Otogi

Otogi-Jūshi Akazukin

is an anime OVA as well as an anime television series.

Story

Long, long ago, there existed a world of magic and science. God, afraid of man's potential, split the world in to the world of science, Elde, and the world of magic, Fandavale. One day in Fandavale, a terrible witch named Cendrillon (Cinderella) revives. Cendrillon plots to rule both worlds, and searches for the "key" which holds tremendous power.

A young boy from Elde by the name of Sōta meets a mysterious girl from Fandavale, Akazukin, and her talking wolf companion, Val. Sōta learns that he is the key Cendrillon is searching for. Now it is up to Akazukin, Val, and the other Fairy Musketeers to protect Sōta from Cendrillon and her Nightmarelians who wish to obtain the power he mysteriously possesses.

Differences between the OVA and television series

Differences exist between the OVA and the television series due to length. For example, Shirayukihime (Snow White) only appears at the end of the OVA, and Ibarahime (Sleeping Beauty) only being mentioned in passing in the OVA.

Another difference is the darker feel in the OVA. The majority of the enemies in the OVA are wolves of the same race as Val, but ones who have chosen to serve Cendrillon, and have undergone transformations as a result. In addition to having hybrid forms, such as wolves crossed with spiders or bats, they seem be to undead, being little more than a wolf pelt draped over a shadow. Each has a large ring in their torso to which the edges of their pelt is attached, with nothing visible inside.

The television series, by comparison, has a much lighter feel, being made as a magical girl anime.

Characters

--The titular heroine from the magic world Fandavale (Magic). She is one of the Three Musketeers, and has come to the Elde world to protect Souta who holds the Elde Key. She uses magic, but her specialty seems to be physical attacks. She can control fire magic. Later on she gets an upgrade in her powers when the Three Musketeers try to obtain the ultimate magic. She was the one that received it and when activated it she called it Princess Mode due to the fact it makes her look like a princess like the other two Musketeers. The power is like the other card magic she usually uses. The only thing is, it does not stay active all the time, only when used. She was born in Vise village, the same village where she met Val for the first time: the morning after the village was destroyed. Eleven years before the story, the village was destroyed by werewolves led by Jed. Jed attacked the village to kill his younger brother Cain, who is really Val. During the destruction, she lost her parents and Cain's mother.

Age 14, voiced by: Yukari Tamura

-- The protagonist from the real world Elde (Science). He has tendency to talk to flowers in the morning on his way to school, and after talking to them they mysteriously get more charming. He cares about the flowers a lot, and they help him out in return. Souta seems to have some power of his own: the first was discovered in an attempt to save Ringo from falling by Hansel's push; he unknowingly used an unknown flash and destroyed every opposing monster in the building. After he used it he did not realize that he contained that power and thought it was Shiryuki's amazing power. He also reacted to a story card given to him old lady. So far he has collected 5 story cards of the Two World fairy tale stories (which tells the story how Marlene turned in to Cendrillon, and her reason for her hatred). He is a kind and caring person, who can tell good people apart from bad. He is also smart and helps out in certain situations that the group befalls. His key power is activated whenever strong emotion is activated. He is the key of Elde because his mother Soya was one of the sages who defeated Cendrillon 1000 years ago, and went to the Elde world after to give birth to a child who will be safer in Elde then Fandavale.

Age 14, voiced by: Motoko Kumai (OVA and TV 1-25), Yuko Sanpei (TV 26+)

-- From the magic world Fandavale. She is also one of the Three Musketeers, and came to Souta to protect him. She is the type that knows the intellectual magic, as she was top in her magic classes. Her specialty is magic attacks. She likes Souta and always hugs him or tries to get close to him, much to Ringo's dismay. She can control ice magic and also use it to control water magic. She is in fact a princess as her name suggests; however after her father remarried to a woman controlled by Cendrillon, the kingdom was taken away.

Age 14, voiced by: Kanako Tateno

-- Souta's childhood friend, and quite close to him. She wakes him up in the morning. She is the only one who understands Souta when he talks to flowers. She also worries about him a lot, and does not want to be away from him, like when Souta was going to go to the Fandavale world. She gets angry whenever Shirayuki clings on to Souta. She is a very good cook, especially with meat and potatoes.

Age 14, voiced by: Rie Kugimiya

--Akazukin's companion who fights alongside with her. He, like Akazukin, loves food from Elde, and even at some serious moments they would worry about food first. He seems to dislike Jed-same, a Lycan (werewolf). This was noticed when Souta was going to tell him that he saw a Lycan named Jed, and Val stopped him from saying it. He is Cain, Akazukin's childhood friend, but ever since the night he was wounded from Jed, he lost the ability to transform to human form.

Age approximately 20, voiced by: Nobuyuki Hiyama

--From the magic world Fandavale. She is the 3rd of the Three Musketeers. She represents the Sleeping Beauty, hence the reason she is usually half asleep. She uses a torn whip to attack. Since her specialty is the Earth elementa, she can heal plants. We find out later that she is actually the princess of the Elf race, and she was born with a magic talent, unlike those who have to learn it. She is always sleepy because she does not sleep at night; if she does her magic would go out of control and hurt people. She can control plant magic to control Earth magic.

Age 14, voiced by: Miyuki Sawashiro

-- She is the evil witch that is trying to get Elde's key that Souta has. Her real name is Marlene. In the beginning she was good, but ever since the boy she liked from Elde had to go back she started to hate the concept of two worlds. Her hatred grew when one day she found a way to get to Elde and saw through the mirror that the person she liked was now with another girl. This led her to aim for dark magic and get revenge on god. Her final transformation to Cenderillon happened when the boy she loved came back to stop her, got in the way of an attack and died.

Age unknown, voiced by: Misa Watanabe

-- One of Cendrillon's minor servants, who is no threat to the main cast. He tries to capture Souta many times but always fails. He has three followers and as a group. they use music magic. He always carries a backpack with canned food with him. His aim is to be in Cendrillon's main army.

Age 100+, voiced by: Akiko Kobayashi

-- He hates the weak, and even goes far as making his sister, who was hurt, feel bad. He was taught dark magic by Cendrillon, and the more he learned, the less he cared for his sister.

Age 17, voiced by: Kaori Shimizu (OVA, TV (as a child)), Daisuke Hirakawa

-- She is Hansel's sister and cares for him. In the beginning she transferred in to Souta's school and acted like a nice girl in front of him, but it was soon found out it was a trap to try to take Souta. After losing the first fight against Akazukin and Shirayuki, she has tried to capture Souta many times to be acknowledged by her brother. It seems when she and her brother were lost in the Forest of Okashi, they used to be in good terms living in a house built of candy. All she really wants is to go back to being how they used to be instead of fighting for Cendrillon the witch. Even though she is an enemy Souta always treats her nicely and even protects her, because he knows that she is a good person.

Age 13, voiced by: Sayuri YahagiHamelin

-- He is a Leaf Knight who guarded the Fandavale Castle. He was given order from the king to wait at the captured castle until Souta the key holder comes, and tell him, "I believe in you"(meaning the king believes Souta will save the magic world). After he finished his mission to tell Souta the words from the king, he went a separate way to try to save the king in his own way, for he prefers doing things alone. He specializes in music magic. He hates pumpkins because of Akazukin, as she used to wear a pumpkin mask when she was little and scared him with it, and ever since he has still been afraid of them.

Age 15, voiced by: Kenji NojimaKing Fernando

-- He is the king of Fandavale as well the Fandavale's key. He is a kind hearted person as describe by the three musketeers. In the series, he spends most of his time in Cendrillon's castle as prisoner. Even though he is prison, he continues to smile and stay optimistic. He also has the ability to control wind magic.

Age 17, voiced by: Hideki TasakaTrude

-- Servant of Cendrillion. She is actually Souta's mother manipulated by Cendrillion's dark magic. She can turn anyone who look at her eyes into doll, as well as turn anything into stone.

Voiced by: Kaori Shimizu

Episodes

Theme songs

OVA

;Opening theme: "Ever-Never-Land" by Yukari Tamura

;Ending theme: "Clover" by MarhyTelevision series

;Opening theme 1: by Yukari Tamura

;Opening theme 2: "Princess Rose" by Yukari Tamura

;Ending theme 1: "Clover" by Marhy

;Ending theme 2: by Yukari Tamura, Kanako Tateno and Miyuki Sawashiro

;Ending theme 3: "CROSS ROAD" by Marhy

;Episode 18: Happy Loop by Yukari Tamura

;Episode 18: Jasmine no Namida by Kanako Tateno

;Episode 18: Yumesaki Garden by Miyuki Sawashiro

Merchandising

The television series features a fair amount of merchandising tie-ins, such as the "sweet phones" used for casting most magic spells by inserting cards. Akazukin acquires a transformation sequence, with little change to her costume.