Forum - View topicREVIEW: Fairy Tail GN 10
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vulcanraven01
Posts: 677 |
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Decent summary of the volume and the series in general.
The plot is rather average but thankfully the characters are part of what people come back for. You can't say that about every shonen manga so at least Fairy Tail does do something right in that regard. In terms of storytelling though, that's not where shonen series really excell. Even the likes of One Piece, Bleach and Naruto have rather predicitable plots (especially Bleach), but all 3 of them are entertaining, and that's all you can expect from a shonen. If you want plots that grip you with twists that boggle your mind, perhaps check out another genre. |
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CCSYueh
 Posts: 2707 Location: San Diego, CA |
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There isn't a whole lot new under the sun. If one is looking for cutting edge, is shonen really the place to go? I thought that was more seinen's place.
Isn't shonen sort of we know what we're getting? McDonalds?
Considering this is a pretty standard plot device, how can it really be a game changer? In any team title, a team member being removed (kidnapped or killed) is a pretty sensible tactic for reducing the fighting skill of the top team.
Wouldn't it be a pain to get every character's past when every character is introduced? It'd definitely take forever to get thru an arc. New character! Got to devote 20-60 pages to their past!
This is more Slayers than Getter Robo. We really don't expect the threat to be aliens, do we?
Because that's usually when stuff happens? One can usually avoid car crashes when one is paying attention. It's when you look at the dash or your drink spills you probably don't see the idiot on the cell phone coming at you.
Isn't there really only a few reasons for abduction? Custody. Random victim of a criminal. Personal grudge.
Is this the Sieg Hart clone plot? You know somethings up because the author's even said it in the back notes. Vol 10 is as good as any a place to get working on the main arc. How long did Bleach make it until we got to Aizen?
Not really. I don't expect originality from Rumiko Takahashi. I expect good craft. Like going to McDonalds or Burger King, I know when I pick up on of her stories, I will get a certain level of entertainment. She knows her craft well. Mashima also delivers pretty much as requested. So far this one hasn't slipped into a dull spot (GTO did. I've dropped other titles for lags). My 10's in the mail, but I do look forward to it. Fairy Tail is usually a fun read. |
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doctordoom85
 Posts: 2094 |
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Mm, can't say I agree here. There have been plenty of unpredictable moments in these series, yes even Bleach (back in the SS arc days). I find a plot only predictable if a person can accurately guess where the series will go in the next few years, and no one has really done that.
That's hardly always the case. For example, I like Gantz and Bamboo Blade, but I would laugh at someone who said they were more complex than Fullmetal Alchemist and Death Note. Heck, even One Piece has to be commended for its vast world full of countless characters, extremely few of which turn out to be throw-away. |
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CCSYueh
Posts: 2707 Location: San Diego, CA |
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The basic plot of shonen is the hero fights the big bad. Subdivision plot is hero gathers his team of hero underlings (herolings) & goes wail on the baddie--usually a series of sub-baddies building to the Big Boss. All the little window dressings are what make each story that story. Shinigami. Ninja. Genre specific stories like Death Note also fall under the guidelines of the genre (Mystery).
Sorry. If one is paying attention, very little should surprise one. Short of it turning out Aizen's little revolt has some noble cause such as the whole Soul Reaper Society is corrupt to its core & he's working to change it Aizen is the big bad in Bleach who will be defeated (likely killed. Kinder/gentler version-saved & converted. He can be saved & killed like Rezo in Season 1 of Slayers also). Considering the number of characters he's callously killed (directly or indirectly), I don't believe he's secretly a good guy. Yeah, Kubo can always pull out the the secret uber boss plot pulling Aizen's strings, but I'd feel a bit cheated because Aizen is a pretty good baddie.
Is Gantz shonen? I've only read one volume, although I have the anime, but I classed it as seinen because of the sci fi elements. I've never looked it up, but while there is a sort of big bad (whoever's controlling all these fighters), I don't know if the ultimate direction is to fight it. If it is, that does pretty neatly fall into the basic shonen plot. Bamboo Blade looks like one of those chick heavy dude appealing titles I avoid as much as guys seem to steer clear of BL & male harem titles. Harem titles may be shonen or shojo, but fall under harem guidelines & my harem guidelines are pretty broad (Weiss Kreuz & Saiyuki are harem because they offer a variety of beautiful bishonen for the viewer's pleasure. Cromarte may be full of guys, but is in no way a male harem. It's gag humor which is a special genre again) I wasn't saying the characters are throw-away. I'm simply saying the basic types exist to satisfy the tastes of the consumers. If I want mexican food, I don't go to Yoshinoya. (In fact, I would probably pick Taco Bell over Jack-in-the-Box if I were hankering for something somewhat mexican. Jack-in-the-Box tacos have their appeal, but the are more gringo mexican than Taco Bell which is more gringo than a non-chain restaurant specializing in the type of food) If I want to read BL, I'm not picking up a shonen title. If I'm in the mood for shonen, I'm not picking up shojo. I usually have a good-sized backlog of books to read so it's very much the mood I'm in that decides what gets read. My last batch of books saw me finish Antique Gift Shop, then Time After Time, then D-GreyMan 8, then Angel Diary while Nabari No Ou 3 is sitting there while I read Sorcerer Hunters 5 from my really back-backlog. I see a lot of people say they felt like reading this or that genre so they read XXX title far more than I see "I felt like reading so I just grabbed any manga I could get my hands on" |
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doctordoom85
Posts: 2094 |
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"The basic plot of shonen is the hero fights the big bad"
That's the basic plot of a ton of things more out there than shonen. Technically, even Death Note doesn't escape this, Light faces off against L/Near/Mello, just not in the traditional way. I can only assume you meant "everyone can see it all coming" as only applying to current Bleach. Naruto and One Piece are definitely not predictable in the plot progression (though sometimes that's a good thing and sometimes a bad thing, as in some events are properly foreshadowed and/or set up for, while others kinda come out of nowhere, like when Toriyama threw a guy named Raditz down to Earth  ), and most of the fanbase actually ends up wrong on the plot twists, like how most people guessed wrong on who a certain Akatsuki member truly was, or (One Piece spoilers) spoiler[who would be the first major death of the recent war arc in One Piece].
Gantz and Bamboo Blade are seinen. Seinen is seinen, people can argue "oh, but it's not a TRUE seinen/shonen/shojo/etc.", but at the end, the official classification is what we go by. Bamboo Blade is not a harem, not even close. Heck, it's not even a "moe" title really. I never said that you said any characters were throw-away. I was just justifying One Piece's large cast, rather than some series which add tons of new characters while discarding tons of older characters. |
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vashfanatic
 Posts: 3495 Location: Back stateside |
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Where did he say Gantz was shounen? He was plucking out two seinen series (Gantz and Bamboo Blade) and saying they were less complex than two shounen series (Fullmetal Alchemist and Death Note), to argue against the idea that seinen is always more complex than shounen. And as for Fairy Tale being unpredictable etc., I read the summary to this volume and thought, "Wait, isn't that the Arlong arc?" So yeah. |
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CCSYueh
Posts: 2707 Location: San Diego, CA |
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Do you honestly think Naruto isn't going to come out on top on the last page of Naruto?
Do you believe someone other than Luffy is going to be the King of the Pirates? Is it a surprise someone died in One Piece? Yeah, but only because the author has bent so far over not to kill very many characters in the past, yet with that in mind, it makes the whole thing a game of Hot Potato--who's going to be it? If this character is really dead (returns aren't all that unusual in shonen), then it is brutal, yet wouldn't it make sense for it to be this character vs one of the long-time crew (if we're talking the same character)? I could give several reasons for this death. Look at Gurren Lagann. One could argue Simon would never have reached his potential had a certain someone not bit the dust. One could also argue that character HAD to bite the dust because there really was no room for him to expand. He was the sacrifice to nudge Simon on. If it's the character I'm thinking of, he has an attachement to Luffy without being a main cast character so he is expendable, but can serve as a catalyst for Luffy. I will agree I was surprised FMA has actually managed to kick in a bit more suspense than I ever expected it was capable of, particularly considering how lacking it was in prior chapters. I found a few dry spots in there & wouldn't be shocked if they were a few more to come. However, don't we expect the Homunculi side to fail? Death Note, on the other hand, has the whole mystery genre to help pull it up. The author has managed to write a pretty interesting mystery. DN sort of broke the usual mystery mold by following the villain & not the hero so it set out on its path early. (I still run into fans who see Light as the hero.) Toriyama is fond of robots & aliens. Why wouldn't he bring Raditz into DBZ? Sorry. I gave up on Naruto...somewhere back around Sasuke abandoning the village. I have 3090 volumes of manga & manwha as of the box I got from TRSI tonight. I choose to pursue what interests me & for ongoing domestic shonen releases, that's Bleach, Hoshin Engi, FMA, Fairy Tail, One Piece, Shaman King, SDK & D-Grey Man...Bastard if we ever see another volume. Nabari no Ou...Hellsing's seinen, isn't it? Gintama I see as more gag manga than shonen. Same with Zetsubo, Excel & Sgt Frog. I'm buying Jump SQ for Tsumikabatsu which I really don't see ever getting licensed here, but that's also gag. Young Magician & Ghost Hunt are on terminal hold. Otherwise, I'm mostly reading manwha, yaoi & shojo-Kuroshitsuji, Blackbird, KKM, Junjyo Romantica, Silver Diamond... Hoshin Engi is like the opposite of OP-I'll be amazed at anyone I like in that one surviving. One of the next ep previews for the anime quipped it was "The anime with a body count." I finish every volume of the manga either breathing a sigh of relief or (as with last volume) mourning the loss of one of my favorite characters (actually 2 last time) Within the first couple volumes of a title, one knows where one is headed. One knows if it's a title where one can see the hero going down as a noble sacrifice or if the hero will get to ride off into the sunset. I do not see the 5 main heroes (if one counts the mascot character) in Fairy Tail as dying outside of a temporary plot device. We could lose most any of the other guild members. That's not 5 chicks on the cover of Bamboo Blade set 1? That's not 5 chicks in skirts on the cover of set 2? They're crossdressers?
I still don't know what moe is. Every person seems to have a slightly different definitition so my understanding of it is vague. I didn't say it was a harem title. I said it looks like the chick-heavy titles aimed at guys. At least Tenjyo Tenge gave us some bishonen. Why should I buy something that isn't going to give me some sort of satisfaction? |
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doctordoom85
Posts: 2094 |
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Geez, okay. Most people don't have such a strong definition of the word "predictable", but apparently you do, though all you're really argued about is who will ultimately triumph (without detailing the cost much) and who will survive in the long run. That's not much of a prediction.
"Why should I buy something that isn't going to give me some sort of satisfaction?"  How the heck should I know THAT sort of thing gives you satisfaction? Tons of males read shojo without being attracted to the female cast, but rather enjoy the comedy and drama. Granted, I can't make that claim, as I find Haruhi from Ouran HSHC and Saki (yes, this one is an odd attraction, I admit) from Fruits Basket attractive, but I'm not attracted to any of the women/girls in 20th Century Boys, Bamboo Blade, Fullmetal Alchemist, O. Parts Hunter, Soul Eater, and Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles, all of which are among the manga series I'm buying currently, and all of which are shonen or seinen (AKA aimed at guys).
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CCSYueh
Posts: 2707 Location: San Diego, CA |
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I've always liked puzzles so anything I read or watch, I'm also picking apart, looking for where it's headed. Will it go for the more interesting path or take the path of least resistance? A lot of shojo winds up on the path of least resistance which is why it's amazing I'm reading so much of it right now (yaoi is fluff/eyecandy overall, so with lowered expectations, I actually am pleased to get a good read when I hit it.) Maybe it means the licensors are picking & choosing better to bring over better shojo titles. God knows TP has wallowed in the fluffy shojo titles to where I'm pretty wary of their shojo that isn't yaoi-ish.
So if one has read enough, one can pick up clues. I dropped off by the 5th Harry Potter, but I could tell from 4 we were very likely to lose Dumbledore just from the imagry the author was using. She used some imagry to suggest Harry might have to make the ultimate sacrifice, yet the rest of her writing didn't suggest she could bring it off, so that was always a very low probability. In shonen our hero usually has some hidden potential. We haven't seen it fully explained yet in Fairy Tail, but it will be sufficient to explain why Natsu deserves to be the main male hero. We maybe had it revealed in Gray's backstory so he may be an open book, though he is fully team-member mode like Zoro or Sanji. We've cracked the surface of Lucy with her keys, but, as I await vol 10 to arrive in the mail, I only have vol 9 to go off. The whole use of the concept of keys suggests a pretty large potential on Lucy's part to be THE kick-ass of the team (keys open things), so I won't be shocked if she can actually wipe the floor up with Ezra when Lucy fully matures (pending my reading Ezra's background material. If Ezra's a god, which I haven't seen any support for, she obviously gets a giant power-reassessment) Ezra is also side-kick material in the way she is written compared to how Lucy is written. Totally unpredictable would be Zoro killing Sanji or Usopp & it not being a ruse to fool someone. The reason stuff like Bobobo is fun is because it pulls weird srtuff in from left field. Yes, we still expect the heroes to win, but the method of winning plays on the extreme, so the unexpected becomes expected. |
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