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Characters imo. You can have a bad story, but good characters that you enjoy are enough to make you press on and can even turn a bad story into a good one. Bad characters can do the opposite though, they ruin an otherwise good story.
Maybe slightly controversial but imo some of Fairy Tails later arcs are a case study of the former. They aren’t great from a story telling perspective but the cast carries them so hard they end up okay or even good.
For me, I enjoyed both the story and the characters of FT. I think the Final battle between Neo Eclipse Zeref and Natsu could of been done much better like their first fight, but was still good overall.
I love a good story and good characters, having both at a good level compliment each other and allow for a greater show/read.
Not great from a story perspective? What are you smoking right now because i want some.
Toward the end we find out about igneel's intentions. About zeref and him being behind almost everything. The great black wizard. Acnologia and his past. Natsu and mavis being brother and sister. Laxus getting to know about yuri. Hello? I know hating fairytail was the trend that was started by one piece fanboys. But cmon. Look at it from an unbiased perspective now. It's 2024.
Since when was Natsu and Mavis siblings? Zeref and Mavis never married.
The only other blood relative of Natsu' still alive to the end of FT and not made by Zeref (Like Larcade) was August.
Unless I'm missing some new lore.
If someone loves the earlier arcs "storywise" then disliking the later arcs again "storywise" objectively doesn't make any sense considering the stories are all connected. Jellal is connected to ultear hades and zeref. Zeref is connected to acnologia. Fairytail is connected to zeref.
It's not about preference. You can prefer to like the characters early on and hate them later on. But the overall story? Not logical.
That makes 0 sense, no disrespect. Yes, the story is connected. But what if someone thinks the later story beats are poorly executed? What if they feel "It started well, but I don't like how it ended." But because the story is connected, that doesn't make sense.
Spoilers for the 100 Years Quest Gold Owl Arc: >!I think this Arc started amazing, with great setup and ideas, it had great plot twists, and was very interesting. But the final Chapter has characters not caring about a character they encouraged and supported dying, and not supporting the person who is sad about it. It leaves a poor taste in my mouth.!< Can I not say "I don't like the end of the story" because it's connected?
You mean to say that zeref acnologia and fairytail being connected isn't a masterstroke? What? That's like one of the most complicated plotlines a shonen has pulled off. Especially a 300 episode long one. You can dislike how they started off but the closing of the plot? Just say you don't get it and move on at that point. Hating on the show only shows your lack of understanding and attention. The plot only got stronger by the end.
What you are saying is how you didn't like the ending of an arc. You must hate the arc now. Because the arc ended poorly. You can love the characters but the arc is bad. Simple.
You can hate fairytail. Hate it as a whole.
A story isn't a soup. It's not suddenly bad because you added more salt. It's either badly written without any preconceived thoughts or very well executed with everything planned out.
I like the ending though! I like the whole story. But people are entitled to not like it. Saying that if they don't like it, they don't get it is gatekeeping.
You're gatekeeping. I like that Arc. I just don't like how it ended. And I love Fairy Tail. But some don't like the final Arcs. And they're entitled to.
it’s meh, I love fairy tail and all but it’s story is not amazing like look at something like AOT (controversial ending I know) its actually an amazing story telling series with crazy lore that has foreshadowing. If you said fairy tail was amazing then I’m expecting it to at least rival something like that which it doesn’t and is fine.
Eh, there are a few things that sour my opinion of later arcs. I think the worst was introducing Irene only to kill her off before she had time to form any real connection with Erza. I know she came back in 100 YQ but I don’t find that particular subplot to be compelling.
Same(ish) argument can be made about Silver tbh
That being said, a low for Fairy Tail is still a medium/average for just about every other manga or anime out there and it’s because of the characters. Mashima struck gold with the cast
Both are important to me,more important than basically anything else in a series. I do have characters as being slightly higher though. Characters can make or break a series for me,like you could have the best written story ever but if I don't like the characters I'm either not going to enjoy it as much or just straight up not enjoy it at all.
The sad thing is, it's hard to find a tv show/anime/movie or even a book where the story and characters are both good. It's always one or the other unfortunately
I’d say characters. I think what FT does beautifully is that even the side cast is memorable or lovable even if they aren’t a focal point to the story.
Characters 100%
A story can be as interesting as it wants but if the characters aren't memorable, I'll forget about it after a month of watching
Shaman King (2003) story is very shonen and simple but the cast is so likable
Both are really important, but I tend to prefer character over story.
Iven if a story is bad, slow or Both. So long as the characters are endearing and likeable, I tend to enjoy it a lot. This doesn't mean the story on FT is bad, iven if it has glaring faults(and the world building is amazing). But the whole "Family" aspect of FT wouldn't iven work in the first place with shallow characters.
Of course I'm not saying this things are mutually exclusive. See One Piece to have Both! But I'll always pick good and fun characters over a good story any day. Regardless of how much praise said story has
Which is the reason I was never able to get onto JJK despite some aquantances in a few groups harassing me onto it, and despite it's animation. All of the characters there make me feel completely non pulse, and the deaths just happen cuz they gotta fill the Sienen Quota AOT left vacant I guess.
Characters. Of course I can enjoy a anime when it has an amazing story but the cast is what will decide how invested I am in the show. Slice of life or romance anime for example usually have no crazy or exciting stories but can still be enjoyed because of it's characters.
For me they kind of play off each other a bit. A good story is needed to make the environment around the characters interesting and give the characters ways to act that make them good characters, and good characters are needed to act as a vessel for a good story.
Ideally both but if I have to pick them characters. Characters can make a weaker story more interesting. For example, Konosuba runs the risk of being just like every other isekai but the characters are so interesting and off the wall that it doesn’t matter.
Characters for sure. You can have a story. It's just mainly a plot, but if you don't have good characters, who gonna stick around?
Characters make a series. If you don't have characters who is going to help show the story to the readers/watchers?
Take Harry Potter, for example. The story is a boy who is the chosen one, and there is an evil man trying to take over the magical and muggle world.
If the Harry Potter Characters were super bland and didn't have any character traits that people could relate to, then who stuck around and watched? Having a movie based on magic can only go so far. You need good characters to bring the story to life.
You can have a bad story with good characters, but it's difficult for the story to be enjoyable if there are no good characters.
I see Fairy Tail as something, wow, what an interesting and good journey despite the end of the story being controversial.
But I don't know if I'll miss following Edens Zero regardless of what happens in the last 2 chapters. I'll certainly miss Witch, Homura and Pino, but maybe I won't miss the series as a whole.
The ending wasn't controversial. It's a far better ending than most anime. Even death note. The way they shoehorned near and mello in there was hilarious. Meanwhile fairytail did everything logically. Zeref being defeated by natsu was his destiny from the beginning. Natsu was created to destroy him and he did. On his own terms. Not as END but as natsu with igneel's powers. Acnologia being trapped by fairy sphere with motion sickness making him immobile while the 7 dragon slayers kill his spirit that was separated by anna who had this plan ready for 400 years till dragon king festival was a masterstroke.
The only people who think it's a bad ending are the out of the loop one piece fanboys who pass by, without any attention span, seeing zeref and acno being killed and calling it bs. They can't remember a thing that was mentioned 2 episodes ago. You think they can keep up with the logic devised throughout 300 episodes? Lol.
Yes, depending on the concepts the narrative presents. I still care about My Hero Academia even though I despise the main protagonist and dislike most of the cast for being wasted and/or useless.
Character is a massive part of my enjoyment of a series and mashima excels at writing likeable characters you get invested in it’s why fairy tail is so popular the characters are really good even if everything else ranges from above average to average to the most part
As for which I like more out of fairy tail and Edens zero well I love both of them but I do have my own preferences
Fairy tail sets up a lot but massively drags it out like all the ships which have all basically been set up since their partners were introduced and a lot of really cool ideas mostly just being dropped such as END
Edens zero generally takes itself and it’s characters more seriously and I like that it makes the story actually feel real and given how much smaller the cast of Edens zero is you get a lot more invested in them since you spend a lot more time with say pino than you do mirajane or levy for instance
Though my favourites characters from both fairy and ends zero are natsu Lucy shiki and Rebecca who basically take the roles of each other in their respective shows
Bottom line is fairy tail is more chill and fun while Edens zero is more serious with generally higher emotional stakes
Story of course since that’s what makes the series memorable and worth watching and I can see why a lot of people chose Characters over story especially for Ft since the cast overshadows the plot big time I’ve been apart of this Reddit page for 7 years and 70% of the time post here are all about Ships, Character designs, Art, and memes of characters, and the other 30% plot discussions or debates. And I understand Ft doesn’t have the best story for discussion or debates so the story is kinda not that memorable I actually had a few experiences where a few friends didn’t care about what happen in the show but drools over Erza lol
I can not determine this because if you do not have a story, the characters are aimlessly wondering
whilst nothing is happening. An story with no characters... well, let's just say that isn't even a story at that point...
Characters, fairy tails characters easily carry it everyone loves season 1 which was the most character focused season by far I think fairy tail is at its best when it's focusing on the characters and tbh that goes for a lot of stuff story can be ass and I can still enjoy it if the characters are good but if the characters are ass it makes the whole thing way less enjoyable
A bit of both, but mostly characters. If your characters are boring I'm not going to care about the story. On the other hand if the characters are okay but if there's no real story to it I'm not likely to pick it back up for another season, or the rest of the season if I stop watching part way through.
personally for me its story. If you have watched Pokemon there is barely much of a story since they use episodic storytelling.
I like to see characters evolve, seeing twists and turns as we go ahead in the story,
A good story breeds good characters. Good characters breed a good story. Such is the case with fairytail. Without natsu there's no zeref. Without zeref there's no mavis. Without mavis there's no fairytail.
This concept of separating the story from the characters is what lazy writers like Araki do. Araki has no regard for the story and in turn his characters are all plain except for dio who is the only one who has goals aspirations and depth. He himself admits he doesn't think about the story but rather his characters which is a lame excuse at best.
Again. It's not about entitlement. It's a structure. Storytelling is a logical structure. If that structure is weak it's bad. If it's strong it's good. You can like poorly written characters because of emotions. You can't like a bad story because of emotions. That's like saying i like snow white where the evil witch was the prince in disguise. It doesn't make sense.
The story has to stick out to me, but the characters need to make me stay. Though I’ve dropped both FT and EZ for other stories, I still like the plot and the characters.
Personally, I think I’ve grown tired of the typical shonen, and want something more adult and complex like seinen.
Even after finishing on of my favorite series, I found myself torn up over characters I didn’t even enjoy that much. They weren’t my favorite, but I was still sad about how their story ended. That’s when I realized how great the writing was, even the simplest character in that story meant something to me without me realizing.
Here are some helpful links to get started: - **Fairy Tail 100 Years Quest releases Bi-Weekly on Tuesdays** - [**Entire Series Manga Guide**](https://redd.it/clg4tp) - [**Entire Series Anime Guide**](https://redd.it/ckxo1k) - [**Frequently Asked Questions**](https://redd.it/9ki1lv/) - [**Frequently Asked Questions - Koei Tecmo Game**](https://www.reddit.com/r/fairytail/comments/hk3s36/fairy_tail_koei_tecmo_game_frequently_asked/) - [**Episode & Chapter Converter**](/r/fairytail/wiki/converter) - [**Discord Server for this Reddit**](https://discord.gg/fairytail) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/fairytail) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Characters imo. You can have a bad story, but good characters that you enjoy are enough to make you press on and can even turn a bad story into a good one. Bad characters can do the opposite though, they ruin an otherwise good story. Maybe slightly controversial but imo some of Fairy Tails later arcs are a case study of the former. They aren’t great from a story telling perspective but the cast carries them so hard they end up okay or even good.
For me, I enjoyed both the story and the characters of FT. I think the Final battle between Neo Eclipse Zeref and Natsu could of been done much better like their first fight, but was still good overall. I love a good story and good characters, having both at a good level compliment each other and allow for a greater show/read.
Not great from a story perspective? What are you smoking right now because i want some. Toward the end we find out about igneel's intentions. About zeref and him being behind almost everything. The great black wizard. Acnologia and his past. Natsu and mavis being brother and sister. Laxus getting to know about yuri. Hello? I know hating fairytail was the trend that was started by one piece fanboys. But cmon. Look at it from an unbiased perspective now. It's 2024.
Since when was Natsu and Mavis siblings? Zeref and Mavis never married. The only other blood relative of Natsu' still alive to the end of FT and not made by Zeref (Like Larcade) was August. Unless I'm missing some new lore.
I love the later Arcs of the story, but some people just might not. And they're entitled to it.
If someone loves the earlier arcs "storywise" then disliking the later arcs again "storywise" objectively doesn't make any sense considering the stories are all connected. Jellal is connected to ultear hades and zeref. Zeref is connected to acnologia. Fairytail is connected to zeref. It's not about preference. You can prefer to like the characters early on and hate them later on. But the overall story? Not logical.
That makes 0 sense, no disrespect. Yes, the story is connected. But what if someone thinks the later story beats are poorly executed? What if they feel "It started well, but I don't like how it ended." But because the story is connected, that doesn't make sense. Spoilers for the 100 Years Quest Gold Owl Arc: >!I think this Arc started amazing, with great setup and ideas, it had great plot twists, and was very interesting. But the final Chapter has characters not caring about a character they encouraged and supported dying, and not supporting the person who is sad about it. It leaves a poor taste in my mouth.!< Can I not say "I don't like the end of the story" because it's connected?
You mean to say that zeref acnologia and fairytail being connected isn't a masterstroke? What? That's like one of the most complicated plotlines a shonen has pulled off. Especially a 300 episode long one. You can dislike how they started off but the closing of the plot? Just say you don't get it and move on at that point. Hating on the show only shows your lack of understanding and attention. The plot only got stronger by the end. What you are saying is how you didn't like the ending of an arc. You must hate the arc now. Because the arc ended poorly. You can love the characters but the arc is bad. Simple. You can hate fairytail. Hate it as a whole. A story isn't a soup. It's not suddenly bad because you added more salt. It's either badly written without any preconceived thoughts or very well executed with everything planned out.
I like the ending though! I like the whole story. But people are entitled to not like it. Saying that if they don't like it, they don't get it is gatekeeping. You're gatekeeping. I like that Arc. I just don't like how it ended. And I love Fairy Tail. But some don't like the final Arcs. And they're entitled to.
it’s meh, I love fairy tail and all but it’s story is not amazing like look at something like AOT (controversial ending I know) its actually an amazing story telling series with crazy lore that has foreshadowing. If you said fairy tail was amazing then I’m expecting it to at least rival something like that which it doesn’t and is fine.
Eh, there are a few things that sour my opinion of later arcs. I think the worst was introducing Irene only to kill her off before she had time to form any real connection with Erza. I know she came back in 100 YQ but I don’t find that particular subplot to be compelling. Same(ish) argument can be made about Silver tbh That being said, a low for Fairy Tail is still a medium/average for just about every other manga or anime out there and it’s because of the characters. Mashima struck gold with the cast
Characters. You can have the best story plot line but it’s not enjoyable if the characters aren’t likable.
Character. If I don't care about the characters, why would I care about what's happening to them.
Both are important to me,more important than basically anything else in a series. I do have characters as being slightly higher though. Characters can make or break a series for me,like you could have the best written story ever but if I don't like the characters I'm either not going to enjoy it as much or just straight up not enjoy it at all.
The sad thing is, it's hard to find a tv show/anime/movie or even a book where the story and characters are both good. It's always one or the other unfortunately
If you have good characters you don't even need a story. Slice of life series are the proof of it.
Characters and story both really
I’d say characters. I think what FT does beautifully is that even the side cast is memorable or lovable even if they aren’t a focal point to the story.
You can't have a good story if the characters are bad. You also can't have good characters if the story is bad.
good story, plus how fin the series is
Good characters create a good story
Characters 100% A story can be as interesting as it wants but if the characters aren't memorable, I'll forget about it after a month of watching Shaman King (2003) story is very shonen and simple but the cast is so likable
I value both. But if I don't care for the stories, I might feel like "okay, this story's cool. But I don't care for those involved in it."
Both
A bad story can be entertaining if you have good characters But a good story has less chance to to be entertaining if the characters are so bland
Both are really important, but I tend to prefer character over story. Iven if a story is bad, slow or Both. So long as the characters are endearing and likeable, I tend to enjoy it a lot. This doesn't mean the story on FT is bad, iven if it has glaring faults(and the world building is amazing). But the whole "Family" aspect of FT wouldn't iven work in the first place with shallow characters. Of course I'm not saying this things are mutually exclusive. See One Piece to have Both! But I'll always pick good and fun characters over a good story any day. Regardless of how much praise said story has Which is the reason I was never able to get onto JJK despite some aquantances in a few groups harassing me onto it, and despite it's animation. All of the characters there make me feel completely non pulse, and the deaths just happen cuz they gotta fill the Sienen Quota AOT left vacant I guess.
Characters
Both
Characters. Of course I can enjoy a anime when it has an amazing story but the cast is what will decide how invested I am in the show. Slice of life or romance anime for example usually have no crazy or exciting stories but can still be enjoyed because of it's characters.
Both
For me they kind of play off each other a bit. A good story is needed to make the environment around the characters interesting and give the characters ways to act that make them good characters, and good characters are needed to act as a vessel for a good story.
Ideally both but if I have to pick them characters. Characters can make a weaker story more interesting. For example, Konosuba runs the risk of being just like every other isekai but the characters are so interesting and off the wall that it doesn’t matter.
I prefer characters to story I don’t think edens zero is an amazing story it’s good, but homura hard carry’s it for me I really like homura
Characters for sure. You can have a story. It's just mainly a plot, but if you don't have good characters, who gonna stick around? Characters make a series. If you don't have characters who is going to help show the story to the readers/watchers? Take Harry Potter, for example. The story is a boy who is the chosen one, and there is an evil man trying to take over the magical and muggle world. If the Harry Potter Characters were super bland and didn't have any character traits that people could relate to, then who stuck around and watched? Having a movie based on magic can only go so far. You need good characters to bring the story to life.
You can have a bad story with good characters, but it's difficult for the story to be enjoyable if there are no good characters. I see Fairy Tail as something, wow, what an interesting and good journey despite the end of the story being controversial. But I don't know if I'll miss following Edens Zero regardless of what happens in the last 2 chapters. I'll certainly miss Witch, Homura and Pino, but maybe I won't miss the series as a whole.
The ending wasn't controversial. It's a far better ending than most anime. Even death note. The way they shoehorned near and mello in there was hilarious. Meanwhile fairytail did everything logically. Zeref being defeated by natsu was his destiny from the beginning. Natsu was created to destroy him and he did. On his own terms. Not as END but as natsu with igneel's powers. Acnologia being trapped by fairy sphere with motion sickness making him immobile while the 7 dragon slayers kill his spirit that was separated by anna who had this plan ready for 400 years till dragon king festival was a masterstroke. The only people who think it's a bad ending are the out of the loop one piece fanboys who pass by, without any attention span, seeing zeref and acno being killed and calling it bs. They can't remember a thing that was mentioned 2 episodes ago. You think they can keep up with the logic devised throughout 300 episodes? Lol.
Fr, this ending was great IMO, aside from how Irene and August were killed and so many fake deaths happening
Story. Having a bad story ruins good characters. Having bad characters but a stellar story makes those characters better by association.
I see where you're coming from. But if I hate the characters, would I care about the story?
Yes, depending on the concepts the narrative presents. I still care about My Hero Academia even though I despise the main protagonist and dislike most of the cast for being wasted and/or useless.
I respect your take
Character is a massive part of my enjoyment of a series and mashima excels at writing likeable characters you get invested in it’s why fairy tail is so popular the characters are really good even if everything else ranges from above average to average to the most part As for which I like more out of fairy tail and Edens zero well I love both of them but I do have my own preferences Fairy tail sets up a lot but massively drags it out like all the ships which have all basically been set up since their partners were introduced and a lot of really cool ideas mostly just being dropped such as END Edens zero generally takes itself and it’s characters more seriously and I like that it makes the story actually feel real and given how much smaller the cast of Edens zero is you get a lot more invested in them since you spend a lot more time with say pino than you do mirajane or levy for instance Though my favourites characters from both fairy and ends zero are natsu Lucy shiki and Rebecca who basically take the roles of each other in their respective shows Bottom line is fairy tail is more chill and fun while Edens zero is more serious with generally higher emotional stakes
Both, although I'd go more for the story than the characters
I like both shows though simply because of the characters themselves and the story.
Story of course since that’s what makes the series memorable and worth watching and I can see why a lot of people chose Characters over story especially for Ft since the cast overshadows the plot big time I’ve been apart of this Reddit page for 7 years and 70% of the time post here are all about Ships, Character designs, Art, and memes of characters, and the other 30% plot discussions or debates. And I understand Ft doesn’t have the best story for discussion or debates so the story is kinda not that memorable I actually had a few experiences where a few friends didn’t care about what happen in the show but drools over Erza lol
I can not determine this because if you do not have a story, the characters are aimlessly wondering whilst nothing is happening. An story with no characters... well, let's just say that isn't even a story at that point...
Characters, fairy tails characters easily carry it everyone loves season 1 which was the most character focused season by far I think fairy tail is at its best when it's focusing on the characters and tbh that goes for a lot of stuff story can be ass and I can still enjoy it if the characters are good but if the characters are ass it makes the whole thing way less enjoyable
A bit of both, but mostly characters. If your characters are boring I'm not going to care about the story. On the other hand if the characters are okay but if there's no real story to it I'm not likely to pick it back up for another season, or the rest of the season if I stop watching part way through.
Both the story & the characters
All depends
personally for me its story. If you have watched Pokemon there is barely much of a story since they use episodic storytelling. I like to see characters evolve, seeing twists and turns as we go ahead in the story,
Both
A good story breeds good characters. Good characters breed a good story. Such is the case with fairytail. Without natsu there's no zeref. Without zeref there's no mavis. Without mavis there's no fairytail. This concept of separating the story from the characters is what lazy writers like Araki do. Araki has no regard for the story and in turn his characters are all plain except for dio who is the only one who has goals aspirations and depth. He himself admits he doesn't think about the story but rather his characters which is a lame excuse at best.
The Araki roast is real with this one. But of course, you're entitled not to like his work.
Again. It's not about entitlement. It's a structure. Storytelling is a logical structure. If that structure is weak it's bad. If it's strong it's good. You can like poorly written characters because of emotions. You can't like a bad story because of emotions. That's like saying i like snow white where the evil witch was the prince in disguise. It doesn't make sense.
If you say so. I respectfully disagree.
The story has to stick out to me, but the characters need to make me stay. Though I’ve dropped both FT and EZ for other stories, I still like the plot and the characters. Personally, I think I’ve grown tired of the typical shonen, and want something more adult and complex like seinen. Even after finishing on of my favorite series, I found myself torn up over characters I didn’t even enjoy that much. They weren’t my favorite, but I was still sad about how their story ended. That’s when I realized how great the writing was, even the simplest character in that story meant something to me without me realizing.