Fairy Tail Volume 32 Review
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***SPOILERS***
Highlights of this volume start with the ghost of the first Fairy Tail guild master, Mavis, showing up to cheer on Fairy Tail (only they can see her). Fairy Tail gets two teams in, with Team A being Elfman, Natsu, Lucy, Erza, and Gray, while Team B consists of Laxus, Juvia, Mira, Gajeel, and "Mystogan" (Jellal in disguise, put in on the sly by Makarov, but approved of by Mavis). Other guilds participating are Lamia Scale, Blue Pegasus, Mermaid Heel, Quatro Cerberus, Saber Tooth, and Raven Tail.The first contest is "The Hidden", which sees Fairy Tail A (Gray) end up with zero points and Fairy Tail B (Juvia) end up with a point. Next is a battle between Lucy and Flare Corona (Raven Tail) in which Flare attempts to cheat by secretly threatening young Asuka until Natsu stops it. When Lucy is about to bring the pain with the help of Gemini, but again Raven Tail cheats and absorbs all the magic from Lucy. After some other matches, "Mystogan" faces Jura from Lamia Scale. However, when Jellal gets to involved in the fight, Ultear has Merudy use her magic to cause Jellal lose the fight so that his cover is not blown.
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Well, this was certainly not a volume where much of anything special happened, but it was still entertaining.
Having a second Fairy Tail team in the contest is a cheat, but I didn't mind since it brought in some other Fairy Tail favorites. Unfortunately, when Team B is revealed, Juvia looks like a total badarse, but then she turns into worthlessness. *sigh* I don't mind her being madly in love with "Gray-sama", but I would like for her to get a chance to be awesome again.
I had already been told that Mavis would be returning the the series, which she does in this volume. She's a new scene stealer of sorts, with her childlike attitudes about things at times, but with a definite element of massive power underneath. Having her around will be fun.
The other scene stealer, Asuka, got a bit less face time in this volume (more than her parents though), but she played an actual part in the battle between Lucy and Flare. I liked that.
Lucy looked to get a chance to show some real power, only to get it snuffed. I realize that part of what Mashima-sensei is doing is setting up things for Fairy Tail to come from well behind, but it was disappointing to not have her be allowed to come through.
I was highly amused by how Mashima-sensei caused Jellal to lose, via Ultear and Merudy. I didn't mind his loss since it was cheating on Fairy Tail's part to have him there.
Since Raven Tail is pulling out all the stops to prevent Fairy Tail from getting anywhere, I guess I now know why they targeted Wendy in the previous volume.
Otherwise, not much to discuss story-wise.
There are a lot of extras in this volume. There are breakdowns of all the teams in the Grand Magic Games. The only other time I've seen these power charts used for characters was in School Rumble. I get the feeling they are used in battle manga.
There are the usual extras -- Mashima-sensei's notes, Lucy and Mira answering questions, fan art, extra art from Mashima-sensei, a few translator notes, and a preview of the next volume. Naturally, Kodansha Comic's hybrid adaptation continues.
As an aside, the Nibley Twins did the translations here rather than the normal William Flanagan, whom was otherwise engaged and could not do the work on this volume. I think he returns next volume. Regardless, with the adaptations now hybrid, it almost doesn't matter who translates it.
In the end, some fun was found in this volume, but not a lot of plot. Looks like the next volume just came in for me, so I'll have to get around to reading that soon. ^_^
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