If you don’t read this, but have the slightest chance of finding yourself spending any time in the future with the shonen series in question, whether through the manga or any anime adaptation, stop reading right now. It’s quite good, and not worth spoiling. And we are entering the land of epic spoiler. If you are reading the manga, and are up to date with the scanlations, then you already know the deal, otherwise, stop here. Really. Stop now.

Natsu defeats death.

Erza is pretty much the best thing in Fairy Tail. And I think she should have just died. And because of that I’m now going to take a break from the series.

Erza declared Natsu as her “successor” way back, confirming the inevitable – that she was the early stage icon, not the ultimate warrior. Shonen subcharacters are allowed to be overtaken gracefully. They don’t have to die, writers contrive endless excuses to stop them from looking lame. So her death wasn’t strictly necessary. Thing is, it would have sanctified her and it would have made for a more exciting future.

In chapter 100 Natsu refuses to accept a funeral, denies the process of honouring her, insists that she has to be there smiling with the team. Maybe that’s why shonen franchises go on so long. Because endings make so little sense. They’re a young person’s story, they believe in eternity and fucking reality to the curb.

Of course, when death (seemingly) happened I was distraught. It seemed wrong that the series might stretch on longer and longer without The Erza centrestage. Worst of all, we’d likely be treated to trite sentimental drivel as Natsu “does it for the dead girl”. My problem is where we’re left now. Or to be fair to the series, where I’m left. Because I’ve lost some of my involvement with the plot, some of my connection to the weekly kick.

Perhaps the combination of pain and irritation which came with chapter 99 was because this arc hasn’t been consistently genius. It suffered from some lame opponents (KISS guy), too many inconsequential fights in general, and worst of all, from Natsu finishing things up by getting a predictable straight up win more or less out of nowhere.

Of course it still had strong points – like square man, rocket owl, Erza smacking Gerard around, the property damage line. It just hasn’t been pure epic. Its redeeming feature seemed to be a moment of astonishing dramatic logic. Erza had finished her personal arc. She had overcome her flaws. She had used her ultimate attack and then found another superultimate one after that. She had dropped the armour, faced her nemesis, saved the day: it made sense that she was done. Still, I should have seen the reverse coming.

I’m still kind of glad she’s staying, because a less than perfect arc is a poor way to send off a favourite. Her victory over the (bafflingly strong) swordgirl was too weak. But now she’s doomed to go back to getting her best moments in blocking cannonshot and aetherions while Natsu takes all the glory. To settle for beating the second best enemy in the role of subordinate badass.

Of course, it is nice that Erza the Not Dead can continue to provide us with her special blend:

1: GAR. Because one can but admire her stern resilience. Fighting series need some GAR. If we can’t be made to admire heroic power then the whole edifice falls apart. Frankly, I can’t admire Natsu. He can now reverse death through sheer childish stubbornness, but adding extra power does not make a dull man cool. Erza is classy GAR.

2: Straight man/tsuntsun. Erza works well in the many joke scenes, which is not always the case with GAR types. Filling in as the butt of the joke, or through absrdly comic anger, she gave us laughs. Erza moved effortlessly through pisstakes, plot twists, schoolyard omake diversions, and ultimate battles.

3: Phwoar.

It has been my misfortune to hitch my wagon to a pseudo-doomed character. It’s also the first time I’ve really liked “the GAR one”, the friendly monster. Which probably has to do with the comedy stuff, but also because she’s quite unorthodox in her role. So I’m happy for Erza, but have basically given up on the mangaka.

In that moment of menace there was a hint that Fairy Tail could actually provide a brilliance and an individuality I’d never credited it with, though at the same time there was some confusion as to what it had left. And now we know where its limits are, it’s another franchise. And that’s somehow dispiriting. I really do like the franchises a great deal (why else would I be on chapter 100), but the ‘threat’ of real storytelling followed by this optimistic reversal confounded me. This was the mangaka momentarily overcoming genre, following dramatic logic instead of Natsu logic.

It would take balls to do this, and there was foreshadowing for this arc, so it wouldn’t have been a pointless moment of madness. It could have done for Fairy Tail what episode 8 did for Claymore, raised the stakes and elevated the arc in our memories. As it turns out, it’s an OK arc with lots of lovely Erza. Really it could have been an all time climactic tear-jerker.

What Fairy Tail turned down on chapter 100 wasn’t just the loss of a friend, it was the chance to give us a higher involvement. It’s not just an assertion of optimism, of undying spirit, it’s an up-front assertion of the limits of the story.

That’s the franchise at work I guess, playing at being a proper story and keeping us involved for as long as a chapter at a time. The short weekly manga chapter as an ultimate buzz. The second I start thinking like that I’ve lost some of my faith in the story, my suspension of disbelief.

However, the massive impact of the death threat and the long week of waiting, was not something I’ve really encountered before, having only read manga in marathon sessions. It was very cool. The impact of chapter 99 was such that I started reading the series Double Arts just to satisfy the need for more of the same. Maybe I should pick up the Naruto manga before that ends? I hear that in that series some people actually get to die when they’re supposed to.

Anyway, for now I’m on a break. I’ll likely go back to Fairy Tail later, but as it stands I just can’t get beyond my own cynicism. I was dragged, for one terrifying moment, into a less conventional, more stunning formula. And I can’t shake off the disappointment that Fairy Tail is exactly what I thought it was.