i like Zeref, i know its pretty recent but in the 100 year quest natsu actually managed to pull off a pretty insane thing during the wooden dragon arc (i forgot the name of the dragon god)
But if u get to know him and if he likes u his really confusing curse goes off Which as a fan of ft It never made sense and. The cult never made sense or the deth items never made sense like. One they don't work. Break them
I guess the guy is a Socialist. Socialists always want to do good but end up committing atrocities instead. You just described him as a socialist after all. His curse is more wide spread than you would believe.
@@DeludedisMind What main villain in a shonen manga was portrayed as a super evil person, only to reveal himself to be a child with mental health issues and mood swings? The creatures he created, which caused people to hate,worship and fear him for years, were ultimately meant to end his life. He was also the creator of the main characters group and the brother of the mc?
@xenon3551 Lol okay if u take it that specifically then tell me pls which character is exactly like madara, obito, aizen, yhwach, meruem, frieza, cell, buu, zamasu or any fucking other villain
@@someboi4903 Cause watch it and find out. A well written viallin surely aint someone who hates everything and everyone with or without a reason just because he is a villain.
Zeref is my favorite antagonist of any long running shonen. Especially because of his setup, so many antagonists of the first half use him or one of his demons as motivation, but it’s always vague. Zeref has such a cool myth around him and his role as a religions figure for the dark guilds is just great and he’s just everywhere in the beginning, without being there. As a friend said, while first watching Fairytail „if it isn’t Gerard, it’s Zeref“
Yeah I like how the world building was so focused around him. You should watch one piece they have great world building for so many characters feel like a bunch of zerefs like roger, shanks, mihawk, Luffys father, and many other characters. They been building this character since the start of the series and we still haven’t seen the do much.
@@BIoodbathh one thing I think Fairytail does better than One Piece is actually Zeref. With Mihawk or Shanks you see them immediately and what they are capable of. Zeref is slowly build up and you don’t even know if he is dead or alive and then when you first see him, he is completely different from how he was interpreted by his followers
@@brathering8644how did people not know him when he’s like the emperor of the continent next door. Dude is alive and kicking all this time when people try to resurrect him for most of the original story
@@joeaverage9772 If I remember correctly the whole legend of Zeref was unknown in Alaktasia and I think he only raised his army during the timeskip, when most Zeref cults where already defeated
I'm so glad there's someone that talks about it and in this way I fell in love with Fairy Tail when I was a kid, but every anime discussion I ended up witnessing or having did nothing but drag it down, and honestly that hurt When I grew up I learned to just ignore it, don't care about it, but it still feels great seeing someone talking about the depths of this story
The Fairy Tail discussions are definitely unfair. Sure, the series has a lot of stupid anime cliches that drag it down, but then same people hype up series like Mushoku Tensei and Re:Zero and conveniently ignore all the stupid anime cliches they have as well and only focus on the good parts. Those are some of my favourites and yet if talked about them like people tend to talk about Fairty Tail they would sound trashy as well.
Fairy Tail is so underrated because popular anime tubers dragged the show through the mud. This is such a tragic yet beautiful story crafted by hiro. I am really about to cry over this...
I think people dont talk about him because FT gets a lot of undeserved hate He’s also looked into deeper in the later seasons, but when the anime was airing they took a massive haitus after the Tartarus arc I read the manga after the tartarus arc, but a lot of people prolly didnt
I know another Few Great Manga's which don't get as much hype as they Should. Tokyo Ghoul anime & _BLEACH MANGA/ anime both These Mangas had to suffer unfair Hate, ...Particularly Bleach had literally the same Fate so.. i can understand how Fairy tail fans feel, even tho i can't quite call myself a Anime fan let alone Bleach fan. But since Bleach's Story really really connected me on a deeper level (Covid Horror) ...So... _I can understand how it Feels when a serie Which is Actually Far better than Those Serie which actually get the Hype. It feels Anime Fandoms are just trash nowadays and turn off a lot of Og Fans. It was such a nice Era back then, i have always been on fence about Anime since there were very few among the popular shows which i enjoyed.
@@ska4666 Back in the days of the big four (naruto, OP, Bleach, and FT), fans were devoted to their favorite series no matter what. Naruto is another series that is heavily criticized and referred to as trash today, but its fans continue to love it. But fans now have such high standards that they do not watch a series because they like it; they watch a series because it is the next big thing and expected to be perfect and break everything, but when they see a single flaw, they turn it off and call it trash, making sure others do as well. 🙄
@xenon3551 exactly.. it's soo damn childish, like Just freaking Enjoy something man! ... don't go judging Olds with the Newbies, ....It's only because of the OGs contributions that Anime is soo loved Now. They did it, so ofc New stuff is gonna fly Higher cuz the Threshold for Popularity is already far easier to achieve than it was back then. Anyway this all the Fault od this Instagram/Tik Tok mindset that everyone wants to be part of the Trend, and then actually try to be logical while being Subconsciously Biased for Serie, not cuz of it's merits but for it's hype.
Zeref is honestly my favorite Fairy Tail villain and one of my favorite characters ever, and the subversion of expectations with character was genius, and i feel like the reason why people want him to be defeated was just so that he could stop being "evil" and finally be happy. The pure embodiment of a sympathetic villain, emphasis on sympathetic cause who doesn't feel bad for him.
He's also just the perfect parallel to the whole 'power of friendship' shtick we see get used throughout the entirety of Fairy Tail. In basically every single battle we watch the members of Fairy Tail get into, they always ultimately win because their love for their family is so strong that it basically breaks the laws of magic (or at least makes them capable of feats beyond what it seemed like they were previously capable of) and it's always seen as a good thing because Fairy Tail leaves those people better than they found them. Contrast to Zeref who also loves his family so much that he breaks the laws of magic, but it goes wrong in the most horrific way possible. No matter what he tries he always ends up leaving people worse off than when he found them. Honestly I just find it really fascinating because I 100% believe that Natsu could've ended up doing exactly what Zeref did if Zeref had been the one who died when they were kids and Natsu thought there was a way to save him. Like we see Natsu more than any other character have a complete one track mind when it comes to saving his family and it blows me away that they were able to turn that attribute on its head. Like when you really think about it the entire series is just Natsu's family vs Zeref's family except that's so tragic because all Zeref ever wanted was for them to be one family together again.
Never have the nonds broken the law of magic in FT. Seems like you are confused about every single thing in fairy tail. Go watvh it and then speak. And one tip: zeref was the one who taught the og ft members magic.......Thats where the knowledge about maguc by younger ft members generations comes from 😉
Zeref is such a tragic character. He knew who august was but he couldn’t admit that he loved him just because that would disintegrate august. Admittedly one of my favorite characters in all fiction.
Regardless of what you think about Fairy Tail, Zeref as a villain is absolutely amazing. And his relationship and ending with Mavis was so heart wrenching yet beautiful
Zeref was by far one of my most favourite characters in Fairy Tail aside from Laxus and Myistogan because those 2 guys are so cool with their back story and style with magic 🪄Also great video as always my G ❤️🔥🙌🏾💯
In all honesty all the core points of Zeref from a narrative point of view are so good. The myth that surrounds him, the person he is, his presence that touches all the people form the main cast and also his end are absolutely wounderful. The only gripe that I think made him be forgotten is the fact that he never has impressive fights in which he directly wins. He loses to ulterar, curb stops hades in 3 seconds, kind of stands there to get hit by natsu in fire king mode, proceeded to get fairy hearth but lost moments after. I think if hiro masashima had given us a zeref vs acnologia things might have been different
The fact i love about FT is its antagonists. Majority of the main villains of FT are very well written like Zeref after him I like Jellal and Laxus. At the start of the show I used to hate them but as the arcs passed I was slowly falling in love with them
I've made a lot of Fairy Tail edits mainly to do with the power scaling of the show so I've had to read the series many times myself. Every time I do read it Zeref is always the stand alone character for me. His story is so fascinating one I've never read before and from his introduction to conclusion he goes through so much development that easily puts him as my favourite character in the show. Very well executed video, hope this reaches more people!
People whp never watched Fairy Tail qill never understand how many oh shit moment's we had while watching the anime for the first time..... it was soo good.. its sad to see such an amazing anime not getting its recognition.
The Part Where " Zeref Died when desparately someone wanted him to live and The Curse of Contradiction" Just Beautiful. It's sad. Probably the worst curse in Fiction or Writing. The Worst thing you can have. At same time if you look from Zeref View he just wanted his little brother back. A beautiful and amazing writing of a chacter. Thank you very much for making such a amazing video
Man I love Fairy Tail. Currently watching it for the 100th time. I can never get bored of it. Always feel the emotions of it. The characters have so much depth to them. Zeref included
Come to think of it.... Zeref is basically a isekai protagonist as a villian. Veiwed through the lens of who he is fighting. Think about it. Ripped away from his old life and given op powers, finding new allies and forming a nation.... wanting to redo time or... reincarnate himself back to the past... that's actually pretty smart! He's like kirito and that slime guy rolled into one.
@gallenberger1 yeah! What tipped me off is the spider isekai, which shows two perspectives. The protagonist of one perspectives, is shown as a "villian" in the other perspective. It goes to so how far and wide a isekai protag's influence can go and how their actions are veiwed by the everyday joe.
I think the reason Zeref gets slept on so much is because of how few people actually watched/read Fairy Tail. Fans of the show regularly throw his name into conversations about great anime villains but those who talk down about the show citing "Power of friendship" or "abundant fanservice" literally can't tell you anything specific about the character or even the series as a whole. They just saw hate online from TH-camrs, Redditors and Twittards and took the most basic (and factually incorrect) criticisms and accepted them as absolute gospel about the show. Ask ANY Fairy Tail "hater" to name 3 fights in the show that ended due to the "PoF BS" they claim is so prevalent and they can't even name one. Fairy Tail is one of the most underrated anime because it's not only overhated but widespread blindly hated by people who never even tried to experience it for themselves.
As a self-proclaimed Faiey tail enjoyer who read the manga ans anime (pre 1000--year wuest, tryna find the time for that), Fairy Tail is brimming with the power of friendship, but the unique characters and their bonds through the guild and each other is imho, the primary focus ofthe show. As a result, powwr of friendship does come up more often than others I'd rhink. Loke Oracion Seis arc which reveals tp us Dragpn Force through Natsu's will to protect his friends no matter the cast, or the Edolas arc where the bonds they made allow them the opportunity to even try and foil everything as bwing friends with Edolas Jelal is literally the only reason that resolves at all well in the way it does, or how about Lucy who can only summon spirits she forms a contract with which can be impartial sure, but she also consistently has shown that her bond and friendship with her spirits is a huge part of their power as thdy actually feel the urge to try when she's in meed of help. Friendship also works agaiithe cast though. Other guilds and their bonfs have been proven to be capable of running Fairy Tail for their money, or how the allegiance of the 100-year plan led friends through generations astray. And of course zeref both drsiring and fearing the bonds of friendship.
And the references to Zeref in 100 year quest make me so happy. He is one of the few villains that genuinely have a postiive wholesome ending 😭 Natsu meeting with Zeref in the after life in his mind living married to mavis with their 2 sons larcade and August. Sure its happening in natsu mind and they state that. But ita very much a love letter ending from Mashima himself to tell us Zeref and Mavis got their happy ending together 🥹
Not gonna lie, Zeref is one of my favorite villains in anime. He's up there with Meruem and Younger Toguro for me. I wish people would stop the unnecessary hate of Fairy Tail and praise the amazing writing and characters that it's created
Very nice video. I only watched the first half of fairy tale some 10years ago, and this video was so bittersweet. Really liked your thoughts about the character.
everything about fairy tail i truly love, each character is amazingly written and we have so many unique powers/concepts introduced throughout arcs and characters, Hiro Mashima done a great job
Zeref is easily the greatest antagonist of all time. Not even sure if I can call him a villain, but I’ll certainly allow anti-villain. I’ve been defending this IP for years. Ever since Nux Taku and Just Stop were probably the only creators defending the show. I’m really glad that FT has been getting the love it deserves lately 👆
@yhwach1 acnologia's writing is fine He was happy, goy traumatised by the things he used to love and protect, wemt on a bloodpath after they killed everyone he loved. After so long after killing so many it drove him insane. It's real. You can understand why having to kill something you used to love because they killed something else you also used to love can hurt He basically had to kill his own loved friends after they killed his family I will admit the way he died was bs but besides that his actual writing wasn't bad
@@The_scarf_above_all this is actually the reason why I find Acnologia's writing lacking in comparison to other Fairytail main cast (including the villain, other guild main members and important side characters). His story by comparison feels like very generic "All it takes is one bad day." Backstory. But what intrigues me about Acnologia is the story of what really happens behind that Dragon War and about the Original Acnologia's sudden change.
Nah he aint forgotten. Everybody knows him but problem is that people who like to leave their brain on a graze (dont like to think just watch flashy colors) when watching anime, hate FT and will never addmit that it has well written characters. He is one of the best written villain out there. Just a correction: I don't think that the demons of tartaros represent any part of Zeref. Cause Zeref doesn't have memory loss nor does he have desire for battle (atleast not for the sake of destroying everything, he jus't wants someone powerful enough who could unalive him and end his suffering).
Honestly it's more like everyone forgot about fairy tail, myself haven't heard much about it since 2020 and didn't even realise the 100 year quest anime came out
@@gallenberger1 yea because big Anime TH-camr's had made a bad name for Fairy Tail and it's creator in genaral ..over the years...that's why people keep forgeting about FT and it's characters...even if the new fans do.. get pass on that...they just wanted top tier animation and fight scenes...if not then ...the series is already mid ...that's the new gen anime fan logic ...it's just sad tbh
It’s almost like FMA, opposing the natural order will curse you to lose that you wished to bring back, taking lives instead of bringing them back and for him to be immortal on top of that has me astounded that he isn’t more unhinged
Hes the reason why I started fairy tail. I loved his character design growing up. Funny that after watching Natsu became my favorite character. I even got greys demon slayer tatooed on my left arm
Zeref might have had a suspicion that August was his son, but he could never have explored that idea because if he started viewing August as his son, August would have died. Another cruel twist in Zerefs life.
I love Zeref as a character and as a villain. Immortality as a malady rather than a blessing is a concept that I absolutely adore, and his intentionally contradictory nature was a great way of framing it. The way his long life detaches him from the modern era, such that he becomes an icon for villains based on his reputation rather than his actual being. The way even his own creations fail to recognize what he truly desires beyond the reputation the world has written for him. The way that he's foreshadowed and built up as this monolithic evil, only to be a simple, kindhearted man that wanted to save his brother and was twisted by god. The way he stands as one of the pinnacles of magic power, yet understands thoroughly his limitation and how it damns him (he cant defeat Acnologia, and Acnologia can torture him for literal eons if he himself is beaten). How his curse started with a desperate wish to save his beloved brother, a familial connection, and yet he witnessed his own child's life nearly from start to end without ever knowing the truth of their connection. It''s just too good.
I watched fairy tail from start to end zeref was such a tragic character did everything he could to save his younger brother just to get cursed to never die and could never show love other wise everything around him died
The sad thing is he was decent & chill guy back then. It’s just that life, fate & god himself screwed him over. Then he got a bad rep for it & everyone thought he was the ultimate big bad. At that point, he decided to embrace it
Fairy tail in general is super underrated And I will die on the hill that it has the best cast in shonnen anime and it also handles the side characters so well that they outshine the main characters in other anime.
That's funny; I recently decided to rewatch the last arc of FT because of the 100 year quest. To me, Zeref was always one of my favourite anime villains, right up there next to Aizen-sama and a few others. The background and personality writing Mashima did on Zeref is truly one of the best. Always cry whenever Natsu calls him "nii-chan". That guy is truly one of a kind... 🥲 😆
Also, to add to contridictions and fun facts. 1) Zeref, the men who was forced to not cherish his friends and conections the most, basically created the guild, where people cherish them more than anyone. 2) Zeref call himself Spriggan(Or Ugly fairy in some translations), whitch are fairies. Tails are something that follow after you. So, Fairy tail follows Zeref, and by this answers the question that was asked in the beggining of the series - Do fairy have tails? Yes, whey do, and by being created by Zeref and folowing the steps his good side left, whey are literally ARE FAIRY TAIL. 3) There is a myth, i believe in Japan(might be wrong about the country tho) that there are dog that constantly chases its tail. And if the mystical dog finally catches his tail - it destroys itself. Well, Zeref literally chased his tail, finally got it, and self-destructed. 4) While Demon Gates represents aspects of Zerefs personality, Spriggan 12 represents what he could be. Like greatest wizard, conqueror, a loved child, loving father, etc. Basically former are meant to represent what Zeref ARE and the latter - that he is NOT. Whitch is made even more interesting, if you consider that the ones representing what he is are demons, and the ones representing what he is not - are humans mostly. But even among them there is a demon, and among demons - there are human. Contridiction, again. 5) Despite being literally embodyment of death and destruction, Zeref probably have the smallest killcount of EVERY named character in the final arc. He only killed Mavis. He also destroyed the least space among all of the characters present - only a fairy tail main hall. Yeah, greatest Wizard of all time didnt even break single building. 6) He kills the demon representing lust and love, seemingly, rejecting it. But dies to exactly this cause only a few hours later. 7) Zeref is the only character in the series, who had 4 different eye colours. And with contridiction again - when he is most evil, his eyes are white, and he is most kind, when whey are black. 8) EVERY single ark in the series in cause of his past actions, and he takes no action in those. The final arc, he takes action, but on the scale of his subordinates actions, hes basically a side character. 9) Zeref known as a man who knows most kinds of magic among all humans(As August is know for the same title in universe, unlike Zeref he isnt actually knows all magic). Despite that, Zeref demonstrates least kinds of magic, and ways of using it than practically anyone in series. At least in the terms of fighting, im excluding his off-screen artifact creations, for it. 10) Being Emperror, he is the most cherished and the most surrounded by people character in the series, and despite that - he is also the most lonely one. 11) Zeref chased for the fairy heart for most of his life, despite the fact that he had it a long ago. 12) Zeref favorite number is probably 9. He had 9 gates, and there is a lot of symbolism with 9, 6, contridiction and infinity with those. Also, he has 12 spriggan. He had 4 students before, and one of them died. So if he teached something to spriggan, he probably excpected them to share same fate symbolically. If 1/4 of spriggan would die, then whats left is 9 again. His toga also looks like the 9 in some shots, bein circled around his top, and left from one side to fall. Also, he and Mavis look like 6 and 9, with Mavis having small top but large bottom cause of that big dress. And we know that creator of Fairy tail is a big pervert. But outside of perversion, 6 and 9 also form a ying-yang symbol, and a meaning of both infinity and infinite chase over something. 13) The reason we see reincarnations of Zeref and Mavis after final arc is because Zeref break the curse. How so, if both of them died there? Well, first of all, he was finished by Mavis, but was beaten up by natsu. English have no meaning in the universe, so it might be nothing to Zeref, but he literally SPELLED HIS END. Or wrote it, to be precise. He made Mavis fall in love with him, and its mutual. So in the end, he is beaten by his own creation, and he is killed by one in some matter. He chosed to die, and to kill at the same time(contridiction again), basically killing himself, and the same goes for Mavis. Whey reincornated not because that god was not that bag of shit and granted this to them. Whey reincarnated, cause whey, as immortals, managed to take their own lives. So essentially whey break the curse. Whey done that should not be possible, as such, break free from the curse and reincarnated. I really had to pull the last one out of the finger, but i had to make Black Wizard just and bring speciffically 13 facts for him.
Lets be real 8:08. That Whole conversation IS His Character. He states that he "can neither See nor Hear [...] Mavis" and yet has a full blown conversation with her, word for word. And yes he knew Mavis as shown in Zero, in fact Mavis is the same as him for an entirely different take of the same reason, but 107 ish years and most of that time being in a slumber that affected his memories, yeah... shouldn't be able to work but it does
even thought i've never watched fairy tail and this video just popped in my recommendeds after watching this video i kind of want to watch fairy tail just cause of this character he seems like a very standout villian for a shonen anime
@@Berlinh2 But pls you need to give your full attention when watching FT. There are many little things that are said that quite often matter later in the series.People often don't catch those and later ask "how or why did that happen" and tr ash the series without good reason. It's not something you can watch like DS for example (without thinking about stuff at all).
One of those antagonists where hearing someone talk about them is actually pretty interesting. You go back and notice these details like how the different demons and creations were likely different methods of him trying to die. Lullaby would be painless, but then he had brutes with destructive force. If magic couldn’t work maybe curses could. And all these arcs of people looking for Zeref or worshipping him didn’t even truly know him. The only issue is that-when watching at least- a lot of the story has to go through a lot of fluff to get to this great character. Tenyrou, Tartaros, and Alvarez are chock full of antagonists that respect Zeref, but on their own are incredibly uninteresting to watch. They are just fighting bags for our main characters to get through before we get to the real villain. It leads to about a hundred episodes of fighting pretty dull battles and encounters before we get the dramatic irony that is Zeref. Additionally, the way things are illustrated and voiced it’s hard to really feel bad for him. We don’t see Zeref going through different ages of people and cultures in much depth so the weight of his immortality can feel kind of hollow to me. His curse of contradiction also feels like an excuse for a plot device. He tells Natsu he could die if he kills him that Natsu could also die even though that’s his goal. A conveniently placed contradiction. But then he never desires to help Acnologia or gives the guy much thought despite part of his fear being that the dragon would use him as a plaything for eternity. Of course he sees things as a game, because if he didn’t he would just use his time stop powers or Dimaria to just win instantly. He’s a unique antagonist that we may never see again, but I don’t find him all that impactful. He doesn’t have a charismatic attitude or menace, doesn’t showcase an interesting philosophical idea, he doesn’t make us reflect on our own lives or humanity either. He’s just sort of unique, but different on its own doesn’t necessarily garner respect from the masses. I personally respect him more over time and can learn from how set up he is and how his method of dying ties into the core themes. But to me he will have something missing that will keep him from being a favorite. Thanks for reading this far if you have. Just giving my thoughts.
@CodeTetsu Thanks for the comment! It was a great read. I will push back on the 100 dull battles part because fights like Azuma/Erza, Silver/Gray, Laxus/Raven Tail, Natsu/Twin Dragons, Erza/Kagura, and many more are full of great storytelling/character growth purposes
@ Interesting you say that because other than Silver/Gray I don’t like literally any of those fights. From my understanding Azuma/Erza is another case where we have to bring out an excuse as to why Erza or Fairy Tail wins. Turns out the island helps Fairy Tail so Azuma becoming the tree was a bad idea, even though this idea of giving Fairy Tail the extra protection was never brought up before and shouldn’t have been able to close a gap this big. It also had no character building moment from Erza we didn’t already have and Azuma is just a “respect good fighter” character. Couple this with boring choreography and it’s rather forgettable. Laxus/Raven Tail on paper is good because Laxus is standing up to his terrible dad and everything that Ivan is. Laxus isn’t the same guy we fought the battle of Fairy Tail over. But in reality we had Raven Tail built up since early in the arc. They seem to be the reason Wendy was out of commission and are built up to be a decent force. But then Laxus just beats the entire team by himself with like no effort. Not only was it boring, anticlimactic, and forgettable, but most of the members of Raven Tail didn’t even matter. Only Flare and Ivan were given any kind of thought, and Ivan’s whole goal and personality is incredibly shallow. The inclusion of Raven Tail at all doesn’t even feel like a good use of time. I’m sorry, but Natsu/Twin Dragons was straight garbage. We had both Sting and Rogue set up as forces on par if not stronger than Natsu and Gajeel. They are just as old if not older, have a lacrima, and were taught (which means they get the benefits of characters like Natsu and a lacrima like Cobra and freaking Laxus). Earlier in the arc Natsu and Gajeel seem to have a hard time fighting them and then they can also turn on Dragon Force at will. (Something that they will refuse to do later for no reason). YET, in the fight later we have to throw in a comedy bit to throw off tension, and we can’t even get a satisfying runback because we need Gajeel to randomly stumble on the rest of the plot. So Natsu not only handles the Twin Dragons on his own SOMEHOW, but they do a FREAKING UNISON RAID and Natsu still wins with no fatigue? One of the worst fights I ever watched. Apologies, but I will talk about the rest in a pt 2 comment since I know this is a lot. 😅
@CodeTetsu It's not so much that they are amazing fights but the depth they have. Laxus/Raven Tail is the personification and progression of his story of viewing the guild as his true family. Erza/Azuma is all about symbolizing how gaining strength from others is more powerful than gaining strength for oneself.
@@gallenberger1 Personally, I don’t believe you can forgo direction and momentum in place of pretty basic symbolism. Erza’s fight may mean that it’s more important to find strength in friends instead of for oneself, but not only do I think this topic is way more nuanced than that, but also we see countless times where Erza finds strength for her friends. She fights the 100 monsters, is able to fight her biological family over her found family, vs Kyouka arguably too. But the issue is that these fights are not won through actual friendship or ideas brought upon by the inclusion of working with friends, but by sheer plot. I don’t like this idea that just thinking of your friends should allow you to win. I find this incredibly childish and too convenient. Laxus literally sucks up mega poison to protect both his team and the civilians around him, and he’s taken care of by his guild. The dude also came in during Tenyrou to fight the old guild master as his steps to build anew with Fairy Tail. Raven Tail was entirely made for only two of the members to matter, which makes any encounters with the other members basically filler as well. It also doesn’t help that at least in the anime these fights suck hard to watch. Maybe in the manga the direction of these moments hits harder, but the dull way in which these are won makes them feel like after thoughts and therefore messages a lot weaker. I would not personally call these fights good.
@gallenberger1 it makes me feel like I belong(ever sense I was a kid I felt like I was an outcast to the normal world, but when I started watching fairytail in 5th grade I didn't feel that while watching, because like me, the members of fairytail are outcast of society and acts like a family, fairytail helped me through a dark time in my life that I've grown a strong bond to the anime)
What do you think of Zeref?
doesn't get enough respect
i like Zeref, i know its pretty recent but in the 100 year quest natsu actually managed to pull off a pretty insane thing during the wooden dragon arc (i forgot the name of the dragon god)
@lucygirl1111 Yeah that was an awesome strategy
@@gallenberger1 that clone really only saw the insane amount of magic Zeref had not questioning the abilities of Zeref or the curse
Zeref is my favorite character in Fairy Tail. His story was beautiful but I sometimes wonder if that curse could be lifted somehow... 🤔
Zeref is a literal definition of "He's better if you get to know him"
@@zachenderson3032 That's a nice way of putting it
Mavis: "I can fix him"
@paddykelly2851 Always how it goes
But if u get to know him and if he likes u his really confusing curse goes off
Which as a fan of ft
It never made sense and. The cult never made sense or the deth items never made sense like. One they don't work. Break them
I guess the guy is a Socialist. Socialists always want to do good but end up committing atrocities instead. You just described him as a socialist after all. His curse is more wide spread than you would believe.
After everything was said and done we found out that Zeref is just a chill guy 😏
@@Dougall12 That he is
he's just a chill guy who doesn't gaf
I guess he's what Hitler would be like if Hitler was immortal.
Lol
Fr fr
What I like about Zeref is his unique take on how shonen vallains are.
@@xenon3551 Unique indeed. His curse makes him fascinating
Yea idk about that. The curse sure but its a cliche trope that the immortal character is seeking death
@@DeludedisMind What main villain in a shonen manga was portrayed as a super evil person, only to reveal himself to be a child with mental health issues and mood swings? The creatures he created, which caused people to hate,worship and fear him for years, were ultimately meant to end his life. He was also the creator of the main characters group and the brother of the mc?
@xenon3551 Lol okay if u take it that specifically then tell me pls which character is exactly like madara, obito, aizen, yhwach, meruem, frieza, cell, buu, zamasu or any fucking other villain
@@DeludedisMind That all of those know they are evil and that they meant what they did, whereas zeref is accidental and has a good heart
he's such a well written character, i hardly find these kind of characters anywhere
@omghosal3301 Toguro is another one I did recently that has some similarities
"such a well written" is an elastic man level stretch
@@devonjordan853 Nope, he indeed is a well written character. One of the best out there.
@@Somnus_et_Somnia Why
@@someboi4903 Cause watch it and find out. A well written viallin surely aint someone who hates everything and everyone with or without a reason just because he is a villain.
Zeref is my favorite antagonist of any long running shonen. Especially because of his setup, so many antagonists of the first half use him or one of his demons as motivation, but it’s always vague. Zeref has such a cool myth around him and his role as a religions figure for the dark guilds is just great and he’s just everywhere in the beginning, without being there.
As a friend said, while first watching Fairytail „if it isn’t Gerard, it’s Zeref“
@@brathering8644 The myth of him is one of the best parts
Yeah I like how the world building was so focused around him. You should watch one piece they have great world building for so many characters feel like a bunch of zerefs like roger, shanks, mihawk, Luffys father, and many other characters. They been building this character since the start of the series and we still haven’t seen the do much.
@@BIoodbathh one thing I think Fairytail does better than One Piece is actually Zeref. With Mihawk or Shanks you see them immediately and what they are capable of. Zeref is slowly build up and you don’t even know if he is dead or alive and then when you first see him, he is completely different from how he was interpreted by his followers
@@brathering8644how did people not know him when he’s like the emperor of the continent next door. Dude is alive and kicking all this time when people try to resurrect him for most of the original story
@@joeaverage9772 If I remember correctly the whole legend of Zeref was unknown in Alaktasia and I think he only raised his army during the timeskip, when most Zeref cults where already defeated
I'm so glad there's someone that talks about it and in this way
I fell in love with Fairy Tail when I was a kid, but every anime discussion I ended up witnessing or having did nothing but drag it down, and honestly that hurt
When I grew up I learned to just ignore it, don't care about it, but it still feels great seeing someone talking about the depths of this story
@@juliapirocco Plenty more to come as well!
The Fairy Tail discussions are definitely unfair. Sure, the series has a lot of stupid anime cliches that drag it down, but then same people hype up series like Mushoku Tensei and Re:Zero and conveniently ignore all the stupid anime cliches they have as well and only focus on the good parts. Those are some of my favourites and yet if talked about them like people tend to talk about Fairty Tail they would sound trashy as well.
Never thought about the 9 demons all representing different parts of zeref
I believe the 9 demon Gates also represent the 9 Circles of Hell
Fairy Tail is so underrated because popular anime tubers dragged the show through the mud. This is such a tragic yet beautiful story crafted by hiro. I am really about to cry over this...
It has some of the best emotional stuff in shonen
@gallenberger1 Only second to One piece. So I agree so hard with your statement. Your emotions really come out with this show.
@@GioHimonPro So many great moments of that
@@GioHimonPro Mostly cause of The Anime Man with his legit tr ash taste in anime (and Im not joking).
@@Somnus_et_SomniaFairy Tail is a bad show
I think people dont talk about him because FT gets a lot of undeserved hate
He’s also looked into deeper in the later seasons, but when the anime was airing they took a massive haitus after the Tartarus arc
I read the manga after the tartarus arc, but a lot of people prolly didnt
@@MegaGangsta4life That probably all plays into it. Still should get more hype!
@@MegaGangsta4life And people always say not to think while watching the series, but then do not understand why things happen lol.
I know another Few Great Manga's which don't get as much hype as they Should.
Tokyo Ghoul anime & _BLEACH MANGA/ anime both These Mangas had to suffer unfair Hate, ...Particularly Bleach had literally the same Fate so.. i can understand how Fairy tail fans feel, even tho i can't quite call myself a Anime fan let alone Bleach fan.
But since Bleach's Story really really connected me on a deeper level (Covid Horror) ...So...
_I can understand how it Feels when a serie Which is Actually Far better than Those Serie which actually get the Hype.
It feels Anime Fandoms are just trash nowadays and turn off a lot of Og Fans.
It was such a nice Era back then, i have always been on fence about Anime since there were very few among the popular shows which i enjoyed.
@@ska4666 Back in the days of the big four (naruto, OP, Bleach, and FT), fans were devoted to their favorite series no matter what. Naruto is another series that is heavily criticized and referred to as trash today, but its fans continue to love it. But fans now have such high standards that they do not watch a series because they like it; they watch a series because it is the next big thing and expected to be perfect and break everything, but when they see a single flaw, they turn it off and call it trash, making sure others do as well. 🙄
@xenon3551 exactly.. it's soo damn childish, like Just freaking Enjoy something man! ... don't go judging Olds with the Newbies, ....It's only because of the OGs contributions that Anime is soo loved Now.
They did it, so ofc New stuff is gonna fly Higher cuz the Threshold for Popularity is already far easier to achieve than it was back then.
Anyway this all the Fault od this Instagram/Tik Tok mindset that everyone wants to be part of the Trend, and then actually try to be logical while being Subconsciously Biased for Serie, not cuz of it's merits but for it's hype.
As an immortal being who also can not die, I really relate to Zaref and will never forget him
@jefflong5831 Hold up...you immortal?
@ appears so. Haven’t died yet
I'm immortal as well. And the best part is there is no leagal way to prove me wrong
@The_scarf_above_all 🤣 love how you mentioned legal
@@gallenberger1 😂😂😂
Zeref is honestly my favorite Fairy Tail villain and one of my favorite characters ever, and the subversion of expectations with character was genius, and i feel like the reason why people want him to be defeated was just so that he could stop being "evil" and finally be happy. The pure embodiment of a sympathetic villain, emphasis on sympathetic cause who doesn't feel bad for him.
@@javierthefallen7558 Couldn't have said it any better!
@gallenberger1 hey great video man
@javierthefallen7558 Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it
utsuro from gintama is slept on
@@javierthefallen7558 If he stopped being evil the the world goes to sht. He litearlly has to for the worlds sake
ZEREF VIDEO IN 2024 OH MY GOD😭😭😭😭😭😭 I LITERALLY LOVE ZEREF SO MUCH
@@rikka_to49 I'm with ya 👆
This man genuinely deserves a round of applause. Zeref was literally forgotten so quickly. Very tragic.
@@N0miiiii Thanks for watching!
I never even thought so deeply. Bro this made me almost cry.
@@aspenbataille5827 Which part?
Man didn’t even wanna be a villain and that makes him great
He's also just the perfect parallel to the whole 'power of friendship' shtick we see get used throughout the entirety of Fairy Tail. In basically every single battle we watch the members of Fairy Tail get into, they always ultimately win because their love for their family is so strong that it basically breaks the laws of magic (or at least makes them capable of feats beyond what it seemed like they were previously capable of) and it's always seen as a good thing because Fairy Tail leaves those people better than they found them.
Contrast to Zeref who also loves his family so much that he breaks the laws of magic, but it goes wrong in the most horrific way possible. No matter what he tries he always ends up leaving people worse off than when he found them.
Honestly I just find it really fascinating because I 100% believe that Natsu could've ended up doing exactly what Zeref did if Zeref had been the one who died when they were kids and Natsu thought there was a way to save him. Like we see Natsu more than any other character have a complete one track mind when it comes to saving his family and it blows me away that they were able to turn that attribute on its head. Like when you really think about it the entire series is just Natsu's family vs Zeref's family except that's so tragic because all Zeref ever wanted was for them to be one family together again.
Never have the nonds broken the law of magic in FT. Seems like you are confused about every single thing in fairy tail. Go watvh it and then speak. And one tip: zeref was the one who taught the og ft members magic.......Thats where the knowledge about maguc by younger ft members generations comes from 😉
@@PK-nf6px Awesome breakdown. Thanks for this
Zeref is such a tragic character. He knew who august was but he couldn’t admit that he loved him just because that would disintegrate august. Admittedly one of my favorite characters in all fiction.
@@Okipullup6103 I'm with ya 👆
Regardless of what you think about Fairy Tail, Zeref as a villain is absolutely amazing. And his relationship and ending with Mavis was so heart wrenching yet beautiful
Zeref/Mavis and Meliodas/Elizabeth curses are some of the most heartbreaking
@frostycyan Made a vid on Meliodas too!
Zeref was by far one of my most favourite characters in Fairy Tail aside from Laxus and Myistogan because those 2 guys are so cool with their back story and style with magic 🪄Also great video as always my G ❤️🔥🙌🏾💯
@gangmgang_ Laxus vid will be coming in the next couple months too
@ bet man can’t wait fr thank you ❤️🔥🙌🏾💯
August tho
Zeref is one of my favorite antagonists in any anime. He is my favorite Akira Ishida character.
@TheJaredPunch On that we agree!
Religious figure comparison was spot on
In all honesty all the core points of Zeref from a narrative point of view are so good. The myth that surrounds him, the person he is, his presence that touches all the people form the main cast and also his end are absolutely wounderful.
The only gripe that I think made him be forgotten is the fact that he never has impressive fights in which he directly wins.
He loses to ulterar, curb stops hades in 3 seconds, kind of stands there to get hit by natsu in fire king mode, proceeded to get fairy hearth but lost moments after.
I think if hiro masashima had given us a zeref vs acnologia things might have been different
Totally fair points. Thanks for the great write up
Thank you for making this amazing video! Fairy Tail deserves way more love!!
@@auden4531 Thanks for watching!
I did not think of the August shit. That’s dope
@@justunreal_ Right? Really cool little detail
While Zeref and Natsu were fighting Larcade showed up you can see Zerefs pain in his face reactions 😭
I have no idea why Zeref isn't more popular . His character depth is so deep and well written.
@@whitedragneel Same, that's why I made the video
@@gallenberger1 It was a great video. If Fairy Tail wasn't so slept on, I'm pretty sure it would of had way more views already.
@whitedragneel Thanks, it was a struggle to make
To many chapters
@maxinea.sakaki4151 6??
Yup. I don't recall any battle involving him and how he was defeated. Amazing. That's actually scary, like he was erased from my mind :O
@@basementblues7417 🤣🤣🤣
The fact i love about FT is its antagonists. Majority of the main villains of FT are very well written like Zeref after him I like Jellal and Laxus. At the start of the show I used to hate them but as the arcs passed I was slowly falling in love with them
very good analysis, literally the only one i’ve seen on Zeref
There aren't many out there. The master of irony video is a really good one though
i’ll check it out
I've made a lot of Fairy Tail edits mainly to do with the power scaling of the show so I've had to read the series many times myself. Every time I do read it Zeref is always the stand alone character for me. His story is so fascinating one I've never read before and from his introduction to conclusion he goes through so much development that easily puts him as my favourite character in the show. Very well executed video, hope this reaches more people!
@@UniversalGalaxy2 Thanjs for watching and keep up the good work
@ You too G
@@UniversalGalaxy2 common uni w
@The-Minion Yo minion my goat, happy to see you here xD
@UniversalGalaxy2 You 2. It's been a while hope all is well in life
It’s funny Zeref is basically the anime equivalent of Ra’s Al Ghul.
@@Z-fighter126 I thought about making that comparison in the video 🤣
Wut
People whp never watched Fairy Tail qill never understand how many oh shit moment's we had while watching the anime for the first time..... it was soo good.. its sad to see such an amazing anime not getting its recognition.
@@JIRENEDITS 💯
Never forget that he did all that to see Natsu's smile again
@@Kitsune54333 Damn. That hits hard
I love Zeref so much :( He was such a sad but good villain
The Part Where " Zeref Died when desparately someone wanted him to live and The Curse of Contradiction"
Just Beautiful. It's sad. Probably the worst curse in Fiction or Writing. The Worst thing you can have. At same time if you look from Zeref View he just wanted his little brother back. A beautiful and amazing writing of a chacter. Thank you very much for making such a amazing video
@aorkozombie8173 Glad you enjoyed it!
Literally one of my favorite characters. His story brought me to tears so many times as I slowly learned it. Each and every time.
2:14
" ATTENDING DIDDY PARTIES " 😭😭😭
Always looking for that forbidden magic 🤦♂️
because in the end he does not feel like villain, he just someone who suffer a lot, and his backstory perfectly portrait it.
This is why zeref is probably my favorite character in fairy tail and i love him so much
@@Candidatescales 💯
so basically zeref is just a chill guy who doesnt really wanan give af but unfortunately does give af... got it
“Attending Diddy parties…” 🤣🤣🤣
Ayo!! 😂
Ain't no party like the tiktok rizz party
“Attending Diddy parties” is crazy😂
@@MasonChen-x8d 😅
loved him, his curse made him such an interesting character because he really just couldnt be good without bringing misfortune
Man I love Fairy Tail. Currently watching it for the 100th time. I can never get bored of it. Always feel the emotions of it. The characters have so much depth to them. Zeref included
Come to think of it.... Zeref is basically a isekai protagonist as a villian. Veiwed through the lens of who he is fighting. Think about it. Ripped away from his old life and given op powers, finding new allies and forming a nation.... wanting to redo time or... reincarnate himself back to the past... that's actually pretty smart! He's like kirito and that slime guy rolled into one.
That's a cool way of looking at it. Nice catch
@gallenberger1 yeah! What tipped me off is the spider isekai, which shows two perspectives. The protagonist of one perspectives, is shown as a "villian" in the other perspective. It goes to so how far and wide a isekai protag's influence can go and how their actions are veiwed by the everyday joe.
@@GameMaster-ig8oo the weak can only judge quietly while they get smashed by the isekai'd one
Such a great analysis, thank you :)
@user61696 Thanks for watching!
I think the reason Zeref gets slept on so much is because of how few people actually watched/read Fairy Tail. Fans of the show regularly throw his name into conversations about great anime villains but those who talk down about the show citing "Power of friendship" or "abundant fanservice" literally can't tell you anything specific about the character or even the series as a whole. They just saw hate online from TH-camrs, Redditors and Twittards and took the most basic (and factually incorrect) criticisms and accepted them as absolute gospel about the show. Ask ANY Fairy Tail "hater" to name 3 fights in the show that ended due to the "PoF BS" they claim is so prevalent and they can't even name one. Fairy Tail is one of the most underrated anime because it's not only overhated but widespread blindly hated by people who never even tried to experience it for themselves.
@@Anime-Doom Valid
As a self-proclaimed Faiey tail enjoyer who read the manga ans anime (pre 1000--year wuest, tryna find the time for that), Fairy Tail is brimming with the power of friendship, but the unique characters and their bonds through the guild and each other is imho, the primary focus ofthe show. As a result, powwr of friendship does come up more often than others I'd rhink. Loke Oracion Seis arc which reveals tp us Dragpn Force through Natsu's will to protect his friends no matter the cast, or the Edolas arc where the bonds they made allow them the opportunity to even try and foil everything as bwing friends with Edolas Jelal is literally the only reason that resolves at all well in the way it does, or how about Lucy who can only summon spirits she forms a contract with which can be impartial sure, but she also consistently has shown that her bond and friendship with her spirits is a huge part of their power as thdy actually feel the urge to try when she's in meed of help.
Friendship also works agaiithe cast though. Other guilds and their bonfs have been proven to be capable of running Fairy Tail for their money, or how the allegiance of the 100-year plan led friends through generations astray. And of course zeref both drsiring and fearing the bonds of friendship.
And the references to Zeref in 100 year quest make me so happy. He is one of the few villains that genuinely have a postiive wholesome ending 😭 Natsu meeting with Zeref in the after life in his mind living married to mavis with their 2 sons larcade and August. Sure its happening in natsu mind and they state that. But ita very much a love letter ending from Mashima himself to tell us Zeref and Mavis got their happy ending together 🥹
@@chrysy7861 They were so good
He is one of my favorite villians in anime. I wasn't to keen on the ending for fairy tail but his character arch chefs kiss
@@DomTheeeFoe 💯
I loved fairy tail, one of my fav animes so i never forgot about zeref
@@Verdaddd Glad to hear it
Not gonna lie, Zeref is one of my favorite villains in anime. He's up there with Meruem and Younger Toguro for me.
I wish people would stop the unnecessary hate of Fairy Tail and praise the amazing writing and characters that it's created
@Kuroshiro_123 I'm with you. Have you seen my Toguro vid?
I love the fact that spriggan is the name of the final enemy because its called the ugly fairy, so its basically fairys vs fairys
Same, another cool detail
Great video. More people need to watch this show, it's so top tier
@@WinstoneKachingwe Thanks! Agreed, it's way better than you'd think based off reputation
Very nice video. I only watched the first half of fairy tale some 10years ago, and this video was so bittersweet. Really liked your thoughts about the character.
Glad you enjoyed it! When did you stop watching storywise?
@@gallenberger1 watched anime till the grand magic games arc and finished the arc by reading the manga that same year.
@@ImMataza What'd ya think of it?
@@gallenberger1 it was very fun, now im a little fuzzy on the finer details of the arc but was very happy to see more of mavis after tenrou island :D
@@ImMataza Love that arc, glad you liked it
A character most reminded yet the most forgotten.
THAT IS Contradiction.
😏 you know it
everything about fairy tail i truly love, each character is amazingly written and we have so many unique powers/concepts introduced throughout arcs and characters, Hiro Mashima done a great job
I'm with you. It's not perfect but it's one of my favorites
Zeref is easily the greatest antagonist of all time. Not even sure if I can call him a villain, but I’ll certainly allow anti-villain.
I’ve been defending this IP for years. Ever since Nux Taku and Just Stop were probably the only creators defending the show. I’m really glad that FT has been getting the love it deserves lately
👆
@@greatshot.productions 👆
I love how after everything natsu accepts him as his brother, in 100 year quest you get to see a version of zeref and mavis in the afterlife
I love FT, I fell in ❤ with anime because of it, and Zeref is amazing, his story is just so sad. 😢😢
@@mindhy3 I'm with ya 👆
I always thought his character was very interesting but this really went into the details of it all
Glad you enjoyed it
No one talks about Zeref because we are already having our 2nd child and is a loving family.
@LongXue Well that makes one of us 😅
Fairy tail final(2018) all 3 main villans are well written
@@monster-dk7dy Definitely. All compelling for different reasons
except acnologia
@@yhwach1 yeah,probably
For the build up he had
@yhwach1 acnologia's writing is fine
He was happy, goy traumatised by the things he used to love and protect, wemt on a bloodpath after they killed everyone he loved. After so long after killing so many it drove him insane.
It's real. You can understand why having to kill something you used to love because they killed something else you also used to love can hurt
He basically had to kill his own loved friends after they killed his family
I will admit the way he died was bs but besides that his actual writing wasn't bad
@@The_scarf_above_all this is actually the reason why I find Acnologia's writing lacking in comparison to other Fairytail main cast (including the villain, other guild main members and important side characters). His story by comparison feels like very generic "All it takes is one bad day." Backstory.
But what intrigues me about Acnologia is the story of what really happens behind that Dragon War and about the Original Acnologia's sudden change.
Zeref is such an insanely well written villain
@@eyewarsx 💯
what a nice explanation, glad to see more people talking about him
@Thefallenmodou Glad you enjoyed it!
@@gallenberger1 you bet I did
Nah he aint forgotten. Everybody knows him but problem is that people who like to leave their brain on a graze (dont like to think just watch flashy colors) when watching anime, hate FT and will never addmit that it has well written characters. He is one of the best written villain out there.
Just a correction: I don't think that the demons of tartaros represent any part of Zeref. Cause Zeref doesn't have memory loss nor does he have desire for battle (atleast not for the sake of destroying everything, he jus't wants someone powerful enough who could unalive him and end his suffering).
@@Somnus_et_Somnia 💯
Finally
Someone who understands how complex and pained zeref is as a character
aight i need to rewatch this anime already
Agreed, you should
Zeref has one of the most interesting and complex character arcs of the genre.
Honestly it's more like everyone forgot about fairy tail, myself haven't heard much about it since 2020 and didn't even realise the 100 year quest anime came out
One of, if not then the best villan, no character breakdowns I have ever seen.
Not attending Diddy parties 😂
@@deandredukes95 The darkest magic there is
@@gallenberger1Nah more like most forbidden magic there is
@chaoshowling6860 You're right, that fits better
Zeref would never do something as vile as that
3:22 just a chill guy
You convinced me to rewatch fairy tail
@@eryalmario5299 Best compliment you can give!
Phenomenal video, love the attention for Fairy Tail
Glad you enjoyed it! It doesn't get enough credit for its characters
Zeref is top tier!!!
@@dragonforce2582 Agreed. Doesn't get enough credit as a big bad
@@gallenberger1 yea because big Anime TH-camr's had made a bad name for Fairy Tail and it's creator in genaral ..over the years...that's why people keep forgeting about FT and it's characters...even if the new fans do.. get pass on that...they just wanted top tier animation and fight scenes...if not then ...the series is already mid ...that's the new gen anime fan logic ...it's just sad tbh
@dragonforce2582 That is sad. Fairy Tail is awesome
Fairy tail has been on my watchlist for years but I've never really known anything about it, this video made me start today :)
Let me know what you think!
I think people don't talk about him much is because he was mostly relevant at the parts beyond where the og anime ended
@@xxamightystormxx That could play a role for sure
Fairy Tail is BY FAR MY FAVORITE ANIME!!! It tells such a good story with well crafted characters.
@@Sapphium 💯
great video
@@theonewhoknowsall5128 Thanks!
It’s almost like FMA, opposing the natural order will curse you to lose that you wished to bring back, taking lives instead of bringing them back and for him to be immortal on top of that has me astounded that he isn’t more unhinged
@@jayninja8293 Great way of looking at it
Hes the reason why I started fairy tail. I loved his character design growing up. Funny that after watching Natsu became my favorite character. I even got greys demon slayer tatooed on my left arm
@@Ericdj15 That's awesome
Zeref might have had a suspicion that August was his son, but he could never have explored that idea because if he started viewing August as his son, August would have died. Another cruel twist in Zerefs life.
@@Vuosta More tragedy
Zeref really is a misunderstood antagonist.
@@mechajay3358 An awesome one too
I love Zeref as a character and as a villain. Immortality as a malady rather than a blessing is a concept that I absolutely adore, and his intentionally contradictory nature was a great way of framing it. The way his long life detaches him from the modern era, such that he becomes an icon for villains based on his reputation rather than his actual being. The way even his own creations fail to recognize what he truly desires beyond the reputation the world has written for him. The way that he's foreshadowed and built up as this monolithic evil, only to be a simple, kindhearted man that wanted to save his brother and was twisted by god. The way he stands as one of the pinnacles of magic power, yet understands thoroughly his limitation and how it damns him (he cant defeat Acnologia, and Acnologia can torture him for literal eons if he himself is beaten). How his curse started with a desperate wish to save his beloved brother, a familial connection, and yet he witnessed his own child's life nearly from start to end without ever knowing the truth of their connection.
It''s just too good.
@@RebelPhoenix117 It really is
I literally just started watching Fairy Tail again after years I’m in the E.N.D arc
What made you pick it back up?
I watched fairy tail from start to end zeref was such a tragic character did everything he could to save his younger brother just to get cursed to never die and could never show love other wise everything around him died
The sad thing is he was decent & chill guy back then. It’s just that life, fate & god himself screwed him over. Then he got a bad rep for it & everyone thought he was the ultimate big bad. At that point, he decided to embrace it
@@Karlos1234ify Pretty much this
Fairy tail in general is super underrated
And I will die on the hill that it has the best cast in shonnen anime and it also handles the side characters so well that they outshine the main characters in other anime.
That's funny; I recently decided to rewatch the last arc of FT because of the 100 year quest. To me, Zeref was always one of my favourite anime villains, right up there next to Aizen-sama and a few others. The background and personality writing Mashima did on Zeref is truly one of the best.
Always cry whenever Natsu calls him "nii-chan". That guy is truly one of a kind... 🥲 😆
That was a great moment. A few Aizen references in this comment section now
Also, to add to contridictions and fun facts.
1) Zeref, the men who was forced to not cherish his friends and conections the most, basically created the guild, where people cherish them more than anyone.
2) Zeref call himself Spriggan(Or Ugly fairy in some translations), whitch are fairies. Tails are something that follow after you. So, Fairy tail follows Zeref, and by this answers the question that was asked in the beggining of the series - Do fairy have tails? Yes, whey do, and by being created by Zeref and folowing the steps his good side left, whey are literally ARE FAIRY TAIL.
3) There is a myth, i believe in Japan(might be wrong about the country tho) that there are dog that constantly chases its tail. And if the mystical dog finally catches his tail - it destroys itself.
Well, Zeref literally chased his tail, finally got it, and self-destructed.
4) While Demon Gates represents aspects of Zerefs personality, Spriggan 12 represents what he could be. Like greatest wizard, conqueror, a loved child, loving father, etc. Basically former are meant to represent what Zeref ARE and the latter - that he is NOT. Whitch is made even more interesting, if you consider that the ones representing what he is are demons, and the ones representing what he is not - are humans mostly. But even among them there is a demon, and among demons - there are human. Contridiction, again.
5) Despite being literally embodyment of death and destruction, Zeref probably have the smallest killcount of EVERY named character in the final arc. He only killed Mavis. He also destroyed the least space among all of the characters present - only a fairy tail main hall. Yeah, greatest Wizard of all time didnt even break single building.
6) He kills the demon representing lust and love, seemingly, rejecting it. But dies to exactly this cause only a few hours later.
7) Zeref is the only character in the series, who had 4 different eye colours. And with contridiction again - when he is most evil, his eyes are white, and he is most kind, when whey are black.
8) EVERY single ark in the series in cause of his past actions, and he takes no action in those. The final arc, he takes action, but on the scale of his subordinates actions, hes basically a side character.
9) Zeref known as a man who knows most kinds of magic among all humans(As August is know for the same title in universe, unlike Zeref he isnt actually knows all magic). Despite that, Zeref demonstrates least kinds of magic, and ways of using it than practically anyone in series. At least in the terms of fighting, im excluding his off-screen artifact creations, for it.
10) Being Emperror, he is the most cherished and the most surrounded by people character in the series, and despite that - he is also the most lonely one.
11) Zeref chased for the fairy heart for most of his life, despite the fact that he had it a long ago.
12) Zeref favorite number is probably 9. He had 9 gates, and there is a lot of symbolism with 9, 6, contridiction and infinity with those. Also, he has 12 spriggan. He had 4 students before, and one of them died. So if he teached something to spriggan, he probably excpected them to share same fate symbolically. If 1/4 of spriggan would die, then whats left is 9 again. His toga also looks like the 9 in some shots, bein circled around his top, and left from one side to fall. Also, he and Mavis look like 6 and 9, with Mavis having small top but large bottom cause of that big dress. And we know that creator of Fairy tail is a big pervert. But outside of perversion, 6 and 9 also form a ying-yang symbol, and a meaning of both infinity and infinite chase over something.
13) The reason we see reincarnations of Zeref and Mavis after final arc is because Zeref break the curse. How so, if both of them died there? Well, first of all, he was finished by Mavis, but was beaten up by natsu. English have no meaning in the universe, so it might be nothing to Zeref, but he literally SPELLED HIS END. Or wrote it, to be precise. He made Mavis fall in love with him, and its mutual. So in the end, he is beaten by his own creation, and he is killed by one in some matter. He chosed to die, and to kill at the same time(contridiction again), basically killing himself, and the same goes for Mavis. Whey reincornated not because that god was not that bag of shit and granted this to them. Whey reincarnated, cause whey, as immortals, managed to take their own lives. So essentially whey break the curse. Whey done that should not be possible, as such, break free from the curse and reincarnated.
I really had to pull the last one out of the finger, but i had to make Black Wizard just and bring speciffically 13 facts for him.
These are awesome. Glad you got to 13
Lets be real 8:08. That Whole conversation IS His Character. He states that he "can neither See nor Hear [...] Mavis" and yet has a full blown conversation with her, word for word. And yes he knew Mavis as shown in Zero, in fact Mavis is the same as him for an entirely different take of the same reason, but 107 ish years and most of that time being in a slumber that affected his memories, yeah... shouldn't be able to work but it does
That's a great point
I love zeref he is a seriously underrated and misunderstood man. And the show Fairy Tail is underrated.
Zeref is one of your favourite villains
Zeref is my favourite villian. We are not the same
Fair
he made him so enigmatic that everyone literally forgets him
@@ongseungwu4311 The layers keep coming
even thought i've never watched fairy tail and this video just popped in my recommendeds after watching this video i kind of want to watch fairy tail just cause of this character he seems like a very standout villian for a shonen anime
@@Berlinh2 That's probably the best compliment you can give. If you go in knowing what it is, you'll probably enjoy it
@@Berlinh2 But pls you need to give your full attention when watching FT. There are many little things that are said that quite often matter later in the series.People often don't catch those and later ask "how or why did that happen" and tr ash the series without good reason. It's not something you can watch like DS for example (without thinking about stuff at all).
One of those antagonists where hearing someone talk about them is actually pretty interesting. You go back and notice these details like how the different demons and creations were likely different methods of him trying to die. Lullaby would be painless, but then he had brutes with destructive force. If magic couldn’t work maybe curses could. And all these arcs of people looking for Zeref or worshipping him didn’t even truly know him.
The only issue is that-when watching at least- a lot of the story has to go through a lot of fluff to get to this great character. Tenyrou, Tartaros, and Alvarez are chock full of antagonists that respect Zeref, but on their own are incredibly uninteresting to watch. They are just fighting bags for our main characters to get through before we get to the real villain. It leads to about a hundred episodes of fighting pretty dull battles and encounters before we get the dramatic irony that is Zeref.
Additionally, the way things are illustrated and voiced it’s hard to really feel bad for him. We don’t see Zeref going through different ages of people and cultures in much depth so the weight of his immortality can feel kind of hollow to me. His curse of contradiction also feels like an excuse for a plot device. He tells Natsu he could die if he kills him that Natsu could also die even though that’s his goal. A conveniently placed contradiction. But then he never desires to help Acnologia or gives the guy much thought despite part of his fear being that the dragon would use him as a plaything for eternity. Of course he sees things as a game, because if he didn’t he would just use his time stop powers or Dimaria to just win instantly.
He’s a unique antagonist that we may never see again, but I don’t find him all that impactful. He doesn’t have a charismatic attitude or menace, doesn’t showcase an interesting philosophical idea, he doesn’t make us reflect on our own lives or humanity either. He’s just sort of unique, but different on its own doesn’t necessarily garner respect from the masses.
I personally respect him more over time and can learn from how set up he is and how his method of dying ties into the core themes. But to me he will have something missing that will keep him from being a favorite.
Thanks for reading this far if you have. Just giving my thoughts.
@CodeTetsu Thanks for the comment! It was a great read. I will push back on the 100 dull battles part because fights like Azuma/Erza, Silver/Gray, Laxus/Raven Tail, Natsu/Twin Dragons, Erza/Kagura, and many more are full of great storytelling/character growth purposes
@ Interesting you say that because other than Silver/Gray I don’t like literally any of those fights. From my understanding Azuma/Erza is another case where we have to bring out an excuse as to why Erza or Fairy Tail wins. Turns out the island helps Fairy Tail so Azuma becoming the tree was a bad idea, even though this idea of giving Fairy Tail the extra protection was never brought up before and shouldn’t have been able to close a gap this big. It also had no character building moment from Erza we didn’t already have and Azuma is just a “respect good fighter” character. Couple this with boring choreography and it’s rather forgettable.
Laxus/Raven Tail on paper is good because Laxus is standing up to his terrible dad and everything that Ivan is. Laxus isn’t the same guy we fought the battle of Fairy Tail over. But in reality we had Raven Tail built up since early in the arc. They seem to be the reason Wendy was out of commission and are built up to be a decent force. But then Laxus just beats the entire team by himself with like no effort. Not only was it boring, anticlimactic, and forgettable, but most of the members of Raven Tail didn’t even matter. Only Flare and Ivan were given any kind of thought, and Ivan’s whole goal and personality is incredibly shallow. The inclusion of Raven Tail at all doesn’t even feel like a good use of time.
I’m sorry, but Natsu/Twin Dragons was straight garbage. We had both Sting and Rogue set up as forces on par if not stronger than Natsu and Gajeel. They are just as old if not older, have a lacrima, and were taught (which means they get the benefits of characters like Natsu and a lacrima like Cobra and freaking Laxus). Earlier in the arc Natsu and Gajeel seem to have a hard time fighting them and then they can also turn on Dragon Force at will. (Something that they will refuse to do later for no reason). YET, in the fight later we have to throw in a comedy bit to throw off tension, and we can’t even get a satisfying runback because we need Gajeel to randomly stumble on the rest of the plot. So Natsu not only handles the Twin Dragons on his own SOMEHOW, but they do a FREAKING UNISON RAID and Natsu still wins with no fatigue? One of the worst fights I ever watched.
Apologies, but I will talk about the rest in a pt 2 comment since I know this is a lot. 😅
@CodeTetsu It's not so much that they are amazing fights but the depth they have. Laxus/Raven Tail is the personification and progression of his story of viewing the guild as his true family.
Erza/Azuma is all about symbolizing how gaining strength from others is more powerful than gaining strength for oneself.
@@gallenberger1 Personally, I don’t believe you can forgo direction and momentum in place of pretty basic symbolism. Erza’s fight may mean that it’s more important to find strength in friends instead of for oneself, but not only do I think this topic is way more nuanced than that, but also we see countless times where Erza finds strength for her friends. She fights the 100 monsters, is able to fight her biological family over her found family, vs Kyouka arguably too. But the issue is that these fights are not won through actual friendship or ideas brought upon by the inclusion of working with friends, but by sheer plot. I don’t like this idea that just thinking of your friends should allow you to win. I find this incredibly childish and too convenient.
Laxus literally sucks up mega poison to protect both his team and the civilians around him, and he’s taken care of by his guild. The dude also came in during Tenyrou to fight the old guild master as his steps to build anew with Fairy Tail. Raven Tail was entirely made for only two of the members to matter, which makes any encounters with the other members basically filler as well.
It also doesn’t help that at least in the anime these fights suck hard to watch. Maybe in the manga the direction of these moments hits harder, but the dull way in which these are won makes them feel like after thoughts and therefore messages a lot weaker. I would not personally call these fights good.
@@MagmaSpacer That's fair
Fairytail is my favorite anime
What's the biggest reason for that?
@gallenberger1 it makes me feel like I belong(ever sense I was a kid I felt like I was an outcast to the normal world, but when I started watching fairytail in 5th grade I didn't feel that while watching, because like me, the members of fairytail are outcast of society and acts like a family, fairytail helped me through a dark time in my life that I've grown a strong bond to the anime)
@emeraldace541 Makes perfect sense
Bro I NEVER forgot about Zerg I been waiting for fairy tail to come back for years I knew it would have a new season or show I was right
Hey bro, glad this video did well for you
@@seancollins6572 Thanks, me too 🤣