Why I Ship and love NatZa
A few days ago, my friend posted an essay on his introduction to NatZa, so I thought I would do the same. :O
To be honest, it was quite straightforward for the most part, if anything because Fairy Tail was one of the ‘newer’ anime I was checking out since I barely branched out. For a while I was just content loving Dragonball/Z/GT...and then Pokemon... YuGiOh... Inuyasha.... Naruto....Bleach... Full Metal Alchemist, I was pretty focused into gaming for a while as well so I never watched too much. So one fall semester I saw a lot of advertisement whenever I’d read a new manga chapter of Naruto Shippuden, and to be quite honest what really grabbed my attention was... Yeah, Erza. Erza and what Natsu :O I was convinced then so I decided to watch it. And... to be quite honest. I never liked Lucy. And a lot of people will always argue that I’m just hating on her for no reason but...she really annoyed me in the episodes. She was selfish, conceited... and she really cared only about her self. Don’t get me started on her complaining all the time @__@.... but yeah. I didn’t quite like Lucy one bit. xD Nevertheless Natsu kicked ass. XD
Continuing on, I finally met the girl that spurred my interest. Erza. It sounds a bit lame, but I wasn’t let down. I loved her character, I loved her magic. She is without a doubt a bad ass mage. So yeah, I would ‘obviously’ ship her with Natsu.
At first I understood that her interactions were more platonic with everyone, but I always caught on she had more attention placed on Natsu. I mean you could say, but for the most part in terms of Fairy Tail, he was the key one that a lot of focus was placed on.
Then the Phantom Lord arc happened. While a lot of it was Lucy focused, there were still a good amount of scenes that kept the fuel running of how concerned Erza and Natsu were for another, and even her putting his trust into him of how he’s the one to succeed her.
Afterwards. I just found it adorable how he went to take Erza’s place, wanting and needing to pay for something she hadn’t done. Their heart to heart talk in the jail cell and how, despite furious he was with her, was followed by how much she loved the effort or least action he put into ‘rescuing her’. Fastforward to the Tower of Heaven and...ohhh boy. It was a ride.Between Jellal quickly making my No.1 shit list and Natsu getting pissed off. I was enjoying it. Regardless of the reason, It wasn’t hard to see that Jellal was the one that tortured Erza the most, and why she was so sad all the time. The whole epic battle of Natsu fighting for her was amazing. Saving her from Jellal... the death Lacrima...the hugs....
But the biggest part of the arc that stands out is how both of them acknowledges they could never live in Fairy Tail without the other. Now however you want to take that but the two of them were willing to die for the other person. Erza was freed because Natsu defeated Jellal... Natsu, the one she always had to keep in line. So what did she do? Try to take the castle down with her to save the man that saved her. However, what did Natsu do? He tore through Etherion to pull her back out.
And even THIS. No matter where you look in any other segment of the chapter, you will never see this.This is the scene that ultimately changed the dynamic between Erza and Natsu. Erza, without her armor and was also the only one to ‘initiate’ any sort of embrace.
No matter what anyone else says, this ultimately changed their relationship for the rest of the series.
From this point on the relationship the two became...more endearing as the series progressed. From The Oracion Seis arc when he was willing to throw his life away for the man Erza held affections for (Yeah, remember, he was willing to get thrown into the maximum security prison for protecting a terrorist just for Erza, something that takes actual balls).
So yeah, I rambled, but everything up to this point is what solidified by love for the ship. The bonds between them growing stronger, the unwavering trust between another. And it hadn’t stopped here, from this moment on the waves of passion just continued to burn from me. And it’s one of the biggest things I’ve loved about the ship.
Unlike the others, aside from a very few in the series like Gajeel x Levy, or Zeref x Mavis, there hadn’t been so much passion that was built between two people. It wasn’t about them trying to get in other people’s pants. Or trying to just cop a feel. They always built up on another.
Erza is so free and happy, she’s so relaxed because of how much of herself she can be. For the most part she was always so stiff and stern, but whenever she’s around Natsu all the feelings she hadn’t felt start rushing out.
And yeah, Natsu is ‘terrified’ of her, but he’s terrified of making her ‘angry’ you know... like everyone else. He isn’t afraid to do silly things with her like barrel surfing... eat gelato’s... hell, he’s nervous to even see her naked.
My love of this ship was never about seeing them act like shy teenagers about them, because their interactions with another bolsters confidence and trust. Yeah, Erza is a ruckus, a pervert, but Natsu doesn’t care. Natsu gets rowdy, he starts stuff, but he knows not to go overboard. From the beginning these two were opposites on the spectrum. Natsu was rowdy and childish, Erza was stern and had to be more thoughtful in her plans, but as time went on, their intermingling allowed them to open up. Change. Take on characteristics about another. Yeah, Erza is still ‘mature’ and ‘thoughtful’ but she kicks back and lets herself be childish (hell, she’s FAIRY WOMAN xD) and yeah, Natsu is still rowdy and childish, but he’s more aware and thoughtful of everything around him. I never cared what happens to them in terms of canonicity, because to me they are one of the very few ‘ships’ in the whole show that you can tell has changed from the beginning to the end. To me, that’s what the best of the ships is about, growing together and adopting the characteristics of the person close to you.
For them, they looked out for their happiness, and used it to propel and use it for the rest of the Guild as well.