising to kill the heroes, forcing Michel and Salome to team up against him.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Used most of the time by the Black Hammer Gang, but averted with Boogy's disguise in Episode 21.
- The Phoenix: The focus of the seventh episode is an aging Russian man bent on seeing the Phoenix.
- Plant Person: A couple of the fairies.
- Pokémon Speak: Poyo can only say "Old lady!"
- Power Gives You Wings: Michel's most common power-up is the ability to grow wings.
- Really 700 Years Old: Michel appears to be a young boy, but he's as old as any other fairy, which makes him pretty much the same age as the Earth. Kid's got time on his hands.
- Real Men Wear Pink: Woogy attempts to take up knitting. He doesn't actually like it, as it turns out.
- Reckless Gun Usage: Poyo's innocent fascination with Kim's gun. Although it has slightly comedic overtones, Kim's concern over Poyo's playing with it is played quite straight. And with good reason.
- Reluctant Mad Scientist: Dr. White, whose greatest fear was that his inventions would be used for evil. Sadly, he was right.
- Rescue Romance: Salome tries to invoke this in one episode in hopes of getting some treasure. It doesn't exactly work as planned.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: Poyo, who sort of looks like a yellow winged dog/deer hybrid. And for that matter, all of the fairies.
- Say My Name: Michel shouts the names of his fairy friends to summon them and make himself transform.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: The evil pharaoh, Lucifer, in episode 23.
- Secondary Character Title: Although Michel has the cool superpowers, the protagonist is mostly Kim.
- Shout-Out: Michel's character is based on The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, and the rose fairy is based on the prince's rose companion. Kim being a pilot is a reference to the narrator of the book being a pilot. Biam is likely a reference to the snake from the book as well.
- Smoke Out: Salome uses a smoke bomb to cover an escape in episode 6.
- Spring Is Late: Because no one showed up to tell the winter fairy winter was over.
- Sudden Downer Ending: After 25 episodes of happy, lighthearted hijinks, Michel dies at the end to rejuvenate the tree, Kim leaves the island, and the villains still have their floating castle.
- Super Mode: Poyo's adult form as the Fairy of Spring.
- Team Pet: Poyo for the good guys, and Biam for the bad guys.
- Terrible Trio: Boogy, Woogy, and Meggi, with Salome as the boss.
- This Is a Drill: The Honeybee has a drill mode. No, it doesn't really make sense.
- Theme Music Power-Up: The opening theme plays whenever Michel is about to win, so expect to hear it a lot.
- This Is Reality: When the Black Hammers learn that there's a time machine, Boogy remarks that "Time machines only exist in cartoons! They're not real!" Biam then retorts, asking if that's just like fairies, then. Boogy is forced to concede.
- Threatening Shark: Since nature is out of balance, sharks attack Donna and her son Will in episode 3.
- Totem Pole Trench: Michel and Joe pull one off in episode 13.
- Tomboyish Name: The female fairy of the wind is named Baron.
- Transformation Trinket: A living one in the fairies, whose powers Michel borrows and amplifies.
- Turtle Island: Sitel is a fairy who happens to be one of these. And he can fly.
- Twin Telepathy: The Magnetic Fairies share this bond.
- A Twinkle in the Sky: Happens frequently to the Black Hammer Gang as they're defeated.
- Victim of the Week: Whoever Salome and her gang are antagonizing, or whatever the fairy of the week is affecting adversely.
- Villain Song: The end credits song is the Black Hammer Gang's theme, sung by cute chibi-versions of themselves. With the fairies watching, of course.
- We Want Our Jerk Back!: Seen in episode 14. With Salome captured, Boogy, Woogy, and Meggi are initially excited, but soon just don't feel motivated without her harping on them at every turn.
- Winter Royal Lady: Although she's not royalty and doesn't look like one (she resembles a fox), the winter fairy is nonetheless named Queen, probably due to this trope.
- World-Healing Wave: Frequently, whenever a fairy is rescued.
- World Tree: The Tree of Life isn't a perfect example as it isn't gigantic, but it does fit from a magical standpoint.
- Worthless Treasure Twist: A twist on the twist in that it's the villains who constantly fall for these. The good guys know perfectly well that what they have is valuable in more ways than just money, but the villains are constantly finding out that the "treasures" they pursue aren't gold or jewels. Being villains, they never learn.
- Would Hurt a Child: Salome and her gang are constantly at war with Kim and Michel. Aside from trying to harm or kill them, they've also kidnapped and attacked other children—or used the threat of doing so to make the heroes back off.
- Wrench Wench: Kim, who, while not her Gadgeteer Genius father, knows how to fix 'em.
