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One thing that’s always buggged me about Fairy Tail is that we never get an entirely clear idea of how much time is passing, like in a general sense. Sure some arcs we know for sure happen within a set amount of time between each other, like Tower of Heaven happens enough time after Phantom Lord and for long enough that the guild is completely finished by the time they get back. Since Tower of Heaven itself probably lasted around a week, at most, that means it had to happen a good few weeks, if not months, after Phantom Lord. However how much time has passed since Lucy joined the guild is never entirely clear, just kind of alluded to. We have to make a few logical assumptions to try and figure it out and rely on the info we get from the side story chapters that make up the filler episodes for context. None of which are completely trustworthy, of course, but it’s the best we got.
This has been bothering me ever since I decided to rewatch some of the earliest episode. Like, how much time passes, exactly between episodes 2 and 3? We know episode 2 has to happen either the next day or the day after the end of episode 1, depending on the travel time between Magnolia and Hargeon. Close in time, however you think of it, but who knows how much time goes by between episodes 2 and 3. Long enough that Lucy manages to find an apartment and get all moved in as well as develop something of a rapport with Natsu and Happy, they certainly seem closer by this point. However it’s still a short enough time period that Erza isn’t back from wherever she’s gone off too. I don’t know, it just kind of bothers me because when I think about it, most of the story arcs seem to happen so close together that you could arguably say not even a full year goes by between the first episode and Tenrou, which I don’t like, I just wish things were a little extended that the arcs take place over a longer period of time.