FAIRY TAIL / First Impressions

「怨みは夜の帳に包まれて」 (Urami wa Yoru no Tobari ni Tsutsumarete)
“Grudges are Wrapped in the Silence of the Night”

Now that the anime is so close to the manga, short skits like the one in the beginning of the episode are to be expected quite frequently. I’m surprised that the scene was so short. While it might be annoying for some people to listen to the results again, I found that moment quite enjoyable. Perhaps it’s because of Frosch? I really like that Exceed; it’s so adorable!

I remember I bashed Sabertooth’s master quite a lot last week, and I intend to do it again! I seriously can’t stand the attitude in that guild. Not only was Yukino humiliated in front of everyone, she was also thrown out of her home, and for what? One loss! Few “villains” in this series have annoyed me as much as the people in this guild. And what’s funny is that they’re not really villain material, only rivals. It seems like the main enemy of this arc is either Arcadios or Raven Tail. Surprisingly, I haven’t really paid much attention to them because Sabertooth gets on my nerves so much. At least that guild has some people who notice the injustice of their rules. Seeing Rogue’s opinion about this was such a relief, but it’s a shame that he happens to be so apathetic. I wish he’d speak up. Oh well, all this indecency may be frustrating to watch but at the same time, I’m happy that Yukino is no longer a part of that terrible place. She is far too nice to be staying in a condescending guild like Sabertooth. Her replacement will be Minerva who is said to be strong…

While Sabertooth has members who notice the cruelty in their guild but ignore it, FAIRY TAIL has members who care so much that they throw themselves into other people’s business. Words aren’t enough to describe how much I respect Natsu’s personality. While he may be a stereotypical shounen protagonist, I find him to be a great character. Compassion and candour are two things I encourage and Natsu has both of them in him and so much more. Seeing how he ran after Yukino to apologise to her reminded me of his greatness as a character, and when he barged into Sabertooth’s lodgings to challenge the master, I felt so proud of him. Is that weird? I find characters that fight for justice truly attractive. This is why Natsu is my favourite character, and I doubt that will ever change. And it’s not just him. Everyone in FAIRY TAIL has a likeable personality. Lucy not accepting Yukino’s keys even though she wants them is just another example of why these people are so amazing. I know that the nakama concept is filled with clichés, and it has been recycled a lot, but I don’t think I’ll ever grow tired of it.

Wow, that paragraph ended up being longer than I had expected it to be. I guess I like Natsu too much (I hope my boyfriend doesn’t mind). Anyway, nakama spirit aside, I think Erza and I could be great friends, I mean, hey – she ships Gray and Juvia! I’m so glad that she brought Juvia’s feelings up as a topic. It’s nice to know that Gray is aware of them, but I honestly doubt that the two of them will ever be a couple. While I do ship them, I think Juvia’s crazy fangirl tendencies are hilarious, so they’ll probably be running gags of this series for a long time. But I could be wrong!

It seems like there was no new opening or ending sequence this week. A commenter pointed out that we’ll see the new sequences in February and that seems quite accurate for now. So next week’s episode will most likely still have the current sequence. I’m really looking forward to that episode. Whenever Natsu is angry, I feel so excited! And it seems like it’s Erza’s turn to fight in the tournament. She can do nothing but impress so I’m expecting something epic!

Moete kitazou!

Full-length shots: 2, 5, 7, 15, 17, 19, 20, 24, 26, 27, 31, 32, 33

 

Preview

37 Comments

    1. Hmmm…Erza didn’t support revenge…what did she do wrong as a friend? Besides Erza has a big heart to forgive and forget…the wrongdoings of you know who.
      Show Spoiler ▼

      random viewer
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  5. Well, I honestly thought the Juvia thing would always be nothing more than a gag, so for there to be such a direct discussion about it in the show surprises me. It makes me think that it might not always remain the way it is now (though you can be sure it’ll always be funny, just in a different way).

    It was also interesting to see the discussion about Jellal. That’s going to be something very hard to resolve, since Erza has mostly forgiven him (well, it wasn’t entirely his fault), but getting others to do so will be practically impossible. Though technically, the person Milliana and Kagura should hate is Ultear, since she’s the one who caused all that to happen (but I’m not a manga reader, so I don’t really know what Kagura’s story is about).

    Tre
    Reply

  6. While I completely understand that there’s a need to waste time due to the anime catching up with manga, I was a bit annoyed by few of those ‘extensions’ this week. For one, I didn’t get the point of the very beginning, with Natsu beating the kidnappers – again. That was so random.

    Other than that, it wasn’t too bad episode. The scene with Millianna showing her hatred for Jellal was nicely done. Ah, those soundtracks!

    Poor Yukino :c Go Natsu, beat that poor excuse of a master! Talking about extensions, going by the next episode’s preview, it seems like the manga material gonna get expanded again. Let’s hope it will be done nicely ;o Well, I’m looking forward to a new opening :3

    Misk
    Reply

  8. I’m actually torn about Lucy’s decision: on one hand, I understand her respect for the celestial spirits, doesn’t treat them as objects but actual people or creatures and goes by the mantra of bond between spirits and pacts, thus declining Yukino’s offer, but on the other hand, she’s gonna need all of the power she can get to help her team and both Libra and Pisces would have greatly helped her.

    I don’t know, maybe she should just have taken the keys now and offers them back to Yukino after the competition or something like that. If there’s something she mustn’t hold back for, it’s a power boost. I’m incited to compare Lucy’s decision for refusing the keys to a situation where she would refuse to get Ultear’s Second Origin. However, I do like her sense of honor, but sometimes you need more than that to go forward. It also has been a few arcs where Lucy almost plays second fiddle, because she keeps getting overshadowed by Natsu, Gray and Erza.

    (If you’re following the manga, which is more ahead than the anime [as usual], here’s one of my predictions)
    Show Spoiler ▼

    Natsu’s actions… don’t surprise me. He may be brash and impulsive (and also kinda stupid), but he has one Hell of a heart. This is what I like about Natsu.

    JiCi
    Reply

    1. Lucy seriously needs a powerup. In FT’s greatest team she is the VERY WEAK link. She is cute and one of the main characters and I love her dearly but almost always gets her ass kicked in battle (or kidnapped).

      Karmafan
      Reply

  12. Yuki-NO!!!(echo…) I just felt sorry for her, so taking her keys would not be alright at this time. My guess is she’ll have to join Mermaid Heel now since her life is Kagura’s. Seeing Rogue’s expression to Frosch was like seeing “Sai’s” smile for the first time for me (wink*). Ah yes, Gray isn’t as dense as he is portrayed sometimes. Fingers crossed~he makes up his mind.
    Show Spoiler ▼

    random viewer
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    1. Yukino joining Mermaid Heel certainly was my first expectation after she was kicked out. But the lack of Happy at the end there makes me wonder. It’s not unusual for Fairy Tail to pick up new members in an arc. Seems possible she would join with them. Don’t know anything about Mermaid Heel, but I think Fairy Tail would be a good place for her. Can learn what being in a real guild is like. Think her experiences here qualifies her under the “every member has some pain in their past” that most members seem to have.

      Regardless I hope to see Natsu really beat some guys up next episode. I guess they’ll be busy kicking people out if you count all the people Natsu beat up in this arc as not being worthy of Sabertooth.

      FlareKnight
      Reply

      1. I feel like there’s only a need for one Celestial Wizard and that’s Lucy to be in Fairy Tail.
        Besides, there won’t be a Sabertooth guild with no master. I just hope Natsu will get back-up cuz he’s outnumbered to be fighting on enemy’s turf.

        random viewer
        Reply

    2. I don’t know. Fairy Tail is already stocking up on Dragon Slayers, so not like they can’t continue the pattern with Celestial Wizards.

      Hopefully another reason Happy isn’t there is because he’s getting some backup. Otherwise they’ll have to wrap up this showdown with a “we’ll settle it in the tournament” kind of thing.

      FlareKnight
      Reply

      1. The best part of being a Celestial Wizard is collecting all the Zodiac keys right? And Lucy is the only one to be suitable for that job. Even Yukino knows that and she admits Lucy was stronger/better to do it. What other magic can Yukino bring with her if she joins Fairy Tail? And I’m not talking about more FT fanservice to add. I’d be more happy to see that she’s with Mermaid Heel or Lamia Scale even.
        All I know is that Natsu is going to fight to destroy or impress at least.

        random viewer
        Reply

      2. I definitely see your point there, but think there’s room for flexibility. With the right silver keys along with the ones she has Yukino could certainly find her niche. Besides if Lucy monopolizes all the gold keys she’ll start turning Celestial magic into a lost magic. While they seem to be moving in the direction of doubling up Dragon Slayer magic (Natsu picking up Lightning as a combo), it seems fine to only have a few.

        Something to consider anyways that she didn’t offer Lucy the 13th key. Besides not like everyone in Fairy Tail is a powerhouse (I mean if Jet and Droy can continue to find work I think Yukino could manage even without her gold keys). The silver ones are pretty much unlimited so could get by fine even with just those.

        If we talk about what she’d bring if she gave up her keys wouldn’t it be more of a question of her retiring from being a mage completely?

        FlareKnight
        Reply

  13. While I understand the need to extend things a little, I saw in the preview that they are going to extend a fight that shouldn’t be extended and was made short for a definite reason. It shouldn’t take too much away from it, but it does change the feeling a bit. Anyway, enough whiny nit-picking — ‘Pandemonium’ is on deck. 🙂

    7godeohs
    Reply

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