User blog comment:IamJakuhoRaikoben/Chapter 476: Bid Farewell to the Mage Girls, Review./@comment-121.54.44.94-20160309102156/@comment-175.145.250.147-20160309160038

@main comment, the short fight is just a small issue here. The real reason to the complain is the pacing and most of all the handling of the characters. Mashima is capable of a better job, just look at how the arc began and you can tell. Erza vs Ajeel, and Natsu vs Zeref shows that he knows how to handle fights in a proper way. But now you can't see that at all right now. It's just enemy show off power this chapter, and they get defeated next chapter.

He's hyped the Spriggan as mages on par if not stronger than the top members of the Wizard Saints, but right now he's just doing the opposite. No one expects that every fight has to be 9-10 chapters long, or someone must die each fight, or something very extravagant.

Just try to pace the story nicely, let the enemy maintain the hype they're handed, and if possible avoid those convenient plot device or power-up like Aquarius or Ultear. Unlike right now where he's not even maintaining a proper pace, and is killing his own hyped characters with showing off power in one chapter and getting owned in the next one.