Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest 04
フェアリーテイル 100年クエスト

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Jellal confronts Touka, who claims to not know what a White Mage is. As Jellal lays out the reason for his confrontation, Laxus intervenes, citing her status as a member of Fairy Tail. Jellal backs off and gets a room at a hotel to ponder the situation. Meanwhile on the Diabolos ship, Kiria parades Erza around by making her craw like a dog, complete with a leash. Kiria takes Erza to the ship’s hold to pay a visit to the seasick Wendy and Natsu.

Elsewhere, Lucy is at sea in a dingy with Happy and Charle (Carla). A larger, fancier, self-propelled dingy arrives with the mage Brandish in it. She has a miniaturized Gray with her. Brandish updates Lucy on the evens that happened to her country and former guildmates since they fought. She agrees to be Lucy’s friend, but also informs Lucy that Aquarius’s key is in Guiltina, and she intends to claim it.

Back on the Diabolos ship, Erza breaks free of Kiria’s hypnosis. While angry at what was done to her, Erza frees Wendy and Natsu instead. Brandish drifts by and expands an undersea rock so that the ship is aground on it. This causes Wendy and Natsu to recover. The now awakened Kiria battles Erza again. Meanwhile, Wendy thwarts Skullion with her Wind Dragon magic. Natsu manages to destroy Madmole’s armor with heat.

Back at Fairy Tail, the guild discuss the Touka situation with her present. Gajeel notices that during Touka’s innocent, tearful performance, she flashed an evil grin. Laxus encourages her to be honest with the guild. Touka leaves and goes to confront Jellal. She decides to eliminate Jellal for the sake of her mission. However, the White Mage personality gets cut by the Touka personality. Gajeel and company arrive to subdue Touka.

Thoughts/Review:

One thing I will give to Mashima-sensei — from time to time, he will throw in an unexpected twist to a story to give it an interesting aspect. And such was the case with Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest 04.

An Interesting Twist

In my review of the previous episode, I felt that there were two outcomes for Jellal’s confrontation with Touka. Either Touka denies everything, or she defeats Jellal in battle. Initially, option 1 seemed to be in order, thanks in part to Laxus’s intervention. Then we get more of the innocent act at Fairy Tail. But then she leaves and option 2 comes into play. And despite all his warnings, Touka catches Jellal off guard and nearly kills him.

The unexpected twist was Touka stopping herself. Yes, it is a bit of a plot contrivance in an episode filled with those. However, the idea of an innocent girl named Touka getting possessed by this powerful “White Mage” is interesting. She had a tail before, so I suppose Touka could actually be one of Exceed cat people. Charle/Carla takes the form of a human girl, though younger in appearance.

Regardless, I can’t imagine that this White Mage personal can be suppressed for long. After all, it has been making Touka do stuff for a while. So it may take supreme effort to block the White Mage. And then what happens with Fairy Tail?

The Long Lore

I’m glad that in Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest 04, we get a recount of who Brandish is. Although I own all 63 volumes of the manga, I quit volume reviewing them because the manga grew tedious. As such, I didn’t really remember the Brandish character. The episode didn’t get into the weeds, but I got enough information to know that Brandish was a powerful foe Fairy Tail dealt with. And we get a reminder as to what her powers are.

Another thing that this episode told me was why Lucy didn’t summon Aquarius in the recent fight. I had no clue, despite reading and reviewing Fairy Tail Volume 45. So now I know what happened with Aquarius. And the episode introduces a side quest for Lucy to get Aquarius back. However, what I don’t know is why Brandish would want Aquarius. After all, Brandish isn’t a Celestial Spirit mage. I’m guessing if I reread the manga, I’d get the whole story. Alas, I don’t have that kind of time.

Plot Contrivances

Man, there were some serious plot contrivances in Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest 04. I already mentioned the fact that Touka was possessed, but that one works. However, Brandish just showing up in the middle of the ocean to encounter Lucy is a massive plot contrivance. Previously, Team Natsu were easily trounced. So having Brandish show up allows the story to stop the Diabolos ship, thus allowing Natsu and Wendy to recover. And it introduces the new side quest for Aquarius.

The next contrivance is Erza’s magical release from Kiria’s control. I don’t remember if Erza had this power before, where she can “half” someone’s mental control. However, after Erza gets further humiliation, she gets to once again fight Kiria. And then when Kiria breaks Erza’s sword, well, Erza now has an energy blade, thanks to Wendy. 😂

The rematch between Natsu and Madmole comes off as another plot contrivance. Previously, Madmole picked his nose and Natsu could do nothing. Now, Natsu can suddenly overcome all that ’cause “fire is hot.” As contrivances go, it wasn’t the worst, but it is there.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

Let me wrap up my review of Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest 04 with some final thoughts.

• Erza’s humiliation at the hands of Kiria came off as a cringe, sexual act. It was as if Mashima-sensei (or whomever) thought, “You know, a submissive, Erza getting walked like a dog, and used as a bench is so hot. Let’s get it into this story stat!” 😑
• Also on the sexual front, Gray restores to normal size, and the art made sure to depict it as if Lucy were getting “pounded”. 🙄
• I was completely wrong about Mercphobia. Not sure why he was unconscious, considering how powerful he’s supposed to be.
• Why didn’t Diabolos just kill/eat Natsu and Wendy? I should have put that into the plot contrivances.

In the end, Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest 04 became an interesting episode, and that was something I didn’t expect. But it had some cringe, creepy stuff.