Fairy Tail: Final Season

Episode 297

It's a tossup as to who has the better entrance this week: Wendy or Acnologia. It's hard to deny that Wendy flying in to save Shelia with a well-timed kick to Dimaria's smug face, but in some ways Acnologia's run-by killing of God Serena is more impressive for its brevity, especially since he effectively ends a major threat to Fairy Tail without it meaning much to him. As far as the dragon is concerned, he's just taking out other's with dragon magic, and the rest of what's going on be damned. If he inadvertently evened the score between Zeref's goons and Fairy Tail, well, whatever. He's still got his own death and destruction to spread. The ease and rapidity with which he cuts down God Serena, who very nearly killed Warrod and the other Wizard Saints, also has the flavor of a warning - this is the guy coming for the dragon slayers, and with Natsu down for the count and showing no signs of stirring and Laxus in some serious trouble, his job may turn out to be easier than any of us would like.

It has been a while since we've seen Laxus in action, so his return to prominence this week is something of a mixed blessing. On the one hand, we get to revel in the glory of the way his coat stays on his shoulders no matter what he does (and that Wall gets it off says something about his status as an opponent), but on the other, we find out that he's slowly being poisoned from bane particles he inhaled in a bid to save a town full of people. His Madame Bovary moment is catching up with him just as much as it did the artificial flower makers of the Victorian age (the green was made with arsenic, which they inhaled), and with only Gray and Fried aware of just how much danger Laxus is in, things are not looking good.

Of course, this is without taking into account that Sheria and Wendy are also in Hargeon. Last week Erza, Gray, Juvia, Wendy, Carla, and Laxus all set out for Hargeon, and Wendy's impressive entrance this time is due to their very well-timed arrival to help the other guilds. Dimaria has pinpointed Sheria as her next target, declaring that she needs to get rid of the healer first. While we can't fault her logic there, being the focus of Dimaria's blade is not something Sheria is up for, especially since Dimaria was just toying with her previous victims. With Sheria she has a firm intent to kill, and since no one's quite figured out what her power is yet, that doesn't leave Sheria with many good options. Fortunately Wendy is nothing is not awesome and a good friend to boot, although the preview seems to imply that even with both Sky Sisters, Dimaria may not be beatable.

Although there's a lot going on in this episode, much as there was last week, the balance has returned to normal, and it doesn't feel like anything is being rushed through. The quiet moments with Lucy and Fried by Natsu's bedside, Gray confronting Laxus in the night forest, and the humor with Erza snuggled up to Juvia in her sleeping bag built for two all feel like an organic part of the piece, and the battle scenes likewise don't feel rushed through. There's even time for a cute Levy/Gajeel moment where he proves that he's truly awful at being romantic (but, uh, in an endearing way?), so we're just going to have to hope that last week's episode was the sort of less-good episode that inevitably happens in long series.

Or maybe they were saving their emotional heft for next week. Unless I miss my guess, it's going to be a doozy.

Rating: B

Fairy Tail: Final Season is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.