Young Gray Fullbuster continues his hilarious adventures with Pause Lightless and Doronbo. Actually, if it was not for Doronbo, Gray and Pause’s travel to Magnolia would have been boring. Doronbo is actually the clown among the three, and there is no dull moment with Doronbo around. Doronbo’s wide-open eyes, creepy grin, and exaggerated surprised reactions are really enjoyable in this chapter! Ha! Ha!
Of course, Doronbo’s antics would not be funny if it were not for Gray’s irritable personality. He is easily annoyed with Doronbo’s behavior and the ensuing slapstick comedy is something to really crack for! 😀
Pause is still the same laid back, humble, and book-wormish mage character we met last chapter. He is the opposite of Doronbo and is not bothered at all by his antics, unlike Gray. You can say that Pause is the catalyst that keeps Gray and Doronbo together.
This chapter is an avenue for a bit of a backstory on Doronbo and provides for his character development. As a thief, Doronbo is actually a scaredy-cat but says it helps him in his role since it helps him react to danger in an instance, more like a “spider sense” (referencing The Amazing Spider-Man). It is also revealed that Doronbo was once a part of a gang of thieves who, because of his doing, was captured and he had no other recourse but to run away.
I love this chapter because we see a vulnerable side to an anti-hero (well, not much of an anti-hero, but not a protagonist, either). It was one of those, “Awww!” moments, specially when Doronbo went to great lengths to stop a train from resuming its course so his new-found “friends” would not miss it.
Overall, a nice story that does not really move forward, but I am still grateful it was made. 🙂
Chapter Disappointment: Not really disappointing, but it was a bit too much to see Doronbo reacting like that when they were attacked in the mage’s secret hideout.
Chapter Approval: Seeing Doronbo’s vulnerable side.
Chapter Witticism: Doronbo’s antics, the way they irritate Gray, and Gray’s response to those antics. 🙂
Chapter Cliffhanger: It turns out, looking at the last page of the chapter, Pause is one of those “intelligent-looking characters with a mystery objective”. It can also be gleaned from the way his glasses “never show his eyes”. In true animé fashion, it means that that character is hiding something / has something up his sleeve.
Recis Dempayos 