December 3rd, 2013 
AstroNerdBoy フェアリーテイル
Fairy Tail Volume 30 Review
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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.
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.
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Eh, spoiler I guess.
Don’t worry about Mavis. She’s gonna show up again. I guess you could say she kinda ‘haunts’ Fairy Tail from here on out?
Really. Well, that’s pretty cool that she’ll be back.
So, you finally caught up to Volume 30 and like i mentioned in your Vol 28 review, this volume had an interesting & unexpected ending to the Tenrou Island arc. And based on your review you seem to like it.
Also have you now understood what you missed to mention in the Vol 28 that was related to this Volume 30 (its the last 2 pages of ch 234).
Also i think you would now understand the minor hidden messages that the title pages of some of the chapters contained in between the volume of 28 to 30. Those title pages showed us the condition of each of the FT members and some others who didn’t go to Tenrou Island before the time-skip, like Jet & Droy dreaming about Levy winning (in title page of 237), or Bisque & Alzack going on a date (in title page of 239). Like this each of the members who get some focus after the time-skip are showcased in those title page as a reminder to us readers about the characters of FT series.
I don’t think it would be a spoiler, so i would say that the person who says he is Zeref is actually the real deal. If you want a confirmation, it would be given after the end of the arc that starts in Volume 31 (point to be noted is that the next arc is around 9 volume long starting from around chapter 265 and going on till chapter 340, the chapters from 258 to 264 are sort of arc transition chapters).
But, i would say one thing, some people including me believe that the legend regarding Zeref might not actually be completely true, but maybe there is a reason for his actions (which i believe would be answered somewhat in the presently going arc).
Also in the next arc (you are about to read), we would learn some interesting facts regarding Acnologia and the Dragons. While the presently going on arc is related to a Dark Guild, Book of Zeref and maybe related to the Dragons as well.
One thing i noticed is that you didn’t comment much on Acnologia. Can i ask why?
>And based on your review you seem to like it.
I did. It was an unexpected twist to be sure, but has the potential to take things in a very interesting direction, if done right.
>Also have you now understood what you missed to mention in the Vol 28 that was related to this Volume 30 (its the last 2 pages of ch 234).
OK, I need to look at that. ^_^;;;;
Looking…
Ah…the last page has Romero as he was in volume 30. *lol* How sneaky. I didn’t even pay that close attention in 28 to that image and didn’t recognize it in 30. ^_^;;;
>Those title pages showed us the condition of each of the FT members and some others who didn’t go to Tenrou Island before the time-skip…
Because the chapter splash pages have never really meant that much, I’ve never looked at them that closely (or rather, I’ve never given them much stock). Looking back, I do remember the images, especially the Bisca-Alzack date, but again, I didn’t take is seriously because the splash page art has always just seemed whimsical or fanciful.
>I don’t think it would be a spoiler, so i would say that the person who says he is Zeref is actually the real deal.
Well, that’s good to know. Mashima-sensei is so unpredictable, I can’t trust him on things like this. ^_^;
Regardless, I look forward to learning more.
>One thing i noticed is that you didn’t comment much on Acnologia. Can i ask why?
You know, that’s an interesting question. I guess the time skip had a much more powerful impact on me than the appearance of a dragon. I’m betting that were I chapter reviewing the series, I would have remarked more on that.
As I look back, I’m actually amazed that I didn’t even think about it much when I wrote the review. As I recall, Acnologia was the beast that Gildarts fought and lost to. Likely, this is the dragon the dragon slayers were raised to eventually do battle with.
And yet, in all this, the time skip and the more personal affect this had on the Fairy Tail members had more weight on me. I guess as I wrote the review, Acnologia became more of a convenient plot device to do the time skip with, therefore subconsciously, I just brushed over it.
Still, now that you’ve mentioned it, I find it amazing that I totally passed on mentioning this. ^_^;;;;
>As I recall, Acnologia was the beast that Gildarts fought and lost to. Likely, this is the dragon the dragon slayers were raised to eventually do battle with.
Well the secret behind how the Dragon Slayer’s came to exists would be revealed in the arc you are about to read as well as some secrets regarding the Dragons (in volume 36), but that doesn’t completely explains things regarding Dragon Slayer’s like Natsu that we know in FT.
As of the present ongoing arc, the reason as to what the real purpose of Natsu and other similar DS in the story is yet to be cleared, though one point somewhat relating to Natsu gets revealed (which if you follow the official release would not know about until 10 volumes later, i.e., if we follow the release dates pattern as given in the FT Wikia, then it would be around next year August).
On another note, if i am right then Volume 31-33 should have been officially released in the market by now (based on the dates given by FT Wikia). So, when are you planning to review those.
Volume 31 goes up tomorrow. ^_^ I may do 32 by the end of the week.
I don’t have 33 yet. It hasn’t even shipped to me yet. 🙁