Ranked #613

Fairy Tail: Houou no Miko

Let's not look at the score and assume so soon that I'm not fond with the series altogether; I like Fairy Tail as a shounen series. I'm not the biggest fan of the series, and granted that the series has lots of flaws which can be easily improved, but altogether the series is very entertaining, the characters are memorable and some arcs can be really fascinating. And now, the long-running popular shounen series finally gets its take on a movie. It's fun having a series you may love or like to get a movie, so I was naturally looking forward to some more Fairy Tail fun.

That was when I finally realized that movies don't really work that way.

Movies are completely different from anime series, even if it doesn't seem like it on the surface. They're similar in how they tell tales of any kind of stories, achieving many things in the anime industry that cartoons and non-japanese animation can't and, of course, the fact that they're both animation. However, movies tend to be in a much more grand level, and it generally takes difficult steps to achieve the things series can't. Experience can be remotely different considering it being inside a much shorter animation time to tell the story, and it's not so surprising that presentation and development are taken in a completely differently way, as well as budget and production values going all out.

And it's mainly the reason why people's expectations go up when a popular or favorable series gets given a movie. Movies tells a story in ways that series sometimes cannot do, and movies like Evangelion, Ghilbi films, Mamoru Hosoda's movies and many, many more are so spectacular in different ways. But what about movies in addition to existing series? Unless some kind of prequel/sequel/remake link is involved in any way, it's hard to add a newly born story to a long-running series because of time-line issues (difficulties as to where it takes place in the series, for example), which leads to many disadvantages with how you can tell a story. Because of this, it'd have to be regarded as a side-story (or in harsher terms, a money milker), and even one where it doesn't effect the series at all.

And Fairy Tail fell right into that trap.

"B-but hey! It doesn't matter so much if the movie is regarded as a dairy money milker! Who cares, as long as the content is well-written, entertaining and unpredictably gripping with the same charm, right?" Yes, you're kinda right. Except... the movie is nothing like that at all.

Firstly, this takes place far in the series, and I don't when exactly but you've got to pass the 'time skip' bit in order to get what's going on around you (vaguely discribing for fans who haven't seen that much of the series). But then again, it doesn't really matter as it's only little details to limit the questions you'd be wonderingly asking, so if you're really desperate to watch this then ask someone to fill you in the very basic details. In other words, do what I did because I haven't caught up with the series.

Assuming you've read the quick synopsis on the top, do you know how the bad filler arcs in Fairy Tail are like? Yes, and this movie is on par with them. Go up to the relations and realize that the actual movie is NOT an adaption of the original manga, so it's completely original. Remember that silly Gray arc for example? It's probably worst than that. Not that it's more complicated or contradicting, but the writing is just plain bad.

It's basically another set-up like 'the heroes getting caught in a bad situation and they solve stuff' sort of thing. You see the fun atmosphere of the Fairy Tail guild, they gets caught in a mess and get their asses kicked, figure out what to do and attempt to defeat the bad guys (and to stop the world getting destroyed too). If you can convert the inside story into summarizing words on a single paper, you'd find out that it's really, really basic story writing about the fact that two stones would cause big trouble, and the new girl has one and the bad guys has the other. Considering it's made into a movie, the entire plot is basically about all said (with a little more background for teeny development), and it's just too uninteresting and unoriginal to be in film format, as well as being too little and less grand than nearly all the main arcs of the original series.

The writing is so cheap that everything inside the story felt so uneven that... nothing seems right. The very fact that some girl with amnesia has some unimportant stone (to the main guild that is) which can destroy the entire world just gives a big sense of doubt, and that can subtract to the experience of watching the film by a lot. Given the thin, thin storyline, it's no surprise that it'd be extremely predictable at some places too. You get your bad guys who shows off their skills and somewhat thrashes the guild at first, but with the comeback of various battles between the two sides, it's easy to guess who would win. And not forgetting to mention the battle of massive monster who's aiming to destroy the world, guess who won that one? There are some story twists in which may shift differently in accordance to what you may think during the film, but the story and premise just seems so silly that you can't even be surprised about it. It's really hard to sense a real feel of hope or anxiety towards anything, and I can ensure you your edge of the seat won't be necessary for you to sit on.

Apart from those points, there's quite a few plot holes here and there, though not enough to hurt the writing (well it's damaged enough I'd say). There also isn't enough background on the stones and Eclair (I'll talk about her later though), considering the time limit of the movie. And even with the background given, once again it's not nearly as interesting as what the bad story is, and it doesn't help if they're only presented in single explanations from either narrative or a character's point of view at scenes (which isn't a creative way of telling backgrounds). There's nothing much else to say about the story, except it's just child writing at best. Some may argue that this sort of writing is how shounen shows work, but it's nothing on par with the original Fairy Tail series, and that what mainly matters. It's so unoriginal and predictable that it passes the point where it's beyond help.

Let's get aside the point of the writing content for now, and go into the production values. Let's not forget that this is in movie format, because one would expect that the animation would be taken in better consideration than the series. Results? Well... mixed answers actually.

In comparison to the original series, the animation is certainly better. The most noticeable thing about it is that the animation is much more fluent and smooth in movements, and this makes the experience of some fight scenes more practical and less forced. With the more cartoony style, it's simply more fun to watch the scenes go less picture-moving style whilst it allows more experimental movements. However, that's the most worth noting in the department, because it's nowhere as close as "movie quality". The style in the art is a little different than the original series (and no worries, it's not by a whole lot) but what you'd expect from a big movie isn't going to be in here at all. Also, quality. There's still a lot of 'quality' moments where the faces from far distance are hilariously distorted, weird positioning at times, and the infamous cheap tricks of moving one frame in certain directions are used here.

If anything was really worth getting out of the movie, it'd be the opening song. 200 miles (Jang Keun-suk) is one of those rock songs that you'd find in either classic anime openings or songs from old rock bands outside Japan. I've listened to the full song like, 50 million times, and I still love it. It's a catchy and good-ass rock song, and it's probably the only really, really awesome part of the entire movie. That said, the OST and ED is fine, but nothing really worth saying. The newly composed OST is just on par with the original OST used, and it's mostly not noticeable because the scenes are cliché enough to not even care for the soundtracks. Voice acting is the same as what you'd expect from the series, and Aya Endou (Sora no Woto's Filicia, Needless's Cruz) does a decent job voicing the new, unfamiliar character.

Ah yes, Eclair, the new highlight character of the featured movie.

The entire movie is based around Eclair (and her bird Momon). She's a pretty good character actually, personality wise. The big problem was though that she was more of a plot device than an individual; It was her being that Fairy Tail was driven into this mess, and if she never met Fairy Tail, then they weren't have the care in the world about whatever's happening (oh and the world would end too, woops). It's not necessarily a bad thing though, as many stories feature encounters of characters who then gets involved in all sorts of troubles, and Eclair even had a decent amount of past behind her considering the amount of time in the movie was only 86 minutes long. The past wasn't so significant though, and definitely wasn't too interesting to know about, especially if the story wasn't good at all. The other problem, again, lies in the fault of being in movie format; it's too short to bring up the development between Fairy Tail (especially Lucy) and Eclair herself; she kinda just met them by chance and became fond with them. This means you won't feel much for her on anything that happens to her, and considering she's the center character of the story, she alone isn't enough to drive my interest towards the story during the entire movie.

The entire Fairy Tail cast is involved. It's fun to see every character again, but... that's really it. The lovely charm of seeing the tropes of every individual in funny scenes is there, and if you're a fan of the characters then it's a given that you'd smile to how they usually act. But that's really what they're there for... oh, and the fact that they all try to stop the mess from happening and stuff. They're all trying to do the same thing as a group, and not one of them, apart from Natsu and maybe Lucy, do anything really significantly interesting or important as a whole. They're just there to involve the charm of the Fairy Tail; if Eclair, Natsu and Lucy were the only main characters (excluding bad guys), then it'd still be enough to carry the burden of the thin, thin story forward to where it is.

Oh, and the bad guys. The bad guys, uhh... I forgot their names, are bad. And not bad as in "evil bad", but they're actually "badly-written" characters (you can probably tell since I don't even remember their names at all, both group and people). In a long time, they probably have the worst motives anyone can come up with; the motives are generic, rubbish excuses that even contradict each other, and the fact that the world is going to end because of the given motives is just plain horrible for the movie. They're nothing worth mentioning (except a few bad guys are kinda cool), but the rest are your usual assholes with uninspiring motives.

It wasn't zero percent enjoyable though. I got through the movie because the introductory was entertaining and was a okay set-up, but from where the story unfolds just unfolds a rotten smell and unpleasant cooking. It's a given that the fight scenes, unique style and seeing the characters again were quite enjoyable, but the story felt like a pathetic excuse to bring up an entire movie, and it's really not worth putting it in film format.

A massive fan of Fairy Tail? You'd probably enjoy this, as you get to see every character be themselves and cool fight scenes. But a casual fan of Fairy Tail? Don't bother, because this really isn't anything compared to the original series, and the story is just an extremely cliché, generic and dumb linear story which doesn't add to the series in any way possible. Movies are a cool addition to series, but sometimes they don't work at all, especially if they're setting the bar up high by making it a movie in the first place.

But who cares, isn't it about the content? Oh, wait. read more

I've watched it today at roadshow and I've to admit it's much more than I was expeting from this movie. I'm a fan of Fairy Tail already, but Houou no Miko is seriously a very good movie. Very nice compilation of skills of many characters from main series, fascinating story and new characters and of course an insane music! I Concider this movie as a perfect spin-off to the main story.

Two days ago I went for the first time to a cinema in Japan and while I was at first indecisive as to watch Fairy Tail, Naruto or the Rurouni Kenshin Live action, I ended up going for Fairy Tail.

When I entered the cinema I had no real idea of what the story was about, I had seen a very short trailer but nothing else. Aside from that, my japanese understanding still has a loong way to go, so probably I missed some of the details that could have made me enjoy the movie more. But I got the hang of the general idea which is basically about two stones that is said to give "eternity" to the owner when they are put together. Due to this legend, the king of Velonica (if I remember right) is seeking for it. He already has one half and the other half is with Eclair, a girl who have lost her memories.

While the story goes about unveiling the mystery of Eclair past and the stone, the movie itself seems to be dedicated to Lucy, who is the one that becomes more close to Eclair. Because of this I felt that Natsu became more of a supportive character.

But going back to the story, it was okay, not really the most original story, actually is cliché considering that there's thousands of stories out there about seeking eternity. Yet it was still somehow enjoyable.

As for the characters, well the main characters we all know were all good so I'm gonna skip them. As for the new introduced characters... I can't say that they grew on me. Maybe because the time was short, but I felt the character development a bit lacking, specially the enemies.

On the good side, sound was fantastic and by sound I mean the background music. I totally loved the arrangement of the Fairy Tail Theme Song. During the battles I probably ended up paying more attention to the music than to the battle itself Lol That's how good I thought it was.
As for the voice acting, it was great off course! I think the seiyuus did a very good job in their respective character.

Last but not least, the animation. Surprisingly it was better than I expected. Interestingly they showed some blood.

Overall, it was less than what I expected (the story) but the art and music made up for it so it was, at the very least, enjoyable.

Note that I gave an 8 for overall but I say its more like 7.5 read more

Now, i want to get this straight, i only technically wrote this review, because the majority was giving it 10, but only saying because they like the FT franchise, instead of the actual product. i am giving an honest opinion, so dun go hating on me. Also, i want you to be aware, that i too like FT, though it is not my favourite, i like it. So don't think that i only gave it a horrible score, just, well, because. (this is also, sort of like a rant)
Also, this is based on my emotions. Excuse any slang/not capitalization my i's

FOR THE LAZY PEOPLE:
Here is all i need to say, wrapped into a tight ball, just for you!

Story,plain as hell, not original, not interesting. The art, same as always, gave nothing new, still pretty nice tho.sound, Same, VA's the soundtrack was mediocre. Characters, GAH i sorta hate all of them but Grey and Happy. New charcters were just the enemies, and a girl, whose name sound like a bakery treat, WHO DOES NOTHING. Enjoyment, not good, bored through the entire thing; DREADFUL.
Watch if you like FT, don't if you don't like it (you still can). Judge by actual product, not because it is about the anime you like.

STORY=2 / ART=8 / SOUND=5 / CHARACTER=4 / ENJOYMENT=2
OVERALL=3

Story-2
Really? Really? REALLY? That was the only thing i was thinking about throughout this entire movie. First it starts out with some tag game, then it moves into random fights between characters. There was barely anything to it, and none of the ideas were original. Though i originally wanted to give it a 1, i decided to be nice and, gave it a 2, because they were able to make it a teeny interesting. But i still want to dig my eyes out.
Now here is a quick brief summary, of this thing.
Revolves around Lucy, finds this girl called, Éclair, i though she would have come incredible baking power, just judging by the name. But nope. Just a random girl, who DOES NOTHING. So disappointing. Anyway, she goes to the FT guild, cuz she loses her memories. Usually a person would go to a dangerous place with dragon power people there, when they lose thier memories. She needs to deliver shiz to somewhere, so pop! she goes there. Now based on the MAL summary, there is this part, " The stones may spell the collapse of the magical world, and Natsu, Lucy, and the rest of the Fairy Tail guild are caught up in the intrigue." Now this caught my attention. I thought it would revolve around that. But nope, they just fight, fight, and fight. Till no end. And when to they mention the phoenix-stone-thingy? Like twice. Throughout the entire film. I am exaggerating, but hopefully, you get my point.
A MORE BRIEF SUMMARY:
-plays tag
-fired from jobs
-finds amnesia-ed girl
-talk
-BATTLE
-reolved/more talk
-END
That is really how the story goes. Nothing else really happened. Besides cool fire. And the oh-so adorable Happy

Art-8
Nothing to love, noting to hate. Really just the same old plain FT stuff. Nothing really surprised me. Well animated, all that stuff. I really like Natsu's fire as i always do, and Happy is still SOOO CUTE.
However, the fighting scenes really did disappoint me. Not that well animated, and all that stuff. Also, they seemed to down the details, in some of the outfits/bodies. That is all i need to say. I feel like they did well. This is the only thing they did well in my opinion. I wish they could of up-ed the animation just a little bit. Since FT is going to get canceled, from what i heard, it wouldn't change just to add a little style into the animation, and doing some little changes to the series.

Sound-5
Once again, nothing to love and nothing to hate. Same old same old, voice actors. Though the girl that sounds like a pastry has an interesting VA that i loved. I paused the video, just to think about who could have possibly played her. That was probably the best part in the entire movie.
One complaint about the VA's is that, Happy's voiced seemed to get higher and louder, by each scene. Just me? Okay. :(
The soundtrack was ok. Nothing spectacular. It was plain. They just 'revved' up their previous songs a little bit. Adding some intense electric guitar. The girls song was supposed to make me emotional, but nope. I do how one of the songs incorporated some English.
Soundtrack, was a pure mediocre.

Character-4
GAH. I have so much to say about this... More like so little. I hated all of them. Except 2 fav characters, Happy and Grey. Added some new characters. The only new characters were the enemies, and the girl that sounds like a sweet. YET SHE DID NOTHING. She was just a prop, for the storyline to continue. All she really did was sob about herself, and nag about her life problems. Perfect example of a girl there. (don't think i am sexist, i am a girl too. But seriously, i dislike female character, they are always like this; though i am sometimes like this too) So yeah.

Enjoyment-2
Oh no. The horrible, number, TWO. 2 is a dreadful in the MAL ratings list. which fits perfectly into the category. PERFECTLY.
Imagine if you were a guy, that played american football. Then you and your friends were forced to watch all the seasons of Barbie, and My Little Pony series (no offense, I am portraying a character, if you watch those shows. They are AWESOME!) that is what i felt throughout the entire series. Maybe i took it to far, but seriously, pick up your pace anime companies!

OVERALL-3
Now three is a pretty dam good score if i say so myself. Not really. But this could have been a lot worse
Now let me repeat this, i only technically wrote this review, because the majority was giving it 10, but only saying because they like the FT franchise, instead of the actual product. i am giving an honest opinion, so dun go hating on me. Also, i want you to be aware, that i too like FT, though it is not my favourite, i like it. So don't think that i only gave it a horrible score, just because i hate it.
If you like FT and you want to watch it do. If you don't i don't recommend you to, but you can. However, when you watch this, like the old saying, "Don't Judge the book by it's cover." And in this sense, i mean don't give it a good rating, because you see your beloved, Fairy Tail in the name. Rate it for what it deserves.

-Lily
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Let me have the honor of stating my opinion about this movie!
this is going to be a long topic.so please have the patient to see through it!
before that let us go a way back!
First of all,
who is the main character of this anime!not as the male or female but as whole!!!
NATSUUUU!!!!so what i thought when i started this anime!!!!after a while i watch while yawning Lucy heartfellia that! Lucy heartfellia this!finally Well no more whining!
let us get back to the topic!

Again first of all,this movie is about a girl called eclair.what was interesting was her dress setting!a poor class indian dress which really looked good!a lonely girl who stays away from everyone at first then becomes friend with our heroes because they are persistent then dies in the end and the main character cries!A common,simple,obvious plot!No complains here!nothing interesting!
Story(7/10).

Next,an anime can be hit or flop depending on the sound!opening lame!!!!
background music has no match with the anime!voice well!!!it was alright!
ending!!!didn't have the interest to hear it!so
Sound(5/10)

after that,art can create a really good impact on the viewers!Wait a minute!was there any art at all???? for a second i thought it was 2d!!!print was horrible!!!!well that may be my fault!but still it was no good!now if someone says that the art was good then "Yo!man!you really have good sense of humor!!"
Art(4/10)

Characters!!!!let me get to that latter!
Enjoyment:here is the list of my likes and dislikes
likes:
1.Dist.the villain was really good!especially the one where natsu becomes like a rubber ball!
2.Erza.she is always a normal girl underneath her stupid attire!her dream to become a bride!
3.eclair.well only after she died!(phoenix scene)
4.i watch fairy tail mainly because of its comedy.Well was there any!!!HMM!ohh!
like the part lucy you are very appealing!
5.are there any!!!!sorry can't find!
dislikes:
1.Lucy as always!!!her voice is also a pain the neck in my ears!so as her character!
"is magic good or evil"!!!!reminds me of an essay "science,blessing or curse!"
what are you a grade schooler!
2.Natsu is also a reason why i watch fairy tail!He was lame in this movie!what was interesting was laxus came stole the spotlight on his first appearance!
3.art and sound.
4.i can give 20 more reason to dislikes!this anime had no emotional scene although there were about 100's!there were actions!!more like playing tags!
so
Characters:(6/10)
enjoyment(7/10)

now,what annoys me the most this movie project had a huge budget!so why it was so so-so type!well some viewers rated this movie 10!!!!!!well you guys will be god in the afterlife of heaven!!!!!!
well!never mind me! i think you should watch it but don't expect anything! read more

I was excited for this movie! I mean, jeez, a fairy tail movie! I can already tell you a few things: It's a nice movie, but maybe a bit disappointing if you watched the anime.

The story is nice, nothing wrong with it. It's not very original but it's just fine so I decided to give it a seven. It doesn't deserve a higher mark though because they didn't work it out like I expected.

I heard people say that the art of fairy tail is terrible. Maybe it could be a bit more modern (I also heard they have a rerun of fairy tail with a new animation team so that's nice) but I personally love the STYLE of the art. You have those animes with a terrible art style. I don't know something out of my head now but it's understandable I guess.
My problem is that it sometimes (and ESPECIALLY in the beginning. Like the first half hour and sometimes at a random moment) seemed like the art style just changed! And that bothered me a lot!

The sound is excellent. Fairy tail is one of those animes with awesome sound and music. Except for the second opening theme of the anime then haha.

The characters were a bit different and I'm sorry, but I just don't know how to explain that mkay?
But hey, I always loved the characters of fairy tail and I still do. They could've worked out the main character in this movie a bi tmore though. So enjoy the eight.

The enjoyment was okay except for in the beginning. The beginning annoyed me a bit, but an eight seems good for this section.

I gave a seven for the overall, but a 7.2 or 7.4 would be better cx
One more important thing: The fights were way too short. I'm not expecting them to focus on the fights and make the duration of it forever. This is not the anime so we don't have to focus on the non very important fights, but c'mon. This was just too short. Everything was way too short starting from the middle point. The movie was just too hsort and that's the most disappointing thing.

SPOILER





But I liked the way Eclair left with Momon and the nalu moment was great! And espescially Lucy's question if magic is evil or good! read more

Wow. Just completely blown away.

There are alot of Fairy Tail lovers out there, as well as people who hate it for being kinda a main stream Shounen Anime.

Fairy Tail the series always had/has the knack for being kinda all in your face with the whole Nakama thing, like we are friends because we say we are, and therefore you shall also think this.

But in Fairy Tail Houou no Miku they really mad a good job, they took the basecore of the friendship trough thick and thin to a whole new level. The whole picture of we are friends because we say we are was removed. This movie made me excited when the fights went on, and made me tear up at the later parts. They painted such a lovely scenery of how true friendship can be so lovely and how it helps you keep strong at the tough parts in your life, like death, sorrow and so on. Bravo Fairy Tail, this was truly not main stream. I salute you.

For fairy tail made me participate in how all those feelings are. A Must Watch. read more

At first, i didn't expect much from this movie but i just watched it now and i regret saying every single word. Its amazingly amazing. If your a Fairy Tail fan, then you MUST WATCH THIS MOVIE! It runs for about 1 hour and 25 mins, and give you incredible joy time.
So when you watch it, make sure you sit in a quite room and make sure no one disturbs you.

I couldnt stop smiling after i watched it.
Im still smiling now :D

The movie was fantastic.I wanted to watch this movie for a while and it was totally worth the wait. There were so many epic fighting scenes. So many explosions! I love the new characters too, they had such cool and interesting abilities! The art was amazing! The plot for this was great! The ending was awesome and quite different from the show. Some of you might like this so much you might like it even more than the show itself. It's a 10/10 from me!

Note: You should probably watch the movie if your in the 100 episodes in the show.

I watched the entire film last night, and instead of jumping to write a review I thought through the pros and cons of the movie.
Cons First
For being based upon Hiro Mashima's work I was greatly disappointed how cliched the plot was as a whole. If you have some of Hiro Mashima's work you would know that he is a master at taking peoples expectations of events to come, and turn them on your head. This film wasn't stuffed with a thick/ complex plot like each story arc in the mainstream anime/ manga series.

The new character introduced didn't come to me as a fully rounded out character that I can instantly care about. But her partner was a truly heart felt character I cared about.
Pros
The animation was no doubt spectacular in every way. The greatly improved animation really improved how the characters actions and fight scene felt to the audience.
The musical score is aguably the best part of the film. It sets up the mode for each and every scene in the movie. And for giving the film the atmosphere and tone it has.

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