DESCRIPTION

CAST

MANGA DramaTaishou Otome Otogibanashi

REVIEWS

• 

  Sirion

  82/100
  Tutorial: How to historicize a cute-dramatic romance

  TUTORIAL: HOW TO HISTORICIZE A CUTE-DRAMATIC ROMANCE

  
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  Today I'm here talking about one of the many valid romances of this season. Since I have the review ready for "My Senpai is Annoying" and I'm not going to do it about Komi-san, I'm going to talk a little about the anime that perhaps most of all has passed into the background this season.
  
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  __PLOT:__
  Taishou Otome presents himself as a sort of counterpart of Tonikawa (which I did not like). So why did I like this so much more? The main reasons are 3. The first is that the setting in a more "ancient" historical context (1920) made the work more intriguing, especially for the fantastic ability to emphasize this context very well, in terms of customs, prices and even using historical events that really happened to reverse the situation at the end. The second reason is the fact that there is a much greater dose of drama than in Tonikaku. The life of the protagonists is characterized by a series of unpleasant, sad, difficult events that also disturb their own love relationship. These difficulties are due to selfish and incorrect behavior of some secondary characters, disabilities of the protagonist and particularly unfortunate accidental events. I will deal with the third reason better in the next paragraph because it is precisely the sympathy that the 2 protagonists gave me. To close the plot paragraph, the series alternates more peaceful and cute stand-alone episodes (even if they still remain tied to the plot due to the character developments that follow) with other dramatic ones for which it has the advantage of being able to vary very well between comedy and drama.
  
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  __CHARACTERS:__
  As I always say with regard to the slice of life genre (but it is a discourse that also applies to all the other series, even if in this genre it's predominant), the plot is made by the characters, with beautiful characters you always have a beautiful plot. This speech continues to be valid for Taishou Otome logically and I appreciated the work thanks to the presence of 2 excellent protagonists: Tamahiko (expelled by his father due to an incurable injury to his right hand) and Yuzuki (young girl who was sold to the Tamahiko's family to pay off a debt). Due to the trauma of his exile, Tamahiko is a wary boy who no longer has faith in himself and would just like to spend the rest of his life alone. Yuzuki is sent to the house where Tamahiko was exiled to take care of him and marry him in the following years.
  Before continuing with the discourse on the characters, I always want to remember the historical context in which we find ourselves. Exiling a son for a hand injury or selling a daughter to pay off a debt are unthinkable nowadays, but in this period the mentality and customs were different.
  Returning to where I had stopped, due to this situation the 2 enter more and more intimacy and Yuzuki manages to bring the light back into Tamahiko's life. As the protagonists develop their bond more and more they are put to the test by some very unpleasant situations caused by some secondary characters. The subjects in question are mainly Tamako (Tamahiko's sister, initially selfish) and Ryo (a girl from the village of Tamahiko, who tries to blackmail him to obtain financial support in order to allow the brothers to live in peace). Watch the series to see how these 2 characters evolve their personalities;). In the final episodes, instead, a series of much more friendly characters are introduced from the beginning and who help to support the protagonists and their relationship.
  
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  __ANIMATIONS AND MUSIC:__
  On a graphic level, the anime is very simple but not in a negative way. The animation studio (Synergy SP) in fact, although not a high-level studio, succeeds perfectly in the intent to reveal the emotions that the characters feel, the anguish in their eyes in times of difficulty and their cuteness in periods brighter.
  As for the music sector, the anime has a very catchy OP and ED and on the OST it hits us even if it does not shine particularly in any of these.
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  __CONCLUSION:__
  In conclusion, I recommend to all lovers of the romance genre to recover this excellent series, especially to Tonikawa lovers. As mentioned above, I also recommend it to those like me who did not particularly appreciate the aforementioned work because it has very peculiar aspects that make it much more interesting. Also remember that these 12 episodes fully adapt the manga so it is also recommended for those who want to enjoy a short and complete series.
  
  _P.S. I am not a native English speaker, so I apologize for any mistakes_

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• 

  Naxhi

  75/100
  A Wholesome Romance that Fails to Address the Many Elephants in its Room

  I'm a sucker for fluff romances. I don't understand why, but I like watching simple undramatic romances play out in anime. I like this format more than an overly melodramatic romance or a rom-com that executes the same formula that 100 other shows have done prior to it. I'd rather watch 12 episodes of a romantic couple being... well... a couple then watching 24 episodes of them struggling to get together and failing to communicate like normal human beings. Tonikaku Kawaii (which I have been told is a close comparison to this show) is one such show I like that's like this.

  Taishou Love Story is no exception to this rule. It is, at the very core, a fluff romance. It's also one of the few series that I had read the source for prior to watching the anime. I really like the manga, it was fluff, cute, and had some really good character development. It was a 1-sitting binge for me. I was super excited for the anime when it was announced as a result. Yet, as I was watching the anime, I began to realize that reading compared to watching means that all of the stuff that you could easily skip over when reading a manga becomes front and center when you have to watch it on screen.

  Taishou, as fluff as it is, has a lot of baggage behind it that the show fails to address meaningfully, and instead ignores it for the sake of writing a cute fluff romance set in a historical period.

  
  
  The majority of both the good and bad of Taishou stems from the main heroine of the story, Yuzu. Yuzu is a 14 year old genki-girl brimming with energy and determination with nothing more than a desire to help Tamahiko not be depressed anymore and to fall in love with him. She is a fun character to watch on screen and she is the main driving force behind Tamahiko's character development. The majority (not all) of the scenes she is in make for very enjoyable scenes to watch. In general, she pulls of the genki-girl vibe very well. However, there are two problems with her character, one glaring, one not so much.
  
  Let's start with the less problematic aspect of her character. The majority of her actions and personality can be seen as in service of Tamahiko's own character development at the cost of her own. Now Tamahiko's character development is probably the show's strongest point, but I really wished that Yuzu got some of her own character development as opposed to just being an avenue or reason for another character to grow. It feels off that a character that the plot deems so important is relegated to pushing the development of the main guy of the story and basically is left to be the perfect house-wife (which is a whole other set of weird implications). 
  
  The second, and probably the biggest issue with Yuzu and possibly the show, is that she is by definition a slave. I say slave because Yuzu's reason for being in the story is that she was BOUGHT, yes, BOUGHT, for a sum of money to be Tamahiko's wife and care-taker. She, a human being, was PURCHASED for a SUM OF MONEY, to do a specific task. She is by that logic, a slave. Now, I am no expert on slavery in Japanese society, especially not its legal status in the 1920s, the decade in which the story takes place, but the writer of the story choosing to bring Yuzu and Tamahiko together via this method leaves a lot of questions as to why. Why not make her a maid paid to look after Tamahiko? If you want the Tachibana's to still pay off a debt, why not just have her work for Tamahiko instead of being sold to his family as a slave? Yuzu being bought leaves a lot of questions as to why this method was chosen. Perhaps the author just wanted to bring Tamahiko and Yuzu together in a way that forced them to stay together in order to create romantic situations. If so, I feel like other methods could have been better, or the author just didn't realize or understand the implications such a dynamic could bring.
  
  Yet, the show constantly pays lip-service to the fact that Yuzu being a slave is f-ed up. Multiple characters throughout the series bring up that Yuzu's situation is terrible. Tamahiko himself addresses it (but its more a "you don't deserve to be with me cause I am depressed" and not "you don't deserve to be with me cause you are only here due to an f-ed up exchange"). There are multiple scenes where Yuzu is looked on with pity or Tamahiko's family is looked on with anger over the fact that Yuzu was bought and forced to reside with Tamahiko. Yet, the one character who doesnt express any anger or sadness or regret over this... is Yuzu herself. Yuzu never once is sad or angry or upset at the fact that she was purchased like a piece of property. We never see her longing for her old life before the show (though the show does give us a lot of scenes of her pre-show life), we never see her feel upset at the injustice she was put into, and we never see her regret her turn of events. 
  
  Spoiler for the last episode;<span class='markdown_spoiler'><span>Its made even worse when in the last episode we learn that Yuzu sold herself willingly to the Shima's to help her family, that the explanation for her being a slave is that "she chose it guys!", which is the argument a lot of other shows use to justify a character owning a human being, and which doesnt make it any better at all</span></span>
  
  In general, this aspect of Yuzu's character, her being purchased, puts a giant elephant in the room, an elephant the show constantly acknowledges but then turns around and immediately tries to do a fluff romance piece. Had the show actually acknowledged it in a meaningful manner, or had Yuzu be affected by it via insights into her thoughts on the situation, it would have made a much stronger show, and helped solve the lack of major characterization of Yuzu as a whole.
  
  Oh and I completely forgot to mention, why the hell does a 14 year old have giant boobs? What was the reason behind that? It's brought up once in the anime and never addressed again. It doesnt make any sense besides fan-service, which is really weird given again, she's 14...
  
  ~~~<center>____Tamahiko Shima____
  
  The show's strongest points though come through with its main guy character, Tamahiko. Tamahiko starts off the series as the son of a ruthless businessman who gets injured and is effectively ostracized by his family to the point where they even consider him deceased for all reasons. Realistically, this puts Tamahiko into a giant downward depression spiral (you try not being depressed if your family decided to declare you dead to them for something silly). I would argue that the strongest point of Taishou is seeing Tamahiko start off as a depressed guy, meet Yuzu, and with her help become not depressed and actually learn to be happy. We see him slowly break out of his spiral, meet new people, make new friends, and figure out his future. Of course, this is all egged on by a desire to make Yuzu happy and to be a husband she can respect, but its still really nice to see Tamahiko develop in this way. 
  
  It also helps that even though Tamahiko and Yuzu met under f-ed circumstances, Tamahiko himself is actually probably the best case scenario for someone in Yuzu's position (exemplified by the fact that we see characters in similar but worse situations, which leads me to wonder if those were used to make Yuzu's position more justified?), there are no gross things that happen between Tamahiko and Yuzu, and ignoring the slave aspect, their relationship on an emotional level grows to be very healthy (though there is a caveat I want to address later). 
  
  In general, Tamahiko's character starting off as depressed and becoming a man who would trek miles for his love is the kind of character development I really like to see, and honestly that is probably my favorite part of the story. This kind of character development might be more common or better done elsewhere, but I still really enjoyed watching it
  
  </center><center>____The Relationship____
  
  As mentioned before, Tamahiko and Yuzu emotionally have a rather healthy relationship despite how they are introduced. Yet, there are some caveats to this that were a little bit unsettling. The first is that Tamahiko and Yuzu have a rather traditional marriage; Yuzu, the wife, does all the house-work, and Tamahiko sits and either reads or does some job. Now, this might sound nit-picking, but generally those kinds of relationships are rather flawed and can easily be seen as wish-fulfillment (having a cute girl keep your place clean? AWESOME). Historically speaking those relationships never really existed, which again points to kind of wish-fulfillment as the reason this relationship dynamic exists. There is also the fact that Yuzu getting covered for warmth is all she needed to trust Tamahiko after just meeting him but that definitely feels like nit-picking.
  
  Besides that though, their relationship is really nice to see play out. It is basically a fluff romance, and their interactions with each other are cute and wholesome and nice to watch. I am a sucker for this kind of thing so it was really nice to see play out. Nothing more I can say about this (Yes I am aware that he is 17 and she is 14, but a three-year age gap is not as bad as other shows I have watched with even worse age-gaps, so I kind of am ambivalent but also understanding if that doesnt sit well with a viewer).
  
  </center><center>____The Side Cast____
  
  Tamako Shima, Ryou, and the Shiratori twins I feel fall in a lot of ways under the same characterization as Yuzu, that their existence is mainly an avenue for Tamahiko to grow as a character. Tamako and Ryou at least also have their own character progressions, though they arent as profound as Tamahiko's, and Ryou gets off to a rather unnecessarily antagonistic start before growing. The Shiratori's are mainly used to help Tamahiko grow, for they don't really get their own development and stay relatively the same throughout the series. 
  
  It's also obvious that the main antagonist of the series is Tamahiko's dad. Tamahiko's dad is a ruthless businessman, but in a lot of ways it feels the show makes him out to be some comically evil villain. He buys people, he ostracizes his son for a broken wrist, and we basically see him treating his family like garbage. It's very clear the show wants us to hate the guy, and to make one of Tamahiko's character goals to grow to a point where he doesnt have to pine for his father's affection. 
  
  </center>~~~____Conclusion____
  
  I dont want to really talk about the historical aspects of Taishou since that would involve a lot of spoilers for the last arc, so I am going to leave that aside. Also, the work was written by someone in today's society so I feel like judging its more weird aspects like the slavery from a 1920s perspective is not the best way to approach it given that a modern writer chose to make Yuzu a slave.
  
  In total, Taishou Love Story is a historical fluff romance that shoots itself in the foot trying to make a historical fluff romance with its controversial elements. While the fluff is good, and Tamahiko's character progression is very satisfying, Yuzu's character brings a lot of elephants into the room of the show that the show does not address in a satisfying way.
  
  My final verdict is that the show itself is still a solid fluff romance, just understand that there are weird aspects of it that bog it down. If you don't mind that kind of stuff, I would recommend it, but if that kind of stuff turns you away, maybe don't watch it.

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• 

  magnifico

  68/100
  A family-friendly, truly romanticist novel about the will to love. Also cute.

  “This is for everyone who loves someone… or something.”

  This review contains minor spoilers.

  Taishou Otome Fairytale is an historical romance adaptation. The story tells us about the life of Tamahiko Shima, a young man who has lost hope for his own future after suffering an accident that left his right arm immobilized. One day, he receives a visit from a young woman for his arranged marriage — Tachibana Yuzuki, who has been sold in account of her family's debts.

  The series starts from a simple premise, but it accomplishes exactly what it intends: to show the development of the characters in a lighthearted way, during a historical period in Japan called the Taisho Era. When Yuzuki and Tamahiko first meet, a process of inner healing begins that becomes very evident in the later episodes of the show — Yuzuki becomes the pillar of change in Tamahiko's pessimistic life, who, in turn, becomes the pillar of change to the life of other characters in the show.

  Although questioned several times by the supporting characters about the reason for her selfless efforts, Yuzuki decides to make a decision that is incongruous to what we define as 'fair': she decides to commit to the supposed 'torment' that has been thrown on her life and continue to stand by Tamahiko's side without cursing her past or being discontent with the present. The lesson Yuzuki teaches, not only to Tamahiko but to all viewers, is a lesson in gratitude — where happiness becomes a choice regardless of past hardships.

  It’s evident that Taishou Otome Fairytale is not written to be a contemporary romance: it is content with the classic, romanticist limits of a relationship between two people. At the same time, it is not a flat novel, one that is content only with the vicissitudes of two young people's first love. Taishou Otome is about the transformation that one person can cause in another person's life. Taishou Otome Fairytale was made with a very important precept about romance: that love is not only about sentimentality, but about the will of loving, the effort of caring, and the commitment to happiness. Loving, as much as being happy, is a choice you make every day.

  While not very visually inspiring and clearly budget-limited, Taishou Otome Fairytale has amazing audio development. It has Flawless soundtrack, great voice acting and inspiring insert songs. The audio experience the show brings is unique, and makes the adaptation truly special.

  Without bothering to create a novel awash in contemporary hardships and dualities, Taishou Otome is a family-friendly lighthearted experience that will remind you, even if only for a single dawn, that the sun does indeed come out in the morning.

  
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