Fairy Tail the Movie: Phoenix Priestess

Fairy Tail the Movie: Phoenix Priestess

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Masaya Fujimori
Screenplay by Masashi Sogo
Based on Fairy Tail
by Hiro Mashima
Starring
Music by Yasuharu Takanashi
Cinematography Yosuke Akimoto
Edited by Akinori Mishima
Production
company
Distributed by Shochiku
Release dates
  • August 18, 2012 (2012-08-18)
Running time
 86 minutes
Country Japan
Language Japanese
Box office $911,467[1]

Fairy Tail the Movie: Phoenix Priestess (Japanese: 劇場版 FAIRY TAIL 鳳凰の巫女 Hepburn: Gekijōban Fearī Teiru: Hōō no Miko) is a 2012 Japanese animated fantasy action film based on the shōnen manga and anime series Fairy Tail by Hiro Mashima.[2] It was directed by Masaya Fujimori, and its screenplay was written by anime staff writer Masashi Sogo, while Mashima was involved as the film's story planner and character designer.[3] The film stars the regular television cast of Tetsuya Kakihara, Aya Hirano, Rie Kugimiya, Yūichi Nakamura, Sayaka Ōhara, Satomi Satō, and Yui Horie. The film also features Aya Endō as the titular priestess Éclair, and Mika Kanai as her birdlike companion Momon. The film was released in Japan on August 18, 2012, and on Blu-ray and DVD in North America on December 10, 2013.

Plot

Éclair (エクレア Ekurea), a priestess from Fire Village, escapes a raid from an invading army with one of her village's two mystical Phoenix Stone halves, only for her to lose consciousness. Years later, Lucy Heartfilia finds Éclair and her birdlike companion Momon (モモン) collapsed on the streets of Magnolia while returning home from a mission. Lucy brings the two to Fairy Tail's guildhall to recover and introduces them to her friends Natsu Dragneel, Happy, Gray Fullbuster, Erza Scarlet, Wendy Marvell, and Carla. Hearing a premonition from Carla, Éclair heads to the monster-filled Boundary Forest. Éclair, despite resenting wizards and magic, reluctantly accepts Lucy and her friends' offer to accompany her.

Suffering from Post-traumatic amnesia, Éclair remembers that she must bring her Phoenix Stone half to a wizard named Kalard (カラード Karādo) living in Boundary Forest. The group eventually reach the remains of Kalard's house to discover him dead. Through a holographic message, Kalard reveals himself to be Éclair's father and tells her of a spell he created to dispel the stone's cursed magic. After Lucy sympathizes with her over her father Jude's death, Éclair tells Fairy Tail to fulfill her father's last wish.

After returning to Magnolia, members of the Carbuncle guild, led by Dist (ディスト Disuto), kidnap Éclair and destroy the guildhall. Fairy Tail's master Makarov Dreyar and guildmates Gajeel Redfox and Panther Lily arrive with news that Carbuncle is working for Duke Cream (クリーム王子 Kurīmu-ōji), the ruler of the neighboring country of Veronica, who plans to combine Éclair's stone with the other half in his possession to summon a phoenix that will grant him immortality.

Lucy's team goes to Veronica along with Gajeel, Lily, and Juvia Lockser to rescue Éclair, fighting off Dist's henchmen there. Cream combines the two stones and tries to burn Eclair as a sacrifice. Momon frees Éclair and is immolated. As Cream summons the phoenix, Dist throws him aside to attain immortality for himself. The "phoenix" appears in the form of a giant, non-avian monster and begins destroying everything around itself as Dist climbs on its back to obtain its immortality-granting blood. Natsu follows Dist and knocks him off the phoenix, but the monster continues to rampage and begins absorbing the wizards' magic for a final, cataclysmic attack.

Éclair finally regains her memories and discovers that she is immortal, having suffered for 400 years after drinking the phoenix's blood to survive the raid on her village where Cream's ancestors stole one of the stones and established Veronica. Makarov and the rest of Fairy Tail arrive with an arrow created by Kalard and taken from the Magic Council to destroy the Phoenix Stone. Makarov explains, however, that doing so will kill Éclair along with the phoenix.

To Lucy's dismay, Éclair accepts her fate as Natsu and Erza use the arrow to destroy the stone inside the phoenix's eye. Éclair's body disappears with the phoenix, and her spirit reunites with Momon's as they ascend to the sky. In the aftermath, the people of Veronica rebuild their home, the Carbuncle wizards are captured, the Fairy Tail wizards repair their guildhall, and Lucy smiles as she spots a young Éclair's spirit among the townsfolk.

Voice cast

Character Japanese[4] English[5]
Natsu Dragneel Tetsuya Kakihara Todd Haberkorn
Lucy Heartfilia Aya Hirano Cherami Leigh
Happy Rie Kugimiya Tia Ballard
Gray Fullbuster Yūichi Nakamura Newton Pittman
Erza Scarlet Sayaka Ōhara Colleen Clinkenbeard
Wendy Marvell Satomi Satō Brittney Karbowski
Carla Yui Horie Jād Saxton
Gajeel Redfox Wataru Hatano David Wald
Panther Lily Hiroki Tōchi Rick Keeling
Éclair Aya Endō Jessica Calvello
Momon Mika Kanai Tiffany Grant[5]
Duke Cream Kōki Miyata Scott Zenreich
Dist Showtaro Morikubo Taliesin Jaffe
Cannon Kōji Ishii Kyle Hebert
Coordinator Hitomi Nabatame Shelley Calene-Black
Chase Kōji Yusa Jason Liebrecht
Mayor of Dasuma Hidehiko Masuda Ian Ferguson
Geese Keisuke Okada David Matranga
Risa Risa Yoshiki  

Music

The film's soundtrack was composed and arranged by Yasuharu Takanashi. It released on August 18, 2012 on Pony Canyon. The film's opening theme is "200 miles" by Jang Keun-suk. The ending theme is "Zutto Kitto" (ずっと きっと, lit. "Surely Forever"), an image song performed by Aya Hirano as Lucy Heartfilia, composed by Nobuo Uematsu, and written by Gorō Matsui.[6]

Release

The film received a limited release in 73 Japanese theatres on August 18, 2012.[2][7] Advance tickets were bundled with the 30-page prologue manga The First Morning (はじまりの朝 Hajimari no Asa) drawn by Hiro Mashima to promote the film.[8] It opened in 9th place at the Japanese box office, and received the highest per-screen average of any film shown that weekend.[7] It held a top ten position until its second week.[9] The film's DVD was bundled with a special edition release of Volume 36 of the manga on February 13, 2013, and included an animated adaptation of The First Morning as a bonus extra.[10] In Southeast Asia, the film was aired on Animax Asia on March 23, 2013 as The Phoenix Priestess.[11] Funimation Entertainment licensed the film for a North American release in both English subtitled and dubbed versions, with The First Morning exclusively in Japanese with English subtitles.[12] The movie dub was screened at Nan Desu Kan on September 13, 2013, and was released on Blu-ray and DVD on December 10, 2013.[13]

Reception

Fairy Tail the Movie: Phoenix Priestess received positive reviews from critics and viewers, receiving an average of "4 out of 5 stars" from fans on Japan Yahoo! Movies.[14] Travis Bruno of Capsule Computers gave the film a score of 8.5 out of 10, praising the development of the characters Lucy and Éclair, and favoring the film's faster paced action sequences over the anime series' use of CGI magic circles. However, he criticized the animation for having "nosedives in mid-distance shots". Bruno was also critical towards the timing of the film's North American release with that of the anime, feeling that the movie's placement after the time skip in Fairy Tail's storyline would confuse viewers who only followed the English release of the anime up until then.[15]

Kyle Mills of DVD Talk described the movie as "a great one off story that is well developed and fantastically executed", distinguishing it from "typical" shōnen films with "little real development". He also praised the English dub cast, singling out Jessica Calvello and Todd Haberkorn as giving "standout" performances as Éclair and Natsu, respectively. Mills felt that the character designs looked "off" compared to the anime series, but added that it "shouldn't detract, since the film still looks better than your standard episode from the series". On the DVD's bonus features, Mills noted the lack of an English dub for The First Morning short, calling it "an odd choice".[16] Raymond Herrera of Examiner.com called the film "more of the same", but opined that he found little else wrong with it.[17]

Carl Kimlinger of Anime News Network called the film "a compact, 85-minute action confection with all the heart and humor one associates with Hiro Mashima's manga and none of the bloat and apathy one associates with its TV adaptation". However, he considered the English dub to be "stoically, unenthusiastically professional", criticizing Cherami Leigh and Calvello's performances, but calling Haberkorn's "toned-down" Natsu "a relief".[18]

References

  1. ↑ "Japan Yearly Box Office (2012)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved March 16, 2013.
  2. 1 2 "Fairy Tail Adventure Manga Gets Film Next August". Anime News Network. October 12, 2011.
  3. ↑ "Fairy Tail Film's Staff Listed". Anime News Network. November 17, 2011. Retrieved April 9, 2012.
  4. ↑ "voice - アニメ『劇場版 FAIRY TAIL』公式サイト". fairytail-movie.com. Archived from the original on July 3, 2013. Retrieved May 14, 2015.
  5. 1 2 "English Cast Announcement for Fairy Tail the Movie: Phoenix Priestess". Funimation Tumblr. September 14, 2013. Retrieved May 14, 2015.
  6. ↑ "Aya Hirano to Sing Fairy Tail Film's Ending Theme". Anime News Network. May 30, 2012. Retrieved June 23, 2013.
  7. 1 2 "Japanese Box Office, August 18–19". Anime News Network. August 26, 2012. Retrieved March 16, 2013.
  8. ↑ "Fairy Tail Film's Promo Video Highlights Bonus Manga". Anime News Network. August 9, 2012. Retrieved June 23, 2013.
  9. ↑ "Japanese Box Office, August 25–26". Anime News Network. September 2, 2012. Retrieved March 16, 2013.
  10. ↑ "Fairy Tail Film's Prologue Manga Gets Anime Also". Anime News Network. October 26, 2012. Retrieved June 23, 2013.
  11. ↑ "Fairy Tail new season, movie set to premiere on ANIMAX this March". March 2013. Retrieved June 23, 2013.
  12. ↑ "Funi Adds Seikishi Yamato R, One Piece Strong World, Fairy Tail Film, Akira". Anime News Network. July 28, 2012. Retrieved July 30, 2012.
  13. ↑ "Fairy Tail the Movie Trailer Previews English Dub". Anime News Network. September 14, 2013. Retrieved September 15, 2013.
  14. ↑ "Yahoo! Movies" (in Japanese). Yahoo! Movies. Retrieved December 11, 2013.
  15. ↑ Bruno, Travis (December 1, 2013). "Fairy Tail the Movie: Phoenix Priestess Review". Capsule Computers. Retrieved December 11, 2013.
  16. ↑ Mills, Kyle (December 2, 2013). "Fairy Tail – Movie: Phoenix Priestess (Blu-ray)". DVD Talk. Retrieved December 11, 2013.
  17. ↑ Herrera, Raymond (December 11, 2013). "Anime review: 'Fairy Tail the Movie: Phoenix Priestess'". Examiner.com. In truth there isn’t much that I could find wrong with the movie, all I could say to criticize it is that it is more of the same, but is that actually a bad thing?
  18. ↑ Kimlinger, Carl (June 4, 2014). "Fairy Tail the Movie: Phoenix Priestess BD+DVD – Review". Anime News Network. Retrieved June 4, 2014.

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