Gdgd Fairies: Episode List

1- "Suimin" ("Sleep")
(睡眠)

Airdate: October 12, 2011

Todays talk is about sleep, the fairies discuss how much sleep is needed to be efficient and the different type of sleepers. In The Room of Spirit and Time a dangerous game of magic shiritori is played.

2- "Chiisana Shiawase" ("Little Happiness")
(小さな幸せ)

Airdate: October 19, 2011

Is luck getting to sleep in for a while and not be late? Is happiness finding money in your coat pocket? The girls discuss what is luck and happiness and have a bungee jump bread-eating contest.

3- "Uwasa" ("Rumours")
(ウワサ)

Airdate: October 26, 2011

pkpk can't stop sneezing. People say if you sneeze it's because people are saying something about you. But what are they saying about pkpk? You can see right here!

4- "Namida" ("Tears")
(ナミダ)

Airdate: November 02, 2011

pkpk was crying last night and now her eyes are swelled up. Tears are strange; you cry when you're happy and when you're sad. This discussion of tears reveals a terrifying plot!

5- "Machijikan" ("Waiting Time")
(待ち時間)

Airdate: November 09, 2011

srsr is 10 minutes late to the meeting. There's a deep and terrifying reason why she's always late...

6- "Zenkai made no gdgd"Yōsei"s" ("Previously on gdgd Fairies")
(前回までのgdgd妖精s)

Airdate: November 16, 2011

The fairies play real-life version of party games. But things get out of hand when the monkeys they're playing with start evolving...

7- "Ichi-nichi Ichi-zen" ("Everyday Good Deed")
(一日一善)

Airdate: November 23, 2011

Shiru wants to do good deeds every day but wants low risk, high reward. Then the girls play a game that will change them forever. Finally, they peak into another word.

8- "Kotozawa" ("Sayings")
(ことわざ)

Airdate: November 30, 2011

Shr-chan dislikes the phrase “the grass greener on the other side.” So the fairies attempt to figure out what it actually means. The girls attempt to do a gdgd live broadcast and come up with different ways to attract viewers.

9- "Shumi" ("Hobby")
(趣味)

Airdate: December 07, 2011

pk-chan is looking for a hobby but the focus seems to be only on shopping. The fairies build their ideal house and one seems to take it ideas from a famous plumber.

10- "Saigo no 3-nichi" ("Last Three Days")
(最後の3日)

Airdate: December 14, 2011

11- "Zenkai made no Mikōkai "Yōsei"s" ("Previously on Unreleased Fairies")
(前回までの未公開妖精s)

Airdate: December 21, 2011

To make their magic stronger the Fairies decide to practice outside the time room.

12- "Owari naki Tsuioku no Kanata ni ~Eternal~"
(終わりなき追憶の彼方に～Eternal～)

Airdate: December 28, 2011

It’s been 10 years and kr-chan has returned to the tree house she shared with her other fairies. She must enlist the help of Fusako to sober up shr-chan so they can attempt to bring pk-chan back to life.

0 (13)- Episode 0
Airdate: December 28, 2012

Special in which the fairies hold a round table discussion.

1 (14)- "Déjà Vu"
Airdate: January 09, 2013

Before the usual SETUP, this time we open on the fairies giving a public apology for the excesses of the first season. As usual, much of the humor comes from seeing poor flustered pkpk having to do the apologizing for the group. They promise to have more original content, and fewer parodies, which is soon broken by an opening screen right out of Lucky Star.

The first bit is the conversation over tea, which seems to initially be a repeat of the sleep conversation from the first episode of season 1, when pkpk realizes she’s said these things before. Then it turns into a discussion of deja vu, and of Japanese voice actresses trying to pronounce the French terms correctly.

Second is the ROOM of Spirit and Time, where shrshr suggests making an arcade game real with magic. When the concept of an alligator bopping game becomes too scary with live aligators, it becomes a dangerously escalating game of Japanese puns with expectedly surreal results.

Finally, as the Dubbing Pool is under renovation, we get a new skit with the introduction of the Magic Speaker. Here, the Fairies hear a sound and try and imagine the circumstances where it takes place. It’s a pleasant reversal of the Dubbing Pool game, and has some hilarious results with a Pete Postlethwaite look alike.

2 (15)- "Weather"
Airdate: January 16, 2013

The first skit involves the fairies sitting down for tea and discussing the weather, as for the first time it appears it’s raining in the fairies’ tree. pkpk, shrshr, and krkr discuss the best ways to construct anti-rain charms, the types of weather associated with each of them, and the fates of women unlucky enough to summon up even weirder forms of weather. The conversation is amusing, but more bizarre than clever, so it seems a bit of a STEP down from the discussions of the first season.

In the room of spirit and time, the fairies’ try and create a hero to rescue pkpk, in order to fulfill her fantasies. As expected, they fail in different amusing ways. Sentai and masked hero fans will get more out of this than I did, but I still found the sketch amusing, especially in regards to krkr’s first hero, who threatened to kill pkpk in order to SAVE her. Poor pkpk, whose moe hopes are always dashed by the other two cynical fairies.

Finally, the speaker is dropped for the return of the dubbing pool. The animation this time is very short, due to the length of the second sketch, and so doesn’t really have a chance to build up the laughs the way more elaborate animations have in the past.

3 (16)- "gdgd Advice Hotline"
Airdate: January 23, 2013

Instead of the tea party conversation, the fairies have set up an advice line, where kids call in to get advice for their PROBLEMS. It’s hard to tell whether this is improvised or not. There are some laughs here to be sure, but it lacks the crackle and wit of some of their better conversations. It’s worth an experiment, and it might pan out better in later episodes, especially as writers and viewers get more comfortable with the concept.

There’s no ROOM of spirit and time, and instead we get both a dubbing lake and a magic speaker sketch. The initial dubbing lake skit is very brief, with only one round of improvisation, and then the fairies crack jokes at a still image. It’s something different, but it’s just not as funny as the best improvisations are. The magic speaker is much funnier, and as long as the voice actresses are willing to go weird places with the sound effects, this might be the most successful experiment of season 2 yet.

4 (17)- "gdgd and Magic are Real
Airdate: January 30, 2013

The first segment has a conversation where the fairies try and understand the difference between magical girls and witches. When shrshr pulls out a jar of “soul jam” it’s clear it’s meant to be an extended riff on Madoka Magica. This is somewhat disappointing, because the reference humor is best done in the next episode segments, and this conversation isn’t particularly witty. There’s a good Puyo Puyo gag in there, but just referencing a popular show isn’t solid comedy.

All is forgiven in the ROOM of Spirit and Time, as this week they play a game of “what’s in the box” and krkr and shrshr can’t be expected to play fairly. Poor pkpk doesn’t have a chance of being able to guess the surreal creature krkr summons, and things get out of control very quickly when shrshr puts an infinite loop in the box. It’s among the best of the Spirit and Time sketches, and shows the second season still has some solid ideas in store.

The dubbing lake is solid, if not exceptional, and old school fans will get a thrill from the next episode preview this week.

5 (18)- "lplp appears!"
Airdate: February 06, 2013

When pk-chan can’t find her hair ties, krkr reveals that there’s a time machine hidden behind their house. It’s very important, she explains, that the fairies do not run into versions of their past selves, as it could end the universe, but finding hair ties is worth the risk. As long as you don’t make eye CONTACT it should be okay. I guess.

When it’s revealed to be an elevator with imprecise controls, pkpk gets worried. “It’s an old time machine,” krkr explains, quite matter of factly. So the formula is thrown out for a bit while we have an entertaining SEARCH throughout past episodes for her missing hair ties. It seems the writers may have had more on the ball than I previously guessed. I was very impressed with the turn of events in this episode.

We’re also introduced to the 3 new fairies previewed in the opening CREDITS. Hopefully it won’t be the last we see of them.

The episode closes with the magic speaker, with a grotesque sploosh sound that allows the fairies’ imaginations to go to unspeakable and weird places.

6 (19)- "tgtg Appears!
Airdate: February 13, 2013

The fairies decide they want a vacation. After a brief discussion about the merits of hot springs, including solving murders, the ROOM of Spirit and Time is replaced with a vacation to an onsen. While there, the fairies play a visual novel that seems to miss the point of a good mystery.

The fairies all look at the wood grain in the ceiling and try and see pictures. It’s funny, sure, but it’s a glorified radio play. Still, while the fairies are out, their replacements move into the tree HOUSE, setting up the time travel adventures we saw in the previous episode.

7 (20)- "trtr appears!"
Airdate: February 20, 2013

pkpk and shrshr late for the usual fairy tea, so they fly quickly to get back home. They collide with krkr, and their PERSONALITIES swap. In order to get back to normal, they try slamming into each other repeatedly, with unexpected results. Anything that ends up with a Milky Holmes joke, though, meets my approval.

Things get awkward when pkpk’s father ends up being the subject of the dubbing pool. Fortunately, neither krkr or shrshr is particularly mean, but the tension is amusing. The second dubbing pond animation isn’t nearly as funny, and goes on a bit too long.

8 (21)- "umum Appears!"
Airdate: February 27, 2013

A new episode of gdgd Fairies arrives with a new cast. The first segment, the tea party, involves the three new fairies long previewed in the opening song, and previously seen in the time travel episode. Sarsar, the batgirl, Furfur, the lolita, and Kurkur, the cavegirl, don’t quite have the perfectly balanced PERSONALITIES of our main trio, but their conversation, with its ridiculous accompanying visuals, is amusing enough.

The original Fairies are back for the ROOM of Spirit and Time, which is where this episode really shines. The Fairies decide to do a Kart raise, and things get weird, as we might expect. pkpk is given a monster truck, krkr uses a Segway, and shrshr rides an old man, one of the pre-rendered people we may remember from back in season one. The race begins, and it’s pretty much a parody of Mario Kart with some ridiculous power ups, many of which are riffs on other popular video game franchises. It works magnificently here because the systems of the other games are incredibly out of sync with your typical kart racer, so it isn’t mere reference humor. Little touches like pkpk being far too afraid of her overpowered vehicle are fantastic as well. This may very well be the best bit of the season.

We end with the dubbing pool, cut very short due to the length of the ROOM of Spirit and Time, but it’s a weird animation that allows for some hilarious one-liners. The only joke that feels like a miss is the Jojo’s reference for the next episode preview, but only because the show’s limited budget doesn’t allow for the kind of detailed art a great execution would require.

9 (22)- "mkmk appears!"
Airdate: March 06, 2013

It starts with shrshr telling her friends about a dream she had where she got really rich. The dream ended before its conclusion, and she’s curious what she would have done with all of the money. Always eager to held a helping hand and make things worse, krkr tells shrshr she fell asleep after shrshr woke up and thus got to see a remainder of the dream. She tells a convoluted story that ends up on a cliffhanger, and suggests that pkpk will have to go to sleep to catch the end. pkpk crumbles under the pressure.

In the ROOM of Spirit and Time, the fairies play a shiritori game where the items they mention become the wheels of the car. It’s an interesting throwback to the original shiritori they played in episode 1, and the addition of a rhythm game backbeat makes it fun to watch.

The episode contains both the Magic Speaker and the Dubbing Pond. For the speaker, the sound is a wolf’s cry that the girls attribute to a man getting injured, and pkpk’s father returns for the dubbing pond. Solid stuff, but we’ve seen it before, in this case.

10 (23)- "usus Appears!"
Airdate: March 13, 2013

The three new fairies have come to introduce themselves to the gdgd Fairies, and the group decides to go on a camping trip together. The chores are divided up so that pkpk and sarsar will start a campfire, kurkur and krkr will put together the tent, and shrshr and furfur will go fishing together. Poor pkpk ends up ruining everything, however, when she finds herself lit on fire and runs through the campsite trying to find something to put herself out. Poor pkpk.

Then, all six move into the Room of Spirit and Time to play a relay race. When some giant rock-like monsters show up to start eating the fairies, things start to look bad for our friends. The chaos is just as fun to watch as its ever been, and gdgd Fairies once again demonstrates that its limited animation doesn’t stand in the way of its sense of humor.

11 (24)- "nmnm Appears!"
Airdate: March 20, 2013

The conversation sketch shrshr trying to come up with a signature quote. This works great for the ROOM of Spirit and Time, where the fairies summon up a game of baseball. When their regular pitches are hit by the batter way too easily, the girls decide to spice things up with magic. Things get predictably out of hand when krkr throws a black hole ball that sucks up some of the baseball diamond and flies off into deep space. We’re shown a goofy highlight reel with all of the beloved characters from the second and the first second before the ball hits a giant alarm clock at the end of the universe, shattering space and time.

12 (25)- "pkpk, shrshr, krkr appear!"
Airdate: March 27, 2013

The fairies wake up and are late for typical Japanese high school! The bending of spacetime has ended up in gdgd Fairies becoming a school comedy! But in this case, we get all of the same kinds of skits, except in a school setting. There are some genuine laughs to be had with the Gym of Spirit and Time, where the fairies try and come up with clubs they’d want to join, and the dubbing SWIMMING pool, with an authentically hilarious animation this time. It all comes to nothing as in the final moments, we see the whole premise was dreamed up as a possible premise for a third season. krkr remains pessimistic as ever, as she states that a third season “probably isn’t happening, though.” We can only hope she’s wrong.