Sting faces off against Larcade Dragneel with the power of his friend Rogue, but is even that enough? Elsewhere, Erza is made to confront some harsh truths about her past. Remember, if you like this article and 5 Point Discussions, please share it on Facebook or Twitter! It really helps. And if you’ve got any comments or questions, please hit me up @SageShinigami.
1. The end of this fight was a bit anti-climactic, but then again coming to this series expecting great animation was probably my first mistake. Sting manages to take out Larcade with the help of Rogue’s extra power, but also Kagura’s gravity abilities after Larcade activates his dangerous RIP technique, an ability which causes anyone in the area to fall asleep forever. Sting uses Kagura’s gravity to help force him down into his shadow, which awakens him and helps him sharpen his abilities enough to deliver a final blow.
It’s a decent enough finish despite lacking enough tension, but I’m not sure if I blame A1 Pictures for not animating it better or if it’s Mashima’s fault. Did we really need the Spriggan 12? Some of these members are so powerful they deserved more time in the spotlight, Larcade being one of them. He should’ve been wrecking established fighters for several episodes now, instead of getting defeated by Fairy Tail Jr. the first time he had to fight on camera.
2. Natsu continues his flashbacks to his past this week. There’s some major secret which hasn’t been revealed yet, but along the way we learn that Natsu’s scarf was created from Natsu’s scales…and the person who created that scarf was Lucy’s mother, Anna. This continues to deepen the tie between Natsu and Lucy, as it’s already been established that Lucy’s family line was responsible for watching over the Eclipse gate until Natsu and the others could be sent through it.
Presumably this is all going somewhere, as right now it feels like everything is “all connected”, but it’s in a bad way: it’s just tied in strange knots.
3. The cat’s out of the bag now. (Or in Happy’s case, wearing one.) It was introduced during Natsu and Zeref’s first battle several episodes ago that if Natsu were to defeat Zeref, he would also die since his E.N.D. role would be complete. But since then, no one else has been told the same information–everyone’s been too busy fighting a war on multiple fronts to talk, and so Happy’s kept the information to himself.
But now everyone is aware of the predicament they face. With so little of the manga left to adapt (less than thirty), the most powerful members of the Spriggan 12 remaining and Zeref and Acnologia still floating around, this is all making me think that we’re about to confront either a total last minute Deus Ex Machina-esque power-up, or Zeref’s not going down in battle.
4. Have to give A1 Pictures this: they reminded you of a relationship they could’ve easily just glossed over. At one point Minerva was a legitimately terrible person, torturing Erza and Kagura’s friend Millianna while also cheating to defeat them both. It was a despicable act, and also robbed Fairy Tail fans of one of the best showdowns between two of the coolest female characters on the show, so we all had multiple reasons to hate Minerva.
But after dealing with threats both within their guild and without, Sabertooth has long been humbled and realized their way of placing strength over their own comrades simply wasn’t the way forward. Their character growth has been incredible, but it’s appreciated they didn’t ignore the fact that regardless of one’s growth, they still have to face the people they hurt before they changed. Minerva does that here, and my only complaint is that Kagura forgives her far too easily. That said, in this instance that’s actually the point: Kagura carrying so much hatred has done nothing but hurt herself. So her forgiving Minerva is more for her own sake than Minerva’s, even if forgiveness is a pretty central trope to shonen series anyway.
5. With this one line, Erza cements herself as Irene Belserion’s daughter. Like her mother, she’s so single-minded she doesn’t even acknowledge Irene as a family member; she’s too fiercely loyal to the people and the cause she’s already devoted herself too. Erza and Irene face off at the end of this episode, and it’s not really a great look for Erza, as Irene manages to fend her off without even trying all that hard–at one point she even has enough time to deflect all the floating blades Erza’s attacking her with into a flower shape.
By all accounts she’s about to lose, and badly, so fortunately Irene pauses long enough to try and tell Erza where she came from. In the process, Irene reveals her own role as the Queen of Dragons, which explains those claws she’s using for hands. It seems like everything comes back to the dragons…
Fairy Tail is available for streaming on Funimation and Crunchyroll.
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