Fairy Tail the Movie: Phoenix Priestess
| Fairy Tail the Movie: Phoenix Priestess | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Masaya Fujimori |
| Screenplay by | Masashi Sogo |
| Based on | Fairy Tail by Hiro Mashima |
| Starring | <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/> |
| Music by | Yasuharu Takanashi |
| Cinematography | Yosuke Akimoto |
| Edited by | Akinori Mishima |
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Production
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| Distributed by | Shochiku |
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Release dates
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Running time
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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 Stones in her possession, 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's offer to accompany her.
Suffering from Post-traumatic amnesia, Éclair remembers that she must bring her Phoenix Stone 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 destroys 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 one 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, but 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 kills him, but the phoenix 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
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External links
- Official movie website (Archived) (Japanese)
- Official Kodansha website (Japanese)
- Fairy Tail the Movie: Phoenix Priestess (film) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
