User blog:Derax-Pagani/Chapter 509: Kagura vs. Larcade Review

Yoooooooo!
What's good people, so possibly the most left-field battle of the arc just happened between the titular characters. Let's be frank here; who actually predicted that Kagura - Kagura - of all people would be the first to go up against Larcade? I sure as hell didn't.

Oracion Sorciere vs. August
Before we get into that though, let's have a gander at how Oracion Sorciere are getting on- Oh... Oh, that's not good. The Oracion lot got totally crushed, not that we didn't already know this, but still. And Jellal's getting curb-stomped by August. *sigh* How many people actually wanted to see Jellal vs. August? I'm pretty sure there were a lot of people, from what I remember, that were praying to see Jellal vs. August as let's face it; in terms of variety of magic that he can use, Jellal's like an August Jnr. Supposedly anyway, as we've only seen August use ONE bloody spell.

Anyway, August brings up two very good points: First being about how Jellal used to be a follower of Zeref, against his will mind, but that's not the point, and the differences between light/dark and good/evil.

The first point I'd totally forgotten about, probably because Jellal was possessed by Ultear at the time. If anything I'm more curious about how August knew that? Did he use a magic like Cobra's sound magic to hear Jellal's past from the man himself, did Alvarez know about the Tower of Heaven's construction, or did they notice Etherion being fired to try and fail to destroy it?

I know FT's supposed to be light hearted most of the time, but there's just so much potential within it that Hiro just dodges completely sometimes. Zeref stopped Alvarez from invading Ishgar however many years prior to the start of the series, as he knew about Etherion - and Face - amongst other reasons. In my head-canon, the Shield that wanted to launch the invasion was Ajeel. After being told under no uncertain terms was he to launch an attack by Zeref, when possessed-Jellal tricked the council into firing Etherion, Zeref then showed Ajeel what he would've been walking into. That's probably not what happened to be honest, but it would've been a cool flashback/insight into the workings of Alvarez had it, or something similar occurred.

Moving onto the second point; August my man, you know man, you know! Something that often annoys me with some anime/cartoons/TV shows is the portrayal of light and dark basically being synonymous with good and evil. They aren't. They can be interpreted as being paradigms of one another, but they're not synonymous. Just to give a quick example; Mirajane in base Satan Soul and Freed's magic are both dark magic. They're both good guys though. Likewise possessed-Jellal and pre-Tartaros Angel, both of their main magics were arguably forms of light magics. So yeah, August knows.

A Mermaid vs. A Spriggan
Right, moving on to the meat of the chapter; Kagura vs. Larcade. Seriously, who even predicted this would happen?! Why is it even a fight? I just don't even... Oh well. So Kagura questions how Larcade can be Zeref's son, a very good question my dear. You see, when a mummy and a daddy love each other very mu-

FT Wiki: NO DEX! NO!

Ooooh, she wasn't meaning the birds and the bees, got you fam. Seriously though, that is the question on most people's minds when it comes to FT at the moment, and it's something Hiro makes even more befuddling later on. But we'll jump off that bridge when we get to it. Larcade introduces himself, and Zeref, as both being Dragneel's, going on to call Natsu his uncle. I like how Yukino, Lector and even Frosch add two and two together before Larcade even mentions Natsu. Good perceptive skills you three, I approve.

Aaaaaaaaand Larcade just goes and ruins his character in about two seconds flat because: He. Has. Daddy Issues. Oh for fuck's sake... Or more specifically he's jealous of Natsu because Daddy holds Uncle in much higher esteem. Whatever, you get the point. Y'know, I'm just gonna gloss over that landmine and skip to the actual fight.

Eeeeh, blades of light, Kagura doing her swordsman thing, cuts a - what even is that landmass? It's not a mountain, it's too narrow to be a hill -

FT Wiki: Who cares?!

Fucking geology habits... Oh, actually, that was a good segue, because Kagura manages to unveil Pleasure's Achilles heel; pain. That's actually pretty clever. Go Hiro. But wait, hang on; how does Larcade not even know that's his magic's weakness? Like, c'mon man, surely August would've at least shown you- Oh, you're never around, that's probably why. See what I mean? Hiro creates great opportunities to explore the background's of his characters but just doesn't for some reason.

What happens next anyway? Oh yeah, that.

Oh brilliant, now Larcade's going on about hope and despair. Having watched Danganronpa 3 just this last week, I am done with hope and despair, I really am. Uuuuh, some pandering and pissing about, Larcade blocks a sword with two fingers again... What the hell did he even do to Kagura in that panel? I genuinely can't tell from his right hand motion what he actually did. Can someone actually explain that, because I really don't know what he did there. Hmm, more pandering around and Nanatsu no Pleasure style magic.

Does anyone else get a Ten Commandments vibe from Larcade's magic, or is it just me? It seriously feels like it wouldn't be out of place in Taizai as one of the Ten's Commandment curses/magic/whatever they are.

Just to finish off the chapter, Hiro just goes and confuses us even further by mentioning Larcade's mother... I don't even. Tell you what; you guys speculate what all that's about.

And with that: Byeonara hoes!