Weak Points In FT

[Zeltrax]

I can never bring myself to really hate fairy tail. Despite its obvious flaws and such, it still makes me come back and read it with expectations. Unlike other series like Naruto or Reborn.
So it must be doing something right.

One of the weakest points of ft and something that I really loathe about the series as a whole is ...Lisanna.

Don't get me wrong, I adore Lisanna as a character and I enjoyed every page/panel she has in the series.
What I was annoyed with was Mashima bringing her back.
Lisanna's death built one of the strong points of natsu's past, him unable to protect someone close to him and this led to him losing her forever, yes, it should had been forever.
I'm pretty sure we all agree that backstory gave natsu's character depth, e
very time we look at natsu we can see a cherry youthful young man with a tinge of sadness because of that childhood past they had with each other,
even to the extend of Lisanna saying that one day maybe she'll become natsu's wife.
They were very close and she was important to natsu, and he lost her and he regretted it.
He should have carry that regret and lived.

It was sad but necessary and gave natsu depth.
If Mashima actually bring Lisanna back , knowing that natsu deeply regretted not being able to protect her back then and made her significant to the plot, I won't have any complaints.

But the way the entire thing was done..it felt like Lisanna is just another guild member now despite sharing that past with natsu and the way natsu treats her is almost exactly like how he treats other guild members.
I'm a LisannaxNatsu shipper so this might sound like a shipper complaining but I think when Mashima actually did Natsu backstory with depth but brought Lisanna back and develop her in such a way..is rather unsatisfying.

[Kisame Hoshigaki]

mmmm...actually....

Natsu Vs Gildartz = Natsu Lost

Natsu Vs Gajeel = almost got his ass kicked

Natsu Vs Bluenote = couldn't do anything.

Natsu Vs Aira (Element 4 from phantom arc can't remember his name)= Erza saved Natsu

Natsu Vs Laxus = Lost till Gajeel saved him.

not only that but when natsu fought the guy in the ancient city or whatever when they were trying to stop the "nirvana" spell

natsu had to have the help of jellal's magic fire

when he defeated the god-slayer guy on the island he had to eat his fire

when he fought against hades he had to eat laxus's lighting

when he fought jellal he had to eat a lacrima

when he fought against the king in edolas he had wendy and gajeels help

when you think about it when has natsu defeated or fought a major villian without some exterior help

so if i had a major flaw with the fairy tail story, it is that natsu, the major hero

cannot fight or win on his own, and he doesnt just get stronger and fight enemies

in fact until ultear unlocked his magic potential or whatever i cant even notice him getting stronger

[Impossibility]

not only that but when natsu fought the guy in the ancient city or whatever when they were trying to stop the "nirvana" spell

natsu had to have the help of jellal's magic fire

when he defeated the god-slayer guy on the island he had to eat his fire

when he fought against hades he had to eat laxus's lighting

when he fought jellal he had to eat a lacrima

when he fought against the king in edolas he had wendy and gajeels help

when you think about it when has natsu defeated or fought a major villian without some exterior help

so if i had a major flaw with the fairy tail story, it is that natsu, the major hero

cannot fight or win on his own, and he doesnt just get stronger and fight enemies

in fact until ultear unlocked his magic potential or whatever i cant even notice him getting stronger

Somehow, rather amazingly, I've never noticed this. The itemised list, however, makes it quite obvious.

Natsu, despite being typical in his attitude as a shounen lead, is a loser. Maybe that's a good thing........Natsu winning on his own could spell the end of the manga. And apparently, despite being a loser, I rather enjoy seeing him week after week. Or maybe I just enjoy seeing everyone else.......Not really sure right now.

[hoeru]

when he defeated the god-slayer guy on the island he had to eat his fire

Natsu had the disadvantage, and learned sth. on his own: A way to eat God Fire so he can turn it on Zancrow while combining it with Dragon Fire. That is a clear WIN for Natsu.

when he fought against hades he had to eat laxus's lighting

Natsu was outpowered as his comerades to go into the final battle, and he never fought alone against Hades. But it was Natsu's plan to seek for the power source of the ship to destroy it. So in the end, Natsu had the biggest part in winning over Hades.

when he fought jellal he had to eat a lacrima

Natsu knew that he needed to replenish his magical energy. And there was the lacrima filled with nothing but pure magical energy from etherion. So this doesn't count as "help from others". It was Natsu's idea to eat the lacrima as "fuel" replacement for fire. And then he was so strong that he actually KILLED Gerard.

when he fought against the king in edolas he had wendy and gajeels help

when you think about it when has natsu defeated or fought a major villian without some exterior help

Actually no mage in this manga from the protagonists side ever won a fight alone aside from singular fights. Mashima makes teamwork and friendship the major topic of the Fairy Tail manga, he openly declared that in interviews like that one posted on ANN in 2011:

ANN: Loyalty to family and friends is a frequent theme running throughout Fairy Tail. Is this also something you feel passionate about?

Mashima: Absolutely. My friends have helped me a lot in the past, and that's something I wanted to directly show in this manga. And that was the beginning of Fairy Tail actually. But, because I've so busy lately, my list of friends in my cell phone has been quickly edited down (laughs).

People can still call this overdone and rubbish - I don't care at all. But beware, as I was told recently, I'm a biased fanboy. And I guess, I'm kinda retarded, too.

so if i had a major flaw with the fairy tail story, it is that natsu, the major hero

Well, Natsu isn't the MAIN hero. He is one in a group of heros. Aside from Lucy he's only the first introduced, and has about the same amount of screen time as Lucy, Gray and Elsa.

cannot fight or win on his own, and he doesnt just get stronger and fight enemies

He kept the lightning element and the development of the combined fire and lightning element mode from the Hades fight.

in fact until ultear unlocked his magic potential or whatever i cant even notice him getting stronger

As Ultear explained only gave him more stamina so Natsu is now likely able to use the lightning-fire mode.

I can never bring myself to really hate fairy tail. Despite its obvious flaws and such, it still makes me come back and read it with expectations. Unlike other series like Naruto or Reborn.
So it must be doing something right.

One of the weakest points of ft and something that I really loathe about the series as a whole is ...Lisanna.

Don't get me wrong, I adore Lisanna as a character and I enjoyed every page/panel she has in the series.
What I was annoyed with was Mashima bringing her back.
Lisanna's death built one of the strong points of natsu's past, him unable to protect someone close to him and this led to him losing her forever, yes, it should had been forever.
I'm pretty sure we all agree that backstory gave natsu's character depth, e
very time we look at natsu we can see a cherry youthful young man with a tinge of sadness because of that childhood past they had with each other,
even to the extend of Lisanna saying that one day maybe she'll become natsu's wife.
They were very close and she was important to natsu, and he lost her and he regretted it.
He should have carry that regret and lived.

It was sad but necessary and gave natsu depth.
If Mashima actually bring Lisanna back , knowing that natsu deeply regretted not being able to protect her back then and made her significant to the plot, I won't have any complaints.

But the way the entire thing was done..it felt like Lisanna is just another guild member now despite sharing that past with natsu and the way natsu treats her is almost exactly like how he treats other guild members.
I'm a LisannaxNatsu shipper so this might sound like a shipper complaining but I think when Mashima actually did Natsu backstory with depth but brought Lisanna back and develop her in such a way..is rather unsatisfying.

Really? I actually always thought, that there was something odd with the story about Lisanna's death and that the explanation before the Edolas arc about Natsu's relationship to Lisanna was altogether rather unsatisfying. That part was by no means useful to give Natsu "depth" - to me it would have needed to know something more than the basic facts on Lisanna. But I don't recall to actually like the Edolas arc which was a letdown to me while I do recall that I sort of fell for Lisanna (as one could do for a character) when Lily had caught her.

[Kisame Hoshigaki]

Natsu had the disadvantage, and learned sth. on his own: A way to eat God Fire so he can turn it on Zancrow while combining it with Dragon Fire. That is a clear WIN for Natsu.


Natsu was outpowered as his comerades to go into the final battle, and he never fought alone against Hades. But it was Natsu's plan to seek for the power source of the ship to destroy it. So in the end, Natsu had the biggest part in winning over Hades.


Natsu knew that he needed to replenish his magical energy. And there was the lacrima filled with nothing but pure magical energy from etherion. So this doesn't count as "help from others". It was Natsu's idea to eat the lacrima as "fuel" replacement for fire. And then he was so strong that he actually KILLED Gerard.


Actually no mage in this manga from the protagonists side ever won a fight alone aside from singular fights. Mashima makes teamwork and friendship the major topic of the Fairy Tail manga, he openly declared that in interviews like that one posted on ANN in 2011:



People can still call this overdone and rubbish - I don't care at all. But beware, as I was told recently, I'm a biased fanboy. And I guess, I'm kinda retarded, too.


Well, Natsu isn't the MAIN hero. He is one in a group of heros. Aside from Lucy he's only the first introduced, and has about the same amount of screen time as Lucy, Gray and Elsa.


He kept the lightning element and the development of the combined fire and lightning element mode from the Hades fight.


As Ultear explained only gave him more stamina so Natsu is now likely able to use the lightning-fire mode.



Really? I actually always thought, that there was something odd with the story about Lisanna's death and that the explanation before the Edolas arc about Natsu's relationship to Lisanna was altogether rather unsatisfying. That part was by no means useful to give Natsu "depth" - to me it would have needed to know something more than the basic facts on Lisanna. But I don't recall to actually like the Edolas arc which was a letdown to me while I do recall that I sort of fell for Lisanna (as one could do for a character) when Lily had caught her.

GREAT POST

i actually agree with you on most of those points, especially about mashima emphasising team work in the battles

i do believe this will be a long manga, and as it goes on natsu will wind up winning some battles on his own. there are a few precedents in other shounen titles where the main hero recieves aid in a major battle

look at gohan vs cell, sure the super kameha meha defeated cell, but had vegeta not distracted cell with the blast at the end cell may have very well taken gohan out
and this is just one example. i actually find it kind of refreshing in a way that natsu isnt overpowerlingly awesome and just blowing away the villians. but you have to admire his strong will and determination. hopefully he will surpass gildarts as the strongest member of fairy tail eventually

---------- Post added at 04:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:50 PM ----------

Somehow, rather amazingly, I've never noticed this. The itemised list, however, makes it quite obvious.

Natsu, despite being typical in his attitude as a shounen lead, is a loser. Maybe that's a good thing........Natsu winning on his own could spell the end of the manga. And apparently, despite being a loser, I rather enjoy seeing him week after week. Or maybe I just enjoy seeing everyone else.......Not really sure right now.

well i wasnt trying to say natsu is a loser, in fact i think quite the opposite

in many series it seems the main hero is way too overpowered at way too young of an age

in fairy tail it seems natsu is going to have to FIGHT his way to the top but ultimately i believe he will be the strongest by the time the series is over

[okaneman]

cannot fight or win on his own, and he doesnt just get stronger and fight enemies

thats why he need the helps from his friends, and also the fires.. imo he's getting stronger in his own way..
the flaw in FT is that the magic hand sign is same for most of the mages.. (peace sign). Mashima need to distinguish a pattern of various magic hand sign to make FT more enjoyable, like various shape of zanpakuto in Bleach.

[Kisame Hoshigaki]

thats why he need the helps from his friends, and also the fires.. imo he's getting stronger in his own way..
the flaw in FT is that the magic hand sign is same for most of the mages.. (peace sign). Mashima need to distinguish a pattern of various magic hand sign to make FT more enjoyable, like various shape of zanpakuto in Bleach.

i guess when you compare it to naruto , bleach, or DBZ where the main protagonist becomes exponentially stronger as the story goes one, natsu does not appear to be becoming stronger

if you look at natsu he is kind of like luffy from one piece, now i am not that far into one piece, but through the major fights he has had, he has beaten stronger enemies each time, but luffy seems to be the same power level and or have the same skill set as he did at the beginning, mush like natsu

[ameya730]

for me the weakest part of this series is the lack of a pure warrior class. i would love to see a warrior who cannot use magic but still goes head to head with other mages. cause at the start it was mentioned that one of the weak points of mages is the fact that since they train their magic they are weak physically but sadly this aspect has not been utilized at all.

[Rarhyx]

like lee/gai from naruto? :P
yeah one of them would be cool to have in ft^^

[Heleos]

for me the weakest part of this series is the lack of a pure warrior class. i would love to see a warrior who cannot use magic but still goes head to head with other mages. cause at the start it was mentioned that one of the weak points of mages is the fact that since they train their magic they are weak physically but sadly this aspect has not been utilized at all.

I agree, but the closest thing we have to this, is the warrior-mage hybrid like Erza. I don't think a pure-warrior type character would fit too well into the world of Fairy-Tail considering everything is centered around magic and it's use, and swinging swords tends to bring a lot of bloodshed, and that just doesn't suit FT. A warrior with the ability to nullify magic would be rather interesting and fit in with your suggested scenario though~

[mup]

my thought on FT weak point still treating Natsu like a kid he is the one that fight the villain and yet they treat him weak and have they not started to wonder who natsu really is they are clueless why was natsu not able to go pass the barier why does sing and rouge know them all these questions FT members have to have yet what we get oh he is wonderful with words them crying come on not even the first master has said anything about dragon slayers or natsu when Zerf know him i still am reading the manga but iv been seeing this going on

[zelllogan]

Weaknesses:
- Friendship to justify "plotkai"
- No real rules about magic. No clear limitations. No real system to explain how it works
- Poor antagonists.
- Timeskip

Strenghts:
- Graphics
- Likable characters

[Kisame Hoshigaki]

honestly its not dark enough either

we need more deaths of good guys, and more pure hatred of the bad guys, not this little flirtation with hatred of raven tail

LET THE BAD GUYS REALLY BE BAD

and make the good guys HATE them for it

we need a little bit of that

[hoeru]

I know a weak point of the manga. Mashima's characters lack TOO MUCH of Zettai Ryouiki. Seriously, Mashima. What's so hard? Hotpants or Miniskirt and thigh high leg wear... Don't just waste it on Wendy for the lolicon fanbois.

I thought I'd add something random stuff, too.

[Airgrimes]

for me the weakest part of this series is the lack of a pure warrior class. i would love to see a warrior who cannot use magic but still goes head to head with other mages. cause at the start it was mentioned that one of the weak points of mages is the fact that since they train their magic they are weak physically but sadly this aspect has not been utilized at all.

pfffffttt. Its not like NARUTO where Chakra is in the body so taijutsu remains effective. If wizard or witch cant use magic at all then they are simply using karate or other martial arts. This means they will get their ass kicked in every situation against anybody who can use magic.
Since magic isnt like chakra which makes your punches stronger.

Weaknesses:
- Friendship to justify "plotkai"
- No real rules about magic. No clear limitations. No real system to explain how it works
- Poor antagonists.
- Timeskip

Strenghts:
- Graphics
- Likable characters

Not fair. Weve had great villains. Its just Mashima doesnt prolong and build and add depth to most of them except Makarov's son who

currently is plotting something BIG hehehe

honestly its not dark enough either

we need more deaths of good guys, and more pure hatred of the bad guys, not this little flirtation with hatred of raven tail

LET THE BAD GUYS REALLY BE BAD

and make the good guys HATE them for it

we need a little bit of that

True. There has been no mass murderers like the Big 3 has.

I know a weak point of the manga. Mashima's characters lack TOO MUCH of Zettai Ryouiki. Seriously, Mashima. What's so hard? Hotpants or Miniskirt and thigh high leg wear... Don't just waste it on Wendy for the lolicon fanbois.

I thought I'd add something random stuff, too.

This ensures his manga keeps its popularity doing those pages. The Japanese love lolicon.