English Dub Review: Fairy Tail “The Third Seal”

What kind of name is “Bloodman” anyways?

Overview (Spoilers Below)

The war in Ishgar continues, and Natsu, Lucy and Brandish are on a mission to try and negotiate with Alvarez’s strongest mage, August. In order to make some good time in their movement across the land, Brandish uses her magic to make Happy the size of a giant, and they ride on his shoulders to their destination. Meanwhile, back at HQ, Mavis talks to Cana and shares a memory of her old friend who Cana reminds her of.

Out on the battlefield, Gajeel and his team are out fighting their hardest, but face a new enemy. A red-skinned mage known as Bloodman arrives and begins terrorizing the battlefield. Gajeel is no coward and steps up to take on the mage, who explains that he is entirely composed of Devil particles. Devil particles are exceedingly dangerous, but not to Gajeel, who’s immune to them because of his steel body. Levy joins Gajeel in the fight as well, who is wearing a “MASK” mask that can supposedly filter out the particles.

Natsu, Happy, Lucy and Brandish finally arrive at August’s location and begin their negotiations with the powerful sage. Brandish explains that she thinks this war is pointless, but August isn’t hearing it. He considers her nothing but a traitor for going against their emperor’s wishes.

Gajeel’s fight with Bloodman, meanwhile, reaches it’s full intensity as Bloodman begins opening the seals that the Bane particles give him access too. With the third seal, he’s able to summon the god of death to judge his opponent’s souls to devastating effect. As the attack fades, Levy reveals that her mask apparently wasn’t capable of filtering out the particles after all, and she collapses on the ground.

Our Take:

This episode suffers from all the same issues that this arc has had up till this point, but with some minor deviations on what I’ve come to expect. We definitely still have problems with pacing and characters being wherever they need to be for the plot to advance, but there is a little more that I liked in terms of character interaction and bits of witty back and forth. Once again, though, Fairy Tail tries to do too much, too fast, and doesn’t give me the time to really appreciate these characters and what they’re trying to do. I think these few episodes might be more satisfying for long-time viewers who can appreciate the trials and tribulations of side characters who haven’t been featured since the arcs they originally appeared in, but they don’t do anything for me.

Fairy Tail always has a lot of heart, but heart without good execution doesn’t mean much. The show tries really hard to pull out an emotional response from the audience with it’s principled, youthful characters, but these conflicts are too scattershot to really pull me in. Gajeel, a fan favorite though he is, hasn’t been getting enough attention to make this fight that enjoyable to watch. It has moments that I liked, but it lacks follow through on it’s brutal “Gajeel takes on death” idea.

It just feels like the point of these episodes isn’t to create a satisfying and meaningful arc, but to cram in as much fan-service as possible. Not every character in the series needs to get a cameo appearance in the show, and Fairy Tail’s insistence on trying to do do is a big waste of everyone’s time. Not to mention, there’s far too much slapstick and fan-service moments that ruin whatever dramatic tone they might be trying to make. I mean, we’re taking on August the Wizard King and the crew is still making jokes about Lucy’s boobs. There’s a time and a place for levity, and it isn’t here.

I just don’t even know what Fairy Tail is anymore. It was this fun alternative to  “One Piece” and “Naruto” back in the day that was never quite as successful but lovable for what it was. It’s Celtic-inspired soundtrack and it’s unique setting were inviting, but now it feels like the show is just like everything else that comes out these days.