Episode 12 Fairy Tail’s 100-Year Mission

I haven’t had too many issues with this arc so far, other than Lucy being unemployed and the fight dragging on for too long, and it’s a bit more solid than what I generally expect from this series. We’re probably overdue to be hit by some form of strange phenomenon. Even knowing this, I can’t say I was prepared for how many strange things we’d encounter immediately, and how much of them were meant to be funny. Taken individually, most of these wouldn’t be too annoying, but taken together, they make for one of the show’s most inconsistent performances in a while.

First, it’s time to review Elsa and Jellal’s romantic adventures, which slowly went from fun to a little uncomfortable, as Jellal decided to bind Elsa with his magic before doing the deed . Elsa begged him to untie her, as such restraints would only remind her of her days as a slave, which was not what she wanted for the first time. Thankfully, he agreed, because even while possessed, he would never do anything that would hurt her, and I guess it’s nice to know that even he understands the importance of consent. Of course, the nature of the show isn’t going to take any of this too seriously, so before things go any further, Erza distracts him, ties him up, and goes back to fight Laxus. Definitely not the most elegant way to end this, but it’s starting to wear off and it’s welcome, Jellal assuming Erza tied him up because some kind of foreplay might be a good laugh line, So overall, I don’t really care how this ends.

I can’t say the same about Natsu’s fight with Ghost, it was probably one of the most contrived stunts I’ve ever seen franchise (That says a lot). As the ghost starts punching Natsu through Makarov’s body, he realizes that he’s a little too in sync with Makarov and wonders if the two of them are actually connected because of his possession of Blood relatives are more effective. While it would be weird at this stage to suggest that Makarov might have a secret illegitimate child or something, I think I prefer that to the actual fact. That’s because the ghost is actually the ex fairy tail All this time, he died young in Makarov’s arms, and now that his memory has been restored, he can no longer fight Natsu and decides to go to the afterlife in peace.

This is far from the first time we’ve seen the show give a villain a random connection fairy tail Guild, but this is definitely the worst example the show has ever seen. Not only did it basically come out of nowhere, but the show didn’t even linger on this revelation long enough to extract any real emotion from it, because even in Ghost’s flashbacks, he only lived long enough Time died in front of Makarov. It’s melodrama for melodrama’s sake, and even knowing how much Majima likes to value “a bond stronger than blood,” there’s a time and place for that message, but not like this. I guess a benefit is that the entire sequence doesn’t take up too much of the episode’s running time, but the fact that it ends so quickly just makes the twist worse, and it’s easily the weakest of some writing this The show has been around for a while.

While less annoying in comparison, I wasn’t too interested in the gag of Gray, Juvia, and Lucy running into Cana because they all figured out that she was never possessed, just too drunk, Can’t tell what happened. It’s funny, sure, but when you consider it’s been at least a few days since this happened, and even she’s only had so much to drink, it doesn’t really hold up to scrutiny. Normally, I would be willing to accept this as it falls within the show’s usual comedic style, but what makes this twist lame is that we end up with Lucy realizing she might be able to use Cana’s card to capture all the possessed The guild members get it immediately because the magic they use is similar. Even though this (probably) wasn’t intentional, this ended up feeling like another way to further prevent Lucy from making any real contributions to the team here, and between that and how her fight was cut short, it’s hard not to feel like The island needs to give this poor girl a break.

Beyond that, we still have Wendy in a fight with Spider-Man, but that doesn’t really seem to be heading in one direction or another, so it’s hard to know how it will end up. We also quickly come to the conclusion that Kiria confronts Laxus and ends up with him completely overpowering her, but not before giving his usual speech about being physically strong but emotionally fragile on the inside, and How joining a guild helped him in his work. Somehow, in Kirya’s head, it all sounds like excitement, and she ends up falling in love with him. It’s a bit weird, considering she’s only focused on Erza so far, but considering how this led to one of Erza’s worst moments in a while, I don’t buy the weirdness of Kiria turning into Laxus Admirers, because this at least looks like it would be fun if it went anywhere.

Speaking of weird admirers, things ended with Natsu and Happy meeting Tuka, who begged Natsu to help her, but we’ll have to wait a week to see how that plays out. All in all, this was probably the weakest the show has been in a while, and even though I’m used to some of Majima’s sudden left turns, I didn’t expect to experience this many. On the plus side, none of them are bad enough to fully absorb the momentum of this arc, but I’m hoping this is just a rough patch and things will go a little smoother next week.

grade:





Fairy Tail: The 100 Year Quest Currently streaming on Crunchyroll.