User blog:Wrath022/Chapter 524: Black Future, Review

Hey-o guys! It's Saturday, and that means more illegal scans! XP

All jokes aside, this chapter was all around solid, gotta say! ...But glaring issues do exist regardless. Let's start with the girls shitting their pants, eh? Wendy looks like she's gonna pee herself, and I like that Erza didn't know who Acnologia was. I thought she was going to magically figure it out right away because she does other things she logically shouldn't be able to do. But then...things get serious. Acnologia somehow figures out that Irene is the mother of all Dragon Slayers (despite never smelling her dragon scent to begin with, or really having any interaction that would hint this), but then he decides that Irene is one of his sins. I assume this means that he is talking about dragons he left alive, but if anyone thought Irene was alive before...

''This is catharsis. I am Acnologia. Irene is this arc. I am attacking and mutilating this dead, broken piece of garbage called Alvarez.''

...you can stop thinking that now. I will say, I genuinely laughed. This was outright hilarious.

Then let's go to Zeref kicking Natsu's butt. I genuinely forgot that he could fight, and I'm surprised Natsu isn't going Fire Dragon King Mode (last time he did was vs. Jacob). Zeref points out that Igneel's power is gone, Natsu says that stupid garbage that he has the "power of me" or something equivalent, but I expect no less of Fairy Tail at this point.

I have a feeling this will be cut short, sadly.

The gang senses Acnologia, and Zeref tells Natsu that time is up and that he has to die for humanity's future. I'm assuming this is a shoddy Yonkou translation, so I have no comment on that until MS releases theirs. Now let's jet to August vs. Gildarts and Cana, and August, to sum it quickly, contradicts Zeref's statement about none of the 12 knowing his plan, and tries to convince the FT guys that Zeref is trying to save humanity. I mean, who would believe that, right? I would. Typical anti-climactic Mashima, but in the form of a bait-and-switch. Too pussy to have two bad guys. >_>

Buuut Cana doesn't care about Zeref's goal and points out that they've ruined their ability to laugh happily with their friends, especially since they caused the death of Makarov. So she ends up using Fairy Glitter, which while cool, does not work. Not even a bit. This is good. I am liking this. August is living up to his hype as the King of Magic. He then gets cryptic and asks Cana about whether she loves her father, and she tsundere cheeses out of an answer, but Gildarts responds that he definitely loves his daughter when asked. August goes on to point out that he has mastered all magic that exists in the world, but he doesn't understand the love between a parent and child, which is, understandably, the most profound kind of magic there is. So he gets all...creepy...and asks Gildarts what he'll feel if he kills his daughter in front of him. Cue Gildarts triggered.

Aaaand that's where the chapter goes bad. August goes from interesting, mysterious figure who is a master of all magic, and a high bar for the heroes to cross, to just some...psychopath. I can't say sociopath because he wouldn't get any kicks out of it, but he clearly just downgraded himself to generic villain 101. The smile is what ruins it. You could have kept literally everything else that has happened, but that stupid, cheeky, "Look I'm evil, and now I've triggered your emotions which will defeat me" grin is just...ugh. Look, August knows Crash, and all other kinds of magic. Gildarts shouldn't win by any means. However, look at Laxus vs. Wall: Gildarts may literally come up with a new kind of magic and win. Or...an interesting take is: Gildarts wins without magic. If he could come up with some strategy where he just manhandles August, I would take this over something friendship and touchy-feely "I love my friends, look at how I defy all reason and use my new supah powahs to win" scenario. Anyway...

Score : 5/10. Was going good. Glaring breaks in plot in the beginning, but otherwise enjoyable. August ruined it. Discuss!