User blog:Retro7/Fairy Flush Reviews: A Real Family

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Remember that episode of The Simpsons where Krusty's show was declining? And he had to show a foreign cartoon about a cat and a mouse and it made no sense? Remember his reaction afterwards?

Yeah that's how I'm feeling right now.

Chapter 287: Real Family

What Went Down: So Laxus finds himself against all five members of Raven Tail completely outmatched and none of his fellow guildmates able to help him. Iwan proclaims that he created his guild specifically to combat Fairy Tail's magic. But Laxus shoots back that Marakov has always known about Iwan's shady dealing thanks to Gajeel but made no move against him as Iwan likewise didn't attack him, a sign that maybe he does still care about his father. Iwan denies it and attacks, demanding the Luman Historie with the rest of the members following suit. However one by one they're taken out by Laxus with ease until Iwan is ultimately defeated. The illusion is broken, the true nature of Raven Tail exposed and the guild arrested and disqualified from the tourney. As Laxus leaves, Iwan warns him that the Luman Historie is the darkest secret of Fairy Tail and it'll soon come to light. With that mess cleared away, the next match begins with Wendy vs Shelia. Meanwhile, Crime Sorcière feels the hidden dark magic perking and Jellal sets off to locate it.

Cheers and Jeers: -Headdesk- Just oy...a perfect setup in the last chapter and typically a downer of a payoff.

Don't get me wrong, information-wise there was plenty here. The fact that Marakov never made a move against Iwan I found interesting as really I was wondering why up till now RT didn't bother attacking Fairy Tail at their weakest (though I'll assume its a pride thing for Iwan, proabaly didn't want to do it if Marakov wasn't around). I do like that Marakov still has the mentality from the Phantom Lord arc, long as no one messes with Fairy Tail's members he won't attack back. Though who was keeping tabs on Raven Tail these seven years? Gajeel was frozen with the rest of the S-Class test members on the island. Did he just play catch up while when he woke up?

Then there's the fact that the Luman Historie is actually a dark secret of Fairy Tail, so I'm guessing Iwan was trying to expose it considering how desperate he was trying to get it. Needless to say, it'll pop back up again later when things hit the fan.

But this whole fight, as awesome as it was to see Laxus kicking ass and avenging his guildmate's losses. I just got no satisfaction from it. Seriously Mashima was hyping them so much and they had some interesting powers (hell we didn't get to see Obra's or Kurohebi's powers at their fullest). Plus gave Wendy, Gray and Lucy trouble. And Laxus has to be the one to take them down. I could let the Gildarts / Bluenote thing go because Bluenote was a dangerous enemy that I believed needed someone stronger to beat.

But this, I'm sorry but there wasn't enough buildup for me to believe that Laxus needed be the one for RT's downfall. If Mashima had bothered to have more interaction between Iwan and Laxus up to this point creating more of a reason, then I wouldn't have a problem. As it stands it's just comes way too suddenly and is over much to quickly. And Laxus wasn't even hurt in the process, Hadaes manages to put a scratch on him in their battle but Iwan, his father, can't? Wha?

The most I can think of is that this is just a part of Iwan's plan to see if Laxus knows anything and that disqualifying RT was just a way so he can do his dirty business in secret and allow Mashima to get them out of the way to focus on Sabertooth. The true fight coming later, with Obra's imp thing (which I'm guess is it's true form and the body just a shell he uses) scurrying away somewhat helping that theory. Cause really, if this is how of the battle between these two guilds end, I'm going to deeply disappointed.

So next up, the battle of the moes =P Prepare for cuteness overload.

Grade: C-