Fairy Tail Manga Volume 30 Review

フェアリーテイル
Fairy Tail Volume 30 Review

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***SPOILERS***

Highlights for Fairy Tail volume 30 start with the aftermath of Grimoire Heart's attack on Tenrou Island. Master Markov has final words with Master Hades before sending him off. Zeref shows up on Grimoire Heart's airship, pronouncing punishment on the surviving members for causing Acnologia to arrive. Cana reveals to Gildarts that she's his daughter, leading to a moment between the two. Acnologia, the most powerful of dragons, attacks the island. Master Markov orders a retreat, ready to sacrifice himself to save his guild, but Fairy Tail rally to attack the dragon. The dragon is too powerful, so they band together to create a barrier, prayed for by the spirit of the first guild master, Mavis, as Acnologia attacks, destroying the entire island as Zeref watches.

Seven years later, Fairy Tail is a shadow of its former self, bullied by a new guild named Twilight Ogre. Macao, the current and fourth guild master, tries to deal with things peaceably, but has no success. A delegation from Blue Pegasus, led by Ichiya, tells Fairy Tail that Tenrou Island is still there. A sortie is dispatched, where the Fairy Tail members find Mavis standing on the sea. The island emerges, and the members of Fairy Tail who'd been on the island are found alive. They return home in time to put an end to Twilight Ogre's bullying. A group from Lamia Scale come by to pay their respects, whereupon Lyon falls for Juvia. Lucy learns her father has died while she and the others were sealed away, but she also learns that he sent presents every year, wrote letters, and even paid to have her apartment maintained.

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Well, Mashima-sensei is know for his plot twists, but man, I didn't expect him to pull some stunt so that the main Fairy Tail members are effectively sealed away for seven years while life goes on everywhere else.  I have to say that it was pretty interesting, as are Mashima-sensei's remarks about how in the seven years, everyone has grown stronger while the core Fairy Tail members on Tenrou Island were sealed away. I get the impression that he's going to give a reason for Fairy Tail to have to claw their way back to primo status. I guess I'll find out soon enough.

I love that Bisca and Alzack are married and have a daughter (Asuka). Since the are B-team members of Fairy Tail, they don't get a lot of face time. After the arc where Laxus tries to take over Fairy Tail, that was pretty much the last we saw of them. Mashima-sensei had said that they had feelings for each other, but never confessed, which meant that they'd be like other romantic pairings in Fairy Tail -- going nowhere fast. Now, they've confessed, gotten married, and multiplied. I hope that Mashima-sensei finds a way to explore their family life in the guild, but that would be hoping for too much in a shounen series.

The changes to the B-team members of Fairy Tail was actually pretty funny. Droy having packed on the pounds while Reedus lost all his weight made me laugh. I also laughed at Lyon falling for Juvia. I guess he doesn't have to worry about Sherry any more, even though she was with him when Lamia Scale paid their respects.

I did feel sorry for Wendy when she saw Reedus's artwork of her, depicting what he thought she'd look like as a young adult. It must have been hard for Mashima-sensei not to draw her as a big breasted woman, as he usually does for all his women. ^_^;;;

I liked that after being talked about for so long, we got to see Master Mavis, even if she was a spirit. There's just something about her that's just sweet. Too bad she's tied to Tenrou Island.

As to Zeref, I still have a hard time accepting that this guy claiming to be Zeref is in fact Zeref, but Mashima-sensei keeps pushing it pretty hard. He may well be the real deal and not the latest head fake on Mashima-sensei's part.

I'm glad that Cana got to tell Gildarts the truth of their relationship. That's one less plot thread left dangling. It does appear that Mashima-sensei might start doing a running gag about the over-doting father and the daughter who might regret getting what she wished for. ^_^

Finally, although Lucy never got to square things away with her dad personally, I'm glad to see that in the fine Mashima-sensei tradition of character redemption, Lucy's father did try to do the right thing, even if too little too late. That takes care of another little plot thread as Lucy starts moving on with her life.

On the Del Rey side of things, there's the usual hybrid honorific usage (more noticeable with Romero, but that has always been the case from the start of the English adaptation of the manga), he notes from Mashima-sensei, the fan art, the Lucy and Mira Q&A, a couple of translator notes, and an extended preview of the next volume.

With Zeref hanging around, and the dragon Acnologia's attack on Fairy Tail, I had no clue that Mashima-sensei would decide to just time skip seven years and force the core Fairy Tail members to deal with the changes losing seven years can bring. It was an interesting twist to be sure and I'm looking forward to seeing where it all goes.