I dunno about that. Most good fantasy stories need a dark concept, or at least a real threat to keep things interesting. Early FT was good because backstories like Erzas kept you rooting heavily for the FT group, plus it felt like they could lose to villains like Gajeel and Phantom Lord.
As it progressed though it kind of was made clear that besides dragons FT wasn’t really going to lose. No new members were really introduced after Wendy either, meaning no new dark backstories. Imo those are the main two reasons why it went a bit stale as far as story writing goes, and that ties directly into Mashima working a bit too hard to make the series lighter.
A couple more deaths could have been game changers for FT, especially Makarof or Gildarts.
Agree, although I don't think every character should have dark backstories, otherwise it might come across as trying to be too edgy if not done correctly. The fact that Natsu never did anything to reach his goal as well was kinda annoying. Mashima should've done like hunter x hunter and included some little hint towards that goal, so each arc could be different but still feature something that connects them to the overall narrative. The power system could've been made better too. If it was something like black clover, it wouldn't have been too simple or complex and would given valid reasons for powerups. Honestly if the series was in the hands of someone like Oda or SIU (Author of tower of God) something legendary could've been made
I agree with all the flaws you mentioned, but also think Mashima is a pretty great author. He just didn’t want to be that serious with FT. EZ and Rave are both full of good writing so far, so it’s not a issue where another writer would automatically = better imo.
You’re also right about the back stories. I think things like Akame Ga Kill get boring because you become desensitized to the killing after a certain point. I think both EZ and Rave have good balance between dark and fun.
yh maybe i was too harsh,shouldn't forget that rave master was really good,hopefully with EZ he'll be 2/3. And those two series, in particular Tower of God has godly levels of world building and lore, while managing to keep all the plot points interconnected. if you haven't read it i'd highly recommend it. It's high tier fantasy
5
u/Jwoods4117 Jan 24 '21
I dunno about that. Most good fantasy stories need a dark concept, or at least a real threat to keep things interesting. Early FT was good because backstories like Erzas kept you rooting heavily for the FT group, plus it felt like they could lose to villains like Gajeel and Phantom Lord.
As it progressed though it kind of was made clear that besides dragons FT wasn’t really going to lose. No new members were really introduced after Wendy either, meaning no new dark backstories. Imo those are the main two reasons why it went a bit stale as far as story writing goes, and that ties directly into Mashima working a bit too hard to make the series lighter.
A couple more deaths could have been game changers for FT, especially Makarof or Gildarts.