Fairy Tail Part 16 (UK Rating: 12)
Long time viewers would be forgiven for thinking they have missed a volume when they start off this latest instalment of Fairy Tail as the action jumps from Natsu’s win over the twin Dragon Slayers to a completely different setting. The first episode opens on a scene of complete devastation, with Natsu and Lucy facing off against a Dragon! This is actually a glimpse at a possible future, a future that is explained in this very collection. Take a peek into both the past and the future of the Fairy Tail story in Part 16, courtesy of Anime Limited – out now!
The Grand Magic Games become very much the background of the story with this collection. There are still events taking place but now the focus is completely on the true secret purpose of the games. Natsu’s prank upon Gajeel in the finale of their match landed Gajeel deep beneath the arena in caverns filled with the bones of dragons and it’s this cavern that finally reveals the truth to the sinister characters that have been lurking in the shadows. Thanks to her time training with Porlyusica, Wendy has learned the Milky Way spell to speak with spirits and uses it to chat with the owner of one of these corpses, a Dragon named Zirconis. Well, it’s exposition time folks! The deceased great Emerald Dragon is here to provide a little Fairy Tail lore. It transpires that the whole world was once ruled by dragons, with the humans of the time seen as little more than cattle. That was until a group of dragons decided to raise humanity to their equals. Not all dragons were happy with this new arrangement and a civil war broke out, causing huge losses on both sides. The tide of the war was tipped when dragons granted a special kind of magic to some humans and the first “Dragon Slayers” were born.
It was from this first group that a human emerged that slaughtered countless dragons; his power was unmatched and he soon became renowned the world over. He didn’t care what side the dragons were on, either, he annihilated them indiscriminately, killing even those who granted him his power. His name was Acnologia. Yes, the Black Dragon King was once a Dragon Slayer and it’s revealed that the transformation into a dragon is the fate of all Dragon Slayers. During this historic exposition, the shady Arcadios arrives and it turns out he’s not half as villainous as originally believed. Arcadios explains his reasoning behind trying to kidnap a celestial wizard, and his shadowy Eclipse plan is actually all in the cause of good. He plans to use the 12 keys of the Zodiac to travel back in time and kill the age old antagonist of the series, Zeref, before he gained his immortality. The plan is cancelled, however, when a rival part of the government also shows up and steals Lucy away – side note, is there any arc of Fairy Tail where Lucy isn’t kidnapped? The only way to get her back is to win the games.
The games, then, continue and the Fairy Tail team fights to get back its friend and debates the possibility of this time travelling plan to finally overcome a shadow that has long hung over the team. There are some really great moments and great battles in this latest instalment, including major showdowns between Grey and Rufus, between a group of new prison executioners against the usual suspects of Fairy Tail and, most importantly, a heck of a battle between the ladies, which culminates in Erza and Kagura crossing swords. Crossing drawn swords.
Fairy Tail Part 16 contains the same bonus features that fans will be familiar with already, the usual episode commentaries with the English cast – the English cast continues to deliver mediocre performances – along with the usual clean opening and closing, a particularly good one, too, in the form of Masayume Chasing by Boa as the ending theme. There’s an extra bonus feature, too – a feature that takes a look at the new top guild in Fiore Sabertooth and its members; giving a bit of exposition and history to characters like the third generation Dragon Slayers, Rogue and Sting. It’s mostly just a recap of what has already been seen in the past episodes but it’s a nice little addition.
