Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics/Recap/Donkeyskin

The Coat of Many Colours ["Sen biki gawa" (Japanese: 千びき皮)] or Donkeyskin is the 35th episode of Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics. It's about Aleia, a Fallen Princess who barely escaped with her life after her maddened father tried to force her into marrying him, and now works as a kitchen maid for the kind King Alexander...

The tropes used in this episode include :

• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: The original Princess was as plucky as she could be, but Aleia is VERY openly traumatized by the shit she went through and even has panic attacks at times.
• Benevolent Boss: Alexander is a very gentle and kind man, who treats Aleia with lots of kindness from the very start.
• The Caligula: In the flashbacks one briefly sees Aleia's father as normal and apparently quite reasonable King, then losing his mind and becoming this. It also shows in his looks: before going crazy the King is a fairly good-looking older man, then looks REALLY creepy and much uglier.
• Canon Foreigner: Alexander's squire and companion and the castle's lead cook, who are kinda Bad Bosses to Aleia in her maid days.
• Daddy's Girl: In this adaptation, Aleia was this to her dad... before he fell gravely sick and then started demanding for her to marry him.
• Dance of Romance: Played straight when Aleia dances with Alexander, subverted when she later sees him dancing with another lady and believes that she's lost her chance to ever tell him what she feels for him. Further subverted since, while dancing with Alexander, Aleia remembers her past and ends up short-circuitting.
• Death by Adaptation: The incestuous King dies before the episode starts.
• Downer Beginning: The episode begins with Aleia having Bad Dreams about her ordeals: In them she barely escapes from her evil father, runs off from her burning castle pretty much in her night gown and carrying only her dresses (in an old bag) and the Coat of All Colors, and is seen crying and screaming under the rain that falls.
• Friend to All Living Things: Alexander seems to have an affinity with birds, and he uses it to bond with Aleia in the snow.
• Hair of Gold: Aleia and Alexander are blondes.
• Humble Pie: Alexander's manservant AND the royal chef have to "eat" their own words when Aleia, the "maid" they were so severe with, turns out to be his boss' perfect match and the two personally and comically "punish" them in front of everyone.
• Karmic Death: The King attempted to pretty much rape his daughter and chased after her through the castle halls with a torch. When a terrified Aleia pushed him away the torch fell... and it lit the curtains ablaze, causing the whole castle to be on fire and killing the King.
• Modest Royalty: Alexander is a rather humble young man.
• Named by the Adaptation: The Princess is named Aleia, and the King is Alexander.
• Posthumous Character: Aleia's incestuous father is already dead when the tale begins, and he's only seen in the flashbacks depicting their Dark and Troubled Past.
• Pragmatic Adaptation:
  • In the original, the princess works in a farm belonging to the royalty. Here, Alexander is the one who finds Aleia and personally employs her as a maid in his palace from the very start.
  • The deals with the Old King come in flashbacks, including one to his illness.
  • There's no Fairy Godmother on sight and it looks like Aleia's requests of three beautiful and impossible to craft dresses plus the Coat are her own idea.
  • The "The Girl Who Fits This Slipper" deals are pretty much ommited. Here, Aleia willingly drops her ring in a soup she was making in the royal kitchen so she'll be able to talk to Alexander about him supposedly being about to marry...
• Princesses Prefer Pink: Downplayed, only one of Aleia's Pimped-Out Dresses is pink - and it's not one of the gowns she uses in the present.
• Rank Up: In the original, the Princess' love interest was a fellow Prince. Here, Alexander seems to already be the King of his lands.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Alexander is a just and kind boss, if a bit too busy.
• Snow Means Love: One of the most romantic moments between Aleia and Alexander happens in a snowy yard.
• While Rome Burns: As Aleia's original castle burns down, the King has a Villainous Breakdown that makes him manically laugh and scream about the "royal Wedding" as everything burns.