Sugar Apple Fairy Tale Season 2

Episode 24

The problem with a faithful (or faithful enough) adaptation of light novels is that if you're not going for the entire book series, the anime is going to feel like it's leaving some things out. In this case, Sugar Apple Fairy Tale has sixteen main story volumes, and if this cour is following the same format as the previous, we're now up through book six. As you may have noticed, that means that there are ten more novels to go, and that means, in the short term, that we don't get our Challe/Anne kiss. Or confession of love. Clearly, author Miri Mikawa is saving those for later.

It's still a satisfying ending, though, and certainly worlds better than the first cour's finale. This is what I'd call a hopeful ending – Anne has had her triumph as the Head of Artisans for the Paige Workshop, Jonas and Bridget have been redeemed, and Challe has returned to her side with the express intention of never leaving again. If he and Anne stop short of saying the actual words, it's still understood, by us if not by them, and their hand-holding scene is still sugar sweet. And really, it's time for Anne to move on anyway; she's done what she can for the Paige Workshop, and now she needs to find what she wants to do. Hugh may still be grooming her to be the Silver Sugar Viscountess (or something else), but he is right. Even Elliot recognizes that.

Bridget's redemption arc isn't nearly as solid as I would have liked. We know that she was badly burned by Lafalle, and in some ways he did her a favor by being such a wretch, because it forced her to reevaluate her life. Bridget was never going to be happy, or even content, with the life her father had planned out for her, and she was likely to drag Elliot down with her in her misery. Orland is not only a better match for her, he's one she chose for herself, which is frankly much more important. Bridget has spent so long being caught up in what she can't have that she never really thought beyond her sense of disappointment. She made her own misery, and that means that she can pull herself out of it, something even her father seems to understand.

This is a bittersweet episode in a few ways. The revelation of Lusul's short lifespan is heartbreaking, and there's also something very sad about Lafalle in the end. Yes, he was a tyrant, but one motivated by searching desperately for a place to belong and a way to be free. He chose a poor method of finding those things, but that doesn't mean that his desire for them was corrupt at its base. He was warped by the world he was born into. I'm not sure that he's truly made his exit from the scene because we didn't see him hit the ground, and opals are a soft stone. But his sense of betrayal and loneliness did center him as a character in the end, and I think even Challe felt a bit sad at his assumed demise.

As of this writing, there's no mention of another season. The source material is there, so it could happen, but this is a decent enough place to end. And at least we have the novels being released in English, so even if we didn't get to see Anne and Challe kiss here, there's still hope.

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Sugar Apple Fairy Tale is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.