This episode might have been titled “Titania Falls,” but it should’ve been titled “Natsu’s a badass.” If you ever wanted to create a really cool Natsu avatar, you need to look no further than episode 40. Natsu had some really great poses, in fact, when I was taking screens to post I took about 20 of them, that is how many great shots are in this episode. The conclusion to the Natsu x Jellal fight was pretty great. I mentioned before that I read through the next arc in the manga before I stopped reading it, and one thing I always though was that those deformities were just a side effect to Natsu eating Etherion, but the anime kind of focused on that and it disappearing, so now I think it is some kind of new power Natsu is unlocking. It makes me more excited to see Natsu level up and I can’t wait to see that power unlock completely.
Simon’s death was quite good, but at the same time, kind of anti-climatic. I just didn’t feel the terror of Jellal’s attack. It looked like it was a swirling black hole attack, which should’ve done something like Gene Starwind firing the #4 shell at Hamushi. Even still, it held a great emotional point in the episode. I do wish we got a bit more of his character, just because we barely had enough time to get to love his character, so really it wasn’t his death that made it so impacting, but the reaction to his death from both Ezra and Natsu which made me a bit teary eyed. I even liked how they gave him a final farewell at the end when Ezra watched him fall into the abyss.
At the end of the episode Ezra decides to sacrifice herself in order to stop the Etherion from going out of control and blowing everyone to hell. Who actually believes that Ezra is going to die? One thing I hate is the spoiler opening and/or ending. I am a big One Piece fan, but when I first started watching the show I didn’t know anything about it, but before the Alabasta arc ended they changed their opening, but what was that, Nico Robin was in it? WTF, wasn’t she a bad guy? Oh, she joins their crew in 10 episodes. Gee thanks for telling me. That is the spoiler opening, openings that start showing the next arc before they happened and that is what Fairy Tail is doing. I know I’ve read through the next arc, so no surprises there, but when they change the opening again, I don’t want to watch it. Wait till the arc starts before you start showing spoilers. So I didn’t really feel sad about this and you probably didn’t either. The emotional weight was carried by Simon just because we all know Ezra won’t die.
The next episode ends this arc and starts the next arc. Overall, this arc was pretty good. Out of all the characters Ezra definately has the best back story, which is what made this arc so interesting. The fights weren’t all that great though. The only good fight IMO was the Natsu x Jellal one. Ezra’s fight against Ikaruga wasn’t bad, but it could’ve been so much more. However, I am excited about the next arc because Loki returns badder than ever, we finally get to see Mystogun pwn, and Laxus is one tough mofo. The next arc has a lot more fights and they are much better.