Creative Staff:
Story/Art: Hiro Mashima
Translation: William Flanagan
Lettering: AndWorld Design
Editing: Haruko Hashimoto
Kodansha Comics edition cover design by Phil Balsman
What They Say:
Fate has led Natsu into a one-on-one showdown with Zeref! The Black Wizard finally begins to unravel the truth behind his plans, with Natsu at the center. Shocked beyond belief, Natsu almost loses it…Meanwhile, Magnolia is submerged in chaos. In the South, the combined forces of Lamia Scale and Mermaid Heel are desparately toughing it out, while in the North, the allied forces of Saber Tooth and Blue Pegasus struggle to stand their ground. As the Wizard Saints gather in the East, a surprise guest swoops into the war between Zeref and Fairy Tail…How will the rides turn in this final battle?!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The war between Zeref’s forces and Fairy Tail continues, but this time with heart. The complaints of the last volume were mostly that there wasn’t much substance in that volume of Fairy Tail. This brings it all back to the forefront.
Brandish, as it were, knew Layla, Lucy’s mother. Brandish’s mother served under Layla and was entrusted with the key to Aquarius at a time. When all the keys needed to be collected together to open Eclipse and let in the five dragon slayers (Natsu, Gajeel, Wendy, Sting, and Rogue) from the past, Aquarius’s didn’t show up. Brandish’s mother and Brandish had moved to Alvarez, and the message didn’t get to them in time. Layla used her own life force instead of the key of Aquarius, and it worked, but severely weakened Layla. Since Brandish’s mother was killed trying to return the key of Aquarius by another of Layla’s servants, Brandish blamed Layla for her death, not knowing the full story. Aquarius appeared to clear everything up.
This is the heart behind Fairy Tail. Stories that are clearly planned out ahead of time (in Mashima’s case, at least at the beginning of Brandish’s introduction probably) that have significant meaning to characters, and bring further meaning to the ones we already know. Lucy shows her heart through this all, showing mercy and kindness to an enemy combatant, more than should be afforded to a prisoner of war (which is to say, trying to set her free and giving her more comfort than she is currently afforded). Brandish, it seems, is more than just bored with everything.
Through it all, Natsu appeared to almost gain an upper hand on Zeref. But it was not to be, and Zeref dropped yet another bombshell on Natsu. This is the kind of thing that feels like it was made up later rather than earlier in the storyline, and makes a story more complicated than it really needs to be. The thing is this: Natsu is actually 400 years old (sort of) and was sent to the future by Anna Heartfilia and received in the present by Layla Heartfilia in the aforementioned Aquarius incident. All this to kill Acnologia, who has insurmountable power. But Natsu in particular is part of Zeref’s creations, along with monsters like Deliora. Natsu was the ultimate, a clone of Zeref’s brother that is also meant to kill Zeref and free him of his immortality. He is E.N.D. (pronounced with each letter said, not like “end”). Etherious Natsu Dragneel. Hurt the Book of E.N.D. and it hurts Natsu. Kill Zeref and it kills Natsu. From Happy’s perspective, they’ve reached an impasse, and he flees with Natsu in tow.
The backup forces of Fairy Tail also reach the northern and southern strongholds, there to help face off against more Spriggan 12 members. Not much has happened on these fronts yet, except a lot of fighting. And also Laxus is infected with anti-magic particles because he ate them that one time. He fights through it though.
Also, Gajeel x Levy forever.
In Summary:
Fairy Tail is really heating (see what I did there) up with this volume, and I’m glad it is. The stuff with Lucy, Brandish, and Aquarius is the stuff that the best Fairy Tail stories are made of. But I’m always itching for more good shonen fighting.
Content Grade: A-
Art Grade: B+
Packaging Grade: B+
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Kodansha USA
Release Date: August 9, 2016
MSRP: $10.99