Fairy Tail Season Two Anime Review

Fairy Tail Season Two
Feari Teiru
Funimation
Complete Collection - 8 discs
600 mins. - 24 episodes
$54.98 (2013) Blu-Ray/DVD
$54.98 (2012) Part 3-4 Blu-Ray/DVD
ISBN 704400087684
Japanese/English Audio - English Subtitles
Director - Shinji Ishihara
Studio - A-1 Pictures/Satelight

Synopsis: In the Kingdom of Fiore there are many wizard guilds who perform work-for-hire jobs to benefit themselves, their guild, and society as a whole.  The guilds are overseen by the Magic Council and the Ten Wizard Saints, who are made up of guild masters from the most powerful guilds.  One of the strongest guilds in Fiore is Fairy Tail - a motley group of wizards united under the tutelage of Makarov Dreyar (one of the Ten Wizard Saints) who treats his guild members as family (and many of them are adoptive outcasts raised by the guild from a young age).  Makarov preaches peace and acceptance while other guilds aggressively seek fame and fortune.

They're back!  Natsu, Lucy, Gray, Happy, and Erza

Fairy Tail's strongest and most outspoken members are Natsu Dragneel (aka Salamander and a Dragon Slayer wizard), Gray Fullbuster (Ice Make wizard), Erza Scarlet (aka Titania and a Re-Equip wizard), Lucy Heartfilia (recent recruit and Celestial wizard), Elfman and Mirajane Strauss (both use Take Over magic where they assume the abilities of monsters they defeat), Cana Alberona (Card magic wizard), and Makarov Dreyar (guild master and uses Giant/Titan magic).  Natsu's best friend is Happy the flying cat, who is also a wizard.

Gajeel and Natsu, two Dragon Slayers, go at it!

We join Fairy Tail in the middle of a particularly nasty fight with the Phantom Lord guild.  It seems Phantom Lord has been hired by Lucy's father after she ran away from home to join Fairy Tail.  Phantom Lord is vying to be the most powerful guild in Fiore and Fairy Tail is their direct rival.  The guild is led by Jose Porla who harbors a deep jealousy of Makarov and wishes to utterly destroy his guild.  His most powerful wizards are the Element Four - Aria (Air magic), Sol (Eath magic), Totomaru (Fire magic), and Juvia Lockser (Water magic).  They are also joined by Dragon Slayer wizard, Gajeel Redfox, who is an unforgiving opponent.  The entire Fairy Tail guild is put to the test to save one of their own - will they come out on top?

What is Loke's deep, dark secret!?

Following the Phantom Lord battle, Lucy returns to her home and is confronted by her father.  He is a rich and powerful man, always dismissing Lucy's presence and her dreams throughout her childhood.  This difficult journey continues for Lucy as she discovers a secret of her guild-mate, Loke.  He constantly avoids her despite being a well-known 'ladies' man'.  What is Loke's secret past and why is he hiding from Lucy, the only Celestial wizard in Fairy Tail?

Juvia spies on the Fairy Tail crew while they hang out at the beach

During a relaxing vacation Erza, Natsu, Gray, Lucy, Happy, and Juvia are attacked by a group of rogue wizards with links to Erza's past.  We discover her disturbing origin as her past comes back to threaten all of Fiore.  The wizard Jellal Fernandez has completed the Tower of Heaven and wants to bring the dark wizard Zeref back to life.  Erza is captured, but Natsu and company are in hot pursuit.  Jellal releases the Trinity Raven assassins to stop them, but aid is given from the most unlikely source.  Meanwhile the Magic Council decides on whether to obliterate the Tower of Heaven by firing the Etherion cannon, a magical spell with supreme destructive force.  Can Erza overcome her past with a little help from her friends and in time to avoid being completely obliterated?

We learn Erza's tragic past as a slave laborer before she joined Fairy Tail

The town of Magnolia celebrates an annual harvest festival and the Fairy Tail guild participates in a big way.  This year their festivities are rudely interrupted by Laxus, one of the most powerful members of Fairy Tail and Makarov's grandson.  He turns the harvest festival into the Battle of Fairy Tail with the help of his Thunder Legion - Freed Justine (aka Dark and using Jutsu-Shiki magic, the writing of runes to create 'rules' for those trapped within their proximity), Evergreen (she uses Eye magic to battle her opponents, primarily turning them to stone), and Bickslow (using Eye magic as well, but can harness souls into inanimate objects to do his bidding).

Gray, Juvia, Lucy, and Natsu (perpetually seasick) travel to
the Tower of Heaven to rescue Erza

Laxus thinks Fairy Tail has become weak under his grandfather's leadership and wants to return the guild to greatness by taking over.  He gets Freed to place traps all over town forcing members of Fairy Tail to duel each other in order to escape.  The guild is in shambles as friend battles friend.  Meanwhile Makarov and Natsu are trapped away from the action.  Can they break free in time to lend a hand?  The remaining members of Fairy Tail must take on the Thunder Legion for the fate of the guild!  Even if they prevail there's still Laxus to deal with and he's the most powerful one of all.  Is this the end of Fairy Tail as we know it?

Jellal (center) unleashes the assassin team Trinity Raven

Pros: Good animation and backgrounds, lots of action and progressively spectacular fights, characters are interesting and it's cool seeing their origins, the cliffhanger from the first collection was amply resolved, Juvia and Gajeel ended up being interesting characters (not so much the rest of the Element 4), some mild fan-service, positive message of friendship and camaraderie

A group assails the upper levels of the tower

Cons: Blu-Ray + DVD - 8 discs total - couldn't they just offer one or the other (and for less money)?, Gajeel is a total jerk (especially to Lucy), no way the Fairy Tail members would be so forgiving after their battles with Phantom Lord and the Tower of Heaven wizards, seems like Fairy Tail comes out on top too easily in each story arc (especially Natsu)

Jellal and Natsu battle atop the Tower of Heaven

Mike Tells It Straight: I enjoyed Fairy Tail Season One (although the first few episodes almost made me quit the series) and it ended on a major cliffhanger (it's actually the first half of the first season and this Season Two is the last half).  The second season was fairly decent, focused on specific characters while involving some new ones, and shifted to sweeping story arcs with few standalone episodes.  I didn't think it was quite as good as the first, but it was still entertaining.  It's pure shounen action (like Naruto or Bleach) with battles raging across multiple episodes and culminating in a massive final showdown.

Laxus turns all of the girls in Fairy Tail to stone and takes them as hostages

We get the spectacular finish to the Phantom Lord arc from the first collection.  Some recurring characters are introduced there (hint, Juvia and Gajeel).  Then we shift gears to learn Lucy's origin along with Loke's (a peripheral character) secret past.  From there we get a big arc dealing with the Tower of Heaven crew and Erza's origin.  That one was pretty interesting although I didn't like most of the characters introduced.  The final sweeping arc is the Battle of Fairy Tail or Laxus' Uprising.  He's a tough customer and determined to take over the guild.  I thought the ending was weak considering all the buildup.

The Thunder Legion - Evergreen, Freed, and Bicklow

The main problem with shounen series is the sheer number of episodes and tendency to drag out the plot.  Definitely one of my guilty pleasures and not for everyone.  It's aimed at younger audiences and very simple, but I liked the message of friendship and sticking together.  This series is mostly lighthearted with a few serious moments (a character actually dies!).  If you liked the first season then you're stuck watching this one just to find out how the cliffhanger ends.  Not too bad and a lot more episodes have been released with Collection Three out in January 2015.

Gajeel and Natsu face Laxus in a final showdown!

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Fairy Tail Season One Anime Review

Fairy Tail Season One
Feari Teiru
Funimation
Complete Collection - 8 discs
600 mins. - 24 episodes
$54.98 (2013) Blu-Ray/DVD
$54.98 (2011) Part 1-2 Blu-Ray/DVD
ISBN 704400087677
Japanese/English Audio - English Subtitles
Director - Shinji Ishihara
Studio - A-1 Pictures/Satelight

Synopsis: Lucy Heartfilia is an inexperienced celestial wizard with one goal in mind - join the Fairy Tail guild!  She ran away from home to make it big as a wizard and Fairy Tail is the guild with the most radical reputation for strong wizards.  By coincidence she meets Natsu Dragneel and his companion Happy, a flying cat, who invite her to join Fairy Tail.  Natsu is a Dragon Slayer type wizard with mastery over fire and an equally hot-blooded temperament.  When Lucy joins Fairy Tail the true adventure begins!

Lucy joins up with Fairy Tail (from left) - Natsu, Gray, Erza, and Lucy!

The famous guild is populated by a misfit crew of wizards including:

• Natsu Dragneel is known as the Salamander and a Dragon Slayer wizard type.  He's hot-blooded, quick to act, and incredibly powerful.  Raised by the dragon Igneel, he has the physical properties of a dragon including enhanced strength, resistance to fire, eat flames to increase his power, and project flames from his body (including breathing fire).  Natsu is susceptible to a debilitating motion sickness when on moving conveyances (like trains and wagons).  Despite his rash nature he's kindhearted and can usually back up his boasts with incredible power.
• Gray Fullbuster is an Ice Make wizard and can create powerful objects made out of ice.  He was taught magic by the powerful wizard Ur.  He is usually very serious, but has an odd habit of stripping down to his underwear almost unconsciously (likely because of his resistance to cold temperatures).  Due to their opposite types of magic Gray has a fierce rivalry with Natsu (Ice vs. Fire).  Despite their differences both wizards are fast friends and support each other when needed.  
• Erza Scarlet is known as Titania and uses Re-Equip magic to summon various weapons/armor to suit any battle.  She is considered the most powerful female member of Fairy Tail and has a fearsome personality which keeps her other guild mates in line.  Despite her rough exterior she truly cares for her friends, but is not above smacking them around if they get out of line.  She becomes fully naked when re-equipping.
• Lucy Heartfilia is the newest member of Fairy Tail and recruited by Natsu.  She summons celestial deities by using various Gatekeys.  She comes from a rich family and is running away from her careless life to become an adventuring wizard.  The initial deities she uses are Cancer (who appears to be a humanoid crab hairdresser), Taurus (a lecherous minotaur), Aquarius (a mermaid), and Virgo (who dresses as a maid with broken chains around her wrists).  
• Happy the flying blue cat is also a wizard although not human.  He is Natsu's sidekick and the pair are fast friends.  He loves eating fish and can carry one person when flying.  
• Elfman Strauss is known as Beast Arm and uses Take Over magic, specifically Beast Soul where he assumes the powers of any magical creature he has defeated.  His control is limited to transforming his right arm.  A tough guy who is always telling others to "man up" or "this is what a real man would do". 
• Mirajane Strauss is know as Demon Woman and Elfman's older sister.  She also uses Take Over magic, but no longer uses her powers.  She works as Fairy Tail's barmaid in their guild hall, is incredibly beautiful, and very kindhearted.  
• Cana Alberona uses Card Magic with her magical deck of cards.  She has the unique ability to consume enormous quantities of alcohol yet somehow retain a beautiful figure.  
• Makarov Dreyar is the old master of the Fairy Tail guild and one of the Ten Wizard Saints, the most powerful wizards in the Fiore Kingdom.  His primary ability is Giant/Titan where his diminutive size is increased to massive proportions!  He is a fatherly figure who cares greatly for the members of his guild. 

Erza pulls Natsu and Gray (with Happy and Lucy tagging along) to
take on the dark guild of Eisenwald

Fairy Tail wizards are constantly looking for work and mission postings are placed on the guild hall board. The toughest missions are called S-Class and prove to be extremely treacherous.  Many missions entail battling 'dark' wizards or guilds who operate outside the influence of the sanctioned Magic Council.  Erza shows up at the guild hall to enlist the aid of Natsu and Gray on a particularly dangerous mission.  Happy and Lucy tag along to help.  

Natsu suffers from extreme motion-sickness while riding the train

The group becomes very close-knit and perform all sorts of missions together with varying results.  The missions include battling a dark guild who plans to assassinate the Magic Council with an cursed flute called Lullaby, stealing a book from a corrupt duke, helping villagers on an island who turn into demons at night, and stopping a secret wizard cabal from resurrecting a powerful demon with ties to Gray's past.  Between missions the Fairy Tail guild members manage to get into all sorts of trouble as Natsu challenges Erza to a fight, we learn Happy's origin, and all of the guild members magically switch bodies!  

Lucy uses a Celestial Key to summon Aquarius

Rivalries between guilds are not uncommon and Fairy Tail is besieged by the Phantom Lord guild.  Each guild is populated by powerful wizards and led by one of the Ten Wizard Saints.  The battles are fierce and stakes are high as Fairy Tail comes under fire.  Lucy's past comes back to haunt her as her friends put their lives on the line to defend the guild.

Natsu's unleashes his powerful fire magic

Pros: Good animation and backgrounds, exciting action and spectacular fights, some interesting characters and origins (Elfman's was particularly tragic), story and missions become increasingly better as the show progresses, Natsu is entertaining when he fights, nice message with emphasis on friendship and camaraderie, fan-service (for gals too since Gray is always stripping)

The origin of Happy the flying cat wizard

Cons: Blu-Ray + DVD = 8 discs total - couldn't they just offer one or the other (and for less money)?, first few episodes were not great and I almost stopped watching this series, recurring joke about Gray taking off his clothing gets old fast, Lucy is not the most interesting character, fairly standard shounen anime, Happy the flying cat is kinda silly, this show is a mashup of One Piece and Naruto, first season ends in the middle of the Phantom Lord story arc

Mirajane is the beautiful barmaid at Fairy Tail's guild hall

Mike Tells It Straight: I had heard some favorable reviews of Fairy Tail and decided to give it a shot.  Based on the popular and long-running manga of the same name by Hiro Mashima (Rave Master).  It's a major shounen series (like Naruto and Bleach) with lots of characters, adventures and sweeping story arcs.  The series started off rather bland and I almost stopped watching after the first handful of episodes.  It was just too easy for Lucy to join Fairy Tail and the first set of bad guys were pathetic (the Salamander impostor and Duke Everlue).  Happy the flying cat was pretty silly and I couldn't take him seriously.  I groaned at the thought of sitting through another lame shounen series with a million episodes.

These freaks are the Ten Wizard Saints?

I stuck with it and was relieved to find later story arcs had some decent characterization and the emergence of an overall theme of friendship.  Things got better once Erza showed up and the Galuna Island/Deliora arc kept my attention.  Natsu, Gray and Erza were all interesting characters along with some of the other members of Fairy Tail.  I particularly liked Elfman's tragic origin during the Phantom Lord arc at the end of this first season (which is actually the middle of the real first season of 48 episodes).  Lucy didn't strike me as a particularly strong character and hopefully she'll show more pluck later on.

The villagers of Galuna Island are cursed with demon parts

While I found Fairy Tail to be relatively enjoyable it was a typical shounen anime - long story arcs bookended by comedy episodes and containing successive 'power-up' episodes (as perfected by Dragon Ball Z).  The show does have mild fan-service (beautiful women/girls and even Gray stripping in every episode where he appears).  Natsu literally looks like a cross between Naruto (spiky hair) and Luffy from One Piece (open shirt).  The series is not overly dark and keeps a fairly light tone throughout with only a few emotional scenes.  It's not a mature show and suitable for younger viewers (they're the target audience after all).  I recommend the series for fans of shounen genre anime, but definitely not a mature show (i.e. latter half of Fullmetal Alchemist).  I'm looking forward to the second season (mainly because this first season ended in the middle of a story arc) and will post a review soon!

Gray is always losing his clothes!

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