anime/manga

[Iceni]

Never heard of that one. Btw' date=' Iceni, does your avatar happen to be Caprico? (At 107)[/quote'] Indeed. I'd choose Azuma, Freed, Gray or Leo, but I think that'd be misleading. So would choosing Erza, Ultear or Mirajane. I prefer to put up characters that either bear some slight resemblance to me (I've used Mifune from Soul Eater - and actually, Kohta from High School Of The Dead actually looks like me, but he's considerably heavier and has somewhat shorter hair...) or just look alien. I tried the Eisenwald Chicken, but that didn't work, I looked more like a massive hipster when I used it so that was a pity.

[Midi]

You could have used the Grimoire Heart chicken Ultear seems like an interesting character. I hope the next episodes will give some more in-depth perspectives on her history and personality

[Iceni]

You could have used the Grimoire Heart chicken Ultear seems like an interesting character. I hope the next episodes will give some more in-depth perspectives on her history and personality

And her voice is so very sexy in the English version. Yes, Fairy Tail, the only anime with two violent talking man-chickens!

[Midi]

Remind me to look up the English version then xP

[Iceni]

Remind me to look up the English version then xP

It's on dubbedepisodes.org - they've done up to 108.

[Midi]

Hehe, still 8 episodes and I'm done with all the released Fairy Tail episodes so far...

[Iceni]

Hehe' date=' still 8 episodes and I'm done with all the released Fairy Tail episodes so far...[/quote'] So you'll have essentially just the episodes of the new series to do. The dub is available at dubbedepisodes.org. You may now enjoy the English voice not just of Ultear, but of Erza as well.

[Midi]

Btw Iceni, was it just me or did the episodes of the new series seem drawn in a slightly different way?

[Iceni]

It's drawn similarly...but the color palette is a little more washed-out. That bugs me, one of the show's strong points was its vivid and colorful style, and that's been significantly reduced with the new style. Still, the latest episode had a nice fight in it, and the story is developing, so I can't really complain...

[Midi]

I see. Now I know which change has been bugging me

[Iceni]

Lucy's design changed visibly; her face looks wonky, it looks more gaunt and the eyes are shaped differently. Just a question for you, by the way; what purpose do you think Lucy serves on the team of Natsu, Gray and Erza?

[Midi]

Hmm... I'd say Lucy has a role of a motivating force within the team. Unlike Natsu, who usually speaks his most motivating words when fights get close to the edge, she fulfills that motivating role consistently I think. I also think Lucy as a character can be used to solve situations which require intellect, supportive skills... (a few examples being the book with the letters messed up and the location of Mavis' grave). Since she obviously has the lesser offensive capacities of the four, it's possible to give her this role while keeping her character well balanced

[Iceni]

That's very similar to what I assumed...I'd say Gray definitely comes off as the most intelligent of the team, but I think Lucy is probably better at problem solving and plans well. I would assume she picks the jobs and comes up with ways to approach them, in addition to being able to use her spirits to solve a number of problems. She should be reasonably capable in combat, relying on knowing how to plan out an attack with her spirits in order to win - and probably keeping an offense-oriented approach. I was just asking because it seems that (until an episode or so ago) from a narrative perspective she was basically just a punching bag with spectacular boobs.

[Midi]

I was just asking because it seems that (until an episode or so ago) from a narrative perspective she was basically just a punching bag with spectacular boobs.

Absolutely. We've seen Natsu defeat 2 Dragon Slayers simultaneously, we've seen Erza slay 100 monster and we've seen Gray defeat plenty of opponents too. However, I have a réálly hard time remembering a foe Lucy actually beat on her own...

[Iceni]

And we've seen Mirajane curbstomp pretty much everyone she's ever fought.

However' date=' I have a réálly hard time remembering a foe Lucy actually beat on her own...[/quote'] Duke Everlue from episode 3? She also beat Sherry and Angelica on Galuna Island by herself. She defeats Bixlow, kinda - Leo helps but then again he is one of her spirits by that point so I suppose that counts. She also essentially beat Byro although Natsu finished him off. Hm. Yeah, that's it. Those are the only 'major' baddies she's beaten by herself. Of course there are a couple of fights she managed to win alongside others without having to be saved, but those are the only ones she beat. So yes, that was why I was assuming her talents lay elsewhere besides combat. She seems to be an eminently reasonable and kind-hearted person, which would suggest to me that she'd be a good negotiator. Lucy should also be the best-educated person in Fairy Tail - after all, she's probably had top-quality tutoring. I do find it funny, though, that the rich girl uses a form of magic which is basically 'the help'... Speaking of which, I would love to see more scenes of her bonding with these spirits. The story says she treats them like people, so it's be nice to see them talking, training, eating together, being introduced to others in the guild, things like that.

[Midi]

Lucy should also be the best-educated person in Fairy Tail - after all' date=' she's probably had top-quality tutoring. I do find it funny, though, that the rich girl uses a form of magic which is basically 'the help'... Speaking of which, I would love to see more scenes of her bonding with these spirits. The story says she treats them like people, so it's be nice to see them talking, training, eating together, being introduced to others in the guild, things like that[/quote'] Lucy does indeed seem to be the best educated person in Fairly Tail if I exclude Caprico. Well, in the first episode, because of the scene in which she tries to 'negotiate' about the price of the Key of Canis Minor, it became clear Lucy was someone who in the past usually received what she had wished for and although celestial Magic has been shown to be considered possessive by a lot of people, it's nice to see her refuse such behavior and treat her spirits as peers. It would certainly be interesting to see her bonding with her spirits more than just the 'superficial' caring for them, which is basically the only thing we've seen so far what that concerns.

[Iceni]

Capricorn is cool, and I do love his panache, but I have to ask something. Why did neither he nor Leo show up to protect Lucy when Minerva was beating the crap out of her? Ostensibly Lucy's life was in danger, but neither of them even showed up.

[Midi]

I guess Lucy having beaten the crap out of her was a an essential part of the storyline, although it might sadly have changed the view on her spirits, as you suggest?

[Iceni]

Wow, that'd be a good plotline. No, I wasn't thinking that, but it would be kinda nice if they had a sort of falling-out over that. I'd expect it to be resolved, but I don't see why they didn't show up. I don't think Lucy getting beaten up was important at all, Minerva could have done that to someone else. Juvia, for example. On another subject, I actually really like Cheria. She comes off as a very mature and capable character, especially considering her age, and I very much like her demeanor. She acts like a champion to me - somebody so confident that they're actually nice, instead of...well, Laxus.

[Midi]

It would be interesting if such a thing had happened, but it never does and this is one of the problems I have with the anime: almost every emotion which could be called 'negative' is related to the main arc or is meant just to give an impact to that arc. I think it would be nice to see some more complications which aren't solely meant to help developing the story, but also to give more insight into the characters. As for Cheria, I can only agree with you.

[Iceni]

Yes indeed. I wish the characters would undergo a lot more development. Fairy Tail strikes me as a series with a lot of untapped potential. Also I wish Natsu would lose a fight. Ostensibly he's a high-level wizard but far from the best, and we don't get to see how limited he is. To all intents and purposes he's invincible, which is why he can afford to be so cripplingly stupid a lot of the time. He has also never done anything wrong, which irritates me. Never has he had to cope with his own shortcomings or apologize to anyone.

[Midi]

That's true. During the S-class exam episodes when he faced Gildarts, I was really dissapointed when the possibility of broadening our knowledge on his psychology wasn't exploited at all. Instead, they gave him his careless smile back immediately after the showdown and simply reduced the fear he felt at that time as an excuse to let him win some following battles. If you ask me, they had created the perfect opportunity to give us some more insight in other aspects of his personality and after creating that chance they just threw it in the garbage...

[Iceni]

That's true. During the S-class exam episodes when he faced Gildarts' date=' I was really dissapointed when the possibility of broadening our knowledge on his psychology wasn't exploited at all. Instead, they gave him his careless smile back immediately after the showdown and simply reduced the fear he felt at that time as an excuse to let him win some following battles. If you ask me, they had created the perfect opportunity to give us some more insight in other aspects of his personality and after creating that chance they just threw it in the garbage...[/quote'] Did you watch the clock arc? Thank goodness that crap wasn't canon, that was just some of the worst BS I've seen outside of Pan-Africanist literature. I would like to see something where Natsu loses a fight owing to lack of aforethought. That, or (better, perhaps) make a story where somebody dear to him dies and it's his fault. That'd be a great way to develop him.

[Midi]

Did you watch the clock arc? Thank goodness that crap wasn't canon, that was just some of the worst BS I've seen outside of Pan-Africanist literature. I would like to see something where Natsu loses a fight owing to lack of aforethought. That, or (better, perhaps) make a story where somebody dear to him dies and it's his fault. That'd be a great way to develop him.

Yeah, that was awful. It only took a few episodes for me to suspect Michelle was a fake and Oracion Seis returning was actually quite random and didn't add a lot of value to the story. I'm pretty sure no one dear to Natsu will die. This is actually one of the weak and strong points of Fairy Tail if you ask me: it does indeed stop the psychological development of characters, but the episodes are essentially all the same, just the details or story differ; this gives the viewer some comfort in being able to look forward to what everyone already knows will happen. It sounds contradictory, but I think it's correct. What dissapointed you most in the anime, if you had to chose?

[Iceni]

I can't think of what disappoints me most with the anime, so I'll just list a couple of my biggest bugbears. First, some general problems: - Recycled plot points; Elfman, Gray and Leo all have essentially the same arc - which is bad because Gray's arc comes first and it is easily the best one. - Lack of deaths. It irritates me that almost nobody in this anime ever actually dies. That fact makes the level of suspense and investment significantly lower. - Less humor. I miss the levity of earlier episodes, there was some hysterical jokes early on. There's a lot less humor now and it makes the show come across as pretentious rather than entertainingly melodramatic. - Imbalance of fluids. Too much crying, and no blood! Very rarely does the show invest us enough to make us cry when the characters do, so it comes off as a cheap ploy for emotion rather than a natural character reaction. - Very little character development, as you said. This story is one based on the strength of its characters, but they can be pretty flimsy sometimes. Juvia in particular was a huge disappointment, I think she's pretty cool but the show keeps making her very one-note and flat. She's better in the English dub though, she comes across as entertainingly melodramatic. Laxus is also kind of lame, he comes off as a petulant brat and we don't see him change. To his credit, he's one hell of a lot better than Jellal since he is actually a badass, but he doesn't seem to get much development. I'd like to see him develop, there's potential there. - Almost no danger. I enjoy watching the arcs, they're good at building suspense, but they would be better if there was a genuine chance of the bad guys winning at least partially - say, by having one of the main characters die, as they did in the Phoenix Priestess movie where it was very effective. - Lackluster fight animation. The show's lovely visual design and initial fights all gave me hope for well-animated fights, but oftentimes they're just a lot of yelling and speed lines. Erza's fight with the 100 monsters was pretty badass but it should have been a lot better. The new series' fights seem to be better though - Mirajane's beatdown of Kamika, Yukino and Lucy vs. Uosuke and Natsu's fight with Kama were all good, and the three-way brawl between Minerva, Kagura and Erza was excellent by any measure, so there is hope on this front! Those last four would probably be the biggest complaints I have. If they were fixed the show would be on an entirely different tier. And some specific complaints: - Elfman sucks. Seriously, I don't think he wins a single fight after he beats Sol. I think he should have been more like Knuckle from HunterXHunter - a guy who's so physically strong and capable he almost doesn't need magic, but can use magic extremely effectively. - Lisanna sucks. I don't think she wins any of her fights. Also her ability is kind of stupid, unless she can turn into a Zoid or something. She also has almost no personality. - Jellal sucks. This guy also has essentially no personality. Ostensibly he's done loads of really cool sh*t but we never see him do it, and the rest of the time he comes off as a mumbling, insincere, spineless cad. If the author is trying to make his relationship with Erza more of a sibling-like affection, then good for him - but I can't help but think that he'll just go back to making it a romance since all the brainless fans like them as a couple for some unfathomable reason. Maybe they can relate to Jellal's self-centered and mopey attitude. - Lucy's incorrect interpretation of the Key of the Starry Sky. A girl with a knack for literature and exegesis somehow misses the main plot point in a children's story, a plot point so obvious that even a seven-year-old picks it up? - The whole Edolas arc. Boy was that a huge disappointment. Here I was thinking we were going to get a complex three-part conflict between Fairy Tail, the Exceeds and the monarchy, and suddenly the show asks us to support the Exceeds (even though they kidnapped thousands of children and abandoned them with no explanation, justification or protection) and Mystogan, who might just be the biggest prick in the whole series. - Erza in the Tower of Heaven arc. She comes off as weak-willed, indecisive and idiotic, especially when she decides to merge with the tower, without knowing whether or not this will bring back Zeref! Her revelation about her own potential death is stupid as well...so what, people are crying at her funeral? That's not a massive surprise, people always cry at funerals. Also, having her get saved by Natsu seemed like a real low point for her as a character. - Natsu as this story's equivalent of Lucy Pevensie - a character that never does anything wrong. He is also pink-haired Jesus because he has to save literally everyone on his team multiple times, and yet never has to have his own ass bailed out (except maybe in the non-canon Dragonoid arc, which is why I liked that one so much). We never get to see what exactly the guild does for him. It's a very one-way relationship - and he has personally beaten basically every major villain in the series. He's not even an S-Class wizard and yet still he seems to be able to beat foes that S-Class wizards can't, which sort of makes that appellation pointless.