The fight against the elimination of magic itself rages on!
Creative Staff:
Story/Art: Hiro Mashima
Translation: William Flanagan
Lettering: AndWorld Design
Editing: Ben Applegate
What They Say:
Desperate to stop the Face bombs from going off, Natsu and Gajeel face off against Tempster and Torafuzar from Tartaros! Meanwhile, Gray emerges from his dramatic encounter with Silver with a new power: demon slayer magic, and Erza finally reaches the control room only to find it infested by demons! The Book of Zeref’s worst denizens stand arrayed before Fairy Tail’s wizards…can they defeat them and preserve the magic of the entire continent?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Gray is a little over powered now…Fairy Tail is (as always) in a life or death fight against (not always) demons. And guess who just became the ice demon slayer? So between Natsu, Laxus, Gajeel, Wendy, and now Gray, Fairy Tail has five slayers in their guild. So yeah…Fairy Tail is pretty over powered. But when has that ever not been the case.
The book is largely split into two big events: Gajeel’s v. Torafuzar and Erza v. Kyouka. The former fight is really showcasing Gajeel’s strength in a way that hasn’t been before. Of course, it’s in a context that only he could excel in: underwater in a poison magic pool thing. It seeps into everyone else and poisons them, but Gajeel’s iron skin protects him. Until it breaks because the other guy can make his body steel. BUT THEN! Gajeel’s body becomes steel combining with the carbon in the poison water and his iron skin. It makes no sense (ok, it probably makes some scientific sense, but I’m not the one to judge on that; I’m an English major), but it’s AWESOME. It’s kind of what shonen anime is all about.
Erza’s fight against Kyouka is largely as expected. Kick em when they’re up, kick em when they’re down, tons of fanservice shots, and then Erza gets stripped of clothes. But then she totally goes badass and starts punching Kyouka even though she’s feeling pain beyond any human imagination!! This is how a lot of Erza’s fights go (underdog to sudden victory, not the pain thing), but it WORKS. It works because the setup is always fantastic. After 47 volumes, we know these characters. We know what they’re fighting for and we want to see them win by any means necessary. It’s never cheap because it’s always digging deep for that power within us that was always there.
In Summary:
This was a fight heavy volume, but it’s setting the stones for what’s to come next. Gajeel moved everything forward, Erza is fighting for her life to stop the Face bombs, and Natsu…well Natsu got his dad back. And he’s trapped in a fight against Acnologia. So yeah, this comic is also about dragons fighting each other in mid-air. What’s not cool?
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: B+
Packaging Grade: B+
Text/Translation Grade: A-
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Kodansha Comics
Release Date: March 31st, 2015
MSRP: $10.99
