User blog comment:Miskos3/Fairy Tail Episode 265: Tartaros arc: That Is the Power of Life, Review/@comment-7418318-20151226095353/@comment-24039234-20151226125444

@Nick: I thought the scene played out acceptable. I felt the happiness was more like a build up to the fall when she finally understood the contents of the letter after making fun out of the handwriting. Of course, you're right, they could've added a touch more desperation in Lucy's voice, to make it harsher, to put more emphasize on the contrast, but, we have to face it: this is a weekly shounen, not a character drama, this as much as we can expect. :)

@Sane: I'm with Nick on most of these points.

I don't see how this is (or should be) an anybody-centric scene: Natsu acts, Lucy reacts, that's all there is to it.

I think Lucy does not say that Natsu is wrong. Human beings are not entirely logical; while Lucy may understand and accept Natsu's logic in her head, she can still be hurt by it emotionally. Showing the emotional side, showing weakness like this tells you leagues more about a character, than any number of herthfelt Nakama speeches. While objectively speaking Lucy being hurt does not necessarily imply that Natsu did something wrong, I still think that that letter was a kinda asshole-ish move. :P In some way, on a personal level, Lucy's reaction is exactly the thing that defines Natsu's actions as wrong. Of course, in his case we can argue that it's out of ignorance and not malice, but after all this time, he should've known Lucy better. Yet, he chose to not think about her, because this is the way he can cope. You can even read this as Natsu not coping positively, since he disregarded his best friend in his selfish need to be alone (and yes, Happy does not count :P). Contrary to you, I think that in this age (remember, most of the characters are under 18), after these events, one year is a lot of time. Especially if you consider the net in-universe running time of the series, which can't be more than two years. Natsu essentially said that "Hey, remember all the stuff we did together and how it changed you as a person? Now I'm going away for at least half that time, okthxbye." I'm exaggerating, but this is (almost) as bad as breaking up in a text message then not picking up the phone. :D And yes, I think that Gildarts is an asshole, too.

Finally, if you say that Igneel was Natsu's greatest goal in life, I can argue that the guild and the friendship (shippers stay away please) with Natsu is the same for Lucy, and the loss of both can have the same effect on her. Even more so: Natsu now has "avenge father" as his new driving purpose, but if her friends go away, Lucy has nothing else (wow, keeping things spoiler free sure is hard). If I'm allowed a dark joke, with Igneel's demise Natsu just reached the average dead parent number and/or tragic past measure in the guild. :D

Then basically I could copy paste what Nick wrote about the seriousness compared to the usual Ft fare. :) I honestly believe this series would've been a lot better if we had more stuff like this along the way.