dryanderestuff

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Would You Rather

GrayLu or Natza canon? (Like for GrayLu, reblog for Natza)

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Love this post :)

Why I ship Natza

            This was the first pic that introduced me to Fairy Tail. I came across it on a random anime page on Facebook that posted memes. Basically, Erza heavily resembled Kushina from the Naruto series, and Kushina was and is one of my fav characters. So, I decided to do some light research on the series I’d never seen before. Just test the waters, stick my toes in. Who knew if I’d like it?

            … Well, two years later, I’m still drowning in it, but that’s neither here nor there. lol At first I just bothered learning some of the rules and lore of the FT universe; but pretty soon I started turning my attention to ships, not even a few episodes in. I cheated a bit and Googled a search for ships for Erza, ‘cause I didn’t know if I’d like any other ships. Surprisingly, the first one I encountered was Natza, and not Jerza, which you’d expect because of its status in the fandom as a whole. Just a total shot in the dark, but I went with it to see if I’d like it.

            … I cheated some more, however. Rather than watch from the beginning and see how it’d develop, I jumped to the end (the big moments in ToH, Battle for Fairy Tail, and Oracion Seis) to see how they looked together. I did like what I observed, so I went back and watched the earlier stuff to observe more of the development. I’m kinda thorough like that. If I ship or like something, I want strong reasons for it – likewise if I dislike something.

            Put simply, the bond between Natsu and Erza is one of the strongest ones I’ve had the pleasure of observing and analyzing. They lived as guildmates for years, building up their friendship. Well, them *and* Gray, really. But as he’s structured as a character, Gray’s values clash with them a little bit, so he’s prone to butt heads with them – especially Natsu. Point being, this isn’t a spontaneous romance like Nalu would have to be, if it ever happened. Some fans mistake this bond as one that siblings would have, and they even try to claim canon has “stated” as such, but what really happens is that those fans make assumptions about the relationship, and that’s probably in part because of their own experiences with anime and manga.

            But they’re not siblings. And nothing that we’ve been shown indicates they think of themselves as siblings. Instead, we get an unwavering faith between two warriors. Erza has declared Natsu will surpass her one day, while Natsu didn’t bat an eye when Erza went up against 100 monsters, having confidence she could take care of them easily. At times, they are concerned for one another. Natsu was worried when Erza tanked a blast from a Jupiter Cannon; when she was poisoned by Cobra; when she fell from Ajeel’s ship after winning the battle. He even got worked up when Jellal not only hurt Erza physically, but wounded her emotionally, making her *cry*. Very rarely does Natsu get worked up over his friends *crying*, and then keep that rage when a tormentor returns to life. On the other side, Erza feared if Natsu would be too weak to fight Jellal; she was concerned when he went off to confront Zero on his own; she was concerned when he, Mira, and Wendy gave no indication of how the Rescue Lucy operation was going during the GMG.

            But notably, over time, you can see the moments of worry and concern decrease. The bond, the trust gets stronger. Even as the enemies get more powerful, they have more faith in each other. It’s not blind faith; but a good, strong faith is a powerful foundation for any relationship. Erza doesn’t need Natsu to be there to hold her hand and rescue her from captors; they have each other’s back in a fight, and a relationship doesn’t get more equal than that. Despite his own feelings toward Jellal, Natsu sets them aside because Erza is distraught when the Council arrests him after the incident with Nirvana. And it’s really too bad we never got closure between Natsu, Jellal, and Erza… though, I suppose if Mashima did that, Jerza’s ship would have sunk. … Or sustained a massive hole, enough to take on a ton of water. XD When Fairy Tail disbands, Natsu leaves after only giving Lucy a note; and he doesn’t send Erza letters. But all the same, they, and the rest of FT for that matter, come back together without many accusations thrown around. Natsu, for his part, knew he’d see all of them again, but for Erza not to get upset like Lucy did, it speaks of an equally strong faith that she’d see him again. And the fact she hugged him after they celebrated Avatar’s defeat, that’s a clear sign she missed him.  

            One moment that particularly symbolizes Erza’s confidence and faith in Natsu: the time when she stopped everyone from going after him, after he raced to go fight Zeref. Gray, ever the realist, accused her of overestimating Natsu, but Erza’s quick to turn it around and accuse Gray of not believing in Natsu. She trusts in Natsu’s plan, even with Zeref being the leader of Alvarez, the boogeyman of Ishgar, and a supposed immortal. That’s a strong, powerful faith. And she probably would have throttled Natsu if she found out he almost threw his life away by trying to kill Zeref; it would’ve been a perfect opportunity to call him out on hypocrisy, considering he chided her for trying to throw her life away.

            Aside from all the heavy stuff, they really do balance each other out. Erza’s a source of maturity in Natsu’s life. Erza’s one of the main people responsible for Natsu maturing as much as he did – other people being Gildarts, Makarov, and perhaps Macao. And Natsu gets Erza to come out of her stern, authoritarian shell. She’s more fun-loving, though she will kick your ass if you mess with her cake. She also openly cares for her guildmates, at least moreso than when she maintained a distance with everyone because of her past with Jellal. In essence, she’s come to learn that they all protect her just as much as she protects them. And Natsu’s voice is frequently one she hears in her head…

            Is Natsu intimated by Erza? Comically showing fear when she appears, like after they beat Avatar? Yeah, but that “fear” is only skin-deep. Brought on by experiences of her kicking his ass and keeping him in line. If he was truly frightened of her, as some Nalu/Jerza fans claim, he wouldn’t interact with her, much less so casually. He might not even care for her as much as he does. And if she only saw him as a nuisance, likewise, she wouldn’t believe so fervently that he will surpass her one day. She wouldn’t look upon him with such love and admiration for his spectacular feats, like beating that god.

            It’s a shame canon doesn’t do more to confirm what *we* see, but honestly, I still maintain we don’t “need” the confirmation as much as the Nalu and Jerza ships do. Because Natza is one of those ships with such rich development, that it can go without saying. Natza even has the potential of “spontaneously” happening, after all they’ve been through – one day they’re friends, the next, they’re in bed together. Or the baths. Or… anywhere… Fanfiction tends to complete the development into a romantic ship and fill in the gaps, so really, we’re not so bad off as most “crackships.” We’ve got a helluva lot more going for us in the canon material than most actual crackships.

            Natza is fiery, passionate, balanced, developed, and wholesome. Anyone says otherwise, they can fight me~

Been a while since I did any kind of essay on Natza. I’ve pretty much said all of this before, but a review never hurts.

[dryanderestuff]

Nexon’s Darkness Rises

Any ACTIVE players who are willing to join our guild? It’s near lvl 9 right now, and it would be at a much higher level if only 80% of our members weren’t inactive. The guild name is “Granvia”, and my player name is “Ren_Ryuuya” if you want to contact me via Whisper option. 

Just as I requested before, I need players willing to participate in at least one of the guild activities: Guild Raids, donate, Guild PVP, do their Guild Quests, and activeness so I can register the guild in Guild Conquests. 

We are currently full right now in the guild, but we’re gonna start kicking out inactive members (1-3 weeks/7-21 days inactivity) in exchange for others who are willing to help us out and are active.

Please chat w/ me in the game if you’re interested. Ik our guild doesn’t sound appealing as of the moment, but we’re still in the startup phase, so of course we’re not yet that good. I don’t want to use this as an excuse for our guild being crappy either, but I just wish more than 8 of us would be active so the guild would improve. We have 42 members not logging in anymore, and we’re losing a lot of guild benefits on donations, missed guild conquests, guild pvps, guild raids, etc. 

Sorry for sounding desperate. 

#darknessrises #Nexon #guild #join #inactive #members

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Anyone play Darkness Rises (Nexon)?

Hey, if there’s anyone out there who plays the mobile game Darkness Rises (by Nexon), we’re inviting people to join our guild called “Granvia”. We’re trying to start it up so we could go in guild conquests later on, so please join if you are available. 

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Who can relate? #5

I don’t know if anyone else feels this way, but I have tendency to imprint or root for characters that experience suffering. There’s just that kind of effect on me where I feel sorry for them, but at the same time admire them for getting through it. There are some protagonists out there I just can’t support no matter what anyone says because I fail to see them struggle, closely imitating the zero-to-hero trend. With Natsu of Fairy Tail, he just doesn’t seem respectable at all. Sure, he gets badly beat up at the end of his fights, like everyone else, but I don’t really see him struggle to win. He always gets a miraculous plot armor boost, and to be perfectly frank, his backstory is the most mundane, stagnant, and dull shit I’ve ever seen in an anime/manga protagonist. In the real world. perhaps abandonment issues is a big deal, but in the context of animes, this doesn’t qualify him to be worth sympathizing over at all. Nothing about him seems to make me support him. 

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Who can relate? #4

I don’t know if it’s just me, and if it’s just another one of my incorrigible quirks or vices, but for some reason, in some shows or mangas I read, I like fantasizing about alternate scenarios to the canon (my versions) and the pairings I like. I know this is shallow, and some may interpret this as just me finding a justifiable reason to desperately refuse my love for a show or manga (like Fairy Tail), but I don’t think this is the case. I mean, I can still accept any diagnosis anyone can guess or point out because I recognize that I will never fully understand myself much in the same way I can’t understand others, but get this: I hate Fairy Tail and yet somehow, I still like NatZa and find it difficult to stop fantasizing about the ideal scenarios I would have loved it to have gone. Perhaps it’s because I focused too much on what I didn’t like that I subconsciously always came up with ways to live my ideal version of the manga. I don’t understand how to put this in human terms (yes, I know I sound crazy and desperate for attention at this point), but the best analogy I could come up with is me not liking the original recipe, so I find and think of countless ways to make it better, the recipe referring to the actual fairy tail. 

I know this is just my rant because I didn’t like almost everything about FT, in fact, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say I despise it, and I know I am a toxic person, but this is who I am and I can’t do anything about it. I felt the need to post this because I want to get this off my chest. I’ve gone so far as to blacklist the fairy tail manga from my manga website because it’s obvious that there is 0% of NatZa happening, which is the only reason I was sticking around in the first place, week after week of stagnant and never-changing style in the manga, after all these years. I just feel like the status quo with the protagonist never changes at all. Citing from the Big Three of One Piece, Naruto, and Bleach; Luffy has matured and become more respectable since the first arcs; Naruto became the Hokage and finally recognized positively by everyone; and Ichigo became cooler in the end. Going back to my pathetic rants earlier, one of the reason why I hate FT is because I liked it for the longest time, and I only felt disappointed after 8 long years of supporting this garbage and doing my best to convince myself that it is underrated. I didn’t like how you can still bring the current Natsu, as of the latest and very last chapter I read (ch 63) of the sequel, into the older FT arcs and nothing would change, except his power level. His development as a character was non-existent at all. Most authors are typically prone to finding the right balance of beefing up their character and not making him too OP, but in the case of Natsu, he fell in the spectrum of not being more respectable and admirable as a character in every sense (for me, this is my opinion btw. Just assume everything I say is my opinion). And I am one of those people who believe that an author’s work is also as good as its protagonist because it is primarily through their lens that we see that author’s world. 

Don’t get me wrong, I love the pairing NatZa eventhough I hate Natsu and the actual publication (FT canon), and this is what I can’t explain. Maybe it’s because I love dominant females, and a male who can be dominated by her and at the same time stand up to her when needed. In the case of JErza, it’s pretty much an equal relationship, hell Erza is the one acting coy and weak around him. For everyone, this means a perfect pair, but to me, I find something wrong with it because I have absurd standards and I nitpick about every detail that set me off, that’s who I am. For someone with her personality, I prefer her to end up with someone she can enact her usual quirkiness and be herself and having it actually look cute and adorable with that guy because of their relationship dynamic. I can’t ever see Jellal’s chemistry with Erza when she’s being herself. We always see a different and less “passionate” (I don’t know exactly, I’m trying to say energetic or you know, her Erza-ness) Erza who hides her authoritative and quirky side. And I hate those types of romantic relationships where one partner is acting like someone else to impress or not turn off his/her object of affection. I like a relationship where they are both compatible and it has already been seen that their relationship dynamic, no matter how condemnable it may be, actually works out for them because it is what they were comfortable with. 

I want to find someone who is also perturbed by this inexplainable feeling. I know this was a long post and it will probably not be read by a lot, but for the very few who do, give it a thought. Again, this is just my opinion, so if you disagree with me, please tell me properly and not go off on a rant of your own. It makes you just as toxic as me. 

#confused #weird rant #senseless ramblings #natza #fairy tail 100 years quest

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Who can relate? #3

My second part of why I don’t like Natsu Dragneel as a character: his lack of struggle. I like the pairing NatZa, yes, but it’s because I automatically impose myself on the MC of any series since I believe it is what that show rides on. And what I like is the pairing, not Natsu. I see the two of them as a whole. And I just prefer him with Erza over Lucy even if I know it will never happen. Lucy’s so plain as a heroine, but somehow the whole fandom still worships her like a (fanservice) goddess. Hey, to each his own, right?

SO by lack of struggle with Natsu, what I mean is that he doesn’t really give off the vibe of “from zero-to-hero”. We already got him medium rare during the beginning, and he was able to evolve to medium during the course of the entire series (get my steak reference? xD). So we see guys like Gray suffering from emotional scars and Erza even suffering from physical scars (her eye got taken out as a kid), and yet Natsu is treated like royalty in the sense that he suffers the least out of the three of them. Don’t even get me started on why Lucy’s backstory is the perfect representation of “no one gives a flying shit”. She shares the same struggle as almost every woman in civilized society during the times of old. Her mom died, just like everyone else in her team? Hell, she got Anna to compensate for Layla’s non-existence in the end. Maybe they’re not the same person, but I could see her forming a close bond with her great grandmother. At least she still has a blood relative, right?

Anyway, back to Natsu Dankneel, while he faces difficulties against his opponents, his friends are always there to bail him out. I mean come on, be more independent! Fight against Erigor? Happy manipulating him to be stronger. Versus Gajeel? “Give me a power-up, Lucy!”. Versus Jellal? Simon, Erza and Etherion. Versus Laxus? Mystogan, Erza and Gajeel. Versus Zero? Jellal. Versus Zeref? Lucy rewrites the book of END and the “power of feelings”, whatever that is. 

In almost every big fight of this character, he gets outside help and he is incapable of beating anyone stronger than he is with pure skill and wit. He remained the same ol’ idiotic brute strength fighter we watched from beginning to end. It’s cute that he was able to remain the same and not change who he was, but in terms of character development, are you seriously telling me you saw him mature as an individual? In terms of power, obviously, but in the other aspects of himself, why is everyone trying to justify his abundance of growth when he had none? Seriously, don’t let your bias impair your evaluation of him and think about what’s really happening for a second. 

We always see Erza suffer the most, and overcome the odds even when it’s stacked up against her. She beats strong opponents like Ikaruga, Edo-Erza, Azuma, Kyouka, Ajeel, Minerva, Midnight, and Aria by herself. She’s the exact opposite of Natsu’s disturbing dependency on others just to win an arduous challenge. He’s so obsessed with getting stronger that it’s so off-putting he’s so weak. Is he just incompetent or unskilled? 

Erza gets the ire and obsession of the opponents she beats like Minerva, Kyouka, Azuma, and Kyouka, which makes her seem so important as a mage and formidable as a foe. With how Natsu is treated by his opponents, he always gives off the vibe of an insignificant annoying little pest in the eyes of his enemies. This is just it: no matter how strong he gets, he will never have that build-up towards becoming respected (in a strong power sort of way, not personality-wise) and recognized as a mage. Because of his lack of character maturity, he’ll always remain the same idiotic sleazebag that enemies would take easy but would end up regretting it only at the end when he utilizes the power of friendship to win. Unlike Naruto who trained to become Hokage-level, Ichigo who we saw grow every step of the way, or Luffy who actually trained with Rayleigh and slowly built his reputation up from scratch, Natsu is like a spoilt child who already has everything going for him. He is allowed to suffer, but not more so than his peers. Natsu’s training was completely overlooked and skipped. How did he get so strong in such a short amount of time? Was it lazy writing, or will it be a plot-support later on where he had his own amazing training adventures? 

I would’ve liked to have seen Natsu experience the same hardships as Erza and then come out on top on his own. Erza as a child fights with Minerva and somehow gets away with it when Natsu fights a weaker opponent as a child and relies on a childish tactic to escape his foe. Erza gets tortured by Kyouka and has her senses deprived but still manages to win, while Natsu beats Mard Geer, you guessed it, with the help of someone again. Erza beats Ajeel without any dead dragon power-ups like Natsu, and she gets tortured by the Kyouka, Azuma, Ikaruga trio while Natsu always has it easy with his opponents. It’s hard to place this feeling into words, but what I’m saying is that Erza is exposed to a more mature dimension of battle while Natsu experiences the usual shonen aspect of battle in the sense that his fights seem less menacing than the ones Erza face. 

It’s like, do you get the feeling that a warrior who overcomes the most challenging odds is better than the adventurer who overcomes difficult obstacles with the help of plot-armor?

I would liked to have seen Natsu suffer like Erza for once just to improve his “cool” image, his battle-hardened image. With how much hype is surrounded around Erza, Natsu easily gets overshadowed as a pawn. 

Just saying I would have preferred to see someone who overcame extreme struggles to get to the top and built himself up respectably from scratch, rather than someone who has things handed out to him in a silver platter. 

In a way, I guess this is why I like NatZa. I like how Erza compensates for Natsu’s inadequacies, and Natsu influences Erza to be more relatable and likable as a person (in terms of personality).

This is just my opinion, so feel free to disagree. Just tell me properly instead of spitting it out at me. 

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Who can relate? #2

So people always tell me that I rant too much, and I am not that prideful to tell them wrong, because I am. 

My main issue with Natsu from Fairy Tail is that his character is bland and pales in comparison to his peers, both in the anime itself and in the world of shonen. Why? Because of his ridiculously cliche backstory that can be seen in 50% of movies and shows nowadays (albeit their foster parent wasn’t a dragon or anything, but you get the idea), and his lack of struggle as an individual. 

First, let’s talk about his backstory:

I don’t like how his backstory seems more relevant than the other characters simply because he’s the protagonist. He was basically just left by his foster father FOR HIS OWN GOOD! Erza had that traumatic experience at the TOH, and Gray witnessed the death of his parents and his teacher/foster mother, while the main protagonists themselves have the typical parent issues of being left or neglected and it just seems so redundant compared to the others. In the scope of the 4 members of Team Natsu alone, Natsu’s backstory has already been overshadowed and it makes his background dull compared to legendary shonen MCs like Naruto (messed-up townspeople who treated him like shit and the circumstances that led to his parent’s death), Ichigo (his mother’s death), and Luffy (Ace’s death). I know that basing the suave of a character’s backstory based on trauma involving death is just low, but it certainly is more interesting than a father who left you to protect you. Heck, isn’t the whole show about his bonds with his “new family”? If you think about it, if Igneel hadn’t left Natsu to his own devices, Natsu wouldn’t have joined FT and lived an even more holistic life there. Suddenly, Igneel leaving him doesn’t seem so bad anymore, but it is made to look that way just to spice up this decrepit backstory more. I am not trying to discount or degrade the issues of child neglect or abandonment here, but in the context of a supposed “world of adventure”, this seems very realistic and it lacks character. I would’ve liked to have seen the backstories of other characters instead, maybe like the other Spriggans, or the Raijinshuu. This would’ve put things into perspective more for me.

I know that he has a history of being reborn as a demon, but did he really suffer any emotional scars from that? He did die in his previous life, but he doesn’t even remember that anymore. His backstory with Zeref was introduced a little too late. By the time it was exposed, fans had already been burnt out and riddled with so many other more pressing events. Heck, Natsu isn’t that special if you factor in the fact that 4 other dragon slayers are as old as him. Usually, authors would try to flesh out or single out a special feature their MCs have so that their protagonist would be more likable and respectable since the anime should revolve around them (that’s why they’re the MC), but everything special about Natsu gets downgraded. Left by his foster parent? He’s not the only one. Died once and was reincarnated as a monster? Redundant and didn’t really feel it; Irene’s backstory was more interesting than the entire build-up for Natsu’s. 

I know it’s arguable that Natsu is not the MC of Fairy Tail, but FT does satisfy typical shonen tropes, and I don’t buy for one second that Lucy is the MC. I see her more as the deuteragonist, in the sense that while the story does its best to revolve around her, it’s Natsu who Mashima focuses on more. Hey, every shonen needs to have a poster boy. It wouldn’t be an action series without adhering to the stereotype of guys being more action-inclined than girls. 

It just seems that for every achievement Natsu does or every interesting backstory he has, it immediately gets overshadowed by another character’s. Most common example of this is Erza. Her backstory and trauma easily trumps Natsu’s and when she does something awesome, the whole world stops spinning to congratulate her and praise her as the “mightiest woman in FT” or the “Queen of the Fairies”, but when Natsu defeats the final boss, we didn’t see him get recognized by the Magic Council at least, or revered as a formidable mage. In the 100 YQ sequel, praise may be thrown his way, but not as much as one would expect from the MC who finished off the final boss. He still has a habit of being overpowered by big enemies and even those guys from the dragon-slayer guild were able to make him look insignificant for a moment there. Coming from the guy who beat Zeref and controlled the power of 7 dragon slaying magic to defeat Acnologia, you would’ve expected him to easily wipe the floor with normal mages, right? I mean, if it was Zeref or maybe even Neinhart (who Natsu also beat) who fought those dragon slayers, it’s highly unlikely they would get overpowered, right? 

In the end, he just seems so dull as a character and would have been better off playing a minor role. At least that way he would be more respectable if he is subjugated to a less series-revolving role. 

I know this rant just seems like I am trying to get attention here, and I can’t say I am fully denying that, but I just really wanted to let this out of my chest, no matter the backlash I receive. I just want some sort of validation, it’s human nature, y’know. This is JUST MY OPINION, so if you have a problem with it, please tell me instead and don’t just simply roast me like a troll. Let’s be civil here, yeah?

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Who can relate?

#trying to be funny #negative people #harsh reality #sunken ship #otp shafted

[dryanderestuff]

meh~ I’ve got nothing to lose.

Not taking any chances

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Would You Rather

GrayLu or Natza canon? (Like for GrayLu, reblog for Natza)

#NatZa

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really love en-cher-blue’s artistic skills. It’s works like this that inspire me. 

#NatZa #talent

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I posted this on my Instagram at first but didn’t fit correctly 😢 so I decided to post it here so that people can see it completely lol it was requested by someone from Instagram and inspired by someone else’s work who made a natza comic with song lyrics. For more Natza follow me on instagram Song- Never be the same Artist- RED My instagram - Sanada_Dragneel_Edogan

#NatZa #inspired

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not really a big fan of miracles, so I’m not that sold with this wish-being-granted mumbo-jumbo. However, I am desperate, and if you take a peek at my page, you know what I wished for.

you have been visited by the seven magic dragon balls your biggest wish will be granted but only if you reblog

#NatZa

[dryanderestuff]

a true representative of Natza fans worldwide. He/she says things exactly how it is. No extreme canon-hating, but not that passive either. *clap*clap*

So, we don’t know if Fairy Tail is coming to an end or not - sure seems that way, with Zeref and Acnologia seemingly the last huge hurdles to overcome. But who knows? Maybe Mashima will throw us a curveball and there’ll be another arc with Ankhseram or something completely different.

Setting aside that possibility, FT is quite likely reaching its end. It’s been quite a ride with lots of bumps in the road; no series is perfect. Speaking for me personally, I only started tuning in for the better part of half a year now. You can tell me all your gripes about the series, and I’ll still tell you more than a few things I like about it. Even arcs like GMG.

Buuut this post isn’t about that. With the series coming to a close and shippers clamoring to support their ships, I figured I’d post a little something for Natza shippers who might be feeling down about Nalu and Jerza shippers POSSIBLY  'getting their way’. Just consider this a little reminder of some of the reasons you supported Natza in the first place. Out of respect to other shippers, I’ll try and tone down ‘anti-nalu’ and ‘anti-jerza’ talk, but it might still come up in a few places. Kinda unavoidable…

First up, these two have history. And I don’t mean ‘slaves trapped constructing a cultist tower’, I simply mean prior to the first chapter/episode, these two had seven years together, working and living together at Fairy Tail. That might not seem like much, since Erza became S-Class in X780 and kinda left Natsu and Gray in the dust, but they most certainly associated with one another. Igneel provided a base for Natsu’s education, but Erza built up on that. Natsu couldn’t read the job request flier he picked out on his own, and Erza made sure he could… Admittedly traumatizing him in the process. You want more than reluctant student and teacher? In a manga chapter we got not too long ago, we got flashbacks of Natsu, Gray, and Erza (as kids) doing stuff together; Erza breaking up fights, Erza teaching them hunting… and yes, even the times they bathed together. You might say, “Well… wait. That’s not Natza!” And I’ll agree. I’m simply pointing out that Natsu and Erza have history - seven years of it. It’s not a case of Natsu being 'scared’ of Erza for all that time; yes, he has those times where Erza intimidates him into behaving, but you know that little Pyro. He’s just gotta challenge Erza and catch up to her. Erza’s not someone unbeatable; she just really… really… strong. And of course Natsu admires that.

So now we’re to current events as the series officially begins. Admittedly, it takes a few episodes before Erza gets her debut, but she shows up, and we get our first impressions of the scarlet knight. She’s a tough disciplinarian, but she knows Natsu and Gray well enough to know they’re capable in their own right. Moreover, Natsu really shows determination here as he makes Erza promise to have a rematch with him after the mission. And that’s how they, Lucy, and Happy wind up going on their first conquest of a Dark Guild. Ah, but Erza comes with her own quirks, just like Natsu and Gray. She totes around a HUGE pile of luggage, and to make the train ride easier on Natsu, she… knocks… him… out. Still by far one of my favorite moments of the series. I can see why some might label Natza as a brotp with this kind of scene, but our time will come.

So they beat Eisenwald and Lullaby, and Natsu and Erza get their rematch. Whoo hoo. But their rematch gets broken up as the Council comes to arrest Erza for the destruction of the Guild Conference meeting hall in Clover Town (at least officially…).Of course Natsu won’t let that stand, and he makes quite a scene in the courtroom as he tries to save the redhead. … Well, instead of that slap on the wrist like they’d initially attended, the Council locks the two Fairy Tail mages in a cell for the night. Understandably, Erza is quite frustrated with Natsu’s lack of perception, but nonetheless, she thanks him for standing up for her.

As we’ll discover throughout the series, there are lots of instances where Natsu and Erza are concerned for one another; but moreover, there are plenty of instances where they strongly believe in one another as well. And it’s not just misplaced trust - they DO get the job done, such as when Natsu beats Gajeel and saves Lucy, and when Erza withstood a blast from the Jupiter Cannon for her Guild and still had the energy to take down Aria a short while later. I don’t know about you, but I think that’s a basis for a healthy relationship right there. Worry and trust come in fair shares; as time goes on, these two become less and less worried for one another even in the face of overwhelming odds. They know the other can handle the situation and come out on top; the worry never goes away fully, just decreases in the face of mutual respect and trust.

And then we reach the epitome of our Natza ship… Nalu’s worst nightmare…The Tower of Heaven Arc. I am going to try and sidestep the icky love triangle that Mashima tries to make here - I’ll make it as simple as possible. This arc is where we learn about Erza’s past. Why she is the way she is, why she doesn’t get along with Councilman Siegrain, why she can find it hard to open up to people. Erza tries to keep her Fairy Tail family out of it, but they get dragged into it anyway. She mends bridges with her old friends, thanks to Simon; but on the flipside, Erza acts very much unlike herself here (at least from what we’ve seen up to this point). In this conflict, Erza is ready to throw her life away to protect both of her families. Despite being a seasoned warrior by this point, she can’t summon the same strength that she did when she tried to fight Jose Porla! And she’s in better shape than she was at that time! Perhaps some will argue that this is simply who Erza is - strip away her armor, and she’s a traumatized little girl with a *tragic* past. Ugh. Nope, nope, nope. By no means am I arguing that Erza can’t have her tender side; it’d be hard to like her character if she didn’t have such a side. What I am saying is that when Erza left the Tower of Heaven, she was alone and lost when she wandered to Fairy Tail. But in that time there, she acquired a new family, recovered the strength she once had when Grandpa Rob died and she inspired the slaves to keep on fighting. In fact, you could say she surpassed that strength - she became S-Class, didn’t she? Yet the moment her past comes back to haunt her, Erza horribly reverts; she goes into that fight with Jellal with a defeatist’s mindset. Thankfully, Natsu is up to the task of helping Erza bury her past. He fights Jellal, who is one of the Ten Wizard Saints, who took over the management of the Tower of Heaven, and who killed the mutual friend he and Erza once shared - the guy who made it possible for Erza to reconnect with her old family, Simon. He fights Jellal knowing most if not all of this, even when Erza desperately pleads with him to abandon the fight. Natsu can’t and won’t abandon her, though. In the end, Natsu makes a gutsy move of eating Etherion, and that gives him the strength to beat down Mr. Wizard Saint. Say what you will about that, how the fight 'should’ have gone, but I think it worked very well symbolically. Erza’s past warred with her present and future, and guess which came out on top? The scarlet knight picked herself up yet again and moved on with her life, despite lingering thoughts on Jellal and Simon. We can probably agree that Natsu had similar moments of getting worked up over villains hurting other friends - Lucy (present and Future), Yukino, etc. - but for me personally, I feel like there’s something fundamentally different in how those moments feel compared to the Tower of Heaven. For Lucy, Natsu saving her happens a little too often without Lucy doing the same as much for my tastes (in other words, those hero moments don’t feel as deep and meaningful to me). And for Yukino… well. I think anyone would get worked up over Yukino’s treatment by her Guild (especially her Master). I feel like Erza and the Tower of Heaven is different because Natsu connected with her more deeply than he ever had prior to this; he saw her pain, and wished for nothing more than to end her tears. He panicked after she sacrificed herself to stop the Tower from exploding. And in that dreamlike vision of the future brought about by Etherion, Natsu didn’t believe that Erza had died. Everyone else had given up, but not him. And whose arms does she wake up in, after realizing someone had saved her from being fully absorbed by Etherion? Natsu’s. He even makes her promise not to do such a suicidal move again. On Erza’s side, she recognizes his growth the moment he took down Jellal, and she tried to get him out of the Tower before it exploded. After seeing how affected Natsu would have been with her death, Erza cites that, “You don’t die for your friends. You live for them.” It was a pretty good shippy moment right there, but then the rest of their friends find them and rejoice that they’re all alive.

We can whine about it all we want, but when the Oracion Seis arc hit, that’s when the Jerza ship began to get a little more wind in its sail. After all, the man that brought Erza pain in the past returned, but he had… amnesia. You gotta be sympathetic to a guy like that, right? They had such a tragic past, and now Jellal can’t remember it. What a pity. … Okay, enough bashing. But it is a bit annoying for us Natza shippers; after the high that we got from ToH, we’re suddenly smashed back to earth with Jellal’s return. You can say that Natsu came to forgive Jellal in this arc, but that isn’t the case when you inspect the arc carefully. After all, what’s the first thing Natsu does when he first hears that Wendy revived Jellal? He’s intent on making sure Erza never has to see him again. Not out of jealousy - but out of sympathy for his friend. Natsu doesn’t want to see her cry again, but despite this, Erza finds the blue-haired mage anyway and comes to the dissatisfying conclusion that Jellal really can’t remember all of his past atrocities. Later, Jellal goes off to help Natsu fight Zero, and the Pyro tries to fight him off as well. Sure, Jellal ended up helping Natsu in the end, giving him something equally as potent as Etherion so that he may attain Dragon Force again, but that anger that Natsu holds hasn’t vanished. They’re tentative allies against a greater threat. And when the Rune Knights come to take Jellal and Oracion Seis away, Natsu doesn’t fight for Jellal’s freedom because he’s a swell guy that helped take down Zero; he does it for Erza, because the redhead is conflicted about resisting the Council’s authority. Despite his personal feelings about the blue-haired mage, he tries to resist for Erza’s sake so that the two can resolve their past. Of course, Erza tells him and the others to stand down in the end, and the Dragon Slayer grudgingly complies. Erza goes back to angsting about her past.  

I’m not gonna say my interpretation of events is the one, true way to look at the series. I AM saying this is how we Natza fans see the relationships between Natsu, Erza, Jellal, and Lucy. Some of you naysayers will argue Natsu and Erza are siblings; Jellal and Erza have such a tragic and *amazing* past together; Natsu brought Lucy to Fairy Tail and totally fell in love; you’re perfectly fine with believing in any of that. Just don’t shove your theories down our throats. From a Natza fan’s perspective, such as mine, Natsu brings out the best in Erza; he doesn’t make her think about her past every five minutes or force her to be the ever-shining beacon in their relationship. On the flipside, Erza doesn’t require saving all the time; she stands alongside Natsu, and is a pillar for him when he is sad or has doubts. Natza is mutual, and I think there’s something deeper there than sibling love. Heck, there are still Natza moments floating throughout the series, it’s just that whenever Jellal gets involved… yeah. You can tell what Mashima is likely pushing for, just not very convincingly. It’s fine if Erza becomes Jellal’s redemption, but it’s such a shame that a mutual, passionate relationship like Natza goes out the window in favor of giving Jellal a relationship to go with his redemption. Just look at all the various moments they have together…

So yeah! Criticize the Natza ship all you want, but you’ll never stomp us out completely. Even if Mashima cedes to you Nalu and Jerza fans, we’ll still have all these moments and more to look back on - canon, filler, omake, you name it. I think we have reason to be proud of our ship to the very end. We’re not a brotp or a fanon couple - if Nalu can be argued to be semi-canon, when it wasn’t in Mashima’s original plan, then I don’t see why we can’t make a case for it being at least semi-canon. I’ve certainly reflected long and hard on it over the past half year I’ve been into FT. I’m still going to be bummed if Mashima follows the crowd and forces Nalu and Jerza to happen, but I won’t falter in my love for this ship. I encourage other 'unpopular’ ships to do the same. I certainly don’t mind other ships with Natsu involved; Natza is just my OTP.

#NatZa #proud #homeboy #this is amazing

[dryanderestuff]

how is this not more popular? 

Ultimate ship meme Natsu x Erza

Thank you!

General:

Rate the Ship -  Awful | Ew | No pics pls | I’m not comfortable | Alright | I like it! | Got Pics? | Let’s do it! | Why is this not getting more attention?! | The OTP to rule all other OTPs

How long will they last? - If they start they will not ever stop. Death would not stop them, they are too stubborn.

How quickly did/will they fall in love? - Slowly. It takes them years to deal with everything that’s happening and feelings are confusing and *cough cough jellal cough* so it happens slowly.

How was their first kiss? - Awkward but good enough that they kept trying for ten minutes until they got a really good one. Neither of them knew what they were doing at all.

Wedding:

Who proposed? - Erza.

Who is the best man/men? - Gray and Laxus

Who is the bride’s maid(s)? - Lucy and Wendy

Who did the most planning? - Cana. She waited outside the guild hall until they finished breaking the news that they were together, then she dramatically slammed open the doors and declared herself in charge. Erza helped her with a lot though.

Who stressed the most? - Erza had the ‘most’ serious stress. Natsu had a lot of ‘comical’ stress though.

How fancy was the ceremony? - Back of a pickup truck | 2 | 3 | 4 | Normal Church Wedding | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Kate and William wish they were this big.

Who was specifically not invited to the wedding? - Jellal was not invited. Gajeel wasn’t either, but as a joke, he went anyway.

Sex:

Who is on top? - They switch pretty regularly, but Erza likes being on top more so she tends to top more often.

Who is the one to instigate things? - Erza.

How healthy is their sex life? - Barely touch themselves let alone each other | 2 | 3 | 4 | Once a couple weeks, nothing overboard | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | They are humping each other on the couch right now

How kinky are they? - Straight missionary with the lights off | 2 | 3 | 4 | Might try some butt stuff and toys | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Don’t go into the sex dungeon without a horse’s head

How long do they normally last? - Two hours, because there are interventions in between and because of certain kinks

Do they make sure each person gets an equal amount of orgasms? - Yes they’re very good with this stuff

How rough are they in bed? - Softer than a butterfly on the back of a bunny | 2 | 3 | 4 | The bed’s shaking and squeaking every time | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Their dirty talk is so vulgar it’d make Dwayne Johnson blush. Also, the wall’s so weak it could collapse the next time they do it.

How much cuddling/snuggling do they do? - No touching after sex | 2 | 3 | 4 | A little spooning at night, or on the couch, but not in public | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | They snuggle and kiss more often than a teen couple on their fifth date to a pillow factory.

Children:

How many children will they have naturally? - 1

How many children will they adopt? - 2

Who gets stuck with the most diapers? - Erza, Natsu’s nose is too sensitive

Who is the stricter parent? - Erza

Who stops the kid(s) from doing dangerous stunts after school? - Neither of them stop it? Natsu encourages them and Erza thinks it’ll build character

Who remembers to pack the lunch(es)? - Natsu

Who is the more loved parent? - It’s close, but the kids all agree Natsu is a lot more carefree and they think that’s fun

Who is more likely to attend the PTA meetings? Both of them, or whoever isn’t on a job at the time

Who cried the most at graduation? - Erza, though Natsu was also crying a lot

Who is more likely to bail the child(ren) out of trouble with the law? - Natsu, but it isn’t really bailing them out it’s possibly blowing something up as a distraction, grabbing the kids and running for the hills

Cooking:

Who does the most cooking? - Natsu, which is not saying much he doesn’t do it often it’s just that Erza is a disaster in the kitchen

Who is the most picky in their food choice? - Natsu

Who does the grocery shopping? - Natsu

How often do they bake desserts? - They don’t, they buy from Erza’s favourite place instead

Are they more of a meat lover or a salad eater? - Meat meat meat meat

Who is more likely to surprise the other(s) with an anniversary dinner? - Erza

Who is more likely to suggest going out? - Their default thing is to go out for food

Who is more likely to burn the house down accidentally while cooking? - Erza! Again, she is a disaster

Chores:

Who cleans the room? - Erza does, but not very often

Who is really against chores? - Natsu, he only wants to sleep

Who cleans up after the pets? - Happy cleans up after himself

Who is more likely to sweep everything under the rug? - Natsu

Who stresses the most when guests are coming over? - Erza

Who found a dollar between the couch cushions while cleaning? - Erza, she’s the only one who cleans

Misc:

Who takes the longer showers/baths? - Erza, they help her relax

Who takes the dog “Exceed” out for a walk? - Happy flies himself

How often do they decorate the room/house for the holidays? -  In true ft fashion, they go overboard with everything, though they do most decorating in the guildhall with everyone else

What are their goals for the relationship? - Be happy and not die

Who is most likely to sleep till noon? - Natsu

Who plays the most pranks? - Happy Natsu

#NatZa #give it some love #i like it

[dryanderestuff]

damn! how this guy gets me and the other NatZa shippers that have been disheartened out there. So easy to lose hope in an unpopular ship, but even harder to support it as strongly as you did the moment you jumped aboard until now. Almost gave up on NatZa after I read ch 63 of 100 YQ, but seeing this post reinvigorated the fire within me. I think I’ll get back to writing fanfiction now.

Amazing!

Reposting because some of us are getting depressed over the Jerza comic. :P

I get where you guys are coming from. I do. But Natza’s put up with a lot worse crap than this, and the flame’s still burning, y'know? So Mashima’s been drawing Nalu and the occasional Jerza… so what? He’s admitted they’re not part of the canon storyline. They’re just for fun. And given the nature of these latest comics, that’s literally what they seem like - not serious in the slightest. The kind of crack you might see in my drabbles.

I’m not gonna blame Mashima in the slightest. He illustrated Natza’s potential, and as much as I wanted to see more, I’ll settle for what we got. That’s just me, though - some of you may think differently.

Being a minor shipper in FT’s never been a walk in the park. Of course it’d be nice if Mashima would draw stuff for us, but we don’t need the man to draw for us because we have creators of fanfics and fanart of our own. That’s the real distinction between “us and them” - yes, there are some Natza fans who request for art on his Twitter, but comparably our presence is…. very small. Hell, last I checked, the last Nalu comic had 58K likes to it. That tells you the kind of “rival ships” we face. The guy’s bombarded day after day by these popular shippers because there’s just so many… Naturally, he’d like to show appreciation for their support.

My question is how he can withstand all that harassment and still want to draw FT, but the guy loves his craft, ne? Not all of it’s shippy, at least.

I guess…. I just wanted to get something encouraging up, considering some of my friends were disheartened with a Jerza comic coming out. Some are possibly throwing in the towel, and I can honestly see “why” you’d eventually give up. We’re up against obnoxiously stacked odds, but I feel like Natza ship can take it. ‘Cause we got a canon ending without our worst fears coming to pass. ‘Cause we have moments, growth, and loads of potential. ‘Cause we have a pair of characters who embody the very essence of their guild.

Moving onto other fandoms is perfectly natural. I won’t tell you to stick around forever and ever, but if you ship Natza or any other minor ship, don’t let others tell you it’s a dumb ship or that you shouldn’t even bother. That’s just closing your eyes to possibilities and saying all those moments we did get were worthless. And considering some of the content Natza got, I would never call it worthless. We didn’t have canon go our way, but I’ll gladly take an open ending over a relationship that got started off-screen. Let’s take the roots that canon planted and make a tree out of it. Let’s color in the stuff the manga didn’t show, imagine if events had gone differently.

If Natza’s wrong or a waste of time, I don’t wanna be right. Let’s keep the fires lit. Let’s leave a mark so that some future fans will see the potential of our ship.

And if the more popular ships get on our case about it… Sorry, but they don’t own a monopoly on Fairy Tail~.

#NatZa #underdog #inspiring