User blog:DancePowderer/Deus Ex Lacrima

Various manga and anime set in, let's call it an earlier time period than our own, employ various for lack of a better term magical items in order to compensate for the absence of the actual technology without compromising the largely historical atmosphere. One Piece, for instance, uses snails for telecommunication as well as video streaming and closed-circuit surveillance units. Fairy Tail is no exception. There are two things that come to my mind when thinking about Fairy Tail and modern technology. The first is Archive Magic. Archive Magic actually puts magic computer technology slightly more ahead of modern technology since holo-screens have yet to become mainstream in modern society. In fact, if you think about it, Mashima is just one connecting hub (telepathy, perhaps?) away from creating the magic internet. The idea of the magic internet just fills my head with so many ideas, most of which make me shudder (you all know what I'm talking about).

The second thing that comes to mind when thinking about Fairy Tail and modern technology as well as just explanations in general, is the lacrima, aka crystals and stuff. By far, this has been the item used the most for mundane objects and otherwise unexplained occurrences. The most common use of the most common story element is, of course, weapons. Bombs, cannons, and just about anything else you can think of, a lacrima can do. There's also communication lacrima, aka crystal balls and LCD screen lacrima (LCD, liquid crystal diode, connection?). The best example of the various uses of lacrima can be narrowed down to one person, Laxus Dreyar. This guy demonstrates the use multiple lacrima. He has his lightning lacrima, which makes the use of lacrima attributable to rune magic, which I thought was interesting. Lacrima can basically be charged or loaded with any kind of magic, which is what makes them ideal in terms of versatility. He has a dragon slayer lacrima implanted in his body. To me, that is the oddest use of a lacrima ever. There just happen to be magical items pre-endowed with such a rare and powerful magic? That being said, what's to stop people from using god slayer and demon slayer lacrima? The dragon-slayer lacrima was the hardest of all of these for me to accept. Lastly, and more to the point, are Laxus's headphones, powered, unsurprisingly, by two lacrima nodes, one on either side. Another odd one I forgot to mention is Ren's tanning lacrima. Again, it seems like Mashima is relying a little too heavily on lacrima for explanations. And don't even get me started on their use in Edolas. Overkill, thy name is Edolas's lacrima.

That being said, I think Mashima's use of the lacrima as a literary device exceptional, if not a little strained at times. I think a magic crystal can only go so far as an explanation before it seems to become overkill, music and tanning lacrima being the key examples. With that out of the way, what do you guys think? Is Mashima's use of the lacrima to explain everything officially overdone, despite being still acceptable? Or does the lacrima still have a long way to go before it starts to be overused as a general explanation?