Summertime means some fun in the sun and joy in the water. Therefore, wasn’t a chapter around intense aquatic action much needed?

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As if to make up for months without any fanservice, Mashima resorted back to using situational circumstances to justfiy heavy fanservice. Instead of having characters actually randomly chosen for the events like the other times, it seemed as if he just threw in virtually the most popular female characters from each team into the aquatic sphere, in full and revealing swimsuits. It seemed odd to me to not have other characters of note. 

After four days of games, I was impressed that Mashima was able to continue to come up with more unique games. This challenge of fighting characters to lure them out of the sphere proved to be quite interesting. Juvia managed to shine, pleasing fans, while Lucy had a moment of glory, too.

The nice bit of comedy in the initial moments of the fight helped clear our minds off the serious events in the background. I believe that a key feature of good writing is to have a balance of serious scenes and comedic moments. I also believe that comedy scenes should be used as an element to build up to an event that will be a complete turn in tone. This chapter featured one such event. Although everyone was winning and Juvia ended up out by her own lack of paying, Lucy managed to be caught in a nasty and difficult situation. Minerva of Sabertooth essentially tore her to pieces, destroying her pride, and frightening all viewers.

Fairy Tail couldn’t bear to look at Lucy as she was getting destroyed by Minerva. Honestly, it was quite intense and almost too much. Sabertooth, and particularly Minerva, needed to apologize to Lucy right there. Unfortunately, Fairy Tail seemed to think the other team had lost their minds, and essentially hinted, through the glances, that Sabertooth was going down!

Overall, the chapter was able to be enjoyable once I looked beyond the fanservice aspect and focused upon the actual events and action in the chapter. Fairy Tail seemed to gain a new rival in her, while Lucy continued to show that she was willing to help her team, even if she herself is a useless deadweight. What else could happen next? Perhaps Natsu and co will barge into Sabertooth’s guild again and wreak havoc? 

GO Rating: 3/5

[mangastream]