Fairy Tail II: Second Generation Thread Slayers

[chainer1216]

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Natsu can eat explosions, but if it's parts of his body that are viciously exploding, eating them is not going to really help his situation.

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how much you wanna bet Natsu will still have a hand and knee despite them "viciously exploding" though?

[Kato]

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how much you wanna bet Natsu will still have a hand and knee despite them "viciously exploding" though?

Nope, clearly he will end up like Gildartz and then get super powered because of that. As we all know: Losing essential body parts in anime has no effect on your fighting prowess.

[Silva Stormrage]

Nope, clearly he will end up like Gildartz and then get super powered because of that. As we all know: Losing essential body parts in anime has no effect on your fighting prowess.

The sad thing is that I can't think of a single example of a character losing a body part and becoming weaker...

Maybe the Raikage from Naruto once he lost his arm? He really isn't slowed down much though. Well... Kirito from SAO lost his arm and that would of made him weaker but since its an MMO he just regenerates it in next scene so that really doesn't count...

[Soras Teva Gee]

Well its simple. A tragedy like that and dealing with it isn't shonen, probably isn't anime/manga period its... Hallmark feel good TV movie faire.

So any weakness is going to be purely a passing thing until the ultra-cool replacement is put on.

[Metahuman1]

So I wanted to declare I hate you all and explain why.

Right, finally done with the alternate world story arc, after ending up having to skim/watch the second half of it after all just to see 2 fights.

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Erza vs. Erza was, admittedly, made of badass. Three Dragon Slayers battle was cool. And I actually have to give it to Grey and Lucy, they both got an enjoyable fight to watch.

And I will admit I warmed up some to alternate world Wendy, Lucy, Mira and Elfman.

God almighty and I though American comic books had convoluted resurrection plots! The only reason I'm not beating my head to a wall over this is that well, She's got cha, and I LIKE a lot of the characters who were glad she's back cause they similarly have Cha, and since there glad she's back and what I've seen of her paints her likeable it makes me not hate the plot point.

Anyway, I personally though that was dumb on Mystogans part at the end. I mean, get rid of all the magic? After all the stuff we'd seen previously you seriously wanna tell me that's the best you had for a fix to the problem?

I mean, come on, go back to earthland, quite the guild and tell Markarov to warn the council that you've "gone Rogue", Hi jack that super weapon form the tower of heaven arc and fire a couple of blasts for Anima to convert into Lacrama, and then blow them up! Boom, problem solved. Then just go back to the other world and take on the ruler-ship. If you needed a bad guy still, the rest could I'm sure do something or other and you can show your S-class badassdom and still win peoples approval. And meanwhile the council can't get you, and they can't go after Fairy Tail cause they'd already been warned by Fairy Tail that you'd gone off the deep end and were dangerous.

The way it was done felt like giving the other world the short end of the stick for no good reason.


Anyway, beyond that, not as horrible as I was bracing for, but I am glad it's over. Here's to a better next arc.

[LaZodiac]

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I like this concept, actually.

Then it got ****ing stupid. God damnit Natsu.

[Silva Stormrage]

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I like this concept, actually.

Then it got ****ing stupid. God damnit Natsu.

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Really I didn't think it was that bad. I mean I hope Natsu will explain more as what he did next chapter so its not up to interpretation but Natsu has already done something like this before, like when he burned off Sting's magic on his chest in the grand magic arena. Natsu eating explosion magic before it explodes or transferring it somehow is not really that absurd. Also Jackal's face in the last panel made it worth it

I would prefer wendy and Lucy to be able to do something more in this fight though. Wendy could go buffer again and boost natsu but I can't think of a summon of Lucy's that would really help here.

[Zaydos]

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I'm going to agree with Silva, it is in fitting with Natsu's established abilities (it's nothing he hasn't done before) and the last panel made everything else worth it. Also doing it seems to have injured him.

Though yes I do wonder how curses are different from magic, and get the feeling it would be clearer in the Japanese.

[Kato]

Spoiler: Enchanting

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I'll have to agree with the two above... It's not perfect but it fits with what Natsu did in the tournament. I'm willing to let it go.
And Jackal's face really is worth it. Natu's face isn't bad, either.

I am curious, though, what the difference between "enchanment" and"magic" is supposed to be. Probably just a fancier name... or because it's demon magic? Ah, whatever.


Also... I'm sure I'm not the only one but... I hate that council guy much more than Jackal. Can we please let him die?
The whole hostage scene was pretty stupid anyway... there was no proper way out except someone appearing out of nowhere and hitting him in the face. Can't have Lucy let either of them die...

[LaZodiac]

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I personally think it would of been better if the councilmen died. Fairy Tail would of been defeated for once. But instead Natsu can just suck out the explosion enchantment like snake venom. It still hurts, but signifigently less so.

Also, what did Natsu do at the tournament again? I blocked out/forgot all of that.

[Silva Stormrage]

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I personally think it would of been better if the councilmen died. Fairy Tail would of been defeated for once. But instead Natsu can just suck out the explosion enchantment like snake venom. It still hurts, but signifigently less so.

Also, what did Natsu do at the tournament again? I blocked out/forgot all of that.

Sting put some kind of magical stun tattoo on Natsu and Natsu just burned off the magic. So if he can do that to holy/light magic then he can probably do it with this kind of magic as well.

And ya Fairy Tail being defeated would be a nice chance of pace but if they were defeated here why would Mr Explosion let them leave? A defeat here would mean Natsu + Lucy + Wendy die. Because as they both demonstrated wendy and lucy can't fight Mr Explosion.

[LaZodiac]

Sting put some kind of magical stun tattoo on Natsu and Natsu just burned off the magic. So if he can do that to holy/light magic then he can probably do it with this kind of magic as well.

And ya Fairy Tail being defeated would be a nice chance of pace but if they were defeated here why would Mr Explosion let them leave? A defeat here would mean Natsu + Lucy + Wendy die. Because as they both demonstrated wendy and lucy can't fight Mr Explosion.

Because Jackal, despite having such a crazy power as explosions, is actually a smart villain, lets say. He finishes his mission and then leaves. He doesn't want to risk getting popped like Tempest did, even if he's confident that he could win.

Also, okay. That seems kind of silly, but okay.

[Soras Teva Gee]

Not sure what exactly your expecting La Zodiac with this FT must loose kick you been on for awhile.

Fairy Tale just lost the fight just a few chapters ago remember. So they've had their early beating for the arc and now its arse kicking time to follow up with a few more twists then a final glorious victory. Business as usual seems to me, kinda business as usual for shonen period.

This is hardly a dark enough manga to require tragic defeats at the end of the arc.

Also Natsu has (quite unusually) been in serious mode to start with this fight but is normally been pretty invincible when in it.

[LaZodiac]

I don't really count Laxus, since he's such an odd factor in all of this. He can single handed take out Raven Tail, but he can't beat this one demon, but Natsu can beat the demon stronger then that demon.

What I mean is right now I'm not even remotely threatened by them, because Natsu didn't lose when by all rights he should of.

[lord_khaine]

I don't really count Laxus, since he's such an odd factor in all of this. He can single handed take out Raven Tail, but he can't beat this one demon, but Natsu can beat the demon stronger then that demon.

I dont quite know where you are comming from here, Laxus stomped that deamon with the same ease he has fough any other human opponent past the time skip, it just turned out it had a suicide bomb that was more or less threathening the entire town, and he tried to suck it up to save everyone.

Meanwhile Natsy has been given the machup that favors him the most, where is ability to eat the opponents main type of attack gives him a huge advantage, yet its still a close fight so far.

[Soras Teva Gee]

I don't really count Laxus, since he's such an odd factor in all of this. He can single handed take out Raven Tail, but he can't beat this one demon, but Natsu can beat the demon stronger then that demon.

What I mean is right now I'm not even remotely threatened by them, because Natsu didn't lose when by all rights he should of.

Well yeah... but you've been on a kick about FT as a guild being completely invincible. Not only was Laxus taken down by a suicide bomb, said bomb also ripped up the otherwise pretty respectable Raijinshuu outright.

And beyond the details I wonder what exactly your reading. I mean when do you ever consider the good guys to be threatened in shonen? Defeats are generally either temporary at best or for some side character, and the ultimate outcome's pretty clear. Actual defeats are a major mood swing from that and consequently rare. Expecting enemies to pose a "real" threat just seems to be kinda a premise that isn't going to be sustained by anything.

Heck even here right now, not like you saw the body or showed Natsu being defeated. Thats a pretty standard fake out right there. Best guess on this fight is that Jackal is getting beat to have a closer rematch with Natsu in the inevitable assault on Tartarus' base prior to Natsu punching the stuffing out of the final boss.

[Silva Stormrage]

I don't really count Laxus, since he's such an odd factor in all of this. He can single handed take out Raven Tail, but he can't beat this one demon, but Natsu can beat the demon stronger then that demon.

What I mean is right now I'm not even remotely threatened by them, because Natsu didn't lose when by all rights he should of.

I agree that Laxus's power is a bit absurd right now (Hence the author took him out with the suicide bomb. Plotwise he is too strong ATM) But this is not a fair matchup for the Mr Explosion, Natsu hard counters pretty much all of his techniques. I mean if Natsu can't beat the demon whose only attacks are flames. Well I would wonder why Tartarus couldn't just slaughter everyone in their way. I mean really, if Natsu can't fight him then erza, lucy, gray, wendy, gajeel and the rest of fairy tail probably couldn't fight him either.

Having a villain that is so beyond the heroes can be entertaining but it runs into the problem Bleach had with Aizen, Where people were wondering why Aizen didn't just show up and kill everyone already.

[LaZodiac]

Meanwhile Natsy has been given the machup that favors him the most, where is ability to eat the opponents main type of attack gives him a huge advantage, yet its still a close fight so far.

And beyond the details I wonder what exactly your reading. I mean when do you ever consider the good guys to be threatened in shonen? Defeats are generally either temporary at best or for some side character, and the ultimate outcome's pretty clear. Actual defeats are a major mood swing from that and consequently rare. Expecting enemies to pose a "real" threat just seems to be kinda a premise that isn't going to be sustained by anything.

Heck even here right now, not like you saw the body or showed Natsu being defeated. Thats a pretty standard fake out right there. Best guess on this fight is that Jackal is getting beat to have a closer rematch with Natsu in the inevitable assault on Tartarus' base prior to Natsu punching the stuffing out of the final boss.

What I mean is that...for example, One Piece. They're currently revving up to fight Doflamingo. I actually think they could lose. I KNOW they won't because "shounen lols" and what not, but I do actually feel like he COULD win. With Tartarus? I don't actually think they can win, at all. For one, Laxus only lost because of the suicide bomb, as mentioned. But now they know that's a thing, so they can just figure out how to heal it, which they clearly do know how since they mentioned it, and it'll never be a problem.

Jackal's going to lose and it's going to be lame. Two, maybe three of the demons are just going to get curb stomped to pieces based on design alone (they look like cannon fodder, is what I mean). The rest will get a fight about the same as Fairy Tail has always had.

The problem is that so far, every fight since Gildartz beat Natsu has felt like, to me, Laxus beating Raven Tail one handed, or when Gajeel and Natsu beat the Shadow and Light slayers. Here are some really great villains with cool powers that are built up really well. Now they just get beaten into a pulp with barely any effort. Every fight has felt like that to me.

[Kato]

Well, the Dragon SLayer fight is... a exaggeration of FT's "friendship wins" theme, I guess. I remember a lot of people being upset about it and if it wasn't such a deep founded theme in the story I guess I would have been as well.

But FT Doesn't just curb stomp anyone. Gray got defeated pretty badly in his first tournament battle. And Laxus... well, he kind of lost the last fight, If not by power then by enemy evil trickery.

And Natsu hasn't won yet. (Okay, I guess he will)
There also kind of the issue... FT doesn't kill for fun. I'm a bit surprised the council was just killed of like that. And the demons to be serious villains need to be killers, I guess. So there are only two options: Let the demons kill dozens of people or have FT stop them. Yeah, I wouldn't mind Jackal killing the council guy (for more than one reason) but unless he makes a hasty escape because he only barely managed to do so afterwards, he either needs to get pounded or we will have a death toll of 3+ fairies.

[Hopeless]

So anyone figure Natsu or one of the others mention they aren't the strongest in the Guild?

I can imagine jackal's face if he thinks they assigned Fairy Tail's weakest members to defend this specific council member... now imagine if he comments about the other targets and I guess Jellal being targeted only to have Natsu laugh and then comment that he feels sorry for whoever they send after him!

I can imagine Lucy even joining in asking just how much does Jackal and Tarterus knows about Fairy Tail before they cut to whoevers approaching the next target only to see Erza talking to Jellal...

[Kato]

I can imagine Lucy even joining in asking just how much does Jackal and Tarterus knows about Fairy Tail before they cut to whoevers approaching the next target only to see Erza talking to Jellal...

That would be glorious! "I am XXX of Tartaros and I have come to ki-" "Meteor!" "Requip!" Talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place... I'd almost pity them.

[Soras Teva Gee]

What I mean is that...for example, One Piece. They're currently revving up to fight Doflamingo. I actually think they could lose. I KNOW they won't because "shounen lols" and what not, but I do actually feel like he COULD win. With Tartarus? I don't actually think they can win, at all. For one, Laxus only lost because of the suicide bomb, as mentioned. But now they know that's a thing, so they can just figure out how to heal it, which they clearly do know how since they mentioned it, and it'll never be a problem.

Well if you know then aren't you just sorta arbitrarily lying to yourself. Most enemies anywhere have a success ratio little above Team Rocket. Why do you still expect otherwise.

And even then blowing up a half a town in seconds isn't sufficiently menancing?

Also you do realize its not just "shonen lols" nonsense but has a solid ration purpose? Portraying fights with any approach to reality, rationality, logic, etc... means that often the villains will win. Thus either you create a much much much grimmer story as result or you have much less creative freedom because every result must remain "plausible" internally. The former is a genre switch and the latter is restrictive without guaranteeing quality storytelling.

The problem is that so far, every fight since Gildartz beat Natsu has felt like, to me, Laxus beating Raven Tail one handed, or when Gajeel and Natsu beat the Shadow and Light slayers. Here are some really great villains with cool powers that are built up really well. Now they just get beaten into a pulp with barely any effort. Every fight has felt like that to me.

Umm yeah seems to me you have allowed Tenrou Island to shape your entire perceptions of the manga.

[lord_khaine]

Umm yeah seems to me you have allowed Tenrou Island to shape your entire perceptions of the manga.

Kinda disagree there, there have been other nice and close fights earlier, but things really took a dive with the dragons slayer fight.

[LaZodiac]

Umm yeah seems to me you have allowed Tenrou Island to shape your entire perceptions of the manga.

Yeah, I'm sorry about that. It's just...seeing Natsu finally admit he can't beat everyone when fighting Gildartz. And then Natsu meets a guy who uses God Slayer Flames, something so powerful even he can't eat it.

And then he eats it and wins because...SPIRIT. It just seems so...completely at odds with the lesson Natsu LEARNED on this island. You can't win every fight. You can't just rush in head first and expect to win. But then he does so for the rest of the series.

[Soras Teva Gee]

Yeah, I'm sorry about that. It's just...seeing Natsu finally admit he can't beat everyone when fighting Gildartz. And then Natsu meets a guy who uses God Slayer Flames, something so powerful even he can't eat it.

And then he eats it and wins because...SPIRIT. It just seems so...completely at odds with the lesson Natsu LEARNED on this island. You can't win every fight. You can't just rush in head first and expect to win. But then he does so for the rest of the series.

Off hand I'm struggling to find anything like the Gildartz "fight" for Natsu. Including the very next fight with Fire God Slayer guy. So in full context... well then its the Gildartz incident that is the aberration we must sort of wall off as an isolated incident and not read too much into it.

Actually if anything we should probably criticize Gildartz (or that chapter rather) for muddying the water unnecessarily because clearly Natsu can beat anyone with guts and friendship. Clearly it didn't go anywhere so it must be the problem!

Alright maybe not but we can't take that sort of thing as defining the series. If our definitions are wrong then of course the show won't match up to them. Those definitions must change, because the show sure isn't.

[LaZodiac]

The fact that it won't change is what makes me sad, I guess. Because Fairy Tail has so much potential, wasted. Ah well, still fun to read and discuss about

[Soras Teva Gee]

The fact that it won't change is what makes me sad, I guess. Because Fairy Tail has so much potential, wasted. Ah well, still fun to read and discuss about

Well for potential to be wasted it needs to have existed. Which I think is the error here, it never existed. Sure everything is sorta out there, but to separate a single story form say just any possible story (particularly one's you might have half-formed in your head) we need to look at where the story was going to go.

And never having existed isn't nessecarily a limitation or a knock on the quality, just a design choice. This is *tries to think of an example* say G Gundam versus 8th MS Team Gundam. Whichever you may like better despite both being Gundam shows they neither had potential to be the other. And putting them in anything like those sorts of terms is amounts to not everything being better.... but everything being the same.

[lord_khaine]

Off hand I'm struggling to find anything like the Gildartz "fight" for Natsu. Including the very next fight with Fire God Slayer guy. So in full context... well then its the Gildartz incident that is the aberration we must sort of wall off as an isolated incident and not read too much into it.

Actually in both the Godslayer and Lightning Dragon Slayer fights, then Natsu would have been killed by his opponents if not for outside influence lending a hand at a critical moment.

Those are what i would call technical defeats for Natsu, and something that shows he isnt completely invincible. Its just a shame they have been rare lately.

[Socratov]

Spoiler: New Chapter

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So, we can agreethat Natsu is still awesome, yet not infallible. And he's not anti magic dust, but an explosive? Sopmehow it does not really make sense with his kind of magic or curse. I like how Natu's acquiring lightning elements hasn't been forgotten (like in Bleach, Ichigo's fullbring). And OMG Happy! You have a powerup form with an afro? WE all know where this leads becuase in Japanese symbolism an dAfro is the pinnacle of awesome

I bet next up is Zero vs. Gray and I am seriously hoping for a "Gray, I am your father" moment. It would be plain awesome if yet stolen.

[LaZodiac]

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Blargh if Happy was able to survive the explosion, what are the chances this would of even scratched the likes of Erza?

Sorry, sorry. I will note though that having each demon has their own unique death curse makes sense, though Jackal's could stand to be a bit more...you know, effective.