Showing posts with label Fairy Tail. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fairy Tail. Show all posts
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Weekly Manga Update: July 27, 2010
Hey guys, going to try something new with my blog. I want to try a weekly blog in addition to my spontaneous stuff, so I can try to make this a site people check regularly. Then maybe I can spruce it up with some designs or something. Anyway, I wanted to try something weekly, and a few fans suggested a weekly manga recap. I had thought about doing the same, so I’m going to give it a try, so please, if you have any feedback let me know.
Now if I do this as a series I want to shoot for releasing it on Monday/Tuesday so I can get all the new chapters in before the week refreshes, so one chapter per week, but since this is the first of the series I figure I’ll explain a bit about where the series have been going to give you my overall impression. So let’s begin.
One Piece Chapter 593 – After the great war ended the story slowed down, but this was for the better. We got the really good Luffy/Ace flashback, and after that ended I was ready to get back to the story, and thank the gods we’re back to the Straw Hats. It’s been tough to manage the past year or so without any Straw Hats beyond Luffy. Just their brief chapter focuses have been golden like Sanji denying his bounty poster and Franky blowing up the lab. I remembered almost instantly why I loved these characters so, though I am curious how they’ll all get together. I mean Robin, Nami, Chopper, and maybe Sanji just need to travel there, but Zoro still has to pass the baboons, Brooke’s a hostage, Usopp has to figure out a way off the island, and Franky is in a whole heap of trouble. I wonder if we’ll get small mini arcs for these characters, but somehow I doubt it.
Still 593 was a great multi-focus chapter. We got some hints at things to come like Crocodile going to the New World, and images of Dragon (who’s design I’m really starting to dig), but the cliff hanger is what really intrigues me. Buggy gets a message from the government directly, so does this mean Buggy is going to be offered a job as a Warlord? Makes sense considering the Warlords are down four members. Blackbeard, Moria, and Jinbei are gone, plus Hancock’s alliance has to be questioned. Also what’s with Kuma meeting Shaky? Is he truly all gone? Anyway, this was a good chapter of One Piece. Not great, but we’re still accepting the aftermath of the big war and slowly pulling together for the next arc.
Bleach Chapter 413 – I’m really bored of Bleach. This Aizen all out war arc just needs to die, and die freaking hard. I’m tired of Aizen and his constant burying of the cast. I get it: Aizen is unbeatable. I don’t need to see this dude completely destroy the entire freaking cast. See the problem with Aizen is that he’s too strong. At this point Aizen had managed to defeat the majority of the captains from the Soul Society, and he did it without exerting himself. He then took the supreme, ultimate, super special attacks from Isshin, Urahara, and Yorichi, and walked it off. He’s effectively crushed every possible threat, and continues to belittle what remains of the cast every chance he can. What this means to me, is that Aizen is, simply put, unbeatable. He didn’t just beat the Soul Society, he fucking crushed them. He defeated them so handedly that not even his clothes have a scar to prove he was in a real battle. What could possibly beat him at this point? I’m not just going to accept that Ichigo will obtain some new power that will suddenly surpass Aizen. That’s just ridiculous. Even considering Ichigo’s skill, it’s generally assumed that he was on par or weaker than most of the Soul Society captains at his current level, so one power bonus shouldn’t put him on a level that the combined might of the Soul Society couldn’t beat.
As for Chapter 413 itself, it was another throwaway chapter. I’ve forgotten much of what happened behind the slight hint that Gin will betray Aizen. So Aizen will kill Gin? Yeah, like Aizen totally needs that push. Bleach is in a complete garbage low point right now. If you don’t believe me, then ask yourself why this battle started, and see how long it takes you to remember it.
Naruto Chapter 503 – Naruto’s recent chapters have all been about this massive flashback regarding how the Kyubi came to be in Naruto and the history of his parents, and I’ll be honest, it hasn’t been too bad. Beyond the extremely awkward chapter where Naruto talked about how bangable his mom was, this has been relatively good, or at least, it hasn’t been wall bangingly bad. The only problem I have is that the suspense is low since this is a flashback that we all know about. The minor details are a mystery, but we know that the fourth hokage died to put the Nine-Tailes inside baby Naruto. The rest is just explanation. It’s not bad mind you, just no very suspenseful. More interesting however is that Naruto is now about to become in control of the Demon Fox, and that’s something I can get on board with. Say what you will about Naruto, but it’s not fucking around with its plot points. Itachi v Sasuke is long in the books, Orochimaru is dead and gone (for the most part), and now Naruto is overcoming the last weakness he has. Either this means Naruto is coming to an end, or some new plot elements will need to be introduced, but still I really dig progress. Not a bad chapter at all.
Beelzebub Chapter 70 – For all those who don’t read Beelzebub, I really suggest you do because this is quickly becoming one of my favorite manga. Few titles manage to make me laugh as hard as Beelzebub does on such a consistent basis, and the mangka knows how to tell an interesting story without making it feel overly serious. For those curious, it’s the story of Oga, a delinquent who recently comes in contact with the new demon prince of Hell, Beelzebub. Beelzebub is attaching himself to Oga and granting him part of his power, but the catch is that Beelzebub is a mere infant. So far the manga has mostly been about Oga beating up other delinquents, though they did make a quick appearance in the Demon World for a moment if I recall. The cast is hilarious, and Oga himself breaks the typical shonen mold. You hear delinquent and think “oh great, another misunderstood bully”, but Oga is actually a pretty big douche. He’s just so funny and straightforward that you can’t help but love him.
The recent chapter was another great one. I’m curious to see how they turn this volleyball match into a real epic encounter, but more so I have to note that I nearly pissed myself laughing at the last panel. Oga superkicking the ball, and immediately everyone calls foul on it. Again, it’s shonen awesome, but unlike series like Prince of Tennis, they don’t try to make it serious. I love Beelzebub, and I recommend you give it a try.
Katekyo Hitman Reborn Chapter 299 – Reborn is a strange title for me. At points I hate it. It can become such overwhelming shonen stereotypical slop that I want to drop it, and I come rather close to doing so, and yet sometimes the manga shows an amazing amount of depth and maturity that reminds me why I read it. For every time I see the series try to force animal companions and motorcycles on us, I’m reminded of a chapter that left me speechless. One of the more recent ones came after Yamato was attacked and put in intensive care. The next chapter was dedicated to the ramifications of this, and how Tsuna has to make a decision on the inheritance ceremony. Even though he wants nothing more than to run away from his duties, he decides to undergo the ceremony so that the rest of his friends don’t become targets. Following that we get the revelation that the Shimon family were the villains all along (cue deadpan surprise), and Enma manages to curbstomp the guardians single-handedly. This is why I love Reborn. I love manga where a villain will absolutely demolish the main heroes so that I can root for them to succeed. These chapters have made the Shimon family a threat, and I’m curious to see how they win. Really quite excellent chapters… with the exception of Julie kidnapping Chrome. Don’t get me wrong, I like that he took a guardian. It’s so vile, and really places weight on Tsuna’s training since now another guardian’s life depends on him, but it’s the fact it was Chrome that bothers me. The girl is already on the short end of the stick as far as being a guardian. She’s accomplished almost nothing on her own, and her abilities (beyond being retarded) really aren’t that intimidating. If anyone was going to benefit from massive training it was going to be her, but instead she’s going to be a damsel in distress for everyone to save. Also Julie kidnapped her for date… he does realize she’s thirteen right? Kinda creepy…
Anyway the recent chapter actually really sucked. The Vongola rings were destroyed, and this means that basically our heroes have no weapons to battle Shimon with. This is pretty tense, but then out of the blue some random fucker appears who just happens to have a way to not only repair the rings, but make them stronger. This is silly in and of itself, but it’s the random dude that bothers me more. I mean essentially he just appears with a solution to their problem. I’m going to call him Dues Ex Fail from now on because he really brought down the tension in this arc. Still, obligatory training chapters await, so hopefully they don’t decide they need jetpacks, lightsabers, and children’s card games to beat their opponent. Amano is really bad at that stuff.
Toriko Chapter 103 – So after the epic battle in Ice Hell, Toriko healed up and we’re now on the start of a new hunt for the H20 Salad. I really don’t like salads (clearly), but this arc will likely get me started on craving lettuce. The big thing to note this chapter was that Toriko tried to ask Komamatsu to be his cook, but for some reason this is a question on the same level of asking a highschool date to go steady with you, because Toriko stumbles over his words and eventually just dodges the question. So weird, and with oddly sexual undertones, but still Toriko is about to start something epic, so no complaints.
Bakuman Chapter 95 – I love Bakuman, and the series really never dips too far in quality for me. The current arc where PCP tries to beat Natural + and Crow has been interesting, but I like the subtle stuff, like showing how Eiji has the ability to tell a story without any dialogue, and how their one assistants new manga is basically Pheonix Wright. I’m loving the storyline so far, and curious to see next chapter. Overall, a very fine chapter.
Fairy Tail Chapter 194 – I hate Fairy Tail, I really do. I can’t explain why I honestly read it anymore. I hate most of the cast. Erza will always be one of my most hated manga characters. Wendy is a disturbing amount of bland loli I don’t want. Natsu is Luffy but without the excitement, and Gazelle is a pale imitation of Vegeta. Hell, the dude basically is Vegeta, but I still dig his fighting style, so I’ll tolerate it. Anyway, this other world arc has been more obnoxious than anything else, but it should be almost over. The recent chapter put an end to one of the blandest villains in history. Seriously, did that King even have a name? I guess he was the big bad of this arc, but I honestly don’t know. If it means this arc is over then I am all over it, but there’s still an over the top poorly paced “emotional” moment that Hiro needs to do like when he ripped off One Piece after the Luxus arc, or when Wendy’s guild just spontaneously died. Fairy Tail eats. This newest chapter wasn’t god awful, but it’s still lacking.
So everyone, that’s been the last week in manga. I’ll try to condense my thoughts next week since this is more of a test than anything. If you enjoyed reading this, please leave a comment below with any suggestions you might have for next week. Until then, Namaste!
Now if I do this as a series I want to shoot for releasing it on Monday/Tuesday so I can get all the new chapters in before the week refreshes, so one chapter per week, but since this is the first of the series I figure I’ll explain a bit about where the series have been going to give you my overall impression. So let’s begin.
One Piece Chapter 593 – After the great war ended the story slowed down, but this was for the better. We got the really good Luffy/Ace flashback, and after that ended I was ready to get back to the story, and thank the gods we’re back to the Straw Hats. It’s been tough to manage the past year or so without any Straw Hats beyond Luffy. Just their brief chapter focuses have been golden like Sanji denying his bounty poster and Franky blowing up the lab. I remembered almost instantly why I loved these characters so, though I am curious how they’ll all get together. I mean Robin, Nami, Chopper, and maybe Sanji just need to travel there, but Zoro still has to pass the baboons, Brooke’s a hostage, Usopp has to figure out a way off the island, and Franky is in a whole heap of trouble. I wonder if we’ll get small mini arcs for these characters, but somehow I doubt it.
Still 593 was a great multi-focus chapter. We got some hints at things to come like Crocodile going to the New World, and images of Dragon (who’s design I’m really starting to dig), but the cliff hanger is what really intrigues me. Buggy gets a message from the government directly, so does this mean Buggy is going to be offered a job as a Warlord? Makes sense considering the Warlords are down four members. Blackbeard, Moria, and Jinbei are gone, plus Hancock’s alliance has to be questioned. Also what’s with Kuma meeting Shaky? Is he truly all gone? Anyway, this was a good chapter of One Piece. Not great, but we’re still accepting the aftermath of the big war and slowly pulling together for the next arc.
Bleach Chapter 413 – I’m really bored of Bleach. This Aizen all out war arc just needs to die, and die freaking hard. I’m tired of Aizen and his constant burying of the cast. I get it: Aizen is unbeatable. I don’t need to see this dude completely destroy the entire freaking cast. See the problem with Aizen is that he’s too strong. At this point Aizen had managed to defeat the majority of the captains from the Soul Society, and he did it without exerting himself. He then took the supreme, ultimate, super special attacks from Isshin, Urahara, and Yorichi, and walked it off. He’s effectively crushed every possible threat, and continues to belittle what remains of the cast every chance he can. What this means to me, is that Aizen is, simply put, unbeatable. He didn’t just beat the Soul Society, he fucking crushed them. He defeated them so handedly that not even his clothes have a scar to prove he was in a real battle. What could possibly beat him at this point? I’m not just going to accept that Ichigo will obtain some new power that will suddenly surpass Aizen. That’s just ridiculous. Even considering Ichigo’s skill, it’s generally assumed that he was on par or weaker than most of the Soul Society captains at his current level, so one power bonus shouldn’t put him on a level that the combined might of the Soul Society couldn’t beat.
As for Chapter 413 itself, it was another throwaway chapter. I’ve forgotten much of what happened behind the slight hint that Gin will betray Aizen. So Aizen will kill Gin? Yeah, like Aizen totally needs that push. Bleach is in a complete garbage low point right now. If you don’t believe me, then ask yourself why this battle started, and see how long it takes you to remember it.
Naruto Chapter 503 – Naruto’s recent chapters have all been about this massive flashback regarding how the Kyubi came to be in Naruto and the history of his parents, and I’ll be honest, it hasn’t been too bad. Beyond the extremely awkward chapter where Naruto talked about how bangable his mom was, this has been relatively good, or at least, it hasn’t been wall bangingly bad. The only problem I have is that the suspense is low since this is a flashback that we all know about. The minor details are a mystery, but we know that the fourth hokage died to put the Nine-Tailes inside baby Naruto. The rest is just explanation. It’s not bad mind you, just no very suspenseful. More interesting however is that Naruto is now about to become in control of the Demon Fox, and that’s something I can get on board with. Say what you will about Naruto, but it’s not fucking around with its plot points. Itachi v Sasuke is long in the books, Orochimaru is dead and gone (for the most part), and now Naruto is overcoming the last weakness he has. Either this means Naruto is coming to an end, or some new plot elements will need to be introduced, but still I really dig progress. Not a bad chapter at all.
Beelzebub Chapter 70 – For all those who don’t read Beelzebub, I really suggest you do because this is quickly becoming one of my favorite manga. Few titles manage to make me laugh as hard as Beelzebub does on such a consistent basis, and the mangka knows how to tell an interesting story without making it feel overly serious. For those curious, it’s the story of Oga, a delinquent who recently comes in contact with the new demon prince of Hell, Beelzebub. Beelzebub is attaching himself to Oga and granting him part of his power, but the catch is that Beelzebub is a mere infant. So far the manga has mostly been about Oga beating up other delinquents, though they did make a quick appearance in the Demon World for a moment if I recall. The cast is hilarious, and Oga himself breaks the typical shonen mold. You hear delinquent and think “oh great, another misunderstood bully”, but Oga is actually a pretty big douche. He’s just so funny and straightforward that you can’t help but love him.
The recent chapter was another great one. I’m curious to see how they turn this volleyball match into a real epic encounter, but more so I have to note that I nearly pissed myself laughing at the last panel. Oga superkicking the ball, and immediately everyone calls foul on it. Again, it’s shonen awesome, but unlike series like Prince of Tennis, they don’t try to make it serious. I love Beelzebub, and I recommend you give it a try.
Katekyo Hitman Reborn Chapter 299 – Reborn is a strange title for me. At points I hate it. It can become such overwhelming shonen stereotypical slop that I want to drop it, and I come rather close to doing so, and yet sometimes the manga shows an amazing amount of depth and maturity that reminds me why I read it. For every time I see the series try to force animal companions and motorcycles on us, I’m reminded of a chapter that left me speechless. One of the more recent ones came after Yamato was attacked and put in intensive care. The next chapter was dedicated to the ramifications of this, and how Tsuna has to make a decision on the inheritance ceremony. Even though he wants nothing more than to run away from his duties, he decides to undergo the ceremony so that the rest of his friends don’t become targets. Following that we get the revelation that the Shimon family were the villains all along (cue deadpan surprise), and Enma manages to curbstomp the guardians single-handedly. This is why I love Reborn. I love manga where a villain will absolutely demolish the main heroes so that I can root for them to succeed. These chapters have made the Shimon family a threat, and I’m curious to see how they win. Really quite excellent chapters… with the exception of Julie kidnapping Chrome. Don’t get me wrong, I like that he took a guardian. It’s so vile, and really places weight on Tsuna’s training since now another guardian’s life depends on him, but it’s the fact it was Chrome that bothers me. The girl is already on the short end of the stick as far as being a guardian. She’s accomplished almost nothing on her own, and her abilities (beyond being retarded) really aren’t that intimidating. If anyone was going to benefit from massive training it was going to be her, but instead she’s going to be a damsel in distress for everyone to save. Also Julie kidnapped her for date… he does realize she’s thirteen right? Kinda creepy…
Anyway the recent chapter actually really sucked. The Vongola rings were destroyed, and this means that basically our heroes have no weapons to battle Shimon with. This is pretty tense, but then out of the blue some random fucker appears who just happens to have a way to not only repair the rings, but make them stronger. This is silly in and of itself, but it’s the random dude that bothers me more. I mean essentially he just appears with a solution to their problem. I’m going to call him Dues Ex Fail from now on because he really brought down the tension in this arc. Still, obligatory training chapters await, so hopefully they don’t decide they need jetpacks, lightsabers, and children’s card games to beat their opponent. Amano is really bad at that stuff.
Toriko Chapter 103 – So after the epic battle in Ice Hell, Toriko healed up and we’re now on the start of a new hunt for the H20 Salad. I really don’t like salads (clearly), but this arc will likely get me started on craving lettuce. The big thing to note this chapter was that Toriko tried to ask Komamatsu to be his cook, but for some reason this is a question on the same level of asking a highschool date to go steady with you, because Toriko stumbles over his words and eventually just dodges the question. So weird, and with oddly sexual undertones, but still Toriko is about to start something epic, so no complaints.
Bakuman Chapter 95 – I love Bakuman, and the series really never dips too far in quality for me. The current arc where PCP tries to beat Natural + and Crow has been interesting, but I like the subtle stuff, like showing how Eiji has the ability to tell a story without any dialogue, and how their one assistants new manga is basically Pheonix Wright. I’m loving the storyline so far, and curious to see next chapter. Overall, a very fine chapter.
Fairy Tail Chapter 194 – I hate Fairy Tail, I really do. I can’t explain why I honestly read it anymore. I hate most of the cast. Erza will always be one of my most hated manga characters. Wendy is a disturbing amount of bland loli I don’t want. Natsu is Luffy but without the excitement, and Gazelle is a pale imitation of Vegeta. Hell, the dude basically is Vegeta, but I still dig his fighting style, so I’ll tolerate it. Anyway, this other world arc has been more obnoxious than anything else, but it should be almost over. The recent chapter put an end to one of the blandest villains in history. Seriously, did that King even have a name? I guess he was the big bad of this arc, but I honestly don’t know. If it means this arc is over then I am all over it, but there’s still an over the top poorly paced “emotional” moment that Hiro needs to do like when he ripped off One Piece after the Luxus arc, or when Wendy’s guild just spontaneously died. Fairy Tail eats. This newest chapter wasn’t god awful, but it’s still lacking.
So everyone, that’s been the last week in manga. I’ll try to condense my thoughts next week since this is more of a test than anything. If you enjoyed reading this, please leave a comment below with any suggestions you might have for next week. Until then, Namaste!
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Fairy Tail Chapter 187 Rant
Ugh, someone really needs to teach Mashima Hiro how to write a good twist. I’m referring to the recent chapter of Fairy Tail (Chapter 187), and the absolute abysmal quality of the chapter due to a poor twist, a ridiculous ass pull, and a rather disturbing implication brought on solely for fan service.
The plot twist I speak of related to Erza. Due to the current arc taking place in… Otherworld (I forget the actual name, but I’ve also stopped caring so, works out) everyone here has an awkward counterpart. In most situations it’s just a flip in personality (Lucy is brave and outgoing while Natsu is a ridiculous coward) but for Erza, her counterpart is a member of the enemy and her goal is to hunt down Fairy Tail. When Earthland Erza meets up with Otherworld Erza, the two fight, but the content, and winner of the fight is left as a mystery. Then at the end of Chapter 186 we see Otherworld Erza find and capture Gray and Natsu. Or we’re supposed to believe it’s Otherworld Erza, but anyone with a brain should have been able to instantly recognize this plot twist as soon as it happened.
Since the Tower of Paradise Arc (which was where they story took its iconic nose dive in quality) Erza hasn’t lost. The closest we get was her getting knocked out against the Oracion Seis, but she was outnumbered and distracted by her allies. Oh, and she sorta decided to fight in a jungle thong. I question the logic in being an “Armor Knight” if your armor amounts to a leopard skin bikini. Bet she really wished she had armor on her arm didn’t she? Anyway, that fight can’t really count since Erza wasn’t in a position to win, and she never actually lost. We saw later that pitting her one on one with any of the other guild members would have been a victory, and again confirms that Erza can never lose to anything ever. So knowing this, how could anyone in their right mind honestly believe that Earthland Erza would lose off-screen? It was obvious that it was just Earthland Erza Ex-Quipped into Otherworld Erza’s outfit, and this was the old “hey guys I found the prisoners oh wait psyche I was totally your enemy all along” trick.
Again, no one with a brain was fooled by this, so why bother? Well Hiro really believe he’s a great story teller. He tries to pull emotion out of his audience, but most of the time it’s rather abrupt and poorly handled like the infamous Fantasia Finger Point (ripped straight off from One Piece) and the Wendy’s Guild Good-bye. Hiro does everything with a rather abrupt haste to it that you never have time to dwell on it. Had Hiro used misdirection and a few chapters of suspense to get us to believe that Earthland Erza was actually defeated then I might have doubted the twist. Without it, I’m just ending one chapter saying “that’s Earthland Erza” then starting the next chapter saying “I was fucking right”. Surprise surprise it turned out that it was Earthland Erza all along (shocker) and they are going to try their awesome plan of firing the McGuffin Magic Chain Cannon Thing into the Magic Crystal Friend Island thing. Unfortunately they can’t use the controls correctly, and the original plan of swinging the Magic Crystal Friend Island thing into the Floating Island of Magic Cats begins. No, I’m not insane.
Furthermore, Otherworld Erza arrives to finish the fight! What a twis—hey wait, what the hell is she wearing?! Holy crap, she’s not wearing anything! Sure, she wasn’t wearing much before, but she did have a bra, gloves, boots, and those towel things that people wear as skirts except there’s nothing on the sides, but now she’s wearing just a thong and a cloak to cover her top. This implies one of two things. Either (A) Earthland Erza defeated Otherworld Erza, and after the battle nearly completely stripped her, or (B) during their fight Earthland Erza destroyed all of Otherworld Erza’s clothes.
Now (A) doesn’t make sense because Erza’s magic is designed to let her wear whatever armor she wants. We’ve seen her use it for bullshit fanservice purposes before (bunny girl, gothic Lolita, pajamas, etc.), so she shouldn’t need to strip anyone, and that also implies she knocked Otherworld Erza the fuck out. But (B) isn’t much better. That implies that throughout the fight Earthland Erza managed to slash off this woman’s gloves, boots, skirt, and bra. I mean I’m not a woman, and I don’t do a lot of swordplay, but I figure it’s strange to approach a battle trying to cleave your opponent’s bra off.
Well anyway, it seems like our heroes are trapped when suddenly, help arrives in the form of… a dragon? Wait, what? I forgot something right? I clearly forgot when they said that people from this world can call upon dragons because I refuse to believe Fairy Tail would pull something as stupid as this. This is the very definition of an ass pull. You can’t just say “oh yeah, I’m best friends with the dragons. Let’s go!” You especially can’t do that in Fairy Tail considering how important dragons are to the overall plot. Seriously, it’s like when James Bond was strapped to that metal sheet with the laser beam coming towards him, and instead of freeing himself with ingenuity or clever thinking, his pet lion just smashed into the room and destroyed the machine. Yeah the problem’s solved but it leaves a pretty big question like: “why the fuck does he have a pet lion, and why has no one mentioned this before?!”
Really, someone please tell me they mentioned this before because I really don’t want to suffer brain damage by slamming my face into my monitor. Anyway, Otherworld Erza demands her troops follow and then… cuts her hair? Why? I know you could say she’s doing it to ensure no one mistakes her for Earthland Erza again, but that Erza is currently riding on top of a dragon in plain sight after just performing that trick. I really don’t think she’s in the position to start deceiving people, and even if she were, what’s to stop the other Erza from just cutting her hair? Really, the only reason for this is to appeal to the short hair fetish, but jeez, didn’t we do the exact same thing a few chapters ago when Otherworld Lucy cut her hair so that people could tell her apart from Earthland Lucy (aside from the fact Otherworld Lucy dresses like a dominatrix)? Seriously, why is up with Hiro constantly shoving his fetishes into his story?
I mean throughout this arc alone Lucy has been locked barefoot in stock, then went through a fetish costume marathon, then fought an entire battle in nothing but a bikini (I think she’s still in the bikini too), and 10 year old Lucy was chained up an tortured (but it’s shonen, so it’s the kinky torture, and not the mental torture that never leaves you). Plus this is the same manga that had a guitarist, who turns women into his sex slaves and then orders them to go strip other women, and had Evergreen demand Erza get naked and prostrate herself before her. The amount of bondage in this manga is through the roof (drinking game worthy honestly), so why does Hiro feel the need to include even more fetish fuel? I’m honestly shocked we haven’t seen more furries and gender bending, but I guess those aren’t his thing.
Well anyway, the chapter ends with Natsu and crew riding the Mystical WTF Dragon over towards the Magic Crystal Friend Island thing in the hope of saving their friends, but good God what a shitty chapter. The Erza twist covers nearly the first half of the chapter, and again, it was a stupid twist that no one believed for even a moment. Then you have the weird implications that Erza enjoys stripping herself, and then the ridiculous ass pull that random little girl in this world just happens to have a dragon on her side. Again, please tell me they mentioned this before and I forgot, because I can’t wrap my head around it otherwise.
Fairy Tail has recently been put in my bad manga category with Bleach, Air Gear, and the rest, but I remain optimistic that the series can improve. I think Mashima Hiro does actually possess the ability to tell an engaging story, and I have hope that by the time this is all over, I’ll be able to enjoy the story of Fairy Tail again.
And if not I can take solace in the fact that One Piece, Toriko, Bakuman, and Beezlebub still kick ass.
The plot twist I speak of related to Erza. Due to the current arc taking place in… Otherworld (I forget the actual name, but I’ve also stopped caring so, works out) everyone here has an awkward counterpart. In most situations it’s just a flip in personality (Lucy is brave and outgoing while Natsu is a ridiculous coward) but for Erza, her counterpart is a member of the enemy and her goal is to hunt down Fairy Tail. When Earthland Erza meets up with Otherworld Erza, the two fight, but the content, and winner of the fight is left as a mystery. Then at the end of Chapter 186 we see Otherworld Erza find and capture Gray and Natsu. Or we’re supposed to believe it’s Otherworld Erza, but anyone with a brain should have been able to instantly recognize this plot twist as soon as it happened.
Since the Tower of Paradise Arc (which was where they story took its iconic nose dive in quality) Erza hasn’t lost. The closest we get was her getting knocked out against the Oracion Seis, but she was outnumbered and distracted by her allies. Oh, and she sorta decided to fight in a jungle thong. I question the logic in being an “Armor Knight” if your armor amounts to a leopard skin bikini. Bet she really wished she had armor on her arm didn’t she? Anyway, that fight can’t really count since Erza wasn’t in a position to win, and she never actually lost. We saw later that pitting her one on one with any of the other guild members would have been a victory, and again confirms that Erza can never lose to anything ever. So knowing this, how could anyone in their right mind honestly believe that Earthland Erza would lose off-screen? It was obvious that it was just Earthland Erza Ex-Quipped into Otherworld Erza’s outfit, and this was the old “hey guys I found the prisoners oh wait psyche I was totally your enemy all along” trick.
Again, no one with a brain was fooled by this, so why bother? Well Hiro really believe he’s a great story teller. He tries to pull emotion out of his audience, but most of the time it’s rather abrupt and poorly handled like the infamous Fantasia Finger Point (ripped straight off from One Piece) and the Wendy’s Guild Good-bye. Hiro does everything with a rather abrupt haste to it that you never have time to dwell on it. Had Hiro used misdirection and a few chapters of suspense to get us to believe that Earthland Erza was actually defeated then I might have doubted the twist. Without it, I’m just ending one chapter saying “that’s Earthland Erza” then starting the next chapter saying “I was fucking right”. Surprise surprise it turned out that it was Earthland Erza all along (shocker) and they are going to try their awesome plan of firing the McGuffin Magic Chain Cannon Thing into the Magic Crystal Friend Island thing. Unfortunately they can’t use the controls correctly, and the original plan of swinging the Magic Crystal Friend Island thing into the Floating Island of Magic Cats begins. No, I’m not insane.
Furthermore, Otherworld Erza arrives to finish the fight! What a twis—hey wait, what the hell is she wearing?! Holy crap, she’s not wearing anything! Sure, she wasn’t wearing much before, but she did have a bra, gloves, boots, and those towel things that people wear as skirts except there’s nothing on the sides, but now she’s wearing just a thong and a cloak to cover her top. This implies one of two things. Either (A) Earthland Erza defeated Otherworld Erza, and after the battle nearly completely stripped her, or (B) during their fight Earthland Erza destroyed all of Otherworld Erza’s clothes.
Now (A) doesn’t make sense because Erza’s magic is designed to let her wear whatever armor she wants. We’ve seen her use it for bullshit fanservice purposes before (bunny girl, gothic Lolita, pajamas, etc.), so she shouldn’t need to strip anyone, and that also implies she knocked Otherworld Erza the fuck out. But (B) isn’t much better. That implies that throughout the fight Earthland Erza managed to slash off this woman’s gloves, boots, skirt, and bra. I mean I’m not a woman, and I don’t do a lot of swordplay, but I figure it’s strange to approach a battle trying to cleave your opponent’s bra off.
Well anyway, it seems like our heroes are trapped when suddenly, help arrives in the form of… a dragon? Wait, what? I forgot something right? I clearly forgot when they said that people from this world can call upon dragons because I refuse to believe Fairy Tail would pull something as stupid as this. This is the very definition of an ass pull. You can’t just say “oh yeah, I’m best friends with the dragons. Let’s go!” You especially can’t do that in Fairy Tail considering how important dragons are to the overall plot. Seriously, it’s like when James Bond was strapped to that metal sheet with the laser beam coming towards him, and instead of freeing himself with ingenuity or clever thinking, his pet lion just smashed into the room and destroyed the machine. Yeah the problem’s solved but it leaves a pretty big question like: “why the fuck does he have a pet lion, and why has no one mentioned this before?!”
Really, someone please tell me they mentioned this before because I really don’t want to suffer brain damage by slamming my face into my monitor. Anyway, Otherworld Erza demands her troops follow and then… cuts her hair? Why? I know you could say she’s doing it to ensure no one mistakes her for Earthland Erza again, but that Erza is currently riding on top of a dragon in plain sight after just performing that trick. I really don’t think she’s in the position to start deceiving people, and even if she were, what’s to stop the other Erza from just cutting her hair? Really, the only reason for this is to appeal to the short hair fetish, but jeez, didn’t we do the exact same thing a few chapters ago when Otherworld Lucy cut her hair so that people could tell her apart from Earthland Lucy (aside from the fact Otherworld Lucy dresses like a dominatrix)? Seriously, why is up with Hiro constantly shoving his fetishes into his story?
I mean throughout this arc alone Lucy has been locked barefoot in stock, then went through a fetish costume marathon, then fought an entire battle in nothing but a bikini (I think she’s still in the bikini too), and 10 year old Lucy was chained up an tortured (but it’s shonen, so it’s the kinky torture, and not the mental torture that never leaves you). Plus this is the same manga that had a guitarist, who turns women into his sex slaves and then orders them to go strip other women, and had Evergreen demand Erza get naked and prostrate herself before her. The amount of bondage in this manga is through the roof (drinking game worthy honestly), so why does Hiro feel the need to include even more fetish fuel? I’m honestly shocked we haven’t seen more furries and gender bending, but I guess those aren’t his thing.
Well anyway, the chapter ends with Natsu and crew riding the Mystical WTF Dragon over towards the Magic Crystal Friend Island thing in the hope of saving their friends, but good God what a shitty chapter. The Erza twist covers nearly the first half of the chapter, and again, it was a stupid twist that no one believed for even a moment. Then you have the weird implications that Erza enjoys stripping herself, and then the ridiculous ass pull that random little girl in this world just happens to have a dragon on her side. Again, please tell me they mentioned this before and I forgot, because I can’t wrap my head around it otherwise.
Fairy Tail has recently been put in my bad manga category with Bleach, Air Gear, and the rest, but I remain optimistic that the series can improve. I think Mashima Hiro does actually possess the ability to tell an engaging story, and I have hope that by the time this is all over, I’ll be able to enjoy the story of Fairy Tail again.
And if not I can take solace in the fact that One Piece, Toriko, Bakuman, and Beezlebub still kick ass.
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