Question Who is the mc of FT? Natsu or Lucy?

[Axiomus]

I can understand if you want to say both Natsu and Lucy are the main characters, but I don't really see why people would say Lucy is "the" main character over Natsu. Hiro said in the volume 1 notes that the main character was Natsu, and that his original concept for Fairy Tail began with Natsu. This is also a shounen battle manga, and most of the action follows him. Lucy is the narrator. It's like Sherlock Holmes and Watson. We see the story from the POV of Watson, but the plot follows Sherlock.

 

[M3J]

I honestly don't care what Hiro said, it's what I see that I'm going with. We see things through Lucy's point of view as we did Watson, so I consider them the mainest characters. But I guess we'll see in the end?

Also, it's a faulty logic, I admit. A known secondary character could be the narrator, but it wouldn't make him a main character because the story doesn't focus on him, for example. However, the story does focus on Lucy, and she plays arguably the biggest role.

 

[Reebi]

I can understand if you want to say both Natsu and Lucy are the main characters, but I don't really see why people would say Lucy is "the" main character over Natsu. Hiro said in the volume 1 notes that the main character was Natsu, and that his original concept for Fairy Tail began with Natsu. This is also a shounen battle manga, and most of the action follows him. Lucy is the narrator. It's like Sherlock Holmes and Watson. We see the story from the POV of Watson, but the plot follows Sherlock.

But wouldn't that mean Watson is the main if the story focuses on his POV? The summary on Kodansha's website on FT is this:

"Cute girl wizard Lucy wants to join the Fairy Tail, a club for the most powerful wizards. But instead her ambitions land her in the clutches of a gang of unsavory pirates led by a devious magician. Her only hope is Natsu, a strange boy she happens to meet on her travels. Natsu’s not your typical hero—he gets motion sickness, eats like a pig, and his best friend is a talking cat. With friends like this, is Lucy better off with her enemies?"

If the story centres around a person, he or she is the main protagonist. I think Hiro was comparing the names of Natsu and Haru in that blurb. I mean, how often do we know of Natsu compared to Lucy? His house, his family, his hobbies, etc. are all known secondary to Lucy's apartment, hobbies, family, etc.

 

[Spirit]

I can understand if you want to say both Natsu and Lucy are the main characters, but I don't really see why people would say Lucy is "the" main character over Natsu. Hiro said in the volume 1 notes that the main character was Natsu, and that his original concept for Fairy Tail began with Natsu. This is also a shounen battle manga, and most of the action follows him. Lucy is the narrator. It's like Sherlock Holmes and Watson. We see the story from the POV of Watson, but the plot follows Sherlock.

Because we aren't all Natsu fanboys. That's just how it is.

 

[Boomburst]

Because we aren't all Natsu fanboys. That's just how it is.

I didn't know that recognizing Hiro's intentions for the roles of his characters automatically makes someone a Natsu fanboy

 

[Spirit]

I didn't know that recognizing Hiro's intentions for the roles of his characters automatically makes someone a Natsu fanboy

No but assuming that everyone would see Natsu as the "main" main character when Hiro officially stated that neither was more main than the other.

 

[Boomburst]

No but assuming that everyone would see Natsu as the "main" main character when Hiro officially stated that neither was more main than the other.

Did he really? I don't seem to recall any statement from Mashima saying anything of the sort

 

[Spirit]

Did he really? I don't seem to recall any statement from Mashima saying anything of the sort

Check again. I can't put aside the time to find the article in question atm.

 

[Brandish μ]

I'd say Natsu. In a battle manga at least, I roll with the person who gets the main fights (some exceptions, like Gon). If Hiro says it's Lucy, well then he needs to write it that way. She has her fair share of story devoted to her, but the bigger parts go to Natsu.

 

[Arjuna]

Well Hiro Mashima himself stated Natsu and Lucy both of them are main characters.

But @Brandish or @Axiomus shouldn't there be a "Both" option in the poll?

 

[M3J]

I'd say Natsu. In a battle manga at least, I roll with the person who gets the main fights (some exceptions, like Gon). If Hiro says it's Lucy, well then he needs to write it that way. She has her fair share of story devoted to her, but the bigger parts go to Natsu.

To be fair though, Natsu is a fighter, while Lucy is not. Natsu represents light and hope to Lucy precisely because he's so strong, and as result she trusts him with almost anything and believes in him the most. I'm not sure if main fights would make one the main character in shounen action manga.

 

[Brandish μ]

To be fair though, Natsu is a fighter, while Lucy is not. Natsu represents light and hope to Lucy precisely because he's so strong, and as result she trusts him with almost anything and believes in him the most. I'm not sure if main fights would make one the main character in shounen action manga.

That's fair, though it's hard to accept that Lucy would be the main, ahead of Natsu; given how the things have gone throughout the manga. It started with Lucy, and earlier you could regard her as the outright MC.

 

[Damon blevins]

Lucy, all the plot revolves around her and on the official websites she's in the summary.

The plot revovles around natsu... That's the reason Natsu gets all of the boss fights.

 

[Axiomus]

I honestly don't care what Hiro said, it's what I see that I'm going with. We see things through Lucy's point of view as we did Watson, so I consider them the mainest characters. But I guess we'll see in the end?

Also, it's a faulty logic, I admit. A known secondary character could be the narrator, but it wouldn't make him a main character because the story doesn't focus on him, for example. However, the story does focus on Lucy, and she plays arguably the biggest role.

How exactly does Lucy play the largest role though? There are two main storylines in Fairy Tail. Zeref and Acnologia. Natsu is central to both those storylines.

 

[Spirit]

How exactly does Lucy play the largest role though? There are two main storylines in Fairy Tail. Zeref and Acnologia. Natsu is central to both those storylines.

Lucy is the Narrator. The Chronicler, if you will.

 

[Axiomus]

That's fair, though it's hard to accept that Lucy would be the main, ahead of Natsu; given how the things have gone throughout the manga. It started with Lucy, and earlier you could regard her as the outright MC.

I've heard the claim that "Lucy was the first character introduced in Fairy Tail" thrown around a lot...Which is not true. The first character introduced in the series was actually Ultear. Then Jellal (and we also got to see the council members). Then Natsu (and Happy) was introduced when the actual "story" began. The note on the side also implies that he's the hero of the story, so...

Spoiler: First 3 pages of FT

 

[EmberSpirit]

Why the fuck people care about who gets the title of main character or whatnot. Does it make any difference in the story if Hiro says Happy is the main character? Why do you even care? It doesn't change shit.

 

[M3J]

That's fair, though it's hard to accept that Lucy would be the main, ahead of Natsu; given how the things have gone throughout the manga. It started with Lucy, and earlier you could regard her as the outright MC.

It's hard not to consider her the main character even after this arc focusing mainly on Natsu. There's been like, one or two arcs, including this one, where she wasn't one of the main focus or central to the arc, but that doesn't make her any less of a main character.

How exactly does Lucy play the largest role though? There are two main storylines in Fairy Tail. Zeref and Acnologia. Natsu is central to both those storylines.

Well, in this arc, she's probably not the main character, so I'll give you that. But otherwise before that, we used to get more focus from her point of view than anything else, most of the time. Hell, even after the year timeskip, the story started with Lucy again, sharing her views and all. I don't think it showed Natsu's point of view for a while after the chapter where he met Gildarts.

 

[Axiomus]

It's hard not to consider her the main character even after this arc focusing mainly on Natsu. There's been like, one or two arcs, including this one, where she wasn't one of the main focus or central to the arc, but that doesn't make her any less of a main character.

Well, in this arc, she's probably not the main character, so I'll give you that. But otherwise before that, we used to get more focus from her point of view than anything else, most of the time. Hell, even after the year timeskip, the story started with Lucy again, sharing her views and all. I don't think it showed Natsu's point of view for a while after the chapter where he met Gildarts.

How so? Galuna Island was Gray's sub-arc, and Natsu played the largest role in helping Gray. Tower of Heaven was Erza's sub-arc, and Natsu played a largest role in helping Erza. You can even say that Phantom Lord was Lucy's sub-arc, and Natsu played the largest role in helping Lucy. Natsu fought the main boss in the Fighting Festival, Edolas, Tenrou, GMG, Tartarus, Avatar, and the current arc.

The timeskip followed Natsu's training. We got an entire chapter dedicated to the beginning of his training, where he met Gildarts. If Natsu wanted to spend 2 years training, then the timeskip would have been 2 years. Yes, we saw Lucy first after the one year timeskip, but the chapter ended when she reunited with Natsu.

 

[M3J]

Why the fuck people care about who gets the title of main character or whatnot. Does it make any difference in the story if Hiro says Happy is the main character? Why do you even care? It doesn't change shit.

Why are you so uptight?

How so? Galuna Island was Gray's sub-arc, and Natsu played the largest role in helping Gray. Tower of Heaven was Erza's sub-arc, and Natsu played a largest role in helping Erza. You can even say that Phantom Lord was Lucy's sub-arc, and Natsu played the largest role in helping Lucy. Natsu fought the main boss in the Fighting Festival, Edolas, Tenrou, GMG, Tartarus, Avatar, and the current arc.

The timeskip followed Natsu's training. We got an entire chapter dedicated to the beginning of his training, where he met Gildarts. If Natsu wanted to spend 2 years training, then the timeskip would have been 2 years. Yes, we saw Lucy first after the one year timeskip, but the chapter ended when she reunited with Natsu.

Why did Natsu play the largest role in these arcs, though? It's because he's a main character (but secondary) who is very strong and is supposed to beat the bad bosses. I acknowledged all that, but Lucy is still the one narrating the story and getting quite a bit of non-fight focus. How often do we see Natsu out of missions without Lucy? It's usually when he and Happy are walking and discussing something, otherwise we almost always see them with Lucy. We see Lucy a lot, especially in her everyday life. We have even seen her residence and her landlady. I can't recall seeing Natsu's residence, if he even has any, or even where he sleeps. We get more focus on Lucy's life out of fights and missions, whereas Natsu gets more focus in missions and/or fights as he's the other main character who's strong and is supposed to get stronger and all. If Natsu and Lucy weren't friends, Natsu would probably not be as much focused-upon character or main character, except for fights and missions, just because Lucy wouldn't know him much. FT isn't told solely through Lucy's view, unless she has knowledge or omnipotence.

After the timeskip, Lucy not only got the first focus, but she also "talked" to us. Just seems we get more from her point of view, and that she's central to the story much like Watson is as without them, we may not get the respective work as we do. Does that make sense?