English Dub Review: Fairy gone “Black Moon and Lost Child’s Song”

Why does EVERYONE have a fairy?!

Overview (Spoilers Below):

This episode picks up right where the last one left off, with Veronica leaping through the church window to intervene before Jonathan the madman can make art with Marla. Despite her injuries, Marlya summons her fairy, determined to fight back and aid Veronica. Together, they’re able to defeat Jonathan. Free, however, doesn’t manage to capture Patty.

Later on, all of the Dorothea agents meet up at their favorite pub to celebrate Marlya’s joining the crew. (Seems a lot lately, but whatever!) They have lots of drinks and lots of banter, but the director of Dorothea chooses not to show her face.

Our Take:

Five episodes into Fairy gone, and I’m still not sure if I’d recommend it to people or not. On one hand, it’s got some cool things going for it, like the well-executed action sequences, interesting characters, and pretty solid visuals. On the other hand, though, it’s plot and storyline are muddled, and whenever there’s an episode that moves things forward or picks up the pace, the next one always seems like a step backward. For such an ostensibly fast-paced show, things sure do move slowly. Take the backstory, for example.

After five episodes of opening flashbacks, exposition, and alternative history, I think we finally have a fairly complete idea of Free, Marlya, and Veronica’s respective pasts. After the war impacted their village, Veronica made her way to the city and attempted to make Ray Dawn pay for what he caused. But his fairy comes to his rescue, and Ver is imprisoned, where she remains while Marlya travels to the city in search of her. I’m not sure we really needed to know all this, and even if we did, I’m not sure I like giving us little bits at a time in front of every opening credit sequence. Maybe it would flow better if it were combined into one larger, backstory-heavy episode?

The most interesting part of Black Moon and Lost Child’s Song for me was the whole dynamic between Ver and Marlya. Veronica’s heroic entrance at the end of last week was very cool, and her battle with Jonathan only makes her cooler. (Side note: how about Jonathan, huh? A total creep with a glorious singing voice who’s already been killed off.) Marlya looks on in awe, eager to be reunited with Ver. However, the moment when Veronica kills Jonathan with her weird fairy goop while telling Marlya that the old Veronica Thorne is dead makes for a chilling contrast to what I thought might be a happier reunion. Their relationship is definitely the most intriguing aspect of the show for me at the moment.

The second half is mostly dedicated to Marlya and Free going out to grab drinks with their fellow Dorothea agents: Clara, Ozz, and all the others. At the beginning of the scene, I was enthusiastic to spend some time away from action just getting to know everyone. There are a lot of faces. But by the time the episode wrapped up, I felt like it had gone on too long. I’m certainly not opposed to spending time with Dorothea outside of their missions, but  I think I would’ve enjoyed this scene a little more if it contained a little less.

Dub-wise, this episode is pretty darn good! Ian Sinclair and Jill Harris continue to put in some solid performances as Free and Marlya. Harris especially has a lot to do this time around, and she plays to the part perfectly. “Am I a little disaster like everyone says?” she asks in the beginning flashback scene. Emily Neves also does a nice job as Veronica. I don’t think I’ve mentioned her before, but I liked a lot of her line readings this episode. Her reaction to Jonathan’s creepy claims made me chuckle: “Don’t make me laugh; what art?”

The fifth episode of Fairy gone had a few neat moments, but it mostly felt like it was the proper ending of last week’s episode, but dragged out to stretch to 22 minutes. Fairy gone still has a lot of potentials that I’m excited to see coming, but at this point, I think it’s safe to say it won’t be the runaway hit of the season. I am eager to learn more about Ver and Marlya, as well as see Free and his fellow Dorothea agents keep on kicking butt.