User blog comment:FairyRaven/Fairy Tail Chapter 315: Rosemary, Review and Commentary/@comment-99.226.148.82-20130118095624

I love Minerva.

In saying that, I know I have to defend my point. Not since Laxus during the Fighting Festival have we had a villain that's been able to 'run the table' as effectively as she had. Her actions are perhaps more effective than Laxus, as so far, she's been playing the teams like a fiddle on her own terms, rather than needing the Raijinshuu to set things up. She's diabolical, manipulative, and while Erza is probably going to activate 'comeback.exe' to toss her around, she's had a good run. Even though she's basically going to be thrust into a secondary position once Zeref/Acnologia/Time Travel Hijinks occurs, it's hard not to love a villain that's evil and likes her own brand of evil.

As for the fight, colour me mixed. On one hand, the shared connection between Erza and Kagura was a nice touch. It tugged at the heart strings, it didn't seem all that forced, and it gave Kagura an 'out' for getting attacked by Minerva. It's nice to know that Mashima is somewhat learning, in that you can't have characters become all beastly one chapter, and then toss it away for FORENDUSHIP MAGIKO~. So, Kagura basically got taken out at her lowest mental and emotional point, no shame to her for that.

And for Erza, she gets a chance to actually fight a winning battle. After getting slaughtered by Azuma past the point of defeat, and then getting ragdolled around by Kagura before giving her a light toss, this is redemption for her. In Minerva, she doesn't have an enemy that will get beaten by the rest of the guild in her stead, or fall for the mental tricks that saved Erza from being skewered like a pig. So, Kagura 'lost' without really losing, Erza gets to redeem herself after two consecutive losses (note: kindly don't argue with me about this. I'm tired of winning this argument.), and Minerva gets to be diabolical. It's as good a scenario as you can get without going the Bacchus route, and totally devaluing one of the new characters for the sake of another.

The art was solid, the potential for the chapter following should be decent. I expect the other fights to get the spotlight in lieu of Erza trying to take out Minerva, given the title, and that excites me. Although it'll probably feature Fairy Tail getting dominated on all counts, it's a fresh change. Change is good, even if it'll likely be undone during the time shift should it all go poorly.

So, it's a good chapter. If this chapter, and the last few can make me forget that the GMG is basically an unnecessary backdrop compared to the wacky time travel overhang, that's saying something.