(L) Fairy Tail Manga Discussion Thread

[ImperialFlameGod8190]

Originally Posted by Casshern

Even extraordinary mages like Gildarts and Jellal, and one of the most powerful offensive magics in existence, Fairy Glitter, couldn't defeat him. Rightfully so, since August is the son of two demigod-like beings. He lived up to his reputation.

Still, he had to pass away. That's how the story goes. He questions the meaning and value of love like a frigid creature that's never experienced it but in the end he's still subject to his underlying humanity. He can't kill his mother.

It's not like there was no way to kill Irene and August. Mashima could've just had Acnologia take out both of them. That would've been clean, simple, plausible, and it would have no meaning. Allowing themselves to die because they can't kill their family, their deaths were perfect.

that's besides the point. The problem is just as much as people hate OP heroes (i'm not one of them) OP villians are just as problematic

[Casshern]

Originally Posted by ImperialFlameGod8190

that's besides the point. The problem is just as much as people hate OP heroes (i'm not one of them) OP villians are just as problematic

Overpowered is a matter of perspective. For the kind of creatures that they were, Irene and August weren't overpowered. Compared to Acnologia, Zeref and Natsu, they weren't overpowered. For a narrative that wanted to present two obstacles that were insurmountable by anything other than love, they were adequately powerful.

[DmonHiro]

It was August who was Zeref's son.....

[immblueversion]

Originally Posted by Casshern

It was a fair way to wrap things up imo. The two strongest spriggan couldn't be defeated in combat, validating the spriggan's reputation. They ended up dying because they couldn't bring themselves to kill their own family, reinforcing the theme of love. It ties up very nicely. August's ending was sad though. I wish there had been slightly more interaction with Mavis towards August's end, a word between them or something.

That's one way to look at it. I understand, and even appreciate, that Mashima made opponents that even Fairy Tail's strongest wizards couldn't out-muscle like they almost always do, necessitating a different approach that would adhere to Fairy Tail's themes, in this case the power of love and family... But August's defeat just raises too many questions.

Isn't Mavis immortal? Or is she free of the curse now? If she's not immortal anymore, why wasn't that established sooner? Otherwise, if she's still immortal, what would August care? We've seen Zeref recover from deadly injuries, so clearly Mavis could do the same. And what about Fairy Heart? Did August forget about that when he decided to blow up the world, or is that really not relevant? If he's that okay with blowing up the world, why didn't he do it in the first place? Would Zeref and Acnologia survive the world blowing up? Or are all of these inquiries moot in the face of human emotion?

...Or maybe August inherited the curse of contradiction from his parents, but on a much lower, less inherently lethal scale that only affected his thoughts like Zeref's going through now? Because that would actually make sense.

EDIT: Well, after reading the chapter again, I suppose he wasn't actually trying to blow up the world; he was only boasting that he had that capacity. It was never clear, especially since Natsu and Zeref didn't even seem to notice the spell, but if August could control the range and never realized Mavis was within it, then that would make sense. Still, it really feels like the "power of love" approach could've been less...anti-climactic.

[Casshern]

Originally Posted by immblueversion

That's one way to look at it. I understand, and even appreciate, that Mashima made opponents that even Fairy Tail's strongest wizards couldn't out-muscle like they almost always do, necessitating a different approach that would adhere to Fairy Tail's themes, in this case the power of love and family... But August's defeat just raises too many questions.

Isn't Mavis immortal? Or is she free of the curse now? If she's not immortal anymore, why wasn't that established sooner? Otherwise, if she's still immortal, what would August care? We've seen Zeref recover from deadly injuries, so clearly Mavis could do the same. And what about Fairy Heart? Did August forget about that when he decided to blow up the world, or is that really not relevant? If he's that okay with blowing up the world, why didn't he do it in the first place? Would Zeref and Acnologia survive the world blowing up? Or are all of these inquiries moot in the face of human emotion?

...Or maybe August inherited the curse of contradiction from his parents, but on a much lower, less inherently lethal scale that only affected his thoughts like Zeref's going through now? Because that would actually make sense.

EDIT: Well, after reading the chapter again, I suppose he wasn't actually trying to blow up the world; he was only boasting that he had that capacity. It was never clear, especially since Natsu and Zeref didn't even seem to notice the spell, but if August could control the range and never realized Mavis was within it, then that would make sense. Still, it really feels like the "power of love" approach could've been less...anti-climactic.

Yes, that's a good point. She probably wouldn't have died. Possibly just seeing her caused the sudden change of heart.

[ImperialFlameGod8190]

Originally Posted by Casshern

Overpowered is a matter of perspective. For the kind of creatures that they were, Irene and August weren't overpowered. Compared to Acnologia, Zeref and Natsu, they weren't overpowered. For a narrative that wanted to present two obstacles that were insurmountable by anything other than love, they were adequately powerful.

they were supposedly the strongest of his warriors and considering that God Serena was as low on the totem pole as he was it doesn't help. Still it ended poorly

[immblueversion]

Originally Posted by Casshern

Yes, that's a good point. She probably wouldn't have died. Possibly just seeing her caused the sudden change of heart.

No, it wasn't just seeing her. Seeing Gildarts embrace Cana during what seemed sure was their demise is what first sparked his feelings of humanity. Seeing Mavis after that is what set his feelings ablaze. I understand that, but when August figured Mavis would be the one to defeat him, having her unknowingly psyche him out of a suicide attack that ended up killing him anyway wasn't what I had in mind for his demise.

Furthermore, it just feels like the decision to make August the son of Zeref and Mavis could've been more important beyond explaining how he could be defeated. It's like the payoff of that epic twist last week was all so we could see the strongest wizard in existence kick the bucket just because he didn't want to hurt his mommy. And maybe that wouldn't have been so bad, except August was still an underling, an obstacle to defeating the final villain, not the villain himself. He was practically invented to be beaten, and yet

Forgive me for sounding like a hypocrite given my distaste for hitting Ctrl+Z on character death scenes, but for all we know, August's role in the story didn't just end right when he became interesting; it was ended by the very thing that made him interesting. And I can't accept that so easily.

[Casshern]

For sure there was more that could've been done with him and there were a few things that annoyed me about his story, such as how Precht abandoned him and how Zeref didn't even learn about him in his last moments. but at this point imo it would just be fanservice. I think his backstory was handled a bit clumsily but I'm ok with the conclusion.

On the one hand I wanted a bit more backstory, on the other hand I'm anxious to see what happens next so I'm glad we're moving at the usual Mashima pace.

[Kafriel]

I think the whole point of his backstory was the fact that he was not recognized by Precht, Zeref and Mavis. He spent his life following a father that didn't look at him as family...but then again, even if Zeref knew, it would have been fatal for August anyway. How much did he know about Mavis? I guess we'll never find out.

Although I was hyped for August being the final lieutenant under Zeref and being defeated in a battle of wits against Mavis and FT, the way it turned out wasn't bad at all.

[immblueversion]

Originally Posted by Kafriel

I think the whole point of his backstory was the fact that he was not recognized by Precht, Zeref and Mavis. He spent his life following a father that didn't look at him as family...but then again, even if Zeref knew, it would have been fatal for August anyway. How much did he know about Mavis? I guess we'll never find out.

Although I was hyped for August being the final lieutenant under Zeref and being defeated in a battle of wits against Mavis and FT, the way it turned out wasn't bad at all.

I'm starting to feel the same way. Again, as controversial the execution was, having August destroy himself still preserves his status as one of the strongest wizards in the world. But really, making August the son of Zeref and Mavis is too juicy of an opportunity to use merely as a means of defeat. I'm hoping that, just like Precht, he'll continue to make a posthumous contribution to the story. Or maybe Mashima will pull something else out of his butt like he always does. But at the same time, I wouldn't really change this outcome, either.

[immblueversion]

Spoiler for Chapter 528:

I won't lie, judging from the raws, this is an interesting chapter. We finally know that Acnologia's DS magic has no single attribute or element; he can consume any and all kinds of magic. Ah well, even though Jellal failed to do anything relevant beyond establishing this, at least he managed to look cool doing it. And I'm glad Erza managed to figure out it was Acnologia on her own. I won't argue over her and Wendy just standing there letting him mutilate that deader than dead Irene. Obviously they were too scared out of their jimmies.

Now, I know there's a bit of an uproar on other forums over how Acnologia could let himself be struck by Blue Pegasus' ship. But...no. They're kinda grasping at straws there. Evidently they didn't have enough time to reinstall the anti-motion sickness feature, either.

But the real meat of this chapter is the identity of that woman at the end. Just to get it out of the way, I'm going to assume she was added just to give more material for the story so it can keep on ticking. The vast majority of comments I've seen are convinced it's Anna, but judging from the locks of the hair on the side of her face, she actually looks more like Layla. How she can still be alive, there are two explanations I can think of: either this is another Lisanna case and she never really died, since we never saw her actually pass away on-screen; or she used Eclipse to come from the past. And just imagine, if she is from the past, perhaps something will happen to her here that could explain how she fell ill and was forced to pass her keys onto her daughter. That would be fascinating to know, but knowing Mashima, it could go any which way. We'll just wait and see...

[B214]

Spoiler for 528:

So Acnologia has no elements and can eat all magic. Would've been cool actually if Natsu, Gajeel & Sting hasn't shown that eating a different element is possible. Still seeing everyone escape unscathed feels kinda lacking or missing. Let Acnologia live up to his name a bit Mashima. That being said i wonder if Ichiya's special parfum would show up again.

[n0m@n]

That mysterious woman at the end. Perhaps it's Lucy's mom who we all thought was dead.

[Nvis]

Or future Lucy again

[MAX_COLA_POWER!]

Originally Posted by Nvis

Or future Lucy again

Please no more time travel shenanigans. I'd rather it be Anna or Layla.

[immblueversion]

Originally Posted by MAX_COLA_POWER!

Please no more time travel shenanigans. I'd rather it be Anna or Layla.

As if neither of them would be involved via time travel shenanigans. And as I said before, if this turns out to be Layla before she gained her frail physical condition, it may yet explain why.

Originally Posted by B214

Spoiler for 528:

So Acnologia has no elements and can eat all magic. Would've been cool actually if Natsu, Gajeel & Sting hasn't shown that eating a different element is possible. Still seeing everyone escape unscathed feels kinda lacking or missing. Let Acnologia live up to his name a bit Mashima. That being said i wonder if Ichiya's special parfum would show up again.

I found Acnologia's non-elemental power to be the next logical step above multi-element Dragon Slayers. Plus, being immune to all magic and able to devour any spell completely explains how he's so damn invincible. So it stands to reason Zeref thinks Fairy Heart will work by overstuffing him with magic.

[ChuckE]

So nobody was one-shotted by Acnologia. Well...

[immblueversion]

Originally Posted by ChuckE

So nobody was one-shotted by Acnologia. Well...

That may be, but I do admire Jellal for not falling into the trap that got God Serena one-shotted: he went right on the offensive, with zero pre-fight banter. Clearly Acnologia has a weakness for toying with people he recognizes as strong foes; if this was Sirius Island or Tartaros, they'd probably be dead and he wouldn't even remember their faces.

[Ultragunner]

I bet the "mysterious" lady at the end is Lamia Scale's guild master aka grandma Ooba Babasaama

Why? Because f'ng Ichiya is with here

[~Yami~]

oh they introduced new character...

anyway, glad to see Jellal reunited with his waifu... and showcased some Sieghart's magic there

it is clear that Dragon Slayers are those who can beat Acnologia since they're not really using magic