Monday, October 17, 2016

Fairy Tail Chapter 506 Review - Broken Bonds

Written by Shiggins

And so the tragedy continues.

After last week's chapter, fans were really curious to see where this one would go. By the look of things, we should be safe. I'd personally have preferred someone like Wendy to be there and confirm he can't be healed, but that's just my paranoia setting in. People did find something to complain about though, and while I was mad at first, common sense settled in and I realised it's not as bad as you might you think.

I regret asking to see tears.... This is sad now. (Although don't you DARE reverse this!)
This chapter begins right where it left off, with everyone horrified and heartbroken at the loss of Makarov. Mavis completely collapses, remembering when she saw Makarov's birth and actually naming him. So for her to see this moment is really heavy. Luckily, there is one person who is able to keep it together and that's my man Laxus.

It's so nice of the Spriggan 12 and whatever other monster is out there to give these people time to mourn.
Laxus knows they need to keep fighting and they need Mavis to keep using her strategies, so he's remaining strong. Erza bows to the body of Makarov, thanking him for what he did for her. We then have a brief visit to Irene and Zeref, who are discussing the use of Fairy Law. Irene says that although around 80% of the army is defeated, there is still the Spriggan 12 so she's not concerned.

Like I ask almost every single time I go to a political party: Who is left?!
Finally, we rush back to Natsu and Gray's fight. The next few pages are pure action, with almost no dialogue. They're just screaming and beating each other, and throwing their magic about everywhere. Eventually, this fight is interrupted by Erza catching both their punches and asking what they're doing, while she cries because she's lost her father.

Opinion: You're expecting me to be angry, aren't you?

Surprisingly, I'm not angry. I'm not even confused or upset that Erza was able to catch both Natsu's and Gray's fists with her bare hands. In fact, it makes sense to me. As you can see in the picture below, Erza isn't walking away unharmed. Her hands are clearly suffering, from both the fire and the ice. If she was unscathed, then I'd be complaining.

The other reason I'm not upset is because, in my eyes, I can't see either of them hitting Erza full-force. To me, the second they touched her is when they held back as much as they could. Hell, they might have seen her just a nanosecond before she caught them, so maybe they held back even more. So no, I'm not angry. Erza is stronger than Gray, Natsu is not full-E.N.D, and both of them clearly regained their sanity while Erza got huge damage. 

Tell me that her arms don't hurt! Tell me that this is easy! I'll wait for you to tell me because look at that! Go on! Deny that!
I was surprised at the fighting as well. Almost every series has battles lasting forever, and while it is a shame that this one is probably about to end because of Erza's tears and Makarov's death, it was still quite brutal. There was no unnecessary speech or cliche cries about revenge and murder. It was just them fighting, which is what we want to see. 

I'm starting to think Zeref isn't going to be the final boss of this arc. While he's clearly the one in charge, it really does feel like Irene is wrestling control from him both figuratively and literally. Zeref himself has actually done very little, obviously waiting until the final battle, and I'm positive that this isn't Zeref's last arc so I believe it's Irene. 

Every time I look at this woman, I notice something else that's so odd about her outfit...
On a final note, I was surprised we didn't see Ivan. His dad did just die, and while he is a side character that's far away in prison, almost every series needs to show the relative/lover/friend look into the distance and feel a disturbance in the Force.

Manga Rating: 3.5/5

Character of the Week: Laxus for his composure and just being so awesome, even though he's probably dying inside.

Best Part: Laxus comforts Mavis.

Worst Part: Erza causing yet more controversy.

I'll admit, I was totally expecting a fanservice page here. It's nice to see they went with a more vulnerable feel to it.
Shiggins:[Admin]   .
Born under the stars of the Dark Gods, Shiggins owns the power of the Great Eye and is utterly magnificent in his omniscience. If you dare to discover more about someone as great as him, then go ahead. And to all my friends and family members, YOU are wrong and I should be disappointed! Not the other way round!,. You can find out about him or ask him stuff on ask.fm/shigginsishere or go to his tumblr page http://otakugajeel.tumblr.com/

5 comments:

  1. I get why Erza is there but here's the problem I have one how the hell did she know she was there since her group and natsus took 2 different routes to get to the guild and regardless of Eileen/Irene's magic compressing the space would still mean Erza would've had to sprinted a good 30 to 50 KM which aside from speed magic users should've take Erza a bit longer than this to get there and find them. that seemed kind of rushed from my perspective. also I know natsu isn't full end but I feel like this whole build up was for nothing if this is all it took for Erza to stop Natsu which then brings the question of what was the point of END then if this is all it took.

    I usually get ticked when something or someone who supposedly has god tier abilities or something than end the world is easily topped like this and gets me raged and ask what was even the point of that then? so unless Natsu goes full end and attacks Erza then I'll calm down a bit but for now it's looking like another of hiro's trolls that END wasn't meant for anything.

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    1. A fair point. Maybe Erza just saw the destruction, since those two were having a huge battle of chaos and madness and ouchies. If you saw a fire-and-ice nuke go off, you'd immediately know who's behind it. As for how she got there so fast... No, that's kinda ridiculous. I can't stand by that one, unless we get a really good excuse next week.

      No... I'll disagree there. We can't have Natsu going full E.N.D right now because of everything else going on, and I think this is more a sign to Natsu. Natsu is going to be walking around now, knowing what he could potentially become, and that could easily result in some interesting drama, including fear and self-hatred. There's a lot of potential here, so I'm not against Natsu changing back for now. In fact, I might prefer it because E.N.D's reign can't end here.

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    2. but it wouldn't be the first time for hiro to drop the ball where he built something up only to not really do anything with it and that's what has me worried at the moment is that he's gonna end this whole thing without really doing anything with the fact natsu is end/

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    3. Ha... Ending End. Sorry. Couldn't resist.

      And maybe, but this is definitely a "wait and see" moment. I'm not especially worried right now, but I'm still convinced we're going to have more explanation about Frosch's death one day so maybe I'm a bit nutty.

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  2. Well, Hiro usually delivers the hype, so I wouldn't be too worried. The only thing where he fails with the hype sometimes, is hyping up enemies and then having quick fights. Other than that, Hiro usually focuses on the big stuff, and it works out very well. Just remember the fight of Natsu vs Zeref, that shit was epic. And the hype didn't fail then, so I don't think that's the "end of END".

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