Grimms Notes And Fate (1-6)

At the heart of Grimms Notes the Animation is the idea of fate/roles. Every character has a set role that they follow in life save for those with blank books and select other characters. We've seen various views through out the series on the subject of fate. Let's start from the view point of Red Riding Hood herself in the first episode.

The role given to a Red Riding Hood is not a plesant one. It's even worse when you consider the allegory and some early versions of the story. It's something no one should have to go through. And yet we have a girl that is basically being told by fate "deal with it, go through this crap". She even reaches the point of essentially becoming the very thing that's supposed to attack her. That's horrible. The fact it that will keep happening to Reds is even worse.

Next comes Cinderella, we already had established the idea that a role can be passed to another person. However here with the Fairy God Mother, comes the idea that a role can be repeated. Ie she's dealt with multiple Cinderellas and she's been able to see what happens after you close the "book", to see the lie after "heavily after". No single "event" can carry a relationship forever.

Fate is great when it's like "Hey man, you're going to hit the jackpot", but when you're told "You're hitting rock bottom", it's not so great is it? Of course for our protagonists, one issue they run into is because they're without roles, they probably feel a bit lost and jealous. So that might by why they're (especially Ex) have trouble with the idea that a set fate isn't something everyone is going to love.  Where as those like Silver do have to deal with the issue.

And this is where things get cruel and rotten. Fate is literally deciding that a family needs to come to hate each other. That a mother needs to treat her child like trash and the child needs to kill her own mother out of revenge and hatred. There's no way this can be seen as anything positive. It's disgusting which is the point.

While we have the two deny the vicious cycle of Snow White & Queen, the fact the cycle exists and could easily continue if evil is willing enough is another issue with the whole fate thing. While the episode involving these two is one of the best so far, just knowing the potential challenges is depressing. 

Ultimately it feels like the main hopes the characters have is finding a way to work within their role. Ie seeing where they could change things for the better. Perhaps the idea that following "fate" to the letter and trying to completely deny "fate" are both paths that lead to ruin. Or maybe some of these story tellers need to be punched in the face. That could work too.

Grimms Notes is a series with some definite issues, but over all it's been one of the more interesting series for me this series. And the more they expand on the issue of fate the better. Even if this means having to deal with some of the early "Ex Denial" moments in the show.