Template:RavenCoven/September 2015

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Yoooo~ it's that time of the month again. Welcome to another Coven! This month, we're going to talk about the guild's badass waitress...
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Mirajane Strauss!!!

DESIGN
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I ADORE Mirajane's standard design. It's just so cute. Her white hair is a nice change compared to most females, who have ordinary hair colors. The ponytail at the top of her head is awesome, and her standard dress is plain but nice in its simplicity as well.

Though if I have to pick a favorite outfit it wouldn't be her standard one, but THIS:



Woops I'm sorry, I meant this:



I just find that the colors suit her more, I don't know.

What's important about Mirajane is that her design is very important to her characterisation. Her clothing choices come into direct contrast to younger Mira's, whose outfits were more revealing and gothic in style, presumably toned down after the "death" of her sister.

Also, I'm not sure if you guys have noticed, but except from the 180 personality and appearance change when Mira casts Satan Soul, her little ponytail is the only part of her hair that's down, contrary to it being the only part that's up in her usual outfit. See for yourselves:



Needless to say I could talk about Mira's design for ages, which goes to show how much Mashima paid attention to detail when it comes to that. Her appearance speaks without the character needing to open her mouth, which means one thing. SUCCESS!

10/10 PERFECT!

PERSONALITY

Another area where I could probably keep talking for ages, but I'll keep it simple. As a child, when Mira was a demon slayer (I mean not ACTUAL Demon Slayer, but she did kill Demons), she was very silent, reserved and shy. Somehow though, after joining Fairy Tail, she became more playful, loud, and at times mean and obnoxious to those around her, but this all changed after Lisanna's "death", which is where she started concealing her grief behind her politeness and her smiles.

After Lisanna's return, I was so happy for Mirajane, despite most people being very disappointed that she didn't become like what she was in the past. In my opinion, that would be character regression and I'm actually glad she didn't go down that route. It may be subtle, but I think that while she kept her kind and sweet personality, she also retrieved the fun traits of her old persona; she became more confident, playful, and also began taking charge and started fighting again.

So while at times we have her like this



sometimes we also get this



or even this!



All in all, Mirajane is a very enjoyable presence, despite not appearing very often. If there's one thing I do not really like is that she's prone to sticking to the background just so other characters could shine; i.e. saying that Erza should become Master, despite herself being more fit for that position (in my opinion at least).

8/10 Very nice character journey!

ABILITIES

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I'm really conflicted when it comes to Mirajane's abilities. I think it's lost some of its spark, and when she's about to win me back, I end up disappointed again.

For all you Digimon lovers out there I think that the best way to phrase it is to say that Mirajane is the Patamon of Fairy Tail. What was so interesting about her was that she was the guild's trump card, and only released her powers when it was absolutely necessary, as opposed to Natsu, Erza and the like, who were always looking for a chance to fight.

That's also what made it so epic to see this:

https://33.media.tumblr.com/00945e5f0792298ebf86bf0b20060512/tumblr_nu1t4uEl2r1unhnw8o1_500.gif

For friggin' Mirajane to be forced to release her powers, you knew that shit would start to go down. And boy, it certainly did. Her fight against Freed in the Fighting Festival arc must be my favorite to date. The fight took place in the earth, in the sky, in the water, involved spells, punches, kicks, swords, and was really fast-paced. It was AWESOME.

But then, after Lisanna's return, Mirajane used Satan Soul more and more, and it came down to this:

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In order for Mirajane's fights to be a challenge for her, Satan Soul's strength was severely dumbed down, to the point that a surprise punch coming from Elfman defeated Sayla, despite Mirajane's Satan Soul being unable to do so.

Then, Sitri was introduced and I thought it would be really epic in a fight, but frankly it was underwhelming. Did she even ever use a named spell in that form? I don't remember her doing so. Despite its reputation being the strongest Take Over Mirajane had at the time, it was really meh ( ._.)

The most powerful form for me to date must be an anime-only filler form, which is a shame, because THIS



put her standard Satan Soul to absolute shame, and also was faster than Racer himself.

I just think it would be way better if Mashima used Mirajane's Take Overs like Erza uses her armors; she's supposed to have more than 100 Demons iirc, so she should use a different one depending on the circumstances. Hell, even Elfman and Lisanna have used way more Take Over forms than she has!

Oh, she also knows Sleep Magic and Transformation Magic. And she manipulates Demon particles, which was cool in Tartaros, but may not come into handy again except if she could control E.N.D. which would be awesome but I doubt it.

All in all, while she began as my favorite to see in a fight, I think Mirajane slowly lost some of her spark due to dumbing down AND FRIGGIN' LISANNA GETTING IN THE WAY. I'm optimistic she may get better in Alvarez Empire arc, though, since she's supposed to have grown way stronger.

7/10 Not always utilized the right way

SIGNIFICANCE TO PLOT/ROLE IN THE MANGA

I think that Mirajane's original role in the manga was to be the soul of Fairy Tail; kind, sweet, helpful and optimistic. That's why she didn't have any other role in the guild, and why I think she would make a great Master. She was also Fairy Tail's trump card before the introduction of Gildarts.

After Edolas, though, she, like Erza and Laxus, became a "typical" S-Class Mage, a strong fighter who usually ends up fighting one of the strong opponents in each arc.

I don't think she'll have any kind of significance later on, as she is a side-character with no important connection to the main characters, but the fact that she can take over Demons and Zeref creates Demons just might make her somewhat relevant. We'll see.

5/10 Side character level of importance

All in all, Mira's character score is...  7.5/10!!! This has her in second place, dangerously close to Ultear's score. While she lost major points in significance and powers, her design and characterisation kept her score very high.
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Time to see what the others think about Mirajane! I'm sure most comments are gonna be very positive.

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lol I think someone ejaculated just now.

I'm hoping for more badass and less bar tending in the foreseeable future.

...Debatable, to say the least.

That... surprisingly suits her perfectly.

That sums it up perfectly, yes.

And that's about it for this month's coven. What about next month's issue?

Choose a character who barely didn't make it in past covens! Jellal Fernandes Minerva Orland Happy Hades

Our next date is in October!