Fairy Tail 98

So this week's episodes carries on from the previous one as we now follow the 8 S Class candidates and their selected partners to Tenroujima; the resting place of the first Fairy Tail Master and the exam's location.

So now the teams: Gray and Loke, Natsu and Happy, Juvia and Lisanna, Wendy and Mest, Levy and Gajeel, Fried and Bixlow, Evergreen and Elfman, Cana and Lucy have been given their first task and the exam is officially underway!

The teams first task is to reach a spot on the island where they must choose a passage and as Master Makarov put's it is testing their luck......... Odd but hey this is Fairy Tail after all! There is a catch to these passages: 1. 3 of them lead to battles with the current S Class Mage's of Fairy Tail (so Erza, Mirajane and Gildarts), 4 of lead to a battle with an opposing team and one of them is the calm route meaning no battle will take place and the team will safely advance to the next part of the exam - A true test of luck!

As soon as the start of the exam is announced, Natsu and Happy are the first to make there move but are immediately stopped by a ruin created by Fried which stops everyone on the boat from leaving for 5 minutes. This doesn't stop Levy from re-writing the ruin to allow her and Gajeel to leave for the destination and Evergreen's knowledge of Fried allows her to do the same for Elfman and herself, leaving the others to wait an additional 4 minutes.

As the 5 minutes expire, the rest of the teams make a move! Natsu and Happy fly off, Gray and Loke walk on an ice floor, Juvia and Lisannna use their respective powers to turn into water and a fish, Wendy and Mest disappear somehow leaving behind Lucy and Cana whose magic is not advantageous here.

Natsu arrives with 4 of the passageways already sealed off and tries to decide where Erza's route is as he is keen to finally fight her. He ends up choosing Route E, because he decides that E stands for Erza (typical Natsu) and then we cut ahead to finally see Lucy and Cana arriving last, with no choice going into the last passage. So is Lucy really Lucky Well they do end up having to take on Fried and Bixlow.......

The battle though very comedic, is short lived. Cana manages to use her Sexy Lady Cards to immobilise Fried whilst Lucy, after a failed attempt with Virgo manages to take down Bixlow at which point Fried attacks. Trying to counter fried Cana and Lucy attempt a combo with Cana's praying fountain and Lucy's Aquarius summoning which backfires when Aquarius attack them instead leading to a huge argument between her and Cana and eventually leading to a final attack; the wall of women!! And funnily enough it's enough to beat him.

So what's up with the 2 of Laxus' subordinates Didn't we all think they were amongst the strongest of Fairy Tail They still are. As Fried explains Cana and Lucy were the lucky ones because because this was his way of atoning for his actions in the past and he only would have done it for those two.

Then the anime ends with Natsu as he discover's its not Erza he's fighting, rather Gildarts.

Little note to take into account: the fight between Fried and Cana was different in the manga. Aquarius actually does attack them and ends the battle.

So what's in store for the upcoming weeks This arc seems to be progressing very nicely and everyone should be looking forward to seeing more fights (especially Natsu vs Gildarts) and be curious not only about the other teams paths but also the next stage of the exam. Gonna be good, as Fairy Tail is the one anime that stays behind the manga for exactly one arc so the waiting time for us manga readers is reduced as well!

The preview for next week shows us some of Gildarts' power (what looked to be an attempt to obliterate Natsu into smaller pieces) but nothing definitive next. So if you want a little taster of next weeks episode take a look:

http://www.youtube.com/watch v=iMQZq28k75U