User blog:IamJakuhoRaikoben/Chapter 476: Bid Farewell to the Mage Girls, Review.

Review
Another week, another face palm worthy chapter from Mashima, and another fashionably late review from yours truly. ;D Much like last week, this chapter really had me on an emotional rollcoaster. I'd be cruising along thinking everything was going good and then something would happen that was so terrible I'd question if I was reading the same manga. ( .___.)

One of the best things about this chapter was the reveal that Sherria and not Wendy was unlocking Third Origin. If Wendy had used it, we all know she would've gotten it back via some serious retconning and Nakama Magic. But Sherria using it means that it'll be permanent and I won't scratch my eyes out. On the flipside of this though, Sherria losing her powers isn't really that much of a sacrifice on the grand scheme of things. She's not really important to the manga and isn't around enough for her to be missed. To put this in perspective, it would be the equivalent of Kurenai losing her powers in Naruto, or Kiyone losing hers in Bleach. Is it a big sacrifice in series? Sure. But from the viewers point of view? No. It's really not.

As far as the opening of Third Origin goes, however, it was pretty nice. The whole "person getting older" thing was a really nice touch. Doesn't change the fact that the entire intro of Third Origin was deus ex machina nonsense, but a least it was a deus ex machina done nicely. Speaking of things that were surprisingly done nicely, Dimaria's abilities are finally starting to seem interesting. Age Scratch? Shitty name aside, that spell was really cool. Very interesting concept. ^___^ Too bad Dimaria only got to show off a few moves before she was defeated though.

I swear. This is what bothers me about this fight and pretty much every other Spriggan battle (sans Ajeel's battle). They've all been incredibly short and unsatisfying. Mashima has hyped these Spriggans up only to have them defeated in one-to-two chapter bouts that are just terrible. At this arc's introduction, I assumed that given the immense power of the combatants, that this would be an amazing arc. So far, Mashima has been proving me wrong. ( .___.)