Fairy Tail 261 Discussion / 262 Predictions

[Kuzumikun]

Loooove this chapter! i hope lucy gets stronger! the training part and the one magic talk makes sense since love is something obtainable but not easy to get.

[Lee-tyme7]

lol, did anyone get hot when Erza ask if they should invite Natsu to join them? If he was Gerald I don't think she would've said that so does this mean Natsu is her boy toy? XD.

[TemplateR]

After re-reading the chapter, I thought that Lucy didn´t know much about her mother as a stellar. Or did she already now it from the beginning ?

[Quantized]

The vote poll surprised me a bit, Mashima did give an explanation of the chapter afterall, so not so disappointed, it just means much better quality chapters / arcs in the future

"A word from Mashima - It seems like the next arc for Fairy Tail will have an incredible number of characters... I'm still in the planning phases, but it seems the scale will be akin to a compilation of everything and everyone up until now... I'll try my best!"
http://mangastream.com/read/fairy_tail/84404117/12

First off, I like how Mashima actually talks to his fans, it gives his manga a lot of personality, and it gives the reader the feeling he cares for his readers.
Also, think about what he said... A compilation of everything and everyone...? what...? everything? everyone seems normal, but what exactly is he planning by saying everything. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but the arc seems to be much grander than just an arena contest. Maybe something similar to the manga Shaman King's contest, but in Fairy Tail all old characters will get a new touch.

Not much happened in this chapter, but it's still a good one for the laugh & entertainment
Nevertheless, it also pulls the breaks before a huge complex arc picks up, which is a nice touch by Mashima I think, it gives him room to do something amazing without we feel too much has happened in a row.

Can't wait for the next chapter, they slowly started training, it might get more serious from this point onwards

[Ifrit]

The vote poll surprised me a bit, Mashima did give an explanation of the chapter afterall, so not so disappointed, it just means much better quality chapters / arcs in the future

"A word from Mashima - It seems like the next arc for Fairy Tail will have an incredible number of characters... I'm still in the planning phases, but it seems the scale will be akin to a compilation of everything and everyone up until now... I'll try my best!"
http://mangastream.com/read/fairy_tail/84404117/12

First off, I like how Mashima actually talks to his fans, it gives his manga a lot of personality, and it gives the reader the feeling he cares for his readers.
Also, think about what he said... A compilation of everything and everyone...? what...? everything? everyone seems normal, but what exactly is he planning by saying everything. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but the arc seems to be much grander than just an arena contest. Maybe something similar to the manga Shaman King's contest, but in Fairy Tail all old characters will get a new touch.

Not much happened in this chapter, but it's still a good one for the laugh & entertainment
Nevertheless, it also pulls the breaks before a huge complex arc picks up, which is a nice touch by Mashima I think, it gives him room to do something amazing without we feel too much has happened in a row.

Can't wait for the next chapter, they slowly started training, it might get more serious from this point onwards

I agree....for me Mashima one mistake is not using all the cool characters he created....I always say that most of the characters in Fairy Tail can have their own "SERIES" their own Story...

TAKE UR TIME MASHIMA LOOKING FORWARD FOR MORE COOL CHARACTERS

@ Zaresh nice observation there....it was hard for me to notice this detail...Gray new scar on his body from the fight against Ultear

in my defense it was difficult to notice as a "GUY" with all the bikini and boobs...LOL


I trust Mashima in using all the mages now in Fairy Tail....making it more than a fighting tournament....

even the ones with no magic suitable for battle will be used:

Race : Fairy Tail "Jet"

[Zeltrax]

Why did I even bother having my expectations up..seriously?
Why did I..
forget it.
You know what, everytime I put my hopes up that ft will actually be serious for once, this happens.
This..is the training arc?!
I'm disappointed and the blow will be even more severe if fairy tail wins the tournament because of this kind of training.
Get your act together, Mashima. I know you love your bikinis and onsen woman but..this is like 7 years of fanservice thrown at me.
Only thing I like is "Love" being the one magic. Yeah, I believe that love itself is magic. Sure is corny but its the truth.

Would be good if next chapter skips the 3 months and get to the tournament day.

[kkck]

Ok.... so what are the odds of the mage contest not getting attacked by a dark guild considering everything? I guess not so high considering any attacking guild would have to face the entire magical might of fiore.

I do wonder, why would such a contest would be allowed? Perhaps after the fairy tail/phanton war the council decided an outlet to deal with rivalries was preferable?

---------- Post added at 10:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:14 PM ----------

Why did I even bother having my expectations up..seriously?
Why did I..
forget it.
You know what, everytime I put my hopes up that ft will actually be serious for once, this happens.
This..is the training arc?!
I'm disappointed and the blow will be even more severe if fairy tail wins the tournament because of this kind of training.
Get your act together, Mashima. I know you love your bikinis and onsen woman but..this is like 7 years of fanservice thrown at me.
Only thing I like is "Love" being the one magic. Yeah, I believe that love itself is magic. Sure is corny but its the truth.

Would be good if next chapter skips the 3 months and get to the tournament day.

Well, we didn't actually see training. We saw the beginning of their training at the end of the chapter and that was it. I doubt we will see most of the training if any at all. I guess the gang just needed a break after beating up a dark guild and dealing with the lost time. I would think they really will train for the next 3 months. The thing that does bother me is that mashima intends to make the gang catch up to the world after seven years in 3 months.

[Krono]

Ok.... so what are the odds of the mage contest not getting attacked by a dark guild considering everything? I guess not so high considering any attacking guild would have to face the entire magical might of fiore.

I do wonder, why would such a contest would be allowed? Perhaps after the fairy tail/phanton war the council decided an outlet to deal with rivalries was preferable?

Yeah, odds of a dark guild attacking is low, and dark guilds definitely won't be participating. Remember, legal guilds essentially have a free license to beat the crap out of dark guilds, and if/when the council forces show up, it'll just be to arrest the dark guild members.

As for why the contest was allowed, probably because it allowed for a concrete way to determine relative guild ranking. Also, make a contest that's limited in how combat oriented it is, and you can keep a guild like Fairy Tail that's primarily combat oriented and leans towards raw power over skill from getting the number one spot.

[kkck]

^I don't think the guilds just have free license to beat the crap out of dark guilds.... Remember that last council meeting we saw recently? They were thinking of comparing the whole thing to a guild war. Perhaps it is not outright illegal but it is at least frowned upon.

[Ifrit]

^I don't think the guilds just have free license to beat the crap out of dark guilds.... Remember that last council meeting we saw recently? They were thinking of comparing the whole thing to a guild war. Perhaps it is not outright illegal but it is at least frowned upon.

Actually they do....the only reason Makarov did not want Fairy Tail to go alone against Oracion Seis is because then only "Fairy Tail" will be targeted by all the dark guilds...

---------- Post added at 11:19 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:17 AM ----------

Would be good if next chapter skips the 3 months and get to the tournament day.

Not gonna happen...."Stars Song" sound like a filler chapter.....

+ a side note from Mashima telling that he is still working on the characters for this Arc....so don't expect anything good to happen soon...

Don't be soo -ve about the coming tournament .....it's the first time Mashima decided to use more than just 3-4 mages to beat the bad guys....it's gonna be good....

[Black Void]

lovely chapter - nice break before it will rumble xD and boobs bonus

[Atobe the king]

Why did I even bother having my expectations up..seriously?
Why did I..
forget it.
You know what, everytime I put my hopes up that ft will actually be serious for once, this happens.
This..is the training arc?!
I'm disappointed and the blow will be even more severe if fairy tail wins the tournament because of this kind of training.
Get your act together, Mashima. I know you love your bikinis and onsen woman but..this is like 7 years of fanservice thrown at me.
Only thing I like is "Love" being the one magic. Yeah, I believe that love itself is magic. Sure is corny but its the truth.

Would be good if next chapter skips the 3 months and get to the tournament day.

-Why would you have expectations for a training arc in general, not since dragonball have i found a training arc even funny much less good.

-Surely you didn't think this glorified fanservice chapter was representative of a training arc.

-FT is serious when it needs to be, whats all this bs about kids manga when it was obvious from the get go what the target audience is, i thought we were over this.

-His manga is doing well and I'm sure he's pretty successful, no need to "get his act together" unless the anime and the games (a new one on the way btw) are being canned, and his manga is in danger of cancellation, if thats the case please do enlighten me.

-the love thing is cool, ensures villians wont ever get it do ho ho

-Even if he skipped it, you'll get it in flashbacks, you can never avoid the training from hell

[matzik1212]

I can say i enjoyed this chapter but i never would have expected to see Natsu sneaking to peep on the girls it was so hilarious but now i guess i'm relieved to see he also thinks about this type of things for Natsu being a man
Well we can say that this was like a little introduction to their training session so from next chapter i think things will become more serious and the struggle to become stronger will be obvious so it's better to enjoy the happy times like in this chapter

[Atobe the king]

Well yeah, I thought everyone was aware we wouldn't be jumping into the time chamber/making 1000 clones who learn/fighting your zanpakuto/etc just yet. I'm just hoping for "interesting" training. The stuff they were doing seemed pretty basic except for Lucy and Wendy.

[Krono]

^I don't think the guilds just have free license to beat the crap out of dark guilds.... Remember that last council meeting we saw recently? They were thinking of comparing the whole thing to a guild war. Perhaps it is not outright illegal but it is at least frowned upon.

I'd say that was only because it was Fairy Tail, and the guy was looking to find as many faults with them as possible. Also it was only an issue because they took out a major dark guild with potential for retaliation from other dark guild allies.

Meanwhile, Erza's and company smashed Eisenwald, and Erza got a slap on the wrist for the collateral damage. Fried and company felt free to trash another dark guild just for insulting Fairy Tail. At the start of the Oracion Seis arc, Juvia made mention of her and Gajeel destroying several dark guilds while they were part of Phantom Lord. The minor dark guilds under Oracion Seis didn't even warrant a thought when the council was talking about the matter, and just a few chapters ago the two DS from Sabertooth were finishing up with trashing a dark guild.

That's a whole lot of smacking down dark guilds for it to be frowned upon by the council. Plus it's the smart thing to do from the council's stand point to allow legal guilds to attack dark guilds. It spares them much of the effort, leaving their role to largely just clean up/arrests, and the knowledge that defying a council order to disband will make an enemy out of all the legal guilds instead of just the council will make a number of people think twice about sticking with such a guild.

-Why would you have expectations for a training arc in general, not since dragonball have i found a training arc even funny much less good.

Well yeah, I thought everyone was aware we wouldn't be jumping into the time chamber/making 1000 clones who learn/fighting your zanpakuto/etc just yet. I'm just hoping for "interesting" training. The stuff they were doing seemed pretty basic except for Lucy and Wendy.

Yeah, personally I'm still not sure why some people seem to have been lusting after a training arc so much. Mashima isn't a big detailed mechanics person. So it was pretty much never going to be like Hunter x Hunter, or Naruo training where it's all do this with your nen, or that with your chakra.

Furthermore a lot of people seem to forget that Natsu and company are, for the most part, not rookies. Luffy was just setting out upon his grand adventure and starting to gather a crew. Naruto was just graduating ninja school. Ichigo was just handed shinigami powers. Gon was just setting out to take the hunter exam. With the exceptions of Lucy and Wendy, Natsu and company had been making a living working as wizards for 6 years to 8 years, and garnered a fair amount of fame to go with their power.

More importantly for the matter of training, their chosen styles are long since learned and developed. They don't need to be taught fundamentals of their power, nor is their move set empty and in need of being filled with abilities they've never had a chance to learn. Which leaves them with primarily just their basic magical strength and stamina to work on. The exceptions of course being Wendy whose training ended when she was 5, and is now just 12 and learning to use her power offensively, and Lucy whose only been working as a mage for about 6 months and has been adding powerful keys are a rate which surpasses the strength, stamina and experience she needs to effectively use them.

So I expect we may see more specific training, but if it's probably not going to be what people calling for a training arc were wanting. This is more a situation that calls for a training montage rather than an arc.