Summary Key Points:

[spoiler]

• While looking for a job, natsu stumbles on a wanted poster of “Velveno”
• Lucy looks at the price of the bounty, and suggests they take it
• The culprit is rumoured to appear at the magical ball, that happens once every 7 years, according to Macao
• Lucy realizes that they will need to dance to attend the ball, and attempts to teach Natsu how to dance
• Before they can make any real progress, everyone else joins in on the fun and everything goes crazy
• At the house of the client, Count Balsamico, they find out that velveno is actually after a jewel that the Count wants his daughter;s husband to present to his daughter at the ball later that day
• It seems the Ball is to decide the husband of count’s daughter, Aceto
• Velveno previously tried to steal the jewel ring 7 years ago, but failed.
• Natsu and the rest cruise the party that night, looking for Velveno, but with little luck
• Velveno reveals himself, and has copied all their powers. He is able to keep everyone away using their own powers against them
• Velveno stops the  fighting and reveals his true intent, to propose to Aceto, his childhood friend
• Aceto accepts, much to everyone’s shock, and Velveno leaves after they are engaged, to pay for his crimes.
• Everyone decides to dance the night away in honor of Aceto’s recent engagement
• As Lucy hopes for a day when someone proposes to her in such a way, Natsu appears
• Much unlike what Lucy was probably hoping for, natsu reveals that he is full and will now leave
• Lucy grabs him by the arm anyway, and with a smile, begins dancing with him
• The episode ends with natsu about to throw up XD

[/spoiler]

Opinions: (A)

Now this is how you do a filler episode! With the recent knowledge that the Anime had all but caught up to the manga, it seemed like Fairy Tail  would be taking on quite a few filler episodes before we resumed the manga’s canon story. This fact seemed to worry many fans of the series, myself among them. Of course if this episode is any indication of what’s to come from this latest string of fillers, I’d say that we’re in for a very pleasant and extremely laughter filled ride.

In many ways, this episode represents everything I’d want from a filler. It doesn’t take itself seriously, and instead develops the series characters in ways that the main story can’t, and provides some awesome laughs along the way. Added to that, we also get some awesome romance/couple moments littered throughout this episode, which is just gratifying to fans of the various couples in this series.

Here's your ring back. Please MARRY ME! :O

I will say, that despite the very awesome character moments, the story was kind of predictable. I figured half way through, when we heard about the ring and Count Balcamiso’s announcement that Velveno had already tried to steal the ring once before, that it was going towards an end where the theif guy would be in love with the daughter (Aceto).

It was pretty obvious, yet I really didn’t care. This episode really showed us a fun side of Fairy Tail that we haven’t seen since the very early episodes of the series. Sometimes, when Fairy Tail isn’t dealing with the next world ending crisis, they get to goof around, have fun and be crazy.

So with that said, I’ll outline all the awesome moments of the episode!

First lets get down to the Natsu x Lucy moments.

First with Lucy trying to teach Natsu how to dance, was exceedingly funny, especially since everyone else seemed to want to join in on the fun. It was friggin hilarious seeing Gray and Erza really try to weasel their way into the fun.

And then of course, we have Juvia’s completely normal reaction:

I like Juvia’s new approach, which is, to join in his stripping habit. Granted, Juvia’s wearing a bit too much as is, so taking off her coat isn’t too bad. But yes! Juvia will strip to win Gray-sama’s heart! XD

We also got an interesting development of seeing Warren and Wendy. I think I totally lost any prior hints of this, I don’t think Warren was a younger character when Wendy appeared. Was he though? And has now recently matured over the 7 year gap?

I mean, I guess he’s older than Wendy now that 7 years have passed, but it seems he’s like Wendy from before. Either way, its a bit creepy, but eh, I’m not opposed to the idea of Wendy being liked by someone. Its even more angst and drama ridden when the 7 year gap is essentially killing his chances of being on equal footing with Wendy.

And of course, the uber cute scene between Gajeel and Levy during dance practice:

Tsun! Tsun! The new Tsundere Duo!

A double Tsundere couple? D’awww!!! I never thought something like that could be so cute. I’ve never been fan of many Tsundere characters, as they seem to take the Tsun aspect a bit too far. For those confused, a Tsundere character is one who acts totally different from what they are actually feeling.

It was pretty darn epic to see Gajeel go: “I’m not Dancing”, and then jump at the chance when Levy was asked by her two old guys, who at this point, have been eternally friend-zonned XD

And last but not least, lets give a special shout out to the awesome Happy x Carla moment:

Someone's definitely Happy! ~_^

If these hilarious and couple loving moments weren’t enough, we got some extremely funny moments in the actual ball as well. I was a bit disappointed that Evergreen wasn’t at the ball, while Elfman was. It seemed so much like a missed opportunity to not have that couple in there for some serious comedy, but I guess there was a limit on how many characters could appear in one episode?

That said though, it was pretty funny to see all the Fairy Tail mages get approached by someone at the party, and Carla/Happy/Warren getting suspicious because it seemed so unlikely XD

The only part that was extremely funny and yet not suspicious was the two creepy women grabbing Natsu and Gray for a dance. Its tough when you’re a male stripper and Wild animal eh? XD

The actual magic and battles were pretty “eh?”, although it was interesting seeing how Velveno used everyone’s powers against them. And oh God! THIS:

Wow...Just... Wow... O_o

Yes… I think I’ve developed some permanent trauma for that Armour that Erza has. Do not want to see it again XD

Finally, the ending segment was pretty darn beautiful, and pretty funny too. And of course, we got a shot of everyone else with their chosen people, enjoying a nice dance.

Finally, we had Lucy wishing she was proposed by someone, much like Acceto had been earlier, and then have Natsu walk up, all manly and be like:

“I’m so full I’m gonna go home”. Bwahahaha! Poor Lucy, the guy she’s interested in has no clue whatsoever. Of course, that didn’t stop her from grabbing him for a dance anyway. I find it funny that the episode ended with Natsu losing his Terio spell, and about to throw up.

There’s definitely a lot of stuff that needs to happen before they ever begin to acknowledge their feelings for one another, but I like the gradual developments that  this series has been trickling in. And no, I don’t care if this was a filler, I will be counting every moment in this episode as cannon.

I guess that’s proof enough that this was an episode I immensely enjoyed, and I hope that the rest of the fillers we get are as good as this one!

 OP [??] by +Plus: (A)

Wow, what OP are we on now? 10? I think its a testament to how awesome the sound director for the series is, that we’ve got so many extremely good OP and ED themes over the course of the series. This latest one doesn’t fail to disappoint, and while it’s not my personal favorite, it fits the series extremely well and still feels epic.

I’ve often not liked extremely upbeat OP themes that Fairy Tail has done, and liked more of the epic ones with the crazy intense music, but this latest one really merges the two for something that truly feels like it represents the very essence of the series.

Also, much to my surprise, all the animation in the OP doesn’t seem filler (correct me if I’m wrong here manga readers, but keep spoilers out as much as possible). I definitely can see stuff from next week’s filler, but there’s also stuff about a floating pyramid in the sky and of course, stuff to do with Lucy and her family and keys.

I can’t contain my excitement for what might happen in the next arc, but I’ll control myself and wait till we hit the actual episodes. Until then, let me say that I’m extremely pleased that the whole “Lucy and her mother” issue is going to take front and center next arc.

 ED [Glitter (Starving Trancer Remix) ] by Another Infinity feat. Mayumi Morinaga: (A)

Again, a very solid and awesome ED theme this time. I actually prefer this a bit more to the OP, as it definitely gives this sense of an ending.Its a song by Another Infinity, or at least, the background music is, which definitely feels very much like some of their amazing work in the awesome Inu Yasha (the original series) OST.

I also love the animation as well, which focuses on Lucy again, (we haven’t had a Lucy focused one since the very first one). This one is a lot more serious and seems to clue us on what the new manga story arc will be.

Either way, while I don’t want to speculate too much on what’s in the ED, like I said above, I’m extremely excited to learn more about the whole issue between Lucy and her mother. As well as this other character, that seems to be equally present in the ED.

Preview:

Next week seems to be more about the funny than the romance. And you know what? That sounds awesome to me! XD See you all next week!

Bonus:

As if this post wasn’t long enough, here’s two bonus images:

[spoiler]

[/spoiler]