「空中迷宮」 (Sukai Rabirinsu)
“Sky Labyrinth”

How to make a maze more difficult than it already is – make it rotate!

The elimination round is on and it’s not an easy one. It’s a sphere shaped labyrinth floating in the sky, and on top of that – it rotates every now and then. But death traps mean nothing to FAIRY TAIL because no challenge is intimidating enough for them to ignore. With Wendy being replaced with Elfman, our team is ready to charge through this odd construction. Seeing how well Elfman performed in this first round made me wonder why Wendy was chosen to begin with. What was the master thinking? Wendy isn’t weak, in fact, she is one of the characters who have constantly been growing throughout this series – but if he really wants the prize money, he should pick someone with raw strength, such as Elfman.

Of course, raw strength isn’t everything. Today’s episode was one where both strength and wits were needed. Unfortunately, the latter is something most of the guild members lack, so that’s where Lucy enters the picture. Something that is really lovable when it comes to this series is that every character has a role to play and is therefore necessary at some point. It’s really nice to see that no one is left out. While it’s obvious that Natsu and Erza (and sometimes Gray or Gajeel) are the main combatants, they’re also dependent on their friends. Even though many of us wish to see characters like Lucy win more often, their importance is still there. Friendship is truly a marvelous concept!

Sky Labyrinth was an interesting event to watch. The maze itself seemed very unsolvable to me, but FAIRY TAIL managed to solve it somehow. Doesn’t stealing other guilds’ maps count as cheating? Well, if the game makers don’t take responsibility for any lost lives, then perhaps cheating is no big deal… Anyway, it was really fun to watch the team mischievously stealing all maps to find their way through the maze. But what is a map if you don’t know any cardinal directions? While Erza did bring a compass, it wasn’t very useful at the end. How strong is that maze? Good thing Lucy’s celestial spirit Pyxis turned out to be of great help near the end. Too bad it has been psychologically damaged by Erza’s very horrifying compass. Poor spirit…

Now that the team is qualified to enter the main tournament, they can probably feel a bit more relieved. It is quite irksome that we can’t see the other guilds that passed yet though, however, it’s safe to say that Lamia Scale, Blue Pegasus, and Sabertooth all passed. And if you really want to know, just look at the spoilery opening sequence!

While the main team will be able to rest with ease now that they’ve passed, another issue has appeared – Wendy and Charle. Luckily, the two of them were found, and at the castle, nonetheless. Note that the palace is heavily guarded so the questions are – how did Wendy get inside, and who attacked her? Was it someone from the inside of the castle considering that there is an active security control around the building? As Jellal said, there is something strange going on. Whatever happened, at least Wendy is in safe hands now, and FAIRY TAIL is in the Grand Magic Games (even if they barely made it). Now that the elimination round is over, let the party begin!

Moete kitazou!

Full-length shots: 4, 20, 31

 

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19 Comments

    1. The filler ended, plain and simple. Though if it’s any consolation, much of this episode, canon as it is, is also filler.

      On average, a single Fairy Tail episode adapts about two manga chapters. This episode adapted half a chapter. So they padded he hell out of it, and it still ended up good!

      Ian
      1. Yeah I kept thinking to myself while watching that I didn’t recall the manga chapter lingering too long on the initial maze as they did in the anime. A lot of padding indeed! However, its understandable given where the manga is right now.

        dimasok
  1. And with that Elfman becomes Franky but with human flesh….

    It’s unfortunate how Fairy Tails animation fluctuates from decent to complete ass. Go go Boob magic! Increase my bust to DDD size just for this scene!

    P Ko
  2. Aha Juvia would freak out to see Gray holding Lucy’s hand. Who needs Happy when there’s a man! – I found that statement to be funny, the good funny. Looks like Team Fairy Tail will get their matching uniforms next time. I hope Charla is okay, she didn’t wake up by the end of the episode.

    random viewer
    1. I love FT but hate the way their OPs sometimes spoil big plot swerves before they happen. I was really surprised in the manga to see who one of the teams competing will be and yet the anime makers ruined the big reveal. I hate that!

      Karmafan

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