It’s not often that a Fairy Tail anime Blu-ray comes along that contains zero filler episodes but when one does, it’s glorious. Almost every episode on these two disks contribute to the new ongoing storyline in some way or other and even the four “prologue” episodes, and the episodes before those, feel as connected to the main arc as the official arc chapters themselves.
This new storyline is called, Tartaros, and it refers to the appearance of an incredibly powerful Dark Guild called the Tartaros Guild. Apparently they don’t use magic at all, instead opting to us curses (which totally look and act like magic but totally aren’t). While some characters appear to have heard of this ability, the majority seem shocked that such an alternative even exists and this doesn’t entirely make sense or seem logical due to the sheer number of guild members who have studied so many different kinds of magic, its history, and the very science of the art.
Regardless of how unconvincing and convenient the existence of this ability is, there’s no denying its effectiveness in injecting some drama and mystery into the proceedings. With the Fairy Tail Guild members becoming as powerful as they have in recent episodes, the introduction of protagonists that seem immune to their magic is a great move and forces many characters to think outside of the box. There are similarities here to the appearance of the Yuuzhan Vong in the Star Wars Expanded Universe novels and that’s a good thing. This new storyline could go in any direction, and that’s a good thing.
Blu-ray and Special Features
Fairy Tail Collection 20 contains 12 episodes of the Fairy Tail anime series and all are presented in 1080p with both a 5.1 English and 2.0 Japanese audio option to choose from. Both the visual and audio are fine with no issues to speak of.
In addition to the textless opening and closing credits, there are also two audio commentaries for two episodes and a short featurette about one of the many guilds in the Fairy Tail universe. The featurette is a nice extra that is particularly useful for newer viewers while the two audio commentaries unfortunately sounds more like an overheard random conversation in a bar than a special recording designed to provide insight on a media production. For what it’s worth, the host does continually attempt to steer the two conversations back towards the Fairy Tail anime and working at FUNimation, but the participants are simply too excited to stay focused for long.
Overall
Fairy Tail Collection 20 is a dramatic new start for the anime series that introduces a variety of exciting new characters and concepts. If previous storylines were Harry Potter books One through Three, the Tartaros arc is Goblet of Fire.
Lots of action. Lots of drama. And thankfully no more filler, at least for now.
Zone A Blu-ray/Region 1 DVD Combo Available From: Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / FishPond.com.au
Zone B Blu-ray Available From: FishPond.com.au
Fairy Tail Collection 19 Blu-ray Review
After the overly long Grand Magic Games story arc that lasted several whole volumes, it’s refreshing to see the Eclipsed Celestial Spirit storyline tie itself up in such a relatively short period of time. That’s not to say that these episode don’t contain elements that are unnecessarily stretched out as per typical Fairy Tail fashion, but most of the storyline in general progresses fairly quickly with the different Fairy Tail Guild members recapturing the freed spirits and then confronting the powerful force behind the chaos and impending doom in a speedily fashion.
Unfortunately, the Eclipsed Celestial Spirit arc doesn’t appear to have had any long-term impact on the characters or series as a whole (especially with the frustrating implementation of the predictable amnesia plot device after the arc’s conclusion) but what does work well is the exploration of the Celestial Spirit’s world and the reveal of their actual origins.
The remainder of the episodes in Fairy Tail Collection 19, as many long-term Fairy Tail fans would have predicted after the conclusion of a major storyline, are fillers. As much these stand-alone episodes are loathed by fans though, there are some rather enjoyable fillers here with Episodes 222 (Transform!) and 226 (Fairy Tail of the Dead Meeeeeeeeen) both being thoroughly entertaining highlights with some genuinely laugh-out-loud moments. The short two-parter in Episodes 223 and 224 is also rather fun and a great reminder that the Fairy Tail anime can tell epic action adventures outside of its bigger episodes.
Blu-ray and Special Features
Being such a new anime series, there’s very little to complain about in regards to the presentation of the 13 Fairy Tail episodes on this Blu-ray collection. The image is sharp and colourful while the English 5.1 Dolby TrueHD makes good use of surround with clear dialogue and effects. The Japanese 2.0 stereo audio track is fine but it’s beyond a joke now, that in 2016, so many Japanese production houses still refuse to create a 5.1 audio version for their series. At least they’ve finally moved on from mono.
FUNimation’s release of the Fairy Tail anime series on Blu-ray continues to impress with its special features. In addition to the usual trailers and textless credits, Collection 19 comes with two mini features spotlighting different guilds and audio commentaries for two of the episodes. The guild features provide much-needed information for casual viewers on several supporting characters and, while those characters don’t play any significant role in the episodes on these disks, they do manage to make the expansive world the Fairy Tail anime is set in a lot less intimidating.
The two audio commentaries don’t really provide too much in the way of ground-breaking content. Fans of some of the minor characters will appreciate hearing from the actors behind the anime but, due to the promotional nature of the recordings, the conversations are very content-light with most participants simply raving about how much fun the Fairy Tail anime is for the length of each episode. The inclusion of these commentaries is appreciated though as they add almost an hours’ worth of content to the release that wouldn’t have been included otherwise.
Overall
Fairy Tail Collection 19 offers a good mix of continuing storylines and stand-alone filler episodes that should please fans. The celestial spirits arc may not have had the game-changing ending that many were hoping for but it did provide some more screen time for the celestial spirits, which is always welcome, and managed to involve a lot more of the Fairy Tail Guild in the proceedings than usual.
These episodes of the Fairy Tail anime may feel random and confusing to first-time viewers, but fans of the series will feel right at home with Fairy Tail Collection 19 and will enjoy the extra attention given to fan-favourite characters.
Zone A Blu-ray/Region 1 DVD Combo Available From: Amazon / Amazon.ca / FishPond.com.au
Zone B Blu-ray Available From: FishPond.com.au
Disclosure: The Blu-rays featured in this review are the Zone B Blu-ray releases by Madman. Alternate releases are available in other regions. Review copies were provided by Madman.
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