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sstargoldens · 3 years

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I warn you

sstargoldens AO3 link

Summary:

Lucy was late to her work meeting and in her way a sight of pink catches her attention. The situation in which she intrudes will bring pain to her brother Sting and to her a possible "new love"

Clarification: Fairy Tail does not belong to me or its characters, it belongs to its creator Hiro Mashima

I want to clarify that I don't hate Lisanna as a character, I just feel comfortable using her as a villain. In other of my stories she can be a love cake that supports nalu :)

Hope you like :)

No matter how much he ignored her and walked away from her, a pink hair man was being persecuted insistently by a white haired woman.

- Leave me alone, I have nothing to do with you anymore. - The man turned to look at her.

- Natsu, it was all a mistake. Please, understand me.

-The one who has to understand is you. You are out of my life, now I am with someone who loves me and respects me. Do yourself a favor, before I blow up.

-Natsu, she's not who you think she is. She's a nosy bitch ...

-Shut up! Don't you dare talk about her like that. She is so much better than you, in every way. She would never do to me what you did to me. - Natsu spoke with anger

The girl's eyes looked at him sadly but stubbornly.

- Natsu, Sting and I ...

- Nothing, you nothing. I don't want to hear anything, neither I nor Sting will want to hear anything from you. Do you think I don't know what you did to him either?

-Everything is his and his damn sister's invention. Natsu give me another chance, I love you and I know that you love me.

-I don't love you and stop putting Luce in this, thanks to her I was able to realize your lies and your wickedness. So stops chasing me, if you appear before me again I will not answer for my actions. I warn you Lisanna.- he walked away, turning his back to her.

The white haired girl looked at the handsome jade-eyed man's back. An inordinate rage flooded her, there meters away from her what was used to be her high-class ticket for her. Lisanna used to have him at her feet, Natsu lived by and for her, she had had a powerful man at her feet and that damn blonde had taken him away.

"Damn that bitch and Sting" little Strauss thought he would be a perfect toy to satisfy her needs and pay for her whims. But no, that good-for-nothing had to have a busybody for a sister.

For months the white haired girl had sought and begged forgiveness from the pink-haired man, telling him that Sting had fallen in love with her and that together with his sister had planned to separate them. It didn't matter what she told him, Natsu ignored her, what's more, he despised her more and more. Her anger increased more when she found out that he started his relationship with Lucy, how dare that damn bitch touch what was hers?

Everything had been perfect, her relationship with Natsu had promised her a life full of luxury and a future husband who would inherit a great company. Lisanna would have become one of the most powerful women in all of Fiore. But she didn't have it anymore, it all disappeared because of a damn mistake.

It won't matter how downcast Lisanna was, her mind wouldn't accept defeat. She would have Natsu in her hands again and make Lucy Heartfilia fall into ruins.

But everything remained in vain threats.

Lucy was running late for a meeting with her editor, she had only 3 blocks to go to the office and she was already 5 minutes late. She was cursing herself for not taking one of her cars and driving but she had automatically dismissed the idea.

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9 months before

Her book would be published under a pseudonym so she didn't want to attract attention at the office arriving with a luxury car. The only one who was aware of her true identity was her publisher.

She was Lucy Heartfilia, heiress to Heartfilia Konzern and a prodigious fashion designer. She and her twin brother would be the next CEO in a few years, after her father retires from it. Despite having talent for business and for the clothing line that her conglomerate owned. The blonde was a writer, something that wasn't known to the public. It was one of her great passions along with her fashion design, when she was young she never believed that she could do both but she found a way to do it.

Lucy had a double degree in fashion and business design. She was currently studying for her degree in creative writing. This allowed her to work for the company and study the second of her passions. Getting so many degrees wasn't easy, but Lucy was perfectly capable, for something she was considered a young prodigy in the business world.

There were only 2 more blocks to go and she would come to review her last manuscript. She hoped Jason would forgive her for the delay.

She passed a fancy coffee shop and her gaze was drawn directly to the pink color peeking out of the window. It was a handsome man with striking unique pink hair, jade eyes, and piercing gaze, with a fond gaze directed at a woman sitting next to him. A woman who looked exactly like her brother's girlfriend.

Lucy was stunned. There in all her splendor was Lisanna, clinging to the jade-eyed man's arm, very affectionate and her thick lashes battering him. The 8-month-old girlfriend of her beloved twin was cheating on him.

Wrath bubbling in her whole being, wanting to rip off the face of that unfaithful woman. Lucy forgot her date, nothing was on her mind except the scene that was happening in front of her eyes. She tightly took her bag and was seconds away from entering. But before doing so, she thought about what she could do and made the best decision that she could come up with. She took out her cell phone and holding back all the desires that her body screamed for fulfillment, she patiently began to record the scene. Her brother needed to see this, she would show him proof and make Lisanna never return to Sting's life. She only needed a punctual act like a kiss and she would go in to face that viper.

That girl had shown up at her house, she had dined with her whole family. Lucy had entrusted her brother, her blood, the other half of her. For Mavis, Sting was in love with that woman, together with Lucy they had spent hours looking for a ring for the blonde to propose to her. He loved her enough to think of marrying and Lisanna paid him by going into the arms of another man.

Not even 15 seconds passed since she started recording and the white haired girl had bent down to give a long and passionate kiss to the man who accompanied her. Wanting to catch her red-handed, the blonde stormed into the cafeteria. In her mind everything was in the background, the only thing she cared about was exposing the bitch who cheated on her brother.

Lucy walked into the cafeteria and strode to the couple in front of her. The pink haired guy was the first to notice the stunning blonde who was addressing them, Lisanna followed his gaze shortly after but it was too late. Lucy was already in front of her.

- What the fuck are you doing Lisanna? I caught you red-handed. - Lucy raised her voice to the white hair woman.

The entire cafeteria turned their eyes to the scene.

Lisanna's eyes widened in surprise for a moment, she never imagined being caught by the sister of one of her men.

Natsu stood guard, putting an arm around the white-haired woman. Lisanna was quick-minded and decided to play innocent.

-Who do you think you are to yell at my girlfriend like that? - Natsu exclaimed with a dangerous look.

Lucy responded with an equally threatening and dangerous look, she wasn't afraid of the man in front of her.

- You're a bitch, Sting will know about this and believe me I'll never let you get close to him again. - The blonde turned coldly to Lisanna.

- Who you are? You're crazy, I don't know who that Sting you're talking about is. - Lisanna said with fake tears.

Natsu protectively got up and faced the blonde.

One of the waitresses was nearby, doubtful whether to intervene or not. None of the other customers gave any indication of wanting to interfere.

-Don't you dare touch me.- Lucy said to Natsu. - And don't be a fake Lisanna, those crocodile tears I don't believe it.

Natsu took one of the blonde's arms roughly, determined to get rid of the crazy woman who had interrupted his evening with his girlfriend.

-Let me go, right now. - The blonde demanded.

-Natsu, I don't know who is this woman. I swear.- Lisanna began to cry louder.

Natsu undoubtedly squeezed the blonde's hand even tighter.

-Leave Lis alone ...- Natsu didn't wait for the blow that destabilized him and made him let go of the blonde.

-I told you to let me go.- The blonde declared. Lucy was calmer now, she was in a public place and the man in front of her was twice her size, he could easily beat her up.

Lucy despite her furious behavior and the scandal that she caused in, she continued to maintain her appearance and tone of voice with the elegance and authority that her personality characterized. No one felt the need to do anything to intervene against the blonde but they were concerned about the situation.

Natsu was going to scream and take out the woman who hit him. He barely recovered from the shock but before he could, the blonde spoke.

-She's cheating on you.- Lucy said coldly with a tone of fact and sincerity. From the reaction of the man in front of her she concluded that he had no idea of anything.

-You're lying. Natsu isn't true.- Lisanna screamed immediately.

-She is dating my brother, I have photos and videos. I don't know if you are aware of it but I can prove it.- Lucy went to the pink haired guy, looking him straight in the eyes. Even though her tone was cold and calculating, Natsu knew she wasn't lying, those big brown eyes were too sincere.

The woman in front of him was a beauty, her posture and her dress denoted a correct woman. Everything about this woman screamed sincerity despite her character and her earlier anger.

Doubt was planted in Natsu's chest and at the same time a cell phone was placed squarely on his face with such speed that Lisanna didn't have time to react.

The white haired girl tried to jump and remove the device but Lucy quickly stepped in front of her, leaving the cell phone to Natsu.

-Try something, even touch me and I'll make no one hire you ever again.You know I can do it, don't play with me. ”Lucy threatened Lisanna. The white-haired woman wasn't stupid and she was aware of the power of the blonde, a single bad move and everything could get even worse. In panic Lisanna burst into tears.

In that exchange between the two girls, Natsu observed the evidence of her in his hand, photo by photo and even videos. Lisanna's sobs were heard in the background as he went through all the photos of a blonde haired man kissing his girlfriend, on the beach with Lisanna, at a dinner with him and the blonde woman who gave him the phone, proof after proof , Natsu discovered Lisanna's infidelity.

- How long? - Natsu whispered wounded.

-I ...- Lisanna was unable to answer.

-She has been with my brother for 8 months. - Lucy intervened. - 11 months since they met. Sorry.

-A fucking year! - Natsu shouted full of anger. - You've been cheating on me since we had 6 months old of relationship.

A look full of repudiation the jade-yed man directed to the white-haired woman who was crying bitterly on the ground.

- Don't look for me anymore. It's all over between us.- he coldly declared to Lisanna.

All the spectators looked attentively at the white-haired girl with distaste and with pity at the man who used to be her partner.

-Natsu please no, let me explain.- she tried to get closer but he wouldn't allow it.

The pink-haired man immediately headed outside the establishment, leaving the scene and the two women alone.

Lucy looked at Lisanna from above, the white-haired woman was kneeling on the ground. Cold, disgusted chocolate eyes stared at her twin's future ex-girlfriend.

- Don't contact Sting, if you do, you will know who I am and what I am capable of.- she coldly threatened the white-haired woman.

With this she made her way to the counter, while the white-haired woman broke down emotionally knowing that she lost her plans for the future. The blonde paid at the checkout for everyone's orders, trying to make amends for the scene she caused. The amount wasn't significant to her but she managed to ease her conscience by interrupting the evening of innocent people. Her sense of protection towards her younger brother was the only trigger that made her lose temper.

Lucy left the place, leaving everything behind her, she had done what she had to do. Her next step was to inform her brother and comfort his broken heart. Because unfortunately her brother had fallen in love with that bad woman.

She just went out on the street and she realized that she didn't have her cell phone, the pink haired man had taken it when he left, Lucy felt anxiety, there was all her personal information and especially the video that she needed to show Sting. She didn't want the white haired girl to use some manipulation trick and try to turn her brother against her.

Her anxiety disappeared the instant her gaze fell on the man in the about in front. Seconds ago he was clamped with the buildings but as he took steps forward he made his appearance to Lucy. He was the man from before, his pink hair still stood out despite the low light that the sunset provided.

Lucy crossed the street, she had the impression that the man was waiting for her, surely to return her cell phone. The blonde arrived in front of her jade eyes one.

- Here you have. -He spoke first, handing her cell phone.

Lucy noticed his eyes a little red and a raspy voice, maybe he had cried. The chocolate-eyed one felt empathy for the boy in front of her, they had just broken his heart in the worst way and she had helped the scandal. He was another victim of Lisanna, same as her brother.

- Thanks. -Immediately she put her cell phone in the bag. The boy just looked at her, he didn't speak.

-I'm very sorry to have started that scandal, I could have done it in a better way. - Natsu was surprised to hear her speak, an apology wasn't expected.

-No, it's not your fault. You have done the right thing, thanks to you now I know what kind of person I have been with all this time. - Natsu said bitterly.

-I also want to apologize for being aggressive with you. - added the truly repentant pelirosa. The blonde saw sincerity in his jade gaze.

-Don't worry, somehow I understand. I hope you know that you didn't deserve any of this, she is a bad person. Neither you nor my brother are to blame.

-Thanks. -Natsu was surprised with the woman in front of his eyes, despite being totally strangers to each other, she was trying to comfort him. And the most surprising thing is that it was working.

-I'm Natsu. - The green-eyed one spoke again.

Lucy opened her eyes, she didn't expect him to tell her his name. The blonde had only said what she thought and honestly she imagined that the man would tell her that it wasn't her business and would send her to hell.

-I'm Lucy. - The blonde revealed, Natsu was liking her.

-Lucy. - Natsu muttered. - nice name.

-Thanks. - The blonde blushed. She immediately reprimanded herself, the boy in front of her had just broken up with his girlfriend in the worst way, it was no time to spend stories in her head. He being handsome wasn't excuse.

- Do you want to walk for a while? It's better if we get away before she comes out. - Lucy suggested.

Natsu nodded, it was for the best. They both headed towards the street, with no fixed destination to go.

A small chat ensued between the two, Lucy trying her best to distract the jade-eyed one. They both discovered they had a lot in common and Natsu was surprised to learn that they both happened to be children of partner company owners. Their families were also mentionated but it was a bit awkward when it came to mentioning Sting even though Natsu tried to assure Lucy that he didn't worry too much about it.

The talk achieved its goal for 20 minutes until the tone of the blonde's phone interrupted them. Remembering her meeting, Lucy quickly answered the phone, it was her editor. After she explained that she had an emergency and that she was very sorry to have missed the meeting, she said goodbye to her understanding editor.

-Problems? - Natsu asked when the blonde returned from the call.

-Something like that but everything settled.

- I'm glad. -Natsu gave Lucy the first smile since she met him. The blonde's heart melted. It was a beautiful smile.

Remembering warm feelings, her brother came to mind and the realization that she hadn't yet communicated the bad news to her beloved twin.

- Natsu, I'm sorry. I have to go, I had completely forgotten that I still haven't talked to my brother about Lisanna.

- Go, it's important. I had forgotten too. Take care, it was a pleasure to meet you despite the situation.

-Nice to meet you too. Bye. - Lucy said with a look a little sad for separating. Perhaps they would never meet again.

Natsu watched as the small blonde slowly walked away, a sensation installed in his chest. All the sadness of the deception fell back on him, Lucy had managed to distract him and when she left everything came back. The girl was nice, she was very nice to him. He hoped it wasn't the last time he saw her.

An idea came to his mind, he would normally dismiss it. But the worst thing that could happen to him was already done, he had been cheated on and lied to for almost a year. What did it matter if a girl she had just met today rejected him?

- Lucy wait. -Natsu called her before she went too far.

- Tell me. - Lucy turned with expectant eyes. She was curious about what he wanted, deep down she hoped he would ask her to keep in touch. But it turned out a little better than that.

-I was thinking ... Maybe I can accompany you? I could talk to your brother in case he has questions and then could we have a few drinks? - Natsu asked somewhat embarrassed.

-You and me? - asked Lucy.

-Or all three, as you like. Although if you don't want to, of course it could be a nuisance for you and ... - Natsu was beginning to think it was a bad idea to have spoken.

-I'd love to. - Lucy interrupted him. - we go?

Natsu just looked at her puzzled, he didn't think she would really accept. He looked at the blonde in front of him and a big smile came to his lips, perhaps when he will recover emotionally, he will invite her new friend out on a date. But that would take a long time, his heart wasn't ready but taking one last look at the blonde, he wish it wouldn't take that long.

Who knows what could happen? It could be the start of something beautiful. So Natsu and Lucy headed to their new destination.

#nalu fanfic #nalu #fanfiction #fairy tail #nalu one shot

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charlierejouis · 3 years

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Quick Notes: Chapter 176

Let’s go!

“Why am I in a swimsuit, you ask?” I honestly had this question.

“The popular summer vacation spot, Ryuzetsu Land.” *sigh*

Look, it’s been a while since Mashima wrote a chapter with his characters in bathing suits... is what I’d say if there wasn’t a spa on the ship. (Honestly, I’m fine with this)

“You haven’t grown out of that yet?” Honestly, the more of this I see, the better I feel for Shiki’s future. Keep it coming while you can, Mashima.

Why is Connor drawn so tan here? The easy answer is sunburn, but how do you get sunburn in an indoor water park?

It’s not shocking to see how the Shining Stars treat their vacation time. I wasn’t expecting Mosco to be in a ball gag.

“Lagurino! You’re amazing!” Lagurino?

You know, a couple chapters ago, it was brought up how being around Shiki was a danger to the EZ Crew. Then you guys go around and mess with people trying to enjoy their vacations with your EG powers?

I saw Homura using the lazy river to train coming. Didn’t expect things to take the turn they did.

Well, I saw the spoilers for the Bluebell moments, but I’m still impressed that Mashima actually did this at this point in the series. For the record, I’ve been clear about my thoughts on this ship since chapter 1.

Let’s hope that this isn’t going to come as a dark flashback later on. (I say this as if we haven’t just had a major death within the past ten chapters)

Mashima really is capturing the spirit of internet success by portraying someone who lost favor with the internet in the span of 3 years. It makes me feel a bit too nostalgic.

The good ending to this is learning how Labilia and Rebecca fell out. The bad ending... do I even need to say it? Somewhere in between this spectrum, she joins the crew and they do a web show together.

“It’s so good to be alive!!!” With a plan like “Take out Shiki and have Rebecca do a strip-tease”, I’m not sure how much time you’d enjoy being alive.

“So will you join forces with me? We can be friends.” The last time Shiki heard this from one of his enemies, he lost an eye.

See you!

#quicknotes #edens zero #edens zero spoilers #edens zero chapter 176 #edens zero 176 #but yeah #i'm fine with shiki and rebecca #honestly might become mashima's best couple #MIGHT #they're not there yet #ask me in a year or two how i feel about them #might have written about them though...

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m-i-r · 4 years

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NaLu 2020 hints compilation -Part 2-

You can find part one here

So now that the year's pretty much come to its end (finally) and there's no new content to add (unless Mashima gets really generous on us in the final stretch, but I doubt xD), I decided to make a part two with all the new stuff that we got since part one~

Just like part 1, let's start with twitter doodles:

Mashima has now participated in NaLu day for the third year in a row! And this time he has drawn us two doodles, one is set in some AU where Natsu's smart enough to be Lucy's tutor (lol), and the other one's more IC but it's left for the fans to color~ I believe that the first one was inspired by the FT x QQ collab that was going on in the FT game around that time.It's cute to see Lucy blush so intensely at tutor!Natsu, she truly has it bad for this dork in each and every universe. xD This also makes me wonder if Natsu could’ve been smart if he was raised by his human parents normally. His older brother's kind of a genius after all, so the right genes are there lol.

As for the second doodle, I absolutely love how close and comfortable they are w/ e/o, and the way Natsu's precious scarf is intentionally put around Lucy too is adorable♥

Now, onto Live Autograph Session hints!

Mashima was asked to draw NaLu twice during this session:

And he told us throughout it that's he aware of NaLu's popularity and likes them himself. He also said that they're fun to draw, and are being drawn in a "more than friends" fashion in the manga rn (which he likes). He also eluded that you need to read 100YQ to see their development. Hopefully he lives up to his promises lol.

Now onto the manga!

On the bright side: They finally reunited and their daughter even got canonized in a sense!

On the not-so-bright side: They're separated again and Mashima's still not developing Natsu orz

But let's take it step by step:

In chapter 61, we got this lovely moment where Lucy’s more worried about Natsu than herself.

Her special and unique feelings for this dork are made more and more apparent. She's the only character who's truly, canonically in love with him.

In chapter 62, we got another moment:

This one I believe is easy to connect to the moment from the movie "Dragon Cry". (In it Natsu partly becomes a dragon, but the transformation isn't complete and it's reversed. At the end though, Natsu asks Lucy what he looks like to her - feeling obviously conflicted at not being completely human - but Lucy responds that he just looks like Natsu to her. That immediately relieves him (which is better illustrated in Mashima's sketches for the movie) and he later passes out in her arms.)

In this moment, Natsu’s flat out called a dragon and a demon, but it doesn't even make him flinch, because it's no longer a subject that he's conflicted about (like in the movie), and that's all thanks to Lucy - which is why I believe she’s the only one illustrated despite him generally talking about friends and people who believe in him. Lucy has a particular, special and deep impact on Natsu, and I believe he’ll be made to realize it more and more as the sequel progresses.

In chapter 63, Natsu and Lucy are finally reunited, and the cover illustrates their reunion:

I think it's important to note that while they're not the only ones that got "reunited", their reunion took the spotlight, and Juvia's face says it all heh.

In chapter 64, we got some classic NaLu shenanigans:

I liked seeing Natsu seriously set out to help his smol waifu get back to normal.

The boy even stopped himself from childishly taking advantage of her situation (which he obviously wanted to do for a sec) in favor of helping her lol lol:

and we got to see Lucy wearing his coat in the end:

In chapter 65, we went back to Edolas!

And we saw that Edolas!NaLu are now married and w/ a baby:

Nasha's officially canon! She's not exactly the Nasha that we wanted, but she's the only Nasha that we have for the time being (but she’s absolutely precious nonetheless). XD We even got to know where and how she was made lol:

But what I feel is most important:

1) Ashley assured Lucy that since her relationship with Dragion progressed and is doing well, hers and Natsu's will too:

And what’s even more important to remember is that while Ashley’s the one who’s saying those words, Mashima is the one who’s writing them.

2) Natsu taking a huge liking to Nasha, he even wanted to take her back to Earthland with him:

He may not know how babies are made yet, but he sure seems receptive to the idea of having one already lol. Would be fitting if that’s how the sequel ended, no? (after all the necessary... explanations and realizations ofc)

And last, but not least... Well actually it *is* the least likeable one in here but I think it’s important to mention it:

Chapter 71, Natsu’s pseudo-harem:

Now this one explains a lot about how Mashima perceives Natsu’s character. I remember him once saying that he wanted Natsu to have a love triangle w/ Lucy and Lisanna, but to avoid fandom drama he scratched that idea and made Natsu uninterested in romance instead... Now I see that he took that decision so seriously, Natsu can only feel friendship now lol. But I guess establishing/acknowledging something is the first step towards changing/developing it? This proves to us that Lucy had the right idea about Natsu all those chapters ago. And it explains NaLu’s stagnation even more: Natsu’s completely clueless in the romantic department, while as Lucy’s in love but aware of Natsu’s clueless-ness so she has no courage to start anything, as she’s not the “offensive” type anyways.

So all the cards are on the table now, but the waiting game for what seriously moves things forward continues... Will it be something that makes Lucy more open and offensive? Or will it be something that finally teaches Natsu how human reproduction works the meaning and beauty of romance? We’ll see. Now that Gruvia and JErza’s developments are pretty much complete, I think NaLu’s turn is not that far off.

Hopefully 2021 will be good to them and doesn’t give us any more questionable moments lol

#NaLu

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stellacolletore · 4 years

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i. kanade finds chihaya alone in the club room

Finding Chihaya sprawled on the tatami mat is a sight Kanade did not know she missed until she sees it again. It is late in the afternoon and the club meeting is cancelled as the members need to pore over their studies for exam week. She herself is about to go home, but her footsteps had drawn her here before she could even think of a reason why.

She enters the room and settles on the space beside Chihaya.

“What brings you here, Chihaya-chan?”

Chihaya’s eyes spring open in surprise. She must have been in deep thought, Kanade notes. Her friend’s outstanding hearing allows her to quickly sense them whenever they’re around that Kanade’s long used to being on the receiving end of her greetings.

Chihaya sits up, turning towards her. “Kana-chan…” she pauses for a second. “I needed somewhere to think, that’s all.”

It’s understandable. In between the whirlwind of last weekend’s Meijin and Queen matches and the upcoming university entrance exams, there are merely a few moments for Chihaya to take in everything that has been happening. Indeed, this quiet hour in the club room is the perfect time and place for mulling over pensive thoughts. Still, something is telling her she shouldn’t leave Chihaya alone just yet.

Kanade lies down on the tatami mat. “This is nice,” she announces to the startled girl beside her. With a hint of wistfulness, she admits, “I should have done this more often.”

“But it’s really an unladylike thing to do and you’re a graceful girl, Kana-chan, so there’s nothing to feel sorry about!” Chihaya supplies immediately, her sincerity bringing a fond smile to Kanade. Laying back on the floor again, Chihaya mutters, “You know, I’m not sure if it’s possible for me to ever become a graceful girl. Or even understand how it is to be like one.”

The concerning tone of her voice prompts Kanade to ask. “What have you been thinking about earlier, Chihaya-chan?”

Kanade could feel Chihaya stiffen slightly beside her. A few seconds pass before she hears a muted reply. “I was thinking about what should I have said to Taichi when…when he told me he loved me before.”

Eh?! So he did tell her?! That explains a lot of things but—when did that happen? How? It took all her self-control for Kanade to conceal the dizzying questions in her mind. Feigning a calm demeanor, she asks instead, “I see. Do you perhaps regret what you said to him back then?”

“I don’t know,” Chihaya answers, seemingly frustrated at herself. “I just know it was wrong because it hurt him enough to leave karuta, to leave the club, to leave…me.”

“Oh, Chihaya-chan.” Kanade loves Chihaya for all that she is; however, she can’t deny not hoping to have a conversation like this with her dear friend, one who has long been entangled in matters of love whether or not she’s ready to welcome it. Nevertheless, it is worrying to witness her perpetually cheerful friend in distraught. It’s clear that Chihaya had been deeply affected with President Mashima’s previous departure, but she evidently had no clue about the extent that feeling went. Attempting to provide some level of comfort, Kanade says, “But he’s come back now. Everything’s fine.” She looks over Chihaya, only to find a weary expression on her face. It’s not, it seems to say.

A new understanding dawns on Kanade. If she understands this correctly, then…

“You are worrying about what happens after you two graduate, aren’t you?” Chihaya’s open expression tells her she’s right. Kanade pushes on, “Chihaya-chan, even though you and President Mashima are going to different universities, it’s still possible to meet with each other. You can ask him to eat with you or to play karuta at the Shiranami society when there’s time. Unless…” It’s now or never, Kanade thinks as she finds her voice again, “…that wouldn’t be enough for you?”

Kanade fixes her gaze at Chihaya, determined not to miss her reaction. Chihaya’s eyes are open wide, and Kanade’s sure that the intention behind her question got through to her. Then, most unexpectedly, she covers her face with her hands as starts to snivel. “It doesn’t matter anymore. Not when he says his feelings for me have faded away.”

So she’s heard us before? Pushing aside the thought, she focused on consoling her friend. “Look at me, Chihaya-chan,” Kanade waits for her to heed her request before continuing. “You trust me to know things about poetry and love, and so I want you to believe me when I tell you this: President Mashima is lying. I could tell that he still loves you. So tell him what you wish to let him know, Chihaya-chan.” Kanade gives her an encouraging smile, her own heart soaring in happiness for her friends.

Chihaya takes a steadying breath, appearing soothed, but then she’s overcome with another worry. “I can’t.”

“It’s not that hard, Chihaya-chan. You just have to tell him you want him to stay with you and—” Kanade’s advice is cut off at the sight of Chihaya shaking her head. “No. I can’t tell him anything.”

It’s Kanade’s turn to be baffled. “What do you mean—?”

Chihaya’s face crumples as she suddenly wails, “I can’t tell him anything because I can’t find him anywhere! I’ve been searching for him this whole week and he’s nowhere—not in the library, or his cram school entrance, and I can’t bother him during class…” She collapses on the tatami mat once again, “At this rate, I won’t ever see him ‘til graduation! And only to tell goodbye!”

Before she could stop herself, Kanade bursts into laughter. Chihaya looks at her, petulant. “Kana-chan!”

Wiping at the moist in her eyes, Kanade explains, “Sorry, Chihaya-chan. You’re right, Prez isn’t around right now—but only because he’s on ‘house arrest’ for the week, as Nishida-kun calls it.”

“Huh?”

“Prez has his entrance exam this weekend, and since he took the time to watch someone play last Saturday,” Kanade gives her a playful wink, “his mother had him locked him up in his room to catch up on his studies. According to Tstutomu-kun, even his phone was confiscated.”

Chihaya was awestruck for a whole five seconds before being the one to dissolve in laughter this time around. “Mrs. Pressure must’ve been terrifying.” Chihaya proceeds to stand up and stretch her arms as if she’s detaching herself from the things that worried her. Beaming at Kanade, she declares, “Well, if Taichi’s doing that much and he’s already smart, I may have to start seriously studying for my exams. All right, let’s go home!”

Before leaving their separate ways as they head for their respective train stations, Chihaya asks Kanade for a favor. “Kana-chan, if you’re free this Saturday…can you and Sumire-chan help me make chocolates again?” Kanade’s sure about the reason behind the request, but decides to indulge in the happiness of hearing Chihaya say it. “Of course, Chihaya-chan. Do you want to host another Valentine’s Day picnic at the club?”

Chihaya stammers out, blushing all the while. “T-that’s a nice idea, Kana-chan! But I actually wanted to make some for Taichi—as a congratulations present. For taking the exam. And, um,”—Kanade’s internally squealing at how adorable Chihaya tries to convey herself—“I needed a reason to tell him what you told me to tell him.” Kanade holds Chihaya’s hands, “Everything’s going to be alright, Chihaya-chan.”

In the train on the way home, Kanade recalls the turn of events at the club room. Looking up at the full moon behind the train windows, she thinks of two poems that resonates with them:

Even for a time/Short as a piece of the reeds/In Naniwa’s marsh

We must never meet again:/Is this what you are asking me?

Though I would hide it/In my face it still appears—/My fond, secret love.

And now he questions me:/“Is something bothering you?”

#chihayafuru #taichihaya #ayase chihaya #mashima taichi #taichihaya-day #come talk taichihaya with me!

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natsumi-no-hotaru · 4 years

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Chihayafuru #44: I do not know where this love will take me

AKA. In which the god of karuta granted Taichi’s desperate plea for once.

[Previously: I spent more than a week just trying my damned best to do Shi-chan and her character development justice.]

I sobbed like a baby at the latter half of this episode. There’s no helping the brine from rolling down at the sight of Taichi staking all that he had to help fulfill his beloved’s ardent wish. This is definitely the most emotionally fulfilling episode of the season so far and every moment, every scene is so deftly executed to build up tension and let it crash and wash over the viewer at all the right places. *pour celebratory sake* Here’s to the incredible victory of Mizusawa and the absolutely heart-stopping matches of Taichi and Nishida!

On a side note, I really should stop making bets on the matches’ results lmao. Two consecutive wrong bets really got me thinking about the possibility that my luck is just about as good as Taichi’s lol.

Our prayer to the lord of karuta was heard.

The captain

“Mashima went there. Three wins, when we are cornered like this... He’s always let his actions speak for him. He’s always thinking about what happens when he loses. Mashima’s trying to change!”

Not only did Taichi step up his game and succeed in pushing the Fujisaki captain into hot water, but he also show his mettle as the capable captain in times of need. Refusing to let Chi-chan shoulder the burden of motivating the team by herself, Taichi decided to lead by example and attack his opponent’s lower right without any hesitation. He no longer needed to rely on Harada-sensei’s teaching like gospel, now that he felt confident enough to strike on his own, using his judgment and instinct. In a way, he has graduated from Harada-sensei and is set on the next stage of growth in his karuta journey.

“You’re the only coach I’ve ever had.”

Targeting the chink in his opponent’s armor, Taichi previously sent a multi-syllable card, now having become two-syllable, in order take advantage of the Fujisaki captain’s tendency to cover multi-syllable cards even when it’s not necessary, as reported by the ever reliable scoutmaster Tsutomu. Taichi’s strategy paid off beautifully as his opponent placed the card on his lower right of all places, the perfect spot for Taichi to attack. All he needed was for the card to be read.

In the moment before the card was read, the tension became palpable with Taichi’s fervent repeats of "Come on” and “Read it”. It certainly felt like the match would take a favorable turn for him, if only this card was read at this exact juncture. Miraculously, his prayer was heard and amazingly enough, not the last to be heard during this match. The tides have turned and it was time for him to ride on those waves.

Taichi took his sweet time deliberating which card to send next, to the frustration of his opponent. One would think that this critical stage of the game required such careful consideration but it turned out that Taichi was being SNEAKY.

Unbelievably, Emuro committed a fault - a double fault no less! He went for the wrong card on his own side, perhaps due to his heightened caution to Taichi’s attack or as equally likely, fatigue finally caught up with him. He may have hid it better than Taichi but victory over Hokuo should not have been a piece of cake.

“He knew exactly which card he was going to send. He pretended to take a long time so he could reinforce what the field would look like in his mind.”

Both Taichi and Emuro now had the same number of cards left, with the card gap effectively null. What’s even more exciting and promising is that Taichi was not done with the scheming yet.

Prepping for luck-of-the-draw, huh? Taichi so sneaky lmao. But before Taichi’s scheme was to come to fruition, the Mizusawa needed to clinch a win first, or all would surely be lost. Which is why we need to know how Chi-chan was doing.

The ace

It’s not a double but a team fault!!!

Chi-chan completely dominated the latter half of her game as she now only had 1 card left, in comparison to Rion’s 5.

“This is a battle of sound and reflex. The difference between them is barely perceivable but it exists. Enough of a difference for one to emerge victorious.”

No victory is without its cost. To secure the win that was so close to her grasp, she had to push through the semi-disorienting pain and the extreme fatigue by remind herself of where she was - the room of the final match, sitting in the seat of victory.

The moment that determined the winner and the loser came like a sudden gust of wind, blink and you would miss it. The slow-mo animation of the wordless exchange between Chi-chan and Rion was alike a fleeting dream sequence. For that instant, it felt like not a single thought of the ongoing competition existed between the two girls but the perfect empathy they shared.

They both touched the card.

For some reason, the sadness on Rion’s face seemed to be less about the result of her match against Chi-chan but the fact that it had to end.

Exhaustion claimed her now.

Awwwww. I love how the veteran members all have this motherly instinct when it comes to taking care of Chi-chan.

Rion refused to lift her head after bowing to thank Chi-chan for the match. Chi-chan has surely left a strong impression her and this is why I feel that they must have felt this sense of connection to one another that went beyond the competition between two opponents.

“No call to announce Mizusawa’s first win...”

It’s Nishida’s turn now.

The defender

Nishida received Taichi’s pass. Incoming attack from this up-and-coming duo!

It’s easy to forget Nishida in the midst of all the drama of Taichi and Chi-chan. He has long been the bulwark of the team, the one they all lean on for support. Having crawled back from an earlier deficit like Taichi’s, he soon proved his versatility: while he favors defense, he can definitely go out on an attack when the moment calls for it.

“It takes experience to be able to feel the flow of the game.”

Great minds think alike

“Compared to being Queen, it’s much harder for us to become best in Japan together! Chihaya’s right.

“We’ll have plenty of chances to try to become Master and Queen but we’ll only get to play as a team during our 3 years in high school.”

Fired up by Chi-chan’s dauntless passion and energy, Taichi and Nishida were now so close to their goal. For Taichi, defeat was not even a scenario to be considered at this stage of the game. Their opponents were no doubt very strong but Taichi and Nishida got a neat little scheme going on which may very well pull the rug from under the feet of Fujisaki players.

He covered it so well!!!

Uh-huh, uh huh. Sneaky sneaky. I couldn’t believe that Fujisaki didn’t pick that up when Taichi made such a show of sending the card, saying it out loud and all.

Yeah, you gotta make the best of this moment. There is definitely no guarantee that you might make it to the final game again.

Lost at sea vs Lasting legacy

“The mouth of the Yura is where the river meets the ocean. There, love lost its oar in the waters, left with no idea where it will go...”

I love how the cards at this crucial moment are chosen to match perfectly with the inner struggles the two captains are going through. For Emuro, the task of upholding the long-standing legacy of Fujisaki had become certainly heavier than he expected and we might very well not hear the sounds of the mighty waterfall for at least a year with the way the game’s going. For Taichi, he has long grappled with giving his life direction, be it his karuta or his love life that is the topic of discussion. The feeling of being lost at sea - of struggling without an end in sight - is not unfamiliar to him.

“Chihaya, wake up... I want you to watch my fate.”

Taichi and Nishida pulled off their luck-of-the-draw scheme - both teams now had exactly 50-50 chance of having their card read. But of course, the question that begged to be asked is whether the card on Taichi’s and Nishida’s side would be read first or not.

As usual, Taichi was torn between defending or attacking, being fully aware of how shitty his luck was. The intimidating air put on Emuro got him astray a little but he soon gathered his wits and was much emboldened after seeing Nishida unhesitatingly attacking his opponent’s card.

lmao this is probably what everyone went through watching this episode

The stakes were crazy high, the odds stacked against Mizusawa. Within this mire of tension, it was certainly no easy job to keep one’s head clear. All their hard work came down to this moment of half-luck, half-skill, and a sole desperate prayer for the right card to be read.

“The one card I need won’t be read. Is that how my life will go? Is everything I do futile? Is it futile to keep remembering [these dead cards]?”

And here comes the bit that absolutely tore me apart - Taichi’s plea for divine intervention from the karuta god for the first and last time. This was the only time he ever gave luck some real consideration, which really said something, given how little stock he put in it.

“I don’t care if my card is never read in a luck-of-the-draw again. So please... Just today... This one time... Just this once...”

All in for love of the game and of that person’s gaze.

In the blink of an eye. He did it!!!! TAICHI DID IT!!!!!

Like a boatsman adrift...

There’s just no words at all to describe this moment. Absolute history maker. And lord did the tear ducts run freely.

MIZUSAWA IS THE CHAMPION!!!

The mountain scaled and conquered

“If I were the god of karuta, I would side with Mizusawa for their valiant display.”

Sakurazawa-sensei admitted to the inadequacy of building a team who could only deliver strength to the table and nothing else. Emuro regretted looking down on Taichi because he had yet to make it to class A.

“None of our players are capable of defeating Ayase-san. It’s not your fault that you couldn’t win but you need to realize that you lost despite having the advantage.

Learn some humility.”

I love that Sakurazawa-sensei did the balancing act of consolation and lecture so well. Their opponents are strong, but they were also over-confident and surprisingly lacked experience. The luck of the draw thing was clearly a strong possibility and yet they did nothing to prepare for it.

The meeting long-in-the-making

She only had eyes for Arata now.

*pat Taichi on back*

“Did you watch? My team is the best in Japan. I became the best in Japan without becoming Queen.”

You don’t have to worry about that anymore...

... cos the only team for Arata is the one with you and Taichi.

*sob* I am so very very sad and so very happy. There’s a ball of emotions stuck in my throat and I’m ... floored by it all.

After watching this episode, I kinda couldn’t wait to know what the three of them would talk about so.... I watched ahead before writing this post.... ahahaha

Yep, I broke the rules I set for myself. Oh lawd, I can’t wait to talk about Chihayafuru #45!!! Be right back.... well... back soon enough? Lmao.

Next time then, folks! Stay safe!!

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socialyawkdude · 5 years

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Top 10 animes for first time viewers

Hello, my socially awkward friends,

I’m back after a much-needed vacation to bring you the content, which you crave. In recent weeks, I’ve been approached by friends and colleagues, about what amines they should watch. To say that it was a loaded question is an understatement. With the world of anime and manga being so vast, it's hard to know where to start.

After thinking it over, I’ve decided to follow suit of my supernatural top 10 and do a top 10 for anime for beginners.

Today's post will cover amines for first-time viewers. Let me start by saying that, This Is my Opinion! Please do not jump my bones because of the line-up. Now with that being said, let get this party started.

(10) Sailor Moon/Sailor Moon Crystal

Written by Nanoko Takeuchi

Genre/subgenre: Magical girl, action, romance, shoujo, superhero

Manga original run: (December 28, 1991, to February 3, 1997)

Anime Run: Sailor Moon (1992-1993) 46 episodes

Sailor Moon R (1993- 1994) 43 episodes

Sailor Moon S (1994- 1995) 38 episodes

Sailor Moon Super S (1995- 1996) 39 episode

Sailor Moon Sailor Star (1996- 1997) 34 episodes

The series follows the adventures of the protagonist Usagi Tsukino, a middle school student who is given the power to become the titular Sailor Soldier. Joined by other Sailor Soldiers, they defend Earth against an assortment of evil villains.

Let us start with a classic, remade for the modern-day. For quite a few of my generation, Sailor Moon was our introduction to the world of anime. I can remember watching sailor moon, in the early morning before the school bus came. Sailor Moon was the beginning of my love affair with anime.

Now here is what I got to say on sailor moon. It is a bit wonky, timeline-wise. Sailor Moon's overall timeline can be a bit hard to follow. That is if you are going in-depth with it. As long as you stay away from the headache inducing timeline, you’ll be ok.

(9)Bleach

Written by Tite Kubo

Genre/subgenre: Action, Adventure, Shonen, Supernatural, Comedy

Original manga run: August 7, 2001 - August 22, 2016

Original anime run: October 5, 2004 - March 27, 2012

366 episodes

What can I say about Bleach? It is one of my favorite anime’s of all time. It's not perfect but what is? You have a diverse cast of characters, a good story and plenty of action. In my opinion, that makes a great anime for beginners. For me, Bleach was my return to anime, after years of not watching. I think that I've watched this anime from beginning to end, one too many times.

I'm talking watching the U.S. airing up to the point that I had the watch in Japanese. I finished the anime a full 2 years before the finale aired in the U.S. I would highly recommend this anime to any beginners.

(8) Restaurant to another World

Written by Junpei Inuzuku

Genre/subgenre= Fantasy, Isekai

Manga Original Run: November 18, 2016, to June 25, 2019

Anime original Run: July 3, 2017, to September 18, 2017

12 episodes

I was recommended this anime by a friend of a friend. I am going, to be honest; I didn't know what I was getting into. This would be my first experience with isekai anime. Looking back on this anime, it is quite an anime. Not much action, but at a great story. I would not recommend watching after a 420 session, you will get the munchies.

(7) Sword Art Online

Written by Reki Kawahara

Genre/Subgenre= Isekai, Fantasy, Action, Adventure

Light Novel Original Run: April 10, 2009, to present

Anime original run:

Sword Art Online = July 8, 2012, to December 23, 2012

Sword Art Online II= July 5, 2014, to December 30, 2014

Sword Art Online Alicization = October 6, 2018, to present

And here we go again with another isekai. The genre in itself is pretty much the same across animes. Someone dies and is sent to another world, but Sword Art Online is different. Instead of dying and going to another world; our main character is trapped in a virtual world and if he dies there, he dies in the real world.

In general, I've been pretty hard on SAO because of its a little too real world for me. It deals with some very real-world issues. To give some examples: Death, rape, incest, and other issues. To top it all off, with it being 2019; we are only months away from when the anime begins. (Where is my damn nervegear?)

If you can get past all of that it's a decent anime. The first arc is by far the best. The second arc is OK and the third I haven't finished yet. Sword Art Online is a good anime for beginners, in my opinion. Plus, Sword Art Online always puts out a beyond great soundtrack.

(6) The Saga of Tanya the Evil

Written by Carlo Zen

Genre/subgenre: Isekai, fantasy

Manga Original run: April 26, 2016, to present

Anime original run: January 6, 2017, to March 31, 2017

12 Episodes

Here we are with the last isekai on our list. I understand that there have been quite a few listed, but besides the honorable mentions, there are no more. The Saga of Tanya the Evil is the perfect end of the isekai on this list.

Following the usual isekai tropes, Tanya the evil can best be described as a fantasy, historical alternative reality anime; taking place in a world similar to World War 1. As of this post, I'm only eight episodes in and quite enjoying it. I highly recommend checking it out.

(5) Fairy Tail

Written By Hiro Mashima

Genre/Subgenre: Shonen, Action, Adventure, Fantasy

Manga Original run: August 2, 2006, to July 26, 2017

Anime original Run: October 12, 2009, to Present

328 + episodes

It was around 7 years ago that a friend recommended fairy tail, to me. At the time, it wasn't my cup of tea. I was following Bleach, at the time, and hadn't leaped into the world of anime. Fast forward several years and it is still not my cup of tea. Now here is the thing, even though I may not be into fairy tail, ii know a good anime when I see it Given that fairy tail is entering its last full season; it a great choice for beginners and old alike. This is why I’m giving it the number 5 spot.

(4) Attack on Titan

Written by Hajime isayama

Genre/Subgenre: Dark fantasy, post-apocalyptic

Original manga run: September 9, 2009, to present

Original anime run: April 7, 2015, to present

Attack on Titan is one of those manga/animes that is a hit from day one. With a post-apocalyptic feel straight out of someone's worse nightmare. This isn't the zombie apocalypse folks; this is something far worse. The following that Attack on Titan has garnered is on par with American shows like The Walking Dead.

Along with the manga and anime, Attack on titan has spawned a live-action movie in 2015. In my opinion, the movie was just as gory and the anime, but a little toned down. If your a fan of post-apocalyptic shows like The Walking Dead, this is one that you have to check out.

A little piece of advice, do not watch the movie until you have seen the first season.

(3) Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid

Written by Coolkyoushinja

Genre/Subgenre: fantasy

Manga original run: May 25, 2013 to present

Anime original run: January 11, 2017, to April 6, 2017

13 episodes plus OVA

If there was ever an anime that should be the official anime of this blog, this is it. Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid has been one of my favorite animes that I've seen in recent years. This is not the usual action-pack thriller, that you'll usually see from animes that make there way west. It the cute and funny story of Miss Kobayashi and how she ended up with a dragon maid and the adventures that follow. I would recommend this to anyone, anime watcher or not.

(2) Fullmetal Alchemist/ Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood.

Written by Hiroma Arakawa

Genre/Subgenre: Adventure, dark fantasy, science fiction, shonen

manga original run: July 12, 2001, to June 12, 2019

Anime original run:

( Fullmetal Alchemist) October 4, 2003, to October 2, 2004

51 episodes plus the movie Conqueror of Shamballa (2005)

( Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood) April 5, 2009, to July 4, 2010

64 episodes

Here we are at the number 2 spot. This was a toss-up for number one, but I decided against it. I would suggest watching Brotherhood because it follows the manga beginning to end. Fullmetal Alchemist ends at episode 51 and it is up the movie, Conqueror of Shamballa to bring an end to the story. I saw Conqueror of Shamballa and overall the movie was great. Well deserving of the praise it got from film festivals around the world. Do yourself a favor and check out this anime.

(1) Dragon Ball /Z/GT/Super/Heroes

Written by Akira Toriyama

Genre/Subgenre: Action, Adventure, martial arts, shonen

Manga Original run:

Dragonball= December 3, 1984, to June 5, 1995

Dragonball Super= June 20,2025 to present

Anime original run:

Dragonball(1986 to 1989)

Dragonball Z( 1989 to 1996)

Dragonball GT( 1996 to 1997)

Dragonball Super( 2015 to 2018)

Super Dragonball Heroes(2018 to present)

And here we are at the number one spot. Come on, everyone should have seen this coming. Anime lovers and non-anime lovers have heard of the Dragonball series. While I was fighting for Fullmetal Alchemist to be in the number one spot; it wasn't going to happen. The Dragonball series is perfect for new anime viewers fro many reasons. One of the main reasons is if you get confused, there is plenty out there to help you understand what’s going on. The Dragonball series has been around in manga form since 1984 and anime form since 1986. There is plenty out there to help newbies and confused them, at the same time. Just don't watch the shitty American made live-action movie.

Honorable mentions: Konosuba, Ghost in A Shell, Food Wars and Naruto

Like always my friends, don't forget to like/share/reblog and follow. To get more of an idea of what's coming, you can follow me over on twitter at @socialyawkdude.

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raijinshuuappreciation · 5 years

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I honestly wouldn’t have something against a Battle of Fairy Tail 2.0 as long as it isn’t too easy for Team Natsu to tip the situation in their favor

AND

as long as we get a taste/reminder of how wrecking the Raijinshuu’s powers be.

Remember when the three of them disabled/took out almost the entire guild by themselves? Yea. They’re top mages, they’ve been respected by their power by the guild and outside of the guild but ever since they became side characters/Mashima barely used them in any fights anymore they’ve just gotten brushed off and I still hate it.

Like, not even a mention along with the others? I get it they’re not as much main character as Gajeel or any of the mentioned ones, which is a definite factor as well, but really?

What about them.

If the Raijinshuu don’t get at least a few freaky proper scenes, I’ll be so so disappointed. They’re so strong, Freed’s definitely up there in the top tiers and Ever and Bicks have proven during the Battle of FT what they are capable of as well, and Touka could use them and their powers for so much havoc and evil, it could get so so so nasty.

I don’t know how much of the 100 Year Quest Mashima himself is writing or if he’s just doing the main storyboard but honestly...

RAI-JIN-SHUU!

#fairy tail #freed justine #bickslow #evergreen (ft)#fairy tail 100 year quest #anybody with me here??

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natsubeatsrock · 4 years

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My 10 Favorite Posts, So Far

Well, tomorrow makes 5 years of blogging as natsubeatsrock. It’s been quite a crazy 5 years and I’ve made a number of crazy posts in the time between starting this blog and today. To celebrate I wanted to talk about 10 of my favorite posts over the past five years. This list isn’t necessarily ranked from least to most favorite, but there is one post I can call my absolute favorite.

Let’s go!

Honorable Mention: The Rewrite of Fairy Tail: Part 16 (Lisanna) [originally posted March 27, 2019]

As an honorable mention, I want to shed some light on my favorite post from last year. I started making this post months before the series was on the verge of ending. As I was working on this post and decided to work on rewriting Fairy Tail, I started to rework this series as a defense for keeping Lisanna in the series, as opposed to cutting her. This has been a theme in a lot of the posts I’ve made about Lisanna since a post I made before that one and I do plan to talk about that in the future.

#10. My Incredibly Unpopular Thoughts on: Ships/Zervis [originally posted October 25, 2015]

This is the earliest post in my top 10 and it shows. Around this time two big things happened: I made a post on August 31st called My Incredibly Unpopular Thoughts on: Juvia and the fandom exploded over Zervis, due to the revelations in canon. I intended to make that first post a part of a series and this was too big of an opportunity to pass. I remember that writing this was ridiculously easy for me. In fact, it’s one of the shortest posts for me to draft and upload with its relative size.

While I’m not as proud of how my writing prowess shines in this post, almost everything I’ve said in this post has become my philosophy on ships since posting it. My thoughts on shipping fandoms? Check. My thoughts on canon weight of ships? Check. My wishy-washy feelings over Zervis? Check. For a long time, this was my favorite entry in this series, but we’ll ge tto that soon enough.

#9. Bye, Bye Lucy: Part 4 [originally posted May 20, 2017]

A lot of you may be shocked to see this post on the list. “Bye, Bye Lucy“ was a series of posts I did explaining all of the issues I have with the infamous subset of fanfics that has Lucy get kicked off the Strongest Team in favor of Lisanna, resulting in her leaving Fairy Tail. I had a ton of fun working on this series. So much so, I actually ended up writing a story based on the idea I posit in Part 3 of this series, which I released earlier this month. But, individually, Part 4 is my favorite individual post in the series which focused on the idea of Lucy leaving the guild over the whole situation.

Originally, this whole series was going to be one really long post at just over 10,000 words. However, around the time I was working on the part that would become this post, I realized that these stories fail with each successive plot point important to this trope of story. At this particular point, any stories lose me as both stories inspired by Fairy Tail and as their own type of stories. No good story that I know even tries to play with these tropes has Lucy actually leave the guild, even temporarily.

#8. Why I Still Ship Nali (Even if Most of the Rest of Fandom Doesn’t) [originally posted March 1, 2020]

I didn’t want to add too many posts from too recent on this list. As much as I think my current writing is my most consistent writing, it would be hard to say that too many of my posts now are at the same level as many of the posts coming up on this list. But, I’m honestly glad that I made this post, especially considering some of the things surrounding its creation.

About three months into my blog, I made a post called “What I Need to Stop Shipping Nali (and why I still do)”. Around the time I was going to post it, I guess someone made a post questioning why people would still ship Nali. It’s become one of my least favorite posts and I’ve felt it desperately needed to be updated for a while. I decided to tackle an issue I’ve had seen in much of fan interpretations with Nali: doing nothing past Edolas with Nali. I wrote the first draft out months ago and waited for a good opportunity to type it out. When I got the hate messages, that felt like as good a time as any. Speaking of which...

#7. My Response to Anon-san [originally posted March 31, 2016]

A bit of backstory may help with this one. I posted “My Incredibly Unpopular Thoughts on: Lisanna” on Easter that year. I check my phone coming out of my church’s night concert and I got the two messages I respond to in this post. When I first saw I got messages, I was worried because that was the first time I ever got negative anon messages. But when I read them, I knew I needed to talk about this as my 3,000th post on this blog - a milestone I was on the cusp of approaching when I got the messages.

While I like the precedent my response seemed to set for my dealing with this type of stuff, the reason this post is here that I legitimately love the messages I was responding to. Every now and then, I read them to myself just to remind myself they exist. I’m not even sure why I got them in the first place. They don’t even seem terribly connected to that Lisanna post. While complaining about fandom has been something I’m apt to do for a number of reasons, I can’t imagine which post got on their “nevers”. But believe me when I say that I am feeling very cooling about the fact that I did.

#6. My Incredibly Unpopular Thoughts on: Nalu [originally posted July 9, 2016]

I’m sure this one isn’t much of a shock too many of you. Around the time I made this post, the “anti-Nalu“ community was very different from how it is now. I had made a couple of posts about some of the issues I had with the ship and its fandom, but nothing on this scale. As a part of Fairy Tail month, I figured should try to explain everything I saw wrong with both.

Even as I wanted to do this and made plenty of similar posts before this, the thought of backlash terrified me. I made sure to set it up to post when I knew I’d be away and wouldn’t be able to see how it was received. When I finally did see the responses to this post, all of them were positive and from people who agreed with me. It’s become my favorite post in the series and still seems to serve as a great primer for people who don’t ship Nalu.

Though I’m kind of sad that a lot of the stuff I talked about in that post regarding the development of Nalu and fandom habits haven’t changed almost four years since I first posted it. When I went to make the sequel for this post, I was shocked how little fandom changed and how stuff inside and outside of canon seemed to embolden fandom to be worse about other actions over abour 18 months. Though, I didn’t hate Nalu when I made this post, even as I stopped wanting to ship it around that time.

#5. Opinion I’ll Probably get Stoned For #100 [originally posted April 29, 2016]

I really have to get back to making these. “Opinions I’ll Probably get Stoned For” was the series I was known for starting less than two months into making this blog. It’s a series where I drop spicy takes ranging from Sweet Bell Pepper to California Reaper. I’ve gotten into it with fans over more than a few of the posts in this series. However, my favorite of the series is one of the longest editions in the series.

Months before posting this, I remember seeing one of my favorite Graytear bloggers get into trouble with Gruvia shippers. One point brought up that particularly pissed me off was the moment that Gray was about to used Iced Shell against Silver. According to the Gruva shipper, the fact that the panel remembering Juvia is bigger than the panel remembering Ultear showed enough of Mashima’s priorities. This argument literally made me sick to my stomach. For months, I’d privately joke that this proved the exact opposite: Gray went through with Iced Shell because he remembered Juvia.

To celebrate hitting the milestone of 100 posts in that series, I decided to make a longer version of the series and explain my thoughts in depth. As soon as I had the idea, I knew that had to be the one. My favorite thing about this post is that, despite clarifying that I’m not terribly serious about this argument twice in the post, I actually got blocked by a Gruvia fan over this post. I guess they didn’t see it as that funny of a joke. Weird how that works.

#4. Nali Week: Scars and Unkept Promises [originally posted July 24, 2016]

Every once in a while, someone will make the remark to the effect of “People should stop complaining about the ships they don’t like and make stuff for the ships they do like”. Thank goodness no one has actually said that in regard to my posts. As much fun as I’ve had over the years complaining about the stuff I don’t like in Fairy Tail and its fandom, I do make a point to talk about the stuff I do like and why every now and then. While the series was running, ship weeks usually meant meta posts from me and this is my favorite of them.

This post was born from my own musings about how the anime dealt with Natsu and Lisanna’s relationship. I wanted to talk about its handing through the perspective of Lisanna being an important person Natsu lost and how that works with his desire to see Igneel again. The big moments I draw on is his promise in episode 75 where Lisanna asks Natsu to save her if she ever gets lost and their reunion in episode 79.

The perspective I took in that post is one I don’t really take a lot. I’m not arguing against an idea a lot of people in fandom agree with. I’m not even really arguing that my perspective is the correct perspective. I’m explaining the thought process that Natsu, as I interpret him, has regarding someone he cares about. The stuff I talked about in this post has become part of my interpretation of Natsu and traces of it can be seen in a lot of the posts I’ve made since. We have to bring Nali Week back.

#3. An Open Letter to the Nalu Fandom [originally posted October 1, 2017]

I love satire as a rhetorical tool. I love taking an idea I disagree with to so large an extreme that the problems with it are obvious to even the people who agree with it. While many of my posts have drips of sarcasm and irony, I love making an entire post based on the idea of pointing out the problems with an argument. Consider that I’ve done similar things with Opinion #100 and, to an extent, my most recent story.

The trick is finding something with problems that are so glaringly obvious, you can’t imagine people actually taking its side. In the case of this post, it was a hilarious letter addressed to the “anti-Nalu’s”. Apparently, the idea that people openly didn’t like Nalu got on “the nerve of every last one of their pussy hair“. So they wrote a short letter they meant for fans who don’t like Nalu to read. I would give them a pass becasue they were apparently on their period, but they were defending those Twitter pics of Natsu and Lucy on chain leashes.

It’s worth mentioning that this was a few months after the original series ended. I had been trying hard not to make a post about Nalu and the stupid things I saw their fandom do. I didn’t even talk about the pictures they were defending. When I made this post, I figured that I was probably not going to be making many more posts about Nalu for a while. So I decided to throw in every issue I had with the Nalu fandom between talking about it a year earlier and then.

As you can probably tell, I haven’t stopped complaining about Nalu and its fandom. This post seems to have set the tone for how I would deal with the ship and its fandom this side of the ending. Instead of pointing to why a ship fails for me, I’ve been talking about why others should have expected the ship to fail. And, if recent events are a sign of the future, it seems like I’m going to have stuff to say about it for a while. Yay?

#2. Why was Ichiruki Popular? [originally posted July 6, 2018]

What does it say that this post is among my top 10, both on this list and in terms of most notes on a post on this blog? This is a Fairy Tail blog for crying out loud. I shouldn’t be able to get so much attention for talking about a series that isn’t Fairy Tail. It almost certainly shouldn’t get more attention than most of my posts about Fairy Tail. A few people even liked and reblogged it this week.

Then again, this wasn’t my first time talking about other series. I’d already spent time talking about Rave Master, Naruto, and Monster Soul on this blog. I asked my followers if it would be cool if I spent time talking about other series, now that Fairy Tail had ended. Since I got a fairly decent response I decided to talk about a few series, including Bleach.

I got into reading Bleach about a year before it ended. At the time, I was following people who were already into it and was well aware of the popularity of Ichiruki and infamy of its fandom. I was fairly behind but I didn’t see much reason to ship Ichiruki when it ended and I saw the fan meltdowns. Imagine my shock when I got to the end and felt exactly the same about its chances when Rukia said Ichigo’s just her friend. I made this post to vent.

If I started reading Bleach about a year before getting into Fairy Tail, I likely would have been a Bleach blogger. This post served as an interesting glimpse into what that timeline might look like. It’s also one of the few posts that sparked actually interesting responses. While many have pointed to the anime as a reason for its fan popularity, I can’t tell how the staff came to the conclusion that Ichiruki needed to be portrayed as more romantic than in the manga.

#1. I’m late to the “Nalu wasn’t the original plan” party, aren’t I? [originaly posted December 10, 2016]

I’ve made a lot of posts on this blog. I’ve said a lot of things, done a lot of analysis and meta, and shared a lot of opinions here. And yet, I can’t say that too much of the stuff I’ve said is important. Not to say that my insight into certain topics isn’t appreciated. It’s just that much of what I’ve said over the years, even in some of the posts on this list, likely has been and would have been said by anyone else if I didn’t say it. The biggest exception to that has been this post.

A few months before this post, there was a leaked image of Mashima’s afterword in Fairy Tail S regarding the extra chapter Special Request, which happens to be one of my favorite chapters in the series. In it, he admitted that he didn’t originally plan on writing Natsu and Lucy’s relationship as romantic and was currently writing them as somewhere between friends and lovers.

When I first saw it as an image on a Tumblr post, I was extremely hesitant to say anything about it. I didn’t know about Fairy Tail S and assumed it was a troll. When it was confirmed by another blog, and it source was ultimately verified, it was a dream come true. Mashima had vindicated my thoughts on the ship literal months after my big post on Nalu. And yet, not many people were talking about what this actually meant for Fairy Tail and the fandom moving forward. So came this post.

In many ways, I’m still shocked that I still have to point people to this afterword and what it means for Fairy Tail. I’m sure many people know Mashima didn’t plan on making Nalu happen, but I doubt many people understand that fandom is outright incorrect to say that Nalu hsa been obvious from the jump. In a weird connection to the previous post, Mashima’s comments on Nalu are similar to comments Tite Kubo made regarding his writing Ichiruki. Even now, it’s hard to say that Nalu will become canon knowing Mashima’s original intents.

Of the most important thing to come from this post, this marked the start of me starting to hate Nalu. Up to this point, I went from being indifferent to it to not liking it. However, once this came to light, I came to actually hate the idea of Nalu as romantic. I’ve had even less patience for the fandom that made itself near synonymous with the Fairy Tail fandom at large on every site ever. I doubt that will change anytime soon and I’m not sure if that’s a bad thing anymore.

Well, that’s my list of my favorite posts. I’m sure you guys have favorites among my posts and maybe some of them are on this list. If you want to see more of my other personal favorite posts and reblogs, I’ve tagged all of them as fav on my blog, including this one. Here’s to 5 more years of whatever the heck I’m doing on this blog!

See you!

#this was fun #i spent too much time through the anti nalu tag for this #i've made a lot of fun posts #fav

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mdelpin · 5 years

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Gratsu Bingo 2019, Gratsu Week 2019 Prompt: Flying AO3 | FF.Net

Crash Into Me

Disclaimer: All Fairy Tail Characters belong to Hiro Mashima

"Oh for Mavis' sake, will you just make a move already?" Erza muttered in exasperation as she watched the painfully obvious longing on Gray's face as he and Natsu engaged in one of their never-ending arguments.

"I know, right? It's ridiculous," Lucy rolled her eyes as she watched their friends from the relative safety of their table.

“Natsu loooooooves him,” Happy commented from his spot next to Erza.

Erza looked down at the Exceed in surprise, “Wait, you mean Natsu too?”

Happy nodded eagerly, covering his mouth with his paws as he giggled.

“Isn’t that who you were talking about?” Lucy peered over at Erza with interest.

"No, I was talking about Gray," Erza explained, "But if Natsu likes him too I see no reason why we shouldn't give them a little push. We are teammates, after all."

"More like they have no chance in hell of getting together on their own," Lucy snickered, and Happy joined in knowingly.

"What should we do?" Erza wondered aloud, knowing this wouldn't be simple. Both boys were prideful and stubborn, they couldn't just set them up on a blind date, or send them off on a mission and force them to share a room and hope for the best. No, they'd have to try something more creative. For this to work, they'd need to get them out of their comfort zones.

“I have it!” Mirajane exclaimed, making both girls jump in their seats. Where in the world had Mira even come from?

"What?" Mirajane grinned," You were about to matchmake, and you didn't think I'd want in?" Her eyes twinkled with excitement. "Here's what we'll do…"

Xxx

“Erza, why the hell did we have to get up so early? It’s not even light out,” Gray complained loudly. He hadn’t even had a chance to have a cup of coffee. “Where are we going?”

"This will be fun!" Erza smiled, but something in her eyes made Gray think that whatever she was up to would be anything but. She'd been acting strangely the past few days, paying way more attention than usual to him and Natsu, and Lucy had been asking him lots of questions.

Oh shit! There was no way they could know his secret, could they? He’d been so careful. His heart raced as he wondered what on Earth his friends could be up to and how much pain he could come to expect if he made a run for it while he still could.

They continued to walk in the dark until they reached an open field. There was a large object there. He didn't know what else to call it. It had a basket at its base that appeared to be tethered to a massive piece of fabric. It looked vaguely like some sort of enormous balloon as it lay flat on the ground behind it.

As soon as they arrived, the fabric began to fill with air. Within a few minutes, it was floating above the basket in all its brightly colored glory. Gray was starting to get a bad feeling about this. He noticed a man he didn't recognize walking around it, making adjustments and setting it up.

"Erza, what's going on, and what is that thing?"

“Why do you look so suspicious?” Erza tried to sound innocent, but she couldn’t really pull it off, especially not when she was so clearly up to something.

“Erza?” Gray prodded.

"Fine, fine, if you don't want to be surprised, I'll tell you," Erza grinned, her eyes full of excitement as she looked at the contraption that Gray had already begun to call a death trap in his head.

"I thought we could do something fun as a team, so I went ahead and rented this hot air balloon and asked Mira to pack us a lunch. We're going to have a picnic!"

Gray studied her carefully for a few minutes before relaxing. Thank God! For a moment there he'd thought they meant to trap him in that thing with Natsu, but he could buy Erza wanting to have a picnic. She'd always wanted to have a proper one after all.

Now that he wasn't freaking out, Gray began to examine the hot air balloon, trying to understand how it worked. It was tethered to the ground, but the man had turned on some sort of fire source, and the giant balloon had finished inflating.

“You want to give it a go?” The man asked him with a shy smile, noticing his interest.

“Shouldn’t we wait for the others?”

“Oh, you’ll still be tethered, it will just give you an idea of how it feels,” The man urged as he helped Gray get into the basket. “Have you ever flown before?”

"Only on a flying cat," Gray smirked at the man's bewildered expression before feeling the basket float up into the air.

It was a strange sensation, but he couldn't say he didn't like it. There was something that was bothering him about it, but Gray shrugged it off as he enjoyed the experience. He decided it would be more enjoyable without the loud noise the gas burner made as it heated up the air.

Movement... fire... loud…

Oh crap!

"Erza?" Gray called out urgently, but it seemed that his friend couldn't hear him over the burner. He motioned the operator to bring him down when he saw Natsu and Lucy had arrived.

Natsu seemed to be arguing with the girls, and Gray didn't have to listen in to know exactly what he was trying to say.

“I am not getting on that thing,” Natsu roared angrily.

“Natsu,” Erza glared at him, she was in no mood to have her plans disrupted, “You will get in that hot air balloon or else! Look, Gray is already in it, it’s not scary at all.”

"You think I'm scared to go on it?" Natsu gazed at her, perplexed that she could be so dense, "That has nothing to do with it, it's a vehicle."

"Nonsense, you don't get sick while flying," Erza reminded him, "You fly with Happy all the time, and you used to ride on Igneel."

"How many times do I have to tell you?" Natsu yelled, "Happy's not a vehicle, he's a friend!"

"ENOUGH!" Erza shrieked, punching him in the stomach in one quick move. Not quite enough to knock him out but enough to pick him up and dump him unceremoniously in the basket with Gray.

“Erza, this is a bad idea, we can have a picnic anywhere,” Gray tried to reason with her but shut up as soon as he saw her eyes flash with anger.

Gray looked down at his rival with sympathy. Natsu lay in a crumpled heap at the bottom of the basket. He clutched his stomach and moaned.

Gray couldn't help himself, years of rivalry had conditioned him to see Natsu in a moment of weakness and seek out a way to capitalize on it.

“You’re so pathetic, Ash for Brains,” Gray sneered, poking Natsu with his foot.

What are you doing?!

"Gray, you're not helping." Erza grabbed the large picnic basket from the ground, handing it over to Gray to put inside the balloon's base. She wasn't overly concerned, this is how they communicated after all.

Natsu picked that moment to grab one of the sandbags that were littered on the floor and throw it weakly at Gray, who easily deflected it with the picnic basket, bouncing it out of the hot air balloon and onto the ground.

“No, don’t take those out yet, “ The operator protested, his tone urgent.

Unfortunately, Gray was having too much fun at the moment to pay heed to the man’s words.

“Were you even trying to hit me?” Gray mocked Natsu, even as he saw the Fire Dragon Slayer grabbing other sandbags and throwing them at him. “You throw like a girl.”

Shut the fuck up, you dumbass! This right here is why you’re going to die alone, not to mention incinerated.

Gray had already put the picnic basket down, so he calmly called forth an ice shield, smirking when the bags hit it dead center and continued to pour out of the basket.

The operator was getting more and more agitated, and Gray realized that he could feel the basket floating as it had earlier.

Natsu immediately made a retching sound, and Gray managed to lift him up, so he didn't vomit inside the base. He breathed a sigh of relief when Natsu vomited over the side. That was until he heard the unbridled rage in Erza's voice.

“Natsu Ignatius Dragneel!”

“Ignatius?!” Gray looked over at Natsu and started laughing hysterically.

“Shut up!”

"Oh shit!" Gray looked down and saw Erza covered in Natsu's vomit, and he quickly molded a sword and began hacking away at the rope that was tethering them to the ground.

“What are you doing?!” Natsu yelled as he felt the hot air balloon float higher in the air, “We’re going higher, I want to get off this death trap!”

"Trust me, I did you a favor," Gray muttered, scouting the ground below them. They could still hear Erza shrieking, but at least she hadn't thought of requipping into one of her flying armors yet.

“Get me off this thing!”

“Listen, Ignatius, you threw up all over Erza. If we had stayed down there, she would have killed both of us.”

"You're joking, right?" Natsu looked at Gray hopefully, but the sheer panic on the other's face was enough to tell him he'd been serious.

He had another bout of nausea, and Gray once again pointed him outward. Once he was finished, Natsu tried to look around.

“We’re just going higher and higher, how are we going to get off this thing?”

“Don’t look at me,” Gray shrugged, finally realizing that maybe this hadn’t been the best idea. He began trying to figure out how the thing worked, wishing he’d thought to ask questions when he’d had the chance, ”I have no idea how to fly this thing, I think that operator guy was supposed to come with us.”

They had already drifted a fair distance from the field, the balloon moving swiftly in the cold morning air.

"Hey, Flame Brain, look over there!," Gray exclaimed, the awe in his voice unmistakable, making Natsu curious as to what he was talking about.

He moved slowly to see where Gray was pointing and was rewarded with the most beautiful sunrise he'd ever seen, peeking behind Mt. Hakobe. Natsu tried to appreciate it but was immediately assaulted by yet another bout of motion sickness.

“Graaay, I want to get off this thing now!” Natsu whined, getting desperate as the world spun around him.

“I’m working on it, the fire keeps us afloat I think,” Gray hadn’t finished the sentence before Natsu had already moved to eat all the fire.

They began to fall as the balloon deflated quickly.

“You idiot, I just said it was keeping us afloat, is that word too big for you?!” Gray shrieked in disbelief, “You’re going to get us killed!”

"Oh, no," Natsu retched out the side, how he still had anything left in his stomach, Gray couldn't even fathom. "This is much worse, what do we do?"

“Put the fire back!” Gray screeched, beginning to panic as the speed of their descent increased now that they had achieved free fall.

"Stop yelling at me! I'll try," Natsu let out a putrid burp that reeked of eggs and propane. "Fire Dragon, Baaauurrrp! , Roar!"

The fabric the balloon had been made out of was no match for the infernal heat of Natsu's flames, it reduced to ashes on contact, and now they were falling even faster. They both screamed and wrapped their arms around each other.

"We're going to die!" Natsu yelled, and Gray tried to free himself from Natsu's death grip.

"Not if I can help it," Gray looked down to see what was awaiting them on the ground. They were careening toward some trees, but if they could make it past them, there was a field that would provide a safer spot to land, well... crash.

"Natsu, I need you to hold on to me okay? Just make sure I can still move my hands." Natsu's face looked green, but he nodded that he understood. Within seconds Gray could feel Natsu's arms wrap around him from behind as he also managed to hold on to the picnic basket, which given Natsu's appetite surprised Gray, not at all.

Gray got into his Ice-Make stance and waited as long as he could to see where they would end up. His heart was racing, both from Natsu’s body being pressed tightly against him and the fear that they would both surely die if he wasn’t able to time this right. As soon as they passed the last of the trees, he cast his spell.

“Ice-Make Cocoon”

“If you throw up on me, I swear I will kick you out of this cocoon and let you die, do you understand?”

Gray heard a labored grunt of assent and hoped for the best. He felt his ice cover them about five seconds before they crashed. The basket shattered all around them, but the ice protected them from it, and then they were slipping and sliding, their bodies spinning inside the cocoon until finally coming to a stop.

“Oy, Flame Brain,” Gray called out, “Are you okay?”

When he received no response, Gray panicked. They were Gods know where with no easy way to find a healer. All he could hope for was that Erza and Lucy found them soon, and hopefully thought to bring Wendy with them.

He was still amazed that something so innocent could have gone so badly. Then again, who was he kidding, this type of thing seemed to happen when they were together. Maybe he was kidding himself that they could ever be anything more.

Gray dispelled his ice so that he could turn around and check on Natsu. His head was pounding, but Natsu had been behind him, absorbing most of the force of the initial impact.

Gray examined Natsu as best he could, deciding that despite a massive knot on the back of his head and bleeding from a few places, Natsu looked mostly alright and seemed to be breathing regularly.

Gray opened the picnic basket and grabbed the blanket that had been packed inside, spreading it out on the grass and carefully laying Natsu on top of it.

Glad that he’d managed to keep his shirt on for once, he took it off, shredding it into long strips he could use to stop the bleeding.

He looked around, trying to get his bearings. They were on a field he didn’t recognize, but Natsu was the one who insisted on walking everywhere, maybe he’d know where they were once he woke up.

That hellish ride had felt like it had gone on forever but realistically how long could it have been? Twenty minutes? How far away from Magnolia could the wind have carried them in that time?

When another thirty minutes had passed without any response from Natsu, Gray began to fret. He sat down on the blanket and gently placed Natsu's head on his lap. He opened a water bottle, grabbed one of the strips of his shirt, and poured some water on it, setting about cleaning off the blood from Natsu's forehead. Gray sprinkled some water on his head as well, trying to get a better look at the wound.

It looked a little worse than he'd first thought, so he used his fingers to gently move Natsu's hair out of the way before calling on his ice to seal the wound.

Natsu moaned oddly, Gray couldn’t quite tell whether it was from pain or something else.

“Oy, Flame Brain,” Gray called again as he unconsciously continued to run his fingers through Natsu’s hair, “Are you okay?”

“World is still spinning,” Natsu muttered.

“It’s really not, we crashed over half an hour ago.”

"Tell that to my stomach," Natsu replied, but he opened his eyes slowly, blinking against the early morning sunlight and gazing straight into Gray's concerned eyes.

"Natsu, I think you might have a concussion, one of your pupils is much larger than the other, and you said you were dizzy."

Gray was troubled, if Natsu had a concussion it was going to be much harder to get back to the guild. "Do you have any other symptoms?"

“Stop worrying, Ice Princess, I’ve had much worse,” Was all Natsu said before closing his eyes again. Then a moment later, “Mhhm, your fingers feel nice.”

Gray stopped in mid-stroke, looking down at his hand, startled to see he'd never stopped caressing Natsu's hair. It was a much more intimate touch than anything he'd ever dared before, and his heart raced with the fear it would give him away.

“Don’t stop, please?”

Gray debated for a second or two but then decided it wasn’t like he hadn’t been enjoying it as well. He let his fingers sink back into the soft locks and continued petting his rival.

“I can’t remember the last time someone did that for me,” Natsu said contentedly, “Might have been Gramps when I first got to the guild.”

“What are you talking about? ”

Natsu chuckled mirthlessly, “Have you met me? I’m loud and obnoxious, not to mention I destroy everything I touch. Who in their right mind would ever want to be close to me?”

Me, you idiot! I'd like to be close to you. You're perfect for me. But... you're not acting like yourself, and I'm starting to wonder, just how hard did you hit your head?

Gray was floored, he’d always thought that Natsu never thought about this stuff. It was one of the many reasons he’d never brought up his feelings, he’d assumed that Natsu would just laugh at him and humiliate him in front of the guild.

“Thank you, you can stop now if it makes you feel uncomfortable,” Natsu’s eyes were still closed, his lips stretched into a soft smile that tugged at Gray’s heart.

“No, it’s fine,” Gray answered hurriedly, he wanted to see that smile on Natsu for as long as he could, before they invariably returned to their usual patterns.

“Actually, come to think of it you probably touch me more than anyone else,” Natsu murmured thoughtfully, “Figures the one person who can’t stand me would be the one to--”

Great, he thinks I don’t like him. Why can’t I just tell him?!

"That's not true, you know," Gray interrupted before Natsu could finish his thought, "I can stand you just fine."

“Doesn’t seem like it most of the time,” Natsu pointed out.

Tell him!!!

“I--I’m just confused by you, is all,” Gray skirted ever closer to saying what his mind was screaming at him to confess.

“Why? If there’s one thing that most people seem to agree on is that I’m simple.”

“Seriously Natsu, are you fucking with me right now?”

“Huh?”

“Why are you talking like this?”

"My head is pounding, and I see no point in fighting. That's exactly how we get into these messes, we fight for the sake of fighting, and then bad stuff happens. Aren't you tired of it?"

Gray couldn’t argue with that logic, but something still felt off. “Are you sure you’re alright?”

Natsu chuckled, “If that’s your way of asking me if I’m dying or something, I think I’m okay. It hurts like hell, but nothing seems to be broken. Anyway, I’ll stop. You’re right, it’s strange for us to talk like this. I just thought--, nevermind.”

He tried to get up from Gray’s lap but soon fell back looking somewhat dazed, “We should probably figure out where we are and try to get back home.”

“Natsu,” Gray called out, he was going to do it, he was just going to tell him how he felt. There was never going to be a better chance than this. But to his great frustration, the words just wouldn’t come out.

Natsu turned his head slowly, his mismatched eyes flashing with curiosity, but he turned away when Gray remained silent. He attempted to get up again but suddenly found his arm trapped by Gray's firm grip.

"Natsu," Gray repeated, and Natsu turned once again, looking down at his arm and then back up to Gray's face, still looking somewhat dazed, "I need to tell you something."

“What is it?”

“I--I like you like that,” Gray said nervously still finding it hard to believe that Natsu not only thought about things like love but was sad because he had no one in his life that cared about him that way.

Gray could immediately tell from the puzzled expression on Natsu's face that he hadn't gotten it at all and he groaned.

Why? Why was he doomed to be in love with someone who was this oblivious? It wasn't fair! Gray wished he could blame the damn concussion, but sadly, this was just the way Natsu was.

“Like me like what?” Natsu stared at him in confusion, but there was something else that Gray couldn’t quite place in that gaze, regardless of how well he thought he knew the fire mage. He didn’t let himself dwell on it, worried he’d chicken out if he did.

“Fine, I’ll spell it out for you! I want to be with you,” Gray snapped in frustration, “I want to be the one that gets to run my fingers through your hair, and hold your hand and all that crap. Do you get it now?”

Gray’s heart sank when he saw Natsu’s normally squinty eyes widen to almost comical size as he processed Gray’s words. Here it comes, Gray thought, the teasing he’d been dreading. In 5-4-3-2--

“Oh,” Natsu said quietly before bursting into the most beautiful smile Gray had ever seen, and he’d seen all of Natsu’s smiles over the years. This was a new one.

"I want to be with you too," Natsu said simply, his cheeks flushing. "I was trying to tell you earlier, but you looked uhm uncomfortable."

Gray found that incredibly funny and he started to laugh, it was full of relief and amusement at their situation, and while Natsu watched him strangely, his smile never faltered.

He let Natsu sit up and opened the picnic basket to peer at its contents. “Do you feel up to eating? We should get some energy before trying to make it back to the guild.”

“Not really, I’m kind of sleepy,” Natsu answered before laying down on the blanket and closing his eyes.

“I don’t think you’re supposed to go to sleep with those symptoms,” Gray placed some food on the blanket and ate silently, keeping an eye on Natsu and shaking him awake whenever he dozed off, much to the other’s annoyance.

Gray was going to need lots of energy if he was to carry Natsu until he could walk for himself. He needed to get him to a healer.

“Oy, Flame Brain, do you recognize where we are?”

Natsu looked around and sniffed the air for a few minutes before replying, “I think Magnolia’s that way.”

Natsu pointed due east, and Gray let him attempt to walk on his own while he packed some food and the blanket, leaving the large basket behind. He picked Natsu up, relieved when the fire mage didn't fight him and carried him on his back for the long walk back.

They talked for hours, Gray trying his hardest to keep Natsu awake. Thankfully, Happy and Pantherlily found them and flew them back to the guild.

Xxx

“Are they back?” Erza asked, as soon as she and Lucy entered the guild later that evening. They had spent the day searching for their friends. When they’d finally stumbled upon the wreckage of the destroyed hot air balloon, they’d feared the worst.

Mira walked over to her, “Happy and Lily brought them in a few hours ago.”

"Are they okay?" Erza held her breath, fearing the worst, but when she took in Mira's relaxed expression, she could feel her relief at their safety transforming into a rage as she remembered the state of the hot air balloon.

"Natsu has a nasty concussion, but Gray seems to be okay, just tired," Mira reported with a smile, "Seems he carried Natsu most of the way back."

“Gray Uriel Fullbuster, you have a lot of explaining to do!” Erza screamed from the bottom of the stairs.

“Shh, you’ll wake them,” Mira glared at her, “Besides I think you'll want to see this.”

Erza and Lucy followed Mira up the stairs to the infirmary, curious to see what Mira was talking about. She opened the door gently so that Lucy and Erza could peek in. They were greeted by the sight of Natsu and Gray sharing a bed.

Natsu lay on his side, his head resting on Gray's chest, their hands clasped together as they slept peacefully. The girls closed the door quietly behind them, letting the boys get some rest.

“I can’t believe it, they managed to get together on their own,” Lucy muttered in amazement.

"What's the matter Erza? " Mira commented when she noticed Erza's crestfallen expression. "You look disappointed, I thought you'd be happy."

Erza was delighted for her teammates, she really was. Natsu and Gray were like siblings to her, and she was thrilled that they'd finally been honest with each other. Seeing them being so softly intimate brought a smile to her face. It really did, it was just...

"We never got to do all the stuff we planned, and once again, my picnic plans were ruined."

“We’ll just have to plan another one,” Mira replied cheerfully, “Maybe something less involved next time?”

The girls made their way back downstairs, choosing to keep what they now knew about their two friends a secret until they decided to tell everyone else.

Upstairs, Natsu burst into giggles, “Uriel? Your middle name is Uriel?”

“Shut it, they’re going to hear us, and Erza’s still pissed.”

Natsu smirked, “Make me.”

"Gladly," And with that Gray leaned down and captured Natsu's lips with his own, catching the Fire Dragon Slayer by surprise. There was an initial resistance which Gray wanted to chalk up to habit, but it was immediately replaced by the unmistakable feeling of Natsu's lips responding enthusiastically against his, and Gray felt joy, unlike anything he'd ever experienced before.

Gray wasn't new to kissing, although, before that day, it had always been motivated by curiosity, rather than affection. He wasn't sure he could ever go back to that, not now that he knew how it felt to share something so intimate with someone he loved.

Still, that resistance set off a warning bell in Gray's mind. This peace they were feeling, it wasn't going to last forever. He and Natsu weren't usually like this. No, this was the calm before the storm, and he knew it.

Gray's confession had only been made possible by Natsu's odd behavior due to his concussion, combined with the rush of adrenaline from a shared near-death moment.

He and Natsu related to each other in terms of violence and challenges. They were destined to clash as the opposing forces they were. The sprinkling of qualities Gramps instilled in all of them as they grew up were the only things that kept them from seriously hurting each other.

What they had started on this day, it wouldn't be easy, but it was reason enough for him to enjoy it in its purest form. He'd been given a glimpse of what they could become if they could manage to get over their pride and stubbornness.

Gray was confident he could rise to that challenge because as he watched Natsu cuddle up to him before drifting off to sleep yet again, he already knew there was nowhere else he wanted to be.

A/N: I had something else written for this prompt, the first chapter for the multi-chapter fic Anyone Who Had a Heart, but it felt odd to have that be the entry for Gratsu Week since only Natsu appears in that chapter.

So this was born out of guilt, lol. It’s quite ridiculous, but I hope you like it. I would not want to be in Natsu’s shoes if he threw up on Erza. Also thanks to @akikonatsuko for coming up with Uriel for Gray’s middle name!

#fairy tail #gratsu #gratsubingo2019 #gratsuweek2k19 #ftlgbtales #ftfanfics #humor #fluff #gray x natsu #natsu x gray #my edits

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procellasdracon · 6 years

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So a almost two months ago, an anon asked me this particular question:

And I answered it but I was not satisfied with what I wrote. So, here’s round two.

I didn’t get across the points that I wanted to, and quite frankly, it was written poorly. So I hope to actually answer the question this time in a more clear and concise manner. As before, this is just how I interpret this question and of course my own viewpoint on why some may feel that certain Jerza fanfictions feel awkward in terms of personality. We may share similar views, some others may disagree, and that’s that.

Personality-wise, I think that it’s straightforward why they seem OOC - they behave like two different people when they are around each other. The times that they are around each other, it’s just for romantic fluff, especially after the Nirvana arc up until the end of the GMG arc and then sprinkled again in the last arc. We get so much time of Erza behaving ‘like Erza’ - loud, brash, silly in a serious way, but when she switches to thinking of Jellal, Erza becomes someone else. Most people don’t know how to write for that so they take characters and scenarios that they know and superimpose them onto Jerza interactions - making them fit into the ‘slot’. A few people may be able to pull this off but most casual writers don’t know how to do it.

When not around Erza, Jellal can be a dynamic character. He has charisma and he uses it. His magic (that I have my fair share of problems with), is extremely powerful as well. He is decisive and driven for his end goal. Very broad statements to be sure. The only time his quirks show up is when he’s with Erza and that may be seen as being cute in that he only gets his guard broken when he’s around her or when it concerns her. But really, his only quirk is that whenever Erza shows up, he turns into some little bashful kid. Okay… and?

As I said previously in my first post, taking the both of them out of the context of the Fairy Tail narrative and a potential relationship between them is all but assured. Everything lines up between them on paper - they are a textbook couple - it would be ludicrous NOT to think of them as a potential couple. He’s taller than her, older (by more than just 1-2 years), handsome and roguish, a dark and troubled past but he’s still earnest and innocent and is trying to fight the sins of his past. Textbook, am I right? Of course, throw them back into the Fairy Tail story and you get one of those sins being that he mentally abused the woman that he loves so earnestly. Because of this, he deems himself as being unworthy to love her, despite her wishes to try and foster a relationship between them, and it seems that everything is working against them being together. Romantic, isn’t it?

The thing is, a good romance story doesn’t necessarily mean that it will end up a good relationship, and Jerza is one such relationship. Too much of their ‘romantic fluff’ has been pushed onto them - ultimately at the will of Mashima. Too bad that Mashima dropped the ball on them. They have not been shown to really interact with each other outside of a scene not framed to be ‘romantic’ in some fashion. The crux of their entire relationship is building off of the lingering feelings that they have for each other. A few romantically charged moments with each other should not be enough to proclaim a long lasting relationship from. How they are written in canon is forced to hell and back - just ask Ultear, Kagura, and Milianna. There was a lot of issues not only between them, but between people that they both knew and had a prominent place in Erza’s life that was just ‘dropped’ in favor of pushing them together for angsty romance and angst is a dangerous seasoning for a storyteller. Angst may cover up some problems but it doesn’t fix them - similar to how putting hot sauce into food can cover up how it initially tastes but it doesn’t fix the actual seasoning/taste problem.

Another thing is that Jellal went through several character overhauls during the course of the story, and that has hurt him as a character. At first, Jellal was the dangerously handsome bad-boy that had a possessive streak with Erza about a ‘dirty little secret’. And then thanks to some story amnesia, he gets ‘reset’ to a brooding dark prince character who is both edgy and handsome but still good. Erza has to become his ‘shining knight’ ready to defend him against any and all comers who would dare try to take Jellal away from her, because ‘romance’ that is hard fought is obviously worth it. And then at the end, he tries to become the shining prince for her, rushing to save her from across time and space the battlefield. Its like every time you see him, he has become someone else… The truth is - we don’t know enough about Jellal - no history aside for Erza, no real motivation other than to make up for all the bad things he did to Erza, and no real purpose in his life other than Erza. He’s an accessory to her - he’s not a character. He’s amounts to no more than a piece of jewelry to be added only for ‘certain situations’. There is very little substance to him and what substance he had was torn away from him with that little personality reset. So what is there to build his personality off of - not a whole lot. This is why his character varies a lot between writers - he’s a blank slate that they can fill with anything they want. We all know how Natsu is suppose to be, we all know how Gray is suppose to be. The lack of a consistent character standard in Jellal makes it easier for people to just write out whatever for him - but as long as its romantic in some fashion, then it is validated just because.

Jellal’s redemption would make for a decent side story if it was handled better. Unfortunately, his angst was given to drive his romance, not to drive his redemption. Some may say that his romance with Erza is a part of his redemption but they interact so very little during the course of the story that it does not lend enough credibility to it. That and his actions outside of her just didn’t add up for me. He still could have tried to reach out to Wally, Sho, Milliana and the others to try and apologize for what he had done - that alone would have been far better than him destroying cults of Zeref. That and a romance-driven redemption story isn’t something that would feel right in Fairy Tail. It was a story that touted friendship and familial bonds - Jellal broke those with several people, not just Erza. So where is their context in the story? The lack of time focused on his actual redemption really hurt him as a character, especially since the time he got were given to panels to just develop those angsty romance feels that made people go ‘d’aaaww, it’s so tragic~’ Until he forgives himself, every time he looks at Erza, all he will probably see is what he did to her (and some of the others from the Tower - maybe). If he doesn’t forgive himself or if he doesn’t earn the forgiveness from those he actually wronged, then he’s going to go into self-loathing and probably try to kill himself. The entire world is forgiving him but what is he actually doing to ‘earn’ it? Some will say that you ‘earn forgiveness’ and they are right - you don’t ‘earn’ it - but that doesn’t mean that the trust that was once there is just as easily rebuilt. Make his redemption about trying to rebuild those bonds with the Tower of Heaven people - THAT would have made for relevant story. Learning how to extend that which he just learned with the Tower of Heaven people and extending it to the OS - also a good direction to go in instead of the ‘I beat you, now I own you’ angle. Erza looking at all of his earnest efforts to try and make amends for what he did and falling for him all over again - THAT I can accept. Those types of actions are what would validate her having feelings for him and not having to rely on how she felt about him years and years ago.

The harder one has to struggle to get what they want, the more satisfying the payoff - I get that aspect. Most of us will root for the underdog just because we want to see someone beat the overwhelming odds. I can’t deny Jerza’s ‘potential’ - it’s everywhere - but it’s no less valid to me than Erza discovering that she has developed romantic feelings for Natsu as the story went on and there was plenty of opportunity and potential for that as well.

#procella answers #...again #anti jerza #this one feels better #thinking about it #isn't jerza vs natza the same #as zuko x katara vs aang x katara

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krsw1151 · 6 years

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Surface Level

Kay, here goes nothing. So recently I’ve been on a renewed Fairy Tail obsession(because I’m still ticked that Natsu and Lucy aren’t “officially” cannon/but that’s not what this post is about). So of course, since I’ve been in FT central for the past couple days, I heard about Eden’s Zero and had to check it out. And personally(especially after reading Chapter 2) I love it.

But of course, every time I look up things about it, the posts bashing Mashima for using the same characters(i.e. Happy; Erza/Elcy) are literally everywhere. And also personally-

I can’t stand it.

Now before I go on my rant, I wanna do some background. I saw FT first and it skyrocketed to my top ten very quickly. I love it, so much(even if I do think the fan service can be toned down a little lol). But the characters, the universe, the story and how it all fit together was just so awesome in my mind. I’d give anything to reread/rewatch it for the first time. And since I became such a huge fan, I looked Mashima up and saw that he had a previous work, Rave Master. Now, I have eyes. I saw many, many similarities between the two. Plue, Etherion, Sieghart/Jellal; the similarities are endless. And guess what, I fell in love with that one too. I have a friend who told me that I just liked it because I saw FT in it, that I wouldn’t have enjoyed it if I had seen it first. But I think that he was wrong. I loved RM a lot because, while it shares many things with FT, they are also completely different. Different worlds, different themes. Honestly I think that what’s the same and what’s not balance each other out well.

Plus, I wasn’t even born yet when RM first came out so there.

Now, this is where the ranting begins so I’m gonna say sorry right now. Foul language may(will) appear. You’ve been warned.

Back to EZ. Regarding all those people who are giving Mashima crap for “reusing” characters-

Shut up.

What you are seeing is Mashima’s style. Every artist, writer, musician has a certain style and they generally don’t change. Most musicians stick to a type of music genre; writers tend to write about characters or experiences close to themselves; artists use the same techniques when drawing.(I’m also gonna put out there that I know squat about art and like songs just based on how they sound) But I do write. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s to only write what you feel comfortable with. For example, don’t write about some foreign disease if you don��t know anything about it. I would imagine that this is the same for artists(if you are an artist, please let me know if I’m the zone or way out in left field).

The reason a lot of the characters look similar is because the same guy is drawing them. In its early chapters, FT designs resembled RM a lot. Same with how EZ resembles FT right now. With Mashima being in charge, of course things are gonna look the same on surface level. But that’s my point. Surface level.

*****spoilers for EZ 2 btw****** Happy from EZ and Happy from FT are. Completely. Different. Sure, they’re both blue, have the same name, and say “Aye!” But is Happy from FT a fucking robot that can turn itself into twin pistols?

Nope.

Now we’re gonna go back to RM. Sieghart/Jellal. They look the same and yes I do remember Jellal using “Sieg” as an alias. But they are still different. Different purposes, different fates. Mashima does use themes over and over again but so does literally every other creator of art. Probably the reason why he likes making clones of people is because(like I shared before) he feels comfortable with them. You also gotta remember that with him being the creator, he makes a lot of things that never come to print. He also surely had ideas that were inevitably scrapped. Maybe it did cross his mind that maybe he shouldn’t clone his characters, that maybe people would call him out on it.

Obviously he said “fuck that I’m god!”

And he is. Ultimately he has final say on what stays and what doesn’t. He can kill, clone, resurrect anyone he wants because he is in complete control. He liked Sieghart, so he made Jellal. He liked Happy, so he went steampunk and gave us the biggest plot twist of 2018(and if you say you saw that coming: bullshit) and have us roboHappy. He also seems to have liked Erza and frankly I’m dying to see how this Elcy person fares.

Its 3 a.m. so I’m not going to even try to explain Plue.

To wrap up, everyone who keeps bashing Mashima for doing what literally every other creator does needs to sit the fuck down. Also, quit bashing EZ. We are two chapters in. Before you decide that it’s a copy/paste version of FT, give it a chance. Cause I can promise you, I’m excited to learn more about it. And I’m also sure that while it might look the same, it’s only on the surface level. And if you read this and think I’m wrong or are still going to bash on EZ or Mashima, do us all a favor-

Dont read it.

Goodnight.

#rave master #fairy tail #edens zero #hiro mashima #this was sleep deprived rage talking

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epicocityfic · 6 years

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Fairy Tail Arcs: Worst to Best

For those who don’t know me that well, I’m a big fan of Fairy Tail. It’s really not that much of a surprise given some of the stories I’ve written.

However, over the last two months I’ve been diligently re-watching the series in preparation for the final season coming later this year. And it came into my mind to rank all of the arcs in order, as far as my own opinion goes. In fact, I figured I’d probably do one for the Openings and Endings, too.

So, without further ado, let’s rank them from the worst to the best. (NOTE: Filler arcs and ZERO will be included).

19) Daphne Arc

I really feel like, as far as arcs go, this is pretty much a no-brainer. Daphne arc is the single worst filler arc idea in all of Fairy Tail.

While, of course, I understand that this was intended to be the original ending for the series before it got popular in the anime, that doesn’t excuse how bad it was. And for four episodes, that’s saying something.

Genuinely, the arc has little going for it outside of Gray and Juvia’s Unison Raid. The arc is riddled with a plot hole given later revelations and the whole contrived conflict between Natsu and Gray was terribad. I mean, Natsu didn’t complete a job? Really, Gray?

I have no qualms putting this in last place.

18) Edolas Arc

If Daphne is horror for the anime, Edolas was horror as far as canon went.

Edolas was a weird arc, no denying, that felt more like a field trip than an actual arc. It has almost no impact on the rest of the series (save for Nichiya and the later reveal of Porlyusica) and squanders to interesting potential it had. What could have been an arc with the main characters using magical weapons was tossed aside in favor of the usual.

But that’s not the biggest issue for me. No, the biggest is that it’s slow as hell. It takes half the arc before any action even starts kicking in. And while getting backstory on Happy and Carla was...nice...I question the necessity of it.

The only things saving the arc from being a literal cesspool for me was the fight with the Dorma Anim and the godly Erza vs. Erza. Those were good, at least.

17/16/15/14) Lullaby Arc/Daybreak Arc/Macao Arc/Loke Arc

Yes, a four-way tie. It’s just too hard to decide if any one of these is worse than the others.

Not that I think any of these arcs are bad. Not at all. They’re just...very short. And very early.

These were the three arcs that occurred right at the beginning, with Fairy Tail in its formative stages, so to speak. While they introduced all the concepts in a good way (Zeref, guilds, the dragons, the strongest team, etc.) it was still when the series was finding its legs, and so it’s not as captivating as others.

As for the Loke Arc. Well, for one I hesitate to call it an arc, but it just wasn’t all that interesting to me in its brevity and served more as setup for the road to come. That was all.

13) Eclipse Celestial Spirits Arc

Oh, boy...where to begin with this one?

To note, I don’t consider the arc bad on mere principal. I think it’s one of those arcs that had potential and a lot of potentially good ideas that veered into a very weird territory that I wasn’t particularly comfortable with.

In fact, some of the stuff such as Hisui being a Celestial Spirit Wizard and the final battle against the Beast were pretty decent stuff, if not spectacular. Plus, Ophiuchus and Yukino’s spirits got a role, which is more than we could ask of the rest of the series. It even helps to lend this weight to the next major arc of the series.

But the rest of it drops the ball. Admittedly, some things are hilarious, like Wendy and Aquarius, Gray’s Dance Battle and the infinitely enjoyable card battle between Cana and Scorpio. But some of the handling when it came to characters like Lucy and Elfman’s battle were so disappointing and almost regressive in nature, it was bad.

This is really an arc I have no problem skipping, though I can see how others might not, and may like it instead.

12) Oracion Seis Arc

When I first read the Oracion Seis arc, I thought it was pretty good, since it started involving more than Fairy Tail and had some pretty good fights. But hindsight’s a bitch.

I don’t think the arc is bad. It’s just uneven. There’s a lot of start and stop within the arc that makes it feel longer than it actually is. It makes me bored before my adrenaline can go up with it before making me bored again. That’s why it’s so low on my list. I simply don’t enjoy it as much as I do other arcs.

However, it’s higher than those below for introducing some of the best concepts in the series: Jura, the enemies themselves and Wendy. These three were great and helped keep the arc afloat.

Oh, and Jellal’s return which made for one of my favorite Natsu solo fights in the series.

11) Avatar Arc

Avatar gets a lot of flak. I, personally, don’t see why.

“Then why is it so low on your list?!”

The answer to that is the same as the arc below it: uneven pacing with interesting concepts. It’s very jerky in a sense because the arc gives off the impression it’ll be a collection quest for the Fairy Tail members before it becomes this big battle thing. Gray’s “evil or not” starts off interesting before devolving to standard fare.

But the battle at the end is awesome. Meant to be a battle that showcases how strong the main team is, it does its job in the best of ways, and I can’t be mad at it. It’s awesome seeing the Fairy Tail crew back together again and kicking ass for the first time since Hades.

10) Galuna Island Arc

Galuna is weird for me. I think it’s good, especially Gray’s backstory. At the same time it was still in that sea legs phase of the series.

What I feel makes Galuna shine is that it’s Gray, not Natsu, who gets the big fight of the arc, even if Natsu does most of the work. It worked to not only develop Gray, but also Lyon and his crew.

Overall, I guess I could say Galuna is average. It’s an arc I can sit down and go “I can watch this arc on its own”. That’s a compliment, far as I’m concerned. It’s a good time. It just doesn’t particularly excel at anything that other arcs didn’t do better. Average.

9) Phantom Lord Arc

Everyone loves Phantom Lord. It’s typically cited as the arc that was the first time the series was “good”. And while I can definitely agree that it’s good, it’s simply blown out of the water by later arcs.

I think part of it is how much the fights aren’t really...fights. They’re more character pieces. Gray vs. Juvia is used to introduce Juvia. Elfman vs. Sol brings Lisanna into the equation. Totomaru was bland, as was Aria. So, naturally, Natsu vs. Gajeel makes up the slack.

However, the arc excelled at the sense of doom. There wasn’t a moment you truly felt like Fairy Tail could cut themselves some slack, and it’s what made this arc good. Combine that with the final battle and it is a very solid arc that’s good. Later arcs just do it all better.

8) Key of the Starry Heavens Arc

What’s this? A filler? So high?

Yes, indeed. In fact, I view this particular filler arc as an example of how to do filler arcs. No joke. Not only does it exist in canon and flesh out an event offhandedly mentioned, but it also serves to give Lucy character development by showing her dealing with this loss of family that the manga brushed over.

I’d go so far as to say it’s an arc that I think Mashima wanted to write but was told to move on from in order to make the plot clip along.

Indeed, what makes this arc a good arc is how it tackles character development, even in a filler. From Doranbolt getting over his survivor’s guilt (kinda) to Lucy dealing with her father’s death to the Oracion Seis having the seeds planted for their eventual reform. It’s just good. And the final segment is highly emotional and engaging with a mystery and reveal that, while not surprising, makes the arc more than it had any right being.

The only thing that drags it down on this list, sadly, is that the front half can be a bit slow at times; more of an adventure before the threat becomes palpable.

7/6) Fighting Festival Arc/Fairy Tail ZERO

I really can’t choose between these two arcs at all.

Fighting Festival has the stronger action core to it, but ZERO has the indisputably better story.

But both excel at their cores. While they lack in those detriment areas, the ones they choose to focus on, they do well. Natsu and Gajeel vs. Laxus is one of the best fights in the anime. Mira going batshit on Fried is amazing. Meanwhile, the darker storyline of ZERO is great and shows the guild built from the ground up with a twist that, while obvious, is no less emotional.

They do well at what they choose, while leaving the other parts in the dust. I’d watch them both again and enjoy them. But that they eschew one part in favor of the other is what keeps them below the top 5 arcs on my list.

And, indeed, it’s time for my top 5 arcs, which I don’t really feel are all that surprising.

5) Alvarez Arc

The Alvarez arc, or the final arc, I guess, is probably one of the most widely loathed arcs of the series. My personal belief is that it stems from people wanting Fairy Tail to be something it isn’t or just not paying attention (as Mashima has never been a spoon-feeder when it comes to the things he does).

I hold a different opinion, which is the reason it sits at number 5.

After a recent re-read of the arc, I can easily say it’s one of the better arcs. It’s fast-moving except for when it needs to deal with some myth arc stuff, but the myth arc chapters are so huge that you don’t feel like the story is slow at all. In fact, this arc ends up answering just about every single lingering question in the series and wraps it up with a neat little bow. From Zeref and Natsu’s relationship to the origin of the Dragon Slayers.

The only thing really missing from it was Acnologia having a decently fleshed out motive, which I hope the anime has the chance to expand upon like they did with the Oracion Seis.

The fights are also among my favorite in the manga. Yes, even the Irene fight which with official translations and a bit of fridge logic is probably one of my favorite fights in the series.

In general, I suppose I feel that Alvarez best espouses what Fairy Tail is all about, since out of the 14 major fights, only two of them are fought by solo characters and the rest are done in teams or groups. For a series that preaches friendship, it really sells it.

I could probably ramble on in defense of the arc, but I feel like I shouldn’t. It’s just a good ride, and if the anime adapts it well, I could even see it moving up on my list.

4) Grand Magic Games Arc

The GMGs are where I fell in love with Fairy Tail. I know, halfway through seems kind of a weird place, but I’m serious.

I think a large part of it was that we got to have other guilds again and expanded the world beyond the Fairy Tail sphere of influence. But the other part is just that Mashima structured the arc that well.

From the crushing loss at the beginning to growing into the number one guild, it made me laugh and cry and cheer Fairy Tail on, knowing they had what it took. I got angry at Sabertooth and Raven Tail, I pumped a fist when Natsu laid a beatdown on Sting and Rogue because he was just that much better.

It’s a credit to Mashima that he was able to build up this feeling if you let him. You felt like you were riding a high with all the characters.

And then the dragon invasion came.

If this part was its own separate arc, I’d argue it would be number 2 as an arc because it was easily the most captivating moment of the arc in an arc full of captivating moments. It was intense, emotional and never let up until the moment the Eclipse Gate was destroyed. After the major sacrifice and Natsu’s speech that it’s about living today, all I could do was let a breath out. It was 60 chapters of build-up, but it was worth the weight.

I almost find it hard to put it at number 4 given how much I loved the arc, but I just think the top 3 were quite a bit tighter.

3) Tower of Heaven Arc

Now that we’re sort of in the home stretch on arcs, Tower of Heaven was the first time the series felt like it had some real stakes. Not only did it begin to dip into the larger mythos, but behind the scenes it changed the structure of the magical world with the Council, something that would come into play many arcs later.

While the arc is short, it’s just well-structured. It develops Gray. It massively develops Erza. It develops Lucy and Juvia’s relationship. It offers good fights, and has arguably one of the most intense in Natsu vs. Jellal.

And all of it is paced well. Objectively, I could argue it’s the best arc in the series, but for me, it’s just missing that extra something. Something that the final two on my list have: all of the Fairy Tail members working together.

2) Tenrou Island Arc

I adore Tenrou.

I adore it for a different reason than the other arcs. Maybe it’s because it starts off with action but of the lighter variety before shifting to a darker kind. Maybe it’s the myth arc affect.

In the end, I think it’s because Mashima had a clear vision for this arc and its consequences. And there are consequences, especially as it wraps up the plot for the first half of the series.

It’s hard for me to find the words to say why I think Tenrou is so good, but the easiest one: Team Natsu vs. Hades.

Barring the fact that just about every other fight in the arc is really good (particularly Natsu vs. Zancrow, Gray vs. Ultear and Erza vs. Azuma), this fight to this day holds the title of the best. It’s a consistent back and forth that required at least 6 people to take Hades down and even then. It’s easily one of the most intense and serves as the strong crux of the arc that it needed to be.

Yet even with that, what pushes Tenrou up to number 2 is the ending with Acnologia. It’s unexpected, gives major consequences to Fairy Tail as a whole and is quite honestly a shock when you first experience it because it’s the first enemy they can’t overcome.

The only reason this remains below the top arc is because individually, most of the characters don’t get development. Only Cana and Juvia really do, I feel.

So, with all that out of the way, the obvious #1 arc.

1) Tartaros Arc

Could it have been anything other than Tartaros?

To give a caveat, Sun Village is an arc I consider to be part and parcel of Tartaros since it’s more a prologue. It’s a little slow on its own to be honest, but that doesn’t affect my opinions on the main arc itself.

That said, Tartaros is easily the best arc in the series.

From the word go it never lets up on its pacing. The Council gets slaughtered, the battle against the demons, Jellal vs. the Oracion Seis, the guild getting blown up. It’s a constant ride on the pacing. Part of that can probably be attributed to how Mashima broke the arcs down into mini-arcs.

But more than that, the arc has major consequences and development.

While pacing keeps an arc going strong, it’s all those other things that strengthen it. Every character of the main group gets development in spades, and so much of it ties back into the myth arc with the absolutely stunning reveal of where Igneel and the dragons were, coupled with Igneel vs. Acnologia.

Indeed, all of the fights were intense and solid, even the Jiemma fight that provided closure to both Minerva’s character and Sabertooth as a whole. All of it really played into that pacing where you never felt the guild was out of danger until that final tear-inducing scene.

It’s an intense ride. An emotional ride. A ride I would gladly take again and again.

That’s why it’s more than worthy of being my number one pick.

So, I hope you enjoyed this list and if you have a different opinion, feel free to share!

Dare to Be Silly, Epicocity

#fairy tail

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charlierejouis · 4 years

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Quick Notes: Chapter 129

Let’s do this!

It’s weird to see Elsie wrapped in bandages. That’s all I’m going to say on that.

For reference, Elsie made quick work of Homura in a spar. If the rest of the Oracion Seis interstellar is after the EZ Crew, things might be tricky for them in the future.

You know, for a second, I forgot about Drakken Joe. That was nice.

Laguna’s talk of playing roles is interesting as a former actor. I feel like I’m not going to enjoy finding out his true goals.

Okay, I’m willing to buy Weisz and Hermit being a thing, but I draw the line at Couchpo and Mosco being a thing. Mostly for Mosco’s sake. I don’t like him.

Hey, flags on the kids meal. That’s cute. When is Shield Hero coming back?

“I asked that girl... and her friends... to show me where Miimii died...” You did what? Why would you do that kind of thing to yourself?

Hey, characters bonding over shared loss. The power of Mashima killing off characters. (Does this mean Aruna’s joining the EZ Crew?)

I like how Hermit’s implying that they should have left Xenolith to die. What else do you think would have happened if he stayed?

I know that uploading personal data is a thing, per the Shining Stars and Ziggy. Does he keep his memories and emotions by virtue of not dying?

“I have a favor for you. Apprentice of Ziggy. This is something only you can do.” Apparently, we’ll have to wait until next chapter to find out what it is. Maybe.

I appreciate seeing Kleene smiling but I’m not used to it. Hopefully, we’ll see more of her and I’ll get accustomed to it. (This sounds more messed up than I thought it would.)

Drakken saving the Ruthefords sounds like a double-edged sword. On the one hand, you’ve got a job and shelter. On the other, you’re working for an evil person.

See you!

#quicknotes #edens zero #edens zero spoilers #edens zero chapter 129 #edens zero 129 #i'm trying something different #instead of doing this live on wed.#i'm writing this on tuesday #and setting it to post wednesday #let's see how this goes

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fairytail-whathesays · 7 years

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Concerning sympathetic antagonists,

Since Gangsta: Cursed is making me annoyed in addition to physically ill, I think now might be a good time to make a post about going too far with a villainous character you want to show in a sympathetic light or, worse yet, redeem. There’s a TLDR at the end.

I’d like to preface by saying that this is actually not directed at Hiro Mashima. I already know why Mashima redeemed evil pieces of shit like Flare Corona and Minerva Orland--because they’re women, sexy women. So they have to be good. That’s just how his brain works. No, I’m talking more to authors like Kohske and Kouta Hirano, who want to show us horrible villains while showing them in a sympathetic light.

I’ll also say that I can only make this post in reference to the first 6 chapters of Gangsta: Cursed, of which there are 20, as the rest haven’t been translated yet.

Up until now, I’ve been favorably comparing Gangsta. to Attack on Titan, mostly because the two bring up a lot of similar issues--discrimination, fear of people who are different, mob psychology, what makes a human versus what makes a monster, and child soldiers.

What makes the “Titan Trio” (Annie, Reiner, Bertholdt) of Attack on Titan so interesting and compelling is that they aren’t really villains. Make no mistake, they’ve committed horrible crimes and have killed thousands of people. But they were also children, brainwashed and indoctrinated and doing what they thought was right without understanding anything about their actions. They are shown later in life being wracked with guilt and trauma and doubting themselves, and hesitating at critical moments, especially with people they’ve come to know. That’s why showing them tragically works. I may not like Isayama, but before his work went to shit, he did know how to make me feel sorry for an antagonist.

Gangsta also has child soldiers. Murderers come in flavors as young as 13. This group of people are the Destroyers. They’ve been indoctrinated and brainwashed too, and like the Titan trio, brought up to think exterminating a different race is the right thing to do. Gangsta: Cursed stars Marco and Striker, as the children who do that.

Marco is ostensibly the sympathetic one. He is the one who begins to doubt himself as he wonders if Twilights are really the monsters he’s been brought up to see them as. Striker is just evil. Striker gores small children and then laughs about it--no, literally. He and Beretta seek out shelters full of hiding, crying humans and slaughter them gleefully. Striker is so horrifically evil even from a young age that he makes Nic’s dad look like a fluffy puppy. He makes the guy who killed a boy’s mother, raised him as a soldier, beats him daily and lets him nearly die on his watch, and then abandons him while calling him a monster, look like a damn saint. And yet, it still feels too early to say that Striker is supposed to be evil, because he is given the same excuse as Marco: he’s been brought up to think this way and thinks he’s doing the right thing, and sticks to that when there are opportunities where it could’ve been shown that he’s actually just a murderous lunatic.

Other parts of the Destroyers include Beretta, who’s almost as loony as Striker, Minimi, who just slaughters for cash and actually manages to be more sympathetic than the brainwashed kids, and Marie, who saw her big brother killed by what she only later learned was a Twilight, and for which she feels slaughtering every man, woman, and child Twilight in the most painful way possible is justice.

You can probably guess without me telling you that poor Marie’s excuse is shown in a series of pathetically bare panels in a monotone voice that couldn’t be harder to take seriously.

What makes the Destroyers different from the Titan Trio? While we don’t know how many people the Destroyers kill (if we use Striker as a somewhat aggressive example, they probably have killed hundreds each and thousands as a collective), we do know that the Titan trio have killed far more, at 250,000+ lives being lost to the jaws of Titans due to their actions. So what makes them different?

For starters, even if we take out how different the Titan trio’s behaviors and thought processes are (because the Destroyers’ aren’t really supposed to be different, the portrayal makes it clear that they’re going for something similar here), there is still a very fundamental difference in their actions, several each.

Reiner and Bertholdt didn’t walk up to people and start goring them as 12 year olds. They just destroyed gates, and the Titans did the rest. To a child, that probably seems a lot simpler and easier than sticking a sword into a man’s neck. All of the blood is by proxy.

But what about Annie? She went into the field and killed people with her own hands, some of them in horrific ways.

Yet, Annie was merely tracking down a target. Yes, she was brutal and sadistic, but she left anyone who was not an immediate obstacle to her goal out of her killing spree.

All of Annie’s targets were able to defend themselves. While it’s obvious they can’t really fight back against a Titan of her caliber, they can escape her if they wish without her chasing them down. These are trained soldiers who, as Eren points out, don’t have to die at all.

None of the Titan trio ever intentionally kill a child. While you can argue about whether or not women are more innocent than men, children are most definitely more innocent and defenseless than adults. Killing a child with your own hands is generally considered the mark of a complete villain, aka someone iredeemable.

The Destroyers violate all of that. They intentionally seek out men, women, and children, who are doing nothing to them at all and have done nothing wrong in their lives, and brutally slaughter them, usually in unnecessarily cruel and painful ways. This includes screaming husbands and wives shielding their crying and traumatized children. The vast majority of their targets are people who cannot fight back. 4/5 of them never question their instructions at all, even though it shouldn’t take them long to realize what they’re killing does not match up with what they’ve been taught to expect. Marie in particular should find what she’s doing to be heinous and unbearable, yet we’re supposed to feel sympathy for her because her adult brother got killed and someone told her a Twilight did it later and her actions are supposed to make sense.

Marco’s not exempt from this either.

It takes Marco an astounding number of unprovoked murders to come to this conclusion, even though the reality hasn’t matched the expectation from the start. “Normals, and even children” have been many of his own victims.

Think about if you were holding those razor wires, and able to slice people up faster than they could blink. How many screaming men and women would you have to carve up while they begged you to leave them alone before you came to the conclusion “This is wrong”?

There is a limit to how much evil you can show your characters partaking in--even if they’re young, like Marco here--before they become impossible to sympathize with. I cannot sympathize with Marco. I think he deserves to die, painfully, because I’ve watched 5 straight chapters of nothing but him and his cohorts slaughtering people. That’s literally all the first five chapters have consisted of!

And usually, I’d approve of this. I get so sick of people like Mashima and Hirano, who think showing us a few panels of Tragic Backstory™ is enough to make a dent in enough evil to fill Lake Superior. It should be refreshing to see an author actually try to show an antagonist thinking about what they’re doing before just sloppily redeeming them. But this is so carelessly done, that I can’t approve of it. And Marco gets redeemed. I already know that he gets accepted into twilight areas and gets to save his lady love after defeating Striker and Beretta.

So, to summarize,

“I wonder if murdering twilights is wrong?” Marco Adriano wondered, while opening a screaming woman’s head with a can opener and Striker pissed on corpses in the background.

#writing criticism #not fairy tail

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