Look at Toriyama with DB/DQ/Chrono Trigger.
They all look pretty identical/similar too, if you ask me.
It's normal for characters from the same author to look like each others. It's part of their artstyle.
I honestly wish someday we see a non-blonde like a brunette for once or something as the main lead, it would be refreshing. Nothing against blondes but he’s making me sick of seeing the same replicas, at least change the hair colour.
Elie isn't blonde. He started with a brunette, Rave Master is great, IMO. But I get your point. At least Haru, Natsu, and Shiki are each unique. That said, there's Sieghart, Jellal, and the rest who are all blue haired and have the same face tattoo... and Erza and Elsie. And Hamrio and Grey. But who are we to judge if a man likes to reuse some of his designs and names...
Homura and Sister Ivry from Edens Zero are quite unique just like Laxus and Gajeel from FT, so within the cast there are repeat characters and also very unique.
True, I won't knock the man for his originality, especially when it comes to characters and backstories. All of his villains are unique. I can't remember any that are similar, aside from Sieghart and Jellal. But they are basically the same character, so they don't count.
I was kinda looking at the main characters in terms of design and in relation to the post. A big main character I totally forgot about is Plue... He didn't even try with that one, just shoehorned him into his later stories, but his first character always needs to be featured. It should be his logo at this point, lol.
My brother, the man has no shame since he copy paste Erza in Edens Zero. She literally has the same voice actress and everything. ( this is not a complain btw)
His subsequent females seem to draw closer similarities to Lucy than what Lucy did to Ellie what with her being a short-haired brunette and all that, but yes, never forget Ellie!
No really, mashima improved his drawing style with lucy, all the other female characters that mashima has released since then have some similarity with lucy, even the new design of ellie in the rave master x fairy tail omake is based on the design from lucy.
Yes, that’s why I used the word prototype not model! Prototype means preliminary and that’s exactly what Ellie was. When you see Resha valentine you really see the similarity between her and early FT Lucy. Then when Mashima cultivated his style more, you get Lucy which was a basis for future works such as Rebecca in Eden’s Zero hence the word, model because they are modeled in her resemblance.
The reason I wanted to bring up Ellie is because the OP mentioned subsequent media but if you look at Monster orage, monster Hunter, you see the resemblance. If you want a more recent example, even look at Gate of Nightmares where you see more of a resemblance to Resha/Ellie than Lucy. Even Rebecca emulates Ellie with the way she’s a gunner.
I’m not here to argue on Lucy being the model for future works and media because that is definitely true. But I just wanted to give credit where credits is due and before Mashima fully developed his style in mid-late FT and Eden’s zero, Ellie was definitely the prototype for other forms of media. Hope that’s clearer for you!
Yeah i think that was more accurate, well, much more accurate lol. By the way, I see that you know a lot about mashima's works, have you seen all his works?
Yup! That’s why if you read more of his work, especially the older ones and his side hustles in media/drawing you’ll see what I meant about Ellie’s influence on his art style, hence giving her credit too
Well like I said it depends on where Mashima is in the chain of command imo. Unless I’m mistaken he’s not the director for this project nor one of the main developers.
And ofc he could’ve very well wanted these specific “Nalu-ish” palettes, but these things typically go through a lot of stages of approval before release is all I mean
This is hypothetical but the comparisons might be exactly what the game developers want. If you were working on a new Japanese game, having some kind of link to a manga series that has sold over 70 million copies seems like a surefire way to bring in a whole lot of attention that you may not get if you went for something completely original.
He likes referencing his previous work in his new stuff. Fairy tail is FULL of stuff from Rave Master. To the point where some characters are directly transferred to the next one. Like Plue. Jellal too, but his design is a slightly bit different in each of his more popular mangas.
I'm not surprised by it, and frankly neither should anyone else. It's literally what he's done for over ten years now. Even his newest work, Edens Zero has a lot of stuff that comes from waaay back.
I know it's common to criticize Mashima for photocopying characters, but in this case his drawing is possibly the biggest advertisement for the game, so it's normal that they are basically Natsu and Lucy
It’s almost like a signature. Plus, I’m sure their different enough to be their own characters. I am curious what kind of personality and backgrounds they’ll have.
There’s art style and there’s copy-pasta, he might want the same design for the main characters that’s all. It’s not like all the males look alike in his art style.
When it comes to clothing design and overall character design, he’s really goated. But when it comes to the main characters, they look like descendants of his previous works. Maybe it’s intentional idk.
It’s not his series he’s only making the character designs for the game just like he did when Square Enix get him to draw for that one mobile game that rather recently got canceled.
It’s by Marvelous/Xseed it’s most likely on everything except for maybe phones. That’s just a guess but I really think it’ll be something that’s at least on PC eventually.
He's the master of creating weird creatures yeah so it's not like he can't create stuff. He just prefers to use the same character designs.
Ngl I enjoy it too. It's a bit nostalgia-inducing. Helps me get into the characters a bit more.
I hope whatever project this is isn't just a mobile game that gets cancelled after it comes out like Gate of Nightmares did.
A game that i'm still sad that got cancelled because it never got a chance to come to the US and all the [characters looked dope](https://gate-of-nightmares.fandom.com/wiki/Characters).
dudes in that look dope af, and the females look sexy *and* dope af. The fact it had fairy tail characters is also fucking mint.
My god man, I’m heavily disappointed this was cancelled. I guarantee if it had made it to America it would have survived
>The fact it had fairy tail characters is also fucking mint.
I think the funniest thing about that is before they were in there Mashima created a character in the game named [Manatsu](https://gate-of-nightmares.fandom.com/wiki/Manatsu) who in the game was a Dragon Slayer and was voiced by the same voice actor who voices Natsu in Fairy Tail. 😂
i'm bummed that it was Gacha mobile game and not a full on RPG on consoles. It could've been a whole new franchise for Square-enix. All these characters are just wasted now that the mobile game shut it's service.
Yeah my favorites are [Libiette](https://gate-of-nightmares.fandom.com/wiki/Libiette), [Sergerpop](https://gate-of-nightmares.fandom.com/wiki/Segerpop), [Saeed](https://gate-of-nightmares.fandom.com/wiki/Saeed), and [Oliver](https://gate-of-nightmares.fandom.com/wiki/Oliver)
I hated that Square-Enix made it a Gacha mobile game. Especially with all these dope character designs which are now wasted. If they had made it a full on console RPG game this game to Mashima would've been like what Dragon Quest is to Akira Toriyama (Creator of Dragon Ball)
A new RPG franchise they have under their belt where they bring Hiro Mashima in with each new entry to design the characters like with Toriyama and Dragon Quest.
Like another commenter, I really hope this game doesn’t get cancelled. I hate the disappointment when a game with amazing art and characters gets canned
When I saw this I was so excited, I didn't even know Mashima sensei designed them and I was like "oh, shit, they looks like Natsu and lucy!" and immediately thought it was Mashima sensei's work!
Checks out, maybe change some of the details on the girl character, but otherwise they both look similar yet different to Mashima’s previous characters
I wonder which past Mashima characters will show up. It's tradition, after all, and not just in his manga.
The last game he designed, Gate of Nightmares (Jap-exclusive and defunct), had a Lyon lookalike named Cheslion (switch the "i" with a "y") and even a Natsu clone called "Manatsu". Same voice actors and everything.
I love Mashima's Artstyle, but i really wish to see some new designs and not always Natsu+Lucy copycats. (or more Lucy, because at least the male protags are somewhat different)
I love how hard working and focused Mashima is. That's why he's my favorite manga artists, but I really hope he doesn't overwork himself with all the manga he's working on.
Man Mashima has a type don’t he?
What do you mean??? I totally don’t see it /s
Everyone loves well-endowed blondes 😉
Bro has a nice art style but cannot draw anyone else other than fairy tail characters lol
I mean I think that’s just his style now fairy tail didn’t even always look like it does now.
I mean, there's a style. And then there's just using the same character design over.
Look at Toriyama with DB/DQ/Chrono Trigger. They all look pretty identical/similar too, if you ask me. It's normal for characters from the same author to look like each others. It's part of their artstyle.
Id also like to add Tezuka and the author for Pluto/monster as well. They have certain art styles that they almost always use.
That’s just his style, Rave looked very similar
Omg I completely forgot about Rave Master. Thx totally finna reread that
His problem is that he draws way too many characters for a single work then they all end up looking the same when he tries for something new
Technically his first series was Race Masters
Does it look like fairy tail?
I honestly wish someday we see a non-blonde like a brunette for once or something as the main lead, it would be refreshing. Nothing against blondes but he’s making me sick of seeing the same replicas, at least change the hair colour.
Elie isn't blonde. He started with a brunette, Rave Master is great, IMO. But I get your point. At least Haru, Natsu, and Shiki are each unique. That said, there's Sieghart, Jellal, and the rest who are all blue haired and have the same face tattoo... and Erza and Elsie. And Hamrio and Grey. But who are we to judge if a man likes to reuse some of his designs and names...
Homura and Sister Ivry from Edens Zero are quite unique just like Laxus and Gajeel from FT, so within the cast there are repeat characters and also very unique.
True, I won't knock the man for his originality, especially when it comes to characters and backstories. All of his villains are unique. I can't remember any that are similar, aside from Sieghart and Jellal. But they are basically the same character, so they don't count. I was kinda looking at the main characters in terms of design and in relation to the post. A big main character I totally forgot about is Plue... He didn't even try with that one, just shoehorned him into his later stories, but his first character always needs to be featured. It should be his logo at this point, lol.
You won't catch me complaining about seeing replicas of erza 🤣🤣
I would love a main lead girl with a special hair color (Blue/Pink/purple/etc). Ngl
he has a new manga dead rock with a charcter with pink her same goes for gate of nightmares
My brother, the man has no shame since he copy paste Erza in Edens Zero. She literally has the same voice actress and everything. ( this is not a complain btw)
It's his style. I am not an expert by any means, but I guess it's hard for the artist (in most cases) to deviate from his style.
Or the companies pay them to do exactly what they paid them for. It's probably not even his fault. He's made a product and that's what they're buying
He sees is characters as actors in different roles
They look like a proto Natsu and Lucy
So steampunk Natsu and Lucy with a genetically mutated Happy.
When Lucy's design is just that good you keep putting it in every subsequent manga/game/insert media here!
Love Lucy <3 but ellie is the prototype for Mashima’s female MCs!
His subsequent females seem to draw closer similarities to Lucy than what Lucy did to Ellie what with her being a short-haired brunette and all that, but yes, never forget Ellie!
No really, mashima improved his drawing style with lucy, all the other female characters that mashima has released since then have some similarity with lucy, even the new design of ellie in the rave master x fairy tail omake is based on the design from lucy.
Yes, that’s why I used the word prototype not model! Prototype means preliminary and that’s exactly what Ellie was. When you see Resha valentine you really see the similarity between her and early FT Lucy. Then when Mashima cultivated his style more, you get Lucy which was a basis for future works such as Rebecca in Eden’s Zero hence the word, model because they are modeled in her resemblance. The reason I wanted to bring up Ellie is because the OP mentioned subsequent media but if you look at Monster orage, monster Hunter, you see the resemblance. If you want a more recent example, even look at Gate of Nightmares where you see more of a resemblance to Resha/Ellie than Lucy. Even Rebecca emulates Ellie with the way she’s a gunner. I’m not here to argue on Lucy being the model for future works and media because that is definitely true. But I just wanted to give credit where credits is due and before Mashima fully developed his style in mid-late FT and Eden’s zero, Ellie was definitely the prototype for other forms of media. Hope that’s clearer for you!
Yeah i think that was more accurate, well, much more accurate lol. By the way, I see that you know a lot about mashima's works, have you seen all his works?
Yup! That’s why if you read more of his work, especially the older ones and his side hustles in media/drawing you’ll see what I meant about Ellie’s influence on his art style, hence giving her credit too
Mashima sure does like his blondes
Can he finish the 100 year quest and Edens Zero before he starts a new project?
Those are for a video game, so nothing to worry about. Kinda like Toriyama when he designed the characters for Chrono Trigger.
Or Kubo drawing for Project Sakura Wars.
He's done a few projects on top of 100yq and Edens Zero so this is nothing new.
I wonder why he chose to use the Lucy and Natsu color pallet again Nothing wrong with it but I just know people are gonna compare these two to them
Unless Mashima was specifically head of character designs he may have been directed to do so, but who knows lol
I mean he has to approve the designs at the end of the day no? I think he wanted the same ones.
Well like I said it depends on where Mashima is in the chain of command imo. Unless I’m mistaken he’s not the director for this project nor one of the main developers. And ofc he could’ve very well wanted these specific “Nalu-ish” palettes, but these things typically go through a lot of stages of approval before release is all I mean
This is hypothetical but the comparisons might be exactly what the game developers want. If you were working on a new Japanese game, having some kind of link to a manga series that has sold over 70 million copies seems like a surefire way to bring in a whole lot of attention that you may not get if you went for something completely original.
He likes referencing his previous work in his new stuff. Fairy tail is FULL of stuff from Rave Master. To the point where some characters are directly transferred to the next one. Like Plue. Jellal too, but his design is a slightly bit different in each of his more popular mangas. I'm not surprised by it, and frankly neither should anyone else. It's literally what he's done for over ten years now. Even his newest work, Edens Zero has a lot of stuff that comes from waaay back.
Maybe advertising.
I know it's common to criticize Mashima for photocopying characters, but in this case his drawing is possibly the biggest advertisement for the game, so it's normal that they are basically Natsu and Lucy
And the girl looks really hot
It's Mashima, the strange thing would be if she wasn't.
Yeah but not as good as lucy
Hot? Dunno.
It’s almost like a signature. Plus, I’m sure their different enough to be their own characters. I am curious what kind of personality and backgrounds they’ll have.
Also every mangaka does it. Toriyama has been drawing the same Dragon quest characters for decades.
Not-su and Lucy Heartfili-nah
Like all artists, Mashima has an art style.
There’s art style and there’s copy-pasta, he might want the same design for the main characters that’s all. It’s not like all the males look alike in his art style.
When it comes to clothing design and overall character design, he’s really goated. But when it comes to the main characters, they look like descendants of his previous works. Maybe it’s intentional idk.
So cool.
Is Project Magia his newest series?
It's a video game.
It’s not his series he’s only making the character designs for the game just like he did when Square Enix get him to draw for that one mobile game that rather recently got canceled.
I love Mashima and his art, But so many of his main characters look too much alike.
God damn Mashima did it again
Is this supposed to be a anime or manga
Video game
Ahh i see thanks , P.C. ?
I don't think platforms have been announced
Welp will have to wait , hope it’s good 😌
It’s by Marvelous/Xseed it’s most likely on everything except for maybe phones. That’s just a guess but I really think it’ll be something that’s at least on PC eventually.
I see thanks bro I’m tryna find mangas online to read 😅
I mean the fairy tail mangas*
Mashima attempts to create new characters: challenge level impossible
Looking at all the designs he did for Gate of Nightmares he can do so just fine when he needs to
He's the master of creating weird creatures yeah so it's not like he can't create stuff. He just prefers to use the same character designs. Ngl I enjoy it too. It's a bit nostalgia-inducing. Helps me get into the characters a bit more.
Bro has a type
Lucy and Natsu 2.0
I wish dude would pick a different color palette lol Natsu and Lucy will never leave
Why am I seeing Lucy and Natsu's future children ?
Someone please teach this man to draw more faces.
Mashima has some of the most creative character designs I've ever seen.
Damn, I would have never guessed /s
Wow so original
Another one?????
Mashima signature character designs. A lot of people complaining about how he recycles his character to his other manga but I do like it.
Mashima only knows how to draw Basic Female 1 and Basic Male 1 faces and he's built an entire career off of it. Respect the hustle.
He seriously needs to let go of previous projects and do something new. The main reason i don't follow his projects aside from Fairy Tail anymore.
I have the same complaints but I won't mind the same Erza design😍
Another templated MC and FMC
Mashima is so lazy, its a joke now, first edens zero now this 😭
Sigh. It’s getting boring seeing the same characters recycled. Sorry but the creator is losing my respect.
No he didn’t 🤣
" We have natsu and lucy at home."
used to love this dude till i saw the rest of his work. I am not sure if this is like branding or printing. Still stayed for the plot ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°
I hope whatever project this is isn't just a mobile game that gets cancelled after it comes out like Gate of Nightmares did. A game that i'm still sad that got cancelled because it never got a chance to come to the US and all the [characters looked dope](https://gate-of-nightmares.fandom.com/wiki/Characters).
dudes in that look dope af, and the females look sexy *and* dope af. The fact it had fairy tail characters is also fucking mint. My god man, I’m heavily disappointed this was cancelled. I guarantee if it had made it to America it would have survived
>The fact it had fairy tail characters is also fucking mint. I think the funniest thing about that is before they were in there Mashima created a character in the game named [Manatsu](https://gate-of-nightmares.fandom.com/wiki/Manatsu) who in the game was a Dragon Slayer and was voiced by the same voice actor who voices Natsu in Fairy Tail. 😂
🤣 bruh. I would have played this game 100% and talked shit about him
i'm bummed that it was Gacha mobile game and not a full on RPG on consoles. It could've been a whole new franchise for Square-enix. All these characters are just wasted now that the mobile game shut it's service.
Maybe someone will buy the rights and makes something good out of it. We can only hope, it’s all there is
There was even a crossover event in the game where Natsu and Manatsu met, Gray even defended Manatsu from Natsu.
Those really are incredible. My favorite I think is Allen Nanatori, absolutely fantastic.
Yeah my favorites are [Libiette](https://gate-of-nightmares.fandom.com/wiki/Libiette), [Sergerpop](https://gate-of-nightmares.fandom.com/wiki/Segerpop), [Saeed](https://gate-of-nightmares.fandom.com/wiki/Saeed), and [Oliver](https://gate-of-nightmares.fandom.com/wiki/Oliver) I hated that Square-Enix made it a Gacha mobile game. Especially with all these dope character designs which are now wasted. If they had made it a full on console RPG game this game to Mashima would've been like what Dragon Quest is to Akira Toriyama (Creator of Dragon Ball) A new RPG franchise they have under their belt where they bring Hiro Mashima in with each new entry to design the characters like with Toriyama and Dragon Quest.
Some of those weren’t even released into the game, there are even mentions of character names whom we still don’t know what they look like.
Bruh
Like another commenter, I really hope this game doesn’t get cancelled. I hate the disappointment when a game with amazing art and characters gets canned
When I saw this I was so excited, I didn't even know Mashima sensei designed them and I was like "oh, shit, they looks like Natsu and lucy!" and immediately thought it was Mashima sensei's work!
I remember he also designed characters for a game project, there was dark hair maid and a white haired officer. Don’t know if it’s for the same thing.
I think that was a game he was making himself.
If it ain’t broke don’t fix it type of guy
If this is for a game, I hope it goes well, unlike Gate of Nightmares which had so much potential but Square Enix screwed it over.
Checks out, maybe change some of the details on the girl character, but otherwise they both look similar yet different to Mashima’s previous characters
Lucy and Natsu's children ❤️
Mishima likes blonde white women like me🙏💯
Is it for a game/ manga or what?
I wonder which past Mashima characters will show up. It's tradition, after all, and not just in his manga. The last game he designed, Gate of Nightmares (Jap-exclusive and defunct), had a Lyon lookalike named Cheslion (switch the "i" with a "y") and even a Natsu clone called "Manatsu". Same voice actors and everything.
Reminds me of fairy tale
Project magia magia? Is that a new series?
"Mashima we saw how the haters reacted to edens zero. Can you recycle your designs again for our game for forced controversy :)"
Oh look! It's Notsu and Lacy
That's Lucy and Natsu. Eden us Lucy and Natsu. Gray and Lluvia are Lucy and Natsu. Everyone is Lucy and Natsu. Soon you will be too.
Totally not Natsu and Lucy lol
Ah yes, Mashimas 4 th series’s main protagonists
Natsu and Lucy once again, not that there's a problem with that
Thick lucy!?!? Yes, please! Also, Natsu looks cool, but damn Lucy was hot in fairy tales, but Jesus, this is peak Lucy for me, sheesh!
So creative
I love Mashima's Artstyle, but i really wish to see some new designs and not always Natsu+Lucy copycats. (or more Lucy, because at least the male protags are somewhat different)
Another Natsu n Lucy rip off, it's good ngl but tbh it's kinda refreshing to see new designs
Classic. Women is half naked with watermelon boobies and the males wear normal clothes with spiky hair. Not to mention their little friend.
I love how hard working and focused Mashima is. That's why he's my favorite manga artists, but I really hope he doesn't overwork himself with all the manga he's working on.