Quick Summary
In Fairy gone episode 11, “Uninvited Music Corps,” Schwarz Diese unleashes war in his barony; he starts by kicking out the Imperial ambassador. The Emperor and Prime Minster Golbarn Helwise are so anxious to bring the rebellion to heel that they order Dorothea Directory Nein Auler, who used to be one of the Seven Knights, to lead the assault. As they press their attack, she begins to wonder why resistance was so, well, pathetic. Meanwhile, Free Underbar, Mariya Noel, Klara Kysenaria, and Serge Tova are the only Dorothea agents left in the capital when they get word of a direct assault on the Imperial Palace. It seems the rebellion in Schwarz’s barony was a feint! Can Free and his fellow agents change the course of the battle? Their odds look even worse when Beevee Liscar shows up…
Note: This post may include spoilers, so be cautious.
What’s in This Post
3 Favorite Moments
Moment 1: Nein Auler as the Witch of Ainedern
Nein gets some serious points for badassery. Capture from the Funimation stream.
The word “fairy” is in the title, so I expected to see some amazing magic-fueled combat. We’ve gotten a little, but nothing of the scale I was looking for. Fortunately, in this episode, we got a brief glimpse of what it could be like, and it looked pretty good! The emperor ordered his troops to retake the rebelling barony, and he ordered Nein to go with them. As one of the Seven Knights, she wielded a Fairy Weapon, and wield it she did! The primary shape of her weapon is a sword, but she could convert it to individual segments joined with what looked ligaments (12:09). It reminded me a lot of the weapon Renji Abarai used in Bleach. She made quick work of both artificial fairy soldiers and human soldiers alike. I thought it was a nice touch when the scene switched to a spot where Lily Heineman and some others were fighting. She explained that their Director would be fine because she had been known as The Witch of Ainedern (13:04). That’s kinda cool!
Moment 2: Too Easy a Victory
Lily was the first to voice concern over how light the resistance seemed to be. Nein picked up the theme independently a little later. Capture from the Funimation stream.
Nein pressed her attack until she got to a cluster of artificial fairy controllers guarded by human soldiers. She slammed one to the ground with a powerful kick to the face. Pointing her sword at him, she demanded that he and the others surrender. They did. Immediately, in fact. As a seasoned soldier, she knew that as powerful as she was, the enemy had fallen far too quickly. “Why aren’t they resisting harder?” she wondered (13:18). It was nice to have a bit of immediate foreshadowing. The payoff came very, very quickly — we learned the imperial palace was the real target (14:03). But for a little while, it was fun to wonder about it!
Moment 3: Free and Verosteal in Action
It was nice to see Free in action. He seemed to regain some of the confidence he showed in the early episodes. Capture from the Funimation stream.
Free’s pride had to be hurting after the beating he took at the hands of Beevee Liscar in episode 9. Sure, Beevee had been one of the Seven Knights, so he’s ridiculously powerful, but Free was also a professional, experienced solider. Being crushed so easily had to have an effect on his confidence. It was nice, then, to see him in action against normal-powered opponents like artificial fairies and their handles. He and his squad came upon the enemies outside the walls of the Imperial Palace, and he looked seriously angry when he drew his sword (17:27). A quick sprint, a couple slashes, and a stab later, and he routed the enemies. Turns out he’d been given the fairy weapon Verosteal (18:07), and it seems to have given his confidence a boost!
Thoughts: One Step Forward…
This episode had the makings of something very interesting. Schwarz put his plans into action and we saw that he made effective use of feints. They seem plausible, too! I also like how Lily and Nein realized almost simultaneously that their victories were coming too easily.
Even Free’s actions with his squad worked both dramatically and realistically (at least to the extent I understand this world and its military technology). They, too, slowly put together the clues that something just wasn’t right.
Fairy gone had two solid episodes before this one. Two episodes that suggested it was getting its plot on track. Two episodes that built my hopes the show was back on track. And, admittedly, a lot of this episode reflected that.
But — dang it, Fairy gone! — you had to give me two of the most unrealistic scenes of combat that I’ve ever seen.
Thanks to this episode, I now know a fast, effective way to un-suspend disbelief: Have one of the characters whistle along with the soundtrack! This really isn’t a Disney musical… Capture from the Funimation stream.
First, a whistling Beevee (and man, did I get to hate that whistling!) led his green-coated troops past an entrenched checkpoint. The Imperial soldiers were armed with rifles; they were crouched behind sand bags (16:03). One soldier called out to Beevee and his people to stop. Instead of stopping, they pulled pistols — and immediately slaughtered all of the soldiers. Can anyone explain to me how a sauntering group of people with pistols could destroy a squad of soldiers behind cover? Soldiers with rifles? Who were ready to fire?
I call Shenanigans.
Second, it’s a tense scene. The still-whistling Beevee led his people toward the supposedly impregnable Heavenly Gate. The balcony was filled with imperial soldiers. They had a clear shot at not only Beevee, but his entire group. What tactic does Beevee employ? Does he direct his people to provide cover fire? Does he light tar on fire to produce billowing black cloud to obscure the soldiers’ view?
No.
He walks slowly towards the soldiers.
He walks slowly towards the soldiers who were firing their rifles right at him.
Beevee even told the Imperial soldiers exactly where to aim! Did they all go to the Star Wars Stormtrooper Academy for Marksmanship? Capture from the Funimation stream.
And then he used his fairy weapon to cut the balcony out from under them. I mean, seriously, Fair gone! What was that? Trained soldiers — even neophyte soldiers — can hit a target at 30 meters! In ancient days, I used to competitively shoot muzzle-loading rifles. I could put a 50 caliber lead ball in a target the size of a dinner plate at 100 meters. That means with a weapon much more primitive than what the soldiers were using, I have no doubt I could have hit a Beevee-sized target at the same distance! Does his fairy weapon provide some kind of immunity from bullets? Because if it doesn’t, what I just watched makes absolutely no sense.
To top if all off, the military minister bragged about how powerful the Heavenly Gate was. It looked like it consisted of a metal gate that Beevee’s fairy weapon crushed with a single blow. Or did the balcony count as part of the gate? But even it didn’t fare any better! How could a steel gate, some flagstones, and a balcony constitute an impregnable gate? What was that about?
And the show was just starting to trend in the right direction!
What do you think? Am I making too much of those tactical flaws? What were your favorite moments? Let me know in the comments!
Other Posts about This Series
Other Anime Sites
- Reddit: Fairy Gone – Episode 11 discussion
- The Otaku Author: Fairy Gone (Episode 11) – Uninvited Music Corps
This Site (Crow’s World of Anime!)
- Review of Fairy gone Episode 1: Ash Covered Girl
- Review of Fairy gone Episode 2: Wolf Collar and Swan Feathers
- Review of Fairy gone Episode 3: Greedy Fox and Lying Crow
- Review of Fairy gone Episode 4: Impatient Housekeeper and Selfish Artist
- Review of Fairy gone Episode 5: Black Moon and Lost Child’s Song
- Review of Fairy gone Episode 6: Fellow Traveler
- Review of Fairy gone Episode 7: Stubborn Blacksmith and Biased Rabbit
- Review of Fairy gone Episode 8: Pipe Blowing in Stage Wing
- Review of Fairy gone Episode 9: Rolling Stones and Seven Knights
- Review of Fairy gone Episode 10: Cursed Child
- Review of Fairy gone Episode 12: Powerless Soldier
When I said earlier that the show tries too hard to be cool, I was thinking of moments like… nearly the entire episode? Really, I’d have laughed if Beevee points at his head in all coolness and a random shoots, hits and kills him. Not that he should have gotten that far, but that would have been worth it.
I had similar problems with Nein earlier, though not as pronounced. This sort of stuff can work with larger than life characters in self-aware cheese, but here?
Also, with the frank and open rebellion I’m back to having no idea what the point was of stealing the fairy weapon the guy’d have gotten anyway. The theory that he didn’t want it examined is a little weak, IMO. I mean surely they know all they can know about a weapon they hold in storage. And even if not, wouldn’t you examine the thing before you ship it out?
I’m not really sure what’s going on anymore. I still think the beetle cars are silly; I don’t see the point of them. Psychologoical warfare?
“When I said earlier that the show tries too hard to be cool, I was thinking of moments like…”
You know what? As I was watching the episode, I actually thought, “Man, I bet Dawnstorm is cringing (or laughing) at this part!” I thought that more than once!
“Really, I’d have laughed if Beevee points at his head in all coolness and a random shoots, hits and kills him. ”
First I would have applauded.
Second, I would have lauded that scene from the freaking rooftops. That would have been awesome.
“This sort of stuff can work with larger than life characters in self-aware cheese, but here?”
I didn’t mind with her as much, because, well, she wasn’t an annoying jerk like Beevee. And she didn’t whistle. Along with the soundtrack.
“And even if not, wouldn’t you examine the thing before you ship it out?”
I’m fresh out of explanations. You ever watch Stargate SG-1? There’s a quote from Jack O’Neill that’s stuck with me (season 8, New Order, Part 2): “Yeah, I got nothing.” I can’t even make up a joke to describe what’s going on with that.
“I still think the beetle cars are silly; I don’t see the point of them. Psychologoical warfare?”
Well, I thought they were creepy, but if you insist on being rational (I’m joking; rational is good), we’ve already seen motorcycles that have what we’d consider conventional drive shafts and wheels. Same with troop carriers. What is the point of those vehicles? Are they just for show? Unless manufacturing artificial fairy legs is cheaper than a combustion engine, gears, and rubber tires?
That doesn’t seem likely…
@Whistling: I actually spent the entire episode thinking it’s some sort of co-ordination method, but no action that needed timing ever showed up. (Music’s actually pretty good for co-ordinating timed actions, since we perceive time in minute details when listening to music. Only small tempo changes are very noticable, for example. So if, for example, there had been the necessity to push some button at a specific time, at-that-part-of-the-song would actually be a pretty good way to facilitate temporal precision, I think.) At the end of the show? Yeah, it was probably just smug.
I don’t generally mind cheesiness. I can ignore it in this show, but if I ignore it in this episode very little is left. Well, there’s this: they way they were talking about Serge on the train makes me wonder if he’s going to make it out of this operation alive. The scene had the whiff of a death flag for me.