Fairy Tail 411 Review: Main Character Syndrome

Fairy Tail Chapter 411: Quid Pro Quo

A bit disappointing, really. Why did I expect something different will happen? Natsu and Gray just muscle their way out of Memento Mori with the power of Shonen Main Character (tm) and Friendship (tm) right off the bat, though to the writer's credit, at least Natsu doesn't deal the final blow. After all that buildup and the fact that Mard Geer was completely unharmed until this one last attack, somehow they turn the tables right at this chapter. Somehow Mard Geer panics and gets injured by Natsu's crimson lotus whatever attack, and gets hit by Gray's ice devil magic. There could be some smarter writing involved including, oh, actual tactics, or maybe some of the other characters coming in to help or whatever, but no. It's just Natsu and Gray pushing themselves out of Memento Mori which can apparently 'erase things from existence' just because they are Natsu and Gray. And Mard Geer got defeated in his stronger Ehterious Form to rub salt in the wound. Mard Geer isn't even fighting, not even a token Thorns or some shit. Also some generic 'I believe' dialogue and big panels of nothing but reaction shots are thrown here and there just to make this even more blah. It is just literally the two of them getting beat, and then the author decides this is the chapter that the good guys needs to take out Mard Geer, and the BOOM they manage to do so. It could've been worse, there has been worse fights even in this Tartaros arc itself, but it's still extremely blah.

There are some other details here and there, of course. Gray uses a brand new technique which is still a goddamn ice bow... dude can never make anything other than bows, swords and hammers. There's some Dragon Force stuff going on just because. They just happen to work because this is the chapter where the script calls for Mard Geer to be defeated. And apparently Gray's demon curse thing can somehow demonize half his body and kind of... deflect Memento Mori somewhat? Whatever. At least it's a direct hit from the ice devil slayer magic that takes out Mard Geer, which is something I can live with.

Also, at the end of this chapter we finally catch up with the 25 minutes of Erza and Kyouka bullshit and Face activates. Wow, what a massive waste of time on both fronts. So magic has... disappeared? Well, who the fuck cares? Erza just beat an infinitely-getting-stronger-demon without even using magic despite this being a manga about magic simply because of Main Character Syndrome. Natsu and Gray just got up from all the abuse heaped on them and took out the undamaged Mard Geer with a punch and an arrow because Main Character Syndrome. Bah. It's pretty bad. It's still not quite as bad as the Erza/Kyouka fight because the early parts of the Mard Geer fight is still fun and tolerable, and there's the whole ice devil slayer thing that makes it somewhat less outright Mary Sue, but this just still leaves a really bad taste in the mouth.

But seriously? The ending here is the same ending with the one we had around two, three months ago? We could've had the Erza/Kyouka fight and the Natsu/Gray/Mard Geer fight and the Rogue/Sting/Jiemma ones going on simultaneously and, y'know, give it some actual sense of pacing. But no. And it would've been something if the battles are actually good instead of the good guys winning just because. Bah.

Natsu's magic is apparently at '0', but I'm sure he'll do something to take down Zeref or whoever comes into rescue. Someone will feed him lightning or Etherious or something, because he's a main character. Bah. Let Igneel and Acnologia fight and get that stupid overpowered-by-Main-Character-Syndrome Natsu, Gray and Erza the fuck away from that conflict. Man, these few recent fights have really soured me off these characters I used to like. Why do I even still care.