Anime Review: Fairy Tail Part 20

Fairy Tail Part 20 (UK Rating: 12)

The story picks up some time after the Grand Magic Games, and Fairy Tail is once again a renowned guild in Fiore and there are tons of jobs queuing up for the wizards to take on. There's no chance for the heroes of Natsu, Grey, Lucy, Wendy, and Erza to take on the pile of requests; however, they have got a special request for them. The request comes from Warrod Sequen, one of the Ten Wizard Saints and also one of the four Emperors of Ishtar, making him one of the most powerful and respected mages in the world. He has asked for Grey and Natsu, specifically. He has a specific problem that the two of them together seem the ideal fit for, not to mention he has a special history with the guild.

The quest he bestows on the team is to investigate a village of giants known as the Village of the Sun - somehow the entire place has become covered with a strange magical ice. Warrod hopes that between Natsu's flame and Grey's ice powers, they will be able to melt the ice and restore the village's guardian, "The Sacred Flame." Lucy, Wendy, and Erza tag along and the team is rounded out by a familiar red-headed psychopath. Raven Tail's Flare Corona is still lurking nearby Lucy and heads out on the mission with them, although she has ulterior motives, too.

When the team arrives, Grey has some heartbreaking reminders of his troubled past - not just of losing his master so long ago, but also the recent events where another sacrificed their life for him to live on. Melting ice should be no problem for Natsu but he can't scratch it and Grey feels a dark nature to the ice stopping him from manipulating it. Worse yet, Fairy Tail isn't the only one investigating the Village of the Sun - there's a guild of non-mage treasure hunters, known as Sylph Labyrinth, looking to steal the sacred flame. Not to mention a dark face appears with a new guild, too. Minerva, who once twisted the ambitions of Sabretooth, hardly fit in with the guild now that it has been rehabilitated. She's joined the dark guild of Succubus Eye, planning to build it up under her boot, and her first mission with the guild puts her face-to-face with the woman she blames, Erza.

The Village of the Sun arc is only seven episodes, so it's all wrapped up in the first disc of this collection. It's a nice short story that helps introduce some major new story elements and sets up the next arc, the huge Tartaros arc. This arc is based around demons and demon slayers. In particular, the titular guild of Tartaros, a group made up of mostly Etherios, demons from the book of Zeref. The remaining episodes in this collection are made up of the prologue to this arc and the first episodes. Tartaros is going big right from the start, targeting the Magical Council who rules the magical world, assassinating members both current and past. Typically, this has some fallout, which threatens the life of a certain respected Fairy and his team.

This release contains the usual English and Japanese dub, and, as usual, the Japanese dub is far superior. There are also the usual bonus features of trailers and text-less videos. There are also, once again, two episode commentaries from the English cast, along with a short seven-minute featurette entitled "Guild Pride: Fairy Tail," which looks at the history of the guild thus far.

7/10

Very Good - Bronze Award

Fairy Tail is finally reaching its highpoints once again, this latest Tartaros arc in Part 20 looks to be filled with promise, introducing some interesting new villains and returning to a darker storyline, whilst also progressing the main story at last. This arc is the 15th arc and covers up to the 50th volume of the manga. That manga concluded with volume 63 and the 17th arc, so the story is really beginning the steps towards its conclusion now.