Written by Shiggins
That's actually going to be a running theme this week, as I attempt to actually figure out exactly what happened, why it happened and what will happen next. It's a confusing chapter this week, but you're here reading it so you expect me to make some sort of sense with this nonsense, don't you? Sigh... Fuck it, here goes!
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| Yeah, after the events of last week, I need a hug too. |
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| Now, I'm no doctor but if you have literal volcanoes going off inside you, you might need some medical assistance. |
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| Sigh... Why do we only get brief flashes of Igneel having a personality? I swear, in almost all fiction out there, dragons are either monsters that need to be killed or wise old men that spout exposition and motivation to the hero. In fact, I think Zirconis has the most unique personality I've ever seen in a dragon, and that's only because he was a bit perverted and stupid. A nitpick? Maybe but it's one I feel fiction needs to fix. And then I'll take the credit for it. |
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| Why!? Fuck humans, you stupid ungrateful shit! I'd go a damn demon any day of the week! |
Opinion: Nope, it's still confusing after typing all that shit out.
Irene is supposedly dead now, but I'll admit to scepticism since she's the fourth (or possibly fifth) person to literally stab themselves during this war. We've seen characters survive far worse, so I'll wait until later before being sure she's actually gone from this world. Whether or not I can be bothered seeing her walk around now that she's butchered her character (see last week's review) will remain a mystery...
Natsu is back up, but how? Well, I've genuinely been asking around and honestly, nobody has a good answer. It's as if Natsu himself got tired of being ill so he just forced himself to wake up, yet we're left with absolutely zero explanation or closure. Natsu declared himself a human, so the Dragon and Demon Seeds disappeared, which means this was literally a mid-life crisis that Natsu just needed some therapy for, and he got it... through a Spirit Guide taking the form of Dragon Slayers. Of course, there are numerous problems with this though, the first being that we never even knew Natsu was having this dilemma until today's chapter, so this has all the telltale signs of an asspull.
The next problem is why this dilemma even affected the Seeds to begin with, unless they only existed in Natsu's mind, which is still confusing because Natsu might as well have told them to go away in the end and I don't think that's how my mind or my magic works. Did Natsu use The Force? Is he as excited for Episode VIII as I am, or did he literally enter his own mind to handle the problem because if so, that's some intense investigative surgery!
Also, who or what was the Spirit Guide? Why did the Spirit Guide know things about his past that he, Natsu, did not? Was the Spirit Guide E.N.D all along, or the ghost of Igneel, or something else entirely? We were promised answers by this thing as it turned into Dragon Slayers, but we've just been left with more questions! I am so confused!
Lastly, the two Seeds disappeared. The Dragon Seed and the Demon Seed.... What does that mean? Is E.N.D defeated, since Natsu implied he can now kill Zeref without dying himself? My first instinct is yes, but that would also mean that he shouldn't have Dragon Slayer powers anymore either since Natsu destroyed the Dragon Seed... but we see him at the end with his fists on fire. So does Natsu have fire magic that isn't Dragon Slayer magic, or does he have one but not the other, or does he still have both which would make this entire exchange pointless (except for showing us Natsu's hot parents)?
I'm not going to call this development lazy, or even get that upset about it like last week. I'm just sitting here in confusion, going into overdrive about how nothing makes sense. I feel like there is one big element I am missing, but until then... August! I like August! Let's see how they fuck up August next!
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| Why isn't Natsu naked? Lucy had to be naked, so Natsu should be too. I'm all about equality here. At least show your butt or something, man. Geez. |
Manga Rating: 2/5
Character of the Week: Lucy for being
Best Part: We can finally start getting back to the good action again (I hope).
Worst Part: Natsu's therapy... If we can call it that.
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| It's at this point I want to give a hello to both the NaLi shippers out there. You two do a good job. |
P.S
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| You're damn right I'm pointing out the Gajevy cameo here! Look at Gajeel's face! He's liking this! |
Shiggins:[Admin]
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Born under the stars of the Dark Gods, Shiggins owns the power of the Great Eye and is utterly magnificent in his omniscience. If you dare to discover more about someone as great as him, then go ahead. And to all my friends and family members, YOU are wrong and I should be disappointed! Not the other way round!,. You can find out about him or ask him stuff on ask.fm/shigginsishere or go to his tumblr page http://otakugajeel.tumblr.com/
It's been a while since I left any comments but I feel this kind of needs addressing. I really hope it's not the case but it kind of felt like Mashima got... bored almost with the whole seeds things and wanted to get back to Natsu kicking ass. Granted it was taking a while but it could have been SO worth it.
ReplyDeleteI agree this chapter was confusing, and it has just wasted all that glorious build up, I feel. The threat of Natsu turning into a demon, the possibility of him dying (I mean we knew that wouldn't happen because he's the main character but still). Just how was he going to find a way around it? By saying "Screw you!" and that was it.
Also this might be minor nitpick but I just realised it after reading this review. How the hell did Erza get up to hug Wendy? Dragon!Irene literally broke all her bones except for one of her arms. She only shot towards the meteor because she had one arm left and now she's able to sit up and hug Wendy... through the power of sadness I guess? I'm sorry, I don't mean to bash on Erza but it just really bugged me, so much I went back to double check chapter 518 to make sure that's actually what happened.
But as always good job on the review mate, and I feel your pain.
Long time no see, T.
DeleteBored does seem like a fair guess, yeah. Almost as if he regretted writing this plotline and just wanted to get out of it because it had dragged on too long now, which is a shame because it could have at least been visually interesting.
.....because she's Erza.
for the review always happy to read them. To me I don't see any resolution about this seed business and as confusing as this chapter was it will hopefully make more sense later on.I think it's setting up the real conflict between Natsu and Zeref . If we look at all the conversations within this volcano spirit realm of nastuness it suggest that Natsu is "rejecting" everything about his demon roots and by extension his brother. Whenever that unpleasant idea arrives his mind moves forward to better simpler images.
ReplyDeleteAt least that's what I'm choosing to makes sense of all of this. For a series which main focus is family and friendship and the character who talks about it more and more, it seems odd his so willing to disregard his blood relations and that whole bit about how he forgot Anna interest me as well.
I'm gonna have faith in Mashima cause his surprised everyone before. Honestly this war feels weird, like Mashima is stuck between his own style and message but trying to bring a serious and grand scale to a series that's really about love and friendship. Its It's like his hesitant about something?
unless I'm reading way too much into this. I hope not cause it's becoming increasingly difficult to argue that fairy tail is a good series.
Thanks for reading my long comment and again thanks for the review.
True. A conversation between Natsu and Zeref could really make or break this development. It would be a chapter full of exposition no doubt, but it'd be a necessary one that gives us a break and lets us understand better.
DeleteThat would explain the amounts of ups and downs this arc has given me. Sometimes, I think it's brilliant. Other times, its been awful. We just have to see how it ends up really.
Fairy Tail is a good series. Just because it's in a rough patch right now does not mean it's suddenly a bad one. Almost every good series, from Naruto to DBZ to Hunter x Hunter, has had it's share of crap. It's all part of the experience.
Long comments are always welcome. Thank you!
Yea, I feel the same way. People are already saying that this arc is one of the worst ones in FT. With which I disagree. This arc is actually really hard to rate. It has some brilliant moments, that feel like they are on a whole over level than moments from all the other arcs(not counting the end of tartaros of course). And then there are moments like these..... Which are either BS either lazily done... At first I was sure Alvarez would be number 1 even with all the bullshit, but now I'm not so sure. If Alvarez ends on a great note, I will still consider it the best arc so far. If it ends badly, then it will be below Tartaros for me...
DeleteBut really, I don't understand "real" critics. They base their opinion not on the pros, but on the cons of arcs. Which is why they consider GMG and Alvarez the worst arcs of FT. Which they aren't. GMG is an arc with lost potential, which makes it below Tenrou for me(not too far though). I heard there are people who still consider Phantom Lord the best arc of FT :/
That's why I love reading your reviews - you're not way to nitpicking, but also not fanboying. Which is what a lot of reviewers lack nowadays.
(And what I planned to be a small comment, turned out to be almost a paragraph...)
I am planning a full review on this arc once it's finished, since it has been so full of ups and downs. If I forget, please do remind me. So far though, this arc is still too debatable for me to decide how good it is and the ending will tell me if I'm completely angry or not. Certainly though, this arc has some of the worst decisions like Irene but also some of the best.
DeleteGMG is easily one of the best arcs for me, possibly even more so than Tartarus. It's nowhere near the worst, so that's just silly-billy. Phantom Lord was the first arc that made me like FT at all really, so I understand the nostalgic love but... no. No. GMG, Tenrou and Tartarus are better, as are others.
Also, thank you! I fanboy when I get compliments like that and I'm not ashamed to admit it... A little bit ashamed. Not important. But yeah, I'll criticise when I have to (Irene) and squee like a bitch when I should (Gajevy), so I like to think I'm fair.
Don't feel bad. Big comments just make me stronger.
Glad to hear an unpopular opinion about GMG arc! I think the problem with most of the reviewers, is that they base their opinion solely on the cons of the arc, forgetting the pros. They judge the arc by how much mistakes it made. Which is why most of the people hate Alvarez and GMG - they both had their fair share of BS. But rating arcs like that is simply stupid. While cons do influence the quality of the arc, pros do so even more. Which is why GMG is STILL one of the best arcs, no matter what anyone says. Which is why I find all these modern "critics" very flawed. Because by that logic, Phantom Lord or Tower of Heaven really are the best arc. Which if you look, is stupid as hell.
DeleteAlso, I hate to agree that the Irene stuff was BS. Overall I liked the fight and the ending, but it's just... the execution was bad. I expected a lot more from Irene. And to see Erza managing to hurt a DRAGON, who enchanted the whole country, is still BS in my opinion. Granted, I can give Irene the benefit of the doubt, and agree that perhaps she's not that good of a close combat mage. But still that doesn't change the fact that after the Irene subplot I feeled that I enjoyed it, but was also dissapointed. And the seed subplot.... while I do believe that it is far from over, it was still lazily done, considering how much buildup we've seen. Like at least add some flashbacks or Natsu thinking for a while about the answer, and the moment would be great!
Oh well,let's just hope August delivers the hype! It seems like Nalu is going to fight him after all, but if it is well done, it could be one of the best fights in FT. Also I would really like to see Natsu fighting to his limit, because the only time we saw him fight like that was against Zeref, and that was a 1 time only powerup. I don't even know if he still has Lightning Flame Mode or not!!
I was honestly unaware that the GMG arc was unpopular. I just assumed everyone loved it, like me.
DeleteAnyway, that's a problem that occurs with many self-working reviewers out there. To get more views, you tend to need to either love something unconditionally or despise it without a second thought. As for me, I write what I want to write... I really need to make it an actual paying job...
Tower of Heaven sucks anyway... Okay, it's not THAT bad but still.
For me personally, Irene's conclusion isn't just the execution but the concept. She loved her daughter all along, but I have seen that countless times. I wanted an evil mother, which we don't get enough of. Now I'm worried she'll be like Jellal and go all "Oh I'm so evil, woe is me" drama queen on us. It was well done until Erza actually defeated her. Then it was piss.
As you've probably noticed, I need to see how this arc ends before I can comment fully on the Seeds. Could it be saved? Yes but Mashima reeeally needs to bring out the Big Brain for it. So we'll see.
August is a badass who loves Brandish. I find him very relatable for that, so I have high hopes. NaLu vs August should be an entertaining fight, but I really don't want to see another Gildarts vs Serena victory in which Natsu gets a win that feels far too weightless and easy.
Natsu has had Lighting Flame since the Tenrou Island arc, so he should still have it here, yes. He used it in Tartarus, after all. And I think the GMG too.
Well, I personally think Tower of Heaven is a great arc. Granted I find the middle part boring, but the ending was gold. ToH is still not on par with the best arcs of Ft though.
DeleteWell, to each their own. I can accept your opinion about Irene, and I can definetly see why you dislike the concept. I liked it, but it's just opinions :) Her defeat was exectued badly though.....
Yea, I also have high hopes for August. If done correctly, it could be one of the best battles in FT. Or one of the worst. It really can only be one of those, because with such hype, it better be worth it!
I wasn't sure about Lightning Flame mode because Natsu didn't use it at all after the timskip. More than that, Gajeel hasn't used his Iron Shadow Mode after the timeskip either, though one would think that it could be useful in the Bradman fight. This is why I have my doubts...
Maybe I'll review each arc individually one day... Interesting idea actually...
DeleteBut yeah, we can at least agree and disagree on some things.
As for your doubts... - http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/fairytail/images/e/ef/Two_Dragons_against_two_Demons.png/revision/latest?cb=20151010094544
Yea, it would be really great if you reviewed FT's arcs individually!! I was always interested in your opinion about them!
DeleteAlso, that picture is them in Tartaros. I know that Natsu kept that mode, and so did Gajeel. It's just that there's a small chance that after a year it may have dissapeared. I doubt it is that case, but it may be that Laxus's lightning was limited, and the more Natsu used his lightning flame mode, the more his power was wasted. But you're most likely true - I doubt Hiro would simply throw away a powerup like that.
Maybe it's like Kai-o-ken its a cool power up but he has a better alternative in flame dragon king mode . I've personally always wanted to see him use it with dragon force.
DeleteYeeeeeeeeah... bit of an anticlimax, huh? I'm convinced more has to come later since... well it HAS to. E.N.D can't be... E.N.D.E.D. Heheh... HA HA HA.
ReplyDelete