User blog:Umnei/Fairy Tail (Anime): Complete Review

<div style="width:650px;border:4px Groove Navy;;background-color:LightBlue;font-size:130%;color:Black;padding:5px;margin-bottom:4px;background: -moz-radial-gradient(center, ellipse cover, #ADD8E6 0%, #87CEEB 50%, #ADD8E6 100%); /* FF3.6+ */ background: -webkit-gradient(radial, center center, 0px, center center, 100%, color-stop(0%,#ADD8E6), color-stop(50%,#87CEEB), color-stop(100%,#ADD8E6)); /* Chrome,Safari4+ */ background: -webkit-radial-gradient(center, ellipse cover, #ADD8E6 0%,#87CEEB 50%,#ADD8E6 100%); /* Chrome10+,Safari5.1+ */"> Episode 175 has just aired and with that said, the Fairy Tail Anime's 3.5 year run has come to an end. I can recollect the memories of when Fairy Tail debuted back in 2009. At the time, I had difficulties of which anime to start watching, and even to this day, my motto was "If the first episode isn't good enough, the anime is not worth it". I watched the first episode and immediately, a rush of adventure and amazement filled my mind up and I knew this was an anime worth watching. I continued on and up until the 2nd season had started, I had started to read the manga as well.

Fairy Tail ending now may not seem that big of a deal but it grew up with me during the essential times of my life, and knowing that a consistency in my life has come to an end kind of makes me wonder how odd it would feel for a while. Granted, the anime states it will be continued, but it will be a long time coming until the series restarts. With that said, I decided to make this blog to review the anime. Not necessarily critique it but moreso just to remember the good times. And of course, some of the bad. So yes, in a way, it's a critique.

I'm going to try to sound as vague as I can during this "critique" (ok its a critique.) without giving too many details since the content from the anime and manga are very identical and it would not be fair for me to critique the material here since it is anime-only. <div style="width:650px;border:4px Groove Navy;;background-color:LightBlue;font-size:130%;color:Black;padding:5px;margin-bottom:4px;background: -moz-radial-gradient(center, ellipse cover, #ADD8E6 0%, #87CEEB 50%, #ADD8E6 100%); /* FF3.6+ */ background: -webkit-gradient(radial, center center, 0px, center center, 100%, color-stop(0%,#ADD8E6), color-stop(50%,#87CEEB), color-stop(100%,#ADD8E6)); /* Chrome,Safari4+ */ background: -webkit-radial-gradient(center, ellipse cover, #ADD8E6 0%,#87CEEB 50%,#ADD8E6 100%); /* Chrome10+,Safari5.1+ */">

Again, this was my introduction to the series and I was completely swept away within the world of Earthland. I thought the performance and the animation of it all was just amazing and the execution of some scenes were simply marvelous. Of course, I didn't have much to compare it by but I just recall having a great time following the series. Also, since I wasn't following the manga, getting spoiled by the Opening and Endings were also fun, and gave me something to look forward to for the next few episodes.

Umnei's Rating: A+ <div style="width:650px;border:4px Groove Navy;;background-color:LightBlue;font-size:130%;color:Black;padding:5px;margin-bottom:4px;background: -moz-radial-gradient(center, ellipse cover, #ADD8E6 0%, #87CEEB 50%, #ADD8E6 100%); /* FF3.6+ */ background: -webkit-gradient(radial, center center, 0px, center center, 100%, color-stop(0%,#ADD8E6), color-stop(50%,#87CEEB), color-stop(100%,#ADD8E6)); /* Chrome,Safari4+ */ background: -webkit-radial-gradient(center, ellipse cover, #ADD8E6 0%,#87CEEB 50%,#ADD8E6 100%); /* Chrome10+,Safari5.1+ */">

I hadn't exactly started following the manga up until around the episode where OP/ED 6 had debuted, and it was quite an interesting arc to start off the new season with. However, I noticed the anime was not as fast paced, and I had later come to realize that the Anime never intended to continue on to a second season, and due to fan demand, it had. From there on, they limited the number of chapters to 2, as opposed to the 3-5 chapters Season 1 would air. Of course, I still wasn't complaining and I still had fun. I was eager to see Edolas arc animated, but to my misfortune, it turned out to be one of my least enjoyed arcs, as the first half of Edolas was just ridiculously slowly-paced. The 2nd half of that arc made up for it though, and with the return of Lisanna, Season 3 kicked off without any fillers in between. (Another aspect to why I appreciated the anime~) Umnei's Rating: C+ <div style="width:650px;border:4px Groove Navy;;background-color:LightBlue;font-size:130%;color:Black;padding:5px;margin-bottom:4px;background: -moz-radial-gradient(center, ellipse cover, #ADD8E6 0%, #87CEEB 50%, #ADD8E6 100%); /* FF3.6+ */ background: -webkit-gradient(radial, center center, 0px, center center, 100%, color-stop(0%,#ADD8E6), color-stop(50%,#87CEEB), color-stop(100%,#ADD8E6)); /* Chrome,Safari4+ */ background: -webkit-radial-gradient(center, ellipse cover, #ADD8E6 0%,#87CEEB 50%,#ADD8E6 100%); /* Chrome10+,Safari5.1+ */">

It seems as though that the animators have learned their lesson with what they went through when Season 2 aired, and despite using the same amount of chapters per episode, I still found the story to be compelling due to the extra additions, aka "filler scenes", they improvised during the episode. The extensions were great and I also found the animation to have improved in quality. The filler arc was quite refreshing as well, and the OP/EDs of the "Key to the Starry Sky" arc reminded me of the days I would watch Fairy Tail back in Season 1, where everything would be a surprise and I had something to look forward to. I really enjoyed the fact that they did not completely improvise with this arc and incorporated elements of previous arcs into this arc, since usually, animes that create completely original fillers usually mess it up. I was also happy to see the animation for the filler arc to be on par to Tenrou Island arc's animation. Umnei's Rating: A- <div style="width:650px;border:4px Groove Navy;;background-color:LightBlue;font-size:130%;color:Black;padding:5px;margin-bottom:4px;background: -moz-radial-gradient(center, ellipse cover, #ADD8E6 0%, #87CEEB 50%, #ADD8E6 100%); /* FF3.6+ */ background: -webkit-gradient(radial, center center, 0px, center center, 100%, color-stop(0%,#ADD8E6), color-stop(50%,#87CEEB), color-stop(100%,#ADD8E6)); /* Chrome,Safari4+ */ background: -webkit-radial-gradient(center, ellipse cover, #ADD8E6 0%,#87CEEB 50%,#ADD8E6 100%); /* Chrome10+,Safari5.1+ */"> Now.. this is where disappointment kicks in. See, the only problem I had with Fairy Tail up until this point was that it was not using as many chapters as it used to, but the animation was just fine and I had never noticed it being faulty in Season 4 until several users of the wiki had emphasized the mistakes. From there on, I slowly picked up on it and was very disappointed in the execution of the scenes. They did well with the improvisions but it still lacked the "oumph" it had from Season 3. Plus, the OP/ED of the first half of Season 4 got a bit obnoxious, and it saddened me to see that they had to extend it in inappropriate and unentertaining ways. However, I had hope that the anime was just trying to save their funds and invest it all where it counted: Day 4 of the Grand Magic Games and onwards. The animation of OP/ED 14 may have been great, but the episodes didn't seem to follow that trend. Finally, the anime ended up announcing it's end, which pretty much had me hating this arc. Umnei's Rating: D <div style="width:650px;border:4px Groove Navy;;background-color:LightBlue;font-size:130%;color:Black;padding:5px;margin-bottom:4px;background: -moz-radial-gradient(center, ellipse cover, #ADD8E6 0%, #87CEEB 50%, #ADD8E6 100%); /* FF3.6+ */ background: -webkit-gradient(radial, center center, 0px, center center, 100%, color-stop(0%,#ADD8E6), color-stop(50%,#87CEEB), color-stop(100%,#ADD8E6)); /* Chrome,Safari4+ */ background: -webkit-radial-gradient(center, ellipse cover, #ADD8E6 0%,#87CEEB 50%,#ADD8E6 100%); /* Chrome10+,Safari5.1+ */"> So yes, we had a wild rollercoaster ride with this anime series, but the anime had ended on a promising note, and has me looking forward to their return. I really hope they come back better than ever and remind me of the good ol' days where they didnt rely so much on the manga, and add their own spice to the scenes like Season 1 had done.

I already miss you, Fairy Tail (Anime) :D Come back to us soon!