Fairy Tail Chapter 545 Final Review - Irreplaceable Friends

Written by Shiggins

Well, here we are.

Out of curiosity, I did some maths. Beginning at Chapter 320, which was also my first article with this website, I have now reviewed a total of 251 chapters of Fairy Tail, thanks to Fairy Tail Zero, the Special Side Stories, the random Spin-offs by other artists, and of course the main series which ends today with this final extended chapter. And how was it? Well, let's find out together, shall we?

After this chapter, I truly do believe that the doors are always open as well.

This extra-long final chapter begins in the year X793, a year after the war started, with Lucy being given an award for her book "The Adventure of Iris". The pretentious folk of the event are all surprised to see Lucy so young, and they are quite horrified to see how the mages of Fairy Tail celebrate at this prestigious party... with noise! Gasp!

Having fun? At a celebration?! Oh the audacity! (monocle pops out from the indignation)

We get a lot of the classic interactions, almost like a highlight reel of the past 544 chapters. Gray strips and glares with Natsu until Erza smacks them. Gajeel eats something he shouldn't. Juvia gets weepy-drunk and starts to strip too because she picked up Gray's habit. and Lucy is majorly embarrassed.

.......I think I just realised which character I am in this series.

Lucy then gives us a quick summary, about how she actually finished the book she's been working on piece-by-piece and how she was given the award for it. Her book hasn't made her rich but the sales are steady and she's achieved her dream of actually being published. I'm not going to get too into my personal life since you aren't interested, but as a budding writer myself, I can say that this scene really struck a chord with me.

#relatable

Oh and Anna is still here! In her only appearance alongside her descendant, we learn Anna has become a teacher in a small village and we move on as quickly as we learn that. Gajeel makes a remark about how Anna and Lucy have the same smell, which is why Natsu likes Anna. Natsu just shrugs and agrees, causing more blushing.

I love how fanfiction writes Natsu as this smooth talking son of a bitch who confesses his love dramatically, but then the canon version...

Levy then whispers something in Gajeel's ear, and the blushing reaches a new level as Lucy is sure she heard "baby" in there. And if you think Lucy misheard, Wendy's red face proves her right. And now we get a few more panels showing what other supporting characters have been up to. Wendy is doing more performances with Sherria, who is also starting to get her magic back. Sabretooth had another eating contest with Minerva winning, Ichiya became the leader of Blue Pegasus and Mermaid Heel became the exclusive models of "Sorcerer Weekly".

From now on, I will refer to her as "Thirsty Levy". I don't know why.

We get a touch of more humour with Cana and Gildarts, before Gray drags a drunk Juvia out of the party because she's had too much. Gray notices Juvia still has the scar from when she stabbed herself to save Gray, and he has the same one too. Gray tries to tell her about getting it healed and this somehow results in a sort-of confession.

When these characters first appeared in the Grand Magic Games arc, did you picture this being their end? I don't think you did.

Elfman and Evergreen are... together? Or have they been together for years? Nobody knows. Then comes the best gag of the chapter, where we see Lucy pondering who Laxus will end up with and giving out the same theories as fans do. (Although I'm a little disappointed she didn't mention Freed). As Erza congratulates Lucy, Lucy then turns her thoughts to Erza x Jellal.

We learn that the Pumpking has abdicated and Princess Hisui has now taken the throne. For their actions in the war, Hisui rewarded Jellal and the rest of Crime Sorciere by pardoning them for their past actions and allowing them to go free to live their lives. Ever since the news of pardoning, Erza has been brushing her hair every day. Even she has a feminine side.

Oh Cana. Always trying to stick something in Lucy's mouth. (Bow chika bow wow).

Makarov is still alive, and I'm full of shock that they don't make a joke about how he's still not allowed to retire yet. Interestingly, his legs are weaker now so he's stuck to a wheelchair with Mest as his carer. However, let's talk about the sweetest moment in the chapter... Mavis is at the party! And not only that, she meets Zeref!

Show me a more perfect page in the 545 chapters of Fairy Tail than this one.

Mavis reveals she is a publisher and Zeref himself is a writer, both of which were wanting to meet Lucy because of how impressed they were by her book. Zeref then tells Mavis that she forgot her shoes, causing a bit of a laugh. They then introduce themselves, but they're called Arius and Mio now. The two then walk off to chat, while the characters just smile and stay out of the way.

So long as you don't write another Franmalth book, I'm fine with you being an author again.

More and more celebrating takes place at the party, and finally the night ends. Lucy wakes up in bed, almost thinking it was a dream. And we get, once again, Natsu and Happy in Lucy's room making a mess. Apparently, Lucy was so drunk (because she's a lightweight) that Natsu needed to bring her home. And now he has a new job for he and Lucy, which triggers an emotional flashback for Lucy. She hugs Natsu and Happy gratefully, thanking them for all they've done for her.

What a little fucker! If a cat does that to my future writing award, I'm punting it out the window!

Natsu then holds onto Lucy, about to say something as she tenses up. He then drags her out excitedly because they need to get moving, and Lucy is about to be annoyed but Natsu stops her wrath by saying that they're staying together forever. Natsu, Happy and Lucy meet the rest of the team, consisting of Erza, Gray, Wendy and Carla as they are now about to finally do their 100 Year Quest.

Wow, Lucy. That's so mean. Natsu didn't mean to get you kidnapped or attacked or watch your future self die or... oh wait, you were thanking him? Okay, continue.

The narration asks the unanswerable question of whether fairies have tails or not, and how that is the origin of the Guild's name. The team walk off into the distance while we get a very Tinkerbell-esque goodbye from... Zera as a fairy. What an odd final image to leave us on.

Opinion: Well, that wasn't what I expected.

As I mentioned last week, I went into this chapter expecting a ten-year timeskip where everyone is married, all confessions have been skipped and the couples have had clones that they claim are their babies. We'd be left with dozens of questions, wondering what happened to Jellal and Kagura and others over the years but we'd never know because the final chapter focused on the "next generation" instead. As you can imagine, I am relieved.

So... the answer is no then. Zera doesn't have any sort of tail. So no. No tails.

If I had to guess, and that's pretty much all I do in these unpaid reviews for you ungrateful bastards, I would say Mashima-senpai went for such a short timeskip to leave the door open if he ever wanted to return to Fairy Tail. Unlike several other manga that I've read the ending of, this one was open enough to continue a new path if the writer ever wanted to return to it, but it still managed to be satisfying enough to be considered as the final end-all of Fairy Tail if Mashima does never return to this... tail! (Insert your laughter here).

Anyway, let's talk about the actual chapter right now, and I'm starting with what was easily my favourite scene; A reincarnated Mavis meeting a reincarnated Zeref. A perfect happy ending to an immortal couple that have always wanted to be together, finally getting a fresh start with their sins erased from their minds and allowed to just be a normal duo of lovers together. None of the drama or madness or guilt of the past. They can finally be together.

BFL - Bachelor For Life.

To my shock, this chapter wasn't filled with goodbyes either. Instead, we got a nice bunch of laughs and jokes. This is what Fairy Tail does best, much better than the action. Whenever I think about my favourite moments of the series, my mind instantly goes to the comedy scenes and the sweet scenes. Most of the jokes are ones we have seen before and were used here to give us a feel of nostalgia rather than laughter, but the meta humour involving Laxus had me fucking howling. I adored it.

And yes, I giggled like a fangirl on a sugar high when Levy whispered to Gajeel. GAJEEL GOT LAID! Or is going to get laid. I'm not sure if Levy is pregnant or if she wants to get pregnant, but Levy had a tear in her eye so I'm betting she's already been going at it with Gajeel over this year. In fact, those two must have been having tons of fun. Oh the images... the images involving Gajeel's piercings...

This might be one of my personal favourite confessions ever.

Natsu and Lucy's scene is worth talking about, of course. Due to Natsu's silly nature, it can be debated whether or not this was a confession of love or friendship but it does feel like this is a conclusion that will make everyone at least somewhat happy. Unless you hated Natsu and Lucy being friends, in which case I have to ask why you read the series at all... Anyway, their scene was basically lovely. Nothing groundbreaking or revolutionary, but an emotional hug and goofy behaviour before they head off to meet the others.

If I had to give the finale one big flaw, it would be the ambiguous nature behind a few decisions. Now, one could argue that this is actually favourable since it leaves us room to speculate until the series comes back, and if it doesn't come back then we've got plenty to play with and work on ourselves. Would I have loved to see Gray kiss Juvia? Of course. Would I have liked to know what the 100 Year Quest was? You're damn right I would. But a finale can only give me so much, and I just have to hope that we can explore this series again in some shape or form. Film, anime, manga... Whatever it is.

I like to think that they're going to get Aquarius' key back with this quest. That answers my biggest question.

I'm really curious about Jellal actually. Once more, he's not with Erza but he has room to do so now. He knows he should live, celebrate life and he has the power to be as free as he wants. We finally got canon confirmation that Kinana is dating Cobra/Erik, so it's not like Jellal doesn't have the option. Again, another ambiguous conclusion that we can only speculate with. I like to think Erza got her happiness in the end though.

...THE FLOWERS ARE FROM JELLAL!

Is this the best ending I have ever seen in a manga? No, probably not but it is nowhere near the worst. I have read the worst endings, and this is not that. This one was fun, cheerful and most important of all, satisfying. I didn't walk away screaming a thousand questions. I didn't miss the confessions of love, which is something I am absolutely sick of missing in manga. Everyone is where they belong, with their friends and family. There is nothing wrong with that.

Manga Rating: 4/5

Character of the Finale: "Zeref" and "Mavis" for their meet-cute.

Best Part: A happy ending for an immortal couple.

Worst Part: Unanswered questions. We all have a few.

P.S 

The Fairy Tail anime will return in 2018, as confirmed by Hiro Mashima himself!



To the Readers

On a last note, I personally just want to say my thanks to everyone who has read these reviews and articles over the days, weeks, months or even years since I began writing on this blog. Coming to the end of Fairy Tail has really made me appreciate how many people actually came to read my words, and it is almost staggering as I see the thousands of views my chapters have gotten.

Honestly, I can't thank you all enough. I truly can't. Every view, every person, has made doing this worth it. And while Fairy Tail might be finished, I am not. I hope you all stick around as I begin my next batch of weekly reviews, and if this is the end of our time together, then I just want you to know I can never express my gratitude enough for you all making me feel heard.

One last time, because I can write whatever I want and you all deserve it; Thank you.

Ah... Somewhat creepy beginnings.

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/