User blog comment:IamJakuhoRaikoben/Sorcerer Magazine, Issue 46: October 2015/@comment-25111584-20151101081637


 * That Happy there, though. XD
 * Frosch is FT's cutest being, no matter his size. :3
 * Go, team! \( ^_^)/ Minerva, I guess. There's Mira too ...
 * * votes Wendy* Aside from Sherria ('tis Sherria now, Rai >.<), whom I find somewhat bearable 'cuz extremely intelligent, all the options besides Wendy make me want to rip their heads off. ;P
 * Everything in the manga was meh this month. Bisca too. Only liked Kareem and the GrayMi manzai. Btw, you really think that Brandish realized Lucy's connection to Layla just when Lucy was preparing to kill her? It was pretty obvious to me that Brandish knew all along and was just baiting Lucy until the latter tried something hostile.
 * Wait, what? It was pretty obvious in the manga too that Silver was aiming to die as Deliora so that his son wouldn't have to face the loss of his father a second time, not to mention the fact that he'd never have to bear the burden of Silver's actions as a member of Tartaros. Oh, and loved the OP, first OP which I don't skip since the new anime started.
 * lol, I knew that we'd definitely disagree here, but thought that it'd mostly be about personality, while we'd end up agreeing on Abilities and Role/Significance. Looks like we disagree on everything other than Personality. XD Hmmm ... My only major complaint would be that, while you evaluated all characters till now based on their feats and role in the manga with very little reference to hype, you've evaluated Jellal based mostly on hype rather than anything else, even though he has appeared more than people like Ultear and even Mira (considering only important situations in the latter's case). Just my opinion, of course. *votes Precht* Precht, not Purehito! What's with SM staff messing up names this time around? >.>
 * Sad to see you become less active. Hope you will have enough time for SM and, if nothing else, to at least review Minerva Chapters. ;) Best of luck and have fun with your studies (not being sarcastic). ( ^_^)
 * This is a perfect choice! And not just the stature. It's the voice! I love this guy's voice. And Ichiya has the smoothest, silkiest, sexiest voice ever! I mean, he is Aizen after all, the sexiest voice around. Brilliant choice!
 * Depends. If Keyes can use his greatest weapon, i.e. Silver, Keyes wins with some difficulty. If Keyes can't use Silver, Jose stomps ... hard. I'm assuming Keyes can't use Silver as, well, Silver took a long time to cutivate. Would be like saying that a year-long Spell can be insta-cast in a battle. So I'll go with Jose.
 * Need to watch that movie ... someday. ._.
 * Art's nice~
 * Why does Rai like Halloween so much anyway?
 * Nyahahahahahaha~ The Rogue Wrath one is so true!
 * Great flash, as always. Don't listen to God, MDM. Take the retirement. You deserve it. And Raven supports ChaosMonkey too! \( ^_^)/
 * Don't even celebrate Halloween~ The Virgo one is hilarious tho. XD
 * The Laxus fight was cool up until the fact that Gray's role was reduced from taking down Tempester to perforing a lameass emo catwalk. He came, he froze, he went back. And, Wrath, should've kept the option you told Reli about below. Now I can't vote in that one. ( ._.)
 * Sugoi! \( ^_^)/

And now ... time to rip into Jellal! \( =_=)/ Please note that, while I might refer to Raven's scores and express my disagreement and the reasons too, this is just my perspective. In no way am I bashing Raven's opinion. Just wanna make that clear. ( ._.)~
 * Gray, Jellal and Zeref are almost identical. Except the third's weird antenna. Nothing much to say there. While Jellal's CrimeS attire is somewhat cool (still ... why hearts?! >.>), like I mentioned in Ultear's Coven, it's kinda stupid. :/ Tbh, the only Jellal outfits I've liked have been Siegrain's and the one he stole from Erigor/Random Naked Mummy Mage. Simple longcoats are fab! \( *^*)/ On the other hand, his ToH arc combat suit is completely gay in the manga. XD Frankly, nothing much to be said here, so I completely disagree with giving him an almost perect score in this department. Especially when this score puts him above the likes of Erza. I mean, Natsu does have a pretty unique appearance without looking weird (not counting hair colour, obviously :P), while Mira has the Satan Souls going for her, so I can see why they would score higher than Erza. Not so with Jellal, for whom I would actually take away points for the stupidity of his CrimeS outfit, just like I mentioned in Ultear's Coven. ._./
 * His personality after his turn is extremely badly written, possibly the worst in FTverse. It's mostly either Jerza and his appearances are mostly fanservice, except for the OS battle, which turned out to be utter BS anyway.
 * Firstly, let's begin with the OS arc. Jellal, as an adorable amnesiac, said that the only things he remembered were Erza's name, her kindness and her drawings of rainbows and cookies. But how much did the guy exactly interact with the female? Inexplicably, he found her being energetic and relatively happy while in a slave prison to be attractive. Most people would find it creepy. I mean, there is optimism ... and then there is what Erza was doing. But, fine, I'll just put that down to my personal opinion. After that, I guess they played a bit, talked a bit, hatched some plots to escape. In a slave prison, mind you, where the guards would normally nip such relationships in the bud. No, forget that, the kids wouldn't even have time to interact. Still, moving on. Jellal hardly saw Erza being kind, did he? He was the one whom everybody looked up to, Erza was just another lackey. Now, inciting a riot and actually overthrowing their masters would definitely be something to make a huge impact, but Jellal hardly saw any of that, now did he? And his mind was already twisted, so nothing anybody tells him is going to have any effect. Even if it registered and was brought forth after the convenient revival, everybody in the prison saved Jellal, although Erza was behind it to some extent. But he wasn't there when she gave the speeches and retelling doesn't have a tenth of the effect. So where exactly is all this kindness he is speaking of? From Siegrain's meetings with her? Or is it Erza's fame as an FT Mage? Imo, this makes no sense and its only purpose is Jerza feels. If there is any emotion which should actually have impacted him, it would be the loyalty that Simon showed throughout the years. For me, Simon is the best thing that ever happened to Erza's backstory.
 * Allow me to take a detour here and point out the disgraceful treatment given to Simon. Jellal just got incarcerated and we got a (for many people who are not me) heart-wrenching scene of Erza crying herself almost to death. We had no such scene with Simon. Heck, even during the end, she thought more about Jellal than Simon. Screw it, even during the GMG, we got more Jellal than anything Simon-related. Simon is probably the character whom Mashima has treated the worst in the entire series. Blaming it on Jerza is admittedly a bit biased, but it just gives me more reasons to hate, so why not? \( -_-)/
 * After 7 years, we have the return of the Sieg-gone-wrong, now with the ultimate badass known as Ultear and ... somebody who seems to be the cool and awesome Meredy, but seems to have become a clone of Lisanna, making her look completely out-of-place in the trio. Then we have some Ultear, some nice reunions, some Ultear, some drug peddling and some Ultear. We get a bit of Jerza, which is sickeningly cliche, but I can allow a bit of fanservice if it doesn't seem completely out-of-place. What destroys the moment is when we move forward to Milliana, which is when we realize that, in the 6 years he has been out, Jellal has not shown his mug to the other people he betrayed. And that would be perfectly fine were it not for the sobstory and the Jerza moment when CrimeS was first introduced. Combining the two, he comes off as either an utter wimp or a complete jerk as regards to his opinion about people. What, he apologizes to Erza the moment she comes back, but doesn't care about Milliana and, presumably, his other former allies? He has to hide even from the common people, so it's not even as if his being alive and free is a secret. Like Milliana's hunt for him proves. So why the hell does Milliana not get a similar apology?
 * His battle with Jura was fun in the beginning. I didn't get why he 'was happy to do something for FT' though. The guy hardly knows the Guild aside from the fact that they kicked his butt (with Juvia's help), then defeated OS (with the help of many other Guilds who were also vital for the operation). Ultear's statement about him trying to show-off makes it better though. Not unbelievable that he is trying to delude himself from his true motives. Cute too. ;D And the start was so badass. And such beautiful Magic! *^* ... Then ... why the hell are you using HBM?! You're undercover and, most importantly, you're an extremely intelligent guy, not a dumbshit like Team Natsu! The moment was played off for comedy, but so is Juvia's fangirling over Gray. Both are equally annoying as they completely demean the characters.
 * On a side-note ... why send in Jellal when Ultear can use Transformation Magic?! Fanservice is the only reason I can think of. When looked at in-universe, this fault lies with the whole of CrimeS though, although I hate admitting my Ultear could ever be as dunderheaded as Jellal. T_T Even if Jellal's fight against Jura didn't depict him as a headstrong numbskull, I'd not be too fond of this scene because of this reason.
 * Then comes his encounter with F. Lucy. Possibly the best person she can meet, right? She gives him her info and he, being the brainiac he is, puts the pieces together and comes up with a kickass plan that ends up saving the day, right? Wrong! The guy starts doubting her. He finds some incosistencies with her story and wonders if she was ever telling the truth. That's ... actually good thinking, y'know. But the same thing kinda happens in tic-tac-toe. There is something known as a 'contingency plan'. You don't worry about useless things like what your opponent's move is going to be, you just make sure you can counter it. Sure, the situation here is more complicated (actually, not that complex either), but he's supposed to be an uber-genius, right? So why in the world is he thinking about useless things?! And, what's worse, he comes up with a theory which is correct, but also has the implicit condition that F. Lucy is speaking the truth ... So if you're going to trust her anyway, make a move already! Seriously, this guy's role was so hyped up in the entire arc. I was looking forward to see him and CrimeS swoop in like badasses with a last minute plan that makes everything hunky-dory ... but he ended up being completely worthless (no, calling for Cobra doesn't suddenly make him extremely useful). Aside from the fanservice, of course. Let's not forget the oh-so-cute scene with Jellal protecting Erza against the Hatchlings, a scene which was definitely not as convenient as Gajeel face-planting himself into Levy's bust. -_-
 * So ... how exactly does his mind work? "I'll get the other side, whom I might have beaten up when we were all young, to join me purely by beating them again, but on a much larger scale this time. I'll teach them about freedom by shackling them to my Guild's quest to destroy Zeref, whom I know nothing about aside from heresay that he is the strongest, evillest, stinkiest Mage of all time, which is why quite a few people hate me too, but at least I'm willing to commit suicide, while Zeref so obviously isn't going to do such a thing." Okay, the Zeref thing is admittedly exaggeration, but the first two parts ... Sheesh. Still, this is a minor matter and is necessary for bringing OS back into the story, so guess I can let it go.
 * The main point which confuses me is ... why didn't Jellal just break OS out of prison when he himself was freed by Ultear? Or did he basically think he would only confront them if they ever got out by some other means? I don't really get this part ... of course, I know what the real reason is. Mashima doesn't care how he writes Jellal's actions as long as Jellal gets to make an appearance. ._.
 * His Heavenly Body Magic is as kickass, badass, awe-inspiring and ... tonnes more boring that Lightning Dragon Slayer Magic. ._. Even though Laxus is a boring fighter, I at least know that his Magic has great potential. I thought the same of HBM, but the difference being that Jellal would actually use the potential. Electromagnetic fields, heat from stars, frozen moons, etc. *^* So disappointed. Aside from Altairis and Meteor, it's just massive, explosive balls of shit. And yellow at that. Hurts my eyes! D: That aside, Altairis was actually cool and what I was hoping from the Magic, too bad it's a killing Spell. And Meteor feels OP when it manages to outstrip Racer. :/ Worst part is when you realize that he can actually use a tonne of other Magic, but HBM is his main. Mashima should have done it like he did with Sieghart. HBM as his strongest, rarely used Magic with other, more interesting Magic being his main. Right now, Jellal's battles are just Spell spammed after Spell, which might be badass, but is also boring as crap.
 * As for the OS fight ... it was ridiculous.
 * Cobra didn't use any cool Spells. Racer's Magic's mechanics are as screwed up as always, but doesn't matter as it was pretty useless anyway. Angel's Magic was much more interesting during KotSS arc. And Midnight didn't even get to use his properly! Illusion is not all there is to it! The guy is impervious to anything non-sentient, so Sema and Grand Chariot shouldn't even scratch him! What gives, Mashima? Jellal too strong for him? That'd mean that Midnight would be useless against any of the Spriggan 12. That's not something anybody wants, I'm guessing.
 * There's also the fact that the explanation Midnight gave us as to how his Illusions work is rendered null and void. Erza was only able to negate it because her Artificial Eye allowed her to do so. She didn't break free from the illusion, she just negated the visual aspect. All her senses aside from sight were still being fooled. But, as long as her sight is intact, what else does she need? Jellal, on the other hand, breaks the illusion by blinding himself? So ... how is that different from closing his eyes, aside from the fact that it is more badass this way, which means better fanservice? Not to mention that he can't see, so he has no visual clue as to what is going on, but all his other senses are still telling him that he is being butchered by Zero. The bullshit is outta the roof here. /o/
 * And I'll just mention the fact that this fight is extremely demeaning for Angel, Cobra, Midnight and Racer and, by extension, the fights they had before. Well ... not too bothered about Cobra and Angel's OS arc fights beingdegraded, the former was funny but not great while the latter is probably my most hated fight in the series. :P But ... Midnight and Racer! T_T
 * As you can see, I obviously disagree with the score here too. I don't really see anything interesting in how he uses HBM. It can be described in three words: Zoom and Boom. It is not in the least bit creative and quite inflexible. I'm quite surprised that you actually like HBM as, for all intents and puposes, its presentation is almost identical to Sting's Magic, while its use is similar to Laxus' LDSM, which is admittedly one of the blandest fighting styles in FT. I was actually expecting a comparison to these two, with Altairis being mentioned as a Spell which is actually expected from HBM. XD While I respect the fact that he has a huge arsenal (his ability to learn and use Magic Staves in such a short time is definitely commendable, but the fact that he resorted to HBM rather than some other Magic makes it pretty clear to me that HBM is his highest tier, while the other Magic, though he is obviously more proficient at them than Magic Staves, don't really compare to the level of HBM), the fact that he almost never uses it kinda relegates it to simple hype for me. By the same logic, Erza (remember that she can use a shitload of Magic proficiently due to her numerous armours), Makarov, August, Zeref, etc. should score far higher than Jellal, but there's only one point left. ._. And Erza obviously didn't make it. The fact that he doesn't appear much is not really valid. After all, Hades appears less, yet showed tonnes more awesome and, above all, interesting abilities. Thus, I definitely don't think that Jellal would score higher than the likes of Ultear and Gray here, especially when the latter has showcased such incredible feats with a seemingly weak Magic. If anything, I'd compare the way Jellal's Magic is treated to Mira's. They both appeared great at first sight, but have pretty much fizzled out. I don't really see why he would score any higher than her. After all, she also has the hype of using a buttload of Magic while in her Satan Soul forms ... Hmmm, maybe expand on why you find HBM to be awesome? Because, well, Satan Soul also gives Mira speed and huge flashy explosions, and she also has showcased quite a variety of Magic, so don't really see why the large difference in their scores. Of course, it's perfectly fine to like a Magic for itself. Nothing wrong with Jellal getting a good score here due to your opinion that HBM is awesome for being what it is. Just means that our opinions of awesome Magic differs vastly. ^_^/
 * Well, I disagree with the role score too. XD After ToH, he hasn't played much of a role. I don't remember him doing anything significant other than getting OS to join CrimeS, and let's not forget Mest's role there (no, calling Cobra is not significant >.>). Unlike Ultear, who gave FT SO and then saved almost everbody. Heck, he has not been vital at all after ToH-arc, unlike characters like Ultear, Mira, Sting, etc. without whom situations might have had extremely different outcomes. I fail to see what 'big' things he has done during his appearances after ToH-arc. Aside from OS' redemption, nothing comes to mind. And even the redemption is not proved to be of any significance yet, so just hype. So I definitely find him scoring higher than characters like Ultear, Mira and Sting in this department to be extremely questionable.
 * Now, when it comes to significance, I can actually agree. As the smart guy who is after Zeref, he can be considered to be the trump card, as you said. But, sadly, this is all hype. Remember the GMG arc? CrimeS were hyped to be the people who would collect info and, thus, come up with a plan to save everybody. That just fizzled out. So I'm not putting much hope in a character who has disappointed too many times. That doesn't mean that I won't hope that Mashima actually uses him better, just not gonna be disappointed if his role turns out to be something normal such as saving Erza in the nick of time, much to the joy of all Jerza fans and disgust of readers who hate sickening cliches. Right now, I consider all CrimeS hype to be false hype. ._./

The following is what I wished Jellal's role had been. Of course, this is assuming the fact that he did not die during ToH, as that is the best outcome for his character, imo: Jellal's actions (aside from GMG arc) would require only small changes and the result would be the same, but without demeaning his character.
 * In the OS arc, bring up Simon. Again and again and AGAIN! Torment Jellal and make Erza feel sorry for him, but speak harshly to him, like she actually does. No bloody stupid Jerza, for crying out loud! /( >.<)\ Everything else just falls into place.
 * In the X792 arc, just change the Jerza scene slightly. No apologies. Rather, let Jellal directly state his mission. His Guild's purpose: lifelong atonement for their sins as their deaths would not do anything. Bring up Ultear's suicide attempt in the conversation. Bring up Simon again as one of the reasons as to why Jellal can never consider himself free of his sins. No apologies! Rest of the scene and the almost-kiss can be kept as they are. Simple.
 * Jellal's GMG arc role could have been tonnes better. First of all, Ultear infiltrates, not Jellal. Ultear meets F. Lucy, contacts Jellal and then he uses Meteor to take them all to a safe place. They discuss and F. Lucy leaves. Then the three come up with various plans. Finally, it is CrimeS' plan which saves the day, not Natsu. Also, as far as Kagura and Milliana are concerned, if Jellal actually has to speak to them, just have Jellal apologize to them, but firmly state that he will neither fight them nor give up his life. Would at least somewhat dispel his 'useless emo' aura.
 * Of course, this means that Ultear's sacrifice might not happen. And that is necessary so that her Magic doesn't get nerfed like Juvia's 'cuz Ultear is pretty much the most OP person around. So make her sacrifice more personal. Sacrificing herself to save just any person doesn't make much sense. The only people are Gray, Meredy and Jellal. As Gray's death scene is already present, have her witness it from afar and then use Last Ages. At least she gets the satisfaction of knowing that she has saved Gray's life. I never really understood why she is happy because it's obvious that she couldn't have learned that her rewinding time is what gave humans the chance to counterattack. How would she learn about it? It's not as if she shuffled around listening to people's convos or that everybody spoke about how they had a sense of deja vu. Actually, very few people spoke about that and only fleetingly. Here, she would have the satisfaction of having saved one of the people dearest to her, while we, the readers, know that her actions have actually helped many more people than she realizes.
 * For the OS battle, I really don't know what would make it better. Sure, if Jellal is to die, then we could have Zero have a tough battle against all of OS and CrimeS resulting in his defeat, but Jellal also suffering some mortal wounds. Then, as Jellal certainly has some strong emotions concerning OS, have Meredy use Sensory Link? Then also involve Cobra and the fact that 'dying men don't lie'. Show them how their dreams can be acheived without having them resort to misdeeds. Yadda yadda. Things can work out. Plus, it sets up a great team with Midnight as leader and Meredy having a much more important role as the group's moral leash.
 * Tbh, after Ultear leaving, another loss from CrimeS wouldn't be really great. And, as Jellal's record till now would have been impeccable, I wouldn't really mind the current BS battle. *shrugs*
 * Jerza: Can't happen. Jellal himself considers his sins too severe to ever stop atoning for them. Forget the fact that the Magic Council giving Jellal a pardon 'on account of his numerous acts which have proven advantageous for humanity' is ridiculous, Jellal himself accepting such a pardon would demean his character. And he would definitely not allow himself to be in a relationship with Erza under such conditions.
 * Of course, the case would be completely different if the battle between Gray, Acnologia, E.N.D. and Zeref destroys most of humanity and the world has now entered a post-apocalyptic state, with Erza and Jellal being one of the few capable leaders left. Jerza would be perfectly acceptable then. Heck, such a scenario would be damn awesome. :P

Somewhat long wrap-up. :P Tbh, the main reason for disliking Jellal is that his character has great potential and is actually quite well-written uptil the end of the ToH arc, but then rolls of a cliff. His scenes taken individually are not too bad, but they undermine his character when you look at his actions throughout the story. Okay, even some of the scenes aren't great, as shown by Jellal vs. Jura and Jellal vs. OS. It's as if Mashima just cares about the facts that Jellal appears and the necessary result is acheived, the process just being written without giving much though to it.
 * The worst part is the fact that Jellal actually had a great end. There was absolutely no need to resurrect him. Just like Seilah. Let some popular characters die while they are at their peak, it avoids ruining them later on, which has happened to Jellal. Before ToH, he was a complex character with a complex story. Now, his role as criminal atoning for his sins is not that bad, but his personality is that of a completely pure knight, not a hint of a moral ambiguity. Extremely bland. Not to mention the fact that his situation at the end of the story is pretty much confirmed. We all know what is going to happen. He will receive a pardon and get married to Erza. Which is complete BS. Jellal is like Bleach. Should have ended long ago, but is dragged on, completely ruining it. So much so that I actually divide into two parts, the one I like and the one I dislike.

That rant got long. Well ... I did prepare it since Ultear's Coven. XD 'Twas fun to write though. Rants always are, for some reason. \( ^_^)/ Btw, anybody else find it ironic that the guy who has shown us awesome social skills and a royal personality (Jellal till ToH arc) is the one who is undercover while the guy who is 'the poster boy for discommunication' and has great potential at moving around without being noticed (Mystogan) is king? As always, if you actually read this far, have a waffle. (>^_^)># *looks at length of rant again* Have as many waffles as you like.