Little Snow Fairy Sugar (Episodes 13-15)

(Catch up on previous episodes here.)

It's been a while since I visited the small German town where this anime takes place, but I was finally able to catch up a little bit this week. In the last episode, Sugar's magic flower had grown a bud despite the fact she'd never found a twinkle, the element that is supposed to make the flowers grow. When rowdy Basil and Cinnamon found out about the flower's progress, they demand that Sugar tell them what a twinkle is and where she found one. Under pressure, and afraid that her friends won't believe her if she told the truth, Sugar lies and tells them that she did find a twinkle. Then she becomes determined to set out and find one to prove that she isn't a liar.

Symbolic of their strengthening bond, Saga decides to set out to help Sugar, something she has been reluctant to do in the past. Pepper and Salt join in the search which takes them into the woods. Each encounter with the older season fairies leads them to assure Saga that they are certain to find a twinkle. As their journey ends, nothing tangible is found, and Saga begins to realize that it's her relationship with Sugar that is the real "twinkle." 

In the next episode, the show departs slightly from the continuing story. We see the fairies trying to help Pepper's turtle friend learn to fly. Once again, Saga tries to help them even though she knows it's an impossible task. However, keeping with the positive messages of the show, they all learn that a strong wish and teamwork can make anything come true.

Another thread running through the series is Saga's relationship with her mother who passed away when she was younger. When a three year old girl comes to stay with Saga and her grandmother, this family friend stirs Saga's memories of her mother. Though Kanon, the little girl, calls Saga her big sister, Saga behaves more like a mother to the child. The experience makes her realize how special the time with her mother was, and how important her guidance is for Kanon. Surely this will translate into her relationship with Sugar in the future. 

 

Little Snow Fairy Sugar (Episodes 10-12)

(Catch up on previous episodes here.)

When we last visited Saga and the season fairies, they had finally worked out their confrontations and had come to an understanding of how they could coexist. The tension that had existed between Saga and Sugar has finally disappeared. Though the tension between them made for a good plot, it's really nice to see them getting along. It's like when you have two good friends who are angry at each other. You just want to make up, but you know there is an understanding that must be reached. That's one of the things that I really appreciate about this show, the way it doesn't provide easy resolutions for its characters, especially Saga. It really makes her go through the painful process of growing up and making mistakes.

These three episodes all center around the visiting Hammond Theater Group and their play The Bear Pianist. The town is full of excitement over the performance, but their arrival also stirs many other emotions. After initially being taken with admiration by the bear's piano playing, Saga quickly becomes jealous. But her jealously is more of a confusion of emotions that she is unable to sort out. Her memories of her mother are all wrapped up in piano playing, memories she still has yet to deal with.

Over the course of the troupe's stay in the town, Saga develops an awkward relationship with Vincent, the actor who plays the bear pianist. She initially has a sort of crush on him, but grows frustrated when he plays the piano recklessly, which she equates to an insult of her mother's memory. But after he injures his hand, and asks her to fill in for him and play the music during the last performance, their bond grows stronger. So does her bond with Sugar, who is always supportive of her. Saga's playing inspires Sugar to play her flute, and she finally is able to make real snow. By the end of the twelfth episode, when Saga and Sugar are closer than ever, a flower has finally bloomed on Sugar's magical plant. This is such a great symbol for the power of friendship and how it nurtures each of the characters.

Little Snow Fairy Sugar (Episodes 7-9)

(Catch up on previous episodes here.)

When we left off, Saga had sent Sugar away in anger. Though their argument was over a misunderstanding, the hurt was very real to both characters. As they go their separate ways both characters face their regrets with stubborn pride. Saga goes through her day feeling distracted and guilty, but whenever she begins feeling sorry, she concentrates on the incident that angered her in the first place. I really liked how this showed the way we try to hold onto anger. So often in children's programming there's the emphasis on quick forgiveness, but in reality, most of us convince ourselves to remain angry long after we've stopped feeling the emotion.

For her part, kicked out of her home, Sugar takes up with two new weather fairy apprentices named Basil and Cinnamon. They are storm fairies who are leaning to make thunder and lightning. Cleverly, these two fairies are the opposite of the kind of cuteness given to Sugar and her friends. They are drawn, and behave like little punk rockers, causing trouble wherever they go. Sugar quickly learns to love their carefree ways and joins them in mischief. Salt and Pepper don't really like this new Sugar and decide that they must bring Sugar and Saga back together. And when they reveal that the message Sugar wrote on Saga's precious sheet music was really an apology, Saga's guilt overcomes her anger.

Saga's memories of her mother, and the interplay between a little Saga and her mother are important scenes to developing Saga and Sugar's relationship. I've said before that it a big sister/ little sister dynamic, and within that is a mothering aspect. Little Saga is a little like Sugar.  Saga finally realizes this and the accepts her role. After they've made up, the antagonism that had existed between them ceases.

It's clear that a fairy's growth is tied to a nurturing bond with a human. Hints were made earlier during the fairies' search for "twinkle" and the sprouting of their fairy seeds whenever the bond is strengthened. This is made even more obvious later when Phil, the neighborhood boy scientist, attempts his news experiment. Phil is trying to make an aurora, something that Salt claims is the domain of sun fairies, and requires powerful magic. At first Salt is worried that Phil will be able to do something that he hasn't yet been able to achieve. But when the entire class comes to watch Phil fail, Salt feels compassion for the boy who he has secretly been helping. In that moment of feeling, Salt is able to produce a beautiful aurora using his magic. 

The connection with a humans makes the little fairies powerful. I expect as Sugar and Saga's relationship blossoms, we'll soon discover the wonderful things Sugar is able to do. Stay tuned for more next week. 

Little Snow Fairy Sugar (Episodes 3-6)

(Catch up on previous episodes here)

Life with a little snow fairy apprentice, especially one as energetic as Sugar, can be extremely frustrating as eleven year old Saga quickly discovers. When the third episode opens, Saga has had enough and demands the two go their separate ways for the day so that she can shop with her friends without constantly being interrupted by Sugar. Though disappointed that Saga doesn't want her around, Sugar takes the chance to join Salt and Pepper in the search for twinkle. The only problem is, none of them can agree on what their looking for. Pepper is certain that twinkle is puffy-fluffy, Salt is convinced that it's comfy-warm, and Sugar believes whatever it is, it has to twinkle. 

When Sugar spies something twinkling high up in the bell tower, the fairies' search leads them into the clutches of the angry crow who goes around collecting anything shiny in town. One of those items is the jingle bell that caught Sugar's eye, and when she tries to take it, the crow gives chase. When she ends up trapped in a bird cage, there is only one place for Salt and Pepper to turn...Saga. 

As much as Sugar annoys Saga, there is a growing bond between them. When Sugar is in trouble, Saga is there to help. Even in the next episode, when the three little fairies flock to Saga's school on a rumor told to them by doves that they might possibly find twinkle there, Saga initially snaps at Sugar but eventually they make up. Their relationship is an interesting sibling type dynamic. Sugar desperately wants Saga's approval and attention, while Saga feels this desire to take care of the small fairy. It's a relationship of ups and downs, which truly come to a head in episode six.

After the Elder, the fairy who controls all seasons, tells Sugar she must get more serious about her practicing if she ever wants to be a full fledged snow fairy like her mother, Sugar begins to practice her magic flute at all times, driving Saga crazy. After another incident with the crow causes a lot of destruction at Saga's work, the two friends get into a nasty argument. Later, though both want to apologize, both are too proud. When Sugar finally decides to write Saga an apology note, she inadvertently writes it on a cherished piece of sheet music that reminds Saga of her deceased mother. Heartbroken, the episode ends with Saga telling Sugar that she never wants to see her again. 

The show's greatest strength is the emotional depth in which it examines the difficult moments that occur with friendship. It addresses these in ways that are both humorous and serious, giving the show a heartfelt sincerity that reminds me of Miyazaki's wonderful anime films, with the perfect blend of playful and genuine. 

Little Snow Fairy Sugar (Episodes 1&2)

It seems time once again for me to start a viewer guide of an anime series, which I haven't done since the Legend of Korra. This time around, I'm choosing Little Snow Fairy Sugar, a show that I began watching before it ever made over her to the states. After it aired in Japan in 2001, I bought the first season in Japanese and watched it with subtitles. This time around, I'm watching the English dubbed versions, which thankfully keep the personalities consistent. Sometimes the dubbed versions inflect unnecessary attitude into the voices to make them more "American" and it really annoys me. I'm happy to say that Sugar and Saga are spared that fate.

The story opens without a ton of exposition, jumping right into the life of Saga, a determined eleven year old girl in a small town in Germany. Saga is an organized girl who has her days planned out to the minute. She knows exactly when she will meet her friends, where they will eat, when she'll be home, and what she will do in the time before dinner. In the first episode she is a lot like Alice's White Rabbit, always running around and seemingly late. The last thing a preoccupied eleven year old needs her in life is a curious little fairy apprentice with little or no regard for her complicated plans.

The two main characters meet on a rainy afternoon. Saga ducks for cover on the side of a building and spots the strange creature groaning with hunger. Both characters are surprised that Saga can see Sugar the Snow Fairy, but while it thrills the younger Sugar, it disturbs Saga. She spends much of the day pretending it is her imagination, worried she has a fever that is creating the illusion. She soon discovers that ignoring the tiny menace that is Sugar isn't as easy as she thinks.

There are a few angles that will guide Little Snow Fairy Sugar throughout the story and build into something bigger. In the second episode we learn that Sugar has a mission in the human world. All fairy apprentices must plant their magic seeds, capture "twinkle", and watch the seeds bloom. Sugar's friends Salt and Pepper are also in the human world, and it is through them and their interaction with Sugar that she is truly defined as the lovable flake that Saga is getting to know. It's not all fairies that are so chaotic, just Sugar. Which makes her the perfect odd couple match for Saga, because as it turns out, Sugar's seed has begun to sprout inside Saga's bedroom, meaning Sugar is there to stay.

Because Saga is the only who can see or hear Sugar, the relationship quickly becomes problematic. With Sugar refusing to leave her alone, school is a disaster and all of her carefully laid plans for after school go up in flames. Saga becomes a girl with a burden, one that starts as an annoyance, but seems to slowly be growing into one of responsibility as the relationship between her and Sugar shows hints of a big sister/little sister dynamic, complete with the ups and downs that come with it.

Like all good anime, the show isn't flat. It has silliness, but combines those moments with bigger, more series elements. Also important for a animated show, the art is wonderful. Look for more to come when the bumpy ride continues as I make my way through all 24 episodes.