#ft analysis

[bumblebeehug]

When do u think Natsu actually realized that he fell for Lucy and i know he treats her differently but can u give moments where it's initiated from his side?

This is going to be a long post so buckle up!

Okay, first of all: the Phantom Lord arc. Though I don't think he fell in love with her at that point of time, I think it was the events that seriously solidified his partialness to her. I'd go into detail but I can already feel a long post incoming, so I'll keep it short: Lucy telling Natsu that she loves being a Fairy Tail wizard, while crying over the fact that she didn't want to leave ↓

After just trusting her life in Natsu, jumping from an insanely high tower, with a mere belief that maybe she had heard him in the distance – I think it struck a chord with Natsu. Like, it would be normal to cry after a fall like that, but Lucy wasn't concerned about that aspect. Her head and heart was all about the guild, how she didn't want to go, and that resonates with Natsu. Natsu's entire life at that point is 1) Finding Igneel, and 2) being with/protecting the guild.

Then I'd say it's a pretty gradual build in their relationship. They go on a lot of missions, hang out together, and just in general spend a lot of time connecting. There's some Natsu-saves-Lucy, some Lucy-saves-Natsu, some hand holding (tenrou arc I won't forget about that, thank you anime team for adding that scene), and then comes the next pivotal moment. GMG arc and the dragon festival that follows.

By then I'd say Natsu and Lucy are very much in this friends-with-emotional-benefit zone: much more than friends, absolutely not yet lovers. But with Lucy's near-death experiences in her battles, Natsu has to refrain himself from getting involved each time Lucy gets beaten up - he becomes helpless, and the worry that's sowed inside of him gets watered each time Lucy still puts his faith in him, still trusts him to come out a winner. That entire section when Lucy's in the infirmary and she tells Natsu that her entire being trusts that Natsu can do anything, I think that's when Natsu falls in love.

Now wait!! He still doesn't quite understand that he loves her. But he understands that his feelings for Lucy are more tender than any other feelings he's ever had. He treasures her in a new, heavier way. She's become precious to him.

Precious. Where have we heard that... oh >:) ↓

Now the Dragon Festival was LETHAL in a trillion ways, but especially for nalu fans. The whole Future Lucy plot and the forehead touches and the Future Natsu and Future Lucy fighting in a wasteland moments and the Natsu skipping the final GMG match to save Lucy. And of course. Future Lucy dying. It's not the first time we see Natsu get so heavily affected - it happened in the tower of heaven, when Erza was ready to give her life up. But it is the first time we see Natsu see a friend die. Like, a team mate, someone who he's responsible for bringing to the guild. And after the whole GMG conundrum? Had a single more bad thing happened Lucy during the dragon festival, he’d probably turn into a demon right there and then. Dare I even say: their relationship was the strongest at this point in time.

After the GMG and the Dragon Festival, we get the Sun Village arc (I don’t like the Eclipse celestial spirit arc so I’m not counting it, same with Key of the Starry Sky arc — technically some nalu moments but not exactly building imo) and then another big one: Tartaros. Ooooh brother, THE best arc of all times, wish Mashima knew how to replicate it. But alas, he doesn’t.

The Tartaros arc isn’t exactly a pivotal moment where Natsu “falls in love” but rather an important aspect to understand his later actions. Like this guy goes through some pretty grusome stuff, learns a lot of complicated, bad things about himself, and finishes off the arc with losing Igneel — his father that he's spent ages searching for. Natsu's entire life is turned upside down, so he decides that he has to become stronger: cue, he heads off for a year to train.

His time away isn't very elaborated on — not from Natsu's viewpoint or Lucy's. But I think it's understood that he chose not to bring along Lucy because she could be put into danger too much for him to be able to concentrate on building his strength: he knew his training would be dangerous. During this time we also have the Gildarts-scene in chapter (idk i can't be bothered to look it up but y'all know the one ↓) which is kinda debated on — who was Natsu talking about here?

I'm still not certain on if it was a heart to heart on the Igneel-matter, or if it was about his guilt of leaving Lucy behind, like many theorise. I'm not even certain that it's limited to one of them — he could be talking about both. But at the very least, this entire year was one of those "distance makes the heart grow fonder" moments for him. He wanted to get back to his normal life with Lucy so bad. After all, it wasn't like him showing up at the GMG was in order to meet Lucy — had he wanted more training after that, he'd head off again, but I don't think he could physically bring himself to do it, even if it hadn't turned out that the guild had disbanded. Though that's just me speculating a bit.

And about the guild disbandment: oh jolly, he was not happy. He had finally taken the step to grow stronger to protect everyone in his beloved guild, and here Makarov went and disbanded it? Leaving Lucy completely alone? Lucy, who once jumped from a hella high tower because she was just so devoted to stay in the Fairy Tail guild? Yeah, I think that broke him a little. At this point there was just so much guilt involved around his whole relationship with Lucy, because now he had put her through so much pain only because he brought her to Fairy Tail that day in Hargeon.

The next arcs I'd say Natsu's trying to spend his time redeeming himself for the countless things he's done bad (getting the guild back together, just generally staying by Lucy's side as much as possible). And naturally he keeps getting hit by challenge after challenge (it's not easy to be a book written by his immortal brother, yk?). And it's even harder to watch Lucy die again, this time for real (he thinks bc he's stupid and also has a tumour that's nothing less than a ticking bomb) (give this guy a break lol).

Anyways: Lucy's death nr2. Natsu can't live a life without her. Now I know — he still doesn't quite understand that it's romantic love, but I think he does understand that it's pure love. No matter if kissing and reproducing was involved, all he knew was that a life without Lucy is completely unimaginable, so blinded by rage he becomes and decides to decapitate everyone in his way (sorry about that Gray).

The last couple of moments I'll go out of my way to mention as signs of love is 1. when he's won over Acnologia and falls towards Lucy, crazy relieved, saying "I'm home", 2. Gajeel pointing out Natsu's crush on Anna, Natsu basically saying "oh that's why I like Lucy so much" (I embellished it lol) and 3. "We're still gonna be together from here on out, right?" yeah that man won't ever leave her. Ever. It's just not an option.

Now since I've only talked about specific moments, here's what I have to say about his relationship with her in general:

Throughout the main plot line, we also see a shift in Natsu's behaviour. Someone here on Tumblr pointed out that Natsu always finds a way to shield Lucy if something unexpected happens, after not being able to shield her from Future Rogue. There's also the small detail of the order he calls out to people - it goes from being pretty random, to Lucy almost alwyas being on the top of the list: likely because she's always on the top of his head. And in general I'd say that Natsu initiates (i'm adding this entire paragraph bc i realised that you asked about when Natsu initiated stuff, more than when he fell in love lol) almost all of their interractions. It's Natsu who wants Lucy to join Fairy Tail, to form a team, he's the one who enters her apartment constantly, he's always searching her out - his interest in her is at a constant high so we never feel like we get "moments" that he's paying her extra attention. He has one setting, and it's "Lucy" cranked to the max. Lol.

I could also add some HYQ moments to the mix here, but they've been few and far inbetween, and also mostly played off as jokes, so I can't really consider them as moments when Natsu initiates his love. I guess his jealousy can be considered a sign? And when (spoilers from the manga) he runs around to protect her/save her from creepy-freaky-jail (the only one who made it freaky was him, with those wild fantasies lol). Maybe I need to jog my memory a bit, but so far there hasn't been any non-pervy nalu moments initiated by Natsu in the HYQ, aside from jealousy-chap. Sadly.

Hope this gave you the answer you were hoping for! Sorry it took so long, I started writing on it and realised it would be a bible so I put it in my drafts to fetch some pics to make it less wordy, and then I forgot about it, lol. But here it is!

[angstandhappiness]

Interesting

Question: How can we say Natsu treats Lucy differently compared to the rest of his nakama? We have seen him being angry emotional during Erza "funeral" (in the first season) and his reaction when topic of Lisanna's death comes up. He even blushed when Lisanna used to talk about marriage and all (just before she passed away when Happy and Natsu have another fight). He never really expressed any physical interest in Lucy EVER and is mostly lukewarm in his reactions unless she is in danger or hurt. He didn't even hesitate when he was asked to kiss Lucy.

So how can we say that Lucy is different from all these people? I hope you understood my question.

(PS I am a huge NaLu shipper but I hate how they handle serious moments)

Well, I think that we have to clear something up, and its that Lucy and Natsu are more than Lucy and Natsu.

Natsu's world doesn't revolve around Lucy, and Lucy's world doesn't revolve around Natsu. They are their own persons with their own dreams and goals (and this is completely fine)

Natsu is a very passionate person, who loves his friends and family, he has known Erza and Lisanna since they were children, it is obvious that he will be emotional about their "deaths". Just like he was with future Lucy's.

Why do I think Natsu treats Lucy differently? Well, because he does. Literally. Not only does Natsu avoid any kind of (serious) fight with Lucy, but he is emotionally vulnerable with her, he becomes soft. I'm going to focus on Erza and Lucy because we don't have enough interactions with Lisanna.

Natsu is an extremely violent person, even when Erza was distressed his solution was punching her (even if it was for her own good or not),

Now, we have never seen Natsu use violence to console Lucy (or in general), they are always soft, comforting moments

He just can't hurt her, at least not willingly, it's beyond him.

Just like when he had to fight snake lucy and completely stopped thinking she was back

I want to pinpoint his reactions to different deaths, because even those are different

When Lissana, erza or even Igneel died, Natsu felt helpless and sad

Lucy? He wanted to burn the world down, kill his best friend out of grieve and then kill himself in the process just because he thought he had lost her forever. (I talk about this here)

-.-.-.-

About the physical interest, I kind of disagree, It is true that he doesn't show as much physical desire like other men in FT but he does in his own way. We have seen natsu fantasize over Lucy

be jealous of other men for her attention

and become possessive of her

He is not responsive because almost every time they have a physical moment he sees it coming, is mentally prepared for it or he initiates them.

NOW, what happens when Lucy initiates or he doesn't see it coming?

My man becomes a blushing mess (this is mainly shown in official art tho)

but he never shows jealousy or possessiveness towards erza, because Erza is not Lucy

[rainbow-sunshine-unicorn]

I’m obsessed with Kate and Anthony just having their arms interlinked while playing charades

Because there is literally no need for it, they’re already sitting right beside each other, shoulder to shoulder, and they’re playing charades, which is not something that requires them to move in coordination??? And, you can see the empty space on the couch beside Kate, so there’s plenty of space

But does any of that really matter to Viscount and Viscountess Velcro? Not even a little bit!

They will be interlinking their arms through a game of charades, because simply sitting next to each other is not enough, they must have, at least, four points of contact between themselves at all times

[dragon-toad]

HOT TAKE : Makarov was a bad father (and a bad grandfather)

I'm expecting a big wave of hate with this one... BUT LET ME EXPLAIN

We can dive into the generational trauma theory : we know Yuri has been profoundly hurt by his wife's death (giving birth to Makarov) and this is a thing we should consider. In most cases, people live with the burden of the death of their partner until they die, which could have been Yuri's case. And the idea that somehow his wife died for his son... Well, angst potential.

Now : death of a loved one + wife who dies giving birth to his son = difficult father-son relationship

And even if Yuri didn't do it intentionally, there could have been a distance between the father and the son, and it has repercussions on the futur.

So yes, it maybe happened completely differently, but let's consider this hypothesis to understand what comes after :

Makarov was raised in the guild, where everybody is friendly. The only thing is his daddy issues. He ends up considering the guild more important, so the thing to cherish and protect at all cost.

Everything is fine.

Then, Ivan enters the game.

I know it's very fun to have an antagonist in the family of the master, the man presented as the most loving, a father for all the lost children, etc. BUT maybe we can go a little deeper.

We sometimes have this idea that some characters are born meaner than others, it allows us to ignore psychology and sociology, but it's not fun.

We can suppose Ivan was born in the guild, like Makarov and certainly Laxus. And as it's shown every single second that Fairy Tail is a very healthy environment, a "big family", so even if Ivan was a bit twisted, he would not have been so mean with his colleagues, provoking his exclusion, and he would have not tried to destroy the guild.

Unless he have daddy issues too. Let's consider : Makarov has a son and the mother is nowhere to be found. Doesn't it remind you of something ? But Makarov know his relationship with his father wasn't awesome, so he tries differently.

So two possibilities can be explored :

1- Ivan is a spoiled child. Being the master's son allows him to do reprehensible things and not be punished after, or not too much, and Makarov wants to give him all the freedom he didn't have. Until he almost kills another member of the guild. Then Makarov is forced to expel him. He takes away the thing that gave Ivan an almost unlimited power, and he doesn't like it. So if he can't have Fairy Tail, nobody will.

2- Makarov prefers the guild to his son. He doesn't know how to raise a kid, what if he screws like his father ? (Spoiler : he does) So when Precht makes him the new master, he puts all his soul into his job. But Ivan wants a father. So he does everything to make his father notice him, to make his father proud. It leads him to dark places, and thus, being strong = being good enough. Unfortunately, it doesn't work, because he ends up expelled. So, by pure rage, he decides to destroy the thing his father loved more than him. (It's my favorite version)

In both cases, Ivan manipulates his son into believing that being strong is the only way for him to be respected, to be seen.

Which leads us to the Laxus part (finally)

It's canon that Ivan pushed his son to be the strongest (to the point he put a lacrima in his body) so yeah, Laxus has daddy issues. But he has gampa issues too.

Let's continue with the theory we built on this post : Makarov doesn't really raise his son, why would he raise his grandson ?

But we see Makarov taking care of a very young Laxus. Thus, Laxus once loved his grandfather. Except Ivan didn't. So we can suppose he decided to keep his son under his control by manipulating him into thinking he has to be the strongest.

Then Ivan was banned.

The problem with an abusive relationship is that the victim thinks the abuser is on the right, which explains why Laxus was all but happy his father was expelled. But he stayed in Fairy Tail, because despite everything, Fairy Tail is his home. But this home is controlled by the man who banned his father (his abuser)

Laxus becomes a rank-S mage, which means he's the strongest. He has all the rights to make Fairy Tail his home, not Makarov's.

Well yes, but no.

Because there's Mirajane, a prodigy so fucking strong she becomes a rank-S mage too. But Lisanna dies, and suddenly everybody loves Mirajane. She even becomes the right arm of Makarov, because she's too weak now to create problems now.

And there's Natsu and Gray, Makarov's little boys. They're noisy, annoying, but they have potential. They have the potential to become stronger than Laxus. And Makarov loves them.

But more important, because there's Erza, who is so strong, so kind, so nice... Who is his grandfather's favorite. The same grandfather who did nothing when Ivan imprisoned Laxus into a psychological jail and who banned Ivan for somebody else's weakness. And Laxus knows it : she is the future master of Fairy Tail. She will steal his home and make it even weaker.

So he has to take Fairy Tail now, even if his grandfather dies in the process. Better, it will make things easier !

But in the end, Laxus loves Fairy Tail. He loves the guild enough to not betray everybody by joining his father's guild.

Laxus broke the cycle. And I don't think it was thanks to Makarov. If Laxus broke the cycle, it's because despite everything, he has weirdos to stick with. The Raijinshuu are a safe place for Laxus, they are strong enough to be his friends colleagues, they don't call him "psychotic" when he tells them he wants the guild, and more important, they care for him.

Laxus broke the cycle thanks to people who cared for him. They even wanted to follow him when he was banned ! But he said no, because he care for them and he knows they will be better in Fairy Tail.

Now, let's consider : travelling must have felt like therapy for Laxus : he's not part of Fairy Tail anymore and he's sure he will never have the possibility to come back, but he will not join his father because he doesn't want to put his friends in danger. So he has to do something by himself, not under the influence of his father. And I believe this emancipation was beneficial for him. He could learn what it means to be himself, not Ivan's son or Makarov's grandson.

I don't think he fully forgave Makarov for his inaction and for loving other more than him, and he's not completely out of Ivan's philosophy, those things need time, but he escaped the cycle.

[beargyufairy]

Just My Thoughts Pt. 35

Fairy Tail Manga Reread Version

Presenting one of my favorite NaLu scenes! This was just so good! Absolutely loved every aspect of these panels. The trust they have in one another is highlighted very nicely. How many people would jump off a tall building in hopes of being caught in time?! I know that I personally wouldn’t (screw my fear of heights!) but Lucy had faith in Nastu! The development in their relationship is so beautiful.

One thing I really liked in terms of the art is how Mashima displayed the fall. He made sure to show how high the building actually was. A whole page dedicated to just that! I also liked how Natsu was quick to change their positions so that Lucy wouldn’t be too badly injured. I really wish the manga showed Natsu carrying Lucy back to the guild like in the anime. Hats off to the animators and Mashima for adding that because I devoured that scene. It was just perfect! Lucy really needed that comfort and connection and Natsu was there to give it. The bickering between Natsu and Happy in the next few panels was a nice touch to show their dynamic but I absolutely loved how they were quick to stop when Lucy started to blame herself and cry. It shows how despite their antics, they really care for their guildmates.

Until my next thought!

[moonsnqil]

trying to explain to my best friend that while aftg is a mafia book, the mafia isn't even the most prevalent theme and how really it's a love story at it's core but not in a fairytale way rather in the way horror movies are love stories

[xanvasofxords]

Since the last chapter came out, I’ve seen a bunch of people complaining about the fact that Natsu snapped at Lucy. I understand where it’s coming from, because Natsu never once raised his voice with Lucy.

I’m completely ignoring the bullshit that was added in the dragon egg episode in anime, but I agree with them that if Natsu were to snap at Lucy, that’s how it’d look. Which actually never, I repeat never happened in the entirety of Fairy Tail.

Natsu has always been very gentle and consoling towards Lucy despite having a rough nature. A part of it’s because he knows she’s very emotional and feels it’s his responsibility to not only protect her physically, but also mentally. She has lost so many people and each time it affected her greatly that he naturally always pays more attention to anything that may or may not involve her. He knows to act accordingly when the situation concerns her, whether it comes to consoling her or protecting her. Even in the middle of battles, he’s aware of her and her surroundings. He prioritises her over anything and understands her more than anyone. And he has always been very careful about her emotions. He knows how easy it’s for her to befriend anyone and risk everything for them. She can be too serious and stubborn about her love for her friends. Athena was no exception. They just met a few chapters ago and Lucy was ready to quit fighting Viernes for her sake.

But it just wasn’t possible to take time and make her understand that she’s needed in this fight and they can’t defeat Viernes unless she helps. Natsu did what he could do at that time and it was an urgent plea to shake Lucy out of her zone. That shout was full of desperation and it was hundred percent needed.

Also I heavily disagree with those who said Lucy was too dramatic for behaving like this. No she wasn’t. Don’t forget that she interacted the most with Athena and made her realise that she can also have emotions like humans. She befriended her first and it was quite natural for someone like Lucy to react that way because she has only been losing people since the beginning. Her mother, father, Aquarius, Eclair and even Natsu left her alone for a year and the guild disbanded. And now Athena.

[celestialtitania]

i have the biggest lucy bias ever but this is the first time it struck me that her mouthing off to gajeel in the phantom arc was her way of punishing herself for bringing all this chaos to fairy tail. since she couldn't fight herself and had to keep running, AND no one in fairy tail was blaming her. her own sense of guilt made her want to be punished and gajeel helped things along.

im like 99% certain this is also why it was so easy for her to accept gajeel as a member of fairy tail (the part of her that hesitated was for shadow gear only imo)

[slowd1ving]

I just finished reading the new fic, and it was amazing !!! I dont know why, but i got hung up the most on Jiaoqiu. Like, he sounds so mellow and like he's in genuine love, but I dont know if it's just the effects the incubi has on him. (When he says the smell of burnt caramel got stronger, it's because of the transformation the protag had, right?)

So funny to see the cryptologist and the kafka mention. I love how you portray Kafka in your fics. she's always stirring up jealousy in the love interests.

I truly do wonder if Sunday will be forgiven for laying with a demon. I mean, if he can say he was doing 'salvation' he could get away with it. In the game, his npc model has what appears to be dark indigo wings, which implies he is not as pure as he appears to be, so I imagined his wings that colour. Im guessing his mission was subduing the protag, which he literally did haha.

And moze was such a sweetheart!! When he said he wouldn't care about being sent to hell as long as his fate is forever intertwined with yours, it is so cute. Im thinking he was also lying to himself about how he was following the protag due to his suspicions but was actually just obsessed. Him staying up late to see the protag come back home, was it similar to the cryptologist au? Where he was jealous they wouldnt approach him, or was it part of his stalking?. Also, when he felt fear but it was overridden by lust that made him get closer without thinking it could end his life ❤️.

Also cant imagine how their life will be after this encounter (im glad for Mr. Hopkins that they were able to film a good mockumentary and didn't just submit that !!). Im a Moze fan, so him being the roommate makes me think his life just got better (and that his photo taking hobby just got started).

I loved it, amazing halloween fic.

-swan anon 🦢

first let me just say DAMN I appreciate your dedication to delivering thorough analyses and eating them up every darn time

second I am locked in with a very tall cup of coffee I am ready

no same I was secretly rooting for jiaoqiu too; like originally he wasn't going to be part of it because then I'd have to plan more with an established character. reader was just gonna be someone who sleeps around 😭he was supposed to have one scene too but ended up with four.. honestly I was also going to write him as like a yokai in my initial plans so he's somewhat immune to whatever reader has got going on (which honestly isn't much it's just enhanced allure or whatever)?? I thought it'd be pretty funny to have a character who officially knows about reader and just like... helps them out like an emergency snack or whatever. but yeah he's definitely infatuated - jiaoqiu for LIFEEE

(and yes you are correct the stronger scent did indeed indicate the successful transformation)

you know, I lowkey forgot about the cryptology-moze series and the reference was just my subconscious picking it out☠️also I don't know if I officially stated reader's major (I don't really know myself) but it's hilarious to me to picture some demon just figuring out maths and working in it

did not register the kafka mention until I got to the end whoops

she wasn't even meant to be in this 😭like it was just supposed to be some faceless avatar of lust but then i was like hmm... we've got someone who literally puppets others as part of her mechanics like ??

kafka>>

she's so fun to use as a plot device cuz she just catalyses everything

Sunday will NOT be forgiven 🗣️🗣️that particular line I wrote where angels can lie to themselves is alluding to him convincing himself he isn't doing anything wrong; I was actually going to originally expand on him 'falling' from Harmony or whatever because of his allegiance to the Order - so he was doomed either way to be corrupted. his mission did include subduing the protag but was more a general order to keep order within the human realm which did include finding out demons - so not necessarily reader but he did sus them out pretty much from the start. however he was not supposed to sleep with a demon at all 😭like that line about keeping reader by him to prevent him from getting with other humans is just his bs justification to convince himself that he's still on the right path - but alas, his tenets have been fundamentally crumbling anyway due to his subversion to the harmony. I thought it was funny as fuck having a doomed angel for halloween

there's just something about fallen angel sunday, fits in with his lore too

but yeah themes of denial are heavy in this man, like he's convinced himself that he's on the right path but he's really not he's just entranced by the protag 😭

hmm

yup i had so much fun writing moze he's so cute. he is the prime human Sunday should be worried about but instead he's just competing with him

oh yes 100% lying I love writing unreliable narrators

YES similar to the cryptologist au it was his way of gaining information on you but also sorta looking out for the protag (and jealousy); also lowkey the bit about fear getting overridden was so funny to write about because he's just walked in on a literal angel and demon and just keeps marching forward like 😭😭

that triangle formation remains 100%

like mr hopkins just thinks "oh wow my students are completely dedicated to warding off demon energy thus are in perfect formation for doing so" or whatever ☠️

but reader now essentially has three emergency snacks and sunday's path to salvation is not looking very good tbh

also yeah that mockumentary saved their asses because I physically could not write them only having one film on that camera

that camera will have to get SCOURED before they return it, but Moze's already got it safely transferred to his heavily fortified laptop and Sunday's just keeping the really old one 😭

there's just something about the moze roommate brainrot... he's definitely gloating over it and sunday's just feeling his blood pressure rise for the first time since gaining a corporeal body (and moze's DEFINITELY getting several high-quality cameras because wdym he's just been rewatching the tapes instead of sleeping..)

anyways I got home with around five hours left before midnight and I started finishing off the final scenes at like 10 I was so stressed bro trying to make it and upload it halloween ended

AND THANK YOU FOR YOUR LONG ANALYSIS SWAN ANON IT WAS VERILY APPRECIATED

[tamibae]

(I might be looking too much into things but you can’t do anything about it)

The first thing Natsu does after getting separated is, try to track Lucy’s scent. And when that doesn’t work, he just gives up. He could try to pick Happy’s since that’d lead him to both.

My theory is that either he thinks Lucy and Happy are separated from each other as well, so he tries to find Lucy first but that’d be weird because once Natsu realises he can’t trace her scent, he just gives up and doesn’t even bother mentioning Happy. Or it can be that, he prefers following Lucy’s scent than anyone else’s because that gives him inner peace? Some sort of relief that she’s somewhere around. He stated more than once that being around her gives him comfort. Maybe it’s the reason why his first instinct after losing sight of her is to trace her scent.

I also like the fact that, over the time, Natsu has learnt to control his protective tendencies. He looks calmer now when Lucy’s not around him despite always worrying about her. It’s because he knows she has gotten stronger and she can protect herself now. I don’t know, this little detail just caught my eyes and I felt the need to let you know about my thoughts.

[metriawaves]

hearts connected (insp)

[mastermindmp3]

ttpdminutes - fortnight ft. post malone

The idea of a 50s housewife is very like, ubiquitous in American culture, and the reexamining of that stereotype is, in it's own way, a stereotype ( think the Stepford Wives. ) Fortnight, I think, is Taylor's imagining on this ( as confirmed in her IHeartRadio interviews, ) weaving personal experience with a slice of very specific Americana.

Taylor's take is somewhere between the Joneses of 1950s advertisements, and Stepford, Connecticut; a wife forever longing for her previous lover, who's since moved on. She clearly struggles with depression (stuck in an endless February,) and I think her lack of love only exacerbates the feeling of being stuck.

Fortnight feels stuck in a lot of way. The narrator lamenting her previous love, stewing in murderous drive. The feeling is helped by a repetitive beat, and coming back to that refrain. Her husband is cheating, she fantasizes of killing him. Her lover sees her at the mailbox and makes small talk, as if he's not the lohl (love of her life.)

The love she keeps coming back to, like repeating the outro, that everyone else has moved past.

Honestly, I love the very scant imagery the song. It allows the song to have its own identity outside of the main metaphor ( unlike some songs, which get smothered in the metaphor without going anywhere. ) while still tying into those touchstones - meeting at the mailbox, watering flowers in suburbia's plasticine lawns.

[angstandhappiness]

Interesting

Thank you so much for replying to my previous ask in such detail (I loved it and really, really appreciate your efforts 🙏)

I just started rewatching the anime and I saw the focus they kept on Lisanna hence my doubt. From Erza I felt it was more of a sibling type dynamic (that Erza sees Natsu and Gray more as her younger brothers) but they really pushed the Lisanna narrative in the beginning. And given the way he reacted differently to Lucy and Lisanna like becoming flustered with Lisanna I wondered.

Please do talk about the killing himself part too.

I love reading your analysis!! Thank you so much for your hard work ❣️ (Feel free to push in NaLu scenes that show it their bond more obviously)

Hi!! I'm happy you liked it, I'm going to try and talk about Natsu and Lisanna a little bit more and then I'll start with the whole killing himself thing. (following this post)

I think the reason they focused on Natsu and Lisanna at the beginning is because a lot of studios/mangakas have the need to create a couple, even better if it's an MC. And pairing Lucy and Natsu up from the beginning doesn't make any sense, they just met and didn't know each other.

Lisanna is a really important person to Natsu, although they hardly interact anymore.

She supported Natsu when he first came to the guild and became his first friend. Not only that, she helped him with Happy, hence the whole wife and husband thing, they represented a family.

Natsu is not as stupid as they make him out to be, he knows what marriage is, exclusivity to a partner

and things only adults are supposed to do.

He knew what Lisanna meant by "we'll get married in the future," and if she had never "died," NaLi would have made sense.

But it happend, Lisanna "died" and Natsu had to get over her. This doesn't mean forget her tho, as I said, Natsu LOVES his family and friends, forgetting about lisanna just because she died would not make any sense. It takes time to accept death, and after Igneel's disappearance, the death of lisanne hit him, HARD.

The only thing he could do was getting over her, but not forgetting her.

And that's when Lucy comes into the picture.

She keeps bumping into him, buys him food for "no reason" and talks all mighty and good about his family, basically, she gives him good vibes. He takes her to FT and for some reason she follows him everywhere and before he knows it, he wants to partner up with her.

This is development by natsu's part, he is ready to open up to new people (Lucy) and pretty much they become attached to the hip, because "she is nice", yeah, that's his reason.

Lisanna wasn't meant to come back, mashima himself said so, the only reason they brought her back was because the animation staff preasured him to because they liked her. NaLi is not happening because Mashima never had anything planned for her, and I'm not saying this because I'm a NaLu fan, it's just facts. Thats why she is so useless in the manga, because mashima doesn't know what to do with her. She is just there.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Let's beging with the whole suicide thing

I want to clarify that this is MY PERSPECTIVE, you might agree or disagree with me and thats completely fine.

Let me beging with one thing, and that is that natsu IS NOT SUICIDAL.

He wants to live his life at the fullest and he looks forward to the future.

Then why do I say he wanted to kill himself? because when lucy "died", he was so full of grief that he just didn't care any more.

One thing that they make clear is that the demons of zeref, once awaken, have only one thought in their minds: KILLING ZEREF

Lucy's "death" is what awoke END, Natsu felt so desperate and he was so full of grief that he literally abandoned his humanity.

She was gone and he blamed zeref, because if he had never started the war, she would be alive, that was enough for him to abandon his morals and look forward to kill someone.

Now comes the important part: his confrontation with grey

This part is really important because it shows that Natsu is aware of his actions.

If he really was completely possessed by END, then he would not have hesitated and warn grey about getting out of his way, he would have just killed him and keep going, but Natsu warns him several times

Until he doesn't give a damn anymore and attacks him.

Natsu was adamant about going after zeref and killing him, but he is also aware that if he does so, he will die. Zeref told him so himself.

But lucy is dead, so he just doesn't care anymore.

Igneel talked to him about looking at the future

But Lucy wasn't in that future anymore, so he can't look forward for it, because it died the moment Lucy did. if she wasn't in it, why bother? He knew that killing zeref was killing himself.

Gray literally saved Natsus life confronting him

This whole panel is foreshadowing to Lucy dying and Natsu wanting to die because of it

[renjihoe]

My Thoughts on Juvia and Gray’s Relationship.

May contain spoilers for the anime & 100yq manga but I’ll be as vanilla about it as possible. This is a long one so get comfy.

A few years ago, I used to be upset at the fact that Gruvia took so long to happen. But now that I’m older and I’ve hyper fixated on the couple long enough, I’ve learned to appreciate their relationship for what it is now and for what it was in the beginning. From the start I’ve always shipped Gruvia but I never expected them to be together in the first place, PLUS I only shipped them because I honestly just liked the idea of them being together. Liking the idea of a couple and the couple actually being good together is two different things and I knew that. My initial thought was “how funny would it be if they actually got together”. Kinda like a gag if you will. But overtime I started to REALLY appreciate their build up. There are plenty of couples out there in popular anime who’s relationships parallel to Gruvia, (the girl or guy is deeply in love and the other party pays them no mind). But what I really hate about relationships like that is when they get slapped together at the end just to please an audience. If Mashima did the same thing, I could honestly say I probably wouldn’t be shipping Juvia and Gray to this day, but luckily for me and other Gruvia fans he did not go that route. People say that fans forced Gruvia to be canon which is just not true since FROM THE BEGINNING of the series, Gray was told by the fortune teller that he would be tangled up with a water woman in the near future. Plus the simple fact that their characters were designed to match each others (water and ice), Juvia is also a semi-yandere (I only say semi because Juvia won’t actually do anything to hurt Gray or the others she cares about) and Gray is a Tsundere. In the beginning Gray was honestly just a dick to Juvia, but that was more for comedic effect which me being a hard core Gruvia fan at the time, sometimes I didn’t appreciate. But now a days I really do appreciate the comedy between the two characters because I’ve realized there is a good balance between their comedy and the seriousness of how they actually feel about each other. You could even call Gruvia a slow burn but in my eyes the pacing is perfect and very realistic.

Here are my thoughts on Gruvia from Gray’s perspective. Gray was pretty compassionate towards Juvia when they first met, even though they were enemies, Juvia of course gets love at first sight. As they get to know each other, Juvia’s love grows more and more intense and in Gray’s eyes it comes across as pushy. Though I personally saw her love for him being a “I see you need love, let me love you” type thing. He slowly (very slowly lmao) warms up to Juvia and they start going on jobs together and forming a close friendship, to the point where they would rather go on jobs together instead of with the rest of the team.

And then the plot starts to get a bit heavier and so does their relationship. Juvia and Gray have multiple occasions where they make protecting each other their main mission. But two particular scenes stood out to me in the last two anime arcs. Juvia sacrifices her relationship with Gray to do what was best for him, we all know the scene so I won’t go into details for the sake of time and spoilers. But in that moment that’s when I decided I didn’t ship them just because the idea was cute, I shipped them because they NEEDED each other. Juvia finally understood Gray and his history, while Gray not only understood his festering feelings for her BUT he got the closure he deserved of his family, all thanks to Juvia. Although there were subtle hints that Gray started to develop feelings way earlier on than this scene, THIS is when he knew for sure how he felt.

The last and finally scene that pretty much sealed the deal for them being my otp was when they both sacrifice themselves to save each other. **cries 😭** We got a full length scene of them damn near confessing how much they meant to each other. We all know what happens at the end of that scene, then Gray makes a promise to Juvia and that was to take her feelings more seriously. The thought of him loosing someone else he loved definitely shocked him into reality and broke that Tsundere spell that was casted on to him by the creators…well kinda. In the anime Gray eventually confesses his feelings in a round about way and I HATED IT! I just wanted him to lay it all out there on the table. But maturing is realizing that, that actually wasn’t the confession and that’s apparent in 100yq.

Although I would love for them to just be together already, I appreciate Mashima and Ueda taking their time with this couple and really putting emphasis on their shared character/relationship development. I also appreciate that we get this development through Gray’s perspective, it adds a bit more to them as a couple. In conclusion, I’m lonely and I want what they have. No but seriously I’m soaking up every bit we get from Gruvia! Since Gruvia days is coming up, I had planned on doing a relationship/couple analysis from Gray’s perspective but this honestly sums it up lol!

[dragon-toad]

I'll do you a better :

I HAVE ANOTHER HOT TAKE

I don't ship Gruvia.

HEAR ME OUT

Yes, it was thanks to Gray Juvia could see the sky, and yes, they care for each other very much. But... Let's consider that Gray didn't love her at first and she's a stalker the fact that Juvia was alone for a freaking long amount of time. And even when she was in Phantom Lord, she maybe was in a complicated friendship-coworking situation with Gajeel. Thus, she has no experience and no idea of how a normal and functional relationship (love or friendship) work. So of course, she would fall in love with the first person who cares a minimum for her.

Gray does know what a functional relationship looks like, but he's something Juvia isn't : he's emotionally constipated. This guy doesn't think about his emotions or worse, he doesn't know how to express himself, which leads to situations when he's confused between love and friendship, for example.

In conclusion, I think they start a relationship at some point, but they finally realise they are just very good friends. But in contact with one another, they learned some useful social skills, so they stay besties. Juvia becomes the most intense Gray shipper and in return, he's super careful with who she is. He's ready to throw hands.

[beargyufairy]

Just My Thoughts Pt. 26

One of my favorite arc in all of Fairy Tail is the Tartaros arc. It had everything I wanted and more. I think it was one of Mashima best written storyline (I haven’t watched/read his other works). It was more than just friendship is power and all happy endings. It had sacrifices, loss, heartbreak, and all the gut wrenching emotions. It was honestly one of the reasons I’m into anime now. At the point of first watching FT, I wasn’t really convinced anime was for me. But that arc changed it all. I have a special place for it in my heart. While they did end up victorious, it wasn’t without a lot of trauma. Natsu lost his dad, Igneel, after being reunited which was his life goal. Gray lost his father again and Juvia believed she was responsible for it. Wendy and Carla were ready to sacrifice themselves for the sake of their friendship and love. All of the dragon slayers lost their dragons. FT ended up disbanding for the time being. And Lucy lost her new home, her friends left her, Natsu/Happy went off to train and process their own thoughts, she was left alone after sacrificing Aquarius one of her first celestial keys to save the lives of her friends. I really loved how despite their win, it didn’t seem as successful. I really think it added a very deep element to the story and their characters.

I really hope the 100 YQ has something similar as we approach the end. It’s been good so far but kind of lacking in some aspects such as proper portrayal of emotions beyond the few in their range. I also think that having another arc the idea of “win but at what cost” is very important for FT. All their growth and loss from the original series seems to have evaporated from the 100 YQ. I won’t get into this too much or else I’ll end up ranting. But an arc with some loss would be amazing. I think it should have something related to Aquarius since Lucy did lose her in the Tartaros arc. So it would be a full circle type of concept. Additionally, I really really hope (and beg on my knees) for Mashima to use Lucy fear of Natsu flames for the first time in a gut punch way. It needs to have some impact and importance to the story. I need it desperately.

On the side note, I have been enjoying the little side stories or filler episodes in the 100 YQ. Ichiya and Anna was very unexpected but it’s understandable in a manner if we consider the last arc of FT. I also love the ship crumbs in the last few episodes. Jellal and Erza need to just kiss already!! I’m so glad he’s joining the guild. And ofc… NALU crumbs has my heart. I whole heartedly believe that Natsu thinks he’s dating Lucy since the last episode of the original series. I just can’t wait for this to play out!!

Until my next thought! ❤️