Rambling about Fairies - Manga Volume 20 Cover
This cover has so much foreshadow without revealing too many spoilers like the anime, and I love that about it. It foreshadows so much, actually shows us Gildarts, and features Mystogan. Lucy and Gray appear twice, but the way they’re framed, they could be a doppleganger plot, a disguise plot (because Natsu’s also wearing something unusual) or etc.
But as a graphic design student a lot about this cover bothers me so much I’m sorry can i just take it apart and---
Wendy’s panel is the only one that I feel stands out weirdly in a ‘Mashima didn’t know what to do with her panel’ way. Why is she taking so much space while the important characters of this arc are getting squashed at the bottom? We’ve already seen Mystogan’s face, his face doesn’t need to be hidden like Gildarts. Doesn’t matter if it’s her introduction to FT, this arc’s mystery character is Mystogan, so she doesn’t need that wide waving shot. It would be cool if she was pictured with Carla, but she’s forward in horror, presumably seeing Mystogan, and Carla’s eyes are in the opposite direction, facing Happy who’s standing outside the panels with Natsu. It would be cool if, like the Lucy and Gray panels, there’s an indication that they’re looking at each other.
And the bright white around Natsu’s head is weird too, because if it was acting as Natsu’s panel it oughta at least be coloured like the overall colour tone even if he wanted it blank. At the very least, something off-white with some texture, not bright white like that. I’m humouring the idea that the white could represent Lisanna, but even I think that’s very much of a stretch. I’d rather have had a sepia photograph of the Dragon Egg flashback in that place so it could symbolize both the mysterious birth of the Exceeds and foreshadow Lisanna at the same time. But you know, that might be too many characters. So, fair enough.
Honestly, with the mirorring duality of the colours (Edo Lucy and Gray having blues to match earth, Happy and Carla in Pink,) I feel Wendy and Mystogan should have been the green and Natsu and Gildarts should have had a third colour, because that’s the significant duality this arc’s going for, right?
Anyways. I am somehow rambling about cover art. I’m sorry. I’m not complaining, I swear. Mashima had to draw 20 of these and appeal to the masses each time with Natsu in the front, honestly I’d get sick of thinking of compositions and balance too. Even Oda reuses compositions, it’s fine. I’m just nitpicky skdjlakjla
