#magic rambles

Knightwalker's best in her arsenal being Ravelt is very ironic considering its role in Rave Master. It's quite literally about bonds, the whole representation of the nakamaship and love cultured through the entire story of Rave Master is represented by Ravelt, the sword that was forged just for Haru. And in Fairy Tail, it cameos as the best spear for the woman that just shot to kill Lily, one of her closest comrades, and never even acknowledged it afterward.

And you know, maybe that's the point. Her greatest blade is her pride in the authority and influence of Edolas' Royal Kingdom, so of course, the greatest spear formed by the finest bladesmith is her ultimate.

But it wasn't made for her, it represents nothing to her but wealth and influence. It is Ravelt, but without the love and hardship the Rave Master's cast went through to finally achieve it.

It's empty of any story and true importance, but she doesn't know that. It's just something she flaunts pridefully, with a smug grin.

In contrast, Armadura Fairy is an armour she's never taken out before. She wears it with a face locked stern, wearing it with her pride and humility as Titania, as a protector of the fairies.

It's gallant, girly, and almost looks sweet. It doesn't have the magical embellishments of Black Wing, Heavens Wheel, or anything-- it's also one of the less showy of her armours, cape aside. This is an armour that simply represents her heart as a member of Fairy Tail, and everything Fairy Tail means to her.

She doesn't even affirm that it's her strongest. And I just realized that it probably isn't. It probably wasn't meant to represent her strongest at all.

Right now, Scarlet isn't contesting strength. If she wanted greater attack, she'd use Clear Heart Armour and take out Benizakura for an iai match to the death like in TOH. But right now, she isn't fighting over which Erza is the strongest-- right now, she's fighting over ideologies.

They're disagreeing, not over who is more powerful, or whose magic is better-- they're disagreeing over the fact that they've raised their weapons against what each other held dear. It's a battle of pride.

That's why Scarlet is not saying that Fairy Armour is her strongest at all. Scarlet is fighting for all purposes to express her love for Fairy Tail, and Knightwalker simply misinterpreted it. because to Knightwalker, her loyalty to the Royalty is very much equivalent to power and prestige. While Scarlet is in Fairy Tail, not because it's the most powerful or well-known guild in the nation, but simply because it's the place that accepted her into their family, and it's her home.

First of all, I love that Gajeel is the one making this call. I want more Gajeel acting like the oldest of the dragons slayers, as he is.

So, this scene implies a few things that we don't ever go into depth about in the story-- about mixing magics. Unison raids, basically, but we don't explore unison raids much either! Maybe there are consequences to recklessly fusing them, like going out of control, cancelling each other out, self-destructing, etc. And for Dragon Slayers, the most direct way of making a unison raid would be mixing breaths. I've gone down the list of how all their breaths differ, and that's why all of these are so facinating to mix. Gajeel and Natsu mixing makes molten steel shards. I wish we could've seen mixtures like Wendy and Laxus making a thunderstorm, or Wendy and Cobra making a poisonous epidemic. Would Natsu and Rogue mix to make invisible fires, like ethanol fire?

Been trying to find a spot to put this analysis, so here's a pretty frame of Lisanna.

I've been thinking since they came back-- but I do wonder about the decision to have it be raining when they come home. Sure, it was raining when we left and that was for the Anima storm, but we could've had sunlight by now. Is it to set the mood for the reunion scene? Yeah, most of the flashbacks about Lisanna's tragedy is shrouded with rain or nighttime.

But then I thought,

What if the rain is still going on because of the Anima?

In the case of Edolas, the magic condensed to become Lacrima-- because in Edolas, magic is most well-utilised in some physical form. A lacrima is the basis of their magic, it's embedded into tools, utilities, everything, to become weapons and fixtures.

But on Earthland, magic is most well-utilised in the atmosphere, where people naturally absorb it. Nature is nurtured by it, and it's in everything in the world. That's why, maybe that excess magic sent to us by the Anima became the rain. Like how Juvia's excess magic manisfested in the weather, it was absorbed into the sky, and spread out across the world, becoming a magical rain.

This fight is slightly different between the anime and manga. Subtle changes about the severity and seriousness of the fight. I'll elaborate later, but,

What I find satisfying in the manga is that they don't spend extra time gawking about Wendy's magic. We can see how impressive it is without hem actively reacting to it, after all. The importance is that since Natsu and Gajeel instantly move on, it really conveys a sense of trust. They don't listen to her explain what it does or praise her in the middle of it-- they just run for it, because they know their roles here are vanguard and support. Additional support? Alright, one more punch then! Right away, they know exactly what to do without needing to affirm each other.

Even though this is their first teamup (Wendy's first battle at all, and Natsu and Gajeel still being on prickly terms nonetheless--) they work so well together, it's as if they've been supporting each other for a very, very long time.

While I’m always sad Gajeel always gets the short end of the stick on Dragon Slayer inclusions, (him being the last to get motion sick, other than wendy, him being last to get an Exceed, him being the only physical element that makes him feel like the odd one out, etc) I do like this specific one a lot. Because Gajeel’s constant alienation and ‘falling behind’ of the other slayers is one of the things that continue to build upon in his character.