Saturday, October 11, 2014

Fairy Tail Chapter 404 Review - 00:00

Written by Shiggins

I... didn't even want to review this week's chapter. I really didn't.

What else can I say but that? This chapter has pretty much taken the tiny inch of chance they had to fix last week's mistake... and made things worse for me. Erza is defying logic, even in the magical world of Fairy Tail. And it burns me. In fact, there is one panel in this chapter that sums up everything wrong with this chapter. One panel. You ready for it? 

They actually said it! I made that joke last week and now they agree with me!

And there it is. I'm not even sure I need to review this chapter after hearing that. However, I might as well since I've reviewed every other chapter since I got here and this one needs to be mentioned. The chapter begins with Kyouka questioning how Erza is still standing despite losing her senses and being in tremendous pain from Kyouka's curse.

...Pretty much.

Erza manages to strike Kyouka again and Pantherlily tries to figure out how Erza is still standing. He thinks maybe she awakened a sixth sense since she lost the other five... Wow. Even Pantherlily, a character who was always straight-faced and level-headed, can't figure out the bullshit behind this moment anymore. Luckily, Happy's little explanation from earlier clears it right up!

*big deep sigh*

With time constantly speeding up by Kyouka's anger (don't blame you, sweetheart), she starts fighting back as strong as she can against Erza. Since Erza's body has been cursed so pain is amplified to horrid levels, and Kyouka's other curse makes her even stronger by every second, there is no way that Erza should be able to fight back in any way whatsoever...

*angry roar of frustration*

Fine, whatever. I'm just going to rush through this now. Erza takes out her swords and strikes Kyouka, finally defeating her. With the clock ticking away, Erza FINALLY collapses and is unable to administer the killing blow to stop the clock. This is when Minerva steps up for once in her life and stabs Kyouka with Erza's sword but is too late and Face activates.

Opinion: ....I did not care for it.

This is nearly insulting now. Maybe Hiro Mashima backed himself into a corner and didn't know what to do next, or maybe he knew Erza is really popular and wanted to make every go in awe at her newest moment but I do feel very angry. As a writer, he should know that Erza can't win this. As readers, we should at least be given something that explains it. Happy and Pantherlily did not explain it and the fact the series wants you to just roll over and accept that is aggravating. As someone who enjoys Mashima's series, I feel disappointed. 

Do I need to say anything else? Erza isn't human anymore and Mashima isn't even trying to come up with a plausible excuse as to how Erza did all this. I think from now on, I'm not going to be looking forward to Erza's battles and that breaks my heart because I enjoy Erza's personality and I enjoy her abilities but this was just too far. Can Erza redeem herself one day? Maybe but not in this arc. 

Was there anything worthwhile in this chapter? I suppose, if I look really hard, I can find something. Maybe it's how Erza vs Kyouka is finally over, or that Erza did actually fail in the end so she's not made it to God-Status yet. Sadly, that is it. And I'm done for today.

Manga Rating: 0.5/5


Character of the Week: Pantherlily for at least trying to make this not 100% bullshit

Predictions: Maybe Face will activate but then we'll discover every other Guild will have destroyed the Face bombs in time. That or Makarov will finally appear with Lumen Histoire and save the day. I'm hoping for the latter.

Best Part: Erza did actually fall over in the end and failed.

Worst Part: Every time Erza did something and the words "Because she's Erza" echoed in my head.

Oh Laxus... How I miss you and your hair as blonde as mine.

Bonus: 
Because... I just wanted something to cheer me up a bit after this.


Shiggins:[Admin]   .
Shiggins enjoys many strange forms of communication, especially those including cosplayers or presents or videos. However, until that wonderful day comes when people care enough to give him things for being him, you can contact him on his Skype; shigginsishere. You can find out about him or ask him stuff on ask.fm/shigginsishere or go to his tumblr page http://otakugajeel.tumblr.com/.

6 comments:

  1. When you think about it, it does kinda make sense on how Erza can keep fighting, even if it doesn't really. I mean, she is Fairy Tail's strongest female wizard, and after what she went through as a child, and in some of the past arcs that gave focus to her, it's not to surprising that she's still fighting.

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    1. If anybody was able to keep fighting after all this, it's Erza but I'm sorry, just not to this extent. She's gone through too much this arc to even make it plausible to be alive, let alone fighting.

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  2. Well, this is Fairy Tail after all, where the characters don't always need to level up in power to take down an enemy, unlike other certain anime/manga.

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    1. True but Erza was literally beaten, whipped, blinded, numbed and had her pain nerves multiplied by huge amounts so even a small breeze was enough to make her scream in agony. Her mind should have exploded from the sheer pain, even if she is Erza.

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  3. Maybe, but it's a manga, and everyone knows nothing makes sense in manga/anime. Take Naruto for example, especially during that bit with Kaguya.

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    1. Oh no please! Not Kaguya! I can't stand Kaguya! *sobbing in corner now*

      And true. We just have to take each bullshit moment we can and push on forward.

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