Line #50 Trivia/FairyTail


1	* ActingForTwo:
2	** In the Japanese version:
3	*** Creator/AyaHirano plays Lucy, her [[AlternateSelf future self]] from X792 and Layla Heartfilia.
4	*** Igneel and the narrator are voiced by Creator/HidekatsuShibata.
5	*** Creator/MiyukiSawashiro voices Virgo, [[UncannyFamilyResemblance Ur and Ultear]].
6	*** Loke and Toby both have Creator/DaisukeKishio as their voice actor.
7	*** Cana, Aquarius, and Gray's younger self are voiced by Creator/EriKitamura.
8	*** Also those with Edolas counterparts. Special mention goes to Scarlet vs. Nightwalker.
9	*** Creator/YukaIguchi voices both Sherry and her little cousin Sherria.
10	*** Creator/KenjiroTsuda playing both [[AntiHero Bacchus]] and [[AntiVillain Silver]].
11	*** Grandeeney and Porlyusica are both voiced by Shoko Tsuda.
12	*** Creator/SatomiArai voices Bisca and Asuka Connel.
13	*** Creator/KatsuyukiKonishi voices Laxus and his Great-Grandfather Yuri.
14	*** Creator/KenichiSuzumura voices Rogue and his future self from X798.
15	*** Creator/ManamiNumakura voices both Brandish and her mother Grammi.
16	** In the English dub:
17	*** Creator/ChristopherWehkamp voices Akatsuki Ren and now [[Main/TheOtherDarrin Doranbalt]].
18	*** Creator/JMichaelTatum voices Simon and Acnologia.
19	*** Creator/LindaYoung voices Grandeeney and Porlyusica.
20	*** Creator/CheramiLeigh voices Lucy, Layla and Anna Heartfilia.
21	*** The narrator and Igneel were both voiced by Bob Magruder. After Magruder's death, Jim White took his place.
22	* AlanSmithee: Creator/DawnMBennett went under the Dina W. Balencia pseudonym when she voiced Juvia in the simulcast release of episodes 291 to 294.
23	* ActorInspiredElement: [[https://twitter.com/_Nalu4eva_/status/1676223829650055171 Mashima has said that Natsu and Lucy became more like their seiyuus]] Creator/TetsuyaKakihara and Creator/AyaHirano.
24	* BeamMeUpScotty: Many fan works have Natsu call Lucy "Luce" but he never does that in the series, always using her actual name. The only time he didn't was when he had just met her and mistakingly called her "Luigi" because [[CharacterizationMarchesOn he was more aloof for the first few arcs, as opposed to the man who adores the guild he was for most of the series.]]
25	* CharacterOutlivesActor: Bob Magruder, the original English voice of Igneel and the narrator, died months after recording his dialogue for the sixth season. Starting with the simuldub of the 2014 series, Magruder's characters have been voiced by Jim White.
26	* CreatorBacklash: While she enjoys voicing the character, Creator/BrinaPalencia doesn't like how Juvia is almost [[SatelliteLoveInterest solely defined]] by her relationship with Gray and doesn't have any real significant arcs. While she does understand why Juvia acts that way, she wished that Juvia could have an arc that focused on her find her own self-worth instead of just focusing on Gray.
27	* CreatorCouple: Creator/YoshimitsuShimoyama (Alzack) and Creator/SatomiArai (Bisca) married shortly before the anime premiered in 2009.
28	* CreatorsFavorite: Juvia is a darling among the people involved in Fairy Tail. Mashima stated that she is one of his favorite characters, Erza's seiyuu, Sayaka Ohara said in an interview that if she wasn't voicing Erza, she would have enjoyed to voice Juvia instead and the director of the movie ''Fairy Tail: Dragon Cry'', Tatsuma Minamikawa, declared in an interview with ''Manga Tokyo'' that she is his favorite character for being so funny and expressive, and that's why he expanded her role in the movie.
29	* DevelopmentGag: Before revealing the black-haired youth on Sirius Island to be Zeref, Mashima considered giving him various other names. Two of them, Toma and Invel (''Inberu''), were recycled for the king of Fiore and Emperor Spriggan's chief of staff, respectively.
30	* DirectedByCastMember:
31	** In the Italian dub, Paola Majano was one of the two ADR directors, as well as Cana Alberona's voice actress.
32	** In the Latin American Spanish dub, Gerardo Ortega is Gray Fullbuster's voice actor as well as the dub's ADR Director.
33	* DuelingDubs: Two English dubs of ''Fairy Tail'' exist: one by Funimation, and another by Animax that only airs in South and Southeast Asia. Unlike most Asian dubs, the Animax dub has a relatively devoted cult following, especially the second season ([[KeepCirculatingTheTapes the first is a bit trickier to find]]) since its episodes were released nearly a year before Funimation, causing some to think Funimation switched out its entire cast in-between seasons.
34	* ExtremelyLengthyCreation: Mashima worked on ''Fairy Tail'' for eleven years.
35	* FandomNod: At first, certain sections of the fandom bemoaned the idea of an anime filler arc following the conclusion of Grand Magic Games arc, and this kind of reaction is nothing new to anime in general and {{Shonen}} in particular. Though a good portion of these fans have since come around to at least being more open-minded about the filler arc after finding the new character designs for the Eclipse Celestial Spirits interesting, the first actual episode of the filler arc was positively chock-full of references and {{foreshadowing}} for the upcoming [[DarkerAndEdgier Tartaros]] [[DarkerAndEdgier arc]], including [[MemeticMutation Happy getting an afro]] and CharacterDevelopment for Lucy and Aquarius' relationship (and given what happens in the Tartaros arc between the two, this can very easily be considered a {{Tearjerker}} to those who have read it). It's hardly a secret that the fandom has been eager to see Tartaros animated, and if these [[MythologyGag Mythology Gags]] are any indication, the studio is well aware of this.
36	** [[http://i.imgur.com/a4H3g66h.jpg This]] little gem in the Tartaros arc of the anime did not go unnoticed by the shippers, either. [[labelnote:Explanation]]"Nalu" is the fandom name for Natsu/Lucy.[[/labelnote]]
37	* GodCreatedCanonForeigner:
38	** Most of the anime-original characters were created or designed by Hiro Mashima himself; the ones who appear in the "Key of the Starry Heavens" arc are even accepted as canon thanks to its ContinuityNod present in Chapter 282 of the manga.
39	** The gentlemanly version of Gajeel present in the anime with a color-inverted version of his guitarist getup is also his work. [[WordOfGod Hiro Mashima]] noted that he wanted an Edolas version of Gajeel in the manga, but couldn't work him in. This is how he envisioned him.
40	** All of the Eclipse Celestial Spirits were designed by Mashima himself, and the anime refers back to that arc during Mard Geer's confrontation with the Celestial Spirit King.
41	* GodNeverSaidThat:
42	** A sizable portion of the fandom believes that Mashima stated that Natsu and Lucy would end up together, when he actually just said that in a hypothetical scenario where the two had a child, he would be called "Nashi"; incidentally the name is Japanese for "non-existent" and a portmanteau of their names, meaning he wasn't serious with the name.
43	** Mashima is often misinterpreted as having planned to end the manga with the Phantom Lord arc, due to statements that he originally intended ''Fairy Tail'' to be about ten volumes long[[note]]Incidentally, the Phantom Lord arc ends in Volume ''9''.[[/note]], with a WarArc between two guilds occurring at a later point in the story, before its popularity influenced him to keep writing. While Mashima has admitted the part about the manga's increased length is true, the rumor leaves out the fact that he also started writing the Phantom Lord arc ''earlier'' than he anticipated, to say nothing of his repeated assertions that [[WritingByTheSeatOfYourPants he worked out the manga's entire plot on the fly from the very beginning]]. Suffice to say, he was already far from wrapping up the manga by the time he put the Phantom Lord arc to paper.
44	* HeAlsoDid: The dub voice of Sting is provided by Creator/MichaelJones, better known as one of the members of Creator/RoosterTeeth's Creator/AchievementHunter team.
45	* LateExportForYou: The show finally got a Latin American Spanish dub in 2022, after the show finally ended in 2019 in Japan from its 2009 debut. This is especially relevant, since many Latin American fans have wanted this show dubbed for years.
46	* LifeImitatesArt: The Japanese voice actors for Fairy Tail couple Alzack and Bisca Connell - Yoshimitsu Shimoyama and Satomi Arai - respectively - married in secret during the series’ production, whilst keeping their marriage secret within the public eye. The two even had a son in secret, with the anime's staff being the only few people aware of their relationship, [[RealLifeWritesThePlot leading to Hiro giving Alzack and Bisca a daughter in the form of Asuka Connell.]]
47	* NoDubForYou: Given that the [[OriginalVideoAnimation OVAs]] were only released in Japan, they don't include an English dub.
48	* NoExportForYou: The nine [[OriginalVideoAnimation OVAs]] have never received an official English release thanks to being exclusively bundled with limited edition manga volumes in Japan.
49	* OfficialFanSubmittedContent: The designs of Princess Hisui and four of the Hungry Wolf Knights besides the leader were created as part of a design contest.
50	* TheOtherDarrin:
51	** In the Japanese version:
52	*** Due to Creator/SatomiArai's maternity leave, Creator/MaiNakahara voices Bisca during the Fighting Festival arc. Nakahara is also the voice of Juvia, making it an example of ActingForTwo.
53	*** By the time of episode 245's premiere, Hades's voice actor on all of his previous appearances, Creator/MasashiHirose, had already retired due to health issues. As a result, in this episode, Hades is voiced by Yutaka Aoyama.
54	*** In a similar vein to Arai's maternity leave, Ikumi Hayama temporarily replaced Creator/MariyaIse as Levy [=McGarden=].
55	** As for the English dub:
56	*** Corey Cleary-Stoner replaced Michael Chinnici as Jet starting at Season 2 because Chinnici retired from acting and moved away to Los Angeles as a photographer.
57	*** Lindsay Seidel replaced Kayla Carlyle as Romeo only halfway through Season 1 due to Carlyle also moving to Los Angeles and working in union-only projects.
58	*** Also in the dub, Magic Council member Leiji went from Jim Johnson to Keith Kubal when the new council is formed in episode 96 because of Johnson's inevitable unavailability.
59	*** Plue was voiced by Majken Bullard in the first season before being replaced by Funimation script adapter Creator/MonicaRial for the rest of the series ([[ActingForTwo she is also Mirajane]]) as Bullard moved away to San Francisco.
60	*** Eric Cherry replaced Shelton Windham as Max Alors in Season 3. Windham moved to New York City to work as a teacher and an actor.
61	*** Barry Yandell (who also voiced Sol) has replaced Antimere Robinson as Bob in Season 4, as Robinson mainly works as a graphic and web designer in Dallas.
62	*** Also in Season 4, Chris Ryan has taken over for Steve Summers as Goldmine due to Summers continuing his career as a singer.
63	*** This also happened to Bixlow after Creator/ScottFreeman was arrested and convicted for possession of child pornography; Tyler Walker, the ADR director and voice of Vijeeter, replaced him.
64	*** Due to the death of Bob Magruder in early 2015, Igneel and the narrator are voiced by Jim White.
65	*** Grandeeney was first voiced by Pam Doughtery during her talk with Igneel in episode 48. When it became known that Grandeeney was, in fact, the Earth-land counterpart of Porlyusica, who is voiced by Creator/LindaYoung, the latter took over for the dragon in the Tartaros arc, cementing her as the ''de facto'' voice actress for the characters. Young's roles also make an example of ActingForTwo.
66	*** During his first speaking appearance during Erza's trial, Crawford Theme was first voiced by Bradley Campbell who would go on to voice the succeeding council chairman Grand Doma. When making his proper appearance in the Tartaros arc, however, Crawford is voiced by Bill Brooks as Campbell moved away to New York City.
67	*** Due to Krishna Smitha doing union-only projects after moving to Los Angeles, Creator/MarissaLenti replaced her as Libra.
68	*** By the time the final season premiered, Ohba's voice actress in that dub, Juli Erickson, had retired. As such, Ohba is now voiced by Casey Casper.
69	*** Since Alex Organ retired and now only does theater projects, Creator/ChristopherWehkamp replaced him as Doranbalt.
70	*** Due to Creator/BrinaPalencia's maternity leave in February 2019, Creator/DawnMBennett temporarily replaced her as Juvia from episodes 291 to 294.
71	*** Creator/GabeKunda replaced Major Attaway as Arcadios due to the latter moving to New York City in 2016.
72	** A retroactive example happens in the Latin American Spanish dub: Since this show is dubbed in Mexico, Happy is voiced by Jennifer Medel rather than Lucia Suarez, since the ''Manga/EdensZero'''s version of him was dubbed in Chile.
73	* TheOtherMarty: An English dub trailer of the first part of the Edolas arc features Faust being voiced by Bradley Campbell. By the time of the DVD release, however, Campbell was properly replaced with Creator/RBruceElliott when it became clear that Faust was the BizarroUniverse counterpart of Elliott's primary character, Makarov.
74	* OvertookTheManga: Defying this is the reason why the anime went on hiatus ''twice'', first in 2013 to 2014 after the conclusion of the fight between Natsu and Gajeel vs. Sting and Rogue during the [[TournamentArc Grand Magic Games]], and again in 2016 to 2018 after both the Tartaros Arc and the anime adaptation of the [[Manga/FairyTailZero prequel manga]]. The final season would finish well over a year after the manga.
75	* PosthumousCredit: Bob Magruder, the English voice actor for Igneel and the narrator, managed to complete all of his dialogue for the sixth season before he died in January 2015. The fifteenth Blu-ray/DVD release came out only a few months after his death.
76	* PlayingAgainstType:
77	** Before Creator/SayakaOhara was cast as [[ActionGirl Erza]] [[{{Tomboy}} Scarlet]], she was often usually type-cast as gentle and motherly YamatoNadeshiko characters.
78	** Creator/AkiToyosaki playing Seilah, a {{yandere}} [[OurDemonsAreDifferent demon]] who [[DarkActionGirl kicks Mirajane's ass]] and damn-dear blows up the entire Fairy Tail guild.
79	* RealLifeRelative: Yoshimitsu Shimoyama and Creator/SatomiArai are married like their characters, Alzack and Bisca, though they have a son rather than a daughter like their characters.
80	* ReferencedBy: ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'': NP: [[https://www.reddit.com/r/elgoonishshive/comments/zhi9ip/an_npc_by_any_other_name/ "An NPC by any other name"]], the naming of the Cleric has tons of shout-outs [[https://www.egscomics.com/uploads/1670624792-np-2212-10-a-70HD-bonus.png running through Ellen's head]], with the middle of the fourth-from-last line being "Natsu Erza Lucy".
81	%%* ScheduleSlip: Between chapters 396 and 397, with predictable reactions from the fandom.
82	* ShrugOfGod: All over the place to cover up consistency errors. Just read the Q&A sections at the back of each volume.
83	* StudioHop:
84	** The manga was initially released in North America by Del Rey Manga, before switching to Kodansha Comics USA.
85	** At first, the anime was initially co-produced by Satelight, before switching to Bridge for the second series in 2014 and [=CloverWorks=] for the final series in 2018.
86	* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
87	** Mashima mentioned in Volume 10 that he once thought of Erza's entire adult life being AllJustADream of young Erza, but decided against it when he realized what that would mean for the entire ''rest'' of the series.
88	*** Considering the problems she has as an adult (not the least of which is that the love interest she relied on so much as a child is BrainwashedAndCrazy), this would have some serious implications for her mental state if it were true.
89	** Her friends also were supposed to be the QuirkyMinibossSquad of the arc, rather than have a BaitAndSwitch with Trinity Raven. When he was writing their backstories Mashima decided that he liked them too much to make them serious villains.
90	** Mashima noted in a twitter post that he considered making Gray the 10th Rave Master since his necklace shares the same design as the main Rave stone, which would have made ''Fairy Tail'' a StealthSequel to ''Manga/RaveMaster'', but discarded the idea early on.
91	** Wendy was supposed to be the Water Dragon Slayer and was also intended to have a SugarAndIcePersonality.
92	** A very early design has Natsu as a HornedHumanoid, [[http://www.mangahere.com/manga/fairy_tail/v01/c006.5/6.html seen here]].
93	*** Similarly, Erza's original character design had her as more of a NubileSavage than the MagicKnight we know her as. Mashima's idea for her character was simply "a woman badass enough to scare Natsu" and everything evolved from there.
94	** Mashima intended to kill Makarov off no fewer than ''three'' separate times across the series, but decided against it each time. Ironically, when Makarov really ''did'' die in the Alvarez Empire arc, Mashima allegedly meant it to be final, but became so emotional over Mavis and Zeref's subsequent death scene that he resurrected Makarov anyway, playing right into the expectations of jaded readers [[LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt who wouldn't buy it a third time]].
95	** The anime was officially going to end after the Daphne filler arc, which is why most of the passing references to Gildarts were left out. It proved more popular than expected so it continued.
96	** According to the Q&A section of volume 22, Erigor was supposed to appear as a member of the Oración Seis, but was ultimately cut out when Mashima wanted to make them slaves at the Tower of Heaven instead. The only bit that was left in was a brief mention at the start of the arc before Natsu and his friends' departure. However, he was added into the anime adaptation of the arc, and was even included in the guild's roster in a {{Filler}} arc under the codename "Grim Reaper".
97	** The name Oración Seis was originally only used as a placeholder for another title Mashima was trying to come up with, but he ended up going with it when the deadline came too close for comfort.
98	** Mashima always intended for Faust to be Makarov's Edolas counterpart, but was forced to exclude it from the manga for reasons unknown. He was glad to see that the anime included it, but complained that their shared actors made the connection too obvious.
99	** Cosmos was originally named "Fione", but her name was changed because it sounded too similar to "Fiore", the primary setting.
100	** Before TheReveal that Mest was a council agent pretending to be a member of Fairy Tail, Mashima considered making him an actual member of Fairy Tail, Grimoire Heart, or even Tartaros. In fact, he intended to set up another reveal that Mest really was an amnesiac Fairy Tail member all along, but never got around to it.
101	** A series of older [[http://i.imgur.com/3yk5IXm.png sketches]] Mashima released during a drafting phase for Volume 32 of the manga shows Lucy [[KneelBeforeZod kneeling]] before [[BigBad Zeref]] in the lower right-hand corner.
102	** Mavis was originally envisioned as a male character, but Mashima redesigned her after finding out that Mavis is a female name.
103	** Ever since he illustrated Zeref's first on-screen appearance, Mashima actually hadn't settled on him being the hitherto-unseen main villain of the series, and experimented with at least four other names. Two of them, Toma and Inberu/Invel, were later assigned to other characters. The other two, Mafuyu and Fuyuki, both contain the Japanese word for "winter", ''fuyu'', which would've brought Mashima's TemporalThemeNaming full circle.
104	** Silver really was supposed to be possessed by Deliora, but In Volume 46's afterword Mashima explained that he himself caught a PlotHole with his own explanation for how this would have been possible and discarded the idea for Silver faking it instead.
105	* WordOfDante: Everyone treats it as a well known fact that Lucy's mother died on July 7th, X777, the same day the dragons disappeared. It was mostly to imply some greater connection between [[FanPreferredCouple Natsu and Lucy,]] as if you actually look through the series you might notice that while she did die that year, there's no mention whatsoever of the exact day or even month she passed away. It was outright debunked in Chapter 465, when it was revealed that Layla Heartfilia was the one to open the Eclipse Gate to allow the five natural dragon slayers into the modern era (which was the day the dragons "disappeared/died"), and died herself just a few weeks later.
106	* WordOfGod: Mashima often confirms or explains plot details in the Q&A sections of several manga volumes, titled "Emergency Request! Explain the Mysteries of Fairy Tail", hosted by Lucy and Mirajane. Perhaps one of his biggest confirmations is the reveal in Volume 15 that Natsu and Gajeel actually ''aren't'' [[OlderThanTheyLook over 80 years old]], which was never explicitly stated in the story after the mystery came up. [[GodNeverSaidThat That led many readers to believe the two were]] [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld over 400 years old]], further propagated by vague evidence at best.
107	* WriteWhoYouKnow: The designs of Kinana (pre-TimeSkip), Wan Chanzi, Joey Fullborn, Chico C. Hammit, and Kain Hikaru are based off of Mashima's assistants.
108	* WritingByTheSeatOfYourPants: From the time he started writing ''Fairy Tail'', Mashima admitted that he never really expected the manga to last as long as it did, and that it was mostly just envisioned as a series of adventures than a ongoing epic that he anticipated would last ten volumes as opposed to the final 63. He also repeatedly clarified in interviews after the manga's conclusion that, aside from having Natsu being raised by a dragon, ''nothing'' in the story was planned in advance; this includes the finale, which he didn't have any sort of idea for how it would go until he started writing the Tartaros arc. As such, most of the arcs' more questionable outcomes are due to him coming up with things right on the spot to meet deadlines.

Context Trivia / FairyTail