Fairy Tail Part 17 (UK Rating: 12)
In the previous part of the Fairy Tail collection, the truth behind this whole arc was finally revealed. Even better, some huge truths about the Fairy Tail mythos were served up, thanks to the spirit of a dead dragon willing to play exposition device. This went from an atypical Shonen tournament arc to a tale of time travel and returning dragons. A huge artefact door holds a way to travel through time and this could be a way to finally kill off series’ antagonist, Zeref before he gained his immortality, or perhaps the door could be a weapon to kill the returning dragons before they wipe out humanity. The previous collection held some great fights and some big revelations, but can this latest live up to that bar? Fairy Tail Part 17 comes courtesy of Funimation via Anime Limited and is out now.
The long running games have now reached their grand conclusion and, of course, Fairy Tail comes out on top, and it does so in style as numerous members of the guild get to show off some new big league trump card abilities. As the games reach their big climax, though, the real drama of this story is yet to come. While the mage guilds prepare for the dragons to appear, there’s more to this eclipse plan than was first thought. Lucy isn’t the only one to travel back in time from the future; a future version of Rogue was, too. He has come back from a time where dragons once again rule the world and he says it’s all Lucy’s fault. Rogue claims that she closed the Eclipse Gate, stopping the weapon from killing the dragons and allowing them to instead run rampant. Rogue has come back to kill her and stop it from happening.
Suddenly, a scene no-one imagined they would see again comes to life once more. The dragons have returned to the world and are causing a level of devastation that risks the whole of humanity itself. Even with all of the strongest mages gathered together, there is little hope for them to stand up against such terrifying foes, especially considering the state each of the mages is in – beaten and battered, both mentally and physically, from their performances in the games. The action is ramped way up for the majority of this release, with tons of huge combat scenes showcasing the true power of Dragon Slayers, as they finally receive the opportunity to try out their specialist magic skills against the very enemies they were made for – Dragon Slayers fighting against dragons once again in what feels like a fitting foreshadowing to the final showdown of the series. There’s even a certain Dragon Slayer briefly reappearing just for this fight.
This collection includes some of the usual extras fans have come to expect. It’s dual audio with the English still being of questionable quality, and there are the usual opening and closing themes. The opening themes have been particularly lacklustre for Fairy Tail for some time, but that changes here with the supremely toe-tapping STRIKE BACK from BACK-ON. Then there are also two episode commentaries, a handful of trailers, and a featurette based on the all-ladies guild of Mermaid Heel.
