FAIRY TAIL / First Impressions

「ルーシィとミッシェル」 (Ruushii to Missheru)
“Lucy and Michelle”

All trains eventually terminate, and that moment is here for us – the passengers of this enjoyable filler train. It is time to step off the train at its final station.

Wow, what a finale! I must say that I’m impressed. It has been a while since I saw such an exciting finale. Even though Natsu was the highlighted person in this episode, my praise will only go to Lucy. It was nice to see her finally take control of the situation and do something instead of being the damsel in distress. Also, aside from the exciting action, the flashbacks from Michelle’s past were really sweet and heartwarming.

Throughout this series, Natsu or Erza have always been the ones to save their comrades in difficult situations, but this is probably the first time in a long while that Lucy was given a chance to shine and show that she is strong, although, she was encouraged by Michelle. Watching her feel proud of herself as a FAIRY TAIL mage, and also a Heartfilia, covered my face with a smile, and when she unleashed her powers into the Infinity Clock I had goosebumps all over. It wasn’t the rescue act itself that had me so excited; it was the fact that Lucy was so brilliant today! I wish this could happen more often because I know Lucy is strong, but this series is very unfair to her. She either has to face overpowered enemies or ridiculously weak ones. Situations like today’s where she can show her potential are very rare and that’s such a shame.

Well, I’m glad she was given this chance. When Lucy found out she’d be launched out of the clock, I knew we’d see the scene from the opening sequence. If you haven’t noticed yet – all FAIRY TAIL’s opening sequences have scenes from future episodes and they’re filled with spoilers! So I just knew Natsu would find her and catch her against all laws of nature (he must be running at rocket speed). I was hoping they’d land in a more romantic way (yes, I ship these two), but I guess a blushing Lucy and a painfully crushed Natsu works as well because it was quite funny.

Cobra finally met Kinana but it didn’t last too long. Nevertheless, it was still a very pleasing scene and I’m very happy to see that Cobra cares so much about his snake. To me, it seems like he didn’t care about Oración Seis for real, only Kinana. He was probably just there because he never left the group. Now that Cobra has been arrested, I doubt we’ll ever see him again, but at least, his character was given a proper conclusion. The same can be said about Brain II whom I also don’t expect to see again. He was a worthy opponent and a good villain of this arc.

Now that the fillers are over, we’re going to dive into a canon arc and to be honest, that really worries me. The manga is approximately 50 chapters ahead of the anime. Starting with episode 151, both the manga and this anime will be on the same arc. I have no idea how this will work out but I’m very excited about the upcoming story. Of course, there will be some transitional moments in next week’s episode first so the new story will probably be introduced at the end. I’m really fired up about this!

Full-length shot: 24

 

Preview

Final impressions of the “Key of the Starry Sky” arc:

The word “filler” has become a very negative one in the anime sphere. I believe the cause for that are some of the filler arcs in other mainstream shounen titles. This has caused a lot rage among anime fans and nowadays, most people ignore these arcs. I’ve come across shows where I’ve absolutely hated the fillers but then again, some of my favorite shows are built up with nothing but original anime episodes. One of my favorite shows, if not my favorite, is Natsume Yuujinchou, and the majority of that anime’s episodes are all original stories. I don’t think it’s fair to say that fillers are bad because they’re just stories that weren’t included in the manga. A certain story can be bad, but not fillers if you ask me.

So what makes FAIRY TAIL’s fillers so different from other mainstream shounen shows? To be honest, there isn’t much of a difference in terms of action. This is a shounen so there will be a lot of “nakama” talk, many questionable power-ups, weird enemies, out of character situations – but FAIRY TAIL has something I think many other shounen titles (not all of them) lack – comedy. The humoristic side of FAIRY TAIL combined with its characters is this series’ strongest point to me and it’s very silly – close to slapstick comedy and I think that is part of its charm. The comedy in FAIRY TAIL suits almost everyone and I think most anime fans will find something to laugh at. This is the advantage of this series – it can rely on its comedy.

I think a show is automatically more enjoyable when characters have outstanding personalities and that’s what almost everyone in FAIRY TAIL has. This is the main reason why this show’s fillers are so enjoyable. Even if the plot has its ups and downs, the characters are so interesting that you ignore the flaws of the anime.

Of course, a show like this shouldn’t just be character driven; there must be a plot too. This arc about the clock has been a wild ride. Overall, I think it has been fun to watch because Lucy had so many good moments throughout this arc. She is usually tossed around everywhere so it was definitely amazing to see her shine. This arc was really fair to her, so what can I say? – A medal to the writer!

Aside from the characters we’re already so used to, the villains in this arc were interesting too. First of all, I really enjoyed how new versions of old characters were used. Using Earth Land versions of Edolas characters was a brilliant move because I felt more familiar with the characters that way.

One thing Mashima Hiro does a lot is to turn villains into heroes, which is a quite worn out concept at this point so I was really glad to see Oración Seis again. It’s nice to know that there are some stubborn evil guys out there who despite being defeated didn’t give up, and I don’t think defeating them a second time changed their attitude at all, except for Cobra and Angel. So it was definitely a pleasant surprise to see returning villains.

Something else I wish to praise this arc for is how it gave us a lot of insight into Jude’s last days. Jude isn’t a very likable father. We know he loved his daughter but his caring side showed up too late. When he passed away, I didn’t feel sad because he was gone, I was just sad for Lucy because she had no biological family left. But with this arc, we were given a chance to see Jude accept his new life as a hard working man, and he became more likable in my eyes. I’ve written so much about things I enjoyed, but I almost forgot my favorite part of this filler arc – Michelle!

Michelle was a brilliant character and I will definitely miss her very much. She was adorable, hilarious, sweet, and I enjoyed every moment she was on my screen. Even when she turned out to be a villain, I still liked her and I felt sympathy for her. I’m really glad she was set free at the end, and I’m happy that Lucy remembered her. Even though she has gone back to being a lifeless doll now, her soul will live on, and she can be with her beloved nee-san forever!

I’ve done nothing but praise this arc, but there are of course some things that I thought could’ve been better. I wish we would’ve gotten to know more about the real Michelle Lobster. Also, a lot of the fights were really rushed near the end which felt very unnatural considering how weak FAIRY TAIL appeared to be in the first half of this arc, but what I disliked more than anything was the very unnecessary characters that showed up at some parts – namely the Jiggly Butt Gang. While they did play a role in Natsu’s prison breakout, they were constantly awkward in every other episode they took part in. While they were childish and funny, they didn’t suit the story at all.

But what can you do given the current situation where everyone is supposed to be weak after a long time skip? I must say that this filler arc was very enjoyable and it delivered very well considering how weird timing it had. I expected this to arc to have more flaws than it did, but I honestly think this is a decent arc and it brought justice to many characters while staying true to the source material.

So all I can say that this was definitely worth watching and well worth blogging. I’m looking forward to the new canon arc that starts next week!

Moete kitazou!

20 Comments

  2. Hooray, we have finally come to the end of this filler episode and begin the new arc featuring new Fairy Tail characters and episodes. I can’t
    wait for next saturday.

    FAIRY TAIL ROCKS!! FAIRY TAIL ROCKS!! FAIRY TAIL ROCKS!! FAIRY TAIL ROCKS!! FAIRY TAIL ROCKS!! FAIRY TAIL ROCKS!! FAIRY TAIL ROCKS.
    etc

    K C M
    Reply

  3. I loved Michelle. The emotions were heartfelt and true, that I can’t help but shed tears when she was turned back to a lifeless doll – and when Lucy remembered her, that was heartbreaking! It’s one of those filler characters I’d like to see in the canon, really!

    I don’t really know why, but generally, I love the fillers of Fairy Tail, rather than, oh, I’m looking at you, Bleach.

    Flanders
    Reply

  7. I know it doesn’t work out logically because there’s just not enough content weekly, but how amazing would it be if the same week the manga came out, an animated episode of it came out too? They’d have to extend each chapter out to the max or make the episodes shorter, but hell, I’d be contempt with that. Even if fillers are good, sometimes when you know what is ahead you just want to see it animated.

    Celecia01
    Reply

    1. Ah, I only cap preview pictures from the full screen part of the preview. The Legion Corps weren’t included in that one, sorry.

      And yes you’re right. Show Spoiler ▼

      About KoiChoco, I’m not sure, but unfortunately, it will most likely not be covered here, the finale that is.

      Stereoman
      Reply

  9. I would have wanted Natsu to finish Brain II in a more flashy, dragon-slayer way than just a punch to the face. I agree that the enemies’ felt too overpowering and then it became kind of anticlimactic when they were beaten. The flashbacks really worked well with the other scenes and gave more of an impact to the characters, especially with Michelle and Lucy. A part of me was hoping that Cobra would take Kinana and run away together, but then this was an acceptable (but quick) reunion as well. Would this be the second time Natsu catches Lucy from falling from the sky? Anyways, cheers to this arc and I’ll be looking forward to the next season. The preview shows a lot of potentially funny moments (of Gray and Juvia…).

    random viewer
    Reply

  11. “One thing Mashima Hiro does a lot is to turn villains into heroes, which is a quite worn out concept at this point so I was really glad to see Oración Seis again.”

    True, but most of the time, the characters were just misunderstood. I’ll just cite a few examples.
    Show Spoiler ▼

    Maybe he does it often… but at least it’s for the right characters. The characters that deserve to be evil remain evil, but those who are not at heart shouldn’t. There’s also the concept of rivalry to be taken in account. Show Spoiler ▼

    JiCi
    Reply

  13. Ah man what a nice ending. I really enjoyed this arc and how it tied all back to lucy and gave some great flashback scenes especially with judes brief return. It may have been a bit weak in the rivalries story and pretty anti climatic showdowns in the end when it came to the actual fighting choreography compare to other arcs but it was the characters interactions with the villains that really shined. angel and gray interactions, the mira and racer, igor and wendy, erik and erza and kiana, and of course natsu, lucy and michelle in the end. I was more moved and had a huge smile every time they talked then the actual fighting.

    Good stuff. Can’t wait for next season.

    Sherylfan
    Reply

  16. Finally I can try to enjoy another episode of Fairy Tail. In the last episode I’ve seen halfway was when Erza started her picnic, that was too much for me. I’ve also skipped all Butt Gang episodes…
    I hope i won’t have to skip Fairy Tail anymore. Thanks for keeping me up2date with the show, while I was skipping it!

    Filler Denier
    Reply

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