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.
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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.
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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.
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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 rate the episodes (from best to worst), so here goes nothing:
- Cinderella
- Pied Piper of Hamelin
- The Town Musicians of Bremen
- The Elves and the Shoe Maker
- Little Red Riding Hood
- Hansel and Gretel
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.
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