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Well, I'm doing these again, certainly not out of popular demand, but I'm honestly having some real trouble with this chapter, and maybe if I lay my feelings bare, it'll help.


Let me start by saying, that I don't think this is necessarily a bad chapter, not at all. I think the idea is a good one all things considered, and it can lead to some good conflict (and hopefully some actually progress on NaLu). I also appreciate how Selene's establishing herself as a highly effective villain, and a very legitimate threat to the heroes journey. But that's not where my problems lie; my problems lie in the very end, in the scene where Natsu's captured by a snake-Yokai, and we find out what happened to Lucy.

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Look into Lucy's eyes in that last panel, and that expression she has, like she's just a predator, and Natsu (her best friend, and for all intents and purposes the man she loves) is her next meal. It's like Selene (or whoever transformed her), has stripped her of her humanity, and replaced it with a feral monster. This isn't just simple mind-control like what happened with Fairy Tail at the hands of Faris; Lucy's been twisted and corrupted into a completely new being, as if her whole identity was ripped from her. This is a level of cruelty that really unsettles me, when the writers warp the characters so severely mostly for shock value.


On top of that, I think about what happened to Erza, Wendy, Carla, and in all likelihood Happy (he wasn't with Natsu and Gray when this started). What sorts of new forms were they twisted into?


Now, let me quickly say I know Lucy and the others are all going to be turned back to normal. My problem is how long this plot point may be drawn out; if it's going to be just a few chapters, several, the res of the arc? Now I won't say I'm hoping she'll be turned back next chapter, because that would be a wasted opportunity, but on the other hand, this disquiets me so much, I really don't want to last too long. I can even see it going on for the rest of the volume (of which 73 will probably be the first chapter), but I really hope that isn't the case. Maybe this wouldn't be so stressful if not for the one chapter every other week.


Anyway, that's my thoughts on this chapter. I'm awaiting the next one with bated breath. Am I being overdramatic? Yes, more than likely, but it's how I feel.

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So with that, Fairy Tail has ended.  I remember when I started reading it, it was during the Tenrou Island arc, where I binge read the whole series from the beginning over a course of a week.  Its going to be strange, because as weird as it sounds, looking forward to the updates is part of what got me through the week.  At least the anime is going to be coming back, so there is still that to look forward.  But let's talk about the final chapter for now.

So it opens in what I think was a very fitting scene, with Lucy actually finishing, and publishing the novel she was established to be writing.  I think that's a nice callback to something established early in the series, though it would have been nice to see that plot point referenced more.  We see a party where Lucy's getting an award, where we get a little "where are they now" segment, and a few of the ships sail; there's no point for the GaLe once since that ship sailed LONG ago, Gruvia gets confirmed in a relatively subtle way, and Jerza, while not overt, is made clear that its happening.  We get a few joke references to Elfgreen, the Laxus pairings get made fun of a little, and we even get Kinabra in the end (which I'm sure the anime will expand upon).  Hell, we see Mavis and Zeref are essentially reborn to start a new relationship.  The only pairing that of course leaves is the big one, NaLu, where we see Lucy hug Natsu, which he returns, where Lucy thanks him for for finding her, as it defined her person so much.  Natsu then whisks her away, where the team goes on to begin the 100 Year Quest, where the story comes to a conclusion, ending the series.

Now let me start off by saying, that yes, NaLu is canon.  One person pointed out that in Japanese tropes, romance is more subtle opposed to very overt displays of affection that us Westerners envision.  Not to mention, it would be out of character for Natsu to give Lucy a Big Damn Kiss or something like that.  But considering what we got, I think we can safely say that NaLu can be considered canon.  Would I have preferred something more overt, yes I would have, but for what we got, I think it works.

As for the rest of the chapter, for a series that was built almost entirely on action and flare, the ending is really quiet, and is more your "And the adventure continues style of ending"; which makes sense for a story like this.  Much of it is dedicated to just wrapping the characters up, and concluding their personal stories.  While I would have preferred something along the lines of us seeing the next generation (especially since we know now that at least Gajeel and Levy have kids), again yes I would have.  Hopefully Mashima will give us something like that on his Twitter page, or the anime will expand on it.  All in all, I think it was a nice, sweet way to end the series, and I'm sad to see it go.

Now I might as well sum up my final thoughts on the series.  While I do really like the series on the whole, and it is still my favorite series, I will not deny that in its final stages, it stumbled.  I'm going to be optimistic, and say it was partially due to the typical "ending syndrome", that many shounen experience, where the authors are told they have to finish up the series in a certain amount of time, and they may not be able to do all they wanted to do.  Also, in regards to the lack of deaths, I'm going to argue that were a number of characters that were supposed to remain dead, most notably Makarov.  Let me point out that not only was the death portrayed as very final, but he had essentially no role in the final battle, and one could have cut him from the last scenes completely, and it wouldn't have made any difference.  To that end, it is really possible that Mashima wanted him to remain dead, but was essentially told to bring him back; hell, for all we know, perhaps the Japanese readers were unhappy with his death, and pushed for his return.  

But all in all, I'm going to choose to have fond memories of the series, rather than negative ones, since its more fun to like things than to dislike.  There is still a lot of things to have fun with and enjoy, and to see these characters just sort of play off each other.  In the end, maybe that was the real intention of the series, seeing these different characters, all with different distinguishing traits and different powers play off each other, while throwing in some laughs and some action.  The series ultimately gives me feelings similar to what I felt with Guardians of the Galaxy, of a fun, dumb series, that's not out to really win any awards or be really deep, but is more out to make people smile, and have a good time.

Now we wait for Hiro Mashima's next work, and hopefully it will be something big.  And in the mean time, I guess there's nothing else to do, but to start watching the series from the beginning again.
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So the final battle is over, and I wish it had been longer.

This chapter essentially features the guilds struggling to contain Acnologia's body, and having serious trouble, as he overpowers them.  However, Meredy links the entire continent with her magic, allowing all the magic power to be used to finally capture him.  During this, Natsu, with the combined power of all Seven Dragon Slayers defeats Acnologia where Natsu is essentially declared the king of the dragons, after which the Dragon Slayers are freed and reunited.  And that's essentially the whole of the chapter, and again, I wish it was longer.

Maybe one more chapter with Natsu and Acnologia actually trading blows.  Maybe the anime can do it more justice, with movement, color and flare.  But as things stand, there just wasn't enough time giving to it.  For all I know, maybe Mashima had to meet a specific limit, and couldn't extend it.  Its the typical final arc fatigue that I've seen many manga slip into.  It needs to be resolved within a certain span of time, and that can offer make the series suffer some.

That all said, I thought the guild's running with Acnologia's body was actually well done, since it actually takes the Power of Friendship and backs it up with action instead of just words.  We actually see it in action, and its good seeing all the characters getting a chance to shine.  Again, I think the anime would be able to show this better, with more color and flare.

The last chapter will be 48 chapters.  I'm not sure what will be portrayed, but I hope at least that we can see all the pairings come together.  based on what I saw with Rave Master's ending, I imagine something at least akin to that.  However, the setting on both endings were considerably different, so it will still be different.
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While the release has been delayed, I found a rough translation of the chapter.

I knew Acnologia was't beaten.  There was simply no way it was going to end like that.  With that said, this chapter starts off with Acnologia breaking out of the space-time void, explaining that he, in a sense, "ate" the power of the void, becoming even stronger in the process.  He then unleashes his power that starts decimating the land, before all the Dragon Slayers are apparently absorbed by him.  The chapter concludes with Natsu in some different world, faced by Acnologia.

I'm currently under the impression that this chapter's implication is that Natsu didn't disappear because of the book or Zeref, but because he was absorbed by Acnologia.  That would make sense.  I'm hoping that Natsu alone doesn't fight Acnologia, and has to work with his Dragon Slayer kin to beat him, especially since Natsu just beat one major antagonist on his own, it seems unfair he be the one defeat another.  That said, I'm assuming this is going to be the final fight.  Considering how there still six chapters to go (I say six instead of seven because the last one will probably be an epilogue), I'm not sure if Mashima will formally introduce Ankhseram, or just leave it the way it is.  Considering what Anksheram is indicated to be, that might be for the best.  To that end, this is probably going to be the final battle.  I personally would have preferred the other characters play some role in it, but oh well.

Aside from that, there isn't anything else to talk about.  Next chapter we'll probably see the fight begin.
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I know a lot of people didn't like the ending, and I'm not going to deny, its bad.  I'm not going to give a summary, mostly because I don't have the time, and also because if you're reading this, you probably already know what happened.

While I won't defend Makarov coming back (for fairly obvious reasons), I will say there is a definitively good scene, that is legitimately sad, when Mavis and Zeref go together to the afterlife.  I guess that means that they're finally going to be able to meet their son.  To that end, I suppose I'm a bit more forgiving of Makarov coming back because it was with a price (a sort of "life for a life"), but I still would've preferred he stood dead.

Now when it comes to character death in any given series, I can take it or leave it so long as it advances the plot.  Makarov's "death" did advance the plot, but his coming back at this point never would.  I guess I get somewhat irked when people demand character death just so that a character can die, but I won't act like I don't understand it here.

I'm inclined to believe that Mashima did want Makarov to really die, seeing how final the scenes were earlier, and either this publisher or editor told him not to; maybe even his fanbase wanted him to come back (bare in mind, the fanbase he actually has contact with is the Japanese one, and I have no idea what its like compared to the Western base).  Of course I might be completely wrong.  At any rate, there's nothing can turn me off this series at this point, as the series comes to a conclusion.  And to those people who post on reactions only to "justify" their dislike for the series and how they're "right" to dislike it and everyone else is "wrong" for liking it, is there really nothing better to do?

So there are nine chapters to go, and there's no way those nine chapters are just going to be epilogue.  I still think that Acnologia is going to be coming back for a final battle with the Dragon Slayers.  For perspective, the final battle in Rave Master was four chapters long, and there was one extended chapter of epilogue.
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