A mysterious figure appears on the battlefield.....Would they prove to be the "Key" to end all the chaos on the battlefield?

FT Chapter 528 : Dragon Demon

So if people have been keeping up I’ve been spoiling this chapter today and boy was I not happy because this chapter my god.

I really like this cover image. I love the new art style of Erza’s first ever armor and I like the touch that Gray and Erza are front and center because in volume 3 it’s the same thing with them on the cover.

So we open on Acnologia stepping on Irene’s corpse which is still kinda amusing because yeah that Irene stuff still is a pain in the ass.

I guess Wendy would know it’s Acnologia because smell more than power but hey this is leading to the where the shit hits the fan.

Yup Jellal is back. Look a lot of people were happy to see hi back but here’s the problem I have. How? No seriously this will be a running theme about bad moments in this chapter and it’s how? We don’t know how Jellal got here, now people will say that scene against august where he said he’d protect Erza but there’s not a scene of him getting up or anything like that it’s just lazy. He comes out of nowhere without any foreshadowing.

So that was my frustration, how are you here? August left you in a ditch. we never saw you get up or anything like that. You just thought of Erza and that was it. But here’s the thing I’ve always said is Jellal’s greatest problem, he is always forced into an arc haphazardly but this arc lacks that because it’s war, it affects everyone. Also, it’s war against Zeref the character you wanted to fight since the timeskip. Also here’s my biggest problem, where are the oracion Seis? Because it seems you left them behind, that is very wrong, you are basically the guild master crime sorciere but you abadoned your guild to save Erza, which I understand is the wwoman you love but shouldn’t your priorities be focused on your team. Or hell just bring them along, it actually would help make sense because Cobra could hear where erza is.

anyway back to the story...

So Jellal attacks for several pages and...

Acnologia shows why you don’t fuck with Acologia. But again just wait it gets better...

Oh no. Yup people Acnologia eats all magic.Which is kinda cool until we’ve seen this all ready. Irene with Deus Zero and August with his negation, all these final bosses have something to do with “your magic is ineffective against me” it just seems lazy.

And best scene of the chapter. No I’m serious. Wendy is deciding that she is the one who must fight Acnologia because it’s her job as a Dragon Slayer. This is amazing to see that little girl who hid from fighting is now facing the big bad herself. This is what a final arc is, the joy of watching that development come through.

Little problem I have is Erza is concerned but Jellal is and why does Jellal care about Wendy? That was Mystogan who cared. I know Wendy brought him back but they’ve barely established a connection and yet there are times he’s worried about her which makes no sense giving they haven’t made a reason for it other than “you revived me”. I guess he’s concerned in a base sense but still, it feel like it comes from nowhere.

Oh god. This was a moment where I was like “THAT SO COOL” but then I remember it was shot down by Wahl Icht, how it it back, how is Ichiya there? I guess universe one moved him but did he fix this ship? It just doesn’t make sense. Where did it come from.

Okay first off I wasn’t mad that Christina could hold off Acnologia, we saw Makarov in Titan form tank it but why Isn’t shooting it? Why? Even if it’s a fast ship, it’s big, Acnologia could shoot it down.

Second, we need to “lead it to a certain place” we can beat Acnologia. Well, now you are straight up ripping off Rave Master because to defeat Endless he had to be lured into star memory. Also this place where Acnologia may be defeated, never brought up before.

And finally this new character appears, Oh boy with the text putting emphesis on “KEY” you know it’s a celestial wizard and one that could know about Acnologia, it might be Anna Heartfilia. OH WHAT BULLSHIT IF THAT IS TRUE! We don’t know anything about Anna, who is she, no actual alluding to the possibility she came to the future. Did she cross the eclipse gate? That is again bullshit if true. This means nothing, you just pulled this out of your ass. Yes we’ve talked about Anna and what she did but again WHO IS SHE?

But some people have pointed out that because of the hairy and how Anna didn’t have bangs that framed her face it could be Layla... WHAT THE FUCK, THEN? If there one character who had been established to be dead this whole series just to come back as a deus ex machina, what a load of crap. Plus with the next chapter called teacher and we know Layla had students, it could be her. And like Anna, no build up prior.

But hey maybe it’s a brand new character. WOW MASHIMA DID YOU FORGET HOW MANY OTHER CHARACTER‘S WHO YOU’VE INTRODUCED ALREADY AND NOT WORK WITH THEM!? NO LETS ADD THIS NEVER BUILT UP CHARACTER! GOD DAMNIT

Post Chapter Follow up: Ugh this chapter was not good. I know a lot of people thought I’d hate this chapter because Jellal showed up but that wasn’t my problem. My problem with all of those scenes I bitched about had no foreshadowing, at all. Jellal maybe thinking about Erza but even then, not enough at all. The Christina is back, HOW? New character that may be Layla or Anna, HOW? There’s a place where Acnologia can be defeated, HOW? None was built up, scenes like these lose weight because they weren’t built uo, they rely on the amount of shock value and rise it gets out of you. For this chapter to be liked, you have to be sitting there and just keep saying “FINE” FINE” “FINE” to everything thrown at you and that’s not good story telling.

Okay so Acnologia is this all slayer which again builds up there’s no way to beat him other than dragon slayers. But, you add in this place we’ve never been introduced or alluded to. 5 dragon slayer that can beat Acnologia that was the plan you had to mess with it didn’t you hiro?

Also, I know a lot were happy to see Jellal but her’s my question, why is he fighting Acnologia? It’s been built sense the timeskip he’d fight Zeref but this wasn’t built up at all, other than Erza was there.

So any positives? Well... Yes. Wendy’s moment is amazing, she has come far. It’s always good to see development acknowledged. She’s probably the most developed character in this chapter.

Also Acnologia is still on point. He’s taking everything Jellal has and just laughing it off. It’s nice to see him not treated as less. Also I was Glad to see Erza not do something. She shouldn’t be able to given her condition fro just recovering.

Ugh this is the part where I pass final verdict but before I do, I want to say we don’t have much time left for FT. I think we may have only 15-20 chapters left maybe less. And I want all of them to be great but no more like these, Hiro, please this is what you leave people with, it’s time to buckle down and really try. Because this climax could be awful if you stay the course.

Final Verdict: 3/10

Foreshadowing “what’s that”

Below average pacing

Me: