User blog comment:Omega natsu2/Fairy Tail Episode 204: Stake My Life on Hospitality, Review./@comment-3987368-20141018075959

With my latest boycott of multiple manga (well, just 2, really), this being one, I still wanted something to go forth on with Fairy Tail. I wasn't sure how this arc was going to start but given that a popular assumption is that it'll be an overall re-hashing of Bleach's Zanpakuto Rebellion arc, it was easy to assume and expect some out-of-character behavior at first that would lead into that stuff. Based on that, I think I'd say that this episode met my expectations and that I'm looking forward to the next one. This is kinda just what I expect from Fairy Tail.

The new opening wasn't actually bad imo. It's no "Masayume Chasing" or "I Wish" on the whole, but I enjoyed listening to it and like a handful of other openings, it's like it wants to take us back to the beginning of Fairy Tail. This may or may not be a good idea but it's still early to judge. I don't mind English thrown into anime songs as long as it makes some sense (I'm lookin' at you, Rock City Boy). I loved the visuals on the overall, even if the art was a bit messy here and there (Gray and Juvia's faces, among other things). The beat was energetic and I'll probably listen to it again today.

The main thing that dragged it down for me personally was the art at times. I thought the animation for the most part was alright aside from re-uses which I found annoying (then again, most were for comedy, so meh) but the art at times had me silently commenting on things like the length of Lucy's stomach or the size of certain people's heads, faces or other body parts. It's honestly nitpicking since the episode is far from unwatchable in that regard but it's still noticeable to me so I just need to comment.

Happy afro ( =_=) Oh, and I loved the irony of Happy being eaten by a fish. Damn that made me laugh momentarily, for all of the 15 seconds it happened. Then again though, it's funny cause he said he was embarrassed and Natsu wouldn't understand, even though Natsu was eaten by Fukuro and Gray saved him and he seemed pretty pissed about that back then.

But I love the new eye-catches. It's nice to see something other than chibis and Exceeds during that point of the episode. And man, they're actually well drawn and appealing to look at, and not only cause of their appearances.

The preview for the next episode wasn't bad either. I really want to know how these early beach and guild scenes lead up to the appearance of the rebelling Celestial Spirits and what appears to be their powering-up. I guess since they're no longer gonna have masters, they won't be dependent for strength, meaning they can use their power freely and fight on par with Mages who are normally stronger than their masters. That'd be really interesting to see, especially given that we have a lot of Fairy Tail Mages whom I'd want to see in a 1-v-1 against these guys.

As for the overall, I liked it, and the scenes with Aquarius and Lucy were really good for me and I hope we have more so that what we know happens later in the Tartarus arc works better in my eyes. Overall, good episode. 7.5 / 10'.