Gekijouban Fairy Tail: Houou no miko

As a youth ,I very much enjoyed anime. Many a night I stayed up late to catch shows such as "Bleach" "Naruto" "Blood+" "Dragon Ball Z (and GT to a lesser extent)". However in the mid to late 2000s, I grew weary of anime. Some of the shows (some being the previously stated) had more than overstayed their welcome and many of the new additions to the anime medium were either more of the same story rehashed with different characters, or downright perverted. On top of that a new wave of "anti heroes" had come into play, not that there's anything wrong with that, I enjoy a good dark hero every once in a while but at that point the medium was plagued by unrelatable and sometimes downright unlikable characters. So naturally I moved on to other story telling mediums to fill the gap that anime had created.

But then, fairly recently, this little story caught my eye on the Funimation channel.I decided, despite my previous experience, to give this one a fair chance, and it surely did not disappoint! The characters are three dimensional and likable, the story (while containing some elements from animes past) was original and interesting. That being said the show is certainly not perfect, suffering from an abundance of clichés that sometimes detract from an otherwise wonderful plot, and the featuring of the occasional villain that you've sworn you've seen at least thirty times before in other shows. But that by no means does a bad anime make, and to the shows credit, the jokes are actually very clever and funny, which due to the cultural barrier that is often difficult to translate in anime, is a rarity.

What makes this a good anime id simply this, you like the characters. You want to see them succeed and you can often relate to the feelings that they have during their struggles. The characters in the Fairy Tail guild look out for each other, you actually believe that they would be friends in any given scenario. The rivalries are believable and the villains (while sometimes cheesy) have sufficient motivation at all times. To conclude, I would recommend this show to current and prior anime fans, there's something in it for everyone.

Nastu Lucy and the gang assist a young Maiden (eclair) in her quest to find and protect a stone that has the power to awaken the destructive Phoenix. Meanwhile an ill minded young monarch of a nearby kingdom is also after the stone.

It's a generic story that happens to have the fairy tail cast in it. There is also a 12 min short film in the DVD package which acts as a prologue to Eclairs tale. These 'deleted scenes' have moments of insight and intimacy that do more for exlairs individuality than her entire screen time actual feature.

As is often the case with anime features The animation is more fluidity than the show. The biggest problem with the film is that it's rushed. The pace is frustrating several times. For example it ends on a strangely abrupt ill timed note, and then, like most franchise films, the end credits roll over a montage that would have made a far better ending as a whole scene

Even as fan service the film is lacking. There is nothing new in the way of comedy or action. It coughs up most of the greatest hits gags of the show (natsu's bottomless stomach, erzas soft spot for fashion), but the delivery has been better in the show.

Phoenix Priestess feels like a mail in. Low on imagination and vision, and relatively bland on eye candy, it adds nothing to the franchise except a new character who probably deserves a better script.

Back when I liked Fairy Tail, I stumbled across this movie...and oh my God, it was absolutely terrible. It basically makes the series look worse by comparison. So where do I start:

The silent context-less prologue: The beginning of the movie has no dialogue, meaning you have to assume you know what's going on. Not a good way to start a story.

The story in general: The story felt so formulaic and predictable that if you watch the series, you know how it will all end.

The characters: My biggest beef against this film ere the characters. You have cookie cutter one-dimensional villains shouting the most generic villain dialogue ever...and then you have Lucy. Lucy does ABSOLUTELY nothing in this film, unless you count crying like a stupid baby for most of the film as something. The fact that this film centers around her and her relationship with Eclair, she doesn't add anything to the plot. She is also portrayed to a degree as useless, when I remember that she has keys to summon celestial spirits to aid her.

Overall, this movie is not worth watching at all.

First off I'd like to say that the 2 reviews I've read are very disappointing although the film is definitely NOT. One was a review of the series rather than the film and the other was by an alleged fan who has ADHD or watched another movie altogether.

In this film you are introduced to the guild of Fairy Tail full of lovable eccentric mages. Even if you are not a fan you can pick up the storyline and quickly are given an insight into the rich tapestry of great characters. An earlier criticism from "a fan" was that this effort to introduce the characters and additional scenes could be viewed as filler in the movie. This is not my view, as in reality it was done to ensure this was not just another fanbase movie that only the fans would watch.

Within the first 10 minutes you realise that these characters are larger than life and funny as hell. Happy, Natsu's pet flying cat, always has me laughing with great offhand comments and didn't fail to deliver in the movie. Fairy Tail are guaranteed to bring havoc wherever they go but they have hearts so large you can't help but warm to them.

What Japanese anime does well,and this movie is a good example of, is combine pathos and fatality with comedy to provide a roller coaster of emotions so that you can be crying and laughing within the same breath.

Look at UP, Toy Story and even Wreck it Ralph and you can see how the influence of anime and quality anime such as Fairy Tail has had in this area.

I loved the new characters too, Eclair and Momon's story was loving and poignant and if you watch the prologue which was released after the movie as a 15 min short it just enriches the story of these two. It is referred to as Fairy Tail Movie Prolouge - Hoou no Miko aka "Sunrise" or "The First Morning"

The Fairy Tail mages I felt were a bit under powered from the series but that does happen when you translate onto the big screen. Still their hearts were just as big and the emotions evoked by fully developed characters just as solid. There are a couple of scenes where there is slight nudity for comedic purposes but nothing graphic.

As a fan I'll give it 8/10 as this is a solid example of why after 175 episodes of the series it is still going stronger than ever. Quality never goes out of style and with all the great characters in Fairy Tail there is someone there for everyone.

As a fan of Fairy Tail, I was interested on seeing this movie. At first, I'm all but amazed. But now I'm not that much of amazed.

For starters, the art and animation looks great, the action scenes are good and that's about it. The story is well... is like your typical Fairy Tail episode. The characters especially the villains are so forgettable and under-developed. So for me, it has two pros and two cons. Don't get me wrong, it's not that bad. If you're a fan of Fairy Tail, you'll probably appreciate this movie.

In conclusion, Fairy Tail: Priestess of the Phoenix is okay. Really is appealing to fans like me. But I guess it's not that good to people that are not a fan of Fairy Tail.