Fairy Tail Series 2 OVA
フェアリーテイル OVA第2期 (Fairy Tail OVA (2016))
- Comedy
- Ecchi
- Fantasy
- Super Power
- Episodes
- 3
- Duration
- 27 min per ep
- Aired
- May 17, 2016 to Dec 16, 2016
- Status
- Finished Airing
Synopsis
After the Grand Magic Games end without a clear victor, Fairy Tail’s master Makarov Dreyar proposes a simpler tiebreaker: Team A versus Team B in rock-paper-scissors. With the winners free to command the losers, Laxus Dreyar wastes no time sending Natsu Dragneel and company on a near-impossible errand to recover a missing stone.
The OVA also shifts to lighter guild-side moments: the Fairy Tail girls share a bath with the guild’s first master, Mavis Vermillion, only to notice her unusually downcast mood. When Warrod Sequen arrives and recounts an old tale involving Mavis and a hidden treasure, Natsu’s group heads out in hopes of lifting her spirits—while tensions tied to Fairy Tail’s earliest days begin to surface.
In a holiday-themed segment, the guild helps Magnolia prepare for Christmas, then reconvenes after the work is done for a festive night of drinks and games that predictably spirals into rowdy Fairy Tail chaos.
Otaku Consensus
Fairy Tail OVA (2016) lands as fan-service-forward bonus material rather than essential franchise architecture, but Tetsurou Amino and Junichi Kitamura keep the three episodes brisk enough to feel like a compact guild hangout instead of discarded filler. Its strongest value is character-side texture, comedy timing, and Yasuharu Takanashi’s familiar Fairy Tail musical identity; its clearest limitation is that it cannot match the dramatic weight of Series 2’s Tartaros arc, which critics often single out as one of the franchise’s strongest stretches.
Why You Should Watch
Watch this if you want Fairy Tail at its most unserious: guild games, magic-adjacent slapstick, seasonal chaos, and the kind of ecchi-leaning side material that would feel disruptive inside a major arc. It is best for viewers who already like the ensemble and want more time with their favorite personalities without committing to another long battle storyline. The appeal is closer to the lighter detours of One Piece or the party-game absurdity of Gintama than to the high-stakes shounen escalation of the Tartaros material. With only three episodes, it works as a palate cleanser after heavier Series 2 arcs, especially for fans who enjoy the franchise’s found-family chemistry as much as its fights.
Key Characters
- NNatsu Dragneel
Natsu remains the OVA’s chaos engine, the character fans turn to when Fairy Tail pivots from battle-manga bravado into physical comedy and guild-room absurdity.
- MMavis Vermillion
Mavis gives the bonus episodes a rarer tonal hinge, bringing the franchise’s founding-era mystique into material that otherwise leans heavily on comedy and fan service.
- LLaxus Dreyar
Laxus works here because his intimidating reputation contrasts sharply with the OVA format’s low-stakes, joke-driven treatment of guild hierarchy.
- MMakarov Dreyar
Makarov’s presence reinforces Fairy Tail’s recurring tension between formal guild leadership and the fact that the guild usually behaves like a combustible family reunion.
What Makes It Stand Out
- 1
The three-episode structure makes this a concentrated OVA package rather than a miniature arc, with each installment built around a separate comic or character-side situation.
- 2
A-1 Pictures handles the animation under the broader Series 2 production banner, keeping the character designs and guild atmosphere consistent with the 2014 television run rather than presenting it as a separate visual experiment.
- 3
Yasuharu Takanashi’s music ties the OVA back to Fairy Tail’s mainline identity, which matters because the material itself is more episodic and comedic than plot-driving.
- 4
AniList’s highest-weighted tags include Nudity, Shounen, Magic, Super Power, and Episodic, accurately signaling that this is a fan-service-heavy side entry with fantasy powers used more for jokes and ensemble bits than long-form combat escalation.
- 5
Its reception numbers place it in solid-but-nonessential territory: 7.22 on MyAnimeList from 42,843 votes and 68/100 on AniList, reflecting affection from franchise fans without the broader prestige of the main TV arcs.
Fun Facts & Trivia
- Fun fact 1
- The OVA aired across 2016, from May 17 to December 16, rather than as a weekly television run, reinforcing its role as bonus material for existing Fairy Tail viewers.
- Fun fact 2
- Masashi Sogo is credited for the script, while Tetsurou Amino is credited both as director and storyboarder, giving the OVA a directorial through-line despite its episodic format.
- Fun fact 3
- Chihiro Yonekura performed the theme song, while Shouji Hata served as sound director, pairing a dedicated song credit with the franchise’s established emphasis on loud guild comedy and magical action cues.
- Fun fact 4
- Watch-order guides commonly position Fairy Tail OVAs as optional stops between main TV chunks and films, which matches the general web consensus that these episodes are supplementary rather than required canon progression.
- Fun fact 5
- The 2016 OVA’s MyAnimeList popularity rank of #2596 and rank of #3574 show a familiar pattern for franchise bonuses: widely sampled by established fans, but not evaluated as highly as the core series’ best-regarded material.
Studios
- A-1 Pictures
