English Dub Review: Fairy Tail “Fairy Tail Zero”

Time to mix things up a bit.

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Irene, the powerful Alvarez witch, has cast a countrywide spell that has forcibly rearranged everything in the kingdom of Fiore. As a result, the entire battlefield our heroes were on has been completely mish-mashed with other parts of the continent, and no one is too sure of where they are. Irene’s purpose in doing this was to bring Zeref close to the Fairy Heart, which caused this mix-up as some kind of side effect to a spell of this magnitude.

Mavis, back at Fairy Tail HQ, has awoken from her slumber within the Fairy Heart and returned to the world in her mortal form, just in time for her to come face to face with Zeref, who is right at her doorstep. Elsewhere, Gajeel, by pure happenstance, has cheated death with the help of Irene’s magic, which, with its instantaneous transportation, has somehow removed the bane particles from inside his body. Gajeel, upon his awakening, is met with Zera, Mavis’s friend from back when Fairy Tail first began. After assuring Gajeel that he’s not in hell, she explains that she’s been revived because Mavis has risen from the Fairy Heart. They then travel together to try and regroup with the others.

Chaos has consumed Fairy Tail’s forces, which find themselves cut off from each other and surrounded by the enemy. Fairy Tail fights for their lives against the hordes of Alvarez soldiers that they face, with both success and failure. The Alvarez forces are strong, but the mages of Fairy Tail are no slouches and use their magic to great effect.

Of all the battles taking place at this time, it’s Mirajane’s which is the most significant. She faces two subordinates of Irene, Juliet, and Heine, who are both powerful mages in their own right. Though the two make for a great team and push Mirajane to her limit, once she powers up to her Alegria Satan Soul form, she makes short work of them.

Our Take:

Well, things have certainly been thrown for a loop here on Fairy Tail, which has gone for a twist in fate I certainly wasn’t expecting. To be quite honest, the way things were looking initially, it seemed that this was going to be the beginning of a time travel plot, but I’m relieved to say that is not the case. This was a good move, having everyone change places because the current setup to the battle was rather stale. By removing a majority of the Fairy Tail mages from their safety in the headquarters, there’s a new element of danger and forwardness added to the battle that was much needed. We’re still spending a lot of time moving across different parts of the battlefield, but there’s more focus on the survival of the combatants that makes things feel more real. There are some serious hang-ups I have with some elements of the plot, but for the most part, this is an enjoyable episode.

The biggest weakness of this episode is the revival of Gajeel from the dead. Resurrecting characters is generally considered taboo in good storytelling, but it’s especially egregious here because we literally just watched these characters die in an emotionally satisfying way. Gajeel’s sacrifice, while not as well done as it could have been, was an important moment that has just been washed away by having this awful plot twist take place. What was the point of what we just witnessed if his meaningful sacrifice is forgiven? This is the kind of trope that almost never works, and using it so quickly after a pivotal character sacrifice is ridiculous.

As for the rest of the episode, it’s entertaining, but not immersive. There’s more going on here than usual, which I appreciate greatly, but I’ve still yet to see a battle or conflict that has me engrossed into the story. There’s flash, but very little substance, as Fairy Tail keeps relying incredibly heavily on established shounen tropes that never go beyond “The power of friendship.” It just gets dull after a while watching these characters go at it in the same tired ways episode after episode. I keep waiting for something to happen that astounds or amazes, but this show is content to just keep at its current pace and tread water until it finishes.