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PT KONTAK PERKASA FUTURES - There's been a bunch of excitement surrounding Hiro Mashima's Fairy Tail manga
lately, mostly due to it coming to an end. While that's no doubt a
bittersweet moment for long-time fans of the series, thankfully it's not
the only content to look forward to. In addition to a final season
that's set to arrive in 2018, we have this week's U.S. theatrical debut
of anime film Fairy Tail: Dragon Cry, a feature that happily welcomes both fans and newcomers to the fold.
As for myself, while I'm not a newcomer, I wouldn't call myself a diehard fan. I've read maybe a volume or two of Fairy Tail,
and I've seen about 20 episodes of the first TV anime. Thus, I thought I
would be the perfect gauge for just how welcoming a film Dragon Cry is, and I didn't find myself disappointed in the results of the experiment.
While it certainly helps to know the characters—including
protagonist Natsu Dragneel and the rest of the principal members of the
Fairy Tail wizard guild—it's not really required. Fans will appreciate a
few in-jokes, and they'll get more out of the character interactions
and some of the reveals that fall closer to the end of the movie, but
the rest is as straightforward as can be.
This is largely thanks to the simplicity of its story,
which sets up the titular MacGuffin in the first few minutes. The Dragon
Cry is a mystical staff with immense power, and it could wipe out
entire kingdoms in the wrong hands, or even in the right ones!
Naturally, it falls in the wrong hands pretty much right away, as black
magic practitioner Zash steals it from the kingdom of Fiore, with plans
to deliver it to the kingdom of Stella for darker purposes. Fiore hires
Natsu and the gang to retrieve the staff by any means necessary, but you
know it's not going to be as easy as all that.
Dragon Cry runs through this story at a brisk
pace, as Natsu, Lucy, Gray, Erza, and Happy get their hands on the staff
and lose it again in no time flat. You see, Zash is a pretty imposing
villain. He has the ability to take control of people's actions, bending
them to his will, and even forcing them to kill one another if he so
desires. He's also got a nasty crew of his own on his side, and most of
the runtime is devoted to pitting each member of Fairy Tail against a
suitable rival.
That's great news for anyone who was hoping for a more-or-less straight-up Fairy Tail action
flick. Everyone gets at least one scene to shine in full, with a little
extra devoted to Natsu and his explosive firepower. Gray and Erza both
have pretty cool fights, as well, even if it seems as if Erza is
essentially fighting herself. I won't get into the details, but beyond
that the story ultimately does tie back into the greater lore of the
series. The climax falls into a plot device we've seen in countless
franchise anime films before, but the journey there is enjoyable enough.
The animation throughout that journey has its peaks and
valleys, and you might find it dipping deeper into the latter category
at times, at least as far as major shounen anime films are concerned.
The action is solidly choreographed and executed for the most part, with
the occasional awkward sequence peppered in here and there. In a
not-so-surprising move, some of the best animation in the entire movie
just so happens to coincide with Lucy dancing in a bikini to distract
Zash. She rocks a Slave Leia-tier outfit like she was born to wear it,
and it's clear the staff had a lot of fun bringing this particular
moment to life.
Don't worry, there's man-service, too, and Fairy Tail fans will be able to guess exactly who's at the center of it.
If you're interested in seeing Fairy Tail: Dragon Cry,
you probably know what you're getting into, and you aren't likely to be
disappointed. It's a fun and fast feature, and the English dub—which is
the version I watched—suits the tone of Fairy Tail nicely.
Just don't go in expecting animation on par with some of the other anime
films that have been making their way to theaters in the past year or
two. In that regard it's more along the lines of Digimon Adventure tri. than, say, One Piece Film Gold.
Source : otakuusamagazine.com