Fairy Tail Phoenix Priestess (Movie)

U. S. Distributor:FUNimation

U. S. Release Dates: Dec. 10th, 2013

Format: DVD/Blu-ray Combo, 85 minutes

Genre:  Fantasy, Action / Adventure, Shonen

Age Rating: TV14

Overall Personal Rating:B

Synopsis:

The movie opens during a mystical ceremony. Suddenly, it is interrupted by an army, causing a young lady, Eclair,  to escape with a small magical stone and go into hiding. When she first encounters people from the Fairy Tail Guild, she doesn’t remember who she is, but thinks the stone might hold a clue. As Lucy offers friendship, Eclair responds snippy and distant.

The Fairy Tail core group heads off to solve the mystery as fend off those hunting down Eclair.  They end up in the small land of Veronica where the leader, who has the other piece of the stone, intends to offer a human sacrifice in his quest for immortality. But evil is never that easy, there is trouble on the inside and the Fairy Tail members are prepared to fight to the end. If the stones are united, the risen Phoenix will terrorize the world in a fiery rampage.

Commentary:

Fairy Tail Phoenix Priestess was a fun anime break for my week.  The movie opens in a way that instantly piqued my interest, diving right into the story and drama. It is later in the series, so doesn’t exactly stand on its own, but still is a self contained story that I think can be enjoyed by someone who hasn’t seen any of the series. I do wish there was some sort of lead in so that there was an introduction to the world and the characters. I have seen up to part five and this seems to take place even later than this.

There is many strong points that Fairy Tail Phoenix Priestess possesses, just like the series. I enjoy the style of animation, a lot of attention is paid to the colors and environment. The movie is woven with comedic and dramatic moments and spiced up with very creative and well done battle scenes. I can’t forget the really awesome visual effects (especially related to the magic) and great support by the musical soundtrack.

As they traveled, there was a strange bit of some giant monsters for no apparent reason. It doesn’t work into the story and there is no explanation. It seems they were going to make a bit of comedic bonding for the group but ran out of time so they couldn’t finish it but thought it too cool just to edit the whole thing out, or maybe they needed it to make the movie last long enough.

Fairy Tail Phoenix Priestess has costuming and cosplay opportunities for the viewers. I sure hope to see some of it in the 2014 convention season (although I suspect Sword Art Online  and Attack on Titan may be the new trend in costuming).  I can’t mention costumes without commenting on Lucy and her outfit. First, her new outfit is more revealing. Then add to that, her bosom had grown to a distracting size. Finally, there is a shower scene and an unfortunate incident where she spends a fair amount of time running around  in a towel while fighting off the bad guys. The towel must have been a bit magical as it stayed on through incredible and bouncy moves only to have it fall off in front of Natsu and Gray. They get a full frontal view while the viewer gets a robust look at her backside. Did they really need to take it to this level? No. In fact it is a disappointing veer from the Fairy Tail saga that we are used to. Lucy seems to have lost serious value and become a comedic distraction. Hopefully this is all limited to the movie and will not infiltrate the series.

The story had an underlying thread of the value of friendship made clear with the selfish “bad guys” who were all alone in comparison with the Fairy Tail Guild. They were always there for each other and Eclair, as well as their talking animal companions (Happy is not the only one). The ending seemed a bit unique for the series, as it was more heart touching and a little more surprising.

Overall Grade: B

Fairy Tail Phoenix Priestess has all the stuff that makes the series so good with the benefits of a complete story in 85 minutes with a slight foray into the fan service genre.