User blog:Ncduru/Alvarez Empire Arc: Recap

Welcome to the Alvarez Empire Arc Recap Blog!

Just as the title states, this blog is just to recap our thoughts on the arc so far, cause we're nearing 40 chapters which is usually the length of a normal arc, but we all know this isn't a normal arc, so this to me is basically the midpoint. Regardless how you feel on it, you can't lie that this arc has got us hype, made us sigh, happy, sad, angry, anxious for every chapter (at least for me) which sounds about right as a Fairy Tail fan lol. I get goosebumps from most chapters which is a sign I like what's happening. The amount of opinions on the arc so far have been so differing but in general I'm seeing alot of people like this arc as it has something for everyone.

Me? I've been on record on my previous blog saying that this could definitely be the best arc in FT so far so good... But let's get down to business.

The Arc So Far

 * FT gets rebuilt, Mest recruits Team Natsu to retrieve Makarov from the Alvarez Empire
 * Landfall on Caracole Island, Brandish appears and shrinks the island, lets Team Natsu get away, which leads to them meeting up with Angel as she knows where the master is
 * Dimaria, Ajeel, and Invel get introduced as well as Emperor Spriggan or as we know him as Zeref, Mest saves Makarov, Team Natsu escapes from Ajeel with the help of Fairy Tail Team B, Laxus, and the Thunder God Tribe and Ichiya lol 
 * Mavis talks about her past with Zeref, how she killed Mak's mom, they kiss, she goes into a coma, Precht turns her into Fairy Heart before becoming Hades, which is what Zeref is after to take on Acno
 * War brings, Ajeel attacks Magnolia and fights Erza, Brandish "takes on" Lucy, Wahl takes on TGT
 * They succeed defending the city, Wahl's real body coming with Dimaria, destroys Christina, Ichiya alerts the other guilds, Saber & BP to the north, Lamia and MH to the south, Mavis sends out FT members to each side
 * Natsu flys to Zeref, they fight, he uses Igneel's power, Zeref still is alive, drops the truth bomb that they're related, he and the DS are from 400 years ago, Layla opened the gate, etc. Natsu doesn't care, goes to kill him, Happy saves him
 * Fights starting to break out around the country, Dimaria and Wahl take on the south forces, Bradman appears up north, God Serena takes on the Gods of Ishgar, Marin chokes out Brandish who gets saved by Lucy and tells her about her hatred of her mother, which Aquarius appears to tell the truth
 * Natsu gets cancer, God Serena fucks up the GoL but gets his shit fucked by Acno who's after the other 7 DS, Laxus destroys Wahl, Sky Sisters' take on Dimaria, Crime Sorceire appears

The Good

 * First and foremost, gotta talk about the 12s. I personally haven't had a more enjoyable cast of villains (who don't really feel like villains) in FT since Oracion Seis. I literally have been enjoying all of them, no matter if you think their overrated, or haven't shown much. Hiro did a good job on making their personalities, designs, magics etc.
 * Love that the other guilds in Fiore joined, I would of hung myself if FT just fought an entire empire. Just... no.
 * Surprisingly we've made it almost 40 chapters without all of the 12s revealed. I like that Hiro is doing this cause usually at the beginning of arc he reveals them all in one go. I see you Hiro adapting lol
 * Another shoutout to Hiro, we all know how he likes to blatantly foreshadow his battles which I'm cool with but I can see why people would say its predictable. He did that again in Chp 452, which made people say "Oh it's gonna be Ajeel vs. Natsu, Gray vs. Invel, Dimaria or Brandish vs. Erza blah, blah, blah" lol we all look dumb. Who tf had Dimaria vs. the SS & Ultear, Neinhart vs. Erza, Kagura, and Jellal and so on? With Hiro, he tricked us to believing they were gonna fight to set up fights we didn't expect with so I gotta give it to him cause he switched up the usual script for him.
 * Acno joining the war, murking shit, and on a mission. Nothing else to say. Simply the best
 * We knew CS would join the war, but gotta admit... their entrance was too badass lol. Never knew how much I liked them till Chp 474 which brings to....

The ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 * So Ultear is back. I gotta admit I rather her and Aquarius didn't come back but this is one of those moments where I don't give a fuck cause Ultear, besides Zeref, to me is one of the best overall crafted characters that Hiro made, honestly everything about her was just made out so well to me so count me that I loved that Hiro did this, although if Hiro finesses her explanation the right way, like if she only looks young cause of the time-space world shit I would love this even more
 * The fights. Pretty satisfied so far. Erza vs. Ajeel was good for an Erza fight, TGT vs. fake wahl was good and funny, Natsu vs. Zeref & God Serena vs. GoL I NEED to see in the anime, with Laxus vs. Wahl the worst. But the thing that will push this over the top to be the best arc of FT is that the losses on FT side has to start piling up... in Tartaros, Laxus and TGT got taken out, which TGT is out again basically, Aquarius, and what not. People are so concerned with deaths when FT isn't built like that but I agree with this take: if someone important is gonna die this would be the best arc to do so
 * Randi and Lucy's naked battle. I'm a fanservice guy but I already know I'm gonna hate it when the anime censors the fuck outta this, to the point where they're gonna have the same convo over a table drinking tea... fuck that

The Bad

 * Aquarius appearing. I feel like a hypocrite that I love that Ultear is back but idk why, I just hated her coming back, just felt like it shouldn't of happen but for semantics I liked how she gave Lucy a mission for after the war, only thing I liked
 * Mavis and Makarov. I love Mavis but man, this bitch is blowing my life. First she's the reason why this war is happening, from everything she did in Zero but I understand why cause she saved Yuri's life. But in present? No excues. She's not "Lisanna" useless yet but her forte is planning and probability, but she's been fucking up alot lately and now she's thinking about taking on Zeref herself? Smh stop Mavis. Don't even get me started with Makarov. You're a Wizard Saint but you're not doing shit, just give Erza the title of GM and die already

Conclusion
So I'll update this after Chapter 475 drops on Monday, which will be the last time I'll update it. Like I've said, the barometer for this arc is Tartaros, since that was the best arc in my eyes, which around the halfway point of that arc was Lucy's fight against the members and Aquarius' sacrifice. I still believe that Alvarez has been more steady than Tartaros but in due time we'll know. Besides that discuss what you liked so far, what you didn't, and what you wanna see for the future chapters in the war! So far, at the halfway point, which arc do you like more? Tartaros arc Alvarez Empire arc Favorite Spriggan 12? Brandish Ajeel Dimaria God Serena Wahl Other Rate the arc so far? 8-10 loving it, shit is getting real 4-7 it's good, waiting on more 1-3 it's decent/bad/ok, what's next?