Fairy Tail: Final Season |OT| The Power of Friendship will never fade!

[Evilisk]

Fairy Tail Ep. 291

This was a really fast moving episode. We went from a "calm before the storm" bunch of exchanges to only the first wave that "maybe we can handle this" to "oh shit we're so totally screwed with this battle" in the span of an episode. Personally, it's lame that we didn't a full "calm before the storm" episode, as I woulda liked to see the other Guild characters (that weren't shown off during the recruitment episodes), but eh, I guess I was expecting too much.

The actual battle started off fine, and I appreciated them *actually* using some strategy, though it got absolutely ridiculous at the end with the whole "omigod we're surrounded we're so dead" angle. It just broke my suspension of disbelief. Like, I could buy Ajeel and his fleet sneaking in overnight from one direction, but like, fleets from all directions, including ground troops too? What? How does such a large force go unnoticed by like, regular folk? Let alone the other Guilds or Magic Council? That was stupid, though FT not having any sense of world building isn't new.

I did like the deep cuts (is that how you use that word?) in this episode, at least. The Phantom Lord cannon is rather obvious, Evergreen calling Erza the Fairy Queen and Fried using his magic on Magnolia are also some throwbacks to the Fighting Festival arc (both of these arcs my absolute favorite, so you better believe I'm gushing at this fanservice). The jokes also weren't too bad, and the music was on point for this episode as well.


Fairy Tail Ep. 292

I got mixed feelings on this episode. Let's start with the bad: that Lucy and Brandish encounter.

I'm used to Mashima's patented Fairy Tail Bullshit™ but this honestly was way more uncomfortable than your usual FTBS. When Lucy loses her clothes because the dragon that she and Natsu are fighting has clothing removal magic, because idk, the dragon eats naked humans better, I'll eyeroll really hard, at best. The stuff with Brandish, where she's actively like "I'll destroy Magnolia if you don't do this for me" was hella uncomfortable though.

It's not the worst FT has been with this (that'd be Yukino's banishment from Sabre Tooth, which is the low point... so far). The show really undercut the mood of scene with its dumb jokes, and at least Lucy manages to turn the situation into a good one when she steals and crushes that magic-removing goon... buuut it's still not great. It still dragged down the episode for me and it's just another reason why I gotta keep telling my younger sister (who loves Erza and the episodes of Season 1 she's seen) that she can't continue watching this show til she's much older

As for the good stuff: the continued throwbacks are cool (this time with Avatar and Tartaros / Seilah), the smaller scale battles are well-handled, and they've done a good job keeping track of all the characters and fights going on (this is a massive improvement over Tartaros, imo). I loved that they didn't even bother with Ajeel's goons; yeah we know they're trash fodder, let's not even waste screentime on them.

The Ajeel vs. Erza fight was mostly bland (Ajeel is honestly the blandest mfer ever), though the ending to that fight, with Erza signalling Bisca, was legit clever. Even Warren (useless telepath man) and Max (useless sand guy) had a moment in this episode (Warren even got bloody character development), which is cool. Oh yeah, Natsu holding back, for a change, and getting a joke out of that, were great.

I guess that's it for right now. The arc is in full swing, so there's not a lot to really talk about. That OP continues to be banging though.

 

[SigmasonicX]

The second opening was good, yeah. Not a fan of the opening that started with the newest episode, though; could have used more spoilers, TBH.

Show's been alright. I'm still surprised they aren't really changing much. But that fight should be coming up soon, and it's sure to be changed.

 

[SageShinigami]

I just wanna say that Mest is some trash.

 

[Evilisk]

The second opening was good, yeah. Not a fan of the opening that started with the newest episode, though; could have used more spoilers, TBH.

Click to shrink...

The most recent episode is up to a new opening already? Gah, I really want to check it out, even though I really shouldn't.

(I'm watching like 2 episodes every 2 weeks, because I hate catching up and having to wait for new episodes. I also want to be able to binge the remaining episodes once this series' last episode hits)

I just wanna say that Mest is some trash.

Click to shrink...

I dunno if this is in reference to a more recent episode, but Mest has become kind of a joke yeah

Putting aside the fact that he's got teleportation AND memory magic, and somehow isn't completely busted, the twist of "he was actually part of Fairy Tail all along" is soooo stupid and sooo unnecessary. It might be the worst twist in FT period.

I wasn't the biggest Mest fan before the twist (he had a cool coat during Tartaros though) but the twist has turned him into a nothing character now. His dynamic of being a Council agent that's chummy with FT is gone and the reveal completely trivializes all his character development. Dude's just a plot device who only gets used for asspulls / character death fakeouts (like with Wendy during Tartaros, and Makarov with this recent arc).

Also his new design looks like crap:

 

[SaraNWrap]

As an manga reader i've been waiting to hear anime watchers opinion on Mest, dis gud.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Watching episode 306, and wow, this is a remarkably bad looking episode, even for Fairy Tail.

 

[SageShinigami]

As an manga reader i've been waiting to hear anime watchers opinion on Mest, dis gud.

Click to shrink...

His design and the twist are fine IMO, but...seriously, the bit with Brandish and August?

Spoiler

I didn't think Brandish telling August "the people of Fairy Tail are good people" would lead to a person immediately proving her wrong.

 

[Evilisk]

Fairy Tail Ep. 293

This is possibly my favorite episode so far, just for its focus on the Raijinshu and Ichiya.

It's not a perfect episode; I'm disappointed by how the Brandish and Lucy fight was handled (...Brandish is gonna be the next female villain to get a redemption arc, isn't she?) while Wall Eehto's powers seem really confusing (we went from "I am magician with weakness magic that can create duplicates" to "actually I am a robot with weakness magic" to "actually that was just a drone, now I'm going to snipe Fairy Tail from far away with some other magic that doesn't look like weakness magic").

But dammit if I didn't love Fried, Bixlow, Evergreen and Ichiya getting screentime. It was great that they addressed the Raijinshu's time under Blue Pegasus, it's great that they *finally* decided maybe it's okay to ask for help from other Guilds, and I also liked how Wall Eehto's fight and powers allowed everyone to struggle but without making them look like dumb jobbers (since everyone was just being counterpicked super hard). The icing on the top was the comedy, which was on-point here (Elfman having to beat up Elfman, Ichiya's flashback and Ichiya kill stealing Fried legit made me laugh).

So yeah, this episode 100% appealed to me, making it my favorite so far.


Fairy Tail Ep. 294

And in typical Fairy Tail fashion, we ride the high of the previous episode by starting with Macao and ol Smokey (idk that guy's name) perving over Brandish; Natsu forgetting that he said he was gonna hold back and just charging Zeref; and everyone just enabling Natsu's bullshit.

I'm not gonna lie, I thought this episode was lame. The most interesting thing about this episode, to me, was the other Guilds and Wizards assembling and unfortunately, this was already spoiled by the (stylin') opening. It's just hard to get excited for Sabre Tooth coming to the rescue when you know they're in for a paddling, though Jura, Warrod, Mr. Vampire and Mr. Werewolf posing look cool guys still got to me, I'll admit.

The rest of the episode is Natsu just charging at Zeref, while everyone excuses his behaviour and if it's not obvious, I am not a Natsu fan AT ALL. I did get amusement out of Zeref confirming that Natsu just straight up killed a ton of people. I was also surprised when Natsu's right arm bullshit wasn't actually bullshit at all, and when Zeref also was like wtf too. With that said, there is no damn way this is the end of Zeref right here so it's hard to be too excited about the next episode, even with the cliffhanger.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Well, with 310, we finally see how they handled Larcade's powers, which pretty much everyone thought would be censored.

... And they adapted his orgasm powers. Complete with a close up of Minerva's crotch. I can't believe it.

 

[VileZero]

I'm still two episodes behind, but

Spoiler

Makarov's death was really well done. I haven't read the manga, and there has been an insane amount of fakeouts and "dead oh wait sike!" moments in this arc, but this one really felt final. Still, I don't necessarily think Makarov is 100% dead - but if he is, well done. I also LOVED the ending with Erza between Natsu and Grey. That was like an iconic shot, with one hand pressing back against the fire, while her other hand slowly cracked from the ice. Hoping to catch up by this weekend, but I've overall really enjoyed the storyline. I'm just really glad everyone is finally at their OP level without stupid reasons to nerf their strength.

Oh, and I hate the current opening song they have right now. I loved the first one for this season, and the second one grew on me. But the one they have now is just awful.

 

[BarcaTheGreat]

So i am about episode 24 of the final season and got a question about Alvarez empire strength:

Spoiler

If that empire has about 750 guilds under it's control vs. 500 in Fairy Tail continent who aren't even fully united, how have they been able to defeat Alvarez so far with mostly Tails and few other guilds? What happened to all those other guilds from Alvarez? They can't be the foot soldiers, they aren't using magic.

 

[Evilisk]

Fairy Tail Ep. 295

I didn't care for this episode tbh. To be clear: it feels like 295 and 296 are counterpart episodes. 295 focuses on Natsu (and his parent's role in this Acnologia conspiracy), while 296 focuses on Lucy (and her parent/family's one). Interspersed between these two episodes are occasional cuts to the other Ishgar Guilds and basically, while I like this decision, I just find the actual episode boring bc Natsu is a boring af character.

The resolution to the cliffhanger at the start was sooo predictable. The Zeref and Natsu twist was also revealed earlier and just watching Natsu react to something we already knew isn't interesting. Also my reaction to "Natsu will die if Zeref dies" was basically good (lol). I'm not ragging on Mashima's writing, because he's doing a good job here: I basically just hate Natsu, so I hate this Natsu focused episode.

Only things I liked here were the focus on other Guilds (I love Kagura and her Sword, and it's lame that she's only a side character), the Spriggan interactions (I love how the Spriggans really don't along, like with blondie and Brandish) and also all the exposition about that Acnologia Conspiracy (...but that's also explained better next episode).

Fairy Tail Ep. 296

(I just realized today that Porlyusica has the same English voice as Genkai from YYH)

This was a much better episode by default (bc no Natsu). I liked that Lucy's naivety was addressed and actually used against her here (even though I'm totally expecting Brandish to be redeemed regardless, just like Flare). I also loved the return of you-know-who; her friendship with Lucy is still one of the better written parts in all of Fairy Tail, by far. Also, I appreciated Aquarius getting a new key (bc the key being gone forever was always super dumb imo. Being a Celestial Wizard would be crappy if keys could be permanently destroyed forever).

I do think that Lucy's extended backstory raises so many questions though. For example, why was none of this explained to her at any point? I guess the implication is that Layla did the job, so there was no need for any future Heartfilia's to wait for the Eclipse Gate, but it just reeks of "Mashima only thought about this plot point now, so that Lucy has some connection to the current plot".

But whatever, I liked this episode. I liked all the exposition and world building in this episode. Also loved the ridiculous medical terms used in the dub (like "Layla died of MAGIC DEFICIENCY SYNDROME" or "Natsu has an ANTI-ETHERNANO TUMOUR"). Actually, Natsu getting MAGIC CANCER was probably my favorite moment this episode lmao (followed by Brandish curing him by... shrinking his tumour lololol)

Only flaw on this episode was the Four Old Men getting bodied offscreen. How could y'all do Warrod and Jura so dirty like that.

 

[Evilisk]

Fairy Tail Ep. 297
This was a fun episode, though it's hard to really discuss since it was all action. Besides all of the action, the major developments seemed to be Acnologia having a hit list of 8 people (presumably all Dragon Slayers), Zeref wanting Fairy Heart to combat Acnologia (according to August, at least) and members of Fairy Tail going off to fortify / support the other Guilds (though they didn't explain this, and just cut to "okay we're going to the other fronts now"). Oh yeah I guess Laxus now has a weakness bc of the Tartaros arc, and Mashima also remembered that Lacrima / Artificial Dragon Slayers are a thing (for like only a few seconds). It was all action otherwise.

The Laxus fight was pretty damn cool (though I'm also a gigantic Laxus fan...). Best moment was easily Eehto's bullets being disintegrated by his Lightning. Eehto is kind of a fun villain too with his changing/shifting personalities (even if his power is way too vague and undefined for my tastes).


Fairy Tail Ep. 298
More action. The resolution to that Laxus fight was kinda bullshit ("I had Fried teach me magic" so that can just happen now? Why don't you get him to teach you MORE?) but whatever. At least his new powerup is tied to his grandpa, and we got character development out of it too. The Wendy and Chelia/Sherria/whatshername fight in the intro also just started up. I know Mashima has never really been good at consistency or world building, but I just don't understand how Blondie can have that magic power, and somehow NOT be the strongest of the Spriggan 12 or at least second strongest (assuming that August 'knowing all magic' also includes that type of magic too).


Fairy Tail Ep. 299
Whole lotta young girl suffering in this episode with all the focus on Wendy and Mavis. First half felt like it turned into a dark magical girl show with how they needed to win. I didn't really care for the fight, as Blondie's power weren't well defined at all and Chelia/Sherria was really off-model in this episode but I do respect that Mashima actually put effort / actually justified Ultear's 'return'

Second half was damn good. Lessio is easily my favourite Spriggan member so far. That quirky design, that personality, and that charismatic English voice actor (with their *completely unnecessary* accent) are just perfect. Also that bizarre pivot towards the end of the episode was amazing (I actually laughed at the ridiculousness). It probably helps that they've been using some of the budget here (the stills have been good and on-model, and this short slugfest between Natsu and Lessio was actually decently animated / storyboarded). While I'm disappointed that this wasn't a solo Lucy fight like I initially thought, Lessio's more than making up for it.

 

[Evilisk]

Fairy Tail Ep. 300

The Lessio fight ended okay. I was gonna say "it's dumb Natsu can't track this guy by smell" until I realized this was more of a Lucy fight. By that standard, it was okay. Actually, Lucy using Gemini is pretty smart, it's just lame that the Lucy fight ended with Natsu punching a guy. Speaking of lame, Neinhart seems really dumb. He seems like another character that is potentially way too OP (like Blondie). At least Mashima remembered that Simon and Ikaruga exist. Oh and it seems like we're working to Mavis being freed by Kana.


Fairy Tail Ep. 301

Terrible episode. Erza winning her "fight" by literally going "piss off ya jobbers, I already beat you" was absolutely laughable. All the characters that weren't Jellal, Kagura, Gray and Leon basically just 1-shotted their targets too. Mashima should really, actually think about these characters' powers because we're like 2 for 2 on "characters with stupidly OP powers having unsatisfying resolutions to their fights". I couldn't even enjoy the action (like Jellal beating down Neinhart) because everything was low budget af this episode.

The only parts worth mentioning were the light focus on side characters like Kagura, Leon and Jellal, and also the apparent hierarchy in the Spriggan 12 (August is well respected and pretty strong; Irene seems to be even stronger).


Fairy Tail Ep. 302

A dense but better episode. We have the plot lines of "Kana trying to free Mavis", "Brandish and co. approaching August", "Gajeel fighting Bloodman", "Sting learning to be a leader" and "Acnologia is coming". It's honestly a bit crammed, and I felt that the Sting subplot didn't get enough time, while the Brandish one got a bit too much. At least everything that was shown was reasonably good, with the Gajeel fight getting the most budget. But yeah, I really liked the episode. I like the Zera-Kana parallel, I liked Gajeel and Levi in this episode, I like Irene seemingly doing her own thing etc.

Not sure what to expect, other than some fuckery with Mest (going off the posts in this thread)

EDIT:

Fairy Tail Ep. 303

This was a great episode. Gajeel vs. Bloodman had the best closure to a fight so far. They also did a good job of cleaning up Gajeel's Phantom Lord baggage imo (which always made the Levi and Gajeel a little bit sketch to me). Kana finally completing her role and Irene fighting Acnologia were also damn good. I was really iffy on Irene at first (bc of the design, and how they didn't build her up as well as they did August) but she's so damn cool for putting up a fight. Her English VA is also badass too.

The only weak point of the episode really was that "Mest moment". Just, why? Why was this a thing that had to happen? I don't know if Mashima has a plan or explanation for that plot development, but it felt completely out of nowhere from my POV. Just felt like it happened "for the drama" instead of being a natural action I'd expect Mest to actually do. Whatever though, I'm curious to see what happens next bc of Irene's spell.

 

[SigmasonicX]

With episode 316, we have another opening, and it's alright. Better than the previous one. I'm kind of surprised, because I didn't think there was enough material for another 12-13 episodes, but I suppose Fairy Tail could easily add stuff. Plus these last couple episodes have had a lot of recap and flashbacks anyway. Since they didn't change the ending to the Irene fight, this is probably unlikely, but I hope they change the ending to the August fight.

Anyway, Larcade fight wasn't that great, but the music still made it hype when Sting arrived and turned out to be immune to his powers. Music also carried the Irene fight, though it was also nice to see her backstory extended a bit. And props on not having Irene have her normal voice while in Wendy's body, and vice versa.

 

[SageShinigami]

With episode 316, we have another opening, and it's alright. Better than the previous one. I'm kind of surprised, because I didn't think there was enough material for another 12-13 episodes, but I suppose Fairy Tail could easily add stuff. Plus these last couple episodes have had a lot of recap and flashbacks anyway. Since they didn't change the ending to the Irene fight, this is probably unlikely, but I hope they change the ending to the August fight.

Anyway, Larcade fight wasn't that great, but the music still made it hype when Sting arrived and turned out to be immune to his powers. Music also carried the Irene fight, though it was also nice to see her backstory extended a bit. And props on not having Irene have her normal voice while in Wendy's body, and vice versa.

Click to shrink...

Supposedly they're adapting stuff from the 100 Years Quest arc, and they've also slowed down the adaptation. From 3 chapters to 2 chapters an episode.

 

[Anas]

Spoiler: recent episodes

Wtf
Did zeref raped Mavis why she was a sleep? Or did she got pregnant by a Kiss?

 

[SigmasonicX]

Spoiler: recent episodes

Wtf
Did zeref raped Mavis why she was a sleep? Or did she got pregnant by a Kiss?

Click to shrink...

The idea is that they had consensual sex during that scene where they reunited in the woods. With Precht going, "Well technically she's an adult so it's fine," later.

Caught up through episode 319. I thought they added a bunch to the August fight, but no, checked the manga and it's all there. They did change Gildarts being stabbed with the cane to instead August shooting an energy blast, which... honestly makes way more sense. And we still get August killing himself like Irene, leading to two fights in a row with similar endings. Like I don't even mind so much about either fight, it's just both in a row.

The fight looked terrible, except for the moments that looked pretty good, like August activating his self sacrifice spell.

 

[Evilisk]

Fairy Tail Ep. 304

Oof, that new opening is definitely a downgrade. Only the song is good (but not great like the previous song).

The actual episode was kind of boring. Instead of teasing out the mystery of the new situation, the show spends too much making sure you know exactly what's going on. Things could have easily been done better (like keeping the Gajeel and Zera reveal for later) or more efficiently (there were lots of scenes with redundant information). All we really get is the new "world", with some build up to what looks to be Mirajane vs Irene and some other, smaller stuff (Angel and Yukino, Mavis and Zeref, Irene and Erza?)

Anyway, this new scenario is absolutely whack. Half of this scenario feels like Mashima realizing he wrote himself into a corner with August, Irene and Acnologia, while the other half feels like an excuse for him to do whatever (like giving the Guild jobbers some action time, having the Crocus characters be involved in the war, or bringing back *those two* characters). I'm not sure if I love this or hate this. All I know is Irene's apparent trolling of everyone (the Princess, Mirajane, even Acnologia) is hilarious.

What else to say... the episode looked real cheap (except for choice moments, like Mirajane's new Satan Soul transformation). Oh, Irene's cronies had pretty cool designs. Oh and Brandish's power continues to be absolutely bullshit. "I shrunk your wound" wtf is this nonsense lmao

 

[Evilisk]

Fairy Tail Ep. 305

Even though not much actually happened, this episode was pretty hype. Both sides (including that deadbeat bastard Gildartz) are pretty much assembled. We also got to the moment the season started on. There was a lot of bullshit in this episode (Brandish shrinking wounds again, Irene having whatever power the plot requires her to, Secretary Man freezing Mavis' mind etc.) but I don't even care anymore lol. After seeing Natsu's plan be "we'll just run at the enemy" and hearing that sick remix of that main battle theme, I'm all up for this dumb shonen bullshit.


Fairy Tail Ep. 306

On to our first fight. Despite the returned Spriggan 12 members, this was basically a Gray vs. Secretary Man episode (with the Erza, Irene and Neinhart subplot sprinkled in the back). Even though I dislike Gray, this fight isn't half bad? Like it's still not great (like 95% of all Fairy Tail fights) but I can actually follow some of the battle logic here (like Gray basically getting a cheap shot in because the other guy got cocky). There's also the chance of that guy blabbing about Natsu to Gray (since he was there when Natsu attacked Zeref) which is interesting. Not sure how I feel about that melodramatic cliffhanger.


Fairy Tail Ep. 307

Okay I need to get this off my chest but; oh my god this whole scene with Gray and Juvia is so fucking dumb.

Spoiler: The dumbest sequence of events in Fairy Tail I've ever seen

Okay so first: Gray and Juvia try to kill themselves at the same time (without realizing the other's going to do the same thing) and they succeed, leading to the bad guy going "wow that was really dumb" and leaving them to die.

Then it's revealed that actually, Juvia cast a BLOOD TRANSFUSION SPELL on Gray to make sure he survives and… I don't even know where to begin here. When the hell could Juvia do this? Did she actually anticipate a situation where she and Gray both accidentally try to kill each other? If she did, why didn't she just allow Gray to "kill himself" and then do the blood transfusion, instead of going along with it? Why? Why why why

Then the next part of this sequence is five actual minutes of Gray X Juvia moments. Let's ignore all the death fakeouts we've already had so far and the fact that it's FIVE MINUTES LONG (which is too, too much); this isn't a bad idea at all. What's wrong, however, is having choice comedic moments like "Gray touched my tush" and "Gray take this body pillow of myself" during this "sad" scene.

Then the moment ends with "don't worry Gray, I'll always be with you… literally, I'm going to be in your blood now".

I actually lost my shit after all of this. Especially at that last part. I mean, I like Juvia, and that's super in character for her if I'm being honest, but after all of that I just couldn't not laugh

Ignoring all that, this episode was just boring. I'm so tired of fakeouts so all the time building up to the next "death" was just boring. The resolution to the Gray and Secretary Man fight was pretty disappointing ((i.e. Natsu Gray got angry and punched a guy really hard) but they had Gray learn about Natsu so it wasn't a total waste.

The Brandish subplot hasn't really gone anywhere. It kind intersected with the Erza/Irene subplot, until Natsu got angry and punched a guy really hard so we're kinda nowhere still. Also, we're somehow still faffing about with all the already defeated Spriggan 12 Members. Like, you already established that they're weaker than before, just get to the point. So yeah, boring. I'm hoping we see more of Gildartz and Larcade.

 

[Evilisk]

Fairy Tail Ep. 308

This episode was really… something. We started off with an interesting premise (Lucy's Talk No Justu didn't work for once, so she's gotta solo fight with Brandish) but that turned out to be a fakeout. Then it seemed like we were gonna get an episode of Fanservice Bullshit (bc apparently if Mavis isn't suffering some other character needs to be) but that was another fakeout. Turns out that we're getting Gray vs. Natsu at what is the absolute, worst possible time for it to be happening.

I can't say I liked any of this (though mostly, I'm just mad that Lucy is still being robbed of legit fights). The only other notable parts of this episode were Gajeel's development coming full circle (which is cool) and Mavis somehow escaping Irene and reuniting with Mest and Zera (which is sooooooo actually stupid. Like I don't use this term often, but Mavis escaping Irene offscreen is a legit asspull. It makes zero sense).


Fairy Tail Ep. 309

Okay, it's official: this arc now sucks as of this episode.

Quick summary: Natsu and Grey have their dumb little fight, Mavis enters the fight, Irene uses her magical "plot forwarding" powers and Makarov remembers Fairy Law exists.

Spoiler: Rant with Big Spoilers

Also in this episode: Makarov dying five seconds after using Fairy Law.

I am so mad at Mashima utilizing Fairy Law in this way (basically: nerfing it and then using it to kill off Makarov). I always wanted Makarov to do something, or for Makarov to just die. Mashima picked the worst of both worlds here, killing off Makarov in the most anti-climactic moment so he can kill what are essentially MOOKS. What's even more insulting is that Makarov even straight up says, "Yo Mavis you could probably get us out of this situation, but Imma do it anyway". The whole thing has me legit angry, especially when Makarov starts chastising Mavis for seeing Fairy Tail as soldiers instead of family.

Like, that call-out is just baffling. Yeah, Mavis is the Fairy Tactician, but has she ever shown NOT to care about Fairy Tail's members? It's an idea that makes zero sense with how Mavis has been portrayed. If, during the war, she'd had a moment where she sacrificed allies for a strategic move, the call out would be reasonable. But Mavis cares, and she hasn't done anything like that, so it's just patronizing nonsense. Ugh. I think the cherry on top of this shit sundae is that before Makarov dies, it flashes back to all his moments from this season. Guess what? His flashbacks last a MINUTE. Compare that to Juvia's FIVE STRAIGHT MINUTES of flashbacks.

I used to really like Makarov, especially during the Phantom Lord and Fighting Festival Arc. But I think I actually hate him now. I never liked him becoming a nothing character, or staying leader and preventing some other character, like Erza or Laxus, becoming leader and getting character development. But this sendoff was so bad that it actually made me angry.

What a goddamn waste.

Aside from what seems to be the first, actual death of this arc (that's not a shitty fakeout), this episode has also seriously highlighted how nonsensical this "battle" actually is. There's this part of the episode where we're cutting to characters that you don't know are even involved (like Alzack) or are still alive (like Lessio). It's a huge downgrade to the earlier battle in this arc. And it's weird because the previous battle (that spanned the whole continent and had multiple fronts) was easier to follow than this giant pit.

The only "decent" part of this episode was the Gray and Natsu stuff. It was still awful, but it seems to have been intentionally awful because the episode straight up ends on Erza going "wtf why are you fighting right now you fucking idiots."


Fairy Tail Ep. 310

This episode is "Why?" the episode.

This episode does have some good moments. Erza manages to get Gray and Natsu to stop fighting and unlike what happened in the last episode, this actually felt somewhat earned (even the flashbacks were actually well used). Also, while I knew Kagura had no chance at all against Larcade, dammit, she really tried. At least she put over Larcade (which is what any respectable jobber aims to do).

But this episode is all about the questions. Some questions are reasonable like "Who is Irene? What is her relation to Erza?" and "Oh, if Larcade is Zeref's son, then who is Larcade's mother?" while others are more along the lines of, "...when the fuck did Crime Sorciere arrive and start fighting August?" or "is Irene gonna be, like, Erza's other eye? Or something stupid like that*?"

But most questions are "Why's".

Why's like, why does Larcade have climax magic? Why did Mashima decide his series needed climax magic? Why is Mavis affected by this climax magic? Why does Larcade have the same hair colour as Mav OH MY FUCKING GOD. NO. No. Mashima wouldn't go that far. And it makes no sense anyway they showed Mavis before she got crystallized earliler, and the timeline doesn't add up at all.

God I hope I just have an overactive imagination

(*I just remembered Erza has an artificial eye, and one of Irene's spells involves summoning a giant eye sooo... I mean, look. Larcade is a thing. This wouldn't be the most out there thing ever)

 

[Evilisk]

Fairy Tail Ep. 311

This was a kinda boring episode. The first half is about Natsu being in a coma and it goes how you'd expect (with Natsu being told several times he's in his own mind). It feels like an excuse to exposit random facts we wouldn't get otherwise (like Sting and Rogue being around Wendy's age pre-timeskip). The second half, which is Sting vs Larcade, is a bit better. Mostly it's because of the awful unintended comedy. Some choice moments include:

• Sting: "I recognize that smell." Hard cut to Yukino having her not-orgasm.
• Sting: "You've been giving my guild members a hard time"
• Sting while eating the not-rape tentacles: "What is this? It tastes kind of funky. It feels good in some weird way."

Then there's that whole sequence where Larcade makes everyone """"hungry"""". It's dumb, and the resolution is dumber (Sting knocks out his team members because... it won't make him hungry? What?). The actual fight isn't bad though. Sting having a good matchup against Larcade is okay. Larcade immediately switching to a different magic also actually makes sense. Sting finally absorbing Rogue's power is also a nice callback to the Eclipse arc.


Fairy Tail Ep. 312

This was an okay resolution to the Larcade fight. I liked Rogue actually explaining how his powers work and feel (seriously, Fairy Tail doesn't do this enough. Especially for a shonen). Minerva also continues her forgiveness tour while Kagura also shows her character development. Natsu in Comaland also continues. The random fact of this episode was "this is how Natsu's scarf was made". They mention Anno was responsible for the scarf. I don't know if this'll be relevant at all (I get the feeling this is a Natsu X Lucy thing rather than a proper plot point).

Oh and Master Genkai Porlyusica tells Lucy to strip and hug Natsu for some reason (...and she actually does this). Irene vs. Erza (and Wendy) also happens near the end. Irene trolls Erza then reveals she's Erza's mother (doi). I'm gonna be honest, I like Erza's backstory as is. I'm not interested to hear this at all tbh.


Fairy Tail Ep. 313

We get a big flashback with Irene. She has a big tragic backstory (which honestly made me feel really bad for her) and she's also revealed to be responsible for the whole Dragon Slayer / Dragon Festival plotline. That's all fine. The Tower of Heaven arc is legit one of the only good arcs in Fairy Tail, so I'm glad Irene's backstory didn't add any dumb twists to it. The episode ends on Wendy going "wtf" while Erza goes "I have zero angst about this" which is fine. It's all fine.

Oh and I guess Natsu learns the origin of his motion sickness and vertigo (can this Natsu coma subplot end already)


Fairy Tail Ep. 314

Okay, this episode actually won me over. It turned out that the big tragic backstory was also basically set up for Wendy to get a cool moment. While I didn't expect Wendy to actually die, the reveal that Wendy hijacked Irene at the same time (combined with that music) was damn good. I also think Wendy's VA did a great job of copying Irene's VA's style of talking.

The back and forth between Erza was also nice. Like yeah Erza has gone through some similar shit. Irene wouldn't know that though, since she's so obsessed with her own pain and what she's lost. Also, I was hoping that Erza would bring up the "Queen of the Fairies" as comparison to Irene's "Queen of the Dragons", so I was definitely pleased. While I'm expecting Erza shenanigans, this was still not bad.

(Also Natsu learns he has a Demon Seed, which is like a Dragon Seed but Demon. And Porlyusica tells Lucy to hug Natsu while naked even harder)

 

[Evilisk]

Fairy Tail Ep. 315

Boring episode.

The start is meh. Erza does what Erza wants, Irene has a moment of sanity and Wendy finally notices someone died. The rest of the episode is dedicated to resolving the Natsu coma subplot. The show forces this weird choice on Natsu as to whether he's a demon or a dragon but it's not built up to very well, and it ends on some trite, sappy crap anyway, so it's whatever.

Natsu then wakes up, Porlyusica is used to justify Mashima's fanservice bullshit and (I forgot to mention this before) folks now know Natsu will die if he fights Zeref. The episode ends on Irene's terraforming spell being reversed. The Princess gets turned back into a human too (why was this a thing again). I have no idea what's gonna happen, other than possible Acnologia.



Fairy Tail Ep. 316

Talk about a busy episode. The remaining jobbers *finally* get cleaned up. Mashima also tries to make Ajeel look sympathetic (even though his power is like, making people shrivel up and die). Then we get an update on the battle situation: Yajeel thinks the war is a lost cause, Zeref has some plan and August is so mad he just wants to kill everyone. Cue Gildartz. Their fight is… surprisingly well animated. For Fairy Tail's standards anyway.

Gray also confronts Zeref, and we seem to be building up to Iced Shell (again). Whatever Zeref's plan is, it'll probably be dumb. Also, I just want to say: damn is Gildartz such a hunk now. This shot was probably supposed to be badass but lmao:

Fairy Tail Ep. 317

Another meh episode. Gray doesn't end up using Retcon-Shell (what a shocker. Wait hold up. if Lost Shell retcons the person out of existence how tf does anybody know the spell exists?). Anyway, Natsu goes full Sora with Gray (poor Kairi Lucy). Then him and Zeref slug it out. Everything gets interrupted by Acnologia, who is there to spit on Irene's corpse.

The episode ends with August deciding not to fight (again) and then a member of Fairy Tail changing his mind (again).


New Intro (circa episode 317)

I don't think anything's ever beating "Down by Law" in terms of pure style, but this was still solid. I love the nod to the Fairy from the very first OP in the series.

 

[Evilisk]

Fairy Tail Ep. 318

Ughhhhhh at that reveal. I knew about Larcade's powers but nobody told me about this shit, why did this need to be a plot point whyyyy.

Gah. I don't know what else to say. I guess August lost in the dumbest way possible. Like okay, so he copies peoples powers to cancel out their effects on him. But the dude is still basically a magic saiyan. Even if he can't cancel out Cana or Gildartz' object based attacks, he's still fast and tanky as hell. Other than the parent/child theming, there's no reason August should actually lose here.


Fairy Tail Ep. 319

Well there ya go. August returns... but only for a minute before deciding to eternally hold that L. Mavis then has a plan after revealing that END (the book) was apparently just lying around. Then we cut back to Acnologia, now featuring Jellal, Blue Pegasus and Anna (who I was mistakenly calling 'Anno'). Wendy tries not to puke but just ends up looking adorable instead.

The episode is mostly just cleaning up the Spriggan 12 while transitioning to Acnologia and Zeref as the final threats.

Anyway, after thinking on this whole Zeref's child plot point, I'm starting to feel it's actually kind of nonsense. So the story is putting forward "if Zeref and his son both showed each other love, things would have turned out different". I get that. What I don't get is why he didn't tell Zeref at all. We don't get an explanation as to why he kept quiet about it, and the fact that Mashima wrote the child as knowing their parents due to their baby memories makes the problem worse.

Instead of something tragic, it just comes off like a dumb, self-made problem on their part. If it was written as them only realizing who their parent was until *now*, sure, it makes sense. But having him know Zeref is his dad from a young age, having him be his protege from childhood to adulthood, and having him go "why didn't daddy show me love" is dumb. It's so dumb. While I have to respect the effort put into this fake out (ngl, it got me), this plot point feels weird.

This whole thing creates a huge plot hole too. They've shown Dragon Slayers able to tell parents and child from their smell: Sting and Rogue use it on Larcade (which was a hint, now that I think about it), hell, Acnologia uses it on Irene and Erza in this very episode. So Natsu not figuring out who Zeref's child is (as he totally met him earlier this arc) is big gaping plot hole. I get the impression Mashima may have changed his mind about Larcade at some point. Like maybe not at the last minute (the Larcade vs Sabretooth fight shows it can't have been) but it'd make more sense if Larcade was the original plan, as Natsu literally doesn't meet Larcade until his fight with "Zeref", so there's no plot hole there.

So yeah. This plot point is kinda dumb (and also super gross).


Fairy Tail Ep. 320

Another transitional episode. Anna explains her plan, Zeref reveals his plan, Lucy, Gray and Happy seem to have caught onto Mavis' plan and it seems like time shenanigans might be how Acnologia is resolved. The episode is low budget as hell (there's this one awful, awful shot of Acnologia chasing Christina that's so baaad) but that's fine. It's all just exposition anyway.

I'm mixed on all the stuff with Anna. Anna herself seems so cool. She's serious af (with a surprisingly modest design, and no pervy anime moments), she's smart (she literally wrote a book on time travel), she's already shown to have some complexity (she has mixed feelings when she thinks she might not have been needed in the present) and she's all of this on top of being a mom (since she had to have had children *before* travelling to the future). I legit think she's the coolest female character in this series.

At the same time, I just can't not think about how Anna was literally only introduced in this arc. It makes her whole backstory with knowing the King and Lucy's mom and even knowing about the Eclipse, feel really, really weird. I can't hate on her at all but like I've said before, all I picture is Mashima going "oh shit I need some way to tie Lucy into this final arc" with her.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Well, the series ended.

327 - I don't recall Acnologia's backstory in the manga, so even though it's simple, it's nice to see here. I have to say, it's weird as hell seeing so many filler characters in the montage of people lending their power to Fairy Tail.

328 - Surprisingly good animation for the final clash with Acnologia. Nice to get the first opening during the flash forward. Though the OP just sort of ends. Still, this epilogue is nice.

Overall, this anime adaptation didn't really address the problems I had with this final arc, but I still enjoyed seeing it animated. Even if not with the best animation most of the time.

I know people are generally assuming they'll animate 100 Year Quest, but have we actually gotten a confirmation of that?

 

[DragonSJG]

I need to watch this

 

[Evilisk]

So the final episode is out? Now I'm really tempted to binge the remaining episodes

 

[Evilisk]

Decided to binge the remaining episodes. Had to switch over to the Japanese dub for the last three episodes.

Spoiler: Fairy Tail Episodes 321 to 324

Fairy Tail Ep. 321

This was an okay episode. The Plan™ doesn't work, Lucy and Gray read a book, Mavis suffers like she always does and Zeref finally explains why he's scared of Acnologia (it's because he'll be tortured forever by him, probably). Also: Acnologia gets motion sickness by grabbing something that's smaller and slower than him and it maks no sense.

On the one hand: okay, yeah, this has been a running gag through the entire series, I can't say Mashima pulled it out of nowhere. On the other hand, they literally explained the weakness as "a dragon slayers getting a dragon's heightened senses in a human body causes motion sickness". So how is Acnologia getting motion sickness... in his dragon form? That doesn't line up according to the show's own logic.


Fairy Tail Ep. 322

This episode is about as dumb as it is entertaining. Some choices moments include all the B-Listers going "we're still fighting the Spriggan 12 right" or Acnologia parting the sea with his Jellal-powered beam. I can't decide whether Zeref perfectly trolling Natsu, or Erza telling the Tri-Mens to shut up after their 10 second, high budget dance is the better moment. No wait, the best moment is Zeref proclaiming out loud, to nobody but the viewer, "I win when I walk through the door" and then taking 10 minutes in actual time to actually take one step forward.


Fairy Tail Ep.323

Zeref wants to do the right thing, and change the timeline so that he never sleeps with Mavis, but Natsu says nuts to that and punches him really hard, this time with the power of the Fairy Tail logo. Meanwhile Jellal tries to protect Erza (L O L) but ultimately fails. Anna and Nichiya bail him out, and ensure that instead of Wendy losing her big brother figure, she loses her mother figure instead.

More seriously, no way did I think I would ever feel about Nichiya dying, but I totally did. Also, this episode made me realize how super undercooked the whole "Natsu/END/book" subplot is, because we know nothing about how the book works.


Fairy Tail Ep. 324

I hate everything about this epsiode. First off: the worst plot point in Fairy Tail finally ends

I... actually originally had a lot to say about this couple, but y'know what? I don't even want to talk about that shit anymore. All I'll say is that I liked Zeref and I liked Mavis at one point. But this whole Mavis X Zeref plotline (and all the gross shit that it entails) has completely ruined both characters in my eyes. Just... good riddance to this shit.

The next point of order is- OH COME ON, that was another fakeout? GODDAMMIT JUST LET MAKAROV DIE ALREADY

...Okay. To rein things back a little, there's also the stuff with Gray, Natsu and Lucy. And that whole thing is screwed for different reasons. So we just saw Lucy revive Natsu with the book.: this means Natsu can never ever die. I mean, he can die. But as long as Lucy has the book, and Gray is there to reverse it's effects, Natsu can never, ever be in any real danger.

Okay that isn't actually the case (I'm sure Mashima will find some way to write this option out). But man has this made it clear that Mashima didn't think about this END Book plot point whatsoever.

The rest of the episode is just a fakeout so no comment. I did get a laugh out of Erza going "oh yeah we have magic smartphones don't we?"

Spoiler: Fairy Tail Episodes 325 to 328

Fairy Tail Ep. 325

In which Acnologia comes back like some shitty horror movie villain. This episode is mostly setup for the final Acnologia fight, so there's not much to talk about. The Dragon Slayers all breaking out because people were thinking of them in the real world is BULLSHIT though. Also, it's so weird to have Cobra and Laxus as part of this final showdown. While this last arc has done a lot to show the origin of Dragon Slayers, we never got a real explanation for the Artificial Dragon Slayers. If there ever was an explanation for 2nd Gen Dragon Slayers, it probably died with God Serena.

Also, THANK GOD that Anna and Nichiya returned. Like, fuck it. If Makarov gets to come back, then yeah, two characters that I *actually* still like should get to come back too.


Fairy Tail Ep. 326

I actually kind of liked this episode? I've always thought Mashima has been awful at balancing multiple plots and characters at the same time. So the single-minded focus on everyone needing to beat Acnologia is very refreshing. I love Lucy taking charge and even having her own posse with Fried and Levi. And of course, I love all the Guilds getting something to do. I mean it's only the END OF THE WORLD, so maybe they should do something (rather than nothing at all, like in Tartaros).

Oh yeah, Acnologia gets a tiny bit of backstory too. I don't really care but it amuses me that Acnologia looked like a total nerd before getting his Dragon Slayer gains.


Fairy Tail Ep. 327

Okay, I'm not gonna lie, I totally geeked out for this episode.

The part where literally every character ever was shown giving energy was mad hype. They had the Three Old Men, the Executioner Squad, the Tower of Heaven characters, the Starry Sky characters, shit, they even got the deep cuts, like Daphne from that filler arc, or the real shit: my favourite, nothing filler characters from early in the series, GODDAMN Boze and Sue:

(Boze and Sue are the middle and left characters respectively. There's also Bora, from the very first arc, on the right. All three of these characters make a cameo, in the same shot even, in this episode)

The rest of the episode wasn't so bad either. They actually put budget into that Dragon Slayer fight (no seriously. There's this excellent long take of all the Dragon Slayers having a swing at Acnologia and it actually looks great. They even reuse it in the next episode's mish mash opening). I also appreciate that their contingency plan actually makes sense (make an ice boat, use physical weapons to push Acnologia onto the boat etc.) and that Meredy got to be the MVP with her Linking Magic.

The only low point is really Acnologia's backstory and Natsu's final speech. The backstory was just boring: he killed bastard dragons and then he became the real bastard dragon. That's it. Natsu's final speech was just awful though; Acnologia says "dragons are bastards, they took away everything I know!" and Natsu's only answer is to pull the No True Scotsman Dragon Fallacy. Like, it's so dumb. You could have said anything like 'there's no more dragons, you're just looking for an excuse to fight", but the idiot went with "well, the dragons I personally know weren't bastards, so you're wrong!"

(Fucking Natsu... whatever, it's second to last episode)


Fairy Tail Ep. 328

The final episode. The actual end of the battle comes and goes really quickly, but not before Natsu gives Acnologia, the 'sage' of advice of "you can't have everything, so cherish things you do have" (yeah Natsu, I'm sure that the guy who lost everything 400 years ago is gonna be able to *really* put the advice into practice. Idiot). Personally, I'm glad it didn't linger on this stuff, I'm way more interested in seeing life after the war.

Anyway, fast forward to a year later. They cut to Lucy winning a writing award with, I kid you not, Snow Fairy (aka OP1) playing in the background which is *inspired*. Then they go through all the flings though honestly, I only care about Gajeel X Levi and Fried X Laxus. Well, Juvia and Gray have this creepy yet oddly touching moment where they keep their suicide scars from the Alvarez War. That's... something.

The best part is hearing all the side characters get their dues. Princess got to be Queen, and she totally pardoned Crime Sorciere which got to me way more than I admit. Seriously, I am legitimately happy that Hoteye and Angel get to be with their siblings now. Oh and Cobra and Cubellios totally hooked up again too. Anna totally got to live which is awesome. Seriously, after having to watch the Mavis and Irene have the shittiest lives and get the most unceremonious ends, I'm glad that at least ONE Badass Wizard Mom gets a happy ending.

Despite all this cool shit, the episode ends on reincarnated Mavis and Zeref apparently hooking up (oh come on) with Mavis still being young as hell (OH COME ON). We also had Natsu X Lucy, which let's be real, is the worst pairing. Seriously, Lucy deserves so much fucking better than NATSU.

Overall: this arc was whack. I'll admit, this arc got hype at times. And the hype moments were actually the hypest I've been for Fairy Tail in a long time (it had that magic I hadn't really felt since the Edolas arc). But the arc ended up falling into the same traps that every other arc does. Though I'm not gonna undersell things: this arc had some really stupid shit unique to itself (like that whole bit with Mest and August).

The best part of this arc was easily the end. And I'm not saying this because "lol it's over". It's because it's focused. There aren't a dozen subplots and different viewpoints being balanced at the same time. There's one focus: kill Acnologia. And all the characters get a big moment and things wrap up in a neat little bundle. As much as I fucking adore Fairy Tail's extended cast, I think Mashima is *awful* at actually juggling more than a few characters. For all the fanservice that happened in the series (like bringing back the Phantom Lord cannon), I would have easily taken a smaller cast with tighter writing over this bloated mess that Fairy Tail became.

Anyway, I'm done with this anime. I'm not interested in the sequel series at all, and was mostly watching this because I wanted closure. Even if the sequel series was good, I'd still prefer to read it instead.

 

[HeartlessNobody2134]

Ending with Acnologia was a major let down, but other than that I enjoyed this last season for the most part.

 

[BladeoftheImmortal]

Art always reminds me of one piece

 

[Kwigo]

Hey Fairy Tail fans,

I wanted to start the series and was wondering if the anime was following the manga closely or if it is deviating a lot, in which case I would like to knwo which one is considered better ?

Thanks and sorry for the bump

 

[Cornbread78]

Hey Fairy Tail fans,

I wanted to start the series and was wondering if the anime was following the manga closely or if it is deviating a lot, in which case I would like to knwo which one is considered better ?

Thanks and sorry for the bump

Click to shrink...

Here is a great chart for that:

Fairy Tail Filler List | The Ultimate Anime Filler Guide

The story follows Lucy Heartfilla who is determined to join the notorious magical Fairy Tail Guild. During a daring rescue, she encounters Natsu who is part of the guild and eventually offers her a place. They become teammates performing various missions for the Fairy Tail Guild. Be prepared for...

www.animefillerlist.com

 

[Lee Chaolan]

How's the PS4 game? Also I hear that's a little more faithful to the Manga?

also, <3 Juvia

 

[Evilisk]

Hey Fairy Tail fans,

I wanted to start the series and was wondering if the anime was following the manga closely or if it is deviating a lot, in which case I would like to knwo which one is considered better ?

Thanks and sorry for the bump

Click to shrink...

The anime follows the manga pretty closely though there are SOME changes. Filler episodes have already been mentioned, there's also two filler arcs later on in the show. I think the first filler arc (Key Starry Sky) isn't half-bad, the second filler arc (Eclipse Celestial Spirits) has some fun stuff but can ultimately be passed over. Overall, the filler in Fairy Tail isn't bad at all, IMO.

There are also some changes related to fanservice (the anime tones down a LOT of the skeevy stuff from the manga). And there are some story changes done to make the story flow better (they've done stuff like 'adding foreshadowing earlier into an arc' and 'giving certain villains backstory scenes that were originally from side materials'. The TVTropes page has a bunch of these listed under the Adaptation related tropes)

As for which is better, idk. I think it's better consume the manga because it'll be a lot quicker and feel better paced, and the anime doesn't exactly have *good animation* anyway, but I also watched the anime til the end because I liked the music and the English cast. I personally think you should check out the dub. If you don't like the voices, then just go with the manga. Don't spend anymore time on the series that you don't have to

 

[Kwigo]

Here is a great chart for that:

Fairy Tail Filler List | The Ultimate Anime Filler Guide

The story follows Lucy Heartfilla who is determined to join the notorious magical Fairy Tail Guild. During a daring rescue, she encounters Natsu who is part of the guild and eventually offers her a place. They become teammates performing various missions for the Fairy Tail Guild. Be prepared for...

www.animefillerlist.com

Click to shrink...

The anime follows the manga pretty closely though there are SOME changes. Filler episodes have already been mentioned, there's also two filler arcs later on in the show. I think the first filler arc (Key Starry Sky) isn't half-bad, the second filler arc (Eclipse Celestial Spirits) has some fun stuff but can ultimately be passed over. Overall, the filler in Fairy Tail isn't bad at all, IMO.

There are also some changes related to fanservice (the anime tones down a LOT of the skeevy stuff from the manga). And there are some story changes done to make the story flow better (they've done stuff like 'adding foreshadowing earlier into an arc' and 'giving certain villains backstory scenes that were originally from side materials'. The TVTropes page has a bunch of these listed under the Adaptation related tropes)

As for which is better, idk. I think it's better consume the manga because it'll be a lot quicker and feel better paced, and the anime doesn't exactly have *good animation* anyway, but I also watched the anime til the end because I liked the music and the English cast. I personally think you should check out the dub. If you don't like the voices, then just go with the manga. Don't spend anymore time on the series that you don't have to

Click to shrink...

Thanks !
I actually started watching some episodes this morning and my GF liked it, so I guess we'll watch the anime together.
I might grab the manga some time later.

 

[Cornbread78]

Thanks !
I actually started watching some episodes this morning and my GF liked it, so I guess we'll watch the anime together.
I might grab the manga some time later.

Click to shrink...

Despite all the reason's people love and hate Fairy Tail, it's got some outstanding moments and arcs that you have real impact. I need to finish the series at some point, lol