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Welcome to the next day of Otakutober! Because of our deep love for Gothic anime this was at the top of our watch list when it came to new horror. Weirdly enough, it wasn’t that Gothic at all, I, Star, guess we didn’t read it close enough. “Variations” was nearly everything but the plot. Anyways, I won’t say too much let’s just get into the story.

I’ll break this down into two parts, Grimm and Variations. Both parts act independently but creates one big collection that gives the grotesque part of the original Grimm tales with an Anime twist. The two work weirdly in tandem with each other as they follow the stories through the telling of two brothers to their younger sister. The first season covers Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Hansel & Gretel, The Elves and the Shoemaker, The Town Musicians of Bremen, and Pied Piper of Hamelin. *partial spoilers below, you’ve been warned*

Grimm

Each story kept the “silver lining” but changed the plot’s details. It still followed the main plot so the characters in the original stories were written in as well. In the Cinderella episode, Cinderella is more of a catalyst for the insanity of her family. It felt more of an antagonistic twist than a damsel in distress story. While the Little Red Riding Hood episode, was about a man who was honestly a predator (in the sexual and violent sense) when the Little Red character was introduced she became the heroine, like in the original story. The Elves and the Shoemaker episode was a total rendition of the story where the shoes weren’t actually the item of wealth and the Elves weren’t entirely Elves at all. The Town Musicians is actually pretty accurate they just humanized the characters. The Piped Piper episode actually made the inappropriate innuendo of the pipe and had the infestation of the mind due to an old way of thinking, was the Piper who left the rats behind.

Variations

As I explained above, the stories stayed the same, but the settings and sometimes the characters were changed fundamentally. Each episode was set in a different era of space and time. The genres were sporadic across all episodes, ranging from sci-fi to drama, Horror, and Action. So, it was a true feat of world-building in such a binge-worthy spoonful. The art felt reminiscent of 2000s styles like Rozen Maiden and Code Geass. I honestly couldn’t get enough of these renditions even though I felt anger and disgust with almost every episode I still found it incredibly interesting. The Hanzel & Gretel episode actually brought to light that Promised Neverland is a lot like this story… or is this story a lot like Promised Neverland? (You’ll just have to watch it for yourself.)

Anyways, let me know your thoughts in the comments.

AishiteLOVEru~

Star