#edolas arc

A short series won the last poll, so I have to start the next one right away, and since I've kinda poll-spammed these last couple runs, this is all gonna be shit with some substance (and be sure to check below the cut because I'm really upping some long series runs from things I've previously promised - look, you'll notice if you actually read my propaganda regularly. If not, ignore and press button). This is the true binge-watching, the true marathoning, kinda poll.

And, if you're new here, I don't like making choices, but I like watching anime.

Propaganda* (*yapping, etc) below the poll. You can reblog for visibility, to yap in the tags, or for whatever reason you choose. You don't have to know me, follow me, like me, or like/know/have watched any of these shows to vote.

Propaganda:

(i took a small break, c'mon, watching fairy tail for 5 days straight is tough)

- when hibiki gave them the map of nirvana lacrimas, managed to figure out that zero is on lacrima 1 by his senses alone (tho i don't know how much he trusted them, he seemed pretty shocked when he saw zero)

- when fighting zero, managed to stop/dispel/burn zero's dark capriccio with his iron fist

- (am i the only one who thinks that we are SO missing out on a bond between jellal and natsu? how natsu was going to fight jellal there and then, how jellal shielded natsu feom zero's attack, and it being paralleled with how simon shielded erza and natsu from jellal's attack? how jellal gave natsu his flame of rebuke to boost natsu, and natsu accepts it and thanks him? gah-)

- when fighting zero, natsu managed to deflect zero's attack with his fire

- (for me, it's always such a delight to see natsu fight, he moves so much, with so much grace, like dancing licks of flame, and fight with zero shows it spectacularly, ough-)

- (also, what is it with igneel? "you dare to call yourself child of igneel" huh? i kinda see where he is coming from, natsu really strives to proof himself, so he wants to encourage him to fight that way, but it rubs me the wrong way? and in the flashback, at natsu's very reasonable question how can he even break that huge rock, igneel just says to "never give up before you try" and "believe in you strength" and "never forget that you are a dragon slayer, be proud of it" (okay, the bit with how he'll always be with natsu is sweet), and natsu is just "okay, but i still don't get it how to break this rock :/". i think he was trying to convey what makarov said in first episodes, how magic comes from the heart and belief, but from igneel, to me it came off more like a parent telling their neurodivergent child to "just do it, it's easy, everyone else is doing it fine, you should try harder", like, hey, if i am not managing to do it, how would i do it without you explaining it? eh, it's me rambling-)

- when fighting zero, he managed to burn and dispel zero's genesis zero with his flames (which i think set a precedent to him just burning his way through various spells and magic)

- (and also, can i say how beautiful the names of his attacks are? first it was crimson lotus against laxus, now it's phoenix blade against zero, wow, i did not know you had it in you, natsu (i mean, okay, we don't know who exactly designed them, natsu himself or igneel, but even if it was igneel, i just can't imagine him naming them, especially after another mythical creature))

- (natsu was the first who stood up for jellal against rune knights, calling jellal their comrade, my fucking heart)

- (i am now an advocate for jellal and natsu's sibling-like relationship. like, look: tried to revive a person, tried to sacrifice his loved one person, tried to change the world, regarded as genius in magic, feels immense guilt over past actions, has several personalities. now, who am i talking about - jellal or zeref?-)

- (also, do we have honest to god ghosts in fairy tail? cait shelter was all an illusion, and roubaul said that he was something of a thought projection, like jellal used with siegrain, and then mavis with herself, since she was not really dead. so, no ghost?)

- (also, my headcanon is that cait shelter was named after cat is beacause dragon slayers behave kinda like cats, and roubaul took one look at wendy and immediately thought of her as an abandoned kitten)

- (oh, daphne arc, joy🙄🙄)

- when fighting gray, for gray to not land a hit on him he broke the floor under them

- (what was your deal, gray? yeah, natsu forgot about his promise, but what does it have to do with you? he was 12, what could have he done? and people of silence just said that they'll be waiting for as long as they'll need, so no time clutch. and since you stalked him there, why did you not just, reminded him? i doubt you were going out of your way to solve it, not since you met up with daphne while she was in magnolia these seven days, just say that there is a person for natsu to beat, thats all. and really, "when i heard about dragonoid i figured that the only way to beat him was from inside" don't give this bullshit, the fastest way to beat dragonoid was to beat daphne before she even started it. and the condition to releasing people of silence was to beat "the one who controls dragons", not the dragonoid itself. if it was your genuine plan, and not something to fuck over with natsu, then please, don't let anyone let you plan again, there will be casualties-)

- (and the moment natsu fell into dragonoid he remembered town of silence, go figure that gray really didn't to go all this way to remind natsu of his promise)(also, he only forgot about it because he thought it was a weird dream on his part, but gray couldn't have had this thought because he was watching natsu, so he knew for sure it was not a dream)

- (daphne is overpowered, what do you mean you can stop a whole town from revealing themselves from their magic-)

- (i... get it what they were trying to do, they wanted to overheat dragonoid with natsu's flames of emotions, but could you not do it when he gave you direct permission to thrash dragonoid with him, and not when the guys soul is 3 percent from being fucking absorbed, i swear to god, if not for gajeel just straight up punching the core, they really would've lost natsu)

- (kudos from me to gajeel for remembering that lucy has a spirit with arrows and that they can deliver fire for natsu to boost himself)

- (THANK FUCK ITS OVER)

- at fairy tail's annual sprint, he managed to boost his speed with his flames (but gajeel still was running toe to toe with him and gray and erza, gray has ice floor to skate and erza has her special get up to not lose as much stamina and maintain her pace, how did gajeel got in top 5 all on his own? how fast is that fucker?)

- (i really want to see natsu in serious sexy get up-)

- hey, for everyone to know, natsu knows that when people are in danger you should prioritise people in danger over fighting since he was 12 YEARS OLD-

- ooooow, gildarts playing catch with natsu while talking with him, then going fishing, playing with him, picking mushrooms, having a picknick, watching over him when he and lisanna sleep, he is such a dad to him, he just looked at him once and immediately thought "yeah, that little spitfire needs a parent. anyone? no? oh well, why not me-"

- natsu worrying over wendy, asking if she bumped her head, precious

- when in edolas, made them disguises out of literal plants, like, carla's doesn't look half bad, and wendy's look really cute! its only with his and happy's that he decided that slapping some leaves is enough, lmao

Warning: generally negative.

And so the decharacterisation of Juvia begins. Like, I get that Gray was the reason she broke out of her rain woman slump and all, but her new hairstyle and her friendships within the guild came from Lucy and Cana. Why does everything get reset all the way to Phantom era just because of Gray?

I feel like this could've been some kind of deep character building moment in the long term-- it could have been Juvia realizing she was being overdependent on Gray because the second he discards her (he wasn't holding on to her particularly to begin with) she dissolves back into being socially inept. It could've been her moment to go from focusing on Gray to focusing on herself and her own goals. Does she return to this form because it's the one that Gray saved? Did she want his attention again, so she reverted, so Gray could save her again? I wish it went in that direction, because then there would be something. But there wasn't. This was just Mashima's brand of humour, and it's what begins Fairy Tail's downward spiral.

Which is ridiculous! She spent so much time away from them in Nirvana and Edolas and was fine until Happy told her about Edolas Gruvia!

It's so unhealthy and I wish I could be joking right now, but I can't. It isn't even portrayed as negative unlike her usual stalker shenanigans. God forbid, when it happened in Avatar it was entirely stated that Gray was the one that needed to be brought back to their side because Juvia's not okay without him. Sure, Gray needed to be brought home, but no one mentions how Juvia is way too fucking dependent on her man that she's somehow completely unable to take care of herself once he's gone! She made herself sick and wandered about like a zombie without any meaning left in her!

What did she spend so many months in the guild for, if she somehow never experienced family enough to remember it after Gray left? Even Phantom Lord taught her the meaning of 'being accepted regardless of your flaws/baggage' and you're telling me Fairy Tail gave her nothing except crippling overdependence on Gray?

When did she become someone that only lived for Gray? Where is my strong and brutal, desperate to prove herself, confident, self-sacrificing shy girl? Where is the girl that just wanted Cana to accept her, where is the girl that hurt herself to save Gray from Meredy, where is the girl that brought Gajeel to Fairy Tail because she didn't want him to be alone after Phantom disbanded? Where is the girl that, when mind-controlled, cried because she didn't want to hurt Lucy anymore? Where is she?

Not sure exactly what u mean by this ask, but I'd say Happy and Carla are already good friends. I've always thought it's sad to see that all development they got during the Edolas arc, was lost as soon as it was over. Carla had previously seen Happy as a happy-go-lucky fool, even considering him a simpelton for only caring about fish and adventure (and "flirting" with her). She thought highly of herself however - she was smart, calm and intuative in comparison. I wouldn't be surprised if she found herself superior to Happy.

After the Edolas arc however, she was forced to recognise Happy for what he is - a strong minded guy with good morals and lots of courage. When Carla was having her lowest moments, Happy didn't falter, like she thought he would. He always had a strong identity thanks to his friends and family at Fairy Tail, and this proved to be exactly what Carla didn't have, despite what she thought beforehand. She lived her life believing that her premonition skill, her ability to see into the future, actually was a mission - information she had been granted (as someone superior - being better than others was a big thing for exceeds, and I think it was sort of imprinted into her brain to act like she was above others). When this turned out to be false later, her entire idenity shattered. She didn't know who she was or what purpose she had, but she always had Happy around her to ground her. And the thing is: they left Edolas as good, trusting friends. Carla showed a tiny bit of affection back every so often, and she quit berating Happy for every thing he did.

The fact that Mashima got lazy with their dynamics isn't surprising (he did the same thing with Juvia - boiling characters down to 2 or 3 traits that completely remove the nuance they were introduced with). It's sad, but expected.

Touka is one of those characters that shouldn't have been as big part of the story as she ended up, in my opinion. Her premise was (once again) lazy, just being a Juvia-copy but with "Natsu" (which we learn is actually aimed at Happy). At the end of the day, that entire schtick was just to create some interest from NaLu-fans. Mashima wanted to create some friction so he could pretend to prove Natsu's and Lucy's relationship in response to said friction - he fooled us fans big time and just gave us crumbs at the end to work with. But that's beside the point. Touka didn't serve the characters' relationships any good at the end of the day. We got to see a slightly jealous Carla when Happy learned that Touka was another cute exceed, but he was quick to tell her that he's devoted to only her (though actions didn't exactly show the same).

It would have been nice if Carla and Touka became friends - two girls with proper etiquette could match well, especially if Touka had seen Happy's "true nature" (like being a silly fish-obsessed goon, or that he's already devoted to his one true love, Carla,) and then decided that her initial crush wasn't as serious as previously lead on. Then Carla and Touka could be quite close friends - especially since they're also quite strong, Carla with her transformation magic and Touka with her aqua-magic.

i think choosing to make Edolas an inversion of Earthland both in terms of the world-building and the personalities was a really interesting decision. Especially because, at heart, all the characters weren't really very dissimilar from their Earthland counterparts; they were all members of Fairy Tail, all cared deeply about their comrades, and all even had inversions of the same "things" our cast did (ex. with Natsu Dragion being a huge coward except in vehicles, his "things" still revolve around recklessness, bravery, and vehicles rather than something entirely unrelated to Earthland Natsu's "things.")