In a world where mankind is nearing extinction, the heroine, a girl who acts as a mediator with fairies (now the dominant race on the planet), is sent to help a village by "turning chickens into meat", as it's tactfully put - but the chickens escape. After some strange FairyCo products show up in the village, including a tonic that restores her hair, the heroine, her grandfather, and her assistant go to a fairy factory where mass-produced fairy products are made - all rather different from what they're used to... Annoyingly, our heroine seems destined to go the full series without her name being revealed. Since she refers to herself as 'watashi', though, that seems to be the accepted tag to give her, so I'll stick with that. Watashi is just a guide to us, really, showing us the absurdities of the world, as pointed out by putting fairies in certain key roles - with this particular arc taking the piss out of the world of corporatism and mass-production. Or at least, that's my take on it - I suspect other interpretations may be available. For all that the world is presented as being one in decline, it's a world living the pastoral ideal that I could probably get quite comfortable in - chicken 'processing' aside. As for humanity... that they're on their way to extinction seems to be an accepted fact, with no-one really bothering to do anything to stop it. But, glimpses of ruined cities aside, it never really feels like that - instead, the decline of man and the rise of the mischievous fairies seems to simply be a hook to let us view mankind's stupidity through the eyes of creatures who are small and cute. THE GOOD: It's different, and in a good way. Poking fun at the modern world works well, and the basic atmosphere of the series is one that's easy to get caught up in. THE BAD: That 'poking fun at the modern world' works well in this ep because by day I'm a corporate drone and know what they're poking fun at. When the subject changes - and apparently it will - it may not work so well. We'll see. Very good start, though, that has left me looking forward to seeing more and made me wish I'd made the effort to pick it up sooner.
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