New Fairy Tail Movie Debuts Casting, Character Visuals

Fairy Tail fans, your patience is about to be rewarded. The popular shonen series has been on a bit of a break, but the folks behind the anime have good reason to rest. The animators behind Fairy Tail have been busy tidying up the franchise's newest movie, and fans are finally being treated to a first-look at Fairy Tail: Dragon Cry through Weekly Shonen Jump.

The magazine's most recent issue featured a slew of colorful anime updates, but Fairy Tail has taken the spotlight by far. Weekly Shonen Jump offered fans a look at the new film with casting information and a handful of character designs. As the second Fairy Tail film, regular characters like Natsu, Lucy, Gray, and Erza will be featured as core leads. New characters will also appear in the film, and the magazine confirmed their names were Sonia, Zashu, and Animus.

As for Fairy Tail: Dragon Cry itself, creator Hiro Mashima acts as a producer on the film. Tatsuma Minamikawa is directing the feature, and fans will know the creator from projects like Attack on Titan and Gate. Shoji Yonemura was tapped to write the screenplay while Yashuharu Takanashi takes on the music. As for character designs, Yuuko Yamada will be inking the images.

You can check out the full casting information for the film below:

• Natsu: Tetsuya Kakihara
  Lucy: Aya Hirano
  Happy: Rie Kugimiya
  Gray: Yuuichi Nakamura
  Erza: Sayaka Ohara
  Wendy: Satomi Sato
  Carla: Yui Horie

As for the feature itself, the promotional art for Fairy Tail: Dragon Cry looks stunning as usual. In one image, Natsu can be seen standing sideways; Half of the character's profile can be seen dressed in a Fairy Tail guild get-up while the other half of him appears to be transformed into that of a dragon similar to Igneel. The rest of the ensemble cast can also be seen donning new outfits, and a character gallery shows headshots of the film's three new characters.

And, for you Lucy/Natsu shippers, there is one image that will warm you heart. Towards the bottom-left of Weekly Shonen Jump's final spread, fans can see a sketched image of Lucy cradling a tired Natsu.

If you are not familiar with Fairy Tail, then it is about time you familiarized yourself with the anime. The series follows a guild of young, powerful wizards who call Fairy Tail family. Set in a fictional Earth, a boy named Natsu teams up with an unlikely friend Lucy Heartfilia as the latter dreams of becoming a powerful wizard. To date, there are more than 250 episodes of the acclaimed series, and fans can expect more to come in the new year.

Fairy Tail: Dragon Cry will hit theaters in Spring 2017.

[HT] Crunchyroll