"Discover Japanese culture from the eyes of four little fairies! "To make a wish come true, write it down in a letter and send it off in a bottle. "So began the education of four young fairies wishing to become human. Join them in learning all about "Golden Week", school, love, and much more as they eagerly learn about people in their quest to become human."

Okay, after reading that bit, I got the impression that the series would offer up insights on Japanese culture and perhaps have some silly situations where the itty bitty fairies would get into various forms of trouble only to save the day at the end of each show. While not exactly off by too much, the situations the fairies got into typically didn't reach the level of true stories in the conventional sense. Their main goal was to try and become human by following certain aspects of Sensei's life, emulating him, in the process. He doesn't really play a large role in the episodes though as the gals seem intent on doing what they can to learn about life as humans. The joke in the majority of episodes is how they deal with the numerous misunderstandings they make. If that sounds kind of vague, consider that I fell asleep twice watching this DVD as it always came off as something made for very young female children (either fairy children or human children, I couldn't say for sure).

The episodes on the DVD were 1) April, 2) May, 3) June, 4) July, 5) August, and 6) September. Leaving aside the creativity employed in naming the episodes, they each covered some very narrowly focused topics employing popular culture topics such as soccer, marriage, ceremonies, festivals, and the like. The best part of the episodes tended to be how the next door neighbor (a dopy little girl) Tama, would color their perceptions in one way or another; a common theme when asking kids about the details they themselves don't yet understand. Japanese director Yoshio Suzuki certainly made an odd show this time that will probably appeal to the younger crowd but left me a bit cold. Most of the reason why it didn't work for me is that the background of the fairies was never explained and the questions their actions raised were dismissed rather than answered. In all, I think it was worth a rating of Rent It to younger kids but I have my doubts about the value of the show to those of us with more experience in life.

Picture: Bottle Fairy 1: Spring and Summer was presented in the original 1.33:1 ratio full frame color it was made in by director Yoshio Suzuki. It was bright, cheerful, and employed a limited style of animation typically used on anime made for the younger crowd. I saw no compression artifacts or pattern noise but there were occasions where the facial expressions seemed tossed aside in favor of the scribbles used to convey extreme expressions. The look of the front DVD cover was indicative of the animation if that helps you understand where I'm coming from.

Sound: The audio was presented with the usual choice of the original Japanese track or an English language dub, both in 2.0 Dolby Digital stereo. There were some minor moments of separation during the episodes and the dynamic range wasn't bad but the overall impression I got was the audio was barebones quality. In short, it was clean but simple; much like the four characters came off during the show.

Extras: The main extra was a foldout insert of the fairies wearing attire appropriate to the episodes (given they came from particular months). There was also the usual clean opening and closing as well as trailers but that's it.

Final Thoughts: Bottle Fairy 1: Spring and Summer was as light and fluffy a show as you'll find on television anywhere. The fairies came off as something like the Tele-Tubbies on caffeine but made for a slightly older audience. I'd be misleading you if I suggested the DVD was a wonderful experience for me or that I've been repeatedly watching it over and over again since it came in but I suspect that kids will like it a lot more than a jaded old anime reviewer like me would. Oh well, I gave it a shot and it fell short for me but maybe I'll catch it again on a day when I've been drinking enough to lower my IQ in half to enable my appreciation of the show. For kids, it may be worth a rating of Rent It or better but otherwise pass it up.

If you enjoy anime, take a look at some of the recommendations by DVDTalk's twisted cast of reviewers in their Best Of Anime 2003 and Best Of Anime 2004 article or regular column Anime Talk