Michel: Episode 3 Commentary
Seed of a Miracle
Kim White has brown hair and green eyes. The brown hair could be Korean, although Kim is commonly a surname, not a given name, in Korea (to my understanding). The surname of White and the green eyes, however, suggest otherwise. Then there’s Donna, her husband Gants, and their son, Will (recognizably voiced by Luci Christian in the dub). Definitely not Korean. I get the impression there’s no Korean culture put into the characters of this series, whereas if it were a Japanese series you might have Kim-san, Mishel-san, Will-kun, and Donna-san. And that’s not to mention Sitel-kun and Poyo-chan. Oh, and Sarome-sama. I wonder why the story follows a non-Korean cast. I know the series is based off of a French novel in inspiration, but I think inspiration is as far as it goes.
This episode shows Sitel and the flower (whose name I’ve yet to learn, if it’s even been spoken; is she “Rina”, from the credits?) return to fairy light to rest. This gives me the impression they must return to fairy light at times, but there may be no requirement to transform back. This would make sense as the other fairies may be trapped as fairy light in the capsules. What about small fairies, such as Grandie (whose appearance I expected this episode, due to the digging of treasure)? Could Grandie have transformed back into a rock fairy while inside the capsule?
It’s nice to see the fairy monsters aren’t simply adversaries for Michel and Kim. The Grandie monster existed as a tool for Salome, to do her digging. I’m going to assume Kim has told Michel all about what her Honeybee can do (and I do like that homing ability to call the Honeybee to Kim’s location), which would explain Michel simply telling Kim to go underground to find the fairy light. I expected Kim to say, “How am I supposed to go underground?” but apparently she was up to the task. I expect to see more from the Honeybee in future episodes.
Michel again fuses with Poyo, which will probably be common as the show’s title logo has wings on either side of the “Michel“. I’m hoping he’ll fuse with other fairies as more are returned, but I currently not expecting it. They’ll probably be limited to having Michel call out for them to attack, as seen in the first episode.
There were some things which stood out to me as well, more strange things:
When Poyo arrives at the hole where Kim, Michel, and Gants are, Michel tells Poyo to get a rope. Why not just have Poyo combine with Michel, so Michel can fly the other two out? Is there a reason this would not be faster than Poyo searching for a rope to bring over and tie to a tree? Did Gants take a rope to the island with him? If not, then maybe he made one? Did he tell Michel and Kim, “If only I had one of the many ropes I made in my boredom, we could climb out of here”? I suppose a totem pole of Gants lifting Kim on his shoulders, and Michel climbing up the two of them, was out of the question.
The only way I can think to explain Gants’s non-reaction at seeing Poyo, and then Biam, with Biam turning into a fairy light and flying away, is that Kim and Michel explained to Gants who Michel is, and about Sitel Island and the fairies. I don’t know why they’d bother him with such information, though. Still, I’d expect something of a reaction upon seeing Poyo flying about. It’s not like he had a chance to see the Sitel fairy.
Speaking of Biam, Biam’s fairy light is purple. Salome held a capsule with a yellow light back when Michel and Kim thought she had Poyo. Apparently that wasn’t Biam she had as I originally thought.
I imagine the ape robot the Black Hammer gang uses has a main compartment with shock absorbsion, and the ability to rotate to stay upright. After all, they have the robot jump for joy when they’re excited, and they have it lay on its side looking bored while letting the monster Grandie dig.
Donna and Will are first met fighting off sharks, with a tale about the winds and waves disappearing. At the end of the episode, the family trio are preparing to sail off, with the water moving again. I could understand this if the little water fairy was returned, resulting in the return of waves, but can Grandie’s return have had an effect on the sea and its wind? Or will the family find themselves stranded in the middle of the ocean, surrounded by sharks, within a few days?
If I find enough curious events, I might end up writing about every episode afterall. Still, I find the show to be decent so far. As long as I look at it in the context of a children’s series, and recognize all the elements of a cartoon able to market a series of toys, I can’t be disappointed with anything that happens. Quite the opposite, I can at worst be pleasantly surprised if there’s any decent plot or actual character development (although I don’t expect to see the latter).
