(L) Fairy Tail Manga Discussion Thread

[Slayerx]

Originally Posted by Krono

It depends on what you mean by "did not plan this out beforehand." It's clear that this has been planned since chapter 234 at the least. Whether it was planned at the start of the arc or not is more up in the air. I don't think Mashima changed the idea for the premonitions though. The one with Cana and the one with Lucy were pretty much central to Cana's subplot this arc. The introduction of Zeref is important regardless, and if Natsu hadn't had that encounter with Gildarts, we likely would have seen Natsu charging off after Hades alone the moment he saw all the wounded, as opposed to the coordinated assault he helped put together which is what we got.

When I speak of planning ahead i mean at very least before this arc began, but more preferably FAR ahead like several arcs ahead, long before this arc even began if not planned since the series began. A good writer, while they may not know all the details and may add in some things, should know the general plot line of the story they are writing; they should know all the major plot points and turning points in the story... a 7 year timeskip would be one of these things. Most ideas are not bad in and of themselves, but how well executed is what ultimately matters and when you do not plan ahead you risk terrible execution. Like I said before and also say below, we already seeing what could have been better executed if Mashima had planned ahead and prepared for this skip.

The problem with the premonitions is the fact Charlie thought she was seeing great doom and gloom. She didn't want Wendy to go because she was afriad of what was going to happen on that island, afraid that maybe she might loose her life. And while something big DID happen, the major thing that happened was irrelevant to the premonitions. The doom and gloom she predicted was nothing compared to the doom dragon... the things she saw weren't really anything worth worrying about.

Originally Posted by LeaD36

I sooo don't want this series to start over with a new half-assed main char and a half-assed crew, on a journey finding their predeccedors...

This is true. a real problem is that the remaining minor characters had had far to little screen time to have built themselves up to temporarily take lead of the story. All of our favorite characters were on that island.

Really, Mashima should have probably taken some time away from the main group, and given more screen time to some of these minor characters. More time with romeo, Bisca, alzak and so forth... Make them into fan favorites aswell so that way when its time for them to take over, we will be able to enjoy the arc more since we like these characters and have been wanting to see more of them... As it is, i have no interest in them what-so-ever.

Originally Posted by ~Yami~

who is Raki???? she is moe~~ and we never notice her... lol

She's a mage that uses wood magic. I think she became something of an underdog favorite in the anime for some reason

please don't ruin the reunion scene... I want them to meet Fairy Tail's lost member one by one.. not all at once

That would take a really long time...

Originally Posted by kitten320

I can't say I agree here. Mashima was so lazy about the side characters that I barely care about any of them and just want for things to move and get to the main part. The only characters I'm interested in are Bisca and Al.

But you see, that's just it, the whole reason you don't care about the side characters as they are now is because Mashima didn't spend enough time on them. Had mashima given them significant time, you might have much more interest in them right now when they are coming up front and center.

Unfortunatly, for the most part the only characters he spent a considerable time on, the ones we came to love, and the ones who disappeared on the island

Originally Posted by kitten320

P.S. Is Romeo Makao's son then? Isn't he suppoused to look older?

Originally Posted by Randrak42

Also...yea...Romeo should be what? 15? Yet he's the size of a 10 year old...

Actually, that might be a mistake on the anime's part.
Romeo's age is never mentioned before or after the timeskip... however comparing to the anime and the manga, romeo looks like he could pass for like 5 years old in the manga, where as he looks older in the anime, more like a 10 year old

[TrueElements]

I just don't want the time to rollback after X Arc is complete

[MechR]

I'd have to say I do not want Natsu & co. to come out older. Missing out on 7 years of growth for characters I care about would suck. And being stuck on one island for 7 years would suck for them too.

People ask what the point of a timeskip is if it doesn't age the main characters. The answer is it gives everyone else time to level up, allies and enemies alike. Tartaros and/or Raven Tail should be much stronger now, whereas they would've had a hard time topping Grimoire Heart's threat level in the past. Twilight Ogre wasn't even on the radar 7 years ago. (I'd be surprised if they're any stronger than Phantom Lord though.) Also: If you think the leftover guildmembers look pathetic right now, how much more useless and irrelevant would they look if the powerhouses came back even stronger?

The only question for me is whether Natsu & co. will find a way back to the past. I'm okay either way, but it'd be kind of weird for them to clash with stronger enemies in the future, then go back in time and erase this timeline, knowing that weenie versions of those enemies are running around in the past.

[Randrak42]

Originally Posted by Slayerx

Actually, that might be a mistake on the anime's part.
Romeo's age is never mentioned before or after the timeskip... however comparing to the anime and the manga, romeo looks like he could pass for like 5 years old in the manga, where as he looks older in the anime, more like a 10 year old

well in the manga he looks like a 7-8 year old to me so he should have been around 14 years old, that's still a short 14 year old kid xD

[secretzfan]

YAY THE FAIIRY TAIL HAS A TIMESKIP!!!!! That was fast!!!! I want this to make Fairy Tail good again not the endless meaningless battles of friendship. Give it the story it lost in the Ocian Seis arc.

[Kafriel]

Good chapter to show the contrast between the main cast and the sidekicks, from a huge mansion with a pool, stalls and entertainment rooms, down to an old tavern...I suppose dark guilds wouldn't even bother with FT the way it is now, can't even pay their loans. Makes me wonder how this is gonna go, will we see what's left of FT fight for its former glory, or will the dream team come to the rescue when things get tougher?

[Om Nerabdator]

So a real depressing ch till blue pegasus shows up, god i love those guys ^^ Any way off they go to rescue the powerhouses of FT hopefully theyve aged aswell

[haegar]

people keep telling me a "transitional chapter" was to be expected. I dunno. Maybe.

to me this is epic dragon followed by epic fail. I say mashima didn't have the guts to actually go and use this no-main-cast-phase he got himself into.

1. IF we get nuthin on the gang and the fairy, THEN plz, do take some time to explain what is happening in the meantime - we cut right to the end of the crap. would have been nice to see how FT went down. Yeah, most of those nameless guys are fodder, but still, all those suckerz are part of FT - at least show how the former spirit degraded to this mess. Because them beeing THAT lame is a F*** insult to gramp's legacy. Macao of all people being so lame? gimme a break.

2. unneccessary setting: whaz it withthis ridicolous mini guild house? A worn down and ruined old FT guild with empty rooms, empty girls dorm, empty mission board etc would have been much more like it imho.

3. unneccessary fodder guild. Truly, I already forgot the full name of those "ogers" - they'll go down in no time anyways - instead, why not show what the real evil guys were up to?

4.which brings us to not a single word spent on what Zeref did in the meantime - ridicolous. Mash didnt have to show him - however showing that the remainder of FT is aware of whats going on in the world is something else entirely and would have been in order...and if it only had been one sentence in passing...

5. Ichiya of all people descending from the skies like an angel to restore the FT spirit is yet another way to troll all other FT members - how embarassing to get your moral back up by that guy - and btw - how stupidly convenient: so FT had all these friends and allies, rite? So they let FT degrade to THIS? they didn't come earlier to help (other in the search?) smh.

6. bottom line - he's out of creativity atm imho. He did some crazyass action fireworks last arc, bringing in the dragon and all - and by now I seriously doubt he has any plan behind that but just felt the urge to skip forward to "epic" ... this absence of main cast was a HUGE CHANCE to do something different for a time, to show FT guild in spirit in different light...

and of all the possibilities he had he chooses to make FT super lame and pityfull? And he doesn't even bother to explain how the went doen so LOW? and plz don't go and say "look mate, those poor creatures, they lost their master and all the cool guys, no wonder they are broken in spirit. Consider with what exagerated "never give up" mashima had all our heros fodderize Grimoire and face the doomsdaydragon - and compare to that how their comrades are likewise exagerated in their "we are so shitty and we know it" feeling - notice how something is off here? this is the same guild. these are Makarov's kids too. TCH !

Geez. Sclass had great action, fights, ecchi and whatnot, but I swear since that arc it seems things are degrading. Which is lamentable, considering this is the part of the story where we ought to get into something of a MAIN ARC that gets epic n all...

well, lez face it, there is only THAT far to go towards epic when it rains Ichiyas

bottom line: Ima wee bit dissapointed.

edit: to be fair: chap had one good thing: Biska was hot

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by ~Yami~

Makao and Wakaba are doing good as guild's senior member

No, they aren't. They've run the guild into the ground. With all the powerhouses gone, it'd have been understandable to turn what's left into a mediocre, unremarkable guild. Or to call it quits entirely and disband.

But what did happen? They finished crushing the spirit of the guild and got it into a debt they can't possibly repay to a bunch of scumbags.

[felix]

The whole debt seems... forced, to be honest. What exactly did they need the money for? Just how bad has it been getting jobs.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by felix

The whole debt seems... forced, to be honest. What exactly did they need the money for?

Booze for the master and his advisor?

Just how bad has it been getting jobs.

How bad has it been getting them done?

[felix]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

How bad has it been getting them done?

Good point... Though as I recall Makao, while not a main character, was introduced as being competent enough. So at least he should have been able to pay stuff. Maybe the debt was some sort of expenses they paid to fund the search; probably how they lost the guild house too.

[Bern-san]

Originally Posted by immblueversion

Would you have cared if you didn't see the anime? I mean, they barely appeared in the manga.

not really, even I don't care about the actual members (except Visca and Alzak maybe). But if he made those guild cards, I wished he could focus on them before this arc like some people said. And make a lot of fodder characters of the guild disappear... If I was someone from the guild I would stay and try to help the guild move on.

I still don't understand how they became so lame, I know that they weren't very powerful to begin with and lost many important members, but they still are Fairy Tail. At least somebody could have insisted on move on and follow the guild's spirit of being a lively family.
And I expected more from Wakaba and Macao, being the seniors of the guild

[immblueversion]

Originally Posted by Bern-san

not really, even I don't care about the actual members (except Visca and Alzak maybe). But if he made those guild cards, I wished he could focus on them before this arc like some people said. And make a lot of fodder characters of the guild disappear... If I was someone from the guild I would stay and try to help the guild move on.

I still don't understand how they became so lame, I know that they weren't very powerful to begin with and lost many important members, but they still are Fairy Tail. At least somebody could have insisted on move on and follow the guild's spirit of being a lively family.
And I expected more from Wakaba and Macao, being the seniors of the guild

It doesn't seem you've been following the discussion all that closely. These are people who lost two dozen or so close friends in one day. You'd think they'd be so crushed that it'd be impossible for it to not affect their performance.

[felix]

If the souldcrushing didn't happen imediatly, after 7 years of searching and "giving it their all" as it was phrased it's a miracle they're even a guild anymore.

[haegar]

Originally Posted by felix

If the souldcrushing didn't happen imediatly, after 7 years of searching and "giving it their all" as it was phrased it's a miracle they're even a guild anymore.

that is perfectly reasonable - I still feel though it would have been a nicer way to show how that came to pass over a couple of chaps...well I dunno maybe there will be some flashbacks, who knows ... and maybe they will now set out on a miniarc of "retrieve the guild" with Pegasus - it might still get good - but I feel the start could have done with a little bit more feeling for the nuances... it's kinda like Mashima went and took a bulldozer over his famous nakama spirit...several times back and forth *grind grind* ...

[felix]

Well as far as I'm concern anything that doesn't involve old members appearing after like 1-5 maybe even 10 more chapters is good, well more like not horrible.

[TrueKnight]

Didn't like the chapter. I think it sucked. One thing the new gang were grieving about their former compatriots and the next thing suddenly the Blue Pegasus appear informing that Tenrou island still existed. Wow talk about anti-climatic..I was expecting they will spend 2-3 chapters prior discovering that. Looking forward on Romeo and his arc though..

[~Yami~]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

No, they aren't. They've run the guild into the ground. With all the powerhouses gone, it'd have been understandable to turn what's left into a mediocre, unremarkable guild. Or to call it quits entirely and disband.

But what did happen? They finished crushing the spirit of the guild and got it into a debt they can't possibly repay to a bunch of scumbags.

at least, they try to revive the guild and maintain it for long time

agree with all of you...
it's just so fast...
first we are shown the current situation of Fairy Tail
and then Blue Pegasus appeared
and now they're going to search Tenrou island again...

that will be a completely fail if they met all of the lost members in next chapter....
Hiro~sensei... please make this manga become interesting again

[Shuuda]

Half the people complaining that it's going too fast. Half the people complaining that it's going too slow. People not understanding that buildings cost a lot of money.

I have to say I liked the chapter quiet a lot. I'm glad they've put the minor characters in the spot light, as I actually quiet like them. There was a good balance between the things I was expecting, like the run down guild, and the things I wasn't expecting. My big worry for the timeskip was that they would introduce a whole load of new FT characters, but I'm relieved that didn't happen.

I like the look of the characters now, especially Laki and Jet. And of course, there's Ichiya, who I didn't think could be any more of a bastion of sexiness.