page_title: Natsu Dragneel
section_title: Creation and conception
hierarchical_section_title: Natsu Dragneel / Creation and conception
caption_attribution_description: English: Los Angeles based voice actor
context_page_description: Natsu "Salamander" Dragneel is a fictional character and protagonist of the Fairy Tail manga series created by Hiro Mashima. He appears in most Fairy Tail media, including both feature films, all original video animations, light novels, and video games. He is voiced by Tetsuya Kakihara in Japanese, while Todd Haberkorn voices him in the English dub.
  First making his debut in Fairy Tail chapter #1, "The Fairy's Tail", originally published in Japan's Weekly Shōnen Magazine on August 2, 2006, Natsu is depicted throughout the story as a member of the eponymous wizards' guild, who are notorious in the fictional kingdom of Fiore for their numerous accounts of causing unintentional property damage with their magic. Being a dragon slayer, Natsu possesses the same abilities as his foster father, the dragon Igneel, namely the ability to consume and envelop himself in fire. Natsu's predominant role in the series is to reunite with Igneel, who has been missing for seven years by the story's outset.
context_section_description: Natsu Dragneel was one of the first characters Hiro Mashima created during the development of Fairy Tail. He was conceptualized as a fire-using member of a courier guild who would suffer from motion sickness, a character trait the author based on one of his friends. Mashima implemented Natsu's motion sickness into the final version of the character, believing that this and his pink hair make the character unique. Mashima cited his own personality as a junior high school student as the inspiration for Natsu's personality, and his father's death as an influence for the relationship between Natsu and Igneel. Natsu's concept evolved in a one-shot short story titled Fairy Tale, where he is depicted as a spirit with horns. He is normally portrayed as wearing black-colored clothing, which Mashima chose in favor of his original choice of red to improve the contrast between the character's fire abilities and clothes. The author mentioned that Natsu had been designed to give the best of himself when it comes to everything. Mashima regarded Natsu's development throughout the story as great and stated that the series could easily progress because of it. The author also commented that Natsu is his favorite character.
  Mashima named Natsu after the Japanese word for "summer" to avoid using Western fantasy names that would sound unfamiliar to the Japanese audience, and to follow up on the fact that the protagonist of his earlier work Rave Master is called Haru, which means "spring". Mashima also said that the names of both characters highlight their personality traits, with Natsu being "a fiery guy".
  Natsu's age is left ambiguous throughout the series, with the character's age listed as "unknown" on the cover of chapter 23. A scene occurs during chapter 108 in which he is trapped behind a runic blockade designed to prevent those over the age of 80 from crossing; as a response to questions about the scene, which were submitted by readers for the "Emergency Request! Explain the Mysteries of Fairy Tail" section of the manga's volume 15 tankōbon release, it is asserted that the character's age is actually not over 80, and that "beyond that would be revealing an important plot point".
  Regarding the anime adaptation of the series, Mashima commented that his favorite part is seeing Natsu and Happy move around, characterizing them as "fun". Mashima stated that he loves Natsu's voice from the anime. When the Fairy Tail anime started being released in North America, Mashima was concerned about actor Todd Haberkorn's voice since Natsu, the character he plays, often yelled across the story. Haberkorn mentioned that one of his favorite aspects of voicing Natsu was leaving the recording studio without a voice. Tetsuya Kakihara, Natsu's Japanese voice actor, said that while he had not initially wanted to voice Natsu and had instead hoped to voice the character Gray Fullbuster, he had come to love playing Natsu and thought he was meant to voice him. He further mentioned that Natsu is his favorite character and considered him "fantastic". He also described Natsu's character as difficult because he has exceptional gifts compared to his friends. Kakihara stated that each scene in which he voiced Natsu remained in his mind, adding that he regarded Happy as his own partner since he is Natsu's companion.
caption: Todd Haberkorn voices Natsu in the English dub.[13][14]
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