User blog:LastationLover5000/Fairy Tail Double Feature: 176 and 177 - The Dragon King and The Eclipse Plan



Welcome to the Episode Review Corner



Every time I walk through that door...it feels like the first time. To those new to the blog, welcome, to my continued readership, all I have to say is thanks. SARA, how's it looking?



All systems are up and running TOM; are you ready?

So, the anime is finally back. I have to say, I'm really pleased; though I do wish the BLEACH anime had come back first, the fanfiction wiki is really dying over there. Any way, just as promised, the number one team for reviewing the FT anime is back and we're ready to roll! Hang on tight everyone, we're doing two episodes in one review and we're starting things off with a bang!

The Dragon King


Anime ep can be found here.

This episode was a very welcome return to the Fairy Tail anime. The method of reviewing won't change, but let me put a few things out right now; this episode started off in a very cool way (and ended in the same way, in fact), showing Natsu and Lucy fighting off dragons in the bad future. I couldn't have asked for a better way to start this off because the bad future), was barely addressed in the series beyond the few details we know. My biggest hope for the anime's return is that we get an entire filler arc dedicated to the bad future we're seeing; where it showcases the events of Future!Lucy's timeline, and just how quickly (and terribly) everything went to Hell.

Animation: New year, new season, new animation style! While I know A-1 Pictures still runs the show, the animation style, to me, looks a lot smoother, character models have improved, and, if my eyes don't deceive me, the colours have actually gotten duller. Not so dull that it would be depressing (there are anime like this, you know who you are), but enough that it looks different, and much much better. Compare Lucy, for example, from the old series to the new one. Her hair has, thankfully, gone from that bright, sunflower yellow, to a more tamed, pale blonde. I am not complaining, that is fucking brilliant. Looking into it a bit (using the not entirely reliable Wikipedia), the first season was a co-production with Satelight Inc. while the second season is a co-production with Bridge; this may explain the smoother style.

Effects: Again, the special effects have seen a big step up from the first season—for one, the fire looks like actual fire, not just some mish-mash of reds and oranges constantly repeated like a GIF. Aside from the plot, at least we know where all that time off was spent—improving the special effects.

Soundtrack: As always, the soundtrack for the animu is pretty freaking metal. Dem irish tunes doe. Anyway, is it just me or does the tunes of FT S2 sound kinda worse than the previous? I'm not even sure if it's the same soundtrack, but I just don't like it as much as the previous. It's still good, it's just, well, y'know.

Voice Acting: You know...there's something special to be said for Fairy Tail's voice acting. Not because it's the best voicework around, no...but after hearing even samples of the English dub's voice actors and actresses, you start to appreciate the Japanese dubbing just that much more. I had the misfortune of hearing the English dub only a few days prior to seeing this episode, and coming back to the Japanese voices is refreshing. Listening to the voice actors of all the characters that made their return, I don't think any voice actors were replaced, they all sounded the same and that's good, I'm glad there isn't too stark of a change in the new series. Sting's cry of grief though; I really liked it. His shout when Lector died, and his utter grief and rage towards his Guild Master...I'm not an expert but I think his voice actor nailed it just fine. Even Zirconis' voice is actually pretty damn fitting. Overall, good voice acting for the episode.

My Favorite Scenes:

The Eclipse Plan


Anime ep can be found here.

Unlike the previous episode, there was little to no notable filler content, so let;s proceed right into the review segment.

Animation: Like the last episode, the animation for this episode is very good; it's still got the improved models and smoother animation, which are obviously going to be staples from now on. However, there were a few moments where the animation got a tad...'off'. Notably, this was in the prison cell scene, with Lucy looking outside her bars; everything simply seemed a little "stretched". It didn't happen again but it was still so obviously bad that I couldn't help but point it out. There were several other, minor off-model examples in this episode, but nothing so bad I need to heavily detail it.

Effects: Effects is pretty solid, yo. The effects for these Chinese cartoons have been getting pretty good lately—again, I can't stress this enough; THE FIRE LOOKS LIKE ACTUAL FIRE, NOT JUST A BUNCH OF COLOURS SHOVED TOGETHER AND PUT IN A GIF.

Soundtrack: I think I can hear some of the old soundtrack's tunes here, but I could be half-deaf. It's ironic how the soundtrack AND animation for Fairy Tail is almost up there with one of those twelve-episode animus from Kyoto Animation and yet it's so generic. OST release when?

Voice Acting: The voice acting in this episode is, more or less, the same as the last episode. My only issue with this episode...is Mato. I truly wish he wasn't a part of the Grand Magic Games because I utterly hate his voice, and everytime he says "-kabo", it's like nails in my brain. But besides that, everyone else's voices are about the same as the previous episode.

My Favorite scenes:

The Dragon King
Fairy Tail's animation and effects were pretty good this episode. Like Per stressed in her effects section; THE FLAMES LOOK LIKE FLAMES, ERMAGERD! What gives this episode a boosted score over the next episode is Milky Way. I loved the effects with Zirconis and the spell in general, and while it doesn't capture that "Oopmh!" that the manga page had, it's certainly good enough to earn an 8.5/10. The voice acting...I already explained my beef with the English voices, so I may be a bit biased here, and not just that, Sting's grief, to me, was perfectly voiced and displayed; 9/10 for emotions! The story is 8/10. We got exposition on the Dragon Slayers and Acnologia, the Dragon King (remember, Zico? Good times), and while we know all this, those who only follow the anime don't. Fairy Tail's soundtrack is never worth anything LESS of a perfect, 10/10 score. Overall, a Very Good episode.

The Eclipse Project
Fairy Tail's animation is always good, but, perhaps because they already got a little too comfortable and relaxed in the second episode, there were several model slip-ups, the most notable being the Lucy scene. This episode also lacked any notable effects to boost it's score, like the Milky Way situation from the last episode. The voice acting is definitely good, every character is fitting, so, 8/10. The story is 7/10, there wasn't much to go on besides the arrest and the convoluted "conspiracy" going on in this arc (that it could really do without, in fact). Fairy Tail's soundtrack is never worth anything LESS of a perfect, 10/10 score. Overall, a Very Good episode.

Fairy Tail is all done for today, but it'll be back next week with Fairy Tail 178 - Fairy Tactician. Mavis gets to strut her stuff next week. As usual, all of you, give a huge thanks to Per, who does quite a bit of work for these, if it wasn't for her, the episode blogs would be quite bare. As always, we enjoy your comments; our blogs wouldn't have any reason to exist without our readership.