Manga: Fairy Tail Vol 61

Fairy Tail Vol 61 
Rating: 5/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

As the most powerful wizards of Fairy Tail face off against the remaining members of The Twelve, their hearts, relationships, and skills will be put to the test. The battle between Erza and Irene reaches an emotional conclusion, Gray shows how far he’s willing to go to save his dearest friends, and the love of a father sparks a shocking revelation from August. As Natsu and Zeref’s showdown approaches, both enemies and friends must ask themselves who their true family is! 

Two volumes left. There are literally two volumes left. I am so not ready. I'm really not. I'm going to be devastated when this is over. Absolutely devastated and finding out that after this there's only two volumes left has me taking my time reading this volume and trying not to rush through to the end...something I usually do with these volumes. I read them so fast it's ridiculous but I made a conscious effort to slow down and savour it more! 

With the final volume approaching things are moving quickly with the story, things are tense and edge of the seat and there's lots and lots of dramatic moments happening. Erza's battle concludes and hit me right in the feels, Magnolia is returned, it's revealed why Zeref needs Mavis's power, Natsu is back to normal *cheers* and ready to throw down with Zeref, and so much more. Gray faces off with Zeref alone and there was some serious ugly sobbing going down at Gray's plan and how everything went down and I was left kind of staring at the page like whaaaat just happened!? Did Mashima sensei really just do that!? 

One of my favourite scenes of this volume was a scene that perfectly mirrored an earlier scene in the series with Natsu and Gray. I genuinely can't even. This volume has seriously given me all the feels and knowing the end is nigh really doesn't help! I'm literally so full of tension whenever I pick up a Fairy Tail volume lately! 

We get to see Cana being a badass in this volume as she joins in with Gildarts tackling August. It was nice to see her get some more page time and use her abilities and so on. I also really love seeing her interact with Gildarts, it's funny and heartwarming and such an interesting relationship. I also spent a good chunk of time looking at August like "don't make Gildarts angry bro" but did he listen? Nope. So it kind of serves him right I guess. 

We get to meet Larcade in this volume, and I'd been spoiled about him a long time ago when the chapter originally came out in Japan and spoilers where all over YouTube and Twitter BUT I had completely misread his relationship with Natsu and Zeref. He wasn't at all what I was expecting and I actually felt really sorry for him. I'd quite liked to have seen some more of him and maybe seen him join the Guild and get given another chance. 

Another big moment of the volume is Natsu and Zeref having their showdown, something I've been looking forward to seeing for a while. Unfortunately it's interrupted by Acnologia making his appearance. I'm not going to lie to you guys. Acnologia is a complete and utter psycho. Seriously. I just want him taken out now. Like....come on guys. Time to do your Dragon Slayer duties and deal with him. Although I guess we owe him one for dealing with 'God Serena' for us?

As the volumes progress and we head towards the end, I'm getting hit in the feels more and more. This volume had me choked up more than once, and there was a really beautiful scene with Natsu and Gray. They have such an interesting relationship. They clearly care about each other but they always argue and fight, and in this volume...I think it's the first time Gray's called Natsu his friend. I could be wrong because it's been a while since I read the other volumes, but I think it is and the entire scene really choked me up. Then Natsu comes along like "you're my friend, right Gray?" and I just....*ugly sobbing*. It was so nice to see this genuine moment of friendship between the two of them and know that everything was okay between them after the earlier scenes. 

My one issue with this volume is that it's such a head**** about August and I was like whaaaaat!? and that was it. It would have been nice to see more of him and to see some more to that situation because SERIOUSLY?! 

Fairy Tail always puts me in a great mood, I always turn to it when I'm feeling down and needing a pick me up. It's one of those series where you wish you could join the Guild too, and I end up fist pumping and cheering so much when I read this series. It's obvious things are coming to a close as we're racing towards the climax of this final story arc. Things are getting more and more intense, there's more tension, more shock reveals and more intense battles. Not to mention heartwarming and heart breaking moments between characters. I was so in to this volume and so ready for what comes next and then...IT LEAVES YOU HANGING?! I'm so not cut out for this, I can't take the wait for the next volume after everything we learned in this one! 

One things for sure, this is one of my favourite series of all time and the final two volumes are going to be spectacular!