Fairy Tail: Houou no Miko (Movie)
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Fairy Tail's anime ended a few months ago, but not before getting a movie titled Houou no Miko (Priestess of the Phoenix).
It's something of an unwritten rule that a movie is a rite of passage for long-running shonen anime. Many series have amassed more than one movie - Naruto has 10, Bleach has 4 and even Gintama has 2 - making it clear that the other yardstick for measuring the success of a shonen manga is whether it gets a movie or not. Unfortunately, the number of movies coming from these franchises makes it almost impossible for any of them to hold any type of originality, and Fairy Tail's movie fell prey to that. It was one of the last ones to get a movie. As long as you went into this movie not expecting anything ground-breaking, you'd be fine. I for one wasn't expecting much, and that's what made the movie fun to watch.
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Just as I suspected, there was nothing new or original here. It was a story centred around a third-party in need of help, with an enemy to be defeated. A set formula you find in every one of the Naruto/Bleach movies, that could be said to be "tried and true." The big difference between the movie itself and the Fairy Tail TV series was the more melancholy tone the movie adopted. A tone that felt a little strange yet surprisingly nice for it, given how carefree and shallow the TV series tends to be.
That didn't mean there wasn't any of the original Fairy Tail charm in it. We still saw Lucy, Erza, Natsu and Gray goofing off and getting their own moments of comedy. In this movie's case that involved Erza's obsession with a wedding dress and the others rehashing old but solid comedic quirks. Even so, the comedy was a little part of the movie, surrounded by the attempt at a more mature atmosphere with a fan favourite story - for fans of a younger age.
I don't want to drone on, because quite frankly there's not much else I can say without including spoilers. It's a decent addition to Fairy Tail, if you like these types of movies or just haven't seen many other movies for long-running shonen anime. Nothing special but nothing hate-worthy either. For me it's just another in a long line.
Fairy Tail: Houou no Miko Prologue
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In case anyone didn't catch it, there was a 10-minute long prologue to the movie. Not necessary to watch but it does explain the relationship between Eclair and Momon.