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I sat down to write about this week’s fairy tail chapter. This came out instead, probably because there is nothing worth talking about in this week’s fairy tail chapter; not that it was bad, or even good; there was simply nothing in it that happened that is worth writing about, besides the fan service. I expect things to pick up in the next chapter.

Anyway, Hungry Joker is finally over. Pitiful, i say. All that potential, wasted, which leaves me wondering if i should bother with any new manga releases from shonen jump; after all, hungry joker isn’t the only new manga that was highly acclaimed by fans on the internet but which simply didn’t make the cut. Several others have fallen, some before hungry joker, some shortly after, and some expected to follow soon.

Maybe i shouldn’t rush into manga anymore. I have this rule where by i don’t watch a new TV series until it is at least ten episodes into its season, unless it has only 13 episodes in which case i wait until its first season ends before i begin watching it. Because it is around that time (sometimes i will wait till the fifteenth episode) that it is announced whether or not the series will have a second season. If i hear news of cancellation, i don’t bother. Why get so caught up in a show when it is only going to get cancelled. Which is why i didn’t bother with last resort after watching only two episodes, because Alcatraz, while not having the best finale, had none the less intrigued me enough to want to watch more and they cancelled it. So why bother.

I am going to apply this to new manga. If i had waited a few months to hear of Hungry joker’s impending doom, i would have avoided this frustration. None the less since it is over, i thought i would review it as a whole series.

THE PLOT: in case you don’t know…

Haji is a a young genius, spending his days in the lab, assisted by the intern chitose as he delves into the world of the supernatural, in an attempt to discover the truth behind his hidden past, of which he only remembers standing in a field surrounded by shining corpses as a masked figure in black robes smiles. Events pick up when Haiji is called to a similar scene to the one in his memories, with a the body of murdered man found in a random alley way, shining.

With the discovery that there is more truth to his addled mind’s memories than he assumed and further exploration into the black apple, Haiji is thrown into a new world of gods and god like humans. Eureka, of which his apple is one, are powerful tools that, once used/consumed, reveal the truth of God by granting the user great knowledge. For those geniuses of old such as Einstein and Pascal, the Eureka only revealed to them great knowledge. For special humans like Haiji with special bodies, the Eureka grant them great power with which they can combat the Mavro, black gods that seek only to toy with humanity for their pleasure before destroying them over and over again. But the use of Eureka isn’t without consequences as the gallons of blood Haiji is seen to regurgitate each time he consumes more of the apple to gain more of its power prove. None the less he vows to push ahead no matter the consequences in search for the answers he seeks. Who is he and why does he exist?

MY REVIEW:

I am angry that this manga was treated as such. I love all sorts of manga but their is something about battle manga, that is mostly about heroes that fight again and again while getting stronger each time, that endears itself to me. it is the kind of entertainment that can pick me up no matter what my mood is because, even with complex stories, the purpose of each chapter is to entertain you as much as possible with mind blowing action, awesome power ups and insidious villains. I love shonen and specifically battle manga. But i have to wonder if it isn’t a dying breed of manga. When all the popular stuff ends what will come after.

I once spoke of what would replace the big three, but i never considered it seriously until now that there might be nothing to replace them. Maybe Japanese tastes are changing. Actually i will fault the Japanese for their shallow taste. I have come across some of the manga that was chosen over Hungry joker and while it wasn’t bad, a lot of it simply wasn’t on hungry joker’s level in terms of complexity.

What it did offer was very quick and immediate gratification, with instant revelations, power ups and fights. I have said it before that naruto and One peice would never have survived past ten chapters if they were released today. Like hungry joker these two series required a considerable amount of time to set up their worlds and rules before getting down to the point. New manga, most of what i have seen, doesn’t do that anymore because no one has the patience of that. Hungry joke felt rushed because it needed time to set up its world and to create new characters. That wasn’t acceptable i guess. Now i am getting a little irritated, probably because i have done this before, started a manga that i thought sounded interesting based on the synopsis and dropped it three chapters later because it was not gratifying me instantly.

So i guess the landscape of manga is changing . As otaku we are no longer patient, or willing to wait for a series to pick up to speed from a slow start. We want to be satiated instantly and that is leading us to miss out on some really good manga just because they like to take their time. Or maybe recent manga is very shallow, unwilling to create complexity because it doesn’t think we as otaku would stand by it. I get that it is shonen but it has been a while since mindlessly violent manga in which characters fought for the sake of fighting was popular.

Hungry joker is one casualty of this. I would rate the story with a perfect 5/5 not because of what it became but because of what it could have become. There was so much potential in the plot, so many places that Tabata could have gone, yet he was forced to make compromises and produce a shallow rushed story because of the fear of being cancelled. The world was interesting, with the Mavro who masqueraded as gods but whose story would have been an interesting one to explore. The characters were fun. Haiji was so clueless and stoic that everything that came out of his mouth was almost always funny depending who he was interacting with. He attracted people to himself the way Luffy does in one piece, collecting this conflicting and contrasting group of Eureka users each with their own failings beside which they were still willing to fight day in and day out to save humanity.

Each had a story that could have gone so far, possibly making them iconic characters in manga. But we will never see any of it, learn of Vivie’s life as the feared and loathed daughter of a rich family because of her eureka power, understand what Nils’ life was like in his former town and exactly who her grandmother was in the grand scheme of mavro Vs. humanity; then there is Haiji’s brother and the reason he did what he did to his sibling. We knew we would see Haiji change and become something other than what he was, and we see that at the end but again it doesn't make sense because we haven’t seen any of these so called bonds he speaks about.

I won’t even bother with the last chapter because it was so rushed. It irks me that we stopped after a one page time skip just as the invasion was about to begin; we didn’t even get to see the Mavro world. But tabata did his best to show us as much of his Hungry joker story as he could before time ran out. I can’t really complain. The first 15 chapters were all perfect, constantly building upon what they had created before and just entertaining the hell out of me.

Of course the action is one of the manga’s highlights, not only because of the unique nature of the powers but because of Tabata’s art. I found it nebulous and somewhat off the first time i read hungry joker. But five chapters in something changed. I began to see the uniqueness of each page, the idea of what Tabata was trying to do. Most mangaka might think that making a good manga comes down to the most detailed and impeccable art. i think it is all about bringing a new experience to the reader. Tabata did that. Every chapter detailed every battle as briefly as possible while keeping things fresh and eye catching. I will miss it.

Ultimately though, i might conclude that Tatabata might have been his own worst enemy. Sure he was being pressured with the idea of cancellation; but he was cancelled at chapter 24 not 2. Maybe if he had stuck to his guns and continued to write and draw the story exactly as he had planned it, with the exact kind of pacing he wished it to have, it would have thrived. Maybe it is because he rushed that he sealed his own fate. It might have been better to show us what he had in mind and hopefully some otaku out their might have been convinced that the series wasn’t the confused mess they believed it to be. Then again i might be saying that because i was just recently watching Bakuman and a similar situation happened in which mashiro and takagi had to choose between changing things up to hook readers and increase their rankings or sticking to their original pacing and seeing what happens.

I think Tabata made a mistake in letting the pressure get to him. But i might be wrong.

I am not sure who to blame, the readers or shonen jump? I will choose to blame the readers because shonen jump is a business that exists to make money. They had to make decisions based on what will increase profits, not to take leaps of faith. I will also blame Tabata for giving into pressure and messing up his own story. I can’t say i am optimistic about the future of manga. I am all for intricately plotted series with mature themes, but i love my battle manga. I want to be stunned by a cool move or have my jaw dropped by an unexpected defeat or victory. I love the excitement of a good battle manga as much as i love being blown away by a great story. Sometimes i can get both. Either way, this is the end and i am disappointed.

Story: 3/5, my rating after I managed to clear my mind of bias for a few seconds

Art: 5/5

characters: 5/5

Action: 4/5

Overall: 4/5

I am ambivalent over this manhwa. I caught up with all 43 available chapters within two days of last week, so there is no denying the entertainment value. Clearly it had the entertainment quality to keep me hooked to my computer. Yet that doesn’t change at all the fact that it is colored with quite a few faults that i can’t help but notice. The best manga and manhwa are the ones that will present me with clear failures during their endless chapters but which i will either ignore or fail to notice, because everything else is that good as compared to the faults. As such i will say right now that i do not hold the same attitude as numerous otaku out their that this is the best manhwa out their. But before that;

THE PLOT:>

The manhwa takes place in a time when the power of the gods acts prominently in the lives of humanity. Acting under the leadership of the mighty power of Tian (not sure if its the humongous dragon or the man himself or a place even) the numerous divisions of deities, distinguished by their various attributes serve under their separate masters in enslaving humanity and seeing their will done. The mighty Shang dynasty is one such empire, that has for years done the bidding of the high ones, trusting multitudes of its people to slavery in the mines, unearthing a mysterious mineral that the gods so desire.

But the Shang dynasty now serves under a new ruler, one that will not stand for the impudence and superiority of the gods in subjugating its people, and it is this leader, in declaring war against these heavenly forces, that sets off a spark of rebellion; humanity will no longer be enslaved to the gods, they will no longer be murdered and manipulated and forced to continue in misery so long as they will to exist outside the god’s influence; humanity will now fight back.

Wu geng, prince of a once mighty empire fights to lead this charge, as a promised one, a future savior, born of god and human, and prophesied to bring about the end of the gods. But is this truly a path that humanity seeks? To see the gods fall? For before the gods, before their glorious power, existed a darkness that once eclipsed all light in the land, a darkness that, with great sacrifices from the elder gods of whom only one, Tian, still lives, were vanquished; and a darkness that has fostered its hate in the underworld and which plots its return. it is this enemy that lurks in the shadows, behind wu geng and the fallen gods attempts to bring about justice and fairness. Before long, he will have to question his resolve and determine if vengeance for all that has befallen him under the gods is worth it, for the price to be paid.

MY REVIEW:>

The positives: there isn’t an otaku alive that has come across this manga, who hasn’t been awed by its existence. It is a truly beautiful creation. Of course i am talking about the art. This manga stands at the head of my list of greatest drawn manga and manhwa and it indeed deserves that position. I don’t know how much work goes into making this manhwa or how much time, clearly more than a week, but it deserves a large portion of the praise it attracts. The art is superb; unlike so many manga series

that i come across, every character, young and old, male and female, is distinct in their look and nature, where as with most series it is necessary to bring up a name, style of fighting or object such as a weapon they always carry to link them to, in order to jog the memory of the reader. And the human beings always look like human beings; i say this because every manga and manhwa that i have read will have those awkward shots and panels where, maybe it was an exceptionally difficult angel to draw or the situation and surroundings complicated things, but the characters look a bit off, maybe too big or a little twisted. It’s rarely that big of a deal, yet i noticed in this manhwa that all that was absent. It’s like someone takes the time to look at every image within a panel, be it a cup in the distance or a fly hanging in an awkward way, and ensures that everything is perfect.

Maybe its a korean thing. The backgrounds are as they should be, backgrounds that actually create an understanding of one’s environment and clearly convey the idea of movement and change, that the characters in question have changed locations and the each location has enough distinct features to enable one to at the very least attempt to recognize a location if they had ever seen it before. This is why i always said claymore had the best art i had ever seen. No matter how much detail was provided in any manhwa and manga i read, the backgrounds were all too static and generic; feng shen ji avoids this and brings the world around a character to life, be it in a calm situation or within chaos; no matter the occurrence, it is reflected in the world around.

The color is beautiful. I have come across colored manga and manhwa, though maybe manhwa only, the most recent being noblese and god of high school. But here is the thing, both of those have always seemed to me to be of average to low quality. This is manga. it is always black and white so a little color goes a long way to making these two series look astounding. But none the less, neither of them is particularly impressive color wise. Feng shen ji is an exquisite production; the colors are rich and fluid and detailed so as to enhance the purpose of each panel. I haven’t read a series quite as good looking as this one. This kind of material is visually on par with a comic book and those guys put quite some effort, money and man power into making their books.

I can’t heap enough praise to elucidate on just how magnificently drawn this book is. especially the great battles. Sure i love seeing the lush open fields and luxuriant lands, but the battles take it to another level. The powers are displayed in mouth watering detail, you just want to reach out and touch them. The explosions, earth shattering summons, mighty weapons, weather manipulating powers, eccentric moves, they are all a marvelous wonder. This manhwa is simply that good to look at. You just want to drink it in.

The characters: are an eccentric bunch, Wu geng is fun to watch from his ignorant beginnings and the life changing journey he undergoes to become the man he is now. You might hate him at the

start but he becomes a character worthy of your respect and support. You want to see him rise higher, challenge his difficulties and become a better man, meeting the expectations of those that follow him. The gods are…intriguing. There is an attempt to play most of them off as simply arrogant and egotistical but many are downright evil and worthy of contempt. Some play the good guy, claim to feel remorse for their actions and even criticize their own kind’s evils, before doing exactly the same soon after. Basically all talk and no action, and thus evil.

It is clear they want to be understood but betray their own selves. The clearly evil gods are fun to behold; they revel in their vileness against humanity and rather than challenge you to like them, will endear themselves to you more easily that the ‘attempting to be good but not really trying' kind. You might route for them during impending danger, to see them put up a greater fight so that their defeat can be that much more sound and satisfying. There is no doubt however that they are all doomed; i expect they will all die cruel deaths, but not before showing us their divine powers. These can sometimes be the most gratifying events to watch, seeing a god unleash his unique ability and unleashing untold devastation. It is worth any chapter just to see this. I think my favorite divine power so far as monochrome, as was performed originally in the first chapters. Then there is wu geng’s uncle’s sword smelting aura technique; marvelous to watch.

The good guys are, well, good. I kind of expected them to exist in more of a grey area considering the kind of cruel world they live in. None the less it is nice to watch them sort of fight to keep their dreams alive by rejecting their former glory and struggling down here with mere mortals. They are just as vicious as impressive as the villains and equally determined to free humanity as the gods are to subjugate them. Wu geng leads the pack; as the protagonist his story and progression will keep you hooked to the pages, especially in the beginning where you are more interested in seeing him become a better human being rather than simply being powerful.

of course within each simple story is a conspiracy. These are the gods after all and, light or dark, they will use every pawn in their arsenal, be it human or fellow god; most operate under a specific philosophy while a few harbor greed and human like lusts that they will kill and betray god and man alike to see fulfilled.

The concept, while not particularly new or unique, is a fascinating one, and possesses a lot of potential. Achieving greatness will lie in Jien He’s ability to tap into this potential and lay it bare. Gods and humans fighting isn’t new. We have seen the whole ‘human rises to fight the gods’ story before, the terrible wrath of the titans being the most recent example. This story focuses on the intricate details involved in the conflict between these two parties, why they are fighting, why neither is willing to yield and why the eventual war will change the face of the land. The story isn’t that clear cut.

The negatives:

When i really like a manga/anime and i am hooked by the story, it pains me to point out its criticisms. For instance i am not keen to point out how appalling i found the fourth great shinobi war to be in Naruto so far. It is a disgrace that the fillers were the best parts i have seen so far in this war besides the asuma business. I am yet to watch any Naruto beyond the Naruto Tsunade raikage contention but i have been assured that the war gets better. I only hope that isn’t a lie. But that aside, that failing is something i will struggle to see and even when i finally accept its existence, i will find a way to enervate the level at lousiness presented.

With Feng shen ji i have no problem with blurting out what exactly the faults are because they are simply so egregious that i can’t ignore them. First;

1. The story- It took me a while to determine the word or statement that i wanted to use in referring to the story in this manhwa. At first i considered the fact that their is really no story, or rather no

worth while plot to sink your teeth in. But i decided that that wasn’t the case. There is indeed a story, with gods fighting humans and humans trying to oppose the mighty force.There is a hook as well, to see how far into the realm of the gods Wu geng can reach. I thought i could call it mindless because to a point it is, and that is the first criticism. I finally figured out what my qualms with the story was. It is too shallow.

Remember what i said up their in the positive section. I didn’t say that the series had a good story. I said the story had the potential to be great. It isn’t a unique concept but it is well executed; yet the author fails to fully explore the concepts he introduces in the chapters. He will frequently introduce very vague ideas and plots which, instead of elucidating upon in the future, simply brushes them aside and glazes over, assuming that since this fellow knows that fellow and that fellow hates that other guy for that reason and he has told you that in a few statements, his part is done; now they can all fight again and again and again now that we know. That is why i say that this manhwa is actually mindless. There is a lack of focus on the story. Relationships are simply swept aside with brief introductions. Reasons, objectives and intentions are given scanty attention.

Sure i wanted to see Wu geng finally make it back to see Bai cai, but even if he didn’t make it back, i couldn’t have cared less; and that’s because their relationship doesn’t matte than much 43 chapters in. So what if Wu geng is willing to do anything, go to impossible lengths to rescue his grandfather? I don’t care much because i personally haven’t seen the relationship between them blossom in such a way that i could understand his dedication. Think about God of high school and Jin mori’s relationship with his grandfather.

How many times do you hear Jin mori speak about his grandfather? Not that many times. And even when he talks about rescuing him, their is no weeping or passionate discourse about how he will not stop till he rescues his only family. But even in the few words he uses, you can understand the passion he displays and the lengths he will go to to see the mission completed. And the old man, in one hundred something chapters, gets less screen time or about as much as the old priest does in 43 chapters. And anyone who has read G.O.H knows that it’s story could never be described as deep. Yet there is enough material to realize that the story drives the action and the action wouldn't matter much without the story.

Every opponent Jin mori faces enters the ring against an opponent they cannot beat to achieve a dream and in a few pages of a flashback you understand their souls and what drives them. Feng shen ji fails to do this. The action takes precedence over the story. In fact the story doesn’t matter whatsoever. So long as you know what the good guys want and the bad guys stand for, with this series you are set. And that isn’t enough. I am not asking for endless ridiculously complicated drama. I am asking for a story that matters. If you woke up tomorrow and wu geng had been transformed into wizard that sold insurance while protecting farmer's’ crops from pests, it wouldn’t make one bit of difference so long as the level of art and action scenes stayed the same. IN a series like breaker:new waves, it would make all the difference in the world because the story drives the battles; there are certain factors that make Shion’s victories and losses impact hard, and if those factors where absent, then the fights wouldn’t matter as much.

Things weren’t so bad in the beginning. I was hooked with the first chapter and the rebellion that followed within. And the mine arc was pretty well paced and intriguing in following Wu geng’s growth

. Everything after that was just a mess. First of all the arc that followed was paced badly. Too many unnecessary scenes were shown while a number that should have appeared didn’t. By the time Wu geng was calling his new residence home, i was struggling to believe him, because according to him, we had witnessed a considerable amount of months pass during which he had bonded with his new comrades. To me it seemed like two days. Most well executed series don’t have to tell us that two weeks or two months have gone by. Sure it has to be confirmed but in a period of a few chapters we are usually able to tell using events happening that time is passing. Feng shen ji couldn't do that and as such Wu geng’s so called growth was simply not believable to me. IN fact at one point it seemed a little too out of the blue and sudden, yet if you considered the time that had passed it was fairly logical. I don’t like being told that something happened, especially if it affects every facet of a story. I like to be shown. This series fails miserably at that.

I won’t spoil it in my effort to prove how shallow the story is. But even the betrayals that happen are simply ridiculous and unbelievable. Jien simply paces the story horribly. Someone was recently craving for some more Feng shen ji and didn’t care if they were raws with no english translations because according to them, they didn’t matter. I thought they were crazy. One, who read a manga without proper translations and whose story didn’t matter? What was the point? Secondly after reading ten chapters i was certain that there were events that needed to be explained for the chapters to make some sense. 43 chapters later i am shocked to discover that they were right. The words don’t matter. You can read most of the series easily with minimal explanation over what is happening. This is what i did. For most of the last ten chapters i was flipping through pages without paying attention to the words in the page (which i noticed were banal and uninteresting and either badly written or badly translated; either way the dialogue and basic narration is boring as hell) and i still had a basic idea of what was happening.

I don’t know if the author is responsible for both the art and the story but either he needs to get himself a writer and give up on involving himself with the story telling or he should rethink his relationship with this writer. if i compare this series with G.O.H, then i would say that the GOH author is a brilliant artist and storyteller; the feng shen ji author on the other hand is simply a genius artist. The story is the one failing that unfortunately heavily weighs down on the series. He needs to do something about it.

I ranted on far too long about this point. Let me break it down like this. I don’t choose my manga based on how they look. I like a good looking manga/manhwa but so long as the art is bearable and i can follow each the story from panel to panel i am good so long as the story hooks me. If feng shen ji keeps sacrificing a good story for the visuals, i will keep reading it for however many hundred chapters it goes on, but i will seize to respect it.

2. The action: It might be strange and even controversial that i would fault the fault the action of feng shen ji and i wouldn't say that i fault it exactly; with the manhwa so beautifully colored, you could say that there are some failings that are more easily noticeable than they would be if the manhwa was colorless. When it comes to the story it will be hard to find someone that denies its shaloow nature. But with the action, it’s probably more subjective, in that i doubt anyone will share the view.

Either way, in comparing the manhwa with other series i have come across, i find that when it comes to the action scenes, i am not blown away as most people claim to be. The art makes every action seem that much more mind blowing, but here is the thing. I have inferred above that i think Feng shen ji is inferior to the breaker and G.O.H; what i will state unequivocally is that i think Feng shen Ji is far far inferior to those two titles. The reason is partly due to the superior stories of the two series. The other reason is the actions scenes. Both manage to present a totally unique experience with regards to visuals relating to battle.

The battles in Feng shen ji aren’t badly drawn or anything. if i am to try and express my criticism, i would say that they are ordinary and unoriginal. when i come across a battle related series that is said to be spectacular, i look at what new experience it brings to the table. With G.O.H i am yet to read a series that creates images so swift and fluid as those presented in this series. There is a celerity and pliability to even the most ordinary move executed in each page. And with G.O.H we are talking about a series more grounded in reality than Feng shen ji The series will for the most part make use your average martial arts styles found in Asia but with a twist. But the way the author displays the fights, the angles he chooses to attack a panel from and the positions that he displays a character executing a simple kick from are unique in style and execution. it isn’t something you see everyday and each fight seems as fast paced and dynamic as it would be in an anime.

With breaker, you can expect highly destructive battles that affect everything within the panel; the artist displays each shot in such a way that it displays the impact of each action as if you were there and experiencing it first hand. Besides that, both G.O.H and breaker bring a fresh breath of air to two or more opponents duking it out, with a unique means with which each strike and special move looks and is executed. Just like with bleach, both authors want you to get a different experience when witnessing a character unleash a destructive punch from what you would experience from reading other manga. And they all pull it off perfectly. The way Sado unleashes an ordinary attack isn’t the same way Shion would do it; same for the speed effects and all that.

Feng shen ji is ordinary in the way it executes battles. It is a unique manhwa so of course you can expect specifically crafted powers and techniques. But the way they are displayed seems so ordinary and average. I don’t think i can really explain it. it’s probably something that i just happen to see. I mean, all the summoned weapons, monsters and attacks are cool, especially when unleashed, but average blow by blow battle is disappointingly ordinary. Maybe i have been biased by previous series that i have come across. The last series i read before feng shen ji was witch hunter, and watching Tasha dispatch a couple of ordinary goons was as fun to read as it was to watch Xing take on the main villain Lee.

In manga there shouldn’t be such a thing as filler fights, to pass the time, just because someone has to fight the goons. It is the author’s job to keep things as interesting as possible no matter what is happening. While the fights were not boring, they simply didn’t reach the apex of what they could have been, or maybe i shouldn’t be comparing some of these series.

RATING:

Story- 1.5/5; should have been better

art - 10/5 mind blowing times a thousand

characters – 3/5; managed to shine despite the story but could have been better with a good story; otherwise some of them where way too vapid and generic for my taste

action -5/5 or 2/5; i actually can’t decide; on the one hand, they are mind blowing; on the other hand, he could do more with them.

Overall rating – 3/5

Verdict: This is a manhwa that every otaku must read. I recommend it for its purely entertainment value. Once you start, you might not stop. I will however say that, unlike many that have said it, Feng shen ji is nowhere near the best manhwa. It is a good manhwa.

I spent an irritating Tuesday and Wednesday anticipating a new fairy tail chapter because of last week’s late/early release. Sufficing to say it didn’t come, which was disappointing and when it finally came on Friday, it wasn’t as good as i expected, or at least as good as last week’s chapter, which might have had that level of impact because it literally came out of the blue, catching me off guard.

THE PLOT:>

Last week we found out quite a number of things. First Rogue lied just a bit. Ten thousand dragons did not come through the gate and take over the world. It was one dragon that contended with and

eventually subjugated humanity, and that was Achnologia. With his power alone, he brought the world to its knees. Rogue at first comes off as logical and innocent, claiming that he wished to unleash ten thousand dragons to use as tools to combat the achnologia. Then he reveals that his intention isn’t as much to save humanity as it is to rule over them in Achnologia’s place. Natsu quickly puts a stop to his rumblings by nearly taking his dragon, mother glare, down.

Natsu then reveals what we all knew, that only dragon slayers could defeat the dragons and this is qualified when Makarov, even with his giant magic, is incapable of doing anything more than getting burnt when he tries to take on atlas flame. With Laxus, Natsu, Gajeel, Wendy, Rogue and sting, that makes six dragon slayers against seven dragons. But we quickly learn of the favor that Jellal asked of the two council members, which is to free cobra, the poison dragon slayer from his incarceration, to join the battle.

We also learn that Rogue and sting did indeed lie about killing their dragons, though that was kind of obvious since they would have been way too young to execute such a significant task. it turns out that their dragons were reaching the end of their lives and asked the pair to kill them, apparently because bathing in the blood of a dragon grants one great power. So far that doesn’t seem to be the case.

In this chapter, the fight has finally began. Laxus takes on Atlas flame in Makarov’s place, then sending Gajeel to find himself a dragon to slay. Pegasus blue try and fail at beating the their enemy and it falls to cobra to save them. Rogue and Natsu’s battle is about to commence, but before that, Rogue has the dragon unleash a myriad of eggs each of which hatch into little dragon like monsters.

At the gate, Zirconis makes his move, first ‘incapacitating’ the king’s army and then Lucy, before coming face to face with Wendy. All in all a set up chapter.

MY REVIEW:>

I loved chapter 329, mostly because of that huge bomb shell that not only would we be seeing Achnologia again (soon in fact) but that it alone had the power to subjugate the entire human race. That revelation made Rogue’s actions so much more sane and logical, in contrast to the slayers. Well, they do have to stop him, but i wonder if they have thought about what happens after. They will obviously need the seven dragons to achieve victory, especially if you consider that in the original timeline, seven dragon slayers couldn’t stop Achnologia. They should probably focus on trying to free and refocus the fury of the dragons towards their looming enemy.

Either way, things just got better for fairy tail’s future, because we now know why Zeref, in the last arc, spoke of the ending of an age with the coming of Achnologia who, besides annihilating the island, simply flew away. I guess he could foresee the consequences to come, that Achnologia would return to rule the world.

This recent chapter,330, wasn’t the most exciting.It was mostly set up with the dragon slayers pairing with their dragons. Next week will be Wendy Vs. Zirconis.

I don’t see her beating the dragon, she could barely stand against Chelia and her god slaying magic and back then she was coming at her with a whole new set of moves. Now, so soon after the tournament i don’t expect her to win this; but we all know that she will and it is up to Hiro to make this look good. I DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT WANT TO SEE NAKAMA POWER PREVAIL AGAIN. Hiro needs to make this look good and convincing because i don’t see Wendy winning this even if it is merely Zirconis and it will be his job to make me believe that it is possible.

I see what Hiro is trying to do with the little dragon monsters, which is simply trying to give the other mages something to do while the slayers do there thing. It isn’t a bad plot, but i had hoped that they would at least assist the dragon slayers in slaying the dragons. I am curious as to what role the god slayers are going to play in the battle. I have yet to see any gods so Hiro had better elaborate on the whole god slayer business. Besides that however, i am curious as to how their magic affects dragons. I suspect that Jellal is sitting in a prison somewhere having exchanged his freedom for cobra’s.

I am starting to think that the dragons were right about the power gained from bathing in dragon blood, after all sting and rogue can achieve dragon force mode easily while Natsu can’t

Highlights: Rogue revealing that achnologia took over the world. I was afraid that Natsu’s initial attack had put that dragon down. That would have been disappointing. Pegasus blue’s attempts to take down the rock dragon where hilarious. I have always considered Ichiya to be a creepy comic, he managed to force a few chuckles out of me with his so called armpit perfume attack. I am loving Zirconis and his wacky attitude.

Lots of fan service in chapter 330, of course centered around Lucy.

MY RATING:> chapter 329- 3.5/5; chapter 330- 2/5, i get that it as was a set up chapter but that doesn’t change the fact that i was disappointed.