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.

Keroro Gunsou - 105 (Of burgers and love from legendary sakura.)

ケロロ軍曹/Sgt. Frog/Keroro Gunsou Anime episode 105

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

With 169 days left to invade, the pressure is on the complete the invasion of Earth. Keroro comes up with an infiltration plan, which involves opening a hamburger joint. Fuyuki and Natsumi drop by Keroro Burger, not realizing what it is until they see who's running it. Natsumi drags Keroro off, having figured out his plan, but he says it is just hard work and a normal life, crying that Natsumi would deny them of this. Natsumi reluctantly agrees, and Fuyuki gets her to help him since the restaurant is doing so well. Tamama runs out of ingredients, so he makes a run to the warehouse for more. Unfortunately, the only thing customers are buying are ¥500 smiles from Natsumi and Mois. As a result, the shop has massive debts. With Natsumi and Mois wiped out, the platoon tries to cover, but no one wants their smiles and the restaurant is done.

Momoka asks Fuyuki to see the sakura in bloom even though it is past season. He agrees but invites Natsumi and the others. She reluctantly agrees and sends her team to find the legendary sakura tree and transplant it to her mansion grounds. The party is in full swing when the tree lights up, causing Keroro and Tamama to fall in love. Mois and Giroro come to check them out, only to fall in love. Momoka and Paul see this, so they go to the next phase of the plan, which is to get Momoka and Fuyuki together. After some setbacks, Fuyuki and Momoka are on stage, where they get lovey-dovey. However, the Sakura is an alien Sakura Sakuura, and its parents come back to take their child back. The Nishizawa force does battle, but Momoka gives up being romantic with Fuyuki to give the child tree back. She is frustrated when the tree leaves, those affected lose their feelings and memories of what happened.

Thoughts/Review:

Well, it has been ages since I watched an episode, but since I was recently reminded via comments, I thought I'd pick this up again.

For the first story, it was mildly amusing with the normal dopey plan and failed results. Still, being a cheeseburger lover, I did like the concept of the platoon opening a hamburger restaurant. Not that I'd eat any of the nasty "burgers" they sold. *lol*

As to the second story, I liked that Momoka got a brief, romantic moment with Fuyuki, even if he was just under the influence of the tree. Yeah, she's a spoiled ojousama, but I can't help but want her to actually succeed in winning Fuyuki's heart.

As to the alien sakura tree, I don't know if there's a legendary sakura tree or not. However, it did remind me of the legendary World Tree, as seen in Negima!, which also glowed and would cause folks to fall in love.

In the end, we had a couple of fun stories.  I really do miss the manga. Too bad no one will license rescue it.

Hayate the Combat Butler Manga Chapter 426 (A good doujinshi manga that is poorly made and hard to read.)

ハヤテのごとく！/Hayate no Gotoku Chapter 426 Review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Chiharu is worried about how Ruka will make it to the doujinshi event since wearing a mascot outfit as a disguise is impractical. Kayura recalls how Isumi had a bell that would make Ruka's identity hidden, but she also has a mask to hide Ruka's face. As such, Nagi, Chiharu, and Kayura wait for Ruka, who shows up, reminding Nagi that whomever sells the most manga (out of 100 copies) wins the contest.

Ayumu joins the trio inside, asking where Hayate and Hina are. Chiharu says they are being held up due to traffic for the upcoming fireworks events going on that night. Nagi ponders things a bit as the event starts. Chiharu asks Kayura whom she thinks will win, but she doesn't know. Ruka, sitting at the booth behind Nagi, gets a sale first, causing Nagi to panic a bit. Nagi's first customer arrives in the form of Maizumi-sensei, who says it is a horribly made manga, but a good one as well. So he buys a copy. His assistant wants one, so he makes her buy her own copy, giving Nagi her second sale.

As the day progressed and Nagi made sales, she stopped thinking about the contest and simply enjoyed the thrill of selling her product, happy that people were reading it. She realized that this was what she'd been looking for the whole time.

Her last copy sold, Nagi has a tear in her eye at having made it, thanking Chiharu in the process. Chiharu quietly wonders how Ruka did in sales.

Thoughts/Review:

I really thought that we might see things shift back to Hayate and Hina before pressing forward with the actual doujinshi contest, but Hata-sensei is as unpredictable as ever, deciding to press forward with the actual contest. I'm glad he did.

Again, we get some nice moments with Nagi. I'm really glad that Hata-sensei doesn't allow the others to take over the focus, as could so easily happen. This is Nagi's journey and while Ruka has her own journey, that can come later. I just love seeing Nagi accomplish something without the backing of the Sanzenin name or fortune, and Nagi feels the same way.

Nagi's manga is described as "poorly made and hard to read" which screams of something terrible. Yet everyone says it is a good manga.  Something that's poorly made and hard to read is not something I want to read. I suppose it is like the American comic strip Dilbert when it first came out, which was ugly to look at, but if you could get passed that, it was quite good.

Reading this chapter, I can't help but now think that Nagi actually does win the contest. She may have stumbled a lot along the way, but she got there in the end and did what she set out to do -- make a manga and sell that manga based on the content of that manga, not on some gimmick.

Of course, Hata-sensei could go the route of having them tie, which would still result in Hayate not having to marry Ruka and staying in Nagi's service. Nagi still retains her character growth, but the friendship-rivalry would remain the same between Ruka and Nagi, and neither of them "lose".

Having Ruka lose might be linked into whatever Hina, Hayate, and Kurosu are doing, allowing her to move forward as well. We'll see.

So, another good chapter here. I kinda hope we flip back to see what's going on with Hayate and Hina now.

UQ Holder Manga Chapter 9 Review (Of naivety and more Negima! tie-ins.)

ユーキューホルダー!/UQ Holder Chapter 9 Review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: 

Touta is all ready to accept Jinbee to train up, but Kuroumaru is suspicious of Jinbee, becoming irritated at being addressed as "ojouchan" by him. Kuroumaru attacks and Jinbee loses his robes, revealing a massively scarred body. Kuroumaru scolds Touta for being so trusting without knowing anything about Jinbee. Kuroumaru's sword ends up in Jinbee's hand somehow, thwarting Kuroumaru's sword attack. Kuroumaru shifts to a flying kick instead as Jinbee tosses the sword aside, leading to an unarmed fight. Despite only having one arm, Touta jumps into the fight, performing a shundou move to reach Jinbee in a flash. The two are quickly defeated by Jinbee, who refers to Kuroumaru as "ojouchan" again, causing Kuroumaru to try to deny being a woman again.

Jinbee takes the two to his residence in this underground place, which he hasn't been to in six months. The place is filled with books and the three have nabe. Kuroumaru and Touta speak briefly of their immortality. Jinbee tells them he's a 1400 year old immortal, having become one from consuming the flesh of a merperson.  Kuroumaru has to explain to Touta about the Japanese legend of merpeople, and how mermaids and the like did not have the positive image in Japan prior to the popularization of Western mermaid stories.

Jinbee continues by saying how his immortality is actually weak, which is why he is so scarred. Further, he had comrades, but he's the only one still alive. Touta is impressed with Jinbee's story and is about to scold Kuroumaru for not trusting Jinbee, only to discover Kuroumaru has been moved to tears. Kuroumaru starts to address Jinbee as "senpai", then shifts to "jinsei no sensei" (life master), shocking Touta, who then reminds Kuroumaru of the scolding given to Touta for going gaga for Jinbee.

Jinbee is amused by the pair of them, so he sends them to deal with the monster seals. The two excitedly go to do so, but once there, Touta realizes there's not much he can do with only one arm. Kuroumaru uses incredible sword skills to wipe out one of the monster seals, impressing Touta greatly. However, both Kuroumaru and Touta are forced to flee when a herd of monster seals charge them.

Returning to Jinbee's lair, both apologize. Jinbee figures that Touta could watch Kuroumaru's back, but he needs a weapon. Jinbee takes them to the tower hideout of an "evil mage" that has been abandoned for thirty years. Going up to massive deck extending from this tower, Jinbee shows them a sword the mage created, which is lodged in a stone and called Gravity Blade.

Thoughts/Review:

Those of us reading this manga know that Touta is desperately in need of some schooling to get him off this path of blind stupidity. However, although Kuroumaru may be more cautious and highly skilled, even Kuroumaru is in need of education in this regard.  Both characters are pretty naive.

It is interesting how Akamatsu-sensei brings in the Japanese legend of obtaining immortality via the flesh of a merperson. I know Takahashi-sensei did a manga about this years ago (Mermaid Saga, aka: Ningyo Shiriizu (人魚シリーズ)).  I like how Akamatsu-sensei is reminding folks that merpeople were not considered to be attractive half-human/half fish creatures, but rather more monster-like.

It looks like Akamatsu-sensei is going to run the "Is Kuroumaru a girl or a boy" joke into the ground. Jinbee calling Kuroumaru "ojouchan" adds to that, as does Kuroumaru's girlish, negative reaction.

Onto more substantive stuff, Akamatsu-sensei made a big point of having Touta blatantly reject Eva's offer to teach him the shundou-jitsu arts. Despite this, it appears that Touta has acquired the skill after only observing Kuroumaru use it. That's way faster than even Negi learned it, and Negi had some actual training in it. This suggests to me that Touta may have already known it, but we'll see.  Akamatsu-sensei may be suggesting that Touta can learn anything he's exposed to.

Since Touta has been shown to reject using a sword, other than the boken Touta used in the beginning of the series, yet was shown with a sword in the promotional art, I guess having Touta lose an arm is Akamatsu-sensei's way of getting Touta to use a weapon rather than just rely on his fists. I suppose it isn't too much to say that Touta will get this Gravity Blade in the stone.

It does appear that Gravity Blade is at Al's residence under Library Island in the Mahora Academy campus grounds. What happened to Al 30 years ago to cause him to disappear is a mystery (assuming this is Al's place), though I have read speculation that maybe he got snagged by one of those monster seals, which take 30 years to digest their food. I would be amused by this if Touta and Kuroumaru battle the monster seals and in one of them is Al, waiting to be pooped out.

Finally, the splash page showing Eva in her normal form and her Yukihime form was pretty nifty. ^_^

Akamatsu-sensei takes his first break next week, so we'll have to wait a couple of weeks to find out where things go.

BABYMETAL - Megitsune (Merging heavy metal, idol, and traditional Japanese music in a single song.)

I recently mentioned BABYMETAL, an idol group that blends heavy metal with expected pop idol elements.  The result is actually quite good, so much so that yours truly actually got an iTunes account just to score their music. ^_^

For this post, I wanted to talk about the song Megitsune, which means "female fox". When BABYMETAL was founded, they apparently jacked up trying to do devil horns, resulting in the group's trademark hand sign, that of the kitsune. So it is appropriate somehow that they make a song called Megitsune.



I love this song. The video is pretty awesome too with shamisen players wearing kitsune masks, all the while thrashing like heavy metal head bangers. *lol* It is so awesome somehow.

About 1:50 into the video, the tempo and tone of the song change, and the video shifts to match. The BABYMETAL girls are gone, replaced by a woman in a kitsune mask, kimono, and performing a Nihon Buyou (I think that's what it is) dance. The kitsune thrashers behind her just add to the awesomeness of the moment, as does the primal screaming for some reason.  I started thinking that Inuyasha and Kagome might show up at any moment. *lol*

I scored both the instrumental version of this song as well as the full version from iTunes. It is expensive to get otherwise.

Later, I'll touch some other songs BABYMETAL has done that I like. ^_^

Coppelion - 03 (More going on than a failed, nuclear reactor.)

コッペリオン Ep. 03 Review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

The three girls continue their movements deeper into the radiated metroplex while Mishima tries to learn more about who's behind the supply deliveries that weren't sponsored by the government. They find a key outside of a prison facility, which there are two guards. When they report the key to Mishima, he says he's coming immediately due to tag on it. Ibara reveals herself to the two and quickly discovers they are the ones supplying the survivors in Tokyo. The other two come in as they had the key over, which goes to a specialized tractor-trailer, complete with a shower. One of the two is an old man, who's relieved when he discovers that some of his missing people have actually been saved.

The group heads out in the truck to rescue an old woman as Mishima discovers the name of the old man, SHIBA Denjirou from Mitsuboshi Heavy Industries, the one who designed the reactor that failed and caused the nuclear accident. As Ibara goes out to find the old woman, who claims to be under attack by monster crows, Mishima orders Ibara to hold Denjirou no matter what. Denjirou hears this over the radio and promises not to run if Ibara saves the old woman. Ibara sees the crow, which is actually a B-2 Stealth Bomber. The bomber lands at a nearby air base as some of the crew try to take her away. Ibara saves her, so the bomber and its crew flew. Denjirou, his companion Kamata, Aoi, and Takeo arrive in a jeep, their truck having been bombed. They decide that the "bird" can't be allowed to get away, so they ready a shoulder fired, anti-aircraft (Hand Arrow) missile launcher.

Thoughts/Review:

This episode covers chapters 11 through 16 of the original manga.

While there was some stuff cut from the manga for this episode, especially in the explanations of some of the different types of radiation and its affect on local plants, most of it survived.  Also, there's an explanation of how the girls break down radiation.

Last episode, I mentioned how the manga went into a lot more detail on a lot of things.  One thing the manga was setting up were these super "hot" radiation zones, which the anime pretty much glossed over. For this episode, that topic comes up, only without all of the setup, this episode seems more like it is suddenly finding it to be a problem when that was strongly hinted well prior to that in the manga.

It is understandable why Dr. Shiba would do what he did since he feels guilty. I really wish that the extent of the nuclear disaster that was shown in the manga was shown in the anime, beyond the ruined city. Regardless, with that in my mind, I really understood what he was feeling while folks only watching the anime won't have the same impact.

The big question, other than these weird radioactive super hot spots, is the B-2 Stealth Bomber that is in the area. The implication is that it isn't part of the Japanese Self-Defense Force, which would imply American to me. They did mention it was modified in the manga, and this plane did have some sort of cargo ramp, which I don't think the real B-2 has. Still, what would they want?

As to shooting it down with a Hand Arrow missile launcher, we'll see if they pull it off. It could be done, but it would take a really, lucky shot, or the B-2 not having counter-measures, which is unlikely as well. After all, they'd have to catch the plane, which should just fly off like no one's business.

As a side note, I'm glad Miku-chan is still around. It is sad that she's an orphan though. 

We'll see what happens. There's interest in the story here, more so in the manga, so I'm going to keep at it.

KILL la KILL- 03 (Satsuki-sama sez, "Time for some ojousama vs heroine seinen action!")

キルラキル ep. 03 SPOILER Review

Synopsis:

Mikisugi-sensei arranges to meet Ryuuko (via a note on Mako's back) to caution her about her staring at him in class, lest they raise suspicions. She is free to gaze at him (and more) in private though. He tells Ryuuko about the seimeiseni threads that make up the goku uniforms as well as her own kamui uniform, which is made up of 100% seimeseni threads. Only Ryuuko's father and Satsuki's family know of the secret of seimeseni. It is Mikisugi-sensei's own dislike of the Kiyuuin clan that causes him to aid Ryuuko. He further reveals how he staged the meeting between Senketsu and Ryuuko at the ruins of Ryuuko's family home. Meanwhile, Inumuta and another guy in the sewing club test a goku robe with 50% of these "Life Fibers" and the subject wearing it goes berserk.

Satsuki comes home and forces her way to where her own kamui garb named Junketsu is sealed up. Despite warnings from family staff members, Satsuki dons the living garment anyway. The following day, she's waiting for Ryuuko as she and Mako come to school. The two have a fearsome battle with Ryuuko taking the worst of it due to the blood loss caused by Senketsu. When Satsuki reveals that wearing a skimpy outfit doesn't embarrass her and that she'd go nude if she had to for her cause, combined with Mako's blathering, Ryuuko realizes what it will take to bond with Senketsu as Satsuki has with Junketsu. The two battle to a minor defeat by Ryuuko says she'll destroy Satsuki's ambitions and aspirations. Satsuki says that if Ryuuko can defeat every club on campus, she'll fight Ryuuko again.

Thoughts/Review:

To me, this episode just wasn't quiet as good as the other two. It was fine and I enjoyed it, but it was missing something.

We get more plot elements with this episode, which explain the whole goku robe thing as well as the kamui uniforms.

We get more about Mikisugi-sensei, and his stripping down for Ryuuko. It was funny to me last episode, but this time, I just didn't laugh.  I felt like, "been there, done that." Odd though, since I rather enjoy a similar running gag in Minami-ke.

Mako's family getting on screen time is when the series starts feeling like a tribute to Ren and Stimpy to me.  The nuttiness there didn't make me laugh either.

Of course, the big thing is Satsuki scoring her own kamui robe. Being an ojousama, Satsuki certainly played the role to the hilt. There's a certain awesomeness to Satsuki's character, which is why I rather hope she ends up not being the villain. Actually, my feelings aside, I don't think she will be. She has her family honor to uphold as well as her role as ruler of Honnouji Academy.

The nod to the mahou shoujo genre henshin sequences, whereby the magic girl transforms from whatever she's wearing into her battle costume, often becoming completely nude in the process, was done here. I hate henshin sequences, and I had to suffer through two of them in this episode. No doubt, that played a role in my more negative view of the episode.

The battle between Ryuuko and Satsuki made me chuckle, namely because I was reminded of battles in Negima! where Negi and some other characters could cause similar type pressure blasts just by their mere presence. So this was obviously a node to that cliched action element.

Further, because Satsuki is an ojousama and Ryuuko is the heroine rival, we have that whole cliched trope as well. I'm not complaining since I rather enjoy the heroine vs. ojousama stuff. 

I guess next week, Ryuuko goes back to beating up and stripping opponents while taking their seimeseni threads. We'll see what happens then.