User blog comment:KillRoy231/Villains/@comment-4829046-20140706122355

If you grew up with Disney then perfect, that means you know that a villain NEEDS to die at the end or at least get similar treatment and the "killing unsuitable for children's media" rule is bullshit. Rather than old-fashioned, it is damn awesome. But you are right in a way. Those media are usually rather black and white. The good guy is so pure and the baddie is so evil that he/she embodies Darkness. In human psychology, it is rarely that case and Mashima loves to do that kind of thing where not all villains are necessarily evil, just that circumstances put them into that situation and said circumstances weren't driven by just selfishness. Still, does that really mean that EVERYONE needs to be redeemed? But I digress, Carrot made a good point below. In addition, Intended Japanese audiences(shounen) aren't as big on character death as we non-Japs are, especially when said characters are well designed. Read or watch the series Bakuman to know how it works when writing manga storylines.

Then again have to give props to Disney for making "Maleficent" which really changed how you would view the original tale. I really appreciate media, anime or otherwise, that give you the VP of an antagonist's life beyond being just an antagonist. I'd say it makes it easier to determine whether the character deserves redemption or not.

And a different thing, the Law(Magic Council) in Fairy Tail is shown to be in a negative light. Not only do some guards harass defenseless prisoners, but they ruin character relationships that the audiences have gotten attached to and even mess with private matters in the name of justice. Also even their best agent gets his hands dirty to do what he thinks is right even if it is against the Magic Council's rules. So really Mashima has made a pretty complex thing in regards to imprisonment or redemption towards characters. I may bitch about too many characters getting redeemed and not enough death, but like I said, nothing is truly black or white.

Here is something about one of my favourite characters. Zero. Is he badass? Yes. Is he an awesome villain? Yes. Does he have some righteous reason for his actions? HELL NO! Should he be redeemed? No. Should he change from a psychopathic murderer? No. Should he have died? Yes. Would I have preferred to see more of him? Yes. Would I hate the manga for not having him? No.

See? I love Zero's character but have no problem with his death. Now take Zeref on the other hand, I DON'T want him to die or get defeated but sadly plot requires it, we need everything to be bubbly and happy in the end after all. However, I do expect him to be defeated in a spectacular manner and am eagerly anticipating it. As you mentioned below, people are attached to villains these days and that is cause they are great characters. However their deaths do not make me lose my liking for them one bit and no way would I hate on the mangaka for doing so. My only problem is when death ruins something else, mainly a romance. However I believe tragedy to be essential in story-telling so I will go away with a heavy heart but a slight smile on my face since the ending is usually a good ending.

However if you REALLY want proper deaths and imprisonments then I direct you to Rave Master by the author of Fairy Tail. You will see just how bold Mashima was in killing off characters. Sadly he got depressed by his own story so he decided that Fairy Tail would be less tragic thus resulting in what you have now which is a mix between people dying and people being impervious to death.