Fairy Tail

It's been a while, hasn't it? That's partially due to me not reading FT fanfiction, but also because I haven't felt the desire to speak about anything specific until now.

Warning: will include spoilers through the end of the manga, if you don't like reading the manga/ haven't gotten there yet, please don't read this.

Okay, now that it's just you and me (unless someone's sneaking around), I wanna talk about the series as a whole. If you were wanting a goofy expose on the ridiculous nature of fanfiction, you'll be disappointed. It'll be a disorganized essay of critiques of the series components. Don't be alarmed if you see some strong opinions. FT is very dear to my heart, that doesn't mean I won't criticize the shit out of it. Let me emphasize that this is all MY OPINION, I'm not telling you to think exactly like me or to tell you that you're wrong in any way. Feel free to express your own opinion if you actually have something to say besides "you suck" like people have in the past.

I'm gonna focus on (some) characters, since I feel that's the most likely to show how my thoughts about FT have changed over which will into other critiques I have of the series.

When I first got into it, Erza was my favorite. She's super strong, loves cake, and was very pretty. She always got back up and kept her high reputation. Now, she somewhat annoys me. She never lost a battle. Not a single one. She had a draw, and that was the closest she ever got. She was completely blinded and deafened by Kyoka and still won. Overpowered much? I understand that she is a protagonist and is supposed to win, but to that extent? Nuh-uh. Not cool dude. Where Natsu sometimes would tag out and let someone else fight or get extra help, Erza would finish it all on her own. Wizard saints, the strongest mages in the continent, lost battles. Hell, Makarov DIED in battle(I'll add more about this dude later). She came out of everything with just a few scratches and bandages. I've talked to other people that have complained about Natsu's Nakama Power, but Erza is the true wielder of that magic. I'm not even gonna talk about her armor (the most powerful armor is no armor). I understand that FT is very ecchi but to the point where I get distracted about where Erza's nipples are because of how insane her armor is instead of getting invested in the fight?

Back in 2012, I hated Wendy. I found her annoying, whiney, gullible, and much more. Currently, I think that she didn't add much to the series other than being a support mage/another dragon slayer/Loli-bait. By another slayer I mean another "yo lemme use dragon force" sequence where nakama power is steroids. I loved the hair cut during the Tartarus arc, I thought it was gonna show some progression or something interesting, but nah. Couple chapters later, Cancer swoops in to put it back to the way it was. I liked how she made friends with Chelia. I felt like it was good for her to have a friend her own age rather than be stuck with a group of 17+ year olds. I'd have much preferred her staying with Chelia than rejoining the team just because of the way she jostled the dynamic of the original team. When she initially showed up, I felt like it made the team awkward. It was also a very odd time to add a new person to their group. They had established themselves and had somewhat of a routine then suddenly, they got this kid who's been isolated 90% of her life and she has no clue how to deal with anything. I wanted something to her more than just the initial "well her dragon parent is gone and somehow she lived with ghosts up until now." Still don't ship her with anyone, she doesn't know who she is yet, she's still figuring out friendship/family. Let her be shipless.

I was fine with Gray. He did his thing. Had emotional moments. Tried to use Ice Shell too many times but whatever. He tried to infiltrate something and failed. He realized he hurt Juvia deeply and tried to make up for it. Grew from "everyone I love dies" to "I'll try bb." The whole "I'm gonna kill END" thing was super dumb. Came out of nowhere just to add some last minute tension between him and Natsu. It would have been successful if they had any tension (besides the petty insults and name calling) between them beforehand, but they didn't. Overall, he wasn't a perfect person, and that's what made him a good character, or at least one of the better ones in the series.

I loved Juvia back in the day. She cute or whatever, but she was minimized to such an extent that I was on the fence about whether I liked her at all. She had some fights, yeah, but then everything about her eventually became "Gray's chick," if that makes sense. Maybe it was because they were trying to wrap up the series, but she gave me that vibe. After the "secret infiltration mission" that happened with Gray I feel like she was just kinda existing. Her character was lost when they got closer because her character beforehand was just "pining for Gray." In discussion of the stalker aspect, I wanna quickly contrast her Marinette from Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir. Marinette definitely stalks Adrien and has a massive crush on him, but she still is her own person. She has a very bold personality and stands up for others (not just Adrien) when they're struggling. She also has other friends that she actually talks to and other goals (designing, being class president, being Ladybug) besides her love interest. Juvia doesn't have anything like that, and that's why her obsession with Gray is massively unhealthy and became a huge flaw in her character design.

I honestly expected more from Natsu. What reallllllly hits me is how he abandoned Lucy after the Tartarus arc and received no backlash from her. Like girl, he left you and all you're gonna do is say that it sucked? After everything you've gone through with this person who is your best friend? And Natsu's barely gonna apologize? Smh. Anyways, the ending battles... ugh. The big Z, the guy they've been rearing up to fight for so long, done in 3 chapters. Let me remind you that they weren't even three full chapters, they were combined with a fight against Acnologia from the other squad. Nakama power woo whatever. Then there was his fight against Acnologia which was just more "Natsu does the punching and the friendship." I'm giving him was the whole "you gotta choose whether you're a demon or dragon" thing with Igneel, because that was good. I also liked the story of his familial ties to Zeref. More self-reflection or mental discoveries definitely would've been my cuppa tea. Yeah this girl wanted the shounen hero to think about more than just nakama, apologies.

At the end of the series, Lucy was my favorite. She was very easy to be invested in, so many talents and aspects to cling to and hope that everything would turn out okay for her. It's hard not to root for her considering that she is the narrator in certain parts (very beginning, 1yr skip, 2nd yr skip/end). She had everything to be a proper protagonist, but I felt like she was cheated. She didn't have memorable fights at the end of the series but she had such interesting powers that I was soooo looking forward to her using. Not to mention all that she did for Natsu. The nearly burning alive to rewrite his book. The getting nekkid to warm him when he was near-death. The final chapter where she basically tells him that he's the reason that she is the person she has become over the past 2 (9 if big skip counts) years. That was such an emotional moment that was well deserved after everything that happened, but he said the equivalent of "k" and dragged her off for a mission. At least give her a hug back, jerk. She deserved so much more.

Makarov should be dead. I get surviving the whole magic deprivation sickness thing to show he's super strong, so I'll give that one a pass. But stalling Acnologia on Tenroujima? Should be dead. After that, when he was kidnapped during the year long time skip, DEFINITELY should be dead. When he was killed in the battle against Alvarez, he DIED. Why is that 88 year old man not still dead? Please, this character alone is reason enough for someone to complain that no one in Fairy Tail dies. Plenty of side characters and antagonists died, no weight against this guy. This would have been a very worthy death, he was a major part of so many lives and it would've really been a hefty chunk of emotion if he stayed dead.

Unlike Makarov's immortality, Ultear's sacrifice was truly that. She set up a spell, knowing the consequences, and accepted them with no one reviving her or saving her last minute. As a character she had a lot to add and had a great moral turn-around that was desperately needed.

Another sacrifice was Aquarius. Like Ultear, Aquarius was fully aware of the repercussions of the events that were about to occur. When it happened, it actually got me in tears. When it was mentioned that Lucy could find her key again, it got me furious! A sacrifice of that degree should be permanent with no chance of reversal. Revealing that she could come back completely undercut the emotional impact of when Lucy made the decision to summon the King and lose a tie to her childhood/the beginning of her magic ability to save the lives of her guild mates.

As to magic abilities and getting stronger, there's no training montages or showing effort going into expanding magic besides like one time where Lucy meditates. Even just a little bit of something would have been satisfactory to me. Instead of anything like that, Natsu is just given some magic and gets a boost, or Erza's just shows up with armor that perfectly fits the situation, or Jellal has Ultear unlock everyone's second origin. It might just be that I like seeing more of the character struggling with his/her own abilities like Gon and Killua did in HunterXHunter and work on improving themselves instead of merely defeating the baddie of the week.

Shipping stuff: never gave a shit about ZerefxMavis, and yes, I read FT Zero. LevyxGajeel and ElfEver are cannon. Cool. Does Gruvia count as cannon? I desperately wanted Fraxus, I knew it would never happen, but I wanted it. I'm thankful for the way they played the other Laxus ships as "rumors." After reflecting a bit, I'm glad that NaLu wasn't cannon. Everyone was saying they would get together like Haru and Ellie, but you know, Haru and Ellie had much more of a romantic relationship than Natsu and Lucy ever did. Haru and Ellie had progression in their feelings and had actual moments where Lucy and Natsu had nothing of the sort. Sure, NaLu had ecchi moments and Nakama moments, but nothing that looked to be mutually romantic. To me, it was best left as platonic instead of suddenly forcing them together at the end.

As a whole, I feel like fairy tail would have benefitted from more risk-taking. Even minor changes like the hair thing with both Wendy and Natsu were reversed in just a few chapters. The nobody dying thing. The whole "Fairy Tale Happily Ever After" thing would still exist if there had been more emotional distress and perma-loss along the way. It would have even made it better to have had the lows stay low and the highs that contrasted the lows. Rollercoasters are more fun when they have dramatic dips and loops rather than just a slight wiggle, right?

I had fun on the journey that FT took me on, as many disappointments as I had upon reflection. I'm glad I read it and I'll remember the adventure I had. I wouldn't recommend it to someone unless they specifically wanted a long shounen/ecchi series. It'll be in a special place in my heart of course. I mean, I followed it for five years, it's not something you can just forget.

(I spent a long time writing and revising this to accurately portray my thoughts here, so please give your honest opinion in the reviews. I want to know what other people think.)