Summary Key Points:

[spoiler]

• Juvia is able to defeat Meldy by channeling both their feelings of love back into her
• Gray meets with Ultear
• Ultear claims that she is following the will of her mother
• Erza, while searching for Wendy and the rest, runs into none other than Azuma.
• Natsu and the rest begin to head over the camp
• Back at the camp, Rusty Rose appears, as Lisanna, Levy and Panther Lily prepare to battle
• Natsu and co, on their way to the camp, run into none other than Blue note.
• As Bluenote uses his Gravity powers to begin to crush them, he announces that he is only interested in the grave of Mavis, the first Fairy Tail Guildmaster
• Cana finally reaches the grave of Mavis, only to see it glowing.

[/spoiler]

Opinions: (A)

And there we have it! The last episode of the year. Things definitely felt like they were going onwards towards the next stage now, with some battle concluding and others about to begin. The war between Grimoire Heart and Fairy Tail rages on, with a potential end in sight?

Juvia and the power of love conquer all!

We actually picked up right where we left off last episode and dove right into the Juvia vs Meldy battle. I gotta say, I liked the resolution to the fight. Juvia used her and her opponents feelings of love for the people they cared about to defeat her and knocked them both out. If there’s one thing Juvia has probably mastered at this point, its loving someone earnestly and honestly. It really makes me root for Gray x Juvia XD

The little flashback towards Ultear was insightful, but also quite confusing. From what the series has shown us thus far, Ultear is one messed up chick. I don’t even have to go very far back, as just a few episodes ago she was creeping all over Zeref. Considering all of that, the flashback truly confuses as it almost makes Ultear look like a good person. Further confusing us was her whole exchange with Gray. The fact that Ultear was being so damn reasonable and noble, only goes on to convince me that its all an act and a mind game on Gray.

Ultear being honest? Or Messing with Gray?

I’m fairly sure that Ultear’s whole “I’m carrying out my mother’s will” is either her own twisted fantasy, or an attempt to mind rape Gray. Either way, we’ll be seeing Gray break through this and get to the truth in another episode, as there were other interesting things waiting to happen.

We also have Erza prancing around in her swimsuit this episode and running into Azuma. I’m curious to see whether Erza can hold her own against Azuma or not.

Also kind of following a trend from this arc, this episode made it really dire for Fairy Tail once again, as they went from “we might have a chance” to the “we’re in the worst possible situation”. Firstly, we had the Fairy Tail camp attacked by Rusty Rose. Now, given that all they have are a severely depleted three mages and three injured, that doesn’t bode well for them.

I don’t doubt that Lisanna, Levy and Lily can handle Rusty Rose in their curreent state. Lisanna turns her hope to Natsu, hoping that they can hold out until he gets there.

Of course, Natsu has his own problems to deal with, as he runs into none other than Bluenote. Talk about horrible horrible luck. As expected, Natsu and the rest are effectively rendered powerless as Bluenote unleashes his power. Bluenot has one fearsome ability, as he can freely control gravity., It is kind of funny that the rain is so concentrated on him until he decides to push it away. At  the same time, I have no idea what Natsu can do against this guy. Unless Gildarts makes a return,  I can’t see anyone being able to do much against this guy.

On a side note, it is quite interesting that Bluenote is actually interested in Mavis’s Grave. Could he too have some manner of a relation to Mavis’s grave? Or does the grave hold some manner of significance? Maybe the grave can give some form of power up to those who are deemed worthy. It would explain why Makarov wanted everyone to find it. There could be some other significance though as well, because I just can’t bear to think that the selfish Cana is going to get a power up for ignoring her friends and finding the grave.

Oh yeah… Cana finally reached the grave,  and we also got her big reason. She wanted to meet her DAD? Really? Big  whoop. Natsu has pretty much the same end goal in mind, but I’ve never seen him abandon his friends for the fact of meeting a loved one. This just further cements my hate for Cana, and I just really hope the grave obliterates her.

The grave is glowing though, so its a surefire that something is going to happen. What though? We’ll be waiting 2 weeks before we get an answer to that, as Fairy Tail will not be airing next week. Fear not though! As some people have pointed in the comments, we’ll be getting a new OP/ED set after the 1 week break.

Preview:

We finally get to the whole deal with the Grave, and see what relation Bluenote has to it. We might also dive into Cana’s past, but who cares? Oh also, Gray might get more insight into Ul and Ultear’s relationship. See ya all in two weeks! XD

• http://www.knux-the-killer.deviantart.com Ana

  I wil read your review tomorrow after returning home, I actually come to make a single wish: EVERYONE FROM ANIME EVO, I WISH YOU ALL A MERRY CHRISTMAS!

  And now a little song to give some spirit:

  JINGLE BELLS, NATSU SMELLS,
  HAPPY LAID AN EGG!
  ERZA SAYS: JELLAL STINKS,
  AND I SAY: OH HEY!!!

• setsuken

  Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you too! =D

• Ian

  Does Gray seem like the kind of person who would be suckered easily by someone? I’d bet the only reason Gray would listen to what Ultear says is because Ul is involved. And we all know that he’d never let ANYONE take his teacher’s name lightly. Not to mention that, if we consider the hints to their relationship, Ultear doesn’t seem to think too highly of her mom. I think it’s a safe bet that Ultear is just trying to pull Gray’s strings.

  All things considered, I was kind of hoping for a better look at Bluenote, considering that gravity-induced torrential downpour that I am very reluctant to associate with rain. I mean, I suppose it’s nice that he can be seen clearly in the next episode preview, but still, to think I have to wait for not one, but two weeks to actually get a satisfying look.

  Yes, I’m sure you know that the anime studio/TV station or something is taking next Friday off, which means that any further developments regarding Cana’s punishment would also be postponed. Still, I have this nagging feeling that Cana will be a bit too easily forgiven for her actions, especially by Lucy, who is evidently the only one who understands her situation (and yes, I shouldn’t have to say that nothing, not even daddy issues, can excuse Cana’s recent behavior). Even so, she should at least go through one or two major rough experiences to make her realize just how stupid and selfish she’s been behaving, because she clearly seems far too distracted to notice the consequences of her actions.

• setsuken

  I think whenever it comes to Ul, Gray kind loses his composure. It happened in the Deliora Arc, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he was strung along by Ultear for a while before he figures it out. Everyone has that one thing that makes them emotional. For Gray, its anything related to his former mentor and teacher.

  I agree that Bluenote wasn’t shown properly, which really didn’t make sense because at this point, we’ve kinda already seen him in action. *shrug*

  Yeah I guess we’ll have to wait 2 weeks before we see Bluenote properly. I so cannot wait for Cana to get her just deserts. XD

• Ian

  But don’t forget, the Deliora arc gave Gray closure over Ul, allowing him to come to terms with her death (or so to speak). I just have these doubts that Gray would remain bound to Ul’s ghost (like Lyon, though probably to a lesser degree), no matter how much he respects her; it’s just unclear because it’s been so long since Ul was brought up so prominently. But there’s no doubt that in the likely event that Ultear’s trying to pull Gray’s strings, that may be exactly what she thinks he’d act.

• FlareKnight

  It was a good win for Juvia. She had no choice to damage herself to avoid an instant K-O(which I thought made sense from Meldy’s perspective). The winning attack of using her feelings and love was a great move. Through the series she has shown her passion and emotions. I wouldn’t mind GrayxJuvia, but that’s up to Gray. If he doesn’t have those feelings for Juvia not much is going to happen there.

  There is no doubt in my mind that Ultear is full of it. This is the woman who brainwashed Jellal and turned him into a monster. The woman who wanted to use Deliora, the same creature that her mother sacrificed herself to stop. The woman who had nothing good to say to Jellal about her mother after that mission failed. There is no doubt in my mind she is messing with Gray. My best is that she’s used a lot of magic fighting Zeref and Natsu, so she doesn’t want to use even more fighting Gray. If she can lower his guard or make him leave her be then that would be for the best. She might have had some hope if she didn’t say this was Ul’s wish. Gray would know better than anyone how garbage that line is. Someone who would sacrifice their body to seal Gray’s darkness would never do something like this.

  The other situations are pretty bad. Natsu and company are just going to get beat up until Gildarts (he has to be coming) arrives to take on this fight. The real scary thing though is that Lucy does know where the grave is and if that guy realizes it…Now Levy’s group is also in a bad situation. They are tired and up against a serious monster. Hate to say it, but Elfman and Gajeel seriously need to wake up.

  Now I’m not worried about Erza. She is one of the strongest in Fairy Tail and only really had to beat up on Juvia and Lisanna up to now. It’s fitting as Mirajane’s rival in the past that she takes up this opponent. Erza is as good as they come so if anyone can take on this guy it’s her.

  Yeah if Cana gets some kind of power-up via abandoning her friends I will smack my head into a wall. If that’s a good thing then everyone should have bowed down and made Laxus the leader after the battle of fairy tail. He’s obviously gone through development now, but back then he wasn’t ready for it.

  Here comes the Cana sympathy arc. Forgive me for not looking forward to this nonsense at all. She better be punished for this or bleh.

• setsuken

  Totally agreed as far as Juvia goes. I do think its a bit sad that Gray doesn’t seem to notice or care about Juvia, but that seems to be the general case with people in this show. I guess its a thing about Shounen shows in general, but in a show like Fairy Tail where feelings and caring for someone takes so much of the spot light, it’d be nice to see it get some resolution as well.

  That is true. I totally forgot about Ultear’s previous schemes. Excellent point that she’s already manipulated Jellal, so its no surprise that she’d try the same with Gray. I guess the flashback just really threw me off XD

  As long as Lucy doesn’t leave some sort of hint, I doubt Bluenote will get the location anytime soon. Although you never know, since the Grave is glowing, he might be able to detect it somehow.

  I’m not sure if Elfman or Gajeel would be enough to take down Rusty Rose, their abilites don’t seem like they’d lend themselves well to defeat RustyRose. Elfman’s already lost once to the guy afterall.

  I doubt that any sort of bad past can truly convince me that Cana is forgivable.

• FlareKnight

  For some reason the Ultear schemes just stuck in my mind. Maybe since I rewatch some episodes since they are pretty enjoyable XD. But yeah it’s not hard to think she’s trying to manipulate Gray when you remember all that. The flashbacks certainly could be tricky, but one just has to remember she’s an expert manipulator.

  I agree it wouldn’t seem like Elfman and Gajeel would be the perfect counter to Rusty Rose, but short of some miracle showing up to save them I’m reaching. Sure if Gildarts comes back you could stretch it and say Freed and Bickslow will come back too. But really Elfman could at least counter that arm and Gajeel fight with his cat could be an insane combination XD.

  I’m with you on Cana. It’s just not possible in my mind to redeem her character. They’ll try, but probably won’t work.

• HappyNatsu

  Cana never exactly “abandoned” her friends anyway… She abandoned one and she didn’t even entirely abandon that one ._.

• setsuken

  I guess it depends on your point of view. From my point of view, Cana put her own selfish desires above and beyond the fact that Fairy Tail was under attack from enemies. In a sense, she did abandon her friends, and the guild itself, in favor of just becoming an S Class Mage.

  If you look at Natsu, in contrast, even before they found out that they were under attack, he rushed to save Elfman and Evergreen from Zeref’s attack waay back in the near start of this arc.

• FlareKnight

  I can’t really agree with that perspective. She completely abandoned Lucy. Hoping that no one would find her while Grimoire Heart, a huge dark guild that is swarming their island. That was simply stupid and irresponsible. Not to mention by extension leaving the guild to fight by itself while she went off to achieve her personal goals. Maybe she didn’t say “forget you guys” but her actions speak for themselves.

  Just makes me think back to the Phantom arc. Erza herself saying they would rather die than abandon a comrade. Cana did exactly that for the sake of her goals. It’s just something to note because she abandoned the one person who cares as much about the guild and her friends as anyone.

  More than one way to view something though. Just my feelings on it.

• HappyNatsu

  She didn’t entirely ditch Lucy >:o. She also thought they could take care of it themselves anyway ._.

• Ian

  The problem isn’t just her leaving Lucy’s side, but also her being more concerned with personal issues than her friends’ wellbeing. She knew there were enemies that would take an extreme effort in defeating, especially one-on-one, but she still set out on her own. Since she felt it more important to finish the test first, she could have at least persuaded Lucy to come with her. In fact, they were right in the middle of talking about where the grave was, and Lucy probably might have gone with Cana, but she instead knocked her out and set off on her own. As a result, Lucy probably would have been killed by Kain Hikaru if not for Natsu’s appearance.

• Ana

  Hello!
  Sorry I totally forgot about this. I give a good look for this site and now seems like got sections for the manga Naruto and Bleach. I’m following both of them (I only read these and Fairy Tail, being the last one of course my favorite) so I already left my feedback about them. They aren’t pretty for good reasons.

  ANY-WAY!

  Juvia is teh best, don’t ya think? Man, eta girl. She owned a GH member in her own way and she didn’t irritate me like usually female characters do! She is a champ.
  As said before, I don’t rot for any shipping couples, but surely I’m willing for Juvia get the happiness that she desires. Never a fangirl was been so reasonable, XD

  Swimsuits and naked chests fanservice. I didn’t mind the last one from Azuma, lol. He is not THAT bad for looks, despite that I still think that Sieghart’s “descendents” are the most handsome…..as long they don’t end as skeletons

  Talking about looks, did you saw Bluenote? Man, he. Is. So. FUGLY!!!!! ARGH, I remember the first time that I took a full view of his face. HE IS SO FUCKING CREEPY!!!!
  And no matter how much I want to see Natsu and Lucy kissing the ground (oh wait, they are basically doing that now, lol) I want someone to kick his fugly mug now.

  So seems this is my final comment for 2011. Man, surely feels strange.
  Have a good entrance to 2012!