Why does Fairy Tail lack any balls

[PapaGreg096]

Because that's not the kind of story its trying to be?

Like, no offence, but not every show needs to be one where the heroes die and people's favourite characters keep disappearing. Yeah, that's the vogue at the moment as its a novelty, but its already growing tired [Hell, IMO it was tired from the beginning. In the anime world, Attack on Titan got so much praise for this, but was really pretty boring because rather than knowing that everyone's going to live, you know there's a bunch who will die. Doesn't make you more investigated, just makes you more bored at the fairly arbitrary reasons the author keeps inventing to kill them. Akame Ga Kill suffered from this too, though apparently not in the Manga. First couple of character deaths were good, well timed and handled, and sold the whole 'people die in this world' deal. Then near the end of the season it forgot what it was actually about and started to just invent OoC ways to kill off characters, because obviously that's why everyone likes the show]
There is nothing wrong with the heroes always winning the day. People don't have to die for a show to be good. Especially if its aimed at the teenage boy demographic.
I'm also not a fan of too much false tension. Its the shit DBZ gets called out on a lot, the whole 20 episodes to finish a fight sort of deal. Its not interesting. Its not cool. We all know how it ends, just hurry up and get on with it. Fairy Tail can be too short, but at least its not too long.

As for One Piece... Dropped that quicker than I dropped FT to be entirely honest. It just got so boring and samey so quickly. Never really liked the characters as much either, nor the main plot.
FT has its problems, but "Not enough tension" isn't one that you can apply to it, and not the entirety of the Shounen genre. The fights are usually pretty samey, and could use some shaking up, but some false sense of 'They're going to lose and die' doesn't do it for me. Grand Magic Games was entertaining, thanks to not really following that formula to the letter and being much less serious, meanwhilst fighting the dragons afterwards was one of the most boring parts of the series to date because it did try to build that fake tension with the fact that no-one can touch the damn things, and apparently one of the characters is dead in the future, and every guild in the world can't stand up to even a single dragon. The best part of it was when Natsu met that fire dragon, tried to eat him, and the follow through from that. Whilst nonsensical, it was at least more along the less serious and more fun side of the show, as opposed to the fake seriousness that we all know means nothing.

Overall... Welcome to shounen. Fairy Tail has its issues, but focusing on the wider 'issues' of taste with most shounen anime as its issue kind of glosses over its real problems, and ignores the fact that the lack of wondering whether a character is going to actually die for realzies or not is part of why people watch the genre.

I'm not asking a blood bath I just want a since of dread and unpredictability for example One Piece there were numerous of times where the straw hats were outclassed and could't fight there way out of the situation, I don't really get that with Fairy Tail

 

[crimson5pheonix]

It's generic shounen, of course it doesn't have tension. The only shounen that kills their characters that weren't obviously going to die from the outset are the ones where death doesn't mean anything.

 

[RaikuFA]

Because Hiro is a talentless hack that draws flashy bishy crap and fanservice so it gets lapped up.

The only long running shonen worth reading at the moment is One Piece, and that's because Oda knows how to build a fucking world and set some stakes and actually be unpredictable.

Case in point: Luffy got his fucking ass handed to him plenty in the first half of One Piece. Smoker decked him in Logue Town, Crocodile left him for dead twice in Alabasta, Lucci fucking curbstomped him and Zoro in Water 7 and damn near killed him in Enies Lobby, got run around outsmarted and beat by Gekko Moriah, entire crew got beat down on Saobody, got all kinds of fucked up by Magellan, got rekt in Marineford by Sakazuki.

I believe Oda said OP is done in his head, meaning it's all planned out which island they're going to and what conflicts will happen they're, meaning no filler crap or ass pulls like most other shonen manga.

 

[The White Hunter]

Because Hiro is a talentless hack that draws flashy bishy crap and fanservice so it gets lapped up.

The only long running shonen worth reading at the moment is One Piece, and that's because Oda knows how to build a fucking world and set some stakes and actually be unpredictable.

Case in point: Luffy got his fucking ass handed to him plenty in the first half of One Piece. Smoker decked him in Logue Town, Crocodile left him for dead twice in Alabasta, Lucci fucking curbstomped him and Zoro in Water 7 and damn near killed him in Enies Lobby, got run around outsmarted and beat by Gekko Moriah, entire crew got beat down on Saobody, got all kinds of fucked up by Magellan, got rekt in Marineford by Sakazuki.

I believe Oda said OP is done in his head, meaning it's all planned out which island they're going to and what conflicts will happen they're, meaning no filler crap or ass pulls like most other shonen manga.

He said quite a few years ago that he already has the ending and most of the key events and characters in mind. Now it's just drawing it that needs doing.

The pace of Dressrosa was horrible though, and the anime is shit.

 

[Joccaren]

I'm not asking a blood bath I just want a since of dread and unpredictability for example One Piece there were numerous of times where the straw hats were outclassed and could't fight there way out of the situation, I don't really get that with Fairy Tail

So the straw hats are all dead then? Permanently imprisoned? They didn't manage to get out of those scrapes?
Wait, they did?
Well, its as utterly predictable as Fairy Tail, and has no balls. I mean come on, we know the genre, we know they make it out in the end. Its like watching a Rambo movie and expecting there to be tension of him dying. Yeah, he'll get beat up, we know he won't die 'cause he's Rambo and the whole movie is about him basically not dying when he's supposed to. I mean FT has had their fights that they can't win too, yet they still get out of them and the show moves on. As does it in every shounen anime. Its all predictable. You know the heroes will win, or escape, or be safe or whathaveyou. There really isn't any point ever pretending they won't. What matters is how they win/escape/not die, and whether the show can make it interesting or not. FT does have problems with that at times, as most arcs are rather formulaic, but that's a problem with just re-using the same tired fight structure over and over, rather than a lack of imaginary tension.

 

[RaikuFA]

Because Hiro is a talentless hack that draws flashy bishy crap and fanservice so it gets lapped up.

The only long running shonen worth reading at the moment is One Piece, and that's because Oda knows how to build a fucking world and set some stakes and actually be unpredictable.

Case in point: Luffy got his fucking ass handed to him plenty in the first half of One Piece. Smoker decked him in Logue Town, Crocodile left him for dead twice in Alabasta, Lucci fucking curbstomped him and Zoro in Water 7 and damn near killed him in Enies Lobby, got run around outsmarted and beat by Gekko Moriah, entire crew got beat down on Saobody, got all kinds of fucked up by Magellan, got rekt in Marineford by Sakazuki.

I believe Oda said OP is done in his head, meaning it's all planned out which island they're going to and what conflicts will happen they're, meaning no filler crap or ass pulls like most other shonen manga.

He said quite a few years ago that he already has the ending and most of the key events and characters in mind. Now it's just drawing it that needs doing.

The pace of Dressrosa was horrible though, and the anime is shit.

I don't watch the anime. Reading the manga and I'm in Dressrosa at the end of Vol 73.

 

[The White Hunter]

Because Hiro is a talentless hack that draws flashy bishy crap and fanservice so it gets lapped up.

The only long running shonen worth reading at the moment is One Piece, and that's because Oda knows how to build a fucking world and set some stakes and actually be unpredictable.

Case in point: Luffy got his fucking ass handed to him plenty in the first half of One Piece. Smoker decked him in Logue Town, Crocodile left him for dead twice in Alabasta, Lucci fucking curbstomped him and Zoro in Water 7 and damn near killed him in Enies Lobby, got run around outsmarted and beat by Gekko Moriah, entire crew got beat down on Saobody, got all kinds of fucked up by Magellan, got rekt in Marineford by Sakazuki.

I believe Oda said OP is done in his head, meaning it's all planned out which island they're going to and what conflicts will happen they're, meaning no filler crap or ass pulls like most other shonen manga.

He said quite a few years ago that he already has the ending and most of the key events and characters in mind. Now it's just drawing it that needs doing.

The pace of Dressrosa was horrible though, and the anime is shit.

I don't watch the anime. Reading the manga and I'm in Dressrosa at the end of Vol 73.

Dressrosa is likely gonna be more enjoyable when you can just read it all as fast as you like, reading it week to week was pretty frustrating.

 

[RaikuFA]

Because Hiro is a talentless hack that draws flashy bishy crap and fanservice so it gets lapped up.

The only long running shonen worth reading at the moment is One Piece, and that's because Oda knows how to build a fucking world and set some stakes and actually be unpredictable.

Case in point: Luffy got his fucking ass handed to him plenty in the first half of One Piece. Smoker decked him in Logue Town, Crocodile left him for dead twice in Alabasta, Lucci fucking curbstomped him and Zoro in Water 7 and damn near killed him in Enies Lobby, got run around outsmarted and beat by Gekko Moriah, entire crew got beat down on Saobody, got all kinds of fucked up by Magellan, got rekt in Marineford by Sakazuki.

I believe Oda said OP is done in his head, meaning it's all planned out which island they're going to and what conflicts will happen they're, meaning no filler crap or ass pulls like most other shonen manga.

He said quite a few years ago that he already has the ending and most of the key events and characters in mind. Now it's just drawing it that needs doing.

The pace of Dressrosa was horrible though, and the anime is shit.

I don't watch the anime. Reading the manga and I'm in Dressrosa at the end of Vol 73.

Dressrosa is likely gonna be more enjoyable when you can just read it all as fast as you like, reading it week to week was pretty frustrating.

I imagine it is. I wasn't too keen on Skypeia.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

I used to follow Fairy Tail, but as all shonen do, it became too shonen.

And I willfully admit I got into it because it was tagged as "ecchi", an aspect that they dropped almost immediately.

 

[Nuuu]

Luffy got his fucking ass handed to him plenty in the first half of One Piece. Smoker decked him in Logue Town, Crocodile left him for dead twice in Alabasta, Lucci fucking curbstomped him and Zoro in Water 7 and damn near killed him in Enies Lobby, got run around outsmarted and beat by Gekko Moriah, entire crew got beat down on Saobody, got all kinds of fucked up by Magellan, got rekt in Marineford by Sakazuki.

I love when an anime protagonist is shown to be actually outmatched or just not stereo-typically powerful.

The Saobody arc has to be my favorite hands down. I love the actual reasonable change of pace of progress and the Navy actually showing themselves to be powerful and competent.
Luffy punched an important person and now an Admiral, one of the strongest members of the Navy, is sent down to deal with him. And that Admiral does just that. No "I am the protagonist and thus above everything" and no sudden turn-around in the fight. Just straight "I'm paying the consequences for my actions against a force I have no hope of fighting."
The best part is that from that point until the time-skip Luffy is still shown to be outmatched by the military force guarding the New World. Even when going to save Ace, Luffy is essentially carried through by Whitebeard's stronger crew.

Hunter x Hunter is kind of like this as well. The main character, Gon, is actually not that strong or impressive outside of his determination. To be honest, I think he actually lost most of his fights against major characters.
The only time he was shown to be immensely powerful was because of an action anyone else could have done (but chose not to because it's actually suicide).

He said quite a few years ago that he already has the ending and most of the key events and characters in mind. Now it's just drawing it that needs doing.

The pace of Dressrosa was horrible though, and the anime is shit.

Spoiler

While I like the anime, I do have to agree Dressrosa was horribly paced. At least half of it was repeated shots of destruction and people pushing walls. In One Piece's defense, I do feel like this happens to most anime when it switches to "Stall until the hero awakens" trope, but that trope has been done to death.

I do worry about some of the writing though. So Luffy knew how to use 4th Gear since he regrouped at Saobody, but only just chose to use it at that point in the story?
Granted I guess most of the enemies encountered up to this point haven't been THAT much of a challenge, but it does seem oddly out of place.

Kinda OT:
I tried watching Fairy Tail, quickly loved its setting and world.
Then quit after 15-20 episodes when I realized it wasn't going to build it at all and that everything was the most shonen of all shonen.

 

[sageoftruth]

Shonen, shonen never changes...

Did you make that up? Because if you did, it really needs to become a thing (that and perhaps the word "Shonenisms"). It's so true.

 

[Kitsune Hunter]

Shonen, shonen never changes...

The same problem Naruto had after a while - author ran out of ideas.

Remember how in the beginning of Naruto a good majority of the fights were either won with clever technique or rules bending, or combining known things in ways that people might not have thought of?

Then it turned into DBZ with Ninjas? Yeah.

I for one, think that nail in the coffin was when people started cheating death itself.
(followed by extreme death cheating, of course.)

Spoiler

I'm still salty about that. I'm not the biggest fan of Naruto, but after what they pulled with Obito coming back from the dead with no explanation to give Kakashi a power up, that was the worst asspull I've ever seen. It just shows that even in death, Obito still finds a way to piss me off.

OT: Yeah, my main reason for reading on is to see how bad FT gets at this point and it seems to get worse every time Erza gets screentime. I just can't help roll my eyes when Erza fights and think "I wonder what asspull Hiro will use to make his favourite Mary Sue come out on top".

 

[Orga777]

Seriously is the concept of tension and struggle a friggien alien concept to Hiro every fight feels tensionless because I know how the characters win and the aftermath in the fights is just salting the wounds

No. It isn't lost on him. He did write Rave Master, which was very tense. However, Fairy Tail is just a fun series that Mashima just writes whatever he wants. The story was never one of the best. However, the characters are all fun and awesome in their own ways, and the fights are spectacularly done (for the most part...) Which is more than enough for a fun Shonen series, really.

 

[PapaGreg096]

Seriously is the concept of tension and struggle a friggien alien concept to Hiro every fight feels tensionless because I know how the characters win and the aftermath in the fights is just salting the wounds

No. It isn't lost on him. He did write Rave Master, which was very tense. However, Fairy Tail is just a fun series that Mashima just writes whatever he wants. The story was never one of the best. However, the characters are all fun and awesome in their own ways, and the fights are spectacularly done (for the most part...) Which is more than enough for a fun Shonen series, really.

Oh yeah because one shoting and saying friendship are aspects of a great fight also quirks don't equal character

 

[PapaGreg096]

I'm not asking a blood bath I just want a since of dread and unpredictability for example One Piece there were numerous of times where the straw hats were outclassed and could't fight there way out of the situation, I don't really get that with Fairy Tail

So the straw hats are all dead then? Permanently imprisoned? They didn't manage to get out of those scrapes?
Wait, they did?
Well, its as utterly predictable as Fairy Tail, and has no balls. I mean come on, we know the genre, we know they make it out in the end. Its like watching a Rambo movie and expecting there to be tension of him dying. Yeah, he'll get beat up, we know he won't die 'cause he's Rambo and the whole movie is about him basically not dying when he's supposed to. I mean FT has had their fights that they can't win too, yet they still get out of them and the show moves on. As does it in every shounen anime. Its all predictable. You know the heroes will win, or escape, or be safe or whathaveyou. There really isn't any point ever pretending they won't. What matters is how they win/escape/not die, and whether the show can make it interesting or not. FT does have problems with that at times, as most arcs are rather formulaic, but that's a problem with just re-using the same tired fight structure over and over, rather than a lack of imaginary tension.

The problem is that they win every fight there is no fight they can't get out of since they always win

 

[Joccaren]

I'm not asking a blood bath I just want a since of dread and unpredictability for example One Piece there were numerous of times where the straw hats were outclassed and could't fight there way out of the situation, I don't really get that with Fairy Tail

So the straw hats are all dead then? Permanently imprisoned? They didn't manage to get out of those scrapes?
Wait, they did?
Well, its as utterly predictable as Fairy Tail, and has no balls. I mean come on, we know the genre, we know they make it out in the end. Its like watching a Rambo movie and expecting there to be tension of him dying. Yeah, he'll get beat up, we know he won't die 'cause he's Rambo and the whole movie is about him basically not dying when he's supposed to. I mean FT has had their fights that they can't win too, yet they still get out of them and the show moves on. As does it in every shounen anime. Its all predictable. You know the heroes will win, or escape, or be safe or whathaveyou. There really isn't any point ever pretending they won't. What matters is how they win/escape/not die, and whether the show can make it interesting or not. FT does have problems with that at times, as most arcs are rather formulaic, but that's a problem with just re-using the same tired fight structure over and over, rather than a lack of imaginary tension.

The problem is that they win every fight there is no fight they can't get out of since they always win

You've obviously never actually encountered the dragons in Fairy Tail, among a handful of other entities they have trouble with. Archnologia in particular wiped out an entire island with the guild's strongest on it, who survived only because the island was sacred Fairy Tail territory and their guildly bonds activated a spell that sealed them in an impenetrable bubble for 7 years, during which time they were frozen in time and absent from the world.
There have been enemies the guild fails to defeat. Not many, sure. Them losing and just barely escaping through some contrived means all the time is as boring as them winning all the time, and honestly the audience would prefer their heroes win most of the time. And even when they as a whole win, its usually through strength in numbers and the fact they've got a main cast of like 30 characters. Usually several of the strongest will be put out of commission in an arc, so they can highlight the strengths of the other members - who usually take out an enemy whilst going down in the process. At the same time, the core "Strongest Team" usually gets through mostly fine, though some of them not always.
This also ignores where the guild fights 4 rogue members, and the entirety of the guild sans Natsu and Gajeel end up wiped out, twice, and even they only win after Laxus realises that he actually likes his friends and fucks up his ultimate spell because of it.
Natsu's got a bit of plot magic armour going on at times, being the main character who somehow always pulls through, but even he's had fights he can't win.

It also probably doesn't help that the only real stakes that are possible a lot of the time are win, or die. The guild isn't a mobile platform like a ship, you can't just run away and go adventure in some different port - you're stuck at the guild, in Magnolia. When outside Magnolia fighting an enemy, that enemy almost always has either kidnapped a guild member and its "Save them or they'll die", or the other party will eventually bring the fight to Fairy Tail if they don't fight there, so a matter of "Losing" would require the opponent to just arbitrarily lose interest, which isn't any less contrived.

This is again ignoring the point of; welcome to shounen anime and manga. Fairy Tail isn't special for this, its just one of a huge crowd known as the shounen genre. Hell, its almost how we define the mainstream shounen genre these days. Fairy Tail has plenty of flaws, but again this could be better rephrased as "Why does the shounen genre lack balls?", and a huge list of shounen anime that follow this trope produced. Singling out Fairy Tail for a perceived failing of the genre, which is likely part of the reason the genre's target audience actually watch the genre in all reality, is a bit weird, in all honesty.

 

[Mangod]

Shonen, shonen never changes...

Did you make that up? Because if you did, it really needs to become a thing (that and perhaps the word "Shonenisms"). It's so true.

It's a quote from Fallout:

 

[sageoftruth]

Shonen, shonen never changes...

Did you make that up? Because if you did, it really needs to become a thing (that and perhaps the word "Shonenisms"). It's so true.

It's a quote from Fallout:

I know. It's just the conversion of it into "Shonen Never Changes" that I find brilliant. Such a small adjustment and yet the meaning behind it feels completely different and so very true.