So, for anyone that hasnât read it as of yet, Mashima did a recent interview where he was asked if âfans expectations for certain pairings ever influenced the storys developmentâ, to this hiro replied, âwhatâs most captivating isnât usually the state where two people are already together, but rather that period when they love each other yet havenât officially established a relationship. Thatâs the most heart-fluttering stage. As for whether theyâll actually end up together in the end⌠well, that depends on my moodâ.
Unfortunately for any of us nalu shippers i fear this tells us everything weâre ever going to need to know about where naluâs relationship will end up. This isnât the first time hiro has stated he enjoys the idea of certain couples living within the âmore than friends less than loversâ mentality and i believe this is him just slowly trying to get the fandom to a place where they are comfortable with nalu never ending up as a canon couple.
I truly donât know how to feel about this, on one hand I do believe naluâs relationship is alot more deep and complicated to simply be defined by lovers or friends. I think mashima has done a really amazing job at having nalu show their love for eachother through actions over words, and having them both be comfortable enough with their relationship to never feel the need to put a one dimensional label on it.
On the other hand, I truly think if mashima decided to make every single ship canon excluding nalu it would truly be a huge disservice to the connection nalu have. I think hiro is truly struggling to find a way around making nalu canon because even he is aware that he couldnât get away with giving them a kiss scene or even a confession scene as it would be so ooc for both natsu and lucy.
However, I really do hope mashima takes the time to think of a solid way to make them canon, nalu has always been the ship at the forefront of the show considering their insane amount of screentime, there are even people that donât interact with this show or fandom anymore but still take the time to check back in to see if nalu is finally canon or not. Not only would it seem like mashima really did just bait his mcs(I know technically the entire guild is the mc but you know what I mean)ending up as a couple to boost his engagement with his most popular show, but it would also just mean hiro wasted the time of his entire audience by using so much of the shows screentime to develop their relationship just to never end up taking it anywhere.
I truly donât know how I will feel if ft finally ends with every ship canon excluding nalu.
