'Fairy Tail' Creator Reveals Aged-Up Natsu, Happy Designs

Fairy Tail ended its run last year, but the franchise lives on through its creator Hiro Mashima. [...]

By Megan Peters

Fairy Tail ended its run last year, but the franchise lives on through its creator Hiro Mashima. The artist is known for his prolific use of social media, and Fairy Tail fans are never starved of magical updates. Over the last few months, Mashima has given fans a ton of special sketches, but his latest gift is his best yet.

After all, the drawing does give fans a look at what Natsu and Happy could look like if they were aged up. Naturally, the duo still look like they can kick anyone's butt.

As you can see below, Mashima posted a colored sketch of Natsu and Lucy for fans. The image shows the former looking all sorts of intimidating as he's rocking some scruff, and his unruly pink hair is slicked back just a bit. Donning his usual scaly scarf, Natsu is dressed in a navy jacket and his narrowed eyes make him look more like Gajeel than anyone else.

As for Happy, the blue cat looks totally different from his usual go-lucky self. With a stern frown on his lips, Happy has white facial hair and wears a green bandana around his neck. The Exceed also appears to be in his race's Battle Form which is a first for Natsu's sidekick. In fact, Happy looks eerily similar to Panther Lily when he is in his Battle Form, so Mashima may have leaned on the older Dragon Slayer's appearance to guide his take on Natsu.

The image was uploaded with little explanation, but Mashima did say he forgot to share an April Fools' Day joke with fans. This new sketch may be his attempt to bait readers, but it looks like fans are totally on-board with how Natsu and Happy look here. Many are hoping Mashima refines the designs to create a Fairy Tail sequel in the future that follows its aged-up heroes. So, fans are crossing their fingers that Mashima reveals his older take on Lucy and Gray next.

For those unfamiliar with Fairy Tail, the series was originally created by Hiro Mashima. It is set in a fantasy world full of magic, and Natsu Dragneel is a fire breathing wizard with the powers of a dragon, and is in search of his missing foster father, the dragon Igneel. As he and his wizarding guild Fairy Tail get into adventures, Natsu always tries to find a way to succeed. The series ran in Weekly Shonen Jump from August 2006 to July 2017 and has spawned 60 million copies. It was later adapted into an anime by A-1 Pictures, Dentsu Inc., and Satelight in 2009 and ended its first run in 2013. A second series ran from 2014 to 2016, and a third series is planned for a 2018 release.

Would you watch a spin-off starring an aged-up version of Natsu? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics, k-pop, and anime!

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