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welcome ladies and gents to a review that is made based entirely of my own opinion, if you don't like hearing the opinions of others please do move along because this isn't the review for you... but now that i think about it, if that were the case then no reviews would be for you since all reviews has some kind of personal attachment from the person who wrote it. Now let us get started shall we?

So unlike many people here, i didn't watch fairy tail from the beginning, I hadn't even heard of it up until 11 days before the 2014 version was meant ... to air. Intrigued by the premise of the series as well as it's infamous reputation for excessive fan service, i decided to watch the original season and finished it just in time to watch season 02 (2014 version) which i have been watching weekly since then.

now on to the actual review shall we?

the story:

so this is your basic shounen story that has a story but never really sticks to it however there is both good and bad to be found in that. the bad being that it can get tiresome fast if you've seen many shounen anime, it get's repetitive at some points and the often used "nakama power-ups" does kill some of the enjoyment, but in saying that, there is also an upside to this. if you're looking for something that has great comedy (at times), or you want to watch something that will make you want to break whatever viewing method you use to watch anime or even if you just want to be hit in the feels, then fairy tail has it all for you and in droves!! also not forgetting the often used "the girls are hot so lets put them in fan service situations" trope and you're pretty much good to go.

now for those who might say, "well yeah so what? i hate fairy tail because the original story was natsu looking for his father"... uh... yeah NO! fairy tail was meant to chronicle the life and times of lucy heartfelia and her time in fairy tail! I would like to say right now that i believe that at the true end of fairy tail, we're going to find out it was nothing more than lucy reading a penned down version of events that she did after she became an accomplished author, to her daughter (probably named lalya).

but then you might say "well there are other shounen that stick to the plot" well yeah, you can say that! but just as there are anime that stick to it's premise, there are those that don't. like seriously, at least everything that happens in fairy tail is about fairy tail, what about dragonball/z/super? named after the thing that is meant to be it's central plot and was aptly said plot during the first half of dragonball but then became nothing but a trope to raise the dead in later episodes/seasons.

moving on...

so the arcs withing 2014 were a hit and miss with some people. for example, i liked most of the celestial spirits filler arc while many didn't. likewise other people felt the same about the other arcs. what the arcs do present though are a little backstory to some characters, a little fleshing out of some characters as well as an emotional hit through nostalgia

[spoiler]testing testing, did this spoiler work?

i hate doing reviews of series that are ongoing, you know why? because people complain about shit that didn't happen at the time that happened later on in said series. and if it's the reason they scored it low, even more so to avoid said reviews until it's updated after completion. --> many complained about natsu losing his way about finding his father, well news flash and massive SPOILER, NATSU FINDS IGNEEL TOWARDS THE LATER PART OF FAIRY TAIL 2014[/spoiler]

and now the characters:

i will not explain a lot here, why? because 2014 is not a reboot, it's a continuation of where the 2009 version stopped before it went on hiatus during the grand magic games arc, which means if you're reading this review, you've already watched the first 175 episodes and are considering whether or not to follow up by watching the 2014 variant. With that being the case, you already know everything you need to know about the characters by now and if you don't, what were you paying attention too? there's no characters introduced in the 2014 version that are of any relevance and those that are were here prior to the 2014 airing.

now the art:

one thing people complained about a lot was the new art style, it lacked colours (it was visually dark) and the characters don't look as good as they did before, well i choose to disagree.

firstly while i do not hold anything against those who have an opinion of whether something was to their liking or not, i do have a problem with people who complain that this is how "it should've been done" really? like really? those who have the necessary qualifications for the animation industry aside, most people who complain actually know nothing about actual animation and their processes, yet they think that what was done was wrong? seriously? hey i can understand not liking it, but many who complained are those whose alternative is black and white static images with no sound so wouldn't any animation be better than no animation?

the character designs look more like their source material designs and the dark shadows used i feel are more than suited for the darker arcs seen in 2014, so yeah i won't say any more than that because i'm not qualified in the field of animation and i would be a hypocrite if i said things that aren't factual.


the sound:

best part! the openings and endings were memorable, the OST never fails to hit the right note and induce emotions more readily in certain situations whether that be laughter or tears. it fits in well with what the series portrays and that's about all i'm saying on the matter.


overall:

watch it if you want to continue the story of fairy tail but don't want to take to reading the manga. it has the same vibe that fairy tail always had so whether that's your cup of tea is for you to decide.

after just finishing this OVA, i felt somewhat compelled to write a short review of it.

OVERALL: 9/10
let me start of by saying that this is the only category i scored this OVA in, so i'm not going to go into detail about every other aspect but rather i'm going to be speaking generally about the OVA. So lets get on with it shall we?


this ova was interesting to say the least, it had some good concepts but it wasn't explained properly due to the lack of time. had it been longer or maybe even a series of OVA's or just a 1 cour series, I ... personally think it would've done very well.

the basic content of this ova is that there are four prisoners (an old man and a cat) that are locked away in a [very] isolated prison when suddenly there is a power outage and the locks on the prisoner's cells were released. as one would expect, they then try to find a way of escaping that prison. there is also another aspect to this OVA which (as a spoiler, I wont mention) is what the next paragraph is talking about.

so if it's something that basic, why did I score it a 9? well i would like to keep my reviews spoiler free, but what i can say is that the symbolism in this ova is that "life is a gamble" and although short and not fully explored I feel as though I can understand what was trying to be conveyed by the good peeps who made this, and so even though the sound wasn't the best or the characters weren't "the best" (nothing we haven't seen in other anime) and the art was a little shaky, I still feel like Norageki deserves praise for what it was trying to accomplish and how it was portrayed.


on a side note:
the backgrounds were done incredibly well, it's just the characters i had a problem with. the way they were animated made them look weird in motion (more especially when walking)


final thoughts:
well we all have differences in tastes when it comes to anime, so not everyone will like this kind of anime, but for those who are looking for a short concept anime (and i emphasize concept) or you have 25 minutes to spare, why not give it try, who knows you might actually like it.

good day ladies and gents, this is the first review i will be writing on MAL (actually, make that like ever) so please bear with me as this is probably bound to be awkward, but i'm hoping that this review might help even just one person, to decide to try out this amazing series. so without further adieu, let's get this started!


story: 9/10
so the story of this series is basic but enjoyable (see the summary for more details), but to elaborate on it, the story comprises of the (mis)adventures of 3 fairy apprentices who are training to become full-fledged Season Fairies by finding what is ... known as "Twinkles". Sounds simple enough right? so why a 9 out of 10 you ask? well you see, there's also another aspect to this show, and that is the interactions and relationships that form between the characters. (no spoilers) this in my honest opinion was done very well and it was definitely heart warming.


sound: 8/10
I loved the soundtrack that was used in this series, i wish i could expand on this, but i would like to keep my review spoiler free so i'm afraid that's all i can say on that front.

the music definitely fits with the show, from upbeat to music so calm you feel like you're the only person in the world when you're listening to it. the opening Sugar Baby Love by Yoko Ishida is also one of my new personal favourites, definitely suited for this show. unfortunately i didn't think that the ending track was as good, not to say that it's bad though just not as good.


character: 10/10
the characters are definitely one of the best parts of the show! the way they are portrayed and their interactions with one another are so amusing that you can't help but find yourself smiling and yet there are other times that you might get so mad that you wish you had a punching bag to hit, just so that you can let off some steam. this is all a part of the enjoyment that the show gives you.

on the note of voice actors, i'm no expert but from what my unexperienced ears heard, the acting was a job well done, they really made the characters come to life. ah man! i wish i had a sugar too!


overall [final thoughts]: 9/10
so adding together everything i mentioned above, these are just some of the reasons i love this anime and why i decided to write a review to recommend it to others. if MAL used a decimal point based scoring system this would've been a 9.5/10 for me.

so last words... well although it's not centered around Christmas, i feel like this would definitely be the right time of year (festive season) to watch this anime. you're bound to have many laughs, maybe shed a few tears, sympathize with a some of the characters and perhaps even find a new OST to listen to.

-END-

PHEW!!!! well that's it for my first review! told ya it would be awkward didn't I? regardless, i had fun writing this.