Random Raijinshuu Fact #1:
They almost didn’t exist.
In the Volume 13 Afterword, Mashima writes;
❝ Now the story enters the Laxus chapter, but this is another series that I just suddenly came up with. Actually, up to now, I was thinking of doing a completely different story arc. But just as I was doing the installment where Fairy Tail is featured in the magazine, I thought, hold on a second... If Laxus saw that article, wouldn't he get really angry at it? And little by little the present story line developed. And before I had gone much further in my musings, bang!! I'm writing the Laxus chapter!! The plot twists were plot twists that just suddenly came to me (well, that's nothing new).
The Harvest Festival and the Raijin Tribe, they were all things I came up with during that installment. ❞
Source: Fairy Tail Volume 13 Afterword | Pg. 189
I know Mashima is known for his unplanned story direction, especially in the early arcs… but it’s so crazy to think that he created the Raijinshuu practically on a whim. I’m dying to know his thought process during that time! Like how did he come up with their magic? Their characters designs?? Their personalities? What inspired him? I’d at least love to see any early sketches of the characters. That’d be soo cool.
It also makes me wonder, even if Hiro Mashima didn’t write the Fantasia arc and went with his original plan…. Would we have eventually seen the characters elsewhere in the story?
Even so, they definitely wouldn’t be the same Raijinshuu we know and love today.
