The Fable episodes 1-18 have been quite a ride of humor like no other since it started, what’s more, it’s a rare mixture of comedy and crime-thriller, which is seldom seen among other contemporary anime.
The Fable is an anime adapted from a manga of the same name written by Minami Katsuhisa, animated by studio Tezuka Production, and directed by Takahashi Ryousuke.
The story isn’t something grand.
It’s a story about a legendary underworld hitman rumored as Fable who has killed too many so he was ordered to lay low for one year as an ordinary civilian under the protection of a Yakuza Group known as Meguro at Osaka with the alias of Sato Akira with his partner in crime a woman who drives him around to his designated missing spots.
The story takes place in this span of one year where he is supposed to lay low, with the strict rule of no killing.
However, with all the skirmish and all the trigger-happy punks around him, would he be able to protect the rule?
This is the main gist of the story.
Though the plotline doesn’t seem to be something grand, the whole game is in the presentation, which is next-level.
This series is supposed to conclude with the 25th episode, but since it’s such a catch, just couldn’t wait to discuss it as soon as possible.
Table of Contents
The Story Doesn’t Start With A Bang But Soon Escalates
The Fable episodes 1-18 don’t show the most predictable approach since the beginning that other crime-thriller shows, with a big enough incident to build a case around it.
This series rather takes its time to build up the vibe of each main character and burn their essence into the story slowly but steadily.
The protagonist with the alias Sato Akira starts to get into the head of the viewers slowly, sometimes with his stubbornness, and sometimes with his innocence.
Equally, his assistant, or the fake sister with the alias of Sato Yoko gets into the funny bones with her quirky personality.
After that, as the story progresses, one after another character starts to get added to the script and they fit in just like a gem to a ring.
In the beginning phase, the series starts with small events that are single episodes long.
Still, soon that escalates and transforms into bigger events with longer duration, and from the simple humor turned into something more thrilling.
However, the humor factor remains unchanged and one thing is to be noticed, the humor here is not some filler element or comic relief, humor is more closely related to the main context, which probably has very few precedents.
As the story picks up the pace and evolves into something more serious, the main story structure doesn’t suffer since the main essence of the story stays the same.
Two Main Characters In The Fable Episodes 1-18
Both the main characters, shown in The Fable episodes 1-18, Akira and Yoko have their unique points that stand out in the story in a good way.
In The Fable episodes 1-18, Akira is shown to be somewhat apathetic, and reclusive, however, he also has a contradictory personality which makes him meddle in other people’s business whenever he feels like it.
A really contradictory personality, who has an adolescent soul and also an experienced mind in the same body.
From time to time his seemingly cute characteristic traits are shown in this series, which are fun to watch, like having an overly sensitive tongue, which makes him incapable of eating hot food, and Yoko had to blow on each morsel of food he put in his mouth.
However, when he reminiscences his past, it becomes clear that all those cute actions are side effects of some terrible experiences, and then, those don’t remain so cute.
On the other hand, Yoko, isn’t so different from a normal girl, except that she has been a driver and navigator for a legendary hitman.
However, she has a quirky personality with a pinch of perversion, as she likes to see drunkards fall for her head over heels and act stupidly, whenever she is bored.
Except for that, the voice actor Sawashiro Miyuki did an excellent job of voicing Yoko with a catchy style, which probably everybody would remember more than anything.
Except for all that, her drinking habit and capacity add a new shade to her character.
The Story Shows Reality As It Is
The story of The Fable episodes 1-18 shows nothing less or more than reality with a pinch of humor.
Watching this series can make one realize that reality can be as thrilling as fiction since The Fable episodes 1-18 depict the inner workings of the Yakuza and crime world with as factual representation as possible.
From the wickedness of the Yakuza profession to all the consequences that come with it.
On the other hand, this story of The Fable episodes 1-18 shows the real struggle of the working class, and how hard it is for them to make ends meet.
Though it’s a drama, it doesn’t overly obsess with individual characters or interpersonal relationships, it just give as much as is needed and keeps the story going.
One of the characters Misaki does have some kind of vague connection, going on with Akira but it’s not overly emphasized at this point, in The Fable episodes 1-18.
Otherwise, another noteworthy connection is the one between Sato Akira and Ebihara Satoshi, the second in command of the Meguro Yakuza Group, which seems to be growing as the episodes progress.
Leaving those aside, killing here is shown something as a scarce concept, opposite of other gangster series, and this makes it close to reality.
However, this doesn’t mean this series does show the Yakuzas as a bunch of scaredy cats since they can kill at the drop of a hat, and that applies to the senior and experienced members only.
The hesitation the young members face while pointing a gun at somebody is also shown as it is without overly exaggerating.
The fable episodes 1-18 don’t shy away from showing the seldom mayhem that happens in the crime world and how an organized crime syndicate sometimes faces the trouble of insubordination, which in fact is shown in the longest arc yet.
So, all in all, even without adding any extra stimulus the story does well enough by just showing the reality as it is.
Character Design And Animation
The last but least matter in The Fable episodes 1-18 is its character design, animation type, and animation quality.
First, if we talk about character design, that is done in a way that we can relate them to real people according to their profession.
Especially the protagonist, like other anime, is neither handsome nor beautiful, but a character with distinct aloof facial features that seldom turns chilling cold when inflicting pain on others.
Except for him, the boss of Fable, Yoko, the character design of those two fits like a glove to the characteristic traits.
One of my favorite character is probably Ebihara Satoshi, and his character design brings out his hard-boiled personality.
Now, if we discuss the animation quality of The Fable episodes 1-18, there is nothing much to discuss since there is no flaw whatsoever.
All the action sequences, even the minute movements of natural movements are animated with absolute devotion.
Final Thought
After watching The Fable episodes 1-18, though it’s not the end of this season it gave a perspective on the series.
A comedy, drama, and crime-thriller, that is honest to its own roots means the main theme of the story and doesn’t try to unnecessarily spice up the story with far-from-fact fiction and some filler comedy, The Fable episodes 1-18 is just the one to watch to change the taste bud which is tired of the same old contemporary thriller.
As for the next review on this series, stay tuned...
However, if you want to know about some of the latest seinen anime, see my blog post on, the 7 best seinen animes of 2024.
