The Fable

The Fable took a while to grow on me. It’s not without its flaws, and the biggest one for me was definitely the pacing. This series moves pretty slowly, spending a lot of time on character development and gradually unfolding its various storylines. At times, it was so slow I found myself yawning, with my attention drifting towards dreamland. This isn’t your typical high-octane gangster show—it's more of a deep dive into the world it portrays, trying to build a moody, atmospheric take on the genre. The action scenes, when they do happen, are sharp and fast, as you’d expect from professionals. But there’s so much buildup before each one that the imbalance between action and the slower, everyday moments becomes very noticeable. That said, when the action kicks in, it’s often impressive. One standout for me was a scene involving "six seconds," which was particularly well done. In general, the action sequences are well-animated, though the same can’t be said for the rest of the series, which I found to be visually average. The soundtrack didn’t grab me either. On the flip side, the slower pace really helped me connect with the characters. The standout, of course, was Fable/Satou. He’s a good-hearted guy who can come across as a bit clueless, but when you consider that he’s spent most of his life either working or training in isolation, it makes sense. He’s not exactly a master of social interactions, and given his laser-focused career as a legendary hitman, it’s no surprise that a lot of everyday things fly over his head. The supporting cast was also well fleshed out, and the setting wasn’t always about the mafia, which kept things interesting. The humor is mostly quirky, centered around a local TV celebrity named Jackal (whose appeal only the main character seems to understand) or Satou’s ignorance of normal life. There were a few moments that genuinely made me laugh, like when Youko took someone out for a drink at the bar. Overall, it is a slower, atmospheric series that I ended up liking, but it took me some time to get there. 7.4/10 (2024-09-29)