Anime Review: Fairy Tail Part 15 (Lights, Camera, Action!)

Fairy Tail Part 15 (UK Rating: 12)

No-one would have seen this coming. There's a dark plot to capture Lucy and use her in some nefarious dark magic… It's a plot seen far, far, far too often in Fairy Tail, and in anime in general, with the poor female cast members forced into the "damsel in distress" role. Thankfully, this underpinning story thread doesn't get much screen time in this latest collection. Instead, it's focused on the guilds facing off against each other in the Grand Magic Games. Across the course of these latest episodes, almost every character gets a chance to step into the spotlight and show off their power for a bit. Counterpoint to Lucy once again taking the "damsel in distress" role, Erza gets the "Unbeatable bad-ass" role! Without a doubt, receiving the coolest moments in the collection…

In a game called Pandemonium, a castle filled with monsters is summoned. The players from each guild draw straws to see what order they will enter the castle. Each player upon entering can decide how many monsters to take on at the same time from the total of 100, with point values assigned to each monster based on its strength. If they defeat all the monsters they take on, they get the points and then go back in the queue for the next player to have their turn. Erza draws a straw to play first and makes a choice fitting of her ability and her guild.

Other girls get a chance to show off here, too. After the God Slayer Zancrow showed in the previous arc of Tenrou that there is another type of magic that rivals the power of Dragon Slayer magic, it's been obvious more users of this magic would be making an appearance at some point. Now, one has burst onto the scene and her Sky God Killer magic makes for a dramatic match up faced off against Wendy's Sky Dragon magic.

There are plenty of fantastic events, not just the battles, all of which culminate in a showdown between different generations of Dragon Slayers: Iron and Fire against White and Shadow. This isn't just a collection to showcase battles and combat, though, as there are some major story developments here, too. Raven Tail finally shows its true colours and reveals to Luxus just what it is after. The underlying story of needing Lucy or rather just a celestial wizard is giving further explanation. The new top guild Sabertooth is revealed to be a very different guild to the fun loving Fairy Tail, and a brief glimpse is given into its ace members, the White and Dark Dragon Slayers. Even the true identity of the Bunny is revealed and it's a reveal that no-one could have predicted!

7/10

Very Good - Bronze Award

Fairy Tail Part 15 is a highly enjoyable set of episodes here shows why tournament arcs are such a staple part of Shonen series. Instead of just a series of straight up one-on-one battles, these numerous different events make for much more fun and entertaining moments. The Grand Magic Games has moved on a great deal over the course of this collection, both in the matches and rankings of the individual teams and the underlying story threads running beneath. With the next collection, the games will reach their big finale, and there are sure to be fireworks.