Fairy Tail Chapter 400 Review - Wings of Hope

Written by: Shiggins

Chapter 400 everybody! We made it here together! And we got a good reward too... Not great though.

Acnologia is here and he's blowing up shit. Massive pages of Acnologia doing nothing but blowing up the area around him, yet not somehow harming anybody, which I find strange but we'll just accept it. We see Cana, Erza, Kyouka, that dancing guy that nobody remembers the name of and more as they all freak out about Acnologia being here. 

I don't think even he knows why he's blowing up this random area anymore.

Wendy is on the floor in pain and to make matters worse, Natsu and Gajeel are having the same problem now. Natsu's skin is burning hot and all of the Dragon Slayers can hear a heartbeat. Even Mard Geer is confused as to what's going to happen next, as he sees Sting and Rogue fall in front of him. (They don't look like they've even moved in the past 5 chapters but we'll just accept that too). As everybody keeps panicking, Mard Geer wonders if Acnologia is here because it seeks to destroy E.N.D before it's reborn. 

"Dude..we can't touch music...but music can touch us"
"Woah, dude. That's so deep...dude."

Natsu suddenly hears a voice inside his head and looks about. The voice of Igneel himself. Igneel is confident Natsu can defeat E.N.D and declares he will deal with Acnologia himself. And as we get a flashback of Natsu remembering his father Igneel, something quite astonishing happens. 

Natsu births out his own father, Igneel!

Igneel promises to explain to Natsu about everything later, but first he's going to take care of Acnologia. And as the two dragons prepare for an amazing battle, Natsu sheds tears as he finally sees his dad again.

Opinion: I'm not going to lie here. I was... disappointed. I found this chapter underwhelming until the ending, which actually became a bit predictable halfway through the chapter. Maybe it's because this was the 400th chapter and Hiro Mashima usually delivers when he's trying to go for huge chapters but this time, I didn't feel the usual rush I get when reading a huge chapter.

Sorry Cana and I know I'm being harsh, but you just didn't give me a thrill this week. I'm just being honest.

What are my problems with it? Well, there are too many pages of panicking people. I don't know if this was Hiro Mashima trying to give a bunch of his characters an appearance because it's the 400th but after the first few pages, we know we should be afraid of Acnologia and we know everybody else is too. So showing us constant pages of Cana scared and Acnologia flying around doing nothing but roaring feels almost like filler.

I will admit though... THAT IS AWESOME!!!!

However, we can't talk about this chapter without talking about the big ending. Igneel was inside Natsu all along. And by the look of things, that might include the other Dragon Slayers too. (Even though that makes no sense since didn't Sting and Rogue kill their Dragons?). 

On the one hand, this was clever and makes perfect sense. It explains why Natsu and Gajeel couldn't get through Freed's wall during the Fighting Festival Arc, which didn't allow anybody past the age of 80 to go through it. And we can be certain that Igneel and Metalicana are over 80 years old. It also explains why Natsu is able to summon up massive amounts of power during tense situations and why he can survive things that others can't and... IS NATSU A JINCHUURIKI?! 

Yep. He fits in perfectly.

On the other hand, it's a bit like we're being mocked here. Natsu was searching the whole world for his long-lost father and all he did was reach inside his chest. I am thankful that it's not some sort of emotional message though. That's a good thing. Although this does raise the question of "Why didn't you save us from Acnologia last time, Igneel?". 

Manga Rating: 3.5/5

Character of the Week: Igneel for finally appearing.

Predictions: Igneel is going to fight Acnologia but need help. This is when Metalicana, Grandeeny and Sting and Rogue's dragons will appear too for a massive brawl in the sky to chase away Acnologia. Kyouka will resume trying to kill Erza.

Best Part: Igneel. Everything about Igneel.

Worst Part: Too many pages of people afraid of Acnologia.

Bonus: This chapter appeared a little earlier than expected so although it has messed up my schedule a bit, I am going to adapt. Fairy Tail Week starts on the 15th and will have one Fairy Tail article each day for five days. If you've got any suggestions, I suggest sending them to me now in the comments below. 

Even the front cover is surprisingly underwhelming compared to some of Hiro Mashima's previous work.

Shiggins:[Admin]
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