FAIRY TAIL / First Impressions

OP Sequence

OP: 「S.O.W. センスオブワンダー」 (Sense of Wonder) by アイドリング!!! (Idoling!!!)
Watch the OP!: Mirror 1, Mirror 2, Streaming ▼

Summary:

Gray reveals that his teacher Ul put Deliora in ice that can’t melt, and since this all likely has something to do with the moon, he and the others decide to wait there until night. In the meantime, Lucy brings out her spirit Lyra to sing a song, and Gray remembers training with Ul. When the time finally comes, the group finds that the purple moonlight is penetrating into the cavern and shining onto the ice. They thus head up to the surface and find a group of men causing this through a magical chant, and Lyra identifies it as Moon Drip which is capable of melting Ul’s ice. What’s happening to the villagers is an effect of this. The culprits behind it all then reveal themselves to be the three from before and a masked man called Reitei.

After Reitei orders the destruction of the village, Natsu decides to try to stop them, and Gray rushes ahead to challenge Reitei. It turns out that Reitei also has ice magic though, and Gray recognizes him as Reitei Lyon. Unfazed, Lyon dispatches his three minions against the village and then freezes Natsu’s body in a block of ice. Lucy and Happy are only barely able to get away, and Gray intentionally kicks Natsu’s frozen body away, leaving just himself to face Ul’s other former student. Lyon, however, blames Gray for Ul’s death, and after some fighting, he reveals that his dream is to surpass Ul, so he’s trying to do what Ul could not: defeat Deliora. Unfortunately, Gray isn’t quite able to match up against Lyon’s ice magic and can’t stop him.

ED Sequence

ED: 「追憶メリーゴーランド」 (Tsuioku Merry-Go-Round) by onelifecrew
Watch the ED!: Mirror 1, Mirror 2, Streaming ▼

I wouldn’t call this Idoling!!! song an upgrade over FUNKIST’s Snow fairy, but it’s not as bad it could have been either. I ended up paying more attention though to all the hints of future character development and plot that the opening sequence has. The big improvement is with the ending song which is no longer so cutesy and should be a bit much more appropriate for the more serious cliffhangers.

Preview

I’m still not that impressed by the action scenes and fight choreography, but at least the story is heating up. It certainly raises some questions about Gray, like how he was responsible for Ul’s death. I actually think that Lyon’s plan to surpass Ul by defeating Deliora is kind of silly, however it’s not too far-fetched for the warped mind of a villain. If he is able to revive/free Deliora, hopefully it won’t just be a redux of Natsu, Gray, and Erza defeating a giant monster (the fact that Erza is coming makes me think that it could be). For the time being though, it looks like we’re going to see some battles with Lyon’s minions, which doesn’t seem quite as interesting at first glance. On a different note, I was pleasantly surprised that they brought in Nakajima Megumi to voice and sing as Lyra. Come to think of it, it would have been nice if they could have gotten her to do one of the opening or ending songs too.

30 Comments

  3. The OP sounded like it would be perfect for a mahou shoujo OP. :/
    Meh. First Watarirouka Hashiritai, then Idoling!!!. Pfft. I bet it’s either No Sleeves or some Hello! Project group next.

    I never noticed Nakajima Megumi while skimming. Oh shiz I deleted the file too soon.

    I also don’t remember Gajeel/Gazille appearing so soon in the manga. @@ Meh.

    Kiseki
    Reply

  13. well,I wasn’t impressed with this ep at all…the fights are sooo damn boring in this series…I don’t feel hyped at all…I really expected much more of this..the only part of the ep that worked for me was that beautiful song Lyra sang…gotta find it^^

    Storm
    Reply

  15. OP fail. I don’t like it at all. WHAT THE HELLLLLLL TAT It was so boring and bah and nothing like Snow Fairy. BRING IT BACKKKKKKKK. FAIRY WHERE YOU GOING? HIKARI ZEMBU ATSUMETE.
    Yeah….. The OP sequence the only good shows were in that little montage of stills one after another. FFFF Though that Natsu vs. Gazille part, why isn’t the fights animated like that instead of STILLS. ARGH. The manga has creative fights, what is the anime doing T____T!!!!!

    Rei
    Reply

  18. Ugh. The OP is killing me. The sequence is nice, but the song… Ew. Ew ew ew. Give me back my SNOW FAIRY!! >_<

    And what’s up with the fights?! Come on, Satelight. Even Shugo Chara has better fight choreography than THAT.

    Ri Ou
    Reply

  20. Well I’d say the OP is a slight downgrade, but at least the ED is a major upgrade. Nothing killed the mood at the end of the episode like that chipper ending.

    Now if only they could get the action to actually move. Don’t think we’ll see a big teamup against Deliora. After all if Gray’s teacher couldn’t win that team shouldn’t be able to accomplish it.

    FlareKnight
    Reply

  23. Deliora Arc spoilers
    Show Spoiler ▼

    Zwei
    Reply

  24. Can’t wait for Erza to start kicking Natsu and Gray around 🙂 maybe Lucy and Happy will get some slaps too. Hoping for the series to get some steam and moves this season

    Island Esper
    Reply

  25. What’s with the gay OP? Trying to copy One Piece?
    What’s with the Professor Happy segment? Trying to copy Gintama?
    LOL
    With those points aside, really enjoyed this ep and all the Gray backstory.
    The ED is also rather catch unlike the previous one which I always skipped since I hated it.

    blinx01
    Reply

  28. Shounens re allways good and funny in beging so am
    Yee this was nice eppisode
    I wish they put more in action and comedy in 1 ep so I dont have to watch 2 eps one after other so I can fell this anime

    HHH
    Reply

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