It’s shadow vs. shadow and no one knows what’s gonna happen.
What They Say:
“Extreme Lightning!”
The end of the Grand Magic Games is near, and only the strongest wizards remain in the final battle. But Gajeel has become a new form to battle an unknown shadowy evil! With her wounded leg, Erza can barely fight against the deadly Minerva! And Laxus is up against possibly the most powerful wizard of all: Jura of the Ten Wizard Saints!
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The episode ends where I would really like it to begin, but that’s fine I guess. I’ll wait until next week for the battle of a lifetime. The problem is that they build the battle up and then probably won’t give it its just deserts. These fights have been moving at a breakneck pace and it makes you appreciate the pacing of something like Marineford, possibly the greatest shonen battle in history. But these fights are being almost glossed over. It’s a shame.
But even though some fights are being gunned through, they’re still adding things. I’ve read the manga, but it’s been a while, so I don’t recall if the Garou Knights come back after they’re defeated the first time. I’m leaning toward no, so I wonder why they brought them back at all except for filler. In fact, everything that’s happening with the rescue team right now feels very filler, regardless of whether it was in the manga or not. It’s pushing forward nothing and is literally stalling for time. It wastes perhaps five minutes in the episode.
When Fairy Tail is on, though, it’s on. Gajeel’s fight against Rogue ALMOST gets there, but it’s missing a crucial part of a lot of the best Fairy Tail battles. Gajeel is never really the underdog. When Rogue activates his evil shadow power, Gajeel comes right back with sucking up the shadows to become the Iron Shadow Dragon. There’s no moment of him being beat up, which is something One Piece always takes the time to do no matter how strong these characters are perceived in our eyes.
Look back to the fight against Phantom Lord when they fire the big blast thing at Fairy Tail. Erza, touted as the strongest in the guild at the time, stops the blast but at huge cost. Her armor is destroyed and she’s beaten down herself. It’s up to the rest of Fairy Tail to save the day and they do, but there’s no moment of Erza in this fight.
There is, however, in Laxus’s fight against Jura. First, Jura pounds Orga into the ground AND THEN pounds Laxus into the ground. Only Laxus doesn’t stay down. Not only is he up against the fifth strongest in the 10 Wizard Saints, but he beat someone as strong as Orga, who we saw on the first day beat Warcry very easily. These are the moments I long for.
In Summary:
The Grand Magic Games started in the middle with this second series, but it feels like it’s just beginning with how few episodes we’ve had to cover such a big span of time. I mean, 13 episodes to cover less than half the Games seems like too much, yet everything still feels rushed through. The first part of the Games felt much better paced given that the anime was catching up to the manga at a frightening pace. Yet there’s something off about this season compared to the last in pacing despite them using filler methods to pad the episode. Perhaps one day, I will be fully sated by an episode of this season.
Grade: B
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Equipment: Radeon 7850, 24” Dell UltraSharp U2410 set at 1920 x 1200, Creative GigaWorks T20 Series II
The Garou Knights did return in manga too, but the anime expanded on their actions a little once again. I really wonder why they don’t do the same with the main fights at GMG.