#Anti Nalu

[terriluvss]

I just came across a bunch of people saying Natsu never loved Lisanna and that they all hated her in the big 2025!! Yall annoy me SO bad. Wdym he never loved Lisanna but you turn around and say in the same breath he loves Lucy? Girl where? You mean the man who calls Lucy fat, invaded her apartment without listening to her boundaries, ‘left’ her alone during tartaros, etc?

When has Natsu’s fire in literally ever took on the shape of a HEART for Lucy? Natsu has fire in his mouth that changes into the shape of a heart when he sees Lisanna, because he loves her. So stop disrespecting Lisanna. She never did anything wrong I’m tired of Nalu fans hating on her for being the sweetest side character who did nothing wrong.

You can ship Nalu, but lets not deny the facts that Natsu definitely has/had feelings for Lisanna too. If you are going to be rude and disrespectful than I can do that too. So don’t be rude now, you are allowed to hate Lisanna, and hate nali too, but don’t go being misogynistic or downright toxic to Lisanna fans because of it. Anyway, sorry for the rant I just really had to get this off my chest. <3

[thegraylushipper]

the Nalu and Gruvia fandom will never learn to respect what other people ship🤦‍♀️

[shinpikurage]

Couldn't include every single one I stumbled upon AO3 sorry :( so if you like any other one, even if it's a crackship or really rare, please do tell! I love Lucy ships

[natsubeatsrock]

"Nalu is already a couple. They just don't know it yet."

Let's get something out of the way before I start. Characters being placed in awkward sexual situations or accidentally molesting others isn't proof that they're going to be a couple. I've been saying this for nearly a decade, but fandom hasn't gotten the memo yet.

Knock it off.

You've seen the title. Nalu fans make this argument for the ship. Lucy doesn't see themselves in a romantic relationship and is uneasy about confessing to her. Natsu, on the other hand, already believes they're dating. Therefore, it's only a matter of time before they realize how they feel about each other.

Do I need to talk about this one? You know I'm against this idea. I mentioned this idea years ago.

Here's the thing. This idea isn't just a possible path Nalu fans see for their ship. This idea is the most popular path Nalu fans see. I've seen iterations of this argument in every circle of Fairy Tail fandom I've interacted with recently. People make it here on Tumblr, Reddit, and the site formerly known as Twitter. It's the inspiration behind much of Nalu's current art and stories. It's not unfair to call this the default fanon route for Nalu to happen.

Do I care about hating Nalu enough to tear the idea down again?

Surprisingly, no.

However, I've seen some things that are worth talking about now. Mostly, I want to explain what I've meant all these years by saying I don't see Nalu as having meaningful development.

Let's review two issues with this line of reasoning.

First, Mashima hasn't written Nalu romantically in the main series. Technically, this shouldn't apply to this argument. Something might have changed in the sequel. However, this will be important later.

Second, it feels cheap to consider this as Mashima's plan for Nalu. Everything we've gotten over close to two decades, and Mashima can't show they already like each other? Do we have to deal with this miscommunication nonsense before they're official? How could Nalu fans be happy that this is how the ship will happen? I don't even like Nalu, but I'd be pissed off for their fandom. (That might be too far.)

Now, let's consider the following. How can you prove this?

How do you prove Natsu thinks they're already a couple and not just good friends? How can you prove Lucy wants them to be something more?

Anime fans have recently seen something like this. In My Dress-Up Darling, Marin falls for Gojo after their first cosplay event. We see her struggle with her feelings for the rest of the show. Meanwhile, Gojo is shown to be (*cough*) attracted to her. He doesn't want to embarrass himself or violate her boundaries. Unfortunately, the anime ends before we get a resolution, so I can't say anything else. (Announce another season already!)

That show followed a technique recently developed by writers. We see this divide in the show. I'd be shocked if anyone who's seen the show would disagree with what I said in the last paragraph.

What have we seen in the way of Nalu?

It's the same nonsense we've seen before.

We've seen stuff that isn't overtly romantic from these two. There's no lovey-dovey nonsense. Natsu and Lucy are not an official couple. They don't flirt with each other. They work together, but we don't see them agonize over their feelings. Despite this, fans still believe they'll be a couple any moment now.

"Wait a minute, what about-"

I'm going to stop you right there. Here's a simple checklist I want you to follow. The answer to all three questions should be yes.

Is this a canon moment about Natsu and Lucy's relationship?

Does it reveal their feelings about their relationship?

Does it clearly show Natsu or Lucy want to be a couple or believe they are already a couple?

I don't want to hear any moment that doesn't pass this checklist.

I don't care that Natsu thought about what his and Lucy's kid would look like.

I don't care about what Lucy said when she heard about Touka.

I don't care about whatever dumb fanservice moment you want to mention.

If the best proof you have can't pass this check, there's no reason to believe this ship will happen.

Let's try this with Jerza, another ship fandom generally agrees on.

I've made much of Jellal's invitation to join Fairy Tail. Let's use this checklist to explain why.

A big issue with Jerza has been proximity. According to Jellal, he's been on the path of the dark, whereas Erza's been on the path of the light. It's been a long path of self-acceptance and legal troubles. However, Jellal seems to be going on the right path.

Then we get to Erza's invitation. Erza puts the ball into Jellal's hands. They've certainly grown closer since his return. However, does he want to be that close to her? The answer seems to be yes.

Let's review. These are canon events showing that Jellal and Erza want to be closer. Much of the moments imply romance as a motivation.

What have we gotten from Nalu that is similar? Ever?

Fair is fair. Nothing happened in the main series because Mashima wasn't writing them to be a couple. I'm not going to hold that against fans or Nalu.

What's the reason now? They're already a couple? What sense does that make?

If anything, it makes more sense that Mashima hasn't changed his approach to writing them. He still isn't writing Nalu to be romantic. They're certainly not a couple now. Very little seems to suggest that's genuinely changing soon.

Is there anything that could change this?

It is still possible that we'll get some flashbacks to a moment when Natsu and Lucy became somewhat of a couple. I'd argue this can't work with the rest of the series timeline. However, Mashima has been flexible with Gajevy's timeline. We could get something that shows they've been doing the quasi-romantic dance people think they're in.

However, I have a theory for how Nalu would become canon.

We get to see the final battle. Natsu beats Ignia with the power of his friends. Everything ends fine, and the crew goes back to the guild hall. Hard cut to the future. We see Natsu and Lucy have become a couple.

There's no lead-up or explanation behind it. Natsu and Lucy are a couple. Roll credits.

Again, I've shared my feelings about this possibility. However, I want to answer a simple question: why? Why would Mashima do this?

Mashima's not an idiot. He knows that (most) fans want Nalu to happen. He wouldn't make so much art of them on Twitter if he didn't. We got the Edolas kids because fans asked him to draw them on his second NYCC trip.

However, he didn't mean to write the ship as romantic from the jump. Mashima wrote the Special Request chapter because he didn't plan to make them a couple. He's been content to write the series without a romance between his two leads.

If he decides to make Nalu happen, I wouldn't be shocked if we jump to Nalu after it happens. If Nalu developed throughout the series, I'll talk about it. If fandom's losing their minds over anything that can't pass the simple check I've established, it's not worth my time.

"Oh, you're just hedging your bets because you're insecure about Nalu."

Why would I do that?

I've said this more than once. I don't care about the ships in the sequel. It's not going to affect my stories. It won't change the decisions I make in my rewrite. I'll continue to write about the ship and its fandom as I have. Nothing will change about my writing.

I highly doubt Mashima will change my mind over the last few arcs. Do you know what's more likely to happen? I'll hate the ship more because of how poorly it sailed. I've been ripping into Gruvia and Juvia's death for years. You'd better believe that I'd do the same for canon Nalu.

Of course, I don't think I'll have to worry about that for some time. I've had this post in my drafts for months. I wanted to wait until I was caught up with the sequel before I posted this. Here it is.

[riexlu]

so i’m just getting back into the FT fandom. i was a HUGE fan circa 2018 but faded out after a couple years. i didn’t know there was a divide between nalu/anti-nalu shippers?? is it new?

[erasurecloud]

The way Mashima straight up refuses to make Na/Lu canon will never not be funny to me

[rururi-chan]

@spacepolice vs me and @grayluforever

me and @grayluforever and other graylu shippers:*minding our own buiseness and enjoying graylu*

@spacepolice:you can't do that!!!!! Nalu and gruvia are canon and graylu is fanon!!!!!!

Us:and? We don't care lol!

@spacepolice:stop shipping graylu cuz nalu and gruvia are canon

Us:no

@spacepolice:WHY ARE YOU BEING SO TOXIC????!!!

Us:bruh

[yukii0nna]

💙 Fairy Tail

Nalu

Don't get me wrong, as a brotp they're pretty cool but as a romantic ship, it kinda soured for me over the years. What with the being strangled by the red string and all. The friendship is still sweet to me. In fact, I imagine them as each other's wingmen. I just have other options for them as a couple that's all.

@punkeropercyjackson @bakawitch @kousaka-ayumu

[xkeyairuh]

hello sorry for disturbing you but are you a graylu shipper? tbh gruvia and nalu are both very forced ships imo

I am a Gray//lu shipper. However, I'm not interested in putting energy in gru//via or na//lu. I let people ship what they do as long as it's not weird. My opinions on both ships are redundant and won't change the minds of those who ship it, so I don't push any narrative of mine.

I just enjoy my ships in my corner of the internet and don't interact with ships I don't like.

[terriluvss]

anti nalu shipper: I don’t see it I think their sibling coded

Nalu shipper: eRm WeLl aCtuAllY *pulls out not canon fanarts, and random times where Lucy accidentally fell on him in a weird way.* s-See thIs is pRoOf thEir nOt siBling coded

Yeah because nonconsenual groping is so romantic (sarcasm)

[thegraylushipper]

graylu is healthier and has other positive points than nalu and gruvia

[freakinname]

I'LL NEVER SHIP NALU! NEVER! AND YOU CAN'T CHANGE MY MIND!

[natsubeatsrock]

Lisanna Makes Me Hate My Fandom More

Is Lisanna overrated by her fans?

No.

I can't believe that I even have to argue this.

And yet here we are.

I even debated the necessity of this post. Do we need another post saying fandom doesn't value Lisanna? Do we really need ANOTHER one?

Well, I need to get back into this writing on this blog somehow.

I reblogged a post about how fans worship characters you dislike some time ago. Someone reblogged my post all but saying they don't like how Lisanna's elevated over others because of filler moments by her fans. I know the person is a Nalu shipper, but I want to keep this about Lisanna. I have to imagine they think fans of Lisanna elevate her over Lucy. I'm not really interested in talking about that. All I care about is that argument about Lisanna's importance.

Part of me agrees with this. Much of the noise made about Lisanna comes from overestimating her relevance before coming back. This post wouldn't exist if I didn't like her, at the very least. However, as I've mentioned, she wasn't built up like multiple other characters or elements in the series.

Do I think we're on the same wavelength about this idea? Almost certainly not. If you think otherwise, remember that they ship Nalu.

But why make a post about this?

Honestly, this post has been on the back burner for years. I've posted it now as a prelude to another post I've been working on. Despite talking about Lisanna almost too much, I don't think I've emphasized something enough.

I've been talking about how fans handle Lisanna, given canon. I happen to be more generous than others are. Though, I have the opposite view of the situation. I don't think fandom does enough with Lisanna. Especially considering everything we've gotten from her.

I've done this a few times, but entertain me. Put Natsu & the Dragon Egg and everything the anime added to the side for a moment. (I need to talk about that special one of these days.) What has Fairy Tail actually told us about Lisanna?

Lisanna is the younger sister of two fan-favorite characters, Mirajane and Elfman. She'd had a close relationship with the series protagonist before the series started. (Yes, I'm considering Natsu as the protagonist for now.) About two years before Lucy met Natsu, she was presumed dead after a mission didn't go well. However, she was actually transported to another dimension. She spent two years working with an alternate version of Fairy Tail, pretending to be their version of Lisanna.

I know that's only a paragraph's worth of information. Admittedly, canon doesn't show a lot of this information. You're not getting the same focus on Lisanna as you would any member of the Strongest Team. Heck, you're not getting the same focus on her as people like Juvia or Cana at nearly any point of Fairy Tail. We've seen more of Mira and Elfman individually after Lisanna returned than just Lisanna over the entire series.

But let's break down each sentence of that paragraph.

Are fans doing a whole lot with Lisanna's relationship with her siblings? Are people writing about the Strauss kids as siblings? What do they think of each other? How has their relationship been affected by their experiences before and since joining Fairy Tail?

Are fans doing a whole lot with Lisanna's relationship with Natsu? I know most people dismiss their past relationships as currently irrelevant. However, it doesn't seem as though Mashima's forgotten about it. What about their past relationship affects their current relationship? What would a partnership between them look like at this point in the series? (I say this knowing this isn't very likely with the sequel's current events.) Is it possible that they could become closer than they are now in canon?

Are fans doing a lot with the mission that supposedly killed Lisanna? How does this affect those close to Lisanna? How do they treat her once she's back? How does the rest of the guild think of the situation?

Are fans doing a lot with Lisanna's time with Edolas? She spent two years with alternate versions of nearly every character in Fairy Tail. How does this affect her views of characters she didn't know before going to Edolas? How does she feel about Edolas and Edolas Fairy Tail? Does she resent being away from Earthland for so long or miss being in Edolas?

As far as I can tell, most people don't address these questions. People don't seem really interested in trying to read into Lisanna's relationships with her siblings or Natsu beyond potential shipping drama. People aren't interested in how Lisanna being in Edolas impacts anyone or anything in the series.

Now, people care about answering these questions. I've talked about these things quite a bit since Fairy Tail ended. My stories involving Lisanna in-series treat her time in Edolas as formative. And I've read several stories that provide answers to these questions from a number of perspectives.

However, most fans don't write about Lisanna thinking about these things. Has fandom moved past the kind of Lisanna that maliciously sabotages Lucy's place in the guild? Can't say. However, they're not doing a whole lot positive with her now.

"Why does it matter? Mashima obviously decided not to do a lot with Lisanna. Why would fans care about a character the series didn't do much with?"

The funny thing is that it's actually the opposite. Fans do (and should) care about Lisanna because there weren't canon answers to the questions surrounding her. Fans are interested in how these questions could be answered.

And frankly, this wouldn't be the first time. Mashima has done hilariously little with Meredy. But fans love her and create stuff for her all the time. She's one of my favorite minor characters to ship.

Heck, we got more of Levy because fans wanted to see more of her after Phantom Lord. The anime got Changeling to introduce Levy before Phantom Lord. However, there wasn't much else to her relevance to the series before and during that arc. It wasn't until the Fantasia arc that Levy became more plot-relevant and active. Mashima's gone on record to say fans are the reason why.

Fans have argued that Lisanna should have stayed dead for years. I've argued against this numerous times before. I've never understood why this matters to people. Of all the death fakeouts, why is Lisanna's such a big deal for fans? Mashima's written sloppier comebacks for characters. He's brought back characters with less importance. Why is Lisanna where fandom draws the line?

"What else do you expect from the Nalu vermin?"

Calm down, Chris. Of course, shipping has something to do with this. Nalu was always going to be popular with fans. Nalu is synonymous with the fandom. I've seen bias against Nali at work, even where it doesn't make sense.

However, you're not seeing the anti-Gruvia crowd write stories about Juvia being tortured and/or staying dead en masse. The issue with most isn't even with Juvia herself. Isolate her from Gruvia, and the problem is solved. The anti-Gruvia crowd falls into two camps: put Juvia with someone else or keep her away from Gray. Unless we're willing to argue that either is equivalent to killing Juvia, we don't have a discussion. (What day is today, again?)

The closest thing fandom's come up with for Lisanna is Bixanna. Unlike many ships, it feels like the fandom exists to give Lisanna someone to love. In fact, there's a small gap between AO3 stories with Bixanna and Nali. However, much of Bixanna's stories have the ship as a side attraction. Nali stories usually focus on Nali. That's telling on its own.

One last thing before the end. It feels irresponsible to end this post without making a suggestion to write Lisanna. Is there a good way to write Lisanna?

Incidentally, the anime gave us a solid approach. Lisanna has a tendency to tease others. We see it with Natsu at different ages in Natsu and the Dragon Egg. We see it with Elfman on Tenrou Island. If you're wondering, that crack about marrying Natsu aligns with that. That was also in the original chapter, so it's not without precedent from Mashima.

If you're writing Lisanna, you don't have to fall into many pitfalls other writers do. She doesn't have to be evil. She doesn't need to be possessive of Natsu. She doesn't have to be Mirajane's little shipping gremlin. (The fact that this is the best of these worries me.) She doesn't have to be the sacrificial lamb. At least make her a fun character to read.

In Conclusion:

Drink your respect Lisanna juice. This is not a request. This is a command.

[cheesydelphox]

Heya, I got two questions:

Why do you like Mest and Lahar so much?

What are your problems with Nalu? Is it because the ship feels forced?

my feelings on mest are less of a "like" and more of a fascination. i look at him like a human looks at a bad car crash. he is disgusting and gruesome and tragic and because of that i cannot look away due to a fascination that only exists because of a human's primal urge to Understand. i want to pick apart his brain like i would pick the pips off the world's largest blackberry. anyway.

i like lahar because uh..... i actually don't know. he's not important, he's not interesting, he's not relatable, he's not ANYTHING. he's barely a character. i really can't say why i like him. he is a cop that is determined to arrest people who are determined to become better. literally everything i stand against irl is embodied in this man and yet i love him. my fondness comes not from attraction but a sympathy. nobody thinks about him. nobody cared that he died. i relate to that omnipresent knowledge that i am forgettable. maybe if he was my 5th grade teacher i would be better off than i am today. i like his hair. idk.

i think the reason i'm so obsessed with them is more of hyperfixation than actual "like" (although it's painful to admit that because they've become so important to me and helped me cope with so much bullshit in my irl life)

as to why i don't like nalu, yes it feels forced. but not only that, natsu treats lucy horribly and everyone brushes over that fact. he is constantly invading her personal space and touching her in ways she does not consent to. he makes fun of her and assaults her and it is expected for her to like him regardless of that. i can't stand it. lucy is wonderful. she does not deserve to be treated like that.

[erasurecloud]

Does anyone else think that NaLu and GrUvia are overrated?

Nalu yes, way overrated. They’re better as friends and all their ‘moments’ are just horrible and uncomfortable and so forced. I could rant about how much I dislike them endlessly tbh. But I personally adore Gruvia. Nalu is the only ship out of the big 4 I don’t like.

[rururi-chan]

proof that lucy prefers gray over natsu

(This is for antis like @spacepollution and @paragonlegend02