Fairy Tail Manga Volume 28 Review (With a rather nifty dues ex machina moment.)

フェアリーテイル
Fairy Tail Volume 28 Review

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***SPOILERS***

Highlights from this volume have Cana realize the mistake of abandoning her friends, but being rewarded with Fairy Glitter as a result. Cana comes to help Lucy and the others literally put down by Blue Note, but Fairy Glitter, which Bluenote wants, is not enough to defeat him. An angry Gildarts appears and battles Blue Note, allowing the others to get to safety.  Freed and Bickslow also show up to battled Rustyrose. Erza battles Azuma, who upends the Tenrou Tree, manages to sap Fairy Tail members of their powers, including Gildarts. Despite her best effort, Erza takes a beating, which somehow Jellal feels from his prison and speaks her name. Erza somehow feels the connection with Jellal and revives, ultimately defeating Azuma after thinking about her friends. Azuma returns the Fairy Tail magic and is absorbed into Tenrou Tree.

The rest of the guild begin overcoming their opponents as Gray makes out like he's going to help Ultear in her quest to defeat Master Hades. However, he causes her to reveal her true intentions when she starts to kill the defenseless Juvia, forcing Gray to attack Ultear.

As I mentioned in my review of volume 27, getting confirmation that it was decided editorially (and not on the translator's side) to make Fairy Tail a hybrid translation when it comes to Japanese honorific usage (honorifics retain for characters introduced before the editorial mandate came down; "superior" Western honorifics for all characters thereafter, including not using honorifics because we can't find an appropriate Western equivalent, which isn't being lazy but a legitimate adaptation choice, unlike leaving honorifics as is, which is lazy and not a legitimate adaptation choice...but I digress...) really put me off the series. I have been buying them still, but my enthusiasm just is no longer there. I figure seeing more and more Western honorifics are going to eventually cause me to hit my breaking point, after which, I'll drop it and send that money to something else.

But I digress again...(This is a passionate topic for me, if you couldn't already guess that.)

This volume has the usual elements we've come to expect from a Fairy Tail story -- Fairy Tail takes a beating, Fairy Tail comes back for the win. It could get rather boring, but Mashima-sensei throws in some elements to keep things from going that route.

In volume 26, I expressed some disappointment over how Mashima-sensei had sent Gildarts, Freed, and Bickslow away and how it didn't make any sense except except to have the overpowered Gildarts removed from the field. Having him show up for a deus ex machina moment actually was pretty cool because I wanted to see Gildarts fight. His actual battle wasn't too much to speak of in some regards, but he was able to overcome his opponent's gravity magic, which had put down several Fairy Tail members. So it was cool seeing Gildarts in action.

Also, I loved Freed's and Bickslow's return as well. And to think, it wasn't that long ago that they were causing Fairy Tail trouble thanks to Laxus.

Speaking of Laxus, he was the one I had expected to show up for this fight, not Gildarts, Freed, and Bickslow.

I liked the connection that Erza has with Jellal, as displayed in this chapter. Not sure where Mashima-sensei will go with that, since he's gone all over the board with Jellal.

Another nice moment was Gray saving Juvia. I really do wish Mashima-sensei would allow them to get together as a romantic couple.

Finally, Cana got some character development with the reveal that Gildarts is her estranged father, who apparently does not know she's his daughter.  I rather hope there's a positive resolution to that element of the story. Cana has never been much to me as a character (though she was a decent leader during the Phantom Lord fight), so it would be nice seeing her become a more interesting character.

On the Kodansha side, there are the usual extras, including translator notes and a preview of the next volume.

Story-wise, I enjoyed seeing Fairy Tail rise up to defeat their enemies. I just wish Kodansha Comics had retained the same policy that Del Rey had for all those years when it came to adaptations. No wonder I don't buy as many Kodansha titles as I did Del Rey titles.