Summary:

Having arrived back at the guild, Lucy is trying to figure out what job to take next when the famed Erza returns. Everyone is afraid of her, including Natsu and Gray who go as far as to act like friends when she’s around. To everyone’s surprise, Erza singles out those two to come with her for a new mission, and Natsu agrees on the condition that Erza will fight him once they’re done. Lucy tags along at Mirajane’s suggestion, and while on the train, Erza explains how they’re going after the dark guild Eisenwald which is up to something with Lullaby magic. Hearing this, Lucy and Gray tell her about what happened previously, and Erza suspects that they encountered some Eisenwald deserters who were silenced so that the Eisenwald plan would not be leaked.

Erza herself had overheard bits of the Eisenwald plan in a bar, and she feels compelled to go stop them. The group eventually arrives in the town of Onibas, but they accidentally leave Natsu behind on the train, and unbeknownst to them, Natsu encounters Eisenwald member Kageyama. Natsu is unable to fight effectively until the train stops moving, and he realizes that he has to get off of it. Erza, Lucy, and Gray meanwhile are racing in a car to catch up with the train, and they get there right as Natsu jumps out. When Erza learns who was on the train with Natsu, she decides to continue the pursuit, and Natsu tells them of how Kageyama was carrying a special flute. Lucy identifies this as an item connected with forbidden black magic, and as it turns out, Kageyama has already rendezvoused with and given the item to Eisenwald’s ace Erigor.

Preview

This was an okay episode that introduced Erza and her personality along with the new bad guys, but it mostly felt like it was building up to the battles in next episode and beyond. At least the final parts of last week’s episode make sense now. Erza seemed like a moderately interesting character at first glance, and I imagine she’ll become much more so once she reveals her fighting form in next episode like the preview suggests. I also get the feeling though that Lucy is now way out of her league since I doubt her summons are anywhere near as powerful as her other party members, i.e. she might only have some utility uses. In any case, the thing that bothered me about this episode, which hadn’t really bothered me before, was the use of the ending song. It’s an energetic and cutesy song, so it felt wholly inappropriate to have it start playing over a shot of the villains trying to look menacing. They should have just done a regular to-be-continued screen without trying to lead into the ED like that.

27 Comments

  1. Agree, if there’s one thing I didn’t like about this ep, it will be the ending. The happy ED ruined the cliffhanger for me. Other than that, it was an okay ep. Maybe having spoiled myself everything that’s gonna happen prevented me from enjoying it as much as I did when I first read it. Oh and I like the few improved animation in the OP, like the shots of Gray, Natsu, and the dude with blue hair Show Spoiler ▼

    .

    pierce
  2. ERZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!! <3
    The pacing put me off =/ It felt rather rushed to me as the train talk was supposed to be longer and other parts too…. and I’m still annoyed at all the still shots, PROPER ACTION PLEASE D:

    Rei
  3. I love Erza! I hope she is developed in the Anime as she was in the Manga. Also, they included Loki’s reaction to learning that Lucy is a celestrial Mage so hopefully they will include his story but it will take some jumping to get that far (ch. 71 – 74). And Erza’s story is told after that. Looking forward to what is coming.

    Wayne
  4. “also get the feeling though that Lucy is now way out of her league since I doubt her summons are anywhere near as powerful as her other party members, i.e. she might only have some utility uses”

    Yeah, funny thing about that. One of the things this manga/anime gets right is not making Lucy completely useless so look forward to that.

    garfield15
  5. Trust me, as a loyal follower of the manga, i can tell ya, this is but a tip of the iceberg :3. A melting iceberg at that.
    I sure hope they keep on going with this series.
    It’s sooooo cool to see Erza make those boys cower. loved to see this scene animated, and now it is!!! Yay!
    Though se really seems too powerful. *gulp*

    Mike4DOA
  6. @Wayne

    I actually like that little arc the most out of anything that has shown. It just screams Lucy’s potential and the character building in just four chapters done in any other way would easily take a large arc. I just look so forward to anything that involves Lucy as it shows how she’s growing and what she is capable of doing.

    Cherubium
  7. I like underdog characters, is to easy to fight when you are over powered. So looking forward to see how Lucy manages to stay on par with the rest of the crew. This brings memories when Ussop challenges Lufy in Onepiece. Everyone knew the outcome but in the actual fight it wasn’t a brisk walk in the park.

    Island Esper
  8. “Did not follow the Manga”…. hello? Are you just want to see an Animated Manga where you know the Story and so it’s boring/spoiled for you? Or you want see an Anime that roughly follow the Manga “Universe” to entertain you with a new/alternate Story. So you will bit you Ass off, if you miss 1 Episode? Some things work for Fillers, too.

    Germanguy
  9. Poss my fav episode so far. Lots of relationship building and some great comical reactions between the two guys at how Erza keeps them in line.
    Still not that impressed with the action sequences. From a shonen, you’d expect more of a focus on them, but still plenty of time until we get to the major action scenes, so I hold out hope.

    blinx01
  10. I enjoy seeing how competent/strong Lucy remains in the manga, she never gets the Krillin/Ishida treatment. The anime is following the manga very closely, only a few things have been shortened, though I wish they had kept Lucy as the Narrator like she is in the manga.

    Looking forward to seeing Mistgun aoe sleep Fairy Tail for the lulz.

    There’s a lot of slapstick in the manga, so far it has translated well in the anime.

    So Very Odd
  11. Lucy’s The Chick/The Smart Guy, so don’t expect her to get tremendous fighting power. She does ok, but she’s not like The Hero (Natsu), The Lancer (Gray), or The Big Guy/The Cute Bruiser (Erza).

    TheDude

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