Live Review - Fairy Tail 356 - Tartaros (Prologue)

Hey, you're slipping on these!
I know I know... maybe this insane project is actually sorta unfeasible... oh well, we'll try our best. Anyways we're moving into a new arc with Fairy Tail, which is almost always the most exciting part, kinda. Like usually the premise makes me groan but there's a bunch of new characters running around that usually look cool so... I dunno, we'll see.

Fairy Tail 356 - Tartaros (Prologue)
scans by mangastream

1
Alright here we go, color pages and everything. I like the look of the Tartaros Guildhouse thing, looks pretty neat. Who is this guy? Looks kinda like Gildarts. He's some Tartaros guy I guess.

title spread
I really like this one. Lucy's outfit is a bit too lewd maybe but it's a classic pose, well executed, great colouring.

2
Ah, the ol' magic parliament... totally ineffectual dudes here. The place is called "Era"? Okay having a meeting whatever. I'm happy Mashima does worldbuilding stuff like this but I can't help but compare it to Oda and it always comes up short. Those guys from the island adventure arc are back I guess, I liked them okay.

3
I guess this guy is the grand poobah. I'm okay with that, he looks pretty cool. So I guess it's Tartaros going around and testing their subordinate guilds. Spooky, spooky!

4
lol these guys really hate Fairy Tail. I like the idea of our protagonists being hated but it doesn't really make as much sense as it does in One Piece... Fairy Tail saves the country's ass time and time again... anyways yeah this pro-FT guy figures it out. I like the li'l bat on his head. Some of the other designs are kinda ehh

5
Everybody laughs at the guy who is right... is that really the way business should get done? Seems like an easy out...

6
Balam alliance... is that some sort of multi-country thing? I always forget what the scope of Fairy Tail's world is... anyways this is some intriguing world building. But uh oh the frog has news!

7
WOAH. Okay. Damn. Forget that world building ish. Damn. Wow this is a nice page, very well drawn.

8
Mashima savoring his explosions for a page here, that's fine by me.

9
Now we focus on the investigator guys, that makes sense. She better not be dead, I liked her more than the guy.

10
Wow dang. I guess maybe these wizard guys were more like, wise than powerful. Or I guess magical strength doesn't necessarily mean physical strength... cause like that was a big explosion but I wouldn't have guessed EVERYBODY DED.

11
Aha, the culprits are here! Tartaros, obviously. I'm pretty excited to see what they look like tbh.

12
Catman! Looks like they'll all be animal themed, that's okay. Assassinating = exploding, OK. Poor old man...

13
Looks like he has some explosion based magic... okay. That'll be fun. Of course there's time for a little chat despite catman already having said explode... whatever.

14
Okay yeah, all 9 of these guys are gonna be animals... lol that isn't a jackal though. Why is it taking so long for the guy to explode?

15
Yeah I dunno... how can you be yelling that when something like five feet away from you exploded like that? I don't really care though this is pretty dramatic and well done.

16
Ahh, and we finally join our heroes. I love shots of the guild like this, loads of fun little details and really nice art.

17
lol at the master being jealous of Sting, lol. I forgot about the old master, he was pretty cool, good design. I hope he shows up again but I dunno how relevant he can be 'cause he already got rolled lol. Report it to the council lol THEY DED.

18
Cute little scene, whatever... Mashima gets a lot of mileage out of his pairings, and that's fine... not really my favorite thing but whatever.

19
Woah mangastream I think maybe you made a translation error there... uhh... well whatever. Oh yeah they had that book. Everybody looking at it... E.N.D... something something dragon.

20
Okay nevermind... all sorts of demons. Demons vs dragons, or something, sure.

21
I like Natsu's attitude here, that's how a shonen protagonist should be. Lol Mashima c'mon that angle.

22
"Everyone in the magic council thing is ded" buwuh oh!

23
This is a pretty nice page... really atmospheric. Really feel a sense of "loss".

24
Ohhh, this guy... umm... who was this guy again? I can't... remember... umm maybe he's a new character. Argh. Looks familiar.

25
Was this the evil guild thing? From the tournament? Nah I don't think so... I kinda like the plot element of Tartaros being all secret and stuff, that's cool. Who is this guy though?

26
This guy is in a pretty cool position... last member of the council out for justice. Gonna team up with Fairy Tail of course. Should be fun.

27
Wow yeah this ruined castle aesthetic is really neat. If it was like 200 times crazier I'd say it reminds me of Multiforce. There's the ridiculous hips bird lady... I guess this guy has an animal form too, that's kinda exciting. They're all Zoans I guess.

28
Okay there they are, the big bad guys team... Let's review. We got hairy mc4arms in the back, he looks okay, some sort of... bear theme? Then another fanservicey character, looks "damaged" and "dark", she'll be on team goodguys by the time this is over. I like her horns + headband Then there's umm... Not sure how describe this... deranged cyclops tank thing... There's the harpy lady who we already met, "Silver", who is the leader? Seems like a normal dude?? Some sort of lizard thing... looks kinda like X Drake lol. And a spookity skellington. Alright. I fucks with these dudes. This could be fun. Catman is busy doing stuff and there's one more mystery member.

29
Aha! I shoulda seen that coming actually... Demons have been pretty hyped so far, like, there was the one Ur had to sac herself to take down, there was the crazy age regressing one that, although Grey soloed pretty convincingly, did have a hax power and could have wrecked them if it was smarter. So yeah... could be pretty intense stuff here!

Fairy Tail vs Tartaros!
I mean, we all know that's coming... should be pretty good though. Actually probably the other guilds will get involved, which will be exciting. This is about the most uninspired way of opening an arc ever like... the big bad team of guys is trying to take over the world, but whatever. The character designs look alright, I'm pretty hyped for the fights, it's fine.

A-