(L) Fairy Tail Manga Discussion Thread

[Wolcik]

Originally Posted by Darklord_bg

Name one shounen villain who doesn't do that.

Shounen is all about cliches. You know the only thing that matters: the Rule of Cool. If it looks cool, it doesn't matter whether it makes sense or not (well, it does, but not as much).

In any case, since originality is rare when it comes to shounen, what's important is the way things are presented. Even though Racer has the stereotypical arrogant villain characteristic, the way he goes about to show it is unique.

Besides, his boasting is completely justified, since he doesn't claim he is the strongest or anything like that. He claims he is the fastest - and nobody else comes close. Anyway, let's see how Gray and Leon will deal with him next chapter.

I know that people like cliches for a reason, but while tosuands sheeps acting one way maybe be cool it won't stop being stupid.

He is fast enought to get behind someone and punch him - as far as I know that this would be enought to kill off about anybody and if it was a good guy that discovered that kind of ability in a battle it would be 3 second win. Yet he summons motocicles and not kill his opponents.



I hope that his weakness isn't something like he can't turn fast enought to dodge some kind of attacks Oo

[ellifeedn]

You can't be original all the time. When clichés are used properly, at the cost of the lesser villians, they can help make the bigger villians look badder.

[Darklord_bg]

Originally Posted by Wolcik

I know that people like cliches for a reason, but while tosuands sheeps acting one way maybe be cool it won't stop being stupid.

He is fast enought to get behind someone and punch him - as far as I know that this would be enought to kill off about anybody and if it was a good guy that discovered that kind of ability in a battle it would be 3 second win. Yet he summons motocicles and not kill his opponents.

You do realize that this sort of thing is common to all shounen series, right?

In Bleach, for instance, the higher-class captains have the shunpo technique, yet they almost never use it to directly K.O. an opponent, much less a protagonist. In One Piece, there is the "Soru" technique, which is also relatively the same thing, and yet, no one has successfully used it to assassinate a main character. What I don't get is why are you picking only on Racer about this thing, since almost everybody else suffers from the same problems?

Also, ask yourself this - would you really prefer it if he killed Natsu and Gray with his top speed? What then - he remains unstoppable until the right opponent is able to neutralize him but he kills a bunch of people beforehand? After he is dealt with, half the cast is dead. There are indeed some series that kill off main characters regularly, but they are in the seinen category. Face it, in shounen almost nobody important dies and if s/he does, it is always in a grand way with a lot of drama and foreshadowing.

Besides, not using his top speed to kill his opponents is not the worst thing in this series. How about characters being able to withstand insane amount of damage which would supposedly kill them and still being alright at the end?

In the end, if you are annoyed by such cliches you are better off not watching/reading shounen. I don't consider Racer's "arrogance" to be anything unusual compared to other villains at all.

[Wolcik]

Originally Posted by Darklord_bg

You do realize that this sort of thing is common to all shounen series, right?

In Bleach, for instance, the higher-class captains have the shunpo technique, yet they almost never use it to directly K.O. an opponent, much less a protagonist. In One Piece, there is the "Soru" technique, which is also relatively the same thing, and yet, no one has successfully used it to assassinate a main character. What I don't get is why are you picking only on Racer about this thing, since almost everybody else suffers from the same problems?

Also, ask yourself this - would you really prefer it if he killed Natsu and Gray with his top speed? What then - he remains unstoppable until the right opponent is able to neutralize him but he kills a bunch of people beforehand? After he is dealt with, half the cast is dead. There are indeed some series that kill off main characters regularly, but they are in the seinen category. Face it, in shounen almost nobody important dies and if s/he does, it is always in a grand way with a lot of drama and foreshadowing.

Besides, not using his top speed to kill his opponents is not the worst thing in this series. How about characters being able to withstand insane amount of damage which would supposedly kill them and still being alright at the end?

In the end, if you are annoyed by such cliches you are better off not watching/reading shounen. I don't consider Racer's "arrogance" to be anything unusual compared to other villains at all.

In Bleach Byakuya's favorite and first move it to stab someone in the back with his shunpo and this is how Ichigo was beaten for the first time by him.
Luffy by learing Soru could keep up with Bruno and by mixing it with Gear 2nd he beat the crap out of him by being too fast for him.
In Naruto we have Yondaime sneak on this shinobi that wants to finish his team, and his fight is so fast that you could miss it while blinking Oo

As long as the enemy can't keep up with you it should be OK to kill them, unless your speeding up move is not working then you go to cling fighting. It's not that he dosn't kill anybody but he doesn't even do enough damage to be considered a threat for me - he's more of a jerk pushing everybody.

There are stories that can't be told if people in it are realistic or intelligent - like hounted house movies when people don't even try to run away.

[Darklord_bg]

Originally Posted by Wolcik

In Bleach Byakuya's favorite and first move it to stab someone in the back with his shunpo and this is how Ichigo was beaten for the first time by him.
Luffy by learing Soru could keep up with Bruno and by mixing it with Gear 2nd he beat the crap out of him by being too fast for him.
In Naruto we have Yondaime sneak on this shinobi that wants to finish his team, and his fight is so fast that you could miss it while blinking Oo

Byuakuya's 1-hit-KO move worked only once for storyline purposes to establish him as a threat and yet, he still did not kill the target.

Luffy did not defeat Blueno with one swift move but beat him up and again did not kill him.

Yondaime only killed random fodder.

Once again, I fail to see why Racer is any different in that regard. He also pretty much took care of both Natsu and Gray in their first fight. If Wendy wasn't there they would all be dead.

[Waven]

Please don't reason with logic and realism, there are characters shooting ice and fire out of their hands

[cloak_and_dagger]

Originally Posted by Waven

Please don't reason with logic and realism, there are characters shooting ice and fire out of their hands

Truckloads of cookies for you, kind sir.

[Majek]

Nice ending. It is mad. xDD

[Bonta Kun]

Oh someone actually died! O_O

ok obviously still gotta be skeptical about it all but heres hoping!

Well Midnight is up and about now. Now I know I'm not the only one to think "ehhh he's pretty cute!"

also I read Ieatmanga scans and all I gotta say is they had a awesome credits page! Soooo gotta find that image!

[Waven]

Although another "big" announcement next issue i have kinda buried my hope for an anime adaption for now.

[Xellos-_^]

Originally Posted by Bonta Kun

Oh someone actually died! O_O

ok obviously still gotta be skeptical about it all but heres hoping!

Well Midnight is up and about now. Now I know I'm not the only one to think "ehhh he's pretty cute!"

also I read Ieatmanga scans and all I gotta say is they had a awesome credits page! Soooo gotta find that image!

no one is dead till we see the body and the body is burn and not just buried.

[ellifeedn]

If the body were chopped into pieces, does that mean it's dead?

[danin8r44]

Originally Posted by ellifeedn

If the body were chopped into pieces, does that mean it's dead?

No the soul will inevitably find some way to possess another.

[Xellos-_^]

Originally Posted by ellifeedn

If the body were chopped into pieces, does that mean it's dead?

if it was unrecongizable then no the character is not dead.

[Anh_Minh]

What if the body's recognizable... but it's Gerard?

[Xellos-_^]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

What if the body's recognizable... but it's Gerard?

without a head or face?

isn't that one of the more common plots, disfigure the enemy soldiers face dress the body in your clothing and pretend your dead?

[Von Himmel]

At least Racer died.

[Darklord_bg]

Racer is probably dead, since Brain felt it and the Oracion Seis are probably connected in a way. I don't think Leon is dead, though, since a good guy doesn't die unless in a very grandiose way. He probably pulled an ice shield at the last moment or something...

Anyway, I'm pretty disappointed with Racer's end and the explanation of his power. This chapter basically ruined his character. I guess it was my fault for having high expectations for a side character. It's times like these that I wish I were writing the story.

[Waven]

Does it actually matter whether a good guy dies now since they seem to got hold of Wendy and her Deus Ex Mach.... eehh i mean resurrection skills

[Wolcik]

Originally Posted by Darklord_bg

Racer is probably dead, since Brain felt it and the Oracion Seis are probably connected in a way. I don't think Leon is dead, though, since a good guy doesn't die unless in a very grandiose way. He probably pulled an ice shield at the last moment or something...

Anyway, I'm pretty disappointed with Racer's end and the explanation of his power. This chapter basically ruined his character. I guess it was my fault for having high expectations for a side character. It's times like these that I wish I were writing the story.

So it seems he couldn't even slow down the arrow that entered his magic area.


I'm very disappointed with Midnight - he's a dude with total make-up plus I can bet he'll be all EMO too. I hate society...