User blog:IamJakuhoRaikoben/Chapter 500: Fire and Ice, Review.

Review
Wow. I mean just wow. I love Mashima to death, but that was an awful chapter. :( I truly don't know where to begin with it. Firstly, Gray vs. Invel was everything I thought it was going to be... in a bad, bad way. I wasn't looking forward to this fight from the get go because it is Gray's umpteeth ice vs. ice fight, and I didn't think there was any way Mashima could rehash that setup in an interesting way. I find virtually all of Gray's fights boring, but at least his previous fights (for the most part) were boring but made sense because of Gray's propensity for using tactics and strategy in battle. In this fight, he devolved into full blown Nakama Magic bullshit and against a Spriggan no less. And the sad part is that the battle could've been interesting. Invel's last technique (the only interesting thing he's ever done) was actually pretty cool looking. If Gray didn't wreck it with the power of his friendship in like two seconds, it could've been epic. >_>

The chapter basically just kept progressively getting worse after that clusterfuck of a fight. Natsu faced off against an enchanted Neinhart (who was able to fight off Brandy's Magic due to the strength of Irene's enchantment), gave one of his signature bullshit friendship speeches and one shotted him. (-_____-) SERIOUSLY?! As if Natsu's Nakama Magic bullshit wasn't irritating enough on its own, but now he's using it on Spriggans? No, excuse me, Super-powered Spriggans who've had their abilities enhanced. -___- Although, tbh, I really shouldn't be pissed about Spriggans getting their asses handed to them at this point. If memory serves, Ajeel was the only Spriggan that actually lived up to the hype. All the rest of them (despite their strength) got taken out through sheer bullshit. >_>

Oh, and you know how I was praising Mashima last chapter and said that even though I knew Juvia was coming back, I wasn't angry? Well, I take that back. I'm fucking pissed. I knew Juvia wasn't dead, but I thought that at the very list Mashima would take some time to bring her back. But no, she was given the same "'dead' one chapter, back then next!" treatment that every Fairy Tail character has gotten this arc. As I mentioned, I know what Fairy Tail is and I am fine with no one dying, but for the sake of God, please, please, PLEASE stop doing one chapter fakeouts. All fakeouts are cheap, but short fakeouts are maddening.

And I'm sorry, but I'm not the least bit interested in Gray figuring out that Natsu is END. Both of them are awful characters, and their inevitable "Gray vs. Sasuke"-esque face off is about as interesting to me as watching paint dry on a cardboard box in a PBS tv-show being played on a 12 inch black and white television screen. >_> TL;DR: This chapter was a shit burrito. :/

Rants and Raves

 * Rave: The cover was beautiful. Mashima may fail at writing at times, but he never fails in the art department.
 * Rave: The only good thing about this chapter was Brandy's speech to Natsu and Lucy. I don't like how she switched sides, but it was really, really good to see how nonchalantly she was telling Lucy and Natsu that she was going to kill their comrades and how Fairy Tail had no chance. That unfeeling pragmatism was what drew me to her character initially.
 * Rant: Literally everything else in this chapter. >_>