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I think this was the most adorable FAIRY TAIL chapter I’ve read so far!
Summary:
It’s time for another side story! This story features Gildarts who is seen traveling alone, far away from the Grand Magic Games. Gildarts is getting old; he has a back pain which causes him to stop for a while. That is, until he spots a damsel in distress. As the womanizer he is, Gildarts leaves his baggage and runs over to the lady to save her. The bad guys who were disturbing the girl run away. A successful Gildarts turns flirtingly to the girl who surprisingly also runs away.
Sighing, Gildarts picks up his luggage and continues with his travels. He reaches a worn down village, and it turns out that the girl he saved lives in it. She apologizes to him for her earlier behaviour and introduces Gildarts to her elders. The latter thanks Gildarts and explains the village’s situation. It seems that the village was attacked by some beast that left the village in this devastating situation. Gildarts feels compassion for this village and decides to help them somehow, by hunting down the beast.
Gildarts enters a cave which seems to be the home of many reptiles. Very soon, he runs into a big beastlike creature which probably is the one who caused all the sadness in the village. Gildarts dodges the beast’s claws and punches him down on the ground, causing an explosion. The beast is no more.
Back at the village, Gildarts is treated as a hero. A party is being held to celebrate his heroic act where fine drinks are served, and beautiful women dance – things that appeal to Gildarts very much. The girl he saved earlier whispers something to him, probably some form of confession; it definitely sets Gildarts hormones on fire.
A young boy pokes Gildarts and tells him to come watch something through a magical monitor they’ve set up in the village. Gildarts goes to look and sees that this is showing the Grand Magic Games. Gildarts sees Erza’s triumphant victory from Pandemonium, and then, his beloved daughter’s performance in MPF shows up. Feeling proud of his daughter, Gildarts runs around, telling all the villagers how great she is. He brags about her so much that he ends up tripping, landing on his face. The landing is strong enough to cause the ground in the village to crack and separate into many pieces.
The chapter ends with Gildarts being kicked out by the very angry villagers, however, as the proud father he is, he couldn’t have been happier.
For a chapter that has no text, this sure told us a lot. I find it amazing when artists can tell stories with pictures only. And it’s not just that quality of the mangaka that made me enjoy today’s chapter. The story itself was adorable, sweet, and very fun. It was also very refreshing to see something away from the games for a while. While Gildarts has been present in the anime a lot, I must say I’ve missed seeing him in the manga. He is the strongest mage of the guild, so I can understand why he is absent so often. Having him present in all arcs would definitely give FAIRY TAIL too many advantages. But if we get chapters/episodes with Gildarts’ own adventures, I won’t complain at all!
Ever since we found out that Gildarts is Cana’s father, he has gradually become more adorable to me. While everyone in this manga is funny already, most of their humouristic sides have been leaning towards the typical shounen slapstick comedy, so I find Gildarts’ ridiculous fatherly love very refreshing and cute. As the womanizer he is, it’s good that he has one girl in his life that will never leave him – his daughter. I think I’d cry with pride if I were in his shoes too. I mean, Cana is an amazing woman, and it’s a shame the two of them spent so few moments together.
Aside from the very adorable Gildarts, we had the serious side of him too. Gildarts didn’t get his rank for no reason – punching that big beast with one hit sure was impressive – and he didn’t even use any magic. Gildarts’ physical strength amazes me so much. To be able to one-hit-KO big and tough monsters, or fall hard enough to crack the ground – why does Natsu even bother to challenge this man?
There isn’t much to say about this chapter aside from how much I loved it. While it was true to the comedy of FAIRY TAIL, it had a very unique feeling, and I think anyone, even someone who doesn’t read this manga, might find this chapter enjoyable.
So now that the two side stories have been published, it’s time for us to return to serious games. I’m dying to know what’s going on in the arena, so I’m very excited about the upcoming chapter. Hopefully, it’ll be a blast!
Moete kitazou!
Was it just me or this chapter felt like the Author was trolling around? I mean, heck! Just show us what in the world is going to happen and stop dragging the story around!
What I was beaten by you in 1st place, How dare you man.
agreed
Wow another non dialogue episode just like the episode from Naruto( chapter 599 ) about Obito.
PS its good to be first, Lucky me.
I prefered Naruto textless chapter to this one. Kishimoto really shined a lot better than Mashima did in this one. Also there was way more emotional investment in that one.
@banzemanga I see that people are not getting what the author is doing. He’s not dragging the story along genius. He’s doing it because these last two chapters were 298 and 299 so he’s saving the next chapter, the big 300 color paged one, for the big development. Unlike some more recent mangas that hit big numbers and did nothing special. I like it because this was a cute bonus before 300 where some big stuff seems like its gonna happen. Geez I wish people would stop saying “____ is trolling us” get over it!
Just like MK did with Naruto (chapter 599), HM did in this chapter(299). I wonder if Oda and Kubo did the same with Bleach and One piece
irrespectively.
disagree
Who cares about chapter numbers! If you are really good author, make the story flow the way to should be! Not trying to prolong the story trying just market the chapter numbers.
It does matter. With milestone chapters, authors have more control over the length, content, etc. Remember that the author does not actually have FULL control over his manga. It has to pass through editors and other staff at the publisher. At milestone chapters, the mangaka may elect to have more content pushed in because such a concept appeals to the publisher.
It’s possible that what HM has planned for the sledgehammer chapter won’t fit in a standard chapter. So I ask you this: Would you rather see the effect of a full sledgehammer chapter or have it split into 2 chapters?
Which is why I don’t really mind these kind of chapters right now. Even if they are a bit underwhelming in terms of plot. HOWEVER, if the next chapter is disappointing, heads will fall. But I trust that it won’t.
I do agree with you that many times, authors loose their authority of their work to their publishers. After all, the publisher’s aim is $ and the longer run of a series is; the more they benefit from it.
I have no idea what you mean by “sledgehammer” split into two chapters. I believe you are trying to say, what if the climax chapter does not fit into a single chapter and needs to be split into two chapters?
-Well, if that is what you meant. It is obvious this is not a climax chapter at all. And if it something that needs to be split into two chapters, why not?
But his chapter was obviously a filler to prolong the series into an additional chapter. I mean, the amount of text on this chapter speaks for itself. I would not have minded this kind of tactic on a regular chapter. But in a middle of a cliffhanger which the premise was give many chapters ago. Prolonging it with more chapters in the moment of truth is simply “trolling”.
I think it’s a good change of pace. I’m almost a hundred percent sure these 2 side stories will be extended in the anime for fillering purposes, but I think that’s a good thing. The whole ‘tell a story without telling a story’- thing is cool to see in manga too. I liked it in Naruto as well, it lets the reader imagine about the dialogue and the scenes much more 🙂
The silence allows us to appreciate the man for what he is, a powerful, kind heart and often fun mage. This seems to be a theme amongst the men of FT.
Hahaha man, Gildartz was about to get some from that girl for saving the village, then he tripped and lost it all. Poor guy.
Seems a bit strange that they’d kick him out after he’s saved them from a monster. Oh well, it’s shounen, and an otherwise brilliant chapter too!
Man, that must have been difficult to translate.
He displays everything fairy tail stands for, a kind heart and a trail of destruction.
Guys I was just thinking about something, we’ve seen epic wars and battles from other shounen Mangas/Animes so I was wondering if
we get to see the another epic war on Fairy Tail.
Naruto, Bleach, and One Piece spoilers ahead:
Show Spoiler ▼
If we are to see a war unfold on Fairy Tail I bet it would be something like a war between official Legal Guilds and Dark Guilds.
I guess the Legitimate Guilds will also be led by the Magic Council or one of the Ten saints against the Dark Guilds lead by Zeref
or whatever. It is impossible not to have epic war battles between Mages on Fairy Tail as it has been implied that Zeref alighted an
ancient land, mastered Black Magic, gave birth to tens of thousands of demons and threw the world into chaos and Zeref’s power
is what most Dark Guilds are after so there is definitely going to be some showdown either by an alliance of dark guilds or Zeref
himself against the Magic Council and I almost forgot that it has also been said in the series that Humans, Dragons and Demons
cannot co-exist and that might cause an endless showdown(chapter 292).
And that is why magnolia town split in two when Gildarts around.
That was indeed an adorable and well-written (pun intended) chapter. The absence of dialogue in this case was definitely for the better in that it emphasized the other aspects of the chapter. Couldn’t help but connect Gildart’s to the archetypal/archetypical Greek hero who saves a damsel in distress and then saves the damsel’s grander incident of distress and then gets some. Poor Gildarts didn’t get to the last phase, but it’s not like he’s had a lack of such things for the better part of his life. And Mashima does share his true comfort with us, which is the pride of having a great daughter like Cana. Just still can’t help wonder if Mashima is placing Gildarts in that archetype or connecting him to it but taking him beyond it with a more overwhelming Fairy Tail-esque mindset.
Loved the chapter! Can’t wait for the full color one next week!
I love Fairy Tail. I have 1 big complaint. These Fairy Tail wizards are so bad ass and powerful and yet in arc after arc they get their asses kicked by insanely powerful enemies that just so happen to have the exact powers that neutralize the over powered Fairy Tail mages. Then thru the power of love, teamwork, family, (etc…) the Fairy Tail guys come back and beat the bad guys.
Look at the fights in the current arc. The Octopus guy, sugarboy, coco, and the pally and the girl with the skelly hand easily took out all of FTs best mages with ease.
what can you say?
welcome to the wonderful world of shounen action manga.
This reminds me of Bakugan that chapter that eiji did crow without dialogue and it was pictures i think are going to heat up on chap 300 since is a nice number i bet hes waiting for this moment and next i bet where gong to see a lot of dragon action 😀 i hope
Because Natsu kicked the asses of two people who slayed actual dragons, the one creature that curb stomped Gildarts.
Not exactly, as the two “Dragon Slayers” only killed lizards. Acnologia is a REAL dragon.
actually yup it’s troll
I Liked it, it would be bad if the end of the world – as levi featured – came and we have no idea where the hell is Gildartz ? now we know he is lost somewhere and we can excuse him for not bieng there
Like a boss.
Wherever you are, the fairy tail spirit is always there. Destroy everything!!!
Like father like child huh, can’t believe the daddy did that for her daughter….then again he is part of Fairy Tail, what he did is equivalent to a mad gunman giving a gun salute and doing a lot of damage in the process.