Fairy Tail Discussion III

[tatermoog]

Natsu and Erza are two of the more boring characters in the guild, which is unfortunate considering Erza's early potential.

The fact that one of the two is used as a deus ex machina for every major situation is what makes the larger arc of the series fail in most regards.

[Crossword]

While he's hardly a revolutionary character, in my mind Natsu does stand out a bit by virtue of being a lot more violent and fight-happy than most other shonen protagonists.

[tatermoog]

Natsu could be made more interesting if Mashima could keep some semblance of an arc regarding his quest to find Igneel; right now, he's just a directionless fight-happy fire demon who spouts off about the virtues of friendship.

Erza, on the other hand, is inextricably bound to a nonsensical storyline with one of the eight Gerards, so I tend to think I'll never find her interesting.

[Thousand Lion-chan]

Natsu is every tired cliche of a shonen protagonist all rolled up into one ball without any interesting quirks or features that set him apart and make him his own character.

[The Daz]

Natsu is "fight happy", he's hot tempered, simple, and...just about all the most easily written, stock character traits you can think of. The only thing that didn't feel stitched on like some horrible shonen-protagonist frankensteins monster, the only thing that felt like legitimately his own thing, was the motion sickness.

Mostly I'm just annoyed how he's the series poster boy despite the fact that the story doesn't revolve around him in the slightest, and the fact that he's not even at least some sort of group leader.

Natsu is to this series as Vaan was to FFXII.

[Cyclone_Baroness]

Natsu is "fight happy", he's hot tempered, simple, and...just about all the most easily written, stock character traits you can think of. The only thing that didn't feel stitched on like some horrible shonen-protagonist frankensteins monster, the only thing that felt like legitimately his own thing, was the motion sickness.

Mostly I'm just annoyed how he's the series poster boy despite the fact that the story doesn't revolve around him in the slightest, and the fact that he's not even at least some sort of group leader.

Natsu is to this series as Vaan was to FFXII.

So very true.

Natsu is defintely overly bland. I can't even say his design is interesting, the pink hair really bugs me. He's got sandals instead of any practical footware. Luffy, Naruto and Ichigo got that covered. He likes to fight! Luffy and Oga got that. I fight for my friends! Luffy, Ichigo, Naruto, Tsuna all pretty much had that. He's a bit slow, stupid, stubborn. Every other main character is thick headed.

Natsu having motion sickness was pretty unique, although I still found it lame. I guess to have a shonen you need to have some traits that are recognizable within the genre, but he's so blank slate. Fire powers aren't even that interesting really. I feel like most main characters that use a particular power seem to be attuned to fire.

For a while there I thought Ezra was the unspoken leader as she was supposed to be the strongest among the group that got called out for missions all the time. But they don't really seem to ever function as a group aside from loaning Natsu their strength when they came up on a boss. Now that you brought it up maybe that's why they wind up struggling so much? Nobody is there to lead them properly.

I think Natsu is tied with Ichigo and Tsuna for least interesting leads in a shounen.

[GJardim]

I remember thinking that Keel from Buster Keel! was just a Natsu, mostly because a lot of things in that manga are similar to Fairy Tail, but lately I think Natsu's way bland than any character I've come up across. Keel even had a bit of romance early in the history which made me like him, but Natsu is just unlikable. I used to tolerate him, but now it's just pathetic.
I expect every single time for a friendship speech coming from him, for him to beat a villain that is stronger than everyone else, because it'll happen, that's the Fairy Tail's formula that Mashima cursed his manga with.
The only thing that probably can save Natsu from his blandness is the dragons plot. After all, he's looking for Igneel, right? Right?

[Hiroy]

Natsu explodes when you throw him.
That's unique.
All the tired old arguments above are invalid.

[GJardim]

So he's a human grenade?

[Hiroy]

* Human grenade baton

[Cyclone_Baroness]

I'd love for someone to actually pick up Natsu and use him like how Zoro was going to use Ussop as an extension lol.

[Captain Katsura]

Natsu is every tired cliche of a shonen protagonist all rolled up into one ball without any interesting quirks or features that set him apart and make him his own character.

He is and the rest of team natsu they are just not that intersting at all.

[zxcv11791]

Well personally I prefer the happy go lucky fireball Natsu is over the other typical dark whinny and angsty shonen protagonist.

[tatermoog]

The odd part about Team Natsu is that Mashima has created two major and opposing problems with just four characters. For Natsu and Lucy, he's hinted at an importance for their backstory that he tends to ignore for long stretches; honestly, he's actually done the best job of development of Lucy of the main four, and that's damning with faint praise. On the other hand, he set out the full backstory for Grey and Erza entirely too early, so they've really got nowhere to go.

One of the many reasons it would be better to focus on Gajille or Mirajane or one of his cast of dozens that still has a place to go.

[No Maam]

And that just reaffirmed one of my absolute biggest gripes with the series:
I don't like Natsu.
But I don't even hate him either.
I just couldn't possibly care less about his existence. He is one of the absolute dullest protagonists I have ever seen.

Do any of you feel the same way?

I do. Plus the fact he never actualy seems to improve his skills on his own, that makes me dislike him quite alot, especialy when compared to Haru from Rave who at least had to struggle to unlock all the hidden "modes" of his sword.

Natsu just punches things. Alot.

--- Update From New Post Merge ---

Natsu could be made more interesting if Mashima could keep some semblance of an arc regarding his quest to find Igneel; right now, he's just a directionless fight-happy fire demon who spouts off about the virtues of friendship.

Erza, on the other hand, is inextricably bound to a nonsensical storyline with one of the eight Gerards, so I tend to think I'll never find her interesting.

And 99 % of the time, the "friendship" of this guild can be narrowed down to getting horribly wasted.

.....Which in turn explains so much.

[GEPPETTOSMONSTER]

When the series was young I found natsu to be tolerable

[Jedi Master]

For me Lucy always have been the main character and always will be. She have the best story by far and its progressing quite well. It also shows how as a new guild member who wasn't in a guild before progresses over time

[Cyclone_Baroness]

For me Lucy always have been the main character and always will be. She have the best story by far and its progressing quite well. It also shows how as a new guild member who wasn't in a guild before progresses over time

I could see Lucy being the main if she ever got to tackle a Boss. That job seems to be exclusively reserved for Natsu despite there being a lot of other people stronger and better suited (still annoyed with Laxus giving up and handing is power over to Natsu...) But I don't really see her story progressing. She has a few more keys, her father died and she got over it in a chapter or two. Learning more about her mother is the last little plot stuff for her isn't it?

[Hiroy]

That whole plot with Capricorn and Lucy mom had so much potential. So so much.

It was probally the only time I believed Hiro truly dropped the ball in a single chapter.

[black-leg jex]

yeah that whole scene was wasted potential. I also believe lucy to be the main character, especially when you consider it's her telling the story (with the exception of the latest arc)