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I really don't know how best to write this...
I just binged on the first 48 episodes thanks to Netflix.
Fairy Tail is the story of a wizard guild set in a World a lot like ours. It begins with Lucy, a young user of celestial magic who wants to join the Fairy Tail guild. After meeting Natsu, she is inducted into the guild and meets (amongst others); Gray, Erza, Loke, Elfman, Mira, Cana. What follows is the relationships, surprises and histories of majority of these characters.
The show essentially, after the first few episodes of meeting everyone, follows the same patter; the team accept a mission, they meet some impossibly hard foe, the foe has henchmen, the minor characters defeat the henchmen and are rendered incapable, Natsu defeats the big bad (sometimes with help/ encouragement from others). In amongst the fighting, or just before/after, we'll be introduced to the next big bad, or it will be hinted at, and then we'll have a nice reprieve before it all begins again.
So, due to this, the character development can be a bit lousy - the only 'development' I remember is Elfman and his history with Lisanna which builds to the unleashing of Mira's true powers in the penultimate episode. We never see the characters training, they usually just get better when they need to. Lucy's celestial guardians seem kind of lame when we first meet them all (Taurus looses against a monkey) but then they just keep getting better because the enemies just keep getting (apparently) harder. Natsu always seems to fight like someone who's never been in a fight when he first encounters a bad guy but then, after being pummelled (and after a reminder of the true strength that lies within him from Erza or Gray or Makarov or Gajeel or Happy) rises up and, using the same technique that just had his butt handed to him, wins.
Then there's the illicit details of how the magic is working. I mean, really, I can't be bothered to here for the umpteenth time how that magic spell will obliterate everything in its path. I can figure out why Natsu is shooting flames out his feet to act like a jet and penetrate a forcefield, thank you very much... is this a Japanese thing? The need to be so heavy with exposition?
Add to that the very confusing dialogue (I watched with subtitles) which never seems grammatically correct and you're sometimes confused as to how Erza's armour just happens to be the right combination... and how did Gray just? Oh never mind.
Because this show is awesome.
Seriously.
The magic and action sequences are always a lot of fun and very high energy. Some of the magic abilities are really cool (one summons a demon that tears its way into our reality, that one was spooky). Even if they do talk so much. My favourite is probably Juvia (as in Lluvia, the Spanish for rain). She's an elemental, or so they say, and has complete control over water. She can create it, manipulate it, transform into it... some of my favourite fight scenes involve her, so it's always a shame when she gets knocked out or incapacitated before even getting started. The animation is some of the coolest I've ever seen. I love the character and the magic, not to mention the scenery and moods that the animators create.
Then there's the soundtrack, if only they put the same energy into the writing as they did the soundtrack! The score is just breathtaking. Hooks all over the place. Strings to make a grown man weep at just the right moment. It's very folksy and reminds me of the Game of Thrones theme tune. Perhaps the person who wrote for GoT got the inspiration from Fairy Tail?
The other awesome factor involves the characters. Although they're criminally underused at times, they are all different and all memorable. Each of them have strengths and weaknesses and quirks and, surprising for a serial cartoon (or any series for that matter), they're yet to become plot devices. They remain true to themselves throughout. The only issue I have is that, when one of them seemingly sacrifices themselves for the good of the guild (and it happens a lot), the awesome soundtrack kicks in and it seems like someone is about to bite the bullet. But then it turns out they were only knocked out... I mean, if you're gonna be knocked out, you probably don't need to make such a song and dance of it.
So, despite some bad writing flaws and a fair bit of unoriginal writing, Fairy Tail is still one of my favourite animes. I'm constantly saying, "just one more" so they must be doing something right, right?
score 10/10
A_Llama_Drama 4 May 2014
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw3009828/ |
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22-11-2019 06:24:26
