Anime Reviews (2010-2019): Fairy Tail Final Season Part 23 (2018)

Fairy Tail Final Season Part 23″ is an action-packed storyline that features the return of the Fairy Tail guild over a year later and seeing what life each member has lived. But most of all, preparing for their most challenging mission, to rescue their master from the powerful Alvarez Empire!If you have watched “Fairy Tail” and supported the anime series this far, the final ninth season is recommended!

TITLE: Fairy Tail Final Season Part 23

ANIME RELEASE DATE: 2018-2019

DURATION: (Episodes 278-290) 325 Minutes

BLU-RAY INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition (1:78:1), English DolbyTrue HD 5.1, Japanese DolbyTrue HD 2.0, English subtitles

COMPANY: FUNimation

Release Date: August 4, 2020

Originally created by Hiro Mashima

Directed by Shinji Ishihara

Script by Atsuhiro Tomikoa, Fumihiko Shimo, Masashi Sogo, Shoji Yonemura

Music by Yasuharu Takanashi

Character Design by Aoi Yamamoto

Art Director: Junko Shimizu

Chief Animation Director: Takao Sano

Anime Production: A-1 Pictures, Satelight

Featuring the following voice talent:

Aya Hirano/Cherami Leigh as Lucy Heartfilia

Tetsuya Kakihara/Todd Haberkorn as Natsu Dragneel

Rie Kugimiya/Tia Ballard as Happy

Sayaka Ohara/Colleen Clinkenbeard as Erza Scarlet

Yūichi Nakamura/Newton Pittman as Gray Fullbuster

Shinichi Kotani/R. Bruce Elliot as Makarov

Akira Ishida as Zeref

Daisuke Kishio/Eric Vale as Loki/Loke

Daisuke Namikawa as Jeral/Mystogan

Eri Kitamura/Jamie Marchi as Kana Alberona

Hiroki Touchi as Pantherlily

Hiroki Yasumoto as Elfman

Kazuhiko Inoue as Gildarts Clive

Mai Nakahara as Juvia Loxar

Mariya Ise as Levi Macgarden

Miyuki Sawashiro/Lydia Mackay as Ultear Milkovich

Ryoko Ono/Monica Rial as Mirajane

Satomi Satou as Wendy

Sayaka Narita as Aries

Wataru Hatano as Gajeel Redfox

Yui Horie as Charle

Back together again, the Fairy Tail guild is facing new powers and old foes for the final time! But when Zeref reveals the truth behind the Book of E.N.D., it has the potential to change everything for Natsu—and the rest of the gang—forever.

Please note that I am reviewing the Digital Version and not the Blu-ray:

The ninth season and final season of “Fairy Tail” has finally made its way to North America courtesy of Funimation.

Featuring the adventures of Natsu Dragneel and Lucy Heartfilia, these episodes feature an adaptation of manga volumes 49-51 which including the “Avatar” Arc in which Natsu, Lucy, Happy and others try to reorganize their disbanded Fairy Tail guild. And also featuring the beginning of the final arc known as the “Alvarez Arc”.

Part 23 features episodes 278-290 of “Fairy Tail” (episodes 253-265) available now on Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy from FUNimation.

What is “Fairy Tail”?

For those who are not familiar with “Fairy Tail”, let’s just say that it’s one of the most exciting, long running anime magic/adventure series to be released in the U.S. on Blu-ray and DVD courtesy of FUNimation Entertainment.

In Japan, “Fairy Tail” is a manga series which began in 2006 and was created by mangaka Hiro Mashima (known for his manga series “Rave Master”). Featured in Weekly Shonen Magazine, the manga series is still ongoing, meanwhile an anime adaptation of the manga series was created in 2009 produced by A-Pictures and Satelight. And similar to the manga series, is also ongoing!

With the 22nd Blu-ray release of “Fairy Tail”, this latest volume features episodes 253-265.

The anime series is directed by Shinji Ishihara (“Aoi Kokuhaku”, “Tenbatsu Angel Rabbie”, “Tokyo Majin” and is written by Masashi Sogo (“Bleach”, “Yukikaze”, “Hunter x Hunter”). The anime series features character design by Aoi Yamamoto, art direction by Junko Shimizu (“Midori Days, “Blue Dragon”, “Trinity Blood”) and music by Yasuharu Takanashi (“Naruto Shippuden”, “Hell Girl”, “Gantz”, Ikki Tosen”).

A Quick Summary of what “Fairy Tail” is about?:

“Fairy Tail” revolves around a 17-year-old celestial wizard named Lucy Heartfilia who dreams of joining a sorcerer guild known as Fairy Tail, a group known and feared for the destruction they cause. One day, she runs into Natsu Dragneel, a guy who is traveling to the land of Fiore along with his partner Happy (a talking blue cat with wings) who is searching for his foster parent, a dragon named Igneel who has disappeared.

While traveling to Fiore, both Lucy and Natsu encounter a sorcerer claiming to be the famous Salamander of Fairy Tail. Natsu is the first to object that the man is a phony but the fans of Salamander are dismayed by Natsu’s comments and beat him up, meanwhile Lucy finds out that this fake Salamander is using his sorcerer abilities to make young women fall for him.

As Lucy tries to show her gratitude to Natsu for breaking the spell that would have otherwise have hypnotized Lucy, the two become friends.

But when the fake Salamander tells Lucy that he would get her into Fairy Tail, she knows he is a fake but any chance of getting to join the guild would make her dream come true, so she decides to visit him.

But it’s all a ruse and the fake Salamander is just trying to find female slaves and because he is so powerful, Lucy does not have the magic necessary to beat him. But coming to Lucy’s rescue is Natsu, who is revealed to be a true member of Fairy Tail and also revealed to be the true “Salamander”. And he easily beats the fake Salamander up.

When Natsu discovers that Lucy’s dream is to become a Fairy Tail member, he asks her to join him and he can help her get into the guild and from that moment on, Lucy becomes Natsu’s partner in various Fairy Tail guild missions and for each mission they beat, the more income they make.

And more money means more keys to gain more powers, which would help Lucy become a powerful celestial wizard!

And together, Natsu and Lucy develop a wonderful friendship as they grow as partners but also a guild members with their other teammates.

“Fairy Tail” Vol. 23 features the following characters:

Natsu Dragneel – Also known as “Salamander”, Natsu is a kindhearted, always hungry wizard who travels with his partner Happy in search of Igneel, a dragon who raised Natsu but is now missing. Natsu is a dragon slayer and a wizard who can perform “Lost Magic and can have physical properties of a dragon. He specializes in Fire Dragon Slayer Magic which allows him to breath fire and ingest fire as a form of nourishment.
Lucy Heartfilia – A celestial wizard who can summon contracted spirits (with special abilities) through a set of keys known as Gatekeys. She treats these spirits as friends. Her dream is to join Fairy Tail and through meeting Natsu, now her dream can come true.
Happy – A blue cat with wings and a best friend to Natsu. He can fly and can carry a person while flying. He is also known to irritate Lucy.
Gray Fullbuster – A powerful wizard of Fairy Tail and the opposite of Natsu, in that he has control of ice. Gray has the power of Ice Make which can make him create weapons or anything out of ice. He was raised by the wizard Ur. He also has a bad habit of taking of all his clothes without realizing it.
Erza Scarlet – An S-Class wizard (high-ranked) and is the most powerful member of the Fairy Tail guild. She has magic known as “The Knight” which allows her to summon and equip weapons and armor and also has the ability to resist magic attacks. She is feared by others because of her lack of compassion.
Mirajane – A 19-year-old S-Class wizard who is the cover girl of Sorcerer’s Weekly magazine and helps Lucy understand what is happening with the members of the Fairy Tail guild. She has the ability to change her appearance to something she previously encountered.
Cana Alberona – A short-tempered heaving drinking woman. She uses card magic to cast her spells.
Elfman – Mirajane’s younger brother who is known for his physical strength. He can absorb the power of any monster he defeats.
Loke – A flirtatious wizard who is often seen in the company of many women.
Makarov Dreyer – The elder master of Fairy Tail. He is constantly busy because of his guild members becoming too violent.
Juvia Lockser – Originally a member of the Phantom Lord Guild and now a member of Fairy Tail and is obsessed with Gray.
Gajeel Redfox – Originally a member of the Phantom Lord Guild, Gajeel is similar to Natsu in the fact that he is a Dragon Slayer raised by the dragon Metalicana. He can transform his body into metal weapons.
Jellal Fernandes – A former child slave that grew up with Erza Scarlet. Thought to be dead, he is found by Oracion Seis and revived by Wendy Marvell and is being used to find the destructive spell known as Nirvana.
Wendy Marvell – A female Dragon Slayer who is accompanied by her Exceed partner Carla. A master of Sky Dragon Slayer magic, she can heal injuries. She becomes an ally of Fairy Tail.

VIDEO:

“Fairy Tail” is presented in 1080p High Definition (1:78:1). It’s important to note that this is a anime TV series, not a film or an OVA and is a weekly anime series. What that means is A-1 Pictures and Satelight, have their hands full, especially if they have other TV series to work on that week. Typically a lot of anime series are quickly done in order to make it by their weekly deadline and sometimes, they are done the day of deadline. So, production values for TV series are typically not that high if they are working on multiple series.

Fortunately A-1 Pictures has become one of the newer studios that have been doing production for quite a number of popular hit series such as “Blue Exorcist” and “Big Windup!” and Satelight does a lot of the in-between animation. So, while they are a smaller, growing company, they are not overburdened as other studios and that means, more time dedicated to the anime series.

“Fairy Tail” features cool production value. A lot of detailed artwork, because of the many adventures, you get so many locations and not the typical regurgitated scenery.

There is a lot of detail featured in the art backgrounds, a lot of characters featured and these characters have great detail and shadowing. Colors are absolutely vibrant, black levels are deep. I found no compression artifacts or any problematic issues with this Blu-ray release. If anything, the Blu-ray really brings out the details and colors of the series and looks fantastic!

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

“Fairy Tail” is presented in English 5.1 Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0. Dialogue and music is clear through the front channels for the lossless stereo soundtrack but because the English is 5.1, there is better use of the surround channels.

In fact, I found myself listening to the English dub track for “Fairy Tail” much more than the Japanese soundtrack because of the 5.1 but also, FUNimation did a magnificent job with the casting of this series. I was very pleased especially with the casting of Lucy, Natsu, Happy, Grey and Erza and for the most part, I think whichever you prefer, you will be pleased with Japanese and English audio tracks.

But for the most part, for a TV series, lossless audio is crystal clear and while not the most immersive soundtrack (which I typically don’t expect TV series to boast incredible immersive lossless soundtracks, unlike a film or OVA series), “Fairy Tail” does sound very good on Blu-ray!

Subtitles are in English.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Fairy Tail Final Season Part 23” features the following special features:

Episode 282 and Episode 289 Audio Commentary
Episode 278 Video Commentary
Textless Opening Song
Textless Closing Song

EXTRAS:

“Fairy Tail” vol. 23 Blu-ray also comes with both a Blu-ray and DVD version + a digital code of “Fairy Tail Part 23” for funimation.com.

With the final ninth season “Fairy Tail” it was no doubt a long wait for “Fairy Tail” fans. Not just in the US but also for the original viewers in Japan.

The seventh season was tragic and its season finale led to Makarov dissolving the Fairy Tail Guild and everyone going their separate ways, may it be to train or work elsewhere. This season was back in 2015.

By 2016, the eight season would lead to a prequel and by the season finale, we had a glimpse of a possible return of the Fairy Tail Guild.

Fastforward to the end of 2018 and the final ninth season would air in Japan and here we are in August 2020, the final ninth season now being released on Blu-ray courtesy of Funimation.

For Part 23 which features episodes 278-290, this is primarily what fans of the series have been hoping to see. To see Natsu, Lucy and Happy bring the members of the Fairy Tail Guild together.

But they learn it’s not going to be easy because for time has passed, others joined other guilds, others found new careers and started new lives. As for the Fairy Tail Guild master, Makarov Dreyar has been missing for the past year.

Many have questions of why Makarov dissolved the Fairy Tail guild but these answers would lead to the final arc known as the Alvarez Arc. The introduction oft he Alvarez Empire, a military superpower on the western continent of Alakitasia that intends to obtain the Lumen Histoire by invading Ishgar. So powerful, they also have 12 powerful and elite wizards known as Spriggan 12.

And when words gets out that Makarov was taken hostage by the Alvarez Empire while trying to negotiate peace, those who are willing to reunite and become the new Fairy Tail Guild led by Erza plan to infiltrate the empire and rescue Makarov but when the guild finds out who is leading Alvarez Empire, will shock them to their very core!

Overall, Fairy Tail Final Season Part 23″ is an action-packed storyline that features the return of the Fairy Tail guild over a year later and seeing what life each member has lived. But most of all, preparing for their most challenging mission, to rescue their master from the powerful Alvarez Empire!

If you have watched “Fairy Tail” and supported the anime series this far, the final ninth season is recommended!

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