English Dub Review: Fairy Tail “Because of Love”

That’s the power of love!

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Wendy, Sheila, and Carla have set out to find the monster tamer who is leading the attack of the rogue guild, Orochi, on their peaceful town. Using Happy’s ability to fly, the three of them get behind enemy lines and find their target. They immediately set to work about dispatching their foes, while back in town, Lucy and the others are defending the village from the monsters at its doorstep.

We get treated to a flashback about how Wendy and Sheila became friends in Lamia Scale, and then return to battle to see a new arrival: a mage from Grimoire Heart, Bluenote Stinger. Bluenote uses his gravity magic to dominate the battlefield but is soon stopped by the arrival of Natsu, who’s a bit late to the party. With Natsu in the battle, Orochi is quickly routed, and the day is saved.

The next day, Wendy realizes she has to help Lucy and Natsu reform Fairy Tail, but the young mage is still sad to be leaving her friend Sheila. Before she departs with our heroes, Sheila and Wendy spend one last morning together. They reaffirm their friendship, and Wendy leaves with Natsu and Lucy, setting out to find the next member of the guild, the melancholic Juvia.

Our Take:

What is there to say about this week’s episode of Fairy Tail? The show has been on for quite some time, almost three hundred episodes now, and has established its characters pretty firmly in the magical shounen universe its constructed. Personally, while I read the manga a good bit back in the day, my reviews of this series come from a place of unfamiliarity. My criticism is free from the bias of being a fan, but in some ways, I find that limits my viewing experience. From an objective point of view, I can’t say this episode is terribly interesting. It’s lacking to me in a great many ways, but a fan of this series might just be happy to see their favorite characters making their grand entrances. There is a feeling that Fairy Tail is just running the paces right now, coasting on some decent episodes, but not doing much to impress those that aren’t already down with the series.

I enjoy Fairy Tail for the color an energy it has as a show, but the downside of that is that this series is extraordinarily cheesy. A large portion of the episode is dedicated to fighting, and the combat is…well, a little embarrassing to watch. It’s not that badly animated, but its a bit stiff, and the voice acting is not at all where it needs to be. The performances strike me as melodramatic and overdone, and feel more reminiscent of the kind of dubs anime would have during the medium’s infancy in the United States. I’m just not “buying” it. Maybe its because my ears have been spoiled by some of the other incredible dubs Funimation has put out, (I’m looking at you, My Hero Academia) but things just don’t feel up to par here.

That goes for the story as well. This episode is way too straightforward. It’s literally just a big fight with unimportant villains (Where we already know Natsu is going to clean up) followed by a brief backstory about how Wendy and Sheila became friends. Their friendship is cute, mind you, but their whole story comes and goes really quick, and therefore the relationship lacks depth. It’s hard to venture away from old friends, but that pathos alone isn’t enough to pull me in.

Fairy Tail has a lot of work to do to rebuild itself as a series. This new season feels like something of a reboot, getting the gang back together so it can start telling its story for real. But that just makes this episode feel unimportant. If we’re not tuning in for the good stuff, why should we bother tuning in at all?