Fairy Tail Chat #3

spoilers for Fairy Tail up through Chapter 499!

Things have gotten pretty bonkers in Hiro Mashima's world of Fairy Tail. The anime is, well, done for now (unless you count what's left to be dubbed, which is only two more "parts"). The manga is going strong as ever, headed right for it's 500th chapter next week. There's a new game, I think like a RPG or something, headed our way in the fall. Yup, now's a pretty good time to be a fan of the series! in a world where manga are ending, getting (probably) bad movie adaptations, or are just losing popularity due to an extended hiatus, it's nice for there to be a bit of consistency in the world.
As with before, I'm lumping the anime into one thing for both the subbed and dubbed versions of the show, since little separates the two now. It's strange to think that Fairy Tail, a long-running series, will probably end up getting a Funimation Broadcast Dub soon. The lovely cast is going to be putting some serious hours in soon.

Anime

There's not too much to discuss here, so I'll save most of my word count for the manga portion of things. The dub is currently running through the famed Tartarros arc, probably set to finish up by the end of the year. So far, all of the casting choices have been solid and I'm looking forward to the coming battles between all of the Fairy Tail members and the Tartarros demons. Looking back on where we are in the manga, the arc has a little more weight to it all.

Zeref has become a rising figure in the minds of the characters and in this arc Mashima continues to plant little seeds that would eventually blossom. Zeref as the main focus is a little hint toward where we are in the manga right now, in the final arc. While he has yet to reveal himself, you know it's only a matter of time before Zeref does show up to screw with someone, more than likely Natsu.

I'm just curious to why the anime is ended now. I don't think Funimation holds enough weight for them to halt production of the series so they can run a concurrent dub of the show. I believe I heard somewhere that the studio that was doing most of the production was only under a temporary contract to begin with, and that contract was up. So now the series is on an indefinite hiatus until someone can pick it back up and restart production. Sadly production halted two episodes after the "Fairy Tail Zero" stuff, so there's an awkward two episodes featuring Natsu, Lucy, and Happy once again that don't really make much sense after all of the "Fairy Tail Zero" stuff, but the show-runners clearly tried their best to squeeze it in and get us excited for the upcoming animation, which should cover us through the rest of the series.

Manga

Oh but speaking of the rest of the series, we have the manga and all of the fun and joy that's been bringing us. Not sadness or confusion or anger, right?

Right?

The Alvarrez Empire arc sure has been one heck of a roller coaster. The Fairy Tail formula is still very much at play here but at least it isn't without consequence. Only one major event has been undone but that was clear to see from a mile away so it shouldn't come as any real surprise. If anything there are more arrivals than there are departures that have impacted the story.

The first is Lady Eileen, a mysterious woman with great power and red hair. And yes I am describing Erza because that's how she's basically been described and shown to us. She has a clear relationship with Erza, be it mother-daughter or something else, as each time Erza is brought up she has a clear scowl on her face and the latest chapter to feature Eileen had her calling for Erza's head.

Eileen has actually had the greatest impact of anyone in this arc. You'd think it'd been someone as foreboding as Acnologia or Gildarts, but those two have been relegated to the sidelines for a while now. Gildarts only showed up a few chapters ago to punch a reincarnated God Serena in the face. I'm glad that the "Fairy Tail Zero" chapter preview wasn't actually resetting everything and instead just shortened the playing field down to centralizing the final battle. It makes the bouts feel more personal, since now they are so close to home. It also makes any surprise players that may arrive have a little more sense to them.

Eileen is also responsible for I think extracting, or getting very close to it, Fairy Heart out of Mavis. Zeref clearly still has feelings for her, which is good, so I'm curious if he will actually allow Eileen to take the magic out of Mavis. I doubt it, but it's a possibility. It'd sure mess up the Ankserham curse he has and potentially weaken him enough for Natsu to take him on again. I don't see he and Eileen going to blows. Erza is destined to fight her, though I hope that we get to see Mavis in a fight for the first time as well. I'm sure she knows some awesome fighting moves.

Speaking of turning, though, Brandish has been very wishy-washy lately. She seemingly betrayed Mirajane only for her to prevent her death. Is she a double agent? After all, she was prepared to have August stand down and not fight Fairy Tail until Mest decided to screw everyone over. She's taken Natsu, Happy, and Lucy away from Gray and Invel (getting to that in a moment, don't you worry) for unknown purposes, so I wonder if it's to keep them safe from Invel. She took them only after they'd already thawed out, so perhaps she was keeping them from further harm. She already has a tight bond with Lucy and has sort of joined our main trio as a means to an end for the war. It could be that she's taking them back to August to negotiate, but negotiations are out the window with that dude.

One thing that has sort of bugged me about all of this is how Mashima sort of went back on what he was doing at the start of the fighting: there have been fewer consequences. People were either ridding themselves of their magical constraints, losing their magic altogether, or making their final goodbye in a big, helpful way. The Gajeel element, though, sort of took away from that. I don't think we had to go so far as to pretend he died, I think we could've had a nice scene where he almost dies and Levy manages to stop him from dying. Gajeel and all of the Dragon Slayers are going to be around to fight Acnologia. It's obvious.

Crime Sorciere has arrived on the scene which means that the final Dragon Slayer, Cobra, is there. And with Brandish taking Natsu somewhere new and us having no idea where anyone else is, it could be that we'll see the Acnologia vs. Dragon Slayers battle sooner than expected. Is that going to be the final fight? No way. It'll be a nice warm-up round to pick off a few of them, I'd predict Cobra, Laxus, and Sting if I had to, before he goes off for a small rematch with Eileen or even Gildarts.

But getting back to consequences, it would seem that Mashima was sort of just going through motions with the story. He brought back dead members of the Spriggan Twelve for when all of the characters are reunited so that there could be more one-on-one's, which is a standard Shounen thing, and had Gajeel's death be a fake out. We even followed Romeo for a little bit recently, like what? Why?

On a few more minor notes before the big, BIG event in Chapter 499:

-It was nice to see Kagura and Jellal working together. I hope that this isn't the last we see of Jellal and that he, in fact, gets to take on Zeref personally. It's a conflict that's been sort of brewing since the Nirvana Arc that has really not gone anywhere, and it could be a potentially even fight.
-Mirajane having absorbed the various Tartarros Demons was a nice touch and a good way to excuse her major power-ups, though I have to wonder just how strong Eileen and her two swords are if all the power of Tartarros didn't even faze her?
-So...where has Gildarts been all this time?

And finally, we come to the big moment from Chapter 499. It was spoiled pretty well in advance, though there were some elements of it that were not and made the chapter that much better.

As Gray and Invel, the Winter Mage and seemingly Zeref's closest adviser next to Eileen, did battle, Juvia and the others arrived. All but Juvia escaped and Gray and Juvia were forced into combat. One thing of note is that Gray has been losing himself more to the Demon powers, going against how he would normally act in a good way. There have been few times when Gray has sort of lost his cool or gone a little off the deep-end for a fight: when he was prepared to use Ice Shell against Lyon, and when he used his blood as liquid to keep using Maker magic.

But it's clear that when Gray discovers the identity of E.N.D. it will not be a pretty day, though it will be a pretty sweet fight.

In any event, Juvia and Gray trying to kill themselves was a huge surprise. I suspected Juvia to do so, since it's within the realms of her character, but Gray? That was insane! I think this is the confirmation that fans have been waiting for all along that Gray shares Juvia's feelings, and Mashima did it without him having to say anything. They had mirrored images of them stabbing themselves and Gray even admits that he was going to take her feelings more serious.

Now the reason I don't think Juvia will be coming back is how Gray manages to survive. The fact that Mashima made a big deal of her being with him in his heart (his actual heart) is reminiscent of when the Dragons ascended following the Tartarros arc. We're never going to see them again, but their power still resides in the Dragon Slayers. The same can be said here. Juvia's story is, also, over.

All along her goal was to protect Gray, to keep him from harm. When he died at the Grand Magic Games it was Ultear who reversed time and wiped herself from reality in the process. Juvia was unable to save him. But here, she was able to complete her goal. That seems to be a running theme for the characters who have passed on, isn't it? That they complete their "mission" or are somehow able to redeem themselves. Gajeel did not die because his ultimate mission, battling Acnologia, is not over. But Juvia's is, and now Gray is basically free from death because of it, but that doesn't mean he's invincible. Now his character may take a major turn for the worst.

Still, it is sad to see Juvia go. It hasn't really hit me that she's dead for good because there's still that sliver of doubt that she'll stay dead. I hope she does, but she'll be missed. Gray is a melo character, so having Juvia as his romantic foil was always a treat since she brought levity to most of his scenes. She was just a fun badass to have around on Fairy Tail's strongest team. She may not have seemed like much when she first attacked Fairy Tail, but her character saw major progression throughout the series and it won't be the same manga without her.

RIP Juvia Lockser. I wish you hadn't died, but for the sake of your Gray, I kinda hope it stays this way.

Besides now Gray is gonna wipe the floor with Invel I mean did you see that last panel? He looked like he was ready to turn Super Saiyan!


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