Discover the enchanting world of the “Legend of Princess Snow White” anime review. Dive into a captivating storyline filled with magic, friendship, and adventure.
Legend of Princess Snow White – Anime Review
The story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is reflected in various forms of art: books, films, theatrical productions, paintings and also animated projects, and of course there was a place for a film adaptation of this fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm in anime.
Creation
The series was produced by two animation companies, Tatsunoko Production and Mondo TV , the former had experience in creating anime since the 1960s and had about 100 anime projects to their credit, while Mondo was founded only in 1985 and before the release of the series ” The Legend of Snow White “, they had three projects to their credit: Robin Hood , Christopher Columbus and The Jungle Book . Viewers of the mid-90s and early 2000s are most likely familiar with the works of Mondo TV , such as: The Legend of Zorro , A Cinderella Story , Simba The Lion King , Pocahontas , The Black Corsair and others.
The series was written by Arakawa Naruhisa, produced by Okura Hirotoshi and Orlando Corradi, and directed by Okajima Kunitoshi , for whom the series was only his third project as chief director.
The musical score was composed by Hiroki Kikuta (video game composer, Japanese version of the series), T.M. Wilson, W.A. Nabb (international version).
Plot
The story begins with the birth of a beautiful princess whose skin was white as snow, her hair the color of ebony, and her lips the color of red roses. Her parents, King Conrad and Queen Isabella of the Green Valley , named her Snow White . The little girl grows up happy and healthy, and when she turns four, her parents give her three delightful pets as gifts: a puppy, a cat, and a dove.
One day, while walking with her pets, a little girl notices seven dwarfs and runs to tell her mother about it, but she is in great pain and soon dies, before her death, Isabella asks Conrad to marry her so that Snow White does not yearn for her mother’s love, after some time, Lady Crystal appears in the palace, who at first seems to be not bad, but as soon as King Conrad goes to war, then the essence of the woman is revealed – she is evil, ambitious and, in addition, a sorceress (in the series they will later reveal why and how).
In the absence of the king, Kristel becomes the queen, quite often using a magic mirror asking him:
My mirror, tell me ,
Tell me the whole truth: Who in the world is the fairest, the rosiest and the whitest?
Give me your answer now.
The mirror responded:
You are the rosiest and whitest of all.
Madam, there is no dispute.
Time passes, Snow White grows and becomes more beautiful day by day, meets Prince Richard, against this background, one can say that Christelle begins to feel jealous, and given her character and ambitions, she will not tolerate someone more beautiful than herself, and when the mirror gave her the answer:
You are beautiful – no doubt about it;
But Snow White is the sweetest of all,
The most rosy and white of all.
It was clearly a big blow to the queen’s pride that she decided to kill her one day, entrusting the task to the Hunter Samson, but he, remembering his past, does not dare to do this, but Snow White needs to hide and she finds herself in a cozy little house, which belongs to the seven dwarves, who eventually befriend her and cast a spell to protect her from all the harm caused by her stepmother. Snow White, during her stay in the company of the dwarves, learns a lot of new things and makes new friends among the elves, trolls, spirits and fairies.
Queen Crystal has learned that Snow White is still alive and tries to take her life: once with a poisoned ribbon, another time with an enchanted comb, several times the dwarves saved her with their Book of Knowledge, but during Queen Crystal’s last attempt, she manages to put Snow White into an enchanted sleep with a poisoned apple in order to take over her body, since her body is rapidly aging due to the use of witchcraft against a pure soul.
Characters
· King Conrad
The King of the Emerald Valley, he is grief-stricken when his beloved Queen passes away, but agrees to fulfill her dying wish so that his young daughter, Snow White, can be raised and educated by her mother.
Molly
Queen Isabella’s personal maid and head of all castle staff, Molly takes care of Snow White until an accident occurs and she is thrown out of the castle.
Snow White
A young, kind and beautiful girl, Snow White lives happily; until a war breaks out in the kingdom, and her father is forced to leave her in the care of her stepmother. It doesn’t take long before her stepmother forces her to leave the castle, after which Snow White is faced with a completely different life for a while in the company of the seven dwarfs, who are there for her.
Lady/Queen Crystal
Ruling a small neighboring kingdom, she comes to the Green Valley to marry King Conrad and raise his daughter, young Snow White. Known for her beauty, which she desperately worships above all else, she loves luxurious things and throwing feasts so that her beauty is talked about, but still will stop at nothing to be the most beautiful, but she does evil things against her will, an evil demon has taken possession of her.
Speck, Spirit of the Mirror
Speck’s origins are initially unknown, as is the origin of the mirror he resides within, reflecting the truth; the enchantment that was cast upon him gave him the ability to answer anyone who calls him from the mortal world, and Speck is obligated to answer truthfully.
Prince Richard
The son of King Albertville and a close ally of Conrad, he falls in love with Princess Snow White, but is soon called upon to join his father in battle. Torn away from his beloved not only by his unsuspecting father but also by the jealous queen, he fights to become worthy of the princess and save her.
Samson
A court huntsman and a direct subordinate of the sovereign, that is, the queen, he is obliged to return the heart of the young princess Christelle, but before he can decide not to do so, he saves Snow White from an angry black bear and tells her that her stepmother plans to get rid of her and advises her to hide. After that, he himself retires to the countryside and from time to time meets Snow White and her friends, from time to time helping them in their affairs.
Boss
The leader of the seven dwarves, the oldest and wisest of them, he carries a staff that shows his rank, he is meditative, but when necessary can be blunt and speak according to his rank. Often consults the Book of Knowledge when necessary, as in the case of the arrival of a young princess in their cottage.
Gourmet/Gurume
The dwarf who is always in charge of food, he immediately accepts Snow White, and when she cannot take on his duties, he is ready to teach her how to cook and clean the house.
Woody/Lesovichok
Woody, who does all the heavy housework, is an excellent wood chopper and reluctantly takes Snow White in. Though sensible inside, he is the last one to agree to her staying, but the first one to give her a gift and thus force the other dwarves to do the same.
Goldy
Although Goldie’s strength and work ethic may seem harsh, he is a caring and loving dwarf who at one point even wants to trade his life for Snow White’s.
Chamomile
A shy dwarf, Chamomile is an expert in herbs, mushrooms or any other kind of plant, able to make powerful sleeping potions or transformation potions so that one can disguise themselves and travel to the human world for a few hours, the second wisest dwarf after their eldest, Chamomile himself sometimes uses the Book of Knowledge.
Vet/Pet
Vet is a very caring gnome, but also very shy and quiet, as he cares very much about animals. However, behind this special trait, there is another – bravery, which comes to the surface when one of his dearest friends is in serious danger, he manages all the chores around the house, which involve the pets, two goats, one lamb and a chicken.
Funny
Despite the fact that Jolly is 50 years old, he is the youngest of the dwarves and is considered the most inexperienced, but behind his stubbornness and childish appearance lies a sincere heart, capable of doing anything to protect Snow White (he liked her from the first time he saw her), even arguing with his dwarf friends to let her stay, and accompanies her almost all the time. He is often offended when Snow White pays little attention to him, even a little saddened by the fact that Snow White loves Richard more than him (most likely due to Jolly’s age, who most likely feels maternal feelings for Snow White, and he lacks this).
Poppy/Pokke
Poppy is born from an egg that Jolly finds and is raised by the latter with the help of Snow White. She helps the little dwarf community when the Evil Queen Crystal turns her wrath on the forest.
Gobbi
Goblin, the prince of the Goblin Kingdom, is attracted to Snow White’s beauty and wants to marry her by force, until Jolly decides to confront him, and they soon become friends. Goblin is not very good at expressing his feelings properly.
Mimli
A close friend and adviser to Gobbi, Mimli is secretly in love with him and decides to help Snow White avoid an unwanted marriage. Mimli is able to foresee certain events, having inherited the gift from her aunt, and at times she has to apologize for the behavior of her beloved Prince Gobbi.
Milfie
A little fairy that Snow White and Jolly meet along the way, Milfie can control the wind… or not. Everything she tries ends in disaster, until a little creature helps her overcome it, she finds her place and purpose.
Milarka, Sage of the Sword
Little is known about Milarca’s past, other than the fact that a catastrophe occurred that tore her from the realm into the mortal world. Milarca and her lover (Speck) were imprisoned by an evil witch in a mirror and sword respectively, neither knowing the other’s whereabouts, so they could not communicate. That is, until Snow White made her way to the cave where Milarca’s Sword lies in a stone.
Katya Gorshkova
A ghost girl who travels with her family for certain reasons, chance brings her and Snow White together in the house of the dwarves, and they become friends.
Jack
“The Mocking Boy” as he is called, Jack is a young man who at first dislikes Snow White and makes fun of her appearance, but eventually falls in love. Near the end of the series, we learn that he is the Forest Genie when the Queen summons him and asks him to do her bidding.
Opinion
When watching the first half of the episodes, it felt like the series was dubbed recently, and all because of the topics that are raised there, the words of the narrator and some characters, the dubbing itself was based on the French or English version (personally, I watched the dubbing from the French, I recommend the Japanese or French versions). The narrator in one episode talks about the unimportance of what race, gender, color and the like you are, Prince Gobby uses the word feminism in addressing Snow White, and the dwarf Goldie even suggests kicking out a young girl (that’s how it was translated into the dubbing), the series tries to be more adult in terms of dubbing, but still sticks more to a children’s audience.
There are certainly enough differences with the original, starting from the names of the dwarves, the Evil Queen Crystal herself, in the series she is actually controlled by a demon who has entered her and lives his life on earth in the bodies of young beauties, the introduction of other characters from the Brothers Grimm fairy tales and moments from there, references to Little Red Riding Hood, the ending in comparison with the book is kinder in the series in relation to the Evil Queen, the presence of several love lines.
Merry fellow, also known as Jolly, in my personal opinion after watching, was more worthy of Snow White than anyone else, because he was worried, tried to help and spend more time with her than the others, and Prince Richard could not be there due to his job and he also saved Snow White and was the first guy he met (for the plot, this was enough, according to the scriptwriters), but this, in my opinion, is not enough, I believed much more in Jolly’s actions, although most likely the relationship and affection of Jolly to Snow White were based on the connection of a small child to his mother, and Jolly clearly needed someone’s attention.
Looking at the characters themselves, you can associate yourself with them, especially with gnomes in character or actions, they are different and everyone can find similarities with this or that character. The series is more designed for a children’s audience, but fans of old drawn animation, magic and old anime TV projects will like it.