There’s two shows out this autumn in Japan that overly-romanticise Victorian Britain with a touch of the supernatural, Kuroshitsuji and Earl & Fairy.
Kuroshitsuji is the tale of a rich little boy, his demon butler and the rest of his incompetent staff.
It is the technically better made of the two shows, but it left me cold. It’s an uneasy mix of unfunny comedy and sinister horror of the supernatural punisher variety. The manga has a touch of Kouta Hirano’s style to it, which has been lost a little in the the anime. Instead we have a cleaner look with a slightly stiff and stilted look to its poses, despite some fluid movement. It’s well made, but it isn’t for me.
Earl & Fairy is the story of a Scottish “Fairy Doctor” who finds herself coerced into helping the heir to the only family who have a position in both the British and Faerie courts prove his identity.
It has average animation and is full of shoujo romantic cliche, but it has a lot more charm to it than Kuroshitsuji. The representation of Britain feels more familiar, like a BBC costume drama rather than the somewhat alien interpretation Kuroshitsuji had. The supernatural elements also feel more distinctly British using as it does specific fairies like Brownies and Merrow, compared to Kuroshitsuji’s vague demonic overtones. The 25 minutes zoomed by for me, a frothy lightweight romantic adventure.
That cat though, when he stands upright with his paws on his haunches, it damn well freaks me out.