Hakusho to Yousei: The Enchanting Magical Romance of an Earl and His Fairy Doctor

Magical, mystical, romantic with a dash of action.

These are the adjectives I can describe for this splendidly well written story about an earl and his fairy. So the reason why I must write my own blog about the greatness of this anime or I might explode from extreme appreciation of it.

I just love Earl and Fairy. Much is to be told about this amazingly well-plotted romantic light novel that was made into an anime.

Deep breath, deep sigh.

I honestly have to take a deep breath while I look back into this anime because this is the only one that have thrown me off the horizon and have me fallen completely in love and captured. This supernatural fantasy plot, Hakusho to Yousei (Earl and Fairy) is a light novel written by Mizue Tani and illustrated by Asako Takaboshi for Cobalt magazine in Japan.

A Fairy Doctor is sought by an Earl

Set in the Victorian Era, the story tells about a seventeen-year-old green-eyed girl with waist length wavy red hair named Lydia Carlton who lives in Edinburgh, Scotland. She works as a fairy doctor. But not many people believe in the existence of fairies, so Lydia's occupation is considered a strange one.

Lydia talking to Nico whie the cat sat atop the wooden gate

Lydia always talks to her talking cat named Nico, a light gray Maine cat, when a postman came to deliver her a letter one day. He saw her talking to nobody in particular except a cat. The man got perplexed when his letters flew out of his pocket and ran in haste away from the house leaving Lydia with a thoughtful look in her face. Unknown to the postman, Lydia can really see and talk to non-entities called brownies. It's an ability that she inherited from her deceased mother who was a fairy.

Edgar confronts Lydia while boarded on the ship

Lydia went to London at the invitation of her father from the letter she received. While aboard a ship that would bring her to the city and was waiting for a man named Huxley in one of the rooms, she met an unknown brown haired young man with profound mauve eyes whose name was on the wanted list in the newspaper. He dragged her out of the ship with him, running away from the pursuers who wanted to capture him. They escaped out of the ship and boarded another one which was set to sail elsewhere.

The young man, changing his dyed brown hair back to his original blond hair, introduced himself to her as Edgar J. C. Ashenbert, an earl from London. Edgar asked Lydia to be his fairy doctor so he could find the Sword of Merrow to prove himself the true Blue Knight Earl by the Queen of England.

Embarked on this quest, the couple's romantic tale has started. At first, Edgar only teased Lydia as his lady of interest but as their relationship deepened, he fell in love with her and proposed to her using the moonstone ring and asked her to be his fiancée.

While on their journey of finding the sword and later of fighting against the Prince, Lydia and Edgar were inevitably helped by loyal people who stayed close to their side. Nico, the cat. Raven, the silent emotionless killing machine and personal assistant of Edgar. Kelpie, the human changing black water horse who's been a persistent suitor of Lydia since. And Paul Ferman, a fairy painter and long time friend of the earl.

The Prince is a mysterious being that the earl must defeat for rightful inheritance of his dukedom. But the Prince is evil and shrouded in mystery. A crying banshee appeared crying for the funeral of Edgar. Lydia refused to be Edgar's fiancée and agreed to be Kelpie's bride instead.

How will fate intervene so Edgar and Lydia end up in a happy ending amidst all the obstacles that lay ahead of them?

Hakusho to Yousei was adapted into manga for Margarita magazine in 2008. It was also made into drama CDs that same year. Artland production under direction of Koichiro Sohtome and scripted by Noriko Nagao, produced and broadcast the 12-episode anime from September to December 2008. In April 2009, PlayStation 2 game for the anime was released.

Voices behind the fairy, the earl and other casts

Lydia Carlton was voiced by Nana Mizuki who's famously known for voicing Hinata Hyuuga in Naruto. She perfectly captured the soft and gentle personality of Lydia. I love listening to her kind voice. Although at times, it changed into defensive when Lydia snapped either at Nico or Edgar.

Edgar J. C. Ashenbert was given to life by Hikaru Midorikawa, voice actor known for Tamahome in Fushigi Yuugi, Seiran in Sauinkoku Monogatari and Rukawa Kaede in Slam Dunk. Midorikawa speaks Edgar with deep art and great suaveness. He could smoothly pertained in his voice the earl's character. He voiced him in a gentle and sophisticated fashion and just as handsome as the ikemen look of the earl.

Nico, the talkative frank cat was voiced by Hiro Yuuki. Raven, the silent and polite killing assistant of Edgar was voiced by Tomokazu Sugita, and Kelpie, the brash speaking human-changing-horse narcissist was voiced by Takehito Koyasu.

Easy flowing melodies, sound effects and not too vibrant animation

Art and character illustration for this anime is average. It didn't boast of great scenic scenes or fabulous building illustrations. The characters are drawn shoujo style. Character illustrations are nicely drawn but the eyes appeared to be dull and lifeless. The overall design and animation, despite appearing classy and elaborate, has a dull lazy feel and look when one is already watching the anime. Coloring is not too vibrant nor outstanding.

The music of the anime is great to listen to. The opening music "Feeling" by Acid Flavor was very upcatching and lively J-pop that makes you wanna dance to its music while your heart skips in excitement at its easy flowing music. While the ending theme "My Fairy" by Hikaru Midorikawa, Edgar's voice actor, sang a slow melodic ballad perfect for listening before bedtime or when simply relaxing.

The anime sound effects are elaborate and timely added to each scene. The instrumentals and sound effects deepened and further emphasized the importance of the scenes.

Edgar and Lydia inside the Fairy world

Hakusho to Yousei is one tantalizing tale of magic and romance. I've watched it once, and watched it again, and again. This romantic tale of the Earl and the Fairy is a wonderful add to the romance collection genre section. It blends magic, music, romance and action in perfect balance and harmony. Not too light nor heavy plotted, it's a steady congruent love story made with dazzle of magic and royalty befitting a strange fairy doctor and her dashingly handsome prince.

C'est la magnifique!