English Dub Review: Fairy gone “Rain Sound’s Crime and White Snow’s Punishment”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

The castle fortress is being rebuilt after Beevee Liscar’s failed assault on the capital from last season’s finale. Ray Dawn thinks back to his childhood growing up in Suna village. In Suna, people live together along with the fairies, but it’s not a perfect symbiotic relationship. The villagers have to appoint guardians in order to watch over the fairies lest they get too close and endanger the village. There’s also a ritual involving the sacrifice of children in order to keep a giant fairy creature known as the ‘Esteemed One’ away.

Ray Dawn’s father, Thori, ends up sacrificing himself to prevent the ritual from being carried out. Marlya’s father, Ivan, also died trying to deal with the Esteemed One. Due to her mother dying as well, she becomes known as the cursed child and lives as an outcast in the village. The only person who accepts her is Veronica, a happy child who everyone calls blessed. They spend their days together, often sneaking into the forest to watch the fairy primordials. Everything is fine until Ray Dawn rides into the village and torches it, instructing his soldiers to shoot everyone in the village. Ver distracts the soldiers while Marlya escapes.

Our Take:

Fairy gone has returned for another season. Or maybe it’s just the second part of the first season? It’s a little unclear from the way Funimation is billing it. Regardless, this episode does a good job of showing us the past in order to set up the future. In fact, this was such a backstory-rich flashback episode that I’m struggling to come up with reasons why it wasn’t aired during the first season. It allows us a look into Marlya and Ver’s past that informs so much of who they are in the present. I’m honestly at a loss for why this episode was put off until the second season of the show. I feel like I know Marlya so much better now, but I wish I had known her like this in the first season.

I suppose I can understand why this wasn’t the first episode of the first season. There’s a lot of good backstory on Ray Dawn, Marlya, and Veronica, but if we had seen it early on, we would’ve gotten bored, as there isn’t much action taking place. Knowing the history of Ray Dawn and the village, and his connection to Marlya and Ver makes the show instantly more interesting to me. This episode even managed to make the complicated names and dates more understandable than usual. I don’t want to harp on it too much more, but it’s a double-edged sword. I love getting this information on Marlya and Ver, as well as Ray Dawn. But I’m puzzled and a little annoyed it didn’t happen in the first season when we were literally following Ver’s attempt to assassinate Ray Dawn. Wouldn’t this have helped us have more context and empathy for her?

Visually, the show is still a mixed bag. The CGI is still very bad. It stands out like a sore thumb, especially in the forest, surrounded by beautifully-rendered backgrounds. The Esteemed One looks like a bad console game from five years ago. Even its cry sounds like a weird robot type of bear. Luckily, the rest of the aesthetic delivers far better results. The depiction of the village and the forest with the lovely fall foliage really stood out to me. Even the direction had wonderful moments, like the scene with Marlya laying before her parents’ tombstones. Visual storytelling is so important, and I’m glad Fairy gone is getting off to a good start in this department. Minus the Esteemed One.

The dub is off to a good start as well. I was a little wary of Jill Harris playing her child self, but after hearing young Ver’s voice alongside her, I think it worked nicely. “In any age, excessive power corrupts. And fools who acquire fairies will always end up going astray.” Ray Dawn’s quote from the beginning seems strange considering what he does at the end. “Strange. It’s one misfortune after the next. The girl is bad luck.” Lady Deira’s observation that Marlya is cursed spreads to the rest of the villagers fast. Her life is basically a living hell until Ver shows up. “He has something I don’t: success.” Jurgen is a little jaded about Ray’s power. “You shouldn’t be nice to someone like me.” It’s so sad that young Marlya has internalized everyone’s hatred of her. “The past? The future? None of it matters until that man gets what he deserves.” Ver’s rage makes so much more sense now.

Rain Sound’s Crime and White Snow’s Punishment takes us into the past for an episode that sheds light on why everyone does what they do. It’s a fun episode full of worldbuilding, character development (I love Ivan and Olek despite their limited screen time), and a little bit of horror near the end. Fairy gone is getting off on the right foot for this second season… I just wish it had found its footing earlier.