Home Channels Anime Review: “Fairy Tail 100 Years Quest” Season One: A Meaner, Leaner Seasonal...

Review: “Fairy Tail 100 Years Quest” Season One: A Meaner, Leaner Seasonal “Fairy Tail”

437
0

The Fairy Tail franchise played a vastly important role in the history of the American anime fandom. After the cancellation of Cartoon Network’s Toonami block in 2008 and the Adult Swim Action anime block going through a severe decline, the Western anime fandom was mainly kept afloat by the so-called Big Three of NarutoBleach, and One Piece, three long battle shonen adaptations with hundreds and hundreds of episodes. American fans were introduced to all three via cable and/or Saturday morning (in the case of One Piece before moving to cable). Fairy Tail‘s importance comes in being the first of these major long running titles to debut on streaming rather than cable and managed to hit it huge without the benefit of a cable airing. It made the big three become the Big Four and ushered in the era of binge watching.

I know that Fairy Tail has been a punching bag for professional anime critics and fans of the other members of the Big 4, but it holds a special place in my heart that is going to make this review absolutely biased in its favor. It was a staple of my college’s anime club and what critics may hate it for I love it for, in terms of the aggressive sentimentality and focus on the power of friendship. And come on, Happy is the cutest anime mascot since Pikachu. Getting to meet (and getting hugs from) the English voices of Happy, Mirajane, and Wendy at cons are moments I will treasure forever. It filled a niche that was different enough from the ninja shonen (Naruto) and the pirate shonen (One Piece) being the wizard shonen, and wizards are cool.  The original Fairy Tail is a series I adore dearly, as this fanboy gushing paragraph shows. Fairy Tail: the 100 Year Quest represents a new era of anime as it is the first entry in the franchise to follow a seasonal model and the new series adapts to the new model very successfully.

It is interesting that the manga and anime have added this 100 Year Quest subtitle as it feels like Fairy Tail episodes 329-354 rather than a new show. The cast and tone are basically the same. The plot is still about the titular wizard guild who use their magic to beat the crud out of bad wizards. Male and female characters still dress in provocative outfits, the power of friendship is still powerful. Happy is still adorable. The titular 100 Years Quest is a quest to seal the five dragon gods, the new antagonists Fairy Tail has to face. In this season, the Water Dragon, Wood Dragon, and Moon Dragon are the main antagonists with a hook for the next big arc capping off the season.

If there is one major change to the series, it’s in the pacing. The original Fairy Tail was known for long continuous plots that took up dozens of episodes, with the 53 part Grand Magic Games storyline taking the cake. Modern manga and anime (with the exception of One Piece) are must faster paced and have more concise story lines. The eleven part Wood Dragon God arc is the longest of this season with just eleven episodes, much shorter than the average original series Fairy Tail arc. This allows villains to not overstay their welcome, but then again, the original Fairy Tail was able to find a balance between having stories long enough to be developed, but not as overly bloated as Bleach or One Piece. Pacing was and still is a strength of this series.

Sadly, it seems like Fairy Tail did not receive the big bump in visuals since its transition to a title with season breaks. The new  Bleach episodes have had a dramatic improvement in terms of visuals compared to the early 2010s “Big 4” era, with lavish production values expected for a 2020s battle shonen series. This season of Fairy Tail was animated by J. C. Staff, a controversial studio to say the least. The animation is well below the standards set by the major 2020s hits Jujutsu Kaisen or Demon Slayer, but Fairy Tail was never popular for lavish production values as its beloved core cast carry the series.

Overall, this delivers more fun of seeing the Fairy Tail guild kick bad guy butt. The main cast are still as loveable as ever and they are a joy to watch. Happy is still adorable. Natsu, Grey, Erza, Wendy, and Lucy still delivers epic bad guy beatdowns. Our main cast still wears the occasional sexy outfit, if you’re into that. Turns out Fairy Tail still has a lot of life left in it even after the end of early 2010s Fairy Tail-mania. If you loved the original Fairy Tail, you will enjoy this sequel too.

Discuss this article on the Toonzone Forums!