r/fairytail

To clarify, I am not saying these characters are universally or even majorly hated, just when I ask for opinions, I often hear mixed ones on them. While I can definitely get some like Juvia for her behavior or Brandish for fanservice, but I will also do my best to stay neutral. And Natsu AND Erza are both included.

Feel free to skip any and be completely honest. It can be because of writing or something simple as you don’t like their outfit. This is judgement free and I’m curious to hear why!

Erza is hot love my girlfriend

Mine has gotta be Erza Scarlet vs Erza Knightwalker.
The choreography was peak, the match up was dead even, no bs, just straight heat 🔥

I finally found my favourite character, and he also got defeated by the power of friendship 🙏🥀

By CelestialRayna

Took me an hour and a half just to draw her. One of my easiest sketches ever 😂. Hope you guys like it

Art is made by me

Which of these two main villain you like more?

I personally like Acnologia more than Zeref and there are several reasons for that.

1. Acnologia is more badass than Zeref, more threatening and had that final villain aura around him.

2. Zeref never truly felt like an evil villain rather he was more like a conflicted person with dual persona who is struggling to find his purpose in life because of the curse. Acnologia on the other ends was pure evil incarnate until that little bit at the end.

3. Both have been hyped up for so long in the story but in the end their final battle wasn't the greatest we could have got but between the two I prefer Acnologia fight more simply because it involves everything that Hiro have set up in the series (motion sickness, the eclipse gate, fairy sphere).

So tell me which one you prefer more?

https://danbooru.donmai.us/posts/7164220?q=fairy_tail+

I’ve been re-reading the Alvarez Arc recently, and there’s something that has always bothered me about how Hiro Mashima handled two of the most powerful and beloved characters in the guild: Laxus and Mirajane.

I never quite understood the decision to pit them against opponents like Wall (for Laxus) and Juliet/Heine (for Mirajane). It feels very underwhelming that these "S-Class" powerhouses were sidelined into these specific matchups. To make matters worse, Wall was explicitly stated by Mashima himself to be one of the weakest members of the Spriggan 12, which makes it even harder to understand why he was Laxus's main opponent.

It feels even more strange when you look at the rest of the cast. Supporting characters like Sting and Sherria got major spotlights against the top-tier Spriggan members (Larcade and Dimaria), while our heavy hitters were stuck with side-fights. This is especially frustrating for Laxus, who came off the Tartaros Arc where he defeated Tempest but was left sidelined for the rest of the story. I really expected him to take on one of the "Top 4" Spriggans in Alvarez.

No offense to fans of those specific fights, but I personally believe the story would have been much better if Mashima had swapped some of these matchups. Even Erza taking on three separate Spriggans felt excessive; it would have been great if she had ceded one of those slots to Lucy for a major individual win (maybe against Neinhart?).

It feels like a missed opportunity to give the strongest members of the guild a challenge that truly pushed their limits against the heavy hitters of the Empire.

What do you guys think? Do you feel satisfied with how Laxus and Mira were utilized, or do you also wish they had faced stronger opponents?

Hi everyone! I thought it would be important to archive all of Mirajane's artwork from Mashima's Twitter, so I went through the last 14 years of his posts to find them. I'm sharing some of my absolute favorites here so you can all appreciate these iconic illustrations. Which one is your personal favorite?

During the Tartarus arc, Lucy experienced the best development of her entire journey within the franchise. It was in this arc that the character reached the peak of her emotional writing, both through the traumatic experiences she endured and the depth of the bond she shared with her Celestial Spirits. Every one of her moments in this arc reinforces Lucy’s growth as both a mage and a person, making Tartarus the highest point of her evolution in Fairy Tail.

Beyond the emotional development, Lucy also achieved the highest level of Celestial Spirit Magic shown up to that point: the simultaneous summoning of three spirits. Even in the middle of an almost impossible battle against three Tartarus demons, Jackal, Torafuzar, and Lammy, she managed to summon Leo, Virgo, and Aquarius at the same time, using them to fight and stall the enemies. This achievement became the bridge for Lucy to reach a completely new level: the summoning of the Celestial Spirit King, something that was only possible because she surpassed her own limits by sustaining three spirits simultaneously.

After his summoning, the Celestial Spirit King completely dominated the battlefield. He defeated Plutogrim, fought Mard Geer, dispelled Alegria, and even petrified the main antagonist of the arc. At the same time, Lucy defeated Jackal while using Star Dress together with Uranometria for the very first time.

But for all of this to happen, Lucy had to sacrifice Aquarius because there was no other way for her to survive and save her allies during the confrontation against the demons. It was a terrifying experience for her.

For the readers, or at least for Lucy’s fans, it felt like her growth would finally begin to accelerate, since all of those traumatic experiences would naturally culminate in major development. After all, the most logical direction for the story was for Lucy to train in order to become stronger and prevent something like the events of Tartarus from ever happening again.

To some extent, that did happen. However, not nearly to the degree it truly should have, since Lucy goes through countless situations in the following arc, Alvarez, that barely feel different from how she acted before her growth in Tartarus. It almost feels as if Mashima slowed down, or simply stopped caring about, everything he had written for the character in that arc.

We even had a scene during the Avatar arc where Lucy mentions training her body and even challenges Natsu to a fight, despite acknowledging that she would not win. At the time, that scene genuinely made me excited.

It is also important to point out that Hiro used the events of Tartarus to emotionally develop Natsu and massively increase his power level, since the protagonist also went through a traumatic experience after losing his father figure, Igneel, during the battle against Acnologia. Natsu evolved to a stage where the majority of the Spriggans no longer posed any real threat to him. Even Zeref with Fairy Heart ended up being defeated by the emotions behind Natsu’s wild flames.

By no means am I saying that Lucy should have become as powerful as Natsu, because that would be completely unrealistic. But if the author was willing to connect Natsu’s emotional development with his growth as a mage, why could he not do the same thing with Lucy?

She also lost her first and closest friend because of her own weakness. However, that event was never fully utilized to properly strengthen the character. If I remember correctly, the only moment where one of Lucy’s Star Dresses truly had major relevance during the Alvarez arc was when she used Gemini Star Dress to save the entire guild from Jacob.

And speaking about Star Dress, I feel that Mashima focused far more on showcasing the beauty of those designs than on making them truly relevant in battle. Compared to what we are currently seeing in 100 Years Quest, the Star Dresses in Alvarez almost feel like a fashion show.

But beyond that, when discussing Lucy’s main storyline in this arc, there is Brandish. This character was introduced specifically to serve as Lucy’s counterpart, since her story was directly connected to Aquarius, Layla, and consequently Lucy herself.

Brandish held deep resentment toward Lucy because she believed Layla was responsible for her mother’s death and for the supposed betrayal involving Aquarius’ key. Because of that, she blamed Lucy and intended to kill her. It was an extremely promising storyline for the final stage of Lucy’s development in the manga. However, for some reason, Mashima completely rushed this plotline before the arc even reached its climax, resolving everything quickly and without any truly strong emotional impact.

Aquarius suddenly appearing during that moment also weakened the emotional weight of her sacrifice in Tartarus because Hiro brought the character back far too early and in a way that did not feel natural.

What makes this even stranger is that Hiro later tries to revive the concept of “Lucy vs Brandish,” which makes it obvious that this was originally meant to be Lucy’s central conflict in Alvarez. However, because he had already resolved the relationship between the two before their actual confrontation happened, he ended up resorting to an artificial fight where Brandish was clearly holding back and still dominating Lucy during a battle that lasted only a few pages. For a protagonist like Lucy, it was an extremely embarrassing moment.

I genuinely suspect that Mashima changed his plans during the development of the arc because he became too attached to Brandish as a character. Hiro himself mentioned that he loved drawing her, and honestly, I feel that this heavily damaged Lucy’s development.

And despite how ridiculously overpowered Brandish’s magic is, the manga itself states that she cannot explode someone whose magical power surpasses her own. Mashima could easily have explored additional weaknesses for the character and made Lucy strong enough to fight her on equal footing. Aquarius’ return should have happened at the end of that battle, together with the explanation of what truly happened in the past involving Brandish’s mother. Unfortunately, none of that happened.

Lucy’s role in the Alvarez arc is far weaker than what she received in Tartarus. In my opinion, her best moment in the arc is the fight against Jacob alongside Natsu because Lucy was incredibly intelligent there and accomplished something that nobody else could have replaced her in doing. It was an amazing moment, but still far below what was expected from a protagonist, especially compared to what she is currently doing in 100 Years Quest.

And before anyone says that Lucy should not be strong, that she lacks potential, or anything similar, I recommend reading 100 Years Quest. That is exactly where Lucy receives much of the development she should have received during Alvarez.

I think Mashima focused far too much on creating romantic moments between Lucy and Natsu in order to mask the lack of Lucy’s individual development in this arc, trying to satisfy fans of the pairing. If he had at least concluded Nalu’s development and officially made them a couple, I could understand this direction for Lucy during the final stage of the manga, since it would simply be a different form of character development. But that never happened either. Because of that, I honestly feel that Lucy should not have spent practically the entire war glued to Natsu.

Anyway, what is your opinion?