Note: I know that there's another thread that talks about rewriting, but considering that this is something massive (it spands over 40 chapters for crying out loud!) it would unavoidably clog the other thread with it's continuous updates and comments and impair other users from talking about the general topic over there, so I decided to make it it's own thread.
What is the Alvarez Rewrite?
The Alvarez Rewrite is a project that sets out to fix the main issues found with the second half of the Alvarez Arc and provide a smoother and writing-wise improved experience. However, this rewrite isn't just one big wall of text: it involves re-editing the original manga pages, in order to create an experience where it feels like you are reading Mashima's work. With enough editing, line changing and rearranging, it's possible to give birth to entirely new scenes! Want Wendy to be useful and enchant Erza to help her destroy the meteor?
It's possible! Want Gray to have proper motivations to fight E.N.D.?
It's possible! Want Jellal to actually have a fully-fledged fight with August?
It's possible! All of it can be achieved through the rewrite!
However, there's a few things to keep in mind. For one, I still want to follow Mashima's concept. The plotline is relatively similar, though there are a few new scenes and fights. I am, above all else, seeking authenticity: I want this to feel like something Mashima could've written. A lot of times I get requests like "Make my favorite character do awesome stuff!" or "please kill off my hated character", but you have to keep in mind that I want to address the general complaints with the arc, not people's personal wishes: I'm giving every character possible it's own deserved spotlight and development. I went through hundreds and hundreds of forum pages and discussions threads to gather what the major issues which each scene were and tried to see how I could rework them in such a way that they would be more enjoyable. You might not like every single change in here, but that's normal, as it's meant to cater to as many fans as possible.
Secondly, the changes are progressive. The rewrite starts off relatively similar, with just some tweaks, only to start changing more and more as it goes on, to end up with something quite different by the end. If we want to put it more bluntly, the worse the writing gets, the more changes are needed. The story spans from the gathering of the Twelve (around ch. 493) all the way to the current events and will continue till the end of the series.
And thirdly, I just want to make it clear, I don't want to come off as the savior of the story or anything. I don't want to pretend like
Mashima's writing sucks and I'm so much better, I only did this project out of passion and respect for him. I would never have the creativity to imagine as many things as this man and without the original work, a rewrite like this would be impossible. This is just my take on the story, if it's better than Mashima's is up to you. I only did this because of my love for editing and Fairy Tail, which made me enjoy every second I spent on this project.
Finally, I want to give very special thanks to
Kukollny,
JavelinR,
asaver,
AjuAju and
ChowderJF for their help with proofreading and opinions (especially the first three, who practically served as my editors), not to mention everyone else who has given me any sort of input and/or supported me. I couldn't have done this without you guys!
To start off, let's go with three full chapters! Since these are the chapters that change the least amount of things, let's get them out of the way, to get the story going. As for the release schedule, I was thinking of either doing one chapter per day or one every two days. Keep in mind that each chapter is between 20-30 pages and it's, in essence, content that you've already seen to a certain extent, so let me know what works better for you
in this poll!
Every chapter will be added to this thread once it releases.
Each chapter will also include an optional afterword where the more general changes will be indicated, with the reasoning behind them explained. There's a lot more than what I tell here, but these are just the general, most important ones.
Six months in the making and hundreds of hours worth of thinking, discussing and editing… here we go! Hope you enjoy it!