Mashima, you take fanservice to a whole
nother
level.
Mashima, you take fanservice to a whole
nother
level.
That bath plot….was not needed..:ninja:
Well, I hold my final judgement about it until we learn what Brandish's actual intention is. If it doesn't just boil down to the obligatory cat fight and Brandish's words have some actual substance behind them…
! lol Silly me!
sigh So disappointing Lucy. Chapters like this are why I'm slightly disappointed my friend wants a Fairy Tail guild tattoo.
No offense but this was a perfect chance for Lucy to launch Uranio Metra Hadoken style to Brandish…
Well, right now I somewhat like the bath scene. It was a perfect continuation of the running gag that everyone just enters Lucy's house without her permission. The execution might be subpar - like there wasn't enough meaningful interaction between Brandish and Fairy Tail beforehand - but I like the idea of that scene. Of course, the pacing of that whole final war is a complete mess (like: there's another kingdom - stronger and more dangerous - WAR!!!) which doesn't help this scene as well, but I'll wait for some… pay-off!
sigh So disappointing Lucy. Chapters like this are why I'm slightly disappointed my friend wants a Fairy Tail guild tattoo.
Well, at looks good, at least. He/she could do a lot worse.
Brandish will probably become an ally or something. Maybe she's Lucy'a aunt or something. Doubt Mashima would miss an opportunity to add some soapy drama. Get it? Soap? Because they're in a bath!
I'll let myself out.
This is the battle that Lucy has been preparing for all series. Every bath she's ever had has all been in preparation for this.
That is some Oda-level foreshadowing right there :ninja:
The Avatar callback bit made me chuckle. The troops of Alvarez maybe more trained individually, but they don't seem to be any better organized to me. Both factions only use their numbers as advantage and hardly anything else.
this is probably the best build-up a battle in this series has had since the tournament. I don't see any other Shonen chapter next week surpassing Naked Bathtub Wrestling, I'm hype.
So since Mirajane has Seilah Form..
Could Mirajane be able to use the Limit Release Transformation of Seilah?
Mashima should show her using it since he did cheat us out of seeing it full potential when Elfman popped up and one hit defeat Seilah
So.. Naked battle in a bathtub. Because mashima. yeah.
And the Spirit of Friendship quickly ends another pointless battle
http://www.mangapanda.com/fairy-tail/457
So….
! >! >! Lucy's dead mom got Lucy in trouble with brandish…
! I wonder why
Why did Erza's magic start working again?
Why did Erza's magic start working again?
The shrunken spatial magic guy got stepped on.
The shrunken spatial magic guy got stepped on.
Was that what was preventing the magic? How weird…I didn't see that connection at all since Erza is nowhere near that guy lol.
Goes to Mangareader.
Clicks Fairy Tail.
Sees the title of the chaper.
… Fuck this shit.
I have never seen fanservice as unsexy as these. Wait, was that the point? To make us grow immunity towards nudity?
Was that what was preventing the magic? How weird…I didn't see that connection at all since Erza is nowhere near that guy lol.
It was established during his first appearance that his magick actively prevents other spatial magic users (like Erza and Lucy) from using their powers just by being around them. The radius was unclear though.
I hope those other ultra hyped commanders we didn't have seen yet are more frightening.
They are probably frighteningly bland.
Yo Brandish is hot though.
Was that what was preventing the magic? How weird…I didn't see that connection at all since Erza is nowhere near that guy lol.
The guy was using his magic to prevent space magic, just like he did when they were on that island. When he got stepped on, he fainted and his magic was broken, so people like Erza could once again use space magic.
Whatever the faults of the chapter are, that wasn't really one of them.
Having actually read the chapter now, I doubt Ajeel is defeated.
But again, since this manga is crap now, I wouldn't be surprised if he was. Yeah, why shouldn't a sand controling mage fight on an airship? Most anticlimatic defeat in the history of fiction.
There's still sand clone trick to play as tweest, though.
There's still sand clone trick to play as tweest, though.
But, there was blood!
Lol, Mashima probably borrowed it from Kubo's playbook.
Byakuya was cut there's blood! - MIRAGE!
Hitsugaya was cut, he's bleeding! - ICE MIRROR!
But, there was blood!
T'was no blood, but blood-colored magic mud splatter :ninja:
In all seriousness, I want Ajeel to be done and dealt with, for good. Got tired with the guy's smugness, especially his eye squint.
The guy was using his magic to prevent space magic, just like he did when they were on that island. When he got stepped on, he fainted and his magic was broken, so people like Erza could once again use space magic.
Whatever the faults of the chapter are, that wasn't really one of them.
Not necessarily saying it was a fault. I was just actually confused. As Domingo mentioned, it was the radius that made it weird. He was miles away from Erza. Plus there's other stuff going on in the chapters that kinda made me forget what purpose that guy served.
Having actually read the chapter now, I doubt Ajeel is defeated.
But again, since this manga is crap now, I wouldn't be surprised if he was. Yeah, why shouldn't a sand controling mage fight on an airship? Most anticlimatic defeat in the history of fiction.
Luckily Croc never obtained Pluton.
This is where I get in a bind now. If I was to stay true to how I usually would go, I would applaud Mashima for actually toning down the fan service. I always hate that there is so much fan service, and it was really bad with the Tartarus arc where it was supposed to be dark but here is all this fan service. That said, Mashima already had this set up to be a full on fan service battle. If it was set up that way already, it seems like he should've gone all in instead of set it up and do nothing. Perhaps he was just trying to subvert expectations, or it was very limited with what he could do in the publication he is with.
Beyond that, it's about what I would expect from this series, so nothing great, but nothing to really rage about either.
The nudity didn't last as long as I thought it would.
Kudos.
What… what was the point of that? This is strange for me to say, but that was some of the most disappointing fan-service I've ever read.
At least the part where Lucy was about to stab her was nice. Wonder if Brandish related to her, like an aunt or cousin.
And I hope Sand-Guy stays down. The faster we get this over with, the better.
I think Mashima has completely lost touch with his storytelling. He doesn't even hype up the characters before he take them out. There is no purpose to these fights anymore, they aren't even plotdevices to give us a sense of the Fairy Tail characters' powers. They are just a bunch of filler that are there to be taken out. There was rarely ever a well set up fight before, but there was actually something there. These battles are just purely bad storytelling. No positive aspect about it, no endgame, nothing.
I think Mashima has completely lost touch with his storytelling. He doesn't even hype up the characters before he take them out. There is no purpose to these fights anymore, they aren't even plotdevices to give us a sense of the Fairy Tail characters' powers. They are just a bunch of filler that are there to be taken out. There was rarely ever a well set up fight before, but there was actually something there. These battles are just purely bad storytelling. No positive aspect about it, no endgame, nothing.
This.
I seriously cannot grasp whether this arc really is supposed to be the final battle. I just don't get the overall story architecture of Fairy Tail - that is assuming there even is something you could call story architecture in FT.
@Zar:
At least the part where Lucy was about to stab her was nice.
Idk, Lucy stabbing Brandish from behind seemed too violent and not-heroine-like for FT's standards, so there was no way it'd happen.
@Zar:
And I hope Sand-Guy stays down. The faster we get this over with, the better.
The way he reacted to Erza's wind attribute armor sort of emphasized that it's the element he's weak against. Still a poor excuse for the dude to go down so easily, though.
@Bartholemew:
This.
I seriously cannot grasp whether this arc really is supposed to be the final battle. I just don't get the overall story architecture of Fairy Tail - that is assuming there even is something you could call story architecture in FT.
I think he's proven he can write a decent story and he's made some good fights in the past. Even when I've been annoyed with aspects of the series, I've never felt that it was truly terrible. It's just been some bad execution here and there ( Erza one-shotting shit etc ). But since at the very least after Tartaros was beaten, he's just been doing one bad decision after another in the way he's handled his story. It's happened alot since Tartaros, but there has been next to no important character or storydevelopment whatsoever. He has this whole wide world he introduced with almost endless opportunity but he doesn't use any of the plot devices he introduce properly. Ugh… Sometimes I wish I could have been sitting next to him to slap him in the head whenever he fucks up.
Well, yes, to be fair earlier the story architecture was fine. I'd say the very first chapters actually were really awesome. They hooked me in and gave me a very good sense of the characters as well as of the world.
However, I'd say the turning point was way earlier than Tartaros. For me it's Oracion Seis where the quality dropped heavily.
And speaking of awesomeness, some weeks ago when they started their infiltration someone mentioned chapter 6 which I then reread. This chapter really was great. Back then, we got nice world-building and Lucy actually was an useful character. Like we learned that there is magic that can increase the speed of reading stuff. But what became of this? Nothing. Mashima really did a good job at the beginning. He did seed very good plants, but completely fails to gain the proper payoffs.
Especially this increased reading speed would be incredibly helpful when infiltrating an enemy location and getting confronted with thousands of books and documents in order to find out what's the deal with the enemy. But instead this magic gets totally forgotten. I wonder how common is this read ability. I'd imagine someone who really masters it would be a real beast when you let him/her loose at a library full of magic teaching books.
I'd say the early chapters were good because of the adventurous nature of the story, which gradually became less apparent as the story progressed.
Yeah, starting with Oracion Seis instead of this adventurous nature it boiled down to just enemy after enemy posing more of a mechanical threat than a narrative one.
Like:
Oracion Seis: 6
Grimoire Heart: 7
Tartaros: 9
Alvarez: 12
Just the number of enemies gets bigger as well as their power regarding stats.
Especially Alvarez, all we got was hype about mechanics. We only got: 'OMG their stats are so fucking more powerful. They are stronger than anything before!!!'
However, what we also need is that the enemy also poses a bigger threat regarding the narrative. Why should I care emotionally about this current stuff? seriously, why?
Azir might be a shit character, but there is no way I can tolerate him going down so easily in this fashion.
Also, 2 chapters ago we were all thinking that Azirs sand was the one causing Erza to not be able to equip, which gave him hype, but then it turns out that the subordinate of Brandish was the one doing that. And now he was taken out by lolplot fanservice.
I dont know about you guys, but his power was so incredibly haxxed, that I wondered how Mashima was going to take him out of the story, because if he could casually stop Erza and Lucys usefulness right off the bat, I mean, thats so incredibly powerful don't you think? Shit, I mean he warped Erza and Lucy away to take them outta the battle. I think Mashima knew this, which is why he had to make him some little toy for Brandish, to be eventually taken out for lol purposes by Lucys feet.
I wonder how this war would have turned out if Brandish wasn't such a fucking idiot in allowing her subordinate to be taken out like that.
But anyways, I jut hope that Azir isnt down, not because I like him, but because I hate Erza
I'll give him another 2 chapters at best, we all know Erza's fated opponent is the war queen.
@Bartholemew:
However, what we also need is that the enemy also poses a bigger threat regarding the narrative. Why should I care emotionally about this current stuff? seriously, why?
The townspeople could've been a good source of drama for us to care about this whole invasion (hostages, collateral damages, casualties), but Mashima wrote them off with early evacuation nonsense and expected us to get emotional ONLY for protagonists we mostly don't care about anymore.
Everything was cut short to "12 Spriggoons + A few million redshirts vs Fairy Tail" without sparing any details to the very consequence of an act of invasion. It's just bad storytelling.
The townspeople could've been a good source of drama for us to care about this whole invasion (hostages, collateral damages, casualties), but Mashima wrote them off with early evacuation nonsense and expected us to get emotional ONLY for protagonists we mostly don't care about anymore.
Everything was cut short to "12 Spriggoons + A few million redshirts vs Fairy Tail" without sparing any details to the very consequence of an act of invasion. It's just bad storytelling.
I dunno. I didn't care at all when the demons showed up and killed some townsfolk. The guild pretty much never interacts with non mages anyways.
The guild pretty much never interacts with non mages anyways.
That's the big problem here. I just cannot remember even a single townsperson to whom I care for even remotely. In order for the townspeople to be a good source of drama, there has at least to be one single person I care for and actually am emotionally invested. That ship sailed away long ago.
Instead all we get are one-shot characters like generic pregnant young woman in Tartaros arc who we were supposed to get fully emotionally invested in despite just being introduced in the very same chapter. No, Mashima, just no! Making us care for some side-characters doesn't work that way.
I think it's quite hard to get readers to care about fictional masses. Most of the time the masses are only there to give an idea of a situation. Game of Thrones uses the masses to give readers an idea about what they think of a ruler and how dire certain things are. One Piece had some similar situations early on in the series. It's also hard in the sense of a person can be developed and show character. The masses will go into mob mentality and will be very chaotic. Readers will dislike them because of how illogical people become. If you've seen the Justice League cartoon, you'll get a bit of an idea. The first story arc has the world about to end, and most people just stopped caring and started destroying stuff. Not exactly behavior that will get people to be rooting for the masses.
Fairy Tail has problem where the characters are just a shell of their former self. They had some character and there was development to be had, then it all became about spouting friendship and nothing about the individuals. Basically, instead of characters we have the mass that is Fairy Tail.
I dunno. I didn't care at all when the demons showed up and killed some townsfolk.
I didn't care either. We didn't need to care, really, since it was just for showing the demons' threat to mankind. Just like how many nobodies have been killed by Ankhseram.
@Bartholemew:
That's the big problem here. I just cannot remember even a single townsperson to whom I care for even remotely. In order for the townspeople to be a good source of drama, there has at least to be one single person I care for and actually am emotionally invested. That ship sailed away long ago.
That's the core problem with how Mashima write story in FT. He treated non-mage characters as irrelevant bunch of one-shots. Then again, FT only comes in contact with people who are either : mages, magic council members or magical. With how many named mages introduced throughout the story compared to those who aren't, you'll start to forget that mages were supposed to be minorities.
That aside, it just occured to me that Brandish might not be as strong as Natsu and Gray felt, because she might have just bloated her magic power's mass(?) to intimidate others and avoid unwanted fights.
I randomly skimmed through the latest chapter only to confirm for myself that Hiro-chan is sticking to his virtues- fanservice and bland ass-pull fights.
I thought he already got batted away…Ah well at least he dealt some damage before going out.