Fairy Tail: Final Season

Episode 298

Dimaria is about to get a refresher course in something she's apparently forgotten: never underestimate the power of a pissed off teenage girl. Of course, she's got the sort of power that allows you to forget petty little things like that (or things like “don't strip unconscious people” and “random killing is bad”) – it's revealed this week that Dimaria has power over time, thanks to having fused with a time god. That means that she hasn't been moving at super-speeds during her battles, but rather has been the only person allowed to move while the rest of the world was frozen in time. It's among the more unfair advantages in power that we've seen in this battle, and it gives Dimaria one major weak point that can be exploited – her astounding overconfidence.

That assumes that there's someone more powerful than her out there who can take advantage of her blind spot, and in all fairness, that doesn't seem likely. But what if there will be someone more powerful than her in the future? That's the question ultimately posed by this fight when Dimaria's trick is revealed by none other than Ultear, the woman who gave up her own time in order to save the world. Her body may have died, but her spirit lives on in a rift in time, one that, conveniently enough, is where Dimaria goes when she activates her magic. That means that Ultear can equip Wendy and Sheria with the potential to defeat this member of Zeref's forces, because if any one knows about desperate forlorn hopes that just may work, it's her.

The price of a forlorn hope, however, may be too high. Ultear's price was her time and, quite possibly, any chance at an afterlife for her spirit, putting her in a similar position to Mavis but without the ability to see people. The hope she offers Wendy and Sheria isn't quite that deadly, but it's still dire: she can give them enough power to defeat Dimaria, but it will be their own power – from the rest of their lives. She has a spell that will access the future and give them everything they'll ever have right now, but the cost is that they will never be able to use magic again. On the one hand, it's magic power now for the lives of countless people, including Carla, who has been mortally wounded saving Wendy. On the other hand, it's the end of life as they've known it and the possibility of them saving more people in the future. Honestly, I think the cost makes it worth it, because Dimaria's a major problem, but there's certainly a lot to make the girls think, and now Carla's time, as well as Ultear's, is running out.

Fortunately things are going pretty well on the outside. Laxus' trick to make Wall cure his Bane poisoning is masterful, not only because it forces the enemy to heal him so that Laxus can immediately take him out, but also because it uses that same weakness that Dimaria has – Wall's ego. Wall's so busy showing how awesomely powerful he is that he erased Laxus' magic circle without thinking that it will also remove the Bane particles, thus signing his own death warrant with a flourish. Meanwhile the two living members of Ultear's guild, Crime Sorcière, also show up on the battlefield – Meldy to save Juvia and Jellal to save Erza. (Or rather, to help Erza. She's definitely a save-herself kind of woman.) Not only does this foreshadow Ultear's arrival to aid Wendy, but it also drives home again how important this battle is, because they rarely come out of the shadows. It's also telling that Jellal has left his hood off, allowing his face to be seen – not only does it mean that he's trying to make amends by showing he's changed, but it also says that he understands the scope of this battle, and being seen fighting on the right side could go a long way to allowing him to live openly in the world again.

The visuals are a little shakier this week, but what's most noticeable are the impressive thigh gaps given to Ultear and Dimaria. Unhealthy body images aside (and I don't think anyone's going to argue that Fairy Tail is a bastion of realistic bodies anyway), they're mostly distracting because it makes the thighs look too thin to hold up their bodies. Presumably the gaps were done to allow for the bulging vulvas when the women are drawn from behind, but if that's not your thing, it honestly just looks a little weird and distracting. Hopefully it'll even out next week when the Sky Sisters make their fateful decision.

Rating: B+

Fairy Tail: Final Season is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.