I honestly don’t understand what the nalu fandom even sees in Nalu anymore. I saw some of them discussing Nalu, and how they think Nalu would become canon and to me it just feels like they’re always jumping through hurdles to make it work and don’t see the irony of what they’re saying.
I’ve seen them say “it doesn’t make sense for Nalu to be romantic like the other couples, they’re a fun couple! They’re canon in their own Nalu way. They’re more than friends but less than lovers!” Do you not see the irony in what you’re saying? You’re basically saying Nalu only exists as a platonic relationship if you’re denying the romantic aspect of it. Even sexually, Natsu has been repulsed by Lucy. He expressed disinterest in her body at the best, and disgust at the worse. And Nalu fans may argue “well he’s just seen her naked so much he’s just used to it by now!” But mind you this was the first time Natsu had seen Lucy in what you could consider an appealing way and he expressed disgust in her. Out of the entire group, Natsu was the most grossed out at her appeal.
Throughout the entire manga, Natsu’s disinterest in Naked Lucy has been consistent. “oh but what about this twitter art, or this movie movement, or this anime moment!” Anime was not written by Mashima - and if you want to claim anime content as facts but deny Nali content as just anime filler than you clearly don’t actually care about the material and just want to argue for things to be in your favour. You can claim Natsu is just not interested in female bodies, but during the Tartaros arc this was his reaction to Lisanna. He is capable of being flustered by women, he is capable of showing romance. It’s just that maybe he’s not interested in Lucy, but is with Lisanna in comparison. I wanna keep this about Nalu but honestly it’s hard to debunk Nalu points without bringing up comparisons to show - and most happen to be with Nali because of how differently Natsu acts towards Lisanna than any other girl in the story.
Even so, if you want to argue for Mashima drawing Nalu fanservice art on twitter or the anime/movie team sprinkling in some fanservice here snd there. Mashima himself has stated he won’t draw romantic Nalu and instead he would draw romantic Gruvia - and what has he drawn more of? Romantic Gruvia. 100YQ has just progressed to a point as I’m writing this where Gray has confessed his love for Juvia. And for Nalu fans? It’s been crickets.
“Oh but it will be canon! We’re just waiting for some grand finale to happen because we’re the main ship!” If thats the case, how can you be so sure when Mashima himself has proven true to his words so far in Lucy’s japanese VA hirano san’s interview. You can see what I mean right here.
Nalu stans will claim “this interview is old!” But Mashima has kept consistent to his words, and this was back in Tartaros towards the end of the main series. Mashima stated the mainnseries ended exactly how he planned it to, meaning no romantic Nalu considering there was no confession in the final chapter. Nalu fand will then claim “we’ll be together forever” was his confession, in which case why are Nalu fans still waiting for Nalu to be canon then? If that was the case you wouldn’t go under mashima’s tweets and see people asking for Nalu to be canon.
Okay, then maybe if we excuse Mashima’s words and actions and focus on the story itself. Which character could Natsu have been implied to feel the strongest towards romantically? Nalu fans will then argue for “Okay but Lucy is clearly the only one in Nalu’s heart, he is around her all the time.” Firstly, they’re always drawn together because they are the main characters. That’s kind of the point of main characters to have them on screen all the time, the same happens in other TV shows like Haryy Potter and hermione. Does that make them romantic? No. The second claim, Lucy’s the only one in his heart has also already been disproven. In the snow woman arc we see Natsu have several women in his heart, and out of all them who does he express the most disinterest in? Lucy. He quite literally punches her away.
Nalu fans will claim this means Natsu loves Lucy the most because he hit her out of everyone - which… in what case would you ever want that to be a ship moment? The only girl in that Panel out of Lucy Lisanna and Erza that Natsu hasn’t hit is Lisanna. Lucy being hit is not unique to her, Natsu has shown the same fiery tendencies towards Erza too. Then you can claim “that just means he’s more comfortable around them over Lisanna.” Firstly, that’s not true given Lisanna knew more about Natsu than Lucy and educated Lucy on Igneel - a topic that is obviously precious to Natsu. The characters themselves referred to Lisanna as very close to Natsu’s. If Natsu felt comfortable around Lucy, why was it Happy he brought with him on his training trip to grieve instead of her? That’s a topic I’ll get into later, but out of everyone in this snow woman chapter Lisanna expresses to Natsu she would’ve been his bride meaning he KNOWS what romance is. He SEES HER as a romantic interest. Whereas with Lucy she said something lustful at best, and you can argue “well that proves Lucy is someone Natsu is attracted to.” But if that were the case why has Natsu expressed disgusted and disinterest in her naked form consistently throughout the entire manga? “Well Natsu got a boner from Lucy in the stone age omake!” First off, are we really going to say a spin off omake set in the STONE age counts as canon? It never even happened in the main story and was obviously Mashima making some weird fanservice manga, it had zero affect on the main timeline. Two, Natsu had literally kidnapped Lucy that chapter and treated her like a dog on a leash and property and you want to call that a ship moment? Is that seriously ALL nalu has? If that’s the case, why are you shipping it? Why would you ship a ship that’s only moment where Natsu shows interest in Lucy is from an omake that doesn’t even happen in the main canon story, that depicts and degrades the characters dynamic into something bordering SA.
I see Nalu fans claim the groping is a ship momen too, but I would argue it’s just poorly done fanservice at best and SA at worst. I would not want to ship a woman with a man that doesn’t understand her boundaries - and we know Natsu does understand when to be respectful because he does so with Lisanna in the Tartaros arc turning away to give her privacy. Whereas with Lucy, he didn’t even have the respect to consider what she wanted and was lazy enough to try and just “cover her up” with his hands in the eclipse arc. It was a moment of miscommunication as I do remember Lucy saying to “cover them” to Natsu and he looks about as disinterested as a kid at a doctors office before stepping over and doing what he assumed Lucy wanted. Which reminds me, Natsu is always expressing disinterest in Lucy even in their “romantic” moments. If you can call it that.
Nalu fans will argue for the scenes were Lucy has drunkly flirted with him, and I will give you some credit I can see maybe Lucy having unrequited feelings - but to me it’s just that. See the chapter where Natsu leaves Lucy for a year as proof of what I mean. But anyway back to the drunk flirting omake, Natsu showed visible rage and disgust at Lucy flirting with him. I recall a scene where Lucy says he is warm, to which he replies those were his flames of pure rage. How can people consider that a ship moment? You can argue for him being a tsundere, but again the snow woman arc debunks that theory of him being bashful over his feelings. It has been years since Natsu has met Lucy in the canon timeline, around about two - and within that same time frame in his teen years he had progressed more with Lisanna more than he ever had Lucy. If he’s oblivious to his feelings why wasn’t he with Lucy? With Lisanna he blushed at Lisanna saying she wanted to marry him, and then he showed a tsundere attitude. He never denied Lisanna’s advances, even his own lisanna snow woman shows he saw her as a potential future bride. Whereas with Lucy he did not blush at her drunken advances and said he did not wanna when she asked for him to pet him like a cat. He said no to Lucy’s advances, of not wanting to pet her. Whereas with Lisanna he never said “I don’t wanna marry you!” He deflected and changed the topic. Even so, if Natsu did have romantic feelings for Lucy like the tsundere claims hypothesise she would be the only girl to appear for him in the snow woman atc.
“Well Natsu went out of his way to save Lucy multiple times it shows how much he cares for her!” Natsu has done the same for a ton of other characters. Even Yukino, a girl he just met he ran into sabertooth and took on the entire guild just for her. The same thing he did in phantom lord arc. Natsu rushed off to challenge the council for Erza’s sake, ending up in jail with her. Natsu rushed into Gray’s battle to save him, multiple times. Lucy is not unique to Natsu in being saved, Natsu has done this for everyone. Even Lisanna, as in the tartaros arc he protects her from the enemies while she goes to help her siblings. He went out of his way to help her find Mira and Elfman.
Nalu fans will also argue he loves Lucy due to losing future Lucy and expressing grief, but Natsu bawled in front of Gray during Tartaros when Gray wanted to ice shell. He said to Gray “I can’t lose you!” Natsu expressed so much grief for Lisanna he built a grave for her where she can watch the sunset’s because he knew she loved them. He has not built a grave for future Lucy. You can argue it’s anime only content, but Mashima confirmed the Lisanna anime content as valid in the manga. Between Lucy and Mirajane talking about it and the answering questions segment at the end of a manga chapter during the edolas arc When Erza had died, Natsu refused to accept it and stormed off to bring her back. They shared a forehead touch, a moment Nalu fans will hype up as their big romantic moment, but Erza and Natsu actually experienced the forehead touch together. Lucy watched her FUTURE SELF forehead touch Natsu, meaning present timeline Lucy never even got to experience that forehead touch. You can also argue that the hugs of Nalu were their romantic moment, but again all of those were only initiated by Lucy. It was her who hugged him from the back in eclipse arc, her who hugged him from the back in the alvarez arc. Whereas Natsu had only ever initiated hugs with Lisanna, outside of Ultear in the tenrou arc Lisanna’s the only girl Natsu has initiated hugs with himself. Hugs initiated by a girl are also not unique to Lucy, as Erza has done the same to Natsu.
“Okay well what about the twitter art! Mashima loves nalu so much he draws it all the time on twitter!” Mashima has stated he draws those for the fans, and if mashima loved nalu so much then why are they getting no moments in 100YQ. Outside of Gruvia that is. Because he has stated he does not want to draw them romantically. Nalu fans will then argue for the alternate universes, but then if that makes your ship canon then why is everyone still begging for it to be canon? You know those alternate universes don’t mean anything to the main timeline. In edolas Lisanna is dead. Whereas in the main timeline Lisanna is alive. Meaning edolas is not the same as earthland and deviations can happen because they are different people.
You can argue that “Natsu turned into END for Lucy!” But this can be debunked because he was already turning while Lucy was in the chair. Even before that when she was fighting Aquarius. Natsu didn’t turn for Lucy, if that was the case he would’ve done so when Future Lucy died. Future Lucy didn’t mention anything about Natsu in her timeline turning into END either. If you paid attention, Brandish had unshrinken the demon seed within natsu before her fight with Lucy meaning that entire time it was allowed to take full affect. That’s what caused it. The demon seed was already there and it had grown into full affect, Natsu hadn’t magically turned into END when he saw Lucy “dead” because we can debunk the fact he didn’t notice Lucy’s “death” until AFTER he was finished with dimaria. Natsu had already went END mode on dimaria before Lucy was even touched. Dimaria states to Lucy she had seen a demon, and in the flashback we are shown Natsu checks on Lucy after dealing with dimaria. It’s only then does Natsu realise she was “dead.” Meaning Natsu was END before Lucy was ever even registered in his head!
Nalu fans will also argue during the manga being romantic for Nalu, but again in the main manga Mashima said he never wrote Nalu to be a romantic pairing. Mashima himself has said this meaning your interpretation of Natsu and Lucy is not canon to the manga if you’re going against the authors words and intentions of how he said he had written them to be. Less than lovers. I believe he even stated he had wrote them more platonically than romantically, but people often confuse that to mean he wrote them as more than friends.
Now, onto the elephant in the room. Natsu and Lucy’s differences themselves. I think they are far too different from each other to work and as we can see in the special request omake. But what I mean from this is Natsu and Lucy are too different from each other to work, in the manga where Lucy believes Natsu has a crush on her only to be proven false as Natsu just wanted to borrow virgo Lucy pushes him away. Flustered. She is a tsundere. Just the same tsundere type Natsu is to Lisanna. Two tsunderes is already off to a bad start, how is that even supposed to work if they keep pushing each other away romantically? People have said romance isn’t Nalu’s vibe, but again if thats the case why do you ship it? The point is for them to be romantic if it’s a ship, if you’re denying the existence of romance you are labelling them as platonic and simultaneously debunking your own canon ship claims. Next is their values, they are very different. Natsu wants to find his father, whereas Lucy wants to run away from hers. Natsu expresses empathy at Lucy for this when her father died. Whereas Lucy? She was cold to Natsu.
The differences in their reactions. Maybe you can argue Natsu was away for a while, but from my perspective Lucy didn’t need the time to grieve. Not a tear was shed. Whereas for Natsu? His entire life purpose was literally torn apart in front of him and he was powerless to stop it. Igneel was by far the most important person to him, he spent his whole life dreaming of seeing him again and before he even had the chance to enjoy it igneel was torn apart right in front of him. Fairytail is quite literally their workplace in the canon story, natsu took time off to grieve because he is a tsundere who doesn’t like to feel vulnerable. Lucy however doesn’t like to be alone, she grew up alone and needs to be around others. Natsu on the other hand needs space when he’s down. This is a huge clash between them and imo ruins the entire dynamics chance romantically. Both characters would have to literally change their core values to work together, and if the characters have to literally rewire their main plot points to work romantically then how can you argue for Nalu being a good canon worthy ship? Lucy expressed hurt at being left, and Natsu needed time off. Lucy is the type to put her own feelings above Natsu’s, there was not even one word expressed about his loss which mind you she was told by many people the relevance of Igneel to Natsu and she saw herself Igneel appear during the Tartaros arc. Yet not an ounce of concern goes to her. Whereas Natsu? He genuinely feels guilty, he was guilt tripped into feeling bad for taking care of his own emotions instead of lugging them onto others. What natsu did was the healthiest thing he could do for himself at the time. Lucy’s only focus was her loneliness, she did not care about what Natsu went through. She “lost” Aquarius temporarily whereas Natsu lost Igneel permanently. Lucy chose to put the entire weight and burden of her own choices onto Natsu. She KNEW where everyone was, she lived in the same town as levy during the time skip but instead of solving her own loneliness she put the entire blame onto Natsu. Natsu wasn’t there therefore she was going to throw a pity party for herself.
The ship constantly shows moments where both characters are disregarding the others feelings, Natsu not caring about Lucy enough to respect her dignity during moments like eclipse, not caring enough that he didn’t even notice he was groping her during Alvarez after falling on her, not caring enough he wasn’t even affected during alvarez when Lucy had been turned naked, barging into her place and trashing it like a sibling would and Lucy constantly disregarding Natsu’s feelings. She has shown to think of him as just a reckless brute, she has not bothered to think about how he feels.
So it begs the question, if romance isn’t what makes Nalu interesting because clearly there is none if people are saying Nalu doesn’t work as a romantic ship, then what *DOES* make it work? In my opinion platonically, they are at best good friends and at worst co workers. After everything I’ve shown today, at their character cores and even by Mashima’s own words Nalu was not written to have romance. In the main series Mashima has stated he would not draw romantic Nalu and had not drawn romantic Nalu. It seems he has even stuck true to his words in 100yq. So if it’s not the romance, and it’s not the authors words that keep you going, and it’s not the special treatment since Natsu has shown Lucy isn’t unique to his actions what is it? They’re both main characters before you argue for their closeness. I haven’t even really touched on everything, there’s probably a lot more that I’m missing but after all of this and the fact Mashima has purposefully written Nali in a romantic way shows a contrast to me that Natsu is capable of romance and Mashima is capable of writing Natsu in a romantic setting it just seems he doesn’t want to write Nalu romantically.
And that is why, the latest chapter has set in stone my ideas that Nalu as the time I am writing this won’t be canon. Because if Mashima can write Nali, and Gruvia he could write Nalu. But it seems he is sticking to his original plans and not making them canon, which in the end of the original manga he had stated everything ended according to his plan meaning Nalu not having canon ending WAS his plan.
Anyways, that’s my thinkpiece on it. It’s been long overdue. I’ll try and update this with more when I can, because I honestly only barely scratched the surface with everything that can be said about Nalu’s “canon” or lack there of status. I hope you enjoyed my silly rant, and I usually try to post Nali art daily so hope to see you here for the art.
amandla
yousharknotpass
izzy806
