English Dub Review: Fairy Tail “Memoirs”

*Sniff* I’m not crying, you’re crying!

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Our episode this week follows the story of Zeref, as he recounts the tale while laying down alone in a peaceful meadow. We begin by seeing him researching how to bring people back from the dead with his incredible magical ability. He is consistently scolded by his teachers however for tampering with the balance between life and death. Despite his challenges, however, Zeref continues pursuing his work until he gets expelled by the magical elders for his transgressions. Upon his expulsion, dark energy begins to possess Zeref as he is encompassed by a magical aura that kills all living things in his nearby vicinity. In an instant, the life of every student and teacher at his magical academy is extinguished. Zeref explains that he has a terrible curse placed upon him: the more he is concerned for life, the more things die around him. In response, Zeref has trained himself to not care about living things.

After walking the earth for years, Zeref concluded that he must die to end all this suffering. To that end, he created demons of all kinds to try and kill him, but in the end, he needed something more. In a surprise twist, Zeref reveals that Natsu was his creation; a being that exists as the revival of his dead brother, and as the only person strong enough to kill him. Soon, Zeref meets Acnologia the Black Dragon in a forgotten cave, where he informs the dragon that the battle to come will be a battle between him, humanity, and Acnologia.

Meanwhile, Lucy, Natsu, and Wendy are back in Magnolia, ready to reform Fairy Tail. Generally, the crew is happy to have come home, but Lucy finds the return to Magnolia bittersweet as she recalls Makarov disbanding Fairy Tail one year ago. Furthermore, she’s filled with doubt over the possibility that the rest of the guild might have moved on. Her doubts are cleared up, though, when Cana comes in, having received Lucy’s letter to reunite. Cana grabs Lucy by the arm and takes her to the old Fairy Tail HQ site, where a great number of Fairy Tail members are waiting. With tears in her eyes, Lucy reunites with her old family, who are finally back together again. Meanwhile, Natsu lifts the old Fairy Tail flag high above them all.

Our Take:

Talk about pulling on the old heartstrings. Fairy Tail this week delivers on a strong, emotional episode that’s sure to melt the heart of anyone who’s kept with the series thus far. I haven’t been happy with the action sequences of this season so far, but I’ve been quite satisfied with this show’s ability to tell its story and characterize its lovable cast. It’s exactly the kind of thing that makes an episode like this such a powerful thing to watch. With great writing and wonderful voice acting, this episode pulls in its viewers like no other and wrenches out the feeling like nothing else.

The first half of this episode is dedicated to Zeref’s story, which is admittedly a bit weak at times. While I felt his curse and his desire to revive his departed brother immediately endeared me to him, his flashbacks did go on for a good bit and got a little stale after a while. Not to mention, I feel like there’s something of a disconnect between Zeref of the now and Zeref of the past, who wasn’t the emotionless dark mage we see today. I didn’t feel his pain perhaps like I should’ve, though there was a lot that worked in his backstory. It’s always good to make your villains empathetic, especially before a big series arc where they’ll be involved, so I like to see that Fairy Tail is taking the time to get that done.

The real joy of this episode is in the heartfelt reunion between Lucy and the other members of Fairy Tail. Having them arrive all at once was a good move for the show since it allows it to have this big emotional moment with Lucy, who has suffered the most since Fairy Tail broke up. Not to mention, we don’t have to waste time having a bunch of individual episodes to bring back each member. The episode takes great care to remind us of the feelings Lucy has endured: the fear, the doubt, the hopelessness. And then it has those feelings washed away in the warm embrace of reunion with old friends. It’s enough to make anyone weep, but will surely bring fans of the show to tears.

I enjoyed this episode from start to finish, and am overjoyed with the direction that the show is taking now that it has the guild back together again. There are certainly big things in store for this season, and I’m looking forward to them now more than ever.