Fairy Tail Seasons 4 & 5 Review

*Disclaimer: I originally thought that this was actually Season 3, but it's really the fourth and seasons. So if I mention them together, than that's why. Some of the wikis listed it wrong, my bad.*

You know last week, before I re-watched the second arc of this season, I strongly felt that this season was the mirror of last season: where Season 2 was slow and then awesome, I felt Season 3 was awesome then slow. But, then I watched from where the Key to the Starry Heavens arc starts, and, you know what, it was actually a little better than I thought it was. I still stand by my argument of it being the standard Fairy Tail formula of lose-win-lose-win but, hey, the action was actually kind of awesome this time around thanks to some newer magic and returning characters that would not usually be sorely missed but used in this circumstance are pretty cool.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Key to the Starry Heavens arc is the second arc of the season, meanwhile Tenrou Island and the S Class Trials are the first arc, and it's one of the most memorable arcs in the show. It's my second favorite, behind Edolas, but in terms of action it's probably one of the best. All kinds of wizards and, at it's core, it's the greatest Wizards Guild versus the strongest Dark Wizards Guild.

I can honestly say that the build up to the Tenrou Island arc is nothing compared to what goes down. Sure, we have some interesting premises. The S-Class wizards get to choose one partner from the guild and then they move onto the Trial, in which they get to either face a challenge, another S-Class wizard (so Erza, Lisanna, or Gildarts), or get a free-be. After that is the quest for a mythical spell that confirms one as an S-Class Wizard. Basically, the strongest wizards in Fairy Tail are all locked on one island doing shenanigans.

AND THEN NATSU VERSUS GILDARTS.

What.

The arc really heats up when it turns out that Grimoire Heart has uncovered a powerful secret regarding the strongest Dark Wizard ever, Zeref--that being that he is on the island and if they can capture him and unlock his power, it's pretty much game over for the world. Natsu can't even get a single shot in on him, and almost dies when he flicks his magic wrist. Some of the Fairy Tail wizards don't discover Zeref's location until the end but Grimoire Heart still brings it on, just trying to eliminate the guild and make their case for the strongest guild in all the land.

Normally, with a premise like this, you wouldn't really have much besides a fight for survival between the good and the very bad. Luckily, Fairy Tail brings it in terms of character and mood.

We learn a lot about several characters, even the ones from Grimoire Heart. We learn about the relationship between Master Hades and Makarov, we learn about another celestial spirit related to Lucy, we get some history (true or not...you gotta watch) with Ultear regarding her relationship with her mother, who was also Gray's master, and even get to see Gildarts in on the action. Speaking of which, there's a rather startling secret revealed about Cana, as well, who undergoes a major character change as we see her morph from the little girl at the bar to a powerful S-Class potential wizard.

The tone of this arc is also pretty intense, set by the surprise attack by Grimoire Heart. These guys are out for the kill and it shows, pulling cheap shots left and right on the wizards of Fairy Tail. To them, Fairy Tail is essentially the final roadblock in their way, so with them gone, it's all darkness. As they fight Fairy Tail, too, they make attempts to kidnap Zeref and use his power. Of course, though, what's a Fairy Tail battle without the Magic Council wanting to blow everything up, so it really becomes something of a race against time to defeat Grimoire Heart and call off the Etherion Blast (that we saw back in Season 1 at the Tower of Heaven...good times, and Zeref stuff too!).

What sets this arc apart is the way that it bounces back between battles but never seems like it's forgetting about other characters. The show is smart in that way. One battle is going to affect the other. While Natsu is fighting someone he may come across a battle Lucy is fighting and intervene. Juvia and Merudy's battle affects Gray, who is away from them. Each battle has something to do with the characters that are in play and it really goes to show how much that helps the arc out.

Plus I think that, overall, this has some of the best action sequences of the show, as we have the culmination of various magic abilities we've seen but now mixed in with the ever-growing arsenal of magic the Fairy Tail wizards have gained. It never gets repetitive and the show does a great job of making it feel fresh. Not only that, but you really feel the strength of the wizards in this arc. You know that Gildarts is the strongest wizard as he is able to take on a wizard that the others could hardly stand up to. The final showdown that pits Fairy Tail's Strongest Team against Master Hades is executed masterfully. Not only that, but all the other fights show what happens when Fairy Tail gets backed into a corner and how powerful they can be.

Moving onto the next arc, though, we get a weaker arc, yes, but not something to turn the other cheek to. Yes, it does feel like filler at parts but like most anime the good filler is going to be really good. I mean, how could you not be excited for the return of the Oracion Seis?

The second arc revolves around a certain item that Lucy gets after a visit from a long-lost cousin, Michelle Lobster, arrives at the guild hall to give it to her as a memento for her father. The journey from there turns out to revolve around a fairy tale (ha, get it?) about a clock that could bring chaos to all the land. This is literally a race against time as the Fairy Tail wizards have a showdown against two other teams, the Legion and the Oracion Seis, to collect the clock pieces and make sure chaos does not reign.

This premise was cool and I'll say that this arc does contain a lot more humor than the previous one just because it isn't so battle-heavy and it feels that Fairy Tail is digging back to its roots, but in that regard it feels that it digs too deep. There isn't too much characterization for our wizards and while some characters from the Legion Platoon get development, you know that they aren't going to be the biggest of players as the show moves on. Although it is cool to finally see the Earthland versions of characters that seemed exclusive to Edolas...if that sentence makes any sense.

The problem, as I've said, is that the fighting gets repetitive. Fairy Tail gets beat, then they get up and win or at least put up a fight, then the real enemy shows up and they start losing again only for them to rally together with seemingly no magic energy and hooray, they win. This works perfectly for this arc because there are two other teams to see but, I mean, repetitive is repetitive. I don't know how they could've, but I wish they would have changed it up a bit. Reintroducing the Oracion Seis was a big move and one that was rather nostalgic, at least for me. However it felt like they were overshadowed by the mediocrity of the arc.

Not to say it was bad, but, you'll remember the Key to the Starry Heavens arc because it feels like filler, from start to finish. Filler to what? Well filler to what some say is the best thing to happen to Fairy Tail since it started but I can't attest to that since I haven't seen the fourth and fifth season so...

But I can attest to Key to the Starry Heavens feeling like mostly wasted potential. Our characters were just there and it there really isn't anything behind this arc emotionally. Yeah, of course, there are some pretty powerful moments going on but nothing major until the end when it sort of hits home but you really get the feeling you know what's going to happen. At least they introduced a ton more Gildarts, but it was at the expense of my girl Cana sadly...

Oh well, no show is perfect. This season didn't turn out to be the mirror of Season 2 I expected but it was fairly close to that representation. Tenrou Island and the S-Class Trials is an epic arc filled with great moments that really culminate what we've seen of Fairy Tail so far, as it brings together the growing Zeref plot thread mixed with the small Ultear cameos we'd been seeing every now and then. Sadly, Key to the Starry Heavens was just there as filler to remind us of what our characters were like and that the Oracion Seis is still really awesome.

But that brings me to the end of my Fairy Tail show reviews, as I'm going to start watching Season 4 when the English Dub is fully released (because that's how I like it and haters are gonna hate undoubtedly), which should be early next year. However, I'm not going to leave the month of September hanging. Next week, we finish off our Fairy Tail fun with the movie: Fairy Tail the Movie: Phoenix Priestess!