Fairy Tail: Dragon Cry

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Fairy Tail: Dragon Cry (??? ???????? -DRAGON CRY-, Gekij?ban Fear? Teiru: Doragon Kurai) is a 2017 Japanese animated fantasy action film based on the sh?nen manga and anime series Fairy Tail by Hiro Mashima. It is directed by Tatsuma Minamikawa based on a screenplay by Sh?ji Yonemura, both of whom worked on the anime series. Mashima is involved as executive producer and storyboard artist.

Set between Fairy Tail's penultimate and final story arcs, the film focuses on the members of the titular wizard guild infiltrating the Kingdom of Stella to recover a stolen staff of cataclysmic power. Tetsuya Kakihara, Aya Hirano, Rie Kugimiya, Yuichi Nakamura, Sayaka ?hara, Satomi Sat?, and Yui Horie all reprise their roles from the television series, with Makoto Furukawa, Aoi Y?ki, and Jiro Saito co-starring as new characters designed by Mashima and Y?ko Yamada. The film was released in Japan on May 6, 2017. It received limited theatrical screenings worldwide, with Funimation releasing the film in North American theaters in both Japanese and localized English-dubbed formats from August 14 through August 19, 2017.

Video Fairy Tail: Dragon Cry

Plot

Zash Caine (????????, Zasshu Kein), the Kingdom of Stella's minister of state and a practitioner of black magic, infiltrates the Kingdom of Fiore and steals the Dragon Cry, a mystical staff discovered in the dragon graveyard beneath the capital city. Fiore's royal family enlists Natsu Dragneel and his team from the Fairy Tail guild to recover the staff, detailing that it is imbued with magical power capable of annihilating the kingdom. The wizards follow Zash to Stella, whose ruler, King Animus (????, Animusu), intends to use the staff for a ritual. Upon touching the staff, Natsu triggers an alarm and attracts Zash's attention. Eventually, Fairy Tail is defeated by Zash and the kingdom's elite Three Stars unit - Swan (???, Suwan), Doll (???, D?ru), and Gapri (???, Gapuri) - who place them under arrest and take the staff back.

Natsu escapes from his airborne cell and frees the others, stopping Zash from using Lucy Heartfilia as a blood sacrifice for his magic. The wizards evade Zash with the help of his reluctant accomplice, Sonya (????, S?nya), who is also Animus' aide and childhood friend. Sonya pleads with Fairy Tail to leave the staff in Stella, explaining that the king's ritual could prevent a potential magical disaster from destroying her kingdom. However, Natsu rejects her request, sensing that the staff contains the malicious intent of dragons that were killed by Acnologia.

The wizards re-infiltrate the city to retrieve the staff, defeating the Three Stars in the process. Sonya grabs the Dragon Cry and, realizing its true nature, refuses to give the staff to Animus. Natsu arrives and sees Sonya speaking to herself; possessing Sonya, Animus reveals himself to be a dragon who has sealed himself within her body to cheat death, appearing to her in a human guise to manipulate her. Unable to escape Sonya's body on his own, Animus performs the ritual to free himself using the staff's magic, but only manages to emerge in an imperfect form after Zash steals the staff for himself. Summoning an army of artificial soldiers against Fairy Tail, Zash attempts to destroy Fiore with the staff, but is disintegrated by its magic energy.

In a struggle over the staff, Animus impales Natsu on one of his spikes and finishes absorbing the staff's magic, regaining his full strength. Natsu survives his injury and viciously attacks Animus, half of his body taking on the appearance of a dragon; Animus recognizes Natsu as E.N.D., the "destroyer of all", before Natsu defeats him. Returning to normal, Natsu is deeply shaken by his transformation, but Lucy comforts him, saying he still looks like himself. Meanwhile, Sonya shatters the Dragon Cry, deactivating the soldiers and causing Animus' body to fade away. The broken staff reverts to its original form, a ribbon, which is blown away in the breeze.

In a post-credits scene, the ribbon is picked up by Acnologia in his human form. In a flashback, Sonya loses her ribbon after being mortally wounded by Animus' gang of dragons 400 years in the past, prompting Acnologia to kill them in retaliation; a dying Animus inhabits Sonya's body during this time, enabling their survival. Back in the present, Acnologia callously destroys the ribbon as Zeref observes him from afar alongside Brandish ? and Invel Yura, declaring that his battle with Natsu will soon begin.

Maps Fairy Tail: Dragon Cry

Cast

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Promotion

Production of a second Fairy Tail film was first announced in Kodansha's Weekly Sh?nen Magazine in May 2015, with key and concept artwork illustrated by Hiro Mashima depicting the character Natsu Dragneel in a half-draconic form seen in the finished film. The film's campaign promotes the climax of the Fairy Tail manga series, which concluded its run on July 26, 2017.

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Release

The film was released in Japan on May 6, 2017, with an international release in select theaters scheduled the same month. Madman Entertainment announced plans to distribute the film theatrically in Australia and New Zealand. Anime Limited distributed and released the film on 17 May 2017 in the United Kingdom, with further screenings scheduled for 19 May 2017. German distributor KAZÉ Anime brought the film on June 27 and July 16 2017 in cinemas in Germany and Austria.

On July 14, 2017, Funimation announced limited theatrical screenings of the film in North America. The film was screened on August 14, 2017 in a subtitled-only format in the United States and Canada, and on August 16 and 19 in a dubbed format in the United States. Screenings for the dub were scheduled for August 17 in Canada.

The film was released on DVD and Blu-Ray in Japan on November 17th, 2017.

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Reception

Sarah Nelkin of Anime Now gave the film a positive review, calling it "a fun romp stuffed with all the elements Fairy Tail is known for that fans can enjoy, from visuals to music to characters". However, she did not recommend the film for newcomers to the franchise, and criticized the brevity of Natsu's character development, despite considering his struggle with his identity "a cool idea". Rebecca Silverman of Anime News Network gave the film an overall "B" rating, saying it "nicely builds up to the finale arc of the story" and praising its action, humor, and emotional effectiveness, while criticizing its underuse of characters such as Lucy, Sonya, Gajeel and Levy. Silverman also noted that the film's plot "absolutely assumes that you're familiar with the later events of the story", warning that it would result in fans being "either be mildly confused or very spoiled".

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References

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External links

• Official movie website (in Japanese)
• Fairy Tail: Dragon Cry (film) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia

Source of the article : Wikipedia