Ranked #60

Fairy Tail

Those that are done raging between anime/manga adaptions feel free to read. Those who still don't understand why books and movies will ever be the same feel free to go away. With that being said, Fairy Tail is easily the best Shounen anime to date! Take this from a non-hardcore shounen fan. Granted, i do enjoy shounen as a casual viewer (despite me seeing over 3000 shounen eps) but I stand by my statement 100%

Sounds a little bit shallow but please let me elaborate. There have been countless shounen anime throughout the decades. Some lasting a few dozen episodes, others spanning 100's of episodes. Ever since Astro Boy, children all over the world have been enjoying cartoons such as these, but they all had one thing in common, countless flaws. If you are watching any of the big three, you know what they are. Long fights, long story arcs, long recaps, long explanations, annoying characters... basically tricks to extend the length of an anime series.

Fairy Tail takes all those ideas and throws them in the trash. You want short, awesome fights that does not last for weeks? Check! You want story arcs that are full of action, comedy, and a little seriousness? You got it! Most importantly, aren't you tired of characters explaining/chanting their fighting moves every time they use it?!?! I'm looking at you Bleach and One Piece~! Fairy Tail takes all the things that makes watching shounen anime great and throws out all the junk that that makes shounen ...well, junk.

In the beginning, it looks like it is an atypical shounen story of a boy/girl trying their best to improve their skills. Although it has that element, it is all about being part of a team. This team is the mages guild called Fairy Tail. A motley crew of mages with their own unique fighting styles, personalities and looks. There are so many characters in this show, one would find it hard not to like 3-5 characters out of the lot. Watching only 22 episodes, and you will be introduced to over 2 dozen members of fairy tail. Even the way they introduce all of their characters and their powers is awesome. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, such is the case here. It's a shoot first, ask questions later style, which how it SHOULD be.

Since that is the case, less time is taken to explain things you already know and actually put toward story and character development. Another amazing feat done by this anime series... episode recaps last LESS THAN 30 seconds! Talk about innovative! I know purists complain that it "doesn't follow the manga to the word!" but really, what manga does? I may sound like a broken record but if you keep an open mind, you can see this series is a cut above the rest. All arcs are told in typical anime fashion, problem arises and the team must stop them. But I'll be damned if you cant get excited seeing all the action and/or comedy that is packed in to a half hour. It will even manage to surprise you in more ways than one! "Kya!" Comes to mind.

With the sheer number of characters, you would think there would not be enough time or story for all of them. But they all get more than enough airtime considering they're not the main four characters. Natsu, Grey, Lucy, and Happy will of course, be the ones being followed the most, but you will see how much everyone else will be in the shot. My personal favorites are Mirajane and Ezra. On the topic of favorites, you will notice there are a large number of A-list seiyuu participating in this anime series as well. You might notice the voices of Ranka Lee, Taiga Aisaka, Izumi Konata, or even Saya Otonashi, are in here. Main or support, the voice cast can not be ignored.

Another thing that can not be ignored is wide screen format and overall high production value of the animation. Usually quality drops after a few episodes, but for an anime style such as this, it lends itself on opportune times to use low quality animation over high quality and for the most part works amazingly well. It sure might look like One Piece at a glance but if you compare the two, the difference is like night and day. It is actually a little more comparable to Soul Eater if i had to put a comparison to it.

I'm not saying this anime is perfect in any way. Theres a little flaws that nit pickers might see like the "reuse" of certain animated scenes namely the incantations. Or how the "quality" drops in a few scenes. But isn't that the case with ALL anime? Those problems I mentioned are so subtle and minuscule you will only notice them if you're looking for things to hate about watching this show. To be honest, from the first two dozen episodes, there is nothing overly bad from watching this shounen anime. I would normally say its bad simply because it is a shounen anime, but this has everything I wanted fixed in watching a shounen anime. I especially love how they can pull "random" (i.e. filler) episodes off of the guild message board and go with it. It almost resembles an RPG in that sense. Happenstance encounters or weird pauses in story arcs to start a different one are rare in this sense. The players are all in their place and we are there to watch everything flow nice and easy. Here's to hoping this will last a few hundred episodes. read more

Fairy Tail. You had so much potential.

The story starts of typical, Lucy dreams of becoming a wizard to join a prestigious guild. As soon as she meets Natsu her life is changed dramatically. In the process she goes on magical adventures, facing enemies with her friends along the way. The first episode gave me a quick preview of Fairy Tail, and along the way I made quick assumptions. Natsu seems to be your generic hot-blooded, brawling-fanatic, always-hungry main character and Lucy felt like another damsel in distress slash sidekick. I know I was making shallow judgments based on this exposure but it turns out I right. Watching more episodes I was introduced to many typical character archetypes. One that stood out was Erza. Just by studying her actions and interactions with characters I could classify her with one word, "Tsundere". This isn't very good sign when you can summarize characters with on word or in one sentence. For other character archetypes you get the rival (Gray), the playboy (Loki), the all-powerful, perverted master (Makarov), manly man (Elfman), arrogant power hungry boss (Laxus), the fangirl (Juvia), and MANY more. As soon as the "Job Posting" wall was introduced through out the plot I instantly knew that this was going to be arc based. You know the drill; the mangaka is going invent and make up the story as he goes along. The fighting is extremely predictable for the most part: Villain Team/Guild vs. Fairy Tail. Mini tournaments are emphasized because of the cluster of villains and heroes. It's usually someone from each team/guild fighting One-on-One and then leaving Natsu or Natsu and said teammates against the main boss of the arc. Side characters usually defeat the lesser villains and ultimately the one to essentially defeat the big "arc boss" is Natsu which is incredibly unfortunate. The outcome will always be the good guys win, if ever you witness a battle where the good character is about to lose Mishima is misleading you; somehow that character will win. Power levels are quite confusing. For example, Natsu defeats a supposedly powerful enemy like Jellal in the previous arc but then he gets his butt kicked in the following arc by a seemingly less powerful villain. The humor is quit entertaining but that doesn't account for the mediocre filler episodes. Major character development is yet to be discovered, pretty much everyone stays exactly the same. The plethora of side characters aren't worth mentioning because they add so little with the plot except fight the villains in the "mini-tournaments" and add comic relief with the exception of Wendy, Laxus, Charlie, Gildartz, and Gajeel. Fighting is quite DBZ like, this is most evidently in the Natsu and Gajeel fight. Most of the time it boils down to Deux-Ex-Machina moments like constant random power ups directly (mainly towards Natsu),"Nick of the time" character save situations and "My magical attack/technique is stronger than your magical attack/technique" sayings. Did I mention Hiro is obsessed with friends and friendship speeches? With the power of your friends and your "Nakama" behind you can conquer any challenge in this universe in other words if you see a villain who thinks less of friendship they are for sure going to be defeated or unsuccessful in their plans. I know friendship is amazing but don't over-saturate it to point where it's obviously forced down our throats.

Fairy Tail is a great example of an average Shounen. Perfect for people who are new to the Shounen genre but those who are are experienced will be disappointed.

Pros:
+Everything a Shounen symbolizes
+Entertaining and Humorous to an Extent
+Some Memorable Characters (Happy, Gajeel, Mest, Wendy...)
+Friendly Environment and Atmosphere
+Fan service for both Sexes

Cons:
-No Originality
-Plenty Shounen Tropes and Cliches
-Too many Static Characters (Natsu, Gray, Erza, Gajeel, Lucy, Master, Loki... etc.)
-Uneven Character Spotlights (i.e. Too much Natsu, Erza, Lucy and not enough screen time for other more interesting characters)
-Formulaic/Predictable Story Telling
-No Major Character Development
-Dues Ex Machina Moments

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This is only my third review, and im am not a very skilled english-writer, but please bear with me.

Fairy Tail itself is one of my favorite series. I will try not to compare the anime too much with the manga, since this a a review for the ANIME, but i must note that the fairy tail MANGA is my favorite shounen manga, and i have been following that series for years, also before the anime show started.

Why people should watch Fairy Tail? well if you like the shoune genre, it would really be a waste if you don't! Fairy Tail have all the good shounen points, amazing characters, amazing fights, comedy, and best of all; no long explanations during every fight and every attack (I am reffering to the big top 3 here).

Story: The Story in fairy tail is amusing, but there indeed is not very much plot going on here. Most of the things happening seems rather random. But the story is set up on a group of people in a mage guild named Fairy Tail, where the series main topic probably is friendship between them. With at story like this, not having any special plot actually works. Instead of plot, we have fun and interesting small arcs all the time, which never makes Fairy Tail boring! And we all have to remember that Fairy Tail is still on-going, and there is lot of unanswered questions yet to figure out, so it is possible for a deeper plot to pop up in the end!


Art: Here i must compare a little to the Manga (Sorry). The manga have AMAZING art, however the animation in the manga is not near as good. This is also the main reason why i won't give this anime a overall score on 10. To be honest, when i watched the first episode of Fairy Tail in 2009, i have been looking forward for it to air the whole day, and i was a little disappointed when i watched it. worse was it, that from episode 2 and on to episode 15-20, the animation keept being bad, well, the little animation there where! Fairy Tail, both in openings/endings and in the episodes themself like to use A LOT of non-moving pictures, which is a shame, because fairy tail haves potentiale to have some really kick ass scenes.
The fights lack a little too compared to the manga, or just other shounen series, because of the BLOOD censur (which annoys be greatly! We can not show blood in the anime, but naked girls is no problem!)

however, the anime still manages to have some good fights, where the Erza arc was animated pretty good, and so some of the other big fights.

also, a lot of people have been talking about Fairy Tail being a rip off or copy from One Piece. that is deffintly not true! Yes, the art is somewhat similar and yes both series are a lot about their "nakamas" for really, its two very different stories. Try sit down and read shojo, i can find over 10 stories with different mangakas, but with similar art and story. Fairy Tail and One Piece are NOT the same, Fairy Tail is NOT a rip off, DON'T compare them, seriously ..

Sound:

Fairy Tail have without doubt the most EPIC soundtracks! It makes you go "hell yeah, go fairy tail" everytime the main theme for their fighting scenes plays, and it makes you cry, when the sad themes are played during sad scenes.

Fairy Tail also have an amazing Voice Acting cast (In japanese) with some of the very popular seiyuu's, like Happy's voice actor Kugimiya Rie (Alphonse, Taiga, Shana, Louise, etc) and Lucy's voice actor Hirano Aya (Suzumiya Haruhi, Izumi Konata, etc) and my own favorites, Natsu and Gray's voice actors Kakihara Tetsuya (Simon, Amaimon, etc) and Nakamura Yuuichi (Tomoya, Greed, Gai, Ikuto, etc) and there are a lot more amazing voice actors, but that would be too much to list here now. Go check out for yourself!

Character: There are a lot of characters in Fairy Tail, it should be possible to at least find a few you would like. To me, all the characters are very likeable, i specially like our Main hero Natsu, because he seems bold, but he actually isn't stupid or slow or dense like other typical shounen heros are. Also with our characters, fairy tail manage to create some interesting relationships between our characters, both deep friendship, but also romantic ones, which usally is really rare in shounen. I'm sure that there haven't been lots of girls, watching series like Bleach, One Piece or Naruto and just wishing for some romantic relationships to happen. Well i will say that Fairy Tail manages to give you - maybe not fully canon - but surely lots of romantic possible relationship.

Enjoyment: Unless you really have a problem with half naked girls and breasts, which you really cannot escape from in Fairy tail however much i wish for it, it should not be possible for anyone to not enjoy this anime! It is just hilarious and funny but still have its good and serious moments, and even some complicated relationships between some of our characters, and Fairy Tail manage to surprise me lots of times too!

I will reccomend this anime to all people who like shounen, or like a fun anime with lots of comedy.
There might be some girls, like myself, who doesn't find the fan service rather interesting (Yes - boobs, huge boobs and LOTS of them) but i myself just learned to look over it, since most of the times, this fanservice is invovled with something funny, which really just makes you laugh of it anyway. For guys who like this kind of fan service.. so much more reason for you to watch it!

All in all. Wanna watch a funny, interesting and good anime? Watch Fairy Tail.

And if you like fairy tail, i would really reccomend reading the Manga too. But that would mostly be because of the fact that the art is awesome, and manga contains blood, which makes the fighting scenes look a little more badass, and characters like Gray, is often drawn very hot and cool in the manga, where he get less epic moments in the Anime. Other than that, the Anime and Manga is pretty much the same, i'm surprised to have watched 119 episodes of Fairy Tail, and there haven't been any massive fillers yet. i will believe there have been all in all 10 episodes out of the 119 which have contained fillers, and that was not BAD fillers, and it wasn't 10 episodes in a row, so it made a annoying filler arc. Also the Fairy Tail anime likes to animate some of the many Fairy Tail Special/Extra/Omakes chapters and put them into the series or create some amazing hilarious OVA episodes out of them. read more

Action Shounen's are a genre im very familar with having watched more than i could possibly name so naturally i was drawn to Fairy Tail which seems to be the next big "never ending story" which as of this review has over 90 episodes. While the premise of the series is interesting being about magic and guilds, ultimatley the series fails to really break any new grounds and throughout the course of the 80 odd episodes i've seen has really left me with a reoccuring feeling of déjá vu.

Story

As you are probably aware, the story begins with a teenage girl named Lucy Heartfilia who has set out to become a mage of the world famous guild Fairy Tail. During her search she inadvertently meets a boy named Natsu Dragneel a dragon slayer who has a very fiery personality as well as a huge appetite and is searching for a dragon by the name of Igneel along with his flying blue cat companion named Happy. Natsu invites Lucy to be a mage in the Fairy Tail guild and the two form a partnership along with the ice mage Gray Fullbuster and s-class mage as well as team leader of their quartet Erza Scarlet and as a team embark on various quests and adventures.

The story is seperated into many arcs which is typical of action shounen, each arc is quite short, generally 10 episodes or less (although the last two have exceeded this number) with very few filler in between. This is where the feeling of déjá vu kicks in for me because over the course of the series each arc seems to follow the same basic structure. You have your main antagonist along with his or hers henchman threatening to obtain or destroy something that effects the balance of peace in the world of Fairy Tail to which of course the mage's of the Fairy Tail guild in particular Natsu, Lucy, Gray and Erza are there to oppose them. You may be thinking to yourself "hey doesn't the majority of action Shounen boil down to good vs evil?" but in Fairy Tail while there are some good ones, most arcs are told in the same bland, repetitive, unimaginative and predictable way. To start the main bad guy and his henchman tend to put a beatdown on the Fairy Tail members. Natsu vows to win round 2 at all cost and take down the main antagonist because he is the only one who can and wether its through sheer will power, friendship or some other power up thats what happens and the threat is stopped. Throw in one of the Fairy Tail members (usually Erza) willing to sacrafice themselves before being stopped at the very last moment by Natsu who delivers them a very cliché speech. Then add the main antagonists of this series following the same basic pattern of going from calculative to crazed during the heat of battle to finally either remorseful for their actions in defeat or plain forgotten about the very next arc and folks you have a Fairy Tail arc. The lack of significant consequences at the conclusion for most arcs or the feeling that the story is continously building in a well structured manner, doesn't help its cause either.

The tone of the anime is very light hearted, there's no blood and while death is explored the lives of the Fairy Tail characters or bad guys rarely feel like they are in any significant danger. Even when its insinuated, you know everything is going to turn out okay. The series is also very heavy with humor and wackiness most of which fall flat as the jokes tend to come off very forced. There is also quite a bit of fan service with girls with big boobs and skimpy clothing which really isn't a positive or negative for me.

Characters

Natsu is your typical dense, stubborn main shounen hero with an affinity for food and Lucy is your weak, smart, sexy female character. Each of the characters in the Fairy Tail guild tend to have common traits or unsual quirks for instance Natsu's motion sickness which leaves him incapacitated, Gray's always unconsciously stripping his clothes off, Erza being a tsundere and guild master Makarov being an old pervert ect. Throughout the course of the series we get a decent back story on the four main characters + Happy aswell as some of the supporting cast. While the series does well to show some of the hardships the chracters went through there really is very little character development outside of this and for the most part there is even a lack of explanation for what motivated the characters to join the fairy tail guild or what their goals are while there.

Art and Sound

While it doesn't stand out in any big way, the art is clean and vibrant and the character designs are very similar to Hiro Mashima's other series Rave and is typical of what you would come to expect from a shounen series in this day and age. At the beginning of the series the animation was quite poor and there was an overuse of magic circles and still frames but as the series progresses this gets toned down dramatically and there is a notable improvement in the animation. The sound is another good aspect of the show it borrows heavily from old english folk music which really works well with themes of magic and festival that inspires Fairy Tail. A warning to those reading you may want to skip over the openings and endings of Fairy Tail they usually spoil alot of whats going on in a upcoming or current arc.

Final Words

Fairy Tail is a series with alot of potential that a lack of creativy, originality and at times pacing stop it from being anything more than another generic action shounen anime. Its a show i could reccomend to someone who is new to the genre, enjoys generally short arcs with little filler, a younger viewer or someone who is a big fan of the whole magic and guilds theme. To those who have already 'seen it all' in this genre, particularly an anime like One Piece, there's really is no good reason for you to be watching this series unless you have time to kill.
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Story: 5 (Mediocre)
Fairy Tail is a shounen anime that revolves around a Mage Guild called 'Fairy Tail'. Each arc in the anime revolves around 4 main characters; Natsu, Lucy, Erza and Gray.

The first few arcs in the show have varying plots that slowly unravel these characters' pasts. Later arcs have plots related more-so to the guild's history, but the show never fails to ruin a good plot with the addition of random bad guys used purely for battle-scenes, so characters can power up with the power of friendship. yay.


Another downfall to the story of Fairy Tail is that is had no direction it is moving in. Okay, so Natsu has his ultimate goal to find his trainer and guardian Igneel - the dragon that raised him and taught him Dragon Slayer magic - but the anime is over 150 episodes long and we haven't seen even the slightest trace of a dragon.

Art: 6 (Fair)
The art and animation are also very average, but they do increase in quality as the show progresses. The show is a very colourful and vibrant one, with settings that are always very visually appealing, and characters that have nice attire and yes, the good ol' anime hairstyles we've all come to kow and love.

The reason I gave the Art category a 6 is because the animation of characters is hardly ever fluid, even in fight scenes, the frame rate skips, the punches aren't actually punching, they are just posing in front of diagonal lines... It's just, for an anime that has so much fighting, I expect good quality animation, and it's simply not there (don't get me wrong, there are some good fights, but they are scarce).

Sound: 9 (Great)
Finally, something Fairy Tail has that I find are lacking in other shounens; a good soundtrack!

I believe there are three soundtracks released to date and they are what make the many prevalent fight scenes so damn epic. I would not have watched Fairy Tail past the first few arcs if there wasn't some awesome electric guitar riff going on while Natsu was punching his way to victory.

Characters: 5 (Mediocre)
The story and the characters are a crucial part of a shounen, and should come second to nothing. The main characters in Fairy Tale are given a whole lot of backstory, terrible pasts, shock twists etc etc.
Most character's pasts are cliche and overly dramatic, and these only apply to our main 4 protagonists, and a few side characters (The Elfman, Lisanna, Mirajane trio for example).

Another downfall for characters is that they remain very static throughout the show, and hardly ever budge from their niche. What I mean by this is that every character's past defines who they are in the show, and who they pretty much always will be. There are no moments in the show that change the characters behaviour hardly at all, and I find that very unfortunate.

Enjoyment: 7 (Good)
Obviously there was something that made me gat over 100 episodes into this show. That my friends, was purely because I enjoyed myself.

The comedy in the show is a major highlight, with crazy characters, funny one-liners and silly situations all mixed into one another to make us laugh and smile. And that's what Fairy Tail is; it's fun! Sure it is serious when it needs to be, but you can always count on someone to brighten up the mood almost instantly.

Overall: 6 (Fair)
Okay, so there's the final verdict; a solid 6. Fairy Tail is a shounen anime that shines in its comedy, its soundtrack and a few decent fights along the way, but it lacks in unique and original story and plot, character development, and animation at times.

If you are just starting off on anime, its a great gateway anime, but if you're a seasoned anime fan, there are better shounens out there, and there are better comedic shows out there, so its not really worth the length the show goes for (with no end in sight as of yet). read more

One of those shows that starts out really good but then gets worse as it moves along yet you continue to watch hoping that it returns to its original greatness but sadly it never does. Fairy Tail in a nutshell.

Reasons why it gets worse:
The arcs are very predictable and similar.
The female characters lose more clothing as it continues.
The gags are overly done.
The main character doesn't train to get stronger they suddenly get stronger in the middle of a fight.
Happy doesn't say "Aye Sir" anymore.(big reason, unforgivable)

So go ahead and watch it its not bad nor is it great. And who knows maybe it will suddenly get stronger in the middle of an arc? lol read more

After seeing a total of 77 episodes, I can only come up with one unanimous conclusion, it was CRAP. Always has been, always will be. I can thank you Hiro Mashima, for wasting my time on your repetitive arcs that cover the same damn thing EVERY TIME. But, I guess at the end of the day, all you need to do to make a popular anime nowadays is to have some cute drawings of girls whose breasts are too big for their own bodies, and some annoying character that pulls an energy boost out of his ass at the last second of EVERY MAJOR FIGHT! Yes I'm talkin about you Natsu. Also the series was always fast paced, and tedious at times. There is no character development and no new plot devices to keep it interesting.

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Well, first of all, I would like to start by saying that this is my very first review so forgive me if I fail to do a proper one. I'll try my best though.

Anyway, let me say that I started watching Fairy Tail by mere curiosity. I had never heard of if at the time, but the Freeze fansubs, group that was doing Dragon Ball Kai (as I big fan of the DB series of course I watched it) had it among its projects and it caught my eye. There were only about 30 episodes or so released and I thought that if the group thought of if to be a good series to work on, that I should give it a try. At first I was skeptical because I never really liked fantasy animes that had magic involved, and from the little research I made around the web, Fairy Tail was just a clone of One Piece (a series that I have yet to watch - too much to catch up with). Yet, after a handful of episodes it had me grabbed. It was a very nice surprise. I had finally found a typical shounen series that really satisfied me. Obviously, after catching up with the anime I started on the manga and kept following both ever since. But long story aside, let's go to the actual review of the anime, shall we?

Story - 8

I won't lie, there is nothing of really new and innovating about Fairy Tail story wise. It's your typical shounen anime and all the clichès that the genre entails. It portraits the adventures of your typical carefree shounen hero and his group of friends. The main theme of Fairy Tail is of course, friendship, and therefore good always triumph over evil, not because the good guys are stronger, but because the good guys have friends who support them and that protect each other. As I said, nothing new here. If there is something that may, or may not be kind of new, is that we are not exactly sure who the main character is. At first glance you say, Natsu. He's the strong, cheerful guy with cool powers - the obvious choice. But soon you notice that it's the heroine, Lucy, who's in charge of introducing the story to us, and she's often the center of the story. I find that very refreshing.
The story arcs follow the manga faithfully, and throughout them we are presented with a bit of everything: drama, humor, bits of romance and of course lots of fighting and cool powers, everything in the right doses and well timed. The often dreaded fillers are rare, and when present don't really disappoint, keeping the same spirit of the series and not interfering with the flow of the main story.
One could say that the story is one of the weakest points of Fairy Tail. Yet it is far from being bad. It's the opposite actually. It's simple, straightforward but interesting enough to keep you hooked and far from being bored. You don't need to pay extra attention to be able to follow the plot. Most events are predictable in all good shounen style, but at the same time you won't be able to figure out the story's biggest mysteries until the due time comes.

So while it is true that there is nothing of really outstanding about the story of Fairy Tail, there is nothing of wrong about it either.


Art - 7

Fairy Tail's art is in my opinion the weakest point of the show. There is nothing about it that stands out, neither good or bad. Everything is as expected in a long ongoing series such as this. The animation can vary from fairy decent to something more blend and flat at times. But at least in key scenes of the story the anime staff seems to put extra effort in the art and its animation.
All in all, even if the art in Fairy Tail is not anything worth of jaw-dropping awe, it is good enough not to make you cringe. It's on the same quality level of any other long series anime show currently airing.


Sound - 9

I'm giving 9/10 mostly because of the OST (background music). I may not understand much about music, if it's well composed or not, if it's rich or not, but I just know I like what I hear. The music always suits very well the moment which is playing, being varied enough to suit whatever moment is playing. The music has a particular significance during emotional scenes. It helps conveying the feelings of the characters.
The sound effects are neither bad or good. Most of the times you don't really notice them. But that's a good thing. It means they are well timed and serve their purpose. But there is one sound in particular that I particularly like. I call it the "ecchi" sound. It that little "ahhhh" you hear in every scene where there is any sexual reference. It's hilarious really. It's not unique to Fairy Tail, but it's in this anime that I've seen it being used better.
The voice actors also seem to know what they are doing pretty well. All characters sound good and befitting of their personalities. i would say the cast was perfectly chosen and they make such a good job that you tend to forget that what you are seeing and watching are animated characters.
The opening and ending songs are nice too. I personally prefer the ending songs mostly because they are usually more on the slow side. But the openings songs always have that hype that really say "look, this anime is cool and very fun to watch" .


Characters - 9

Here is one of the points that I think Fairy Tail has of best. There is good number of characters, suitable for all kinds of tastes, all of them interesting and likable, both main characters and supporting characters. Every single character is unique in their own way. It's normal to have one character or two that you like best, but in Fairy Tail you will find yourself having trouble electing one. They are all so cool and/or funny. Throughout the series most of them have a good share of development an focus. Even minor characters are important. Even if they don't do much by themselves, they are an important part of the whole.
As I mentioned earlier, it's not easy to define who the protagonist of the show is. I guess we can talk about a main group instead of a particular character. Which, in my modest opinion, is a good thing. I get tired of anime of this same genre that talk about how important is to work as a team but that in the end everything is put in the hands of one main character while the others stay in the sidelines, being useless or getting in the way.
There is another thing that I really like about Fairy Tail characters - the female characters are not there just for fan service. Most of them are strong and can put the male characters to shame.

Enjoyment - 10

I'm giving such a high note to 'Enjoyment" because in all sincerity, Fairy Tail is, above all, fun to watch. There have been several occasions where I was brought to tears, both from laughing or from getting emotional. And Fairy Tail does a good job at balancing all those good and happy emotions with the sad and bittersweet ones. It's curious how you will find yourself laughing even when the characters are at a particularly difficult situation. It wouldn't go as far as calling it comic relief though. Comic relief usually is only present in between "heavier" scenes or when a particular character is present. But in Fairy Tail it looks like every moment is a moment of comic relief.
It's not just the comedy that is enjoyable though. As any good shounen, Fairy Tail provides laughs and tears. And although most of the fights are resolved quickly [that's right, in FT fights aren't dragged on forever] you will feel "pumped up" even after they are finished.
All in all, Fairy Tail has a happy vibe about it that will put a smile on your face every time you watch it.


Overall - 9

Fairy Tail is not the perfect anime masterpiece, not at all. It has its flaws and its qualities like any other anime. But if you let yourself go with the flow you will find yourself really enjoying it, independently if this is your kind of show or not. I highly recommend you try it. I'm convinced you will not be disappointed. read more

At first glance, this anime doesn't appear to be anything different than other shounen animes. However, if one is to take the time to watch this anime through even a few arcs, they will realize that it's comparable to Gintama in the fact that it can be an episodic anime that can make the reader laugh, cry, and shout for victory. Any loose ends that seem left open early in the story are left there on purpose! These will become important as the story progresses, and do not worry about being left in the dark, because there will be back-stories when necessary. This is not an anime where the arc will pause for practically a season long back story *cough* Bleach/Naruto.

At times, the art seems inferior to some anime's and at other time's there is nothing better. As you draw towards the current episodes, you will realize just how amazing the art can become.

Great anime that anyone loving action and comedy should watch! read more

Ok, I watch Fairy Tail because everybody say it's similar to One Piece or FT is ripping off One Piece. Here are my thoughts from a One Piece fan point of view.

Story: 6
When I just start Fairy Tail, I was REALLY excited. A world of magic where everybody (mostly) have unique magics (just like One Piece Devil Fruit ability). Then they are in a guild with lots of colorful characters and a request board where they can do quests and earn money. I thought, wow, that's a really good base for some creative and unique story. But unfortunately, their adventures are kinda lacklusture compared to One Piece's. One Piece really had some amazing adventures (Sky island, desert kingdom, haunted island, fishman island under the sea etc). But I understand Fairy Tail is a lot more condensed. Each arc normally last only about 20+ episodes. One Piece is focused on Luffy's ambition to become the Pirate King. Fairty Tail's main objective is.. Natsu's search for Dragneel?? (I'm really not sure).

Art: 8
The art is Fairy Tail is pretty conservative and stick to those typical modern anime. It'll appeal to wide range of audience. I know a lot of people are turned off by One Piece's unique art. One thing that really bugs me is the amount of fan service in the later part of the story. Lucy just happen to get her shirt torn off in every battle. I'm ok with fan service, but when it happens in a battle, it's hard to take it seriously.

Sound: 8
This is not my forte. I don't really research much on voice actor/actresses. My impression of the music is good, the celtic style music suits the whole magic theme.

Character: 7
There are lots of colorful characters in this anime. And their interactions are funny. Most if not all of the major characters have their background story. And Mashima had a lot of planning put into this, when you will find out how he/she got her name, or why he/she act that. But maybe Mashima put too much effort into this when one of my reaction when knowing how Erza got her name I was like.. "Come one..". However, the characters are not that wacky or as distinct as in Once Piece. And Erza's background is similar to Nico Robin, but Nico Robin seems so much stronger becuase Erza dwell too much about her past. It's sad because she should be the tough one.

Enjoyment: 9
The fighting in Fairy Tail is not really intense. Since most of them will be done within an episode. My favorite battle is when Mirajane is fighting =). It really eclipse even Natsu's battles. The jokes in FT is pretty funny, and the huge number of characters are fun to watch.

Overall: 8
Overall, I had high hopes when starting this anime, my enthusiasm slightly wane during the middle. It's a good anime, don't get me wrong, I even read the manga after I caught up to the anime since I want to know what happen next. Just don't predict this anime, because there are too many "ohh.. ok.." moments, like the author making up his own rules along the way. But that's to be expected in "magic" world right?? read more

I'm going to be continually updating this review as the show continues. Currently, I've seen 20 episodes of Fairy Tail and I'm extremely pleased to say that they've upped the artwork and animation. In the first few epi's, things felt a bit below par, animation was re-used in some fight sequences, and overall gave you the feeling of a resounding "meh." Over the last few episodes, Fairy Tail's animation, it's soundtrack, and it's storyline have all truly begun. Character introductions are over, and the true Fairy Tail of the manga is showing through. All I can say is watch until episode 13 (a half series worth) and if you're still completely unsatisfied with Fairy Tail, then drop it. But keep in mind, this is a shounen anime, and sometimes the beginning is nothing like the show, or simply lacking.

Story:

Fairy Tail appears to follow Lucy, a Stellar Spirit Mage, and Natsu, A fire breathing/punching/kicking/eating mage who is on a search for his old master Igneel. As the story goes on however, the focus shifts and really embodies all the characters. If you were to compare Fairy Tail's story to any other anime it would be One Piece, as the general theme of adventure, nakama, comedy and climax is there, not to mention the definite similarities between Natsu and Luffy. Overall, Fairy Tail's story is a classic shounen type, but from what they've done in the manga, and how the anime is so far sizing up, Fairy Tail is sticking to it's story, without throwing in unnecessary filler (not just episodes, but the time spent in episodes). The problem with the story section, is that it can be somewhat hard to get into off the bat, but once Fairy Tail enters it's first true story arc, I can almost guarantee if you're a fan of shounen, you'll love it.

Art:

The one big complaint that comes to mind as someone who has read the manga, is the magic. They've gone with this whole "summoning circle" approach, and though I suppose I'm getting used to it, I still know it would be better without. Now, most pilot episodes have sketchy animation. And Fairy Tail is no exception. But what I was extremely pleased to see (while watching the series) is that the animation budget seems to have kicked it into high gear upon the first story arc, and animation quality is not top notch. Don't let the first few epi's fool you, the animation in Fairy Tail is actually pretty good.

Sound:

The background music does a nice job actually, it's upbeat and helps you get a feeling for the mood in general, cause when they drop the flutes, you know something's going down. This is something more recent, but for the first time in Fairy Tail I felt a real union of plot, character and background music to truly bring together a scene. It was powerful, it was invigorating, and very encouraging. Watching the show it feels like it's on a learning curve, starting from episode 1-13. 1-3 it's getting C's in school, 4-9 it's picked up to a B-, 10-12 It's rocketed up to A-, and by 14 I'm seeing real quality work come from Fairy Tail in all aspects. Honestly, if you've dropped this series, I need to say give it another chance and continue watching.

Character:

Fairy Tail's Character scene is diffiult to sum up. I'll start off by saying, they don't do a great job of introducing them. They just bring most of them in, and expect you to like them. And it doesn't really work. Everyone just comes off as being uninteresting or stale at first. But as the show goes on, the characters were developed, and you can start to enjoy them. (This happens around ep. 11-14). After that, you can begin to really appreciate Fairy Tail as the manga has been built up to be. It's running on 160+ chapters, the story's got no problem going for it, you might just have to trust me that the characters start out shallow, but build into being lovable.

Enjoyment:

Here's where Fairy Tail gets it's points. Once the cast is introduced you get into the story and it's a captivating tail (see what I did there? ;D). I find myself laughing at Happy's antics, Lucy's misfortunes and Natsu and Gray's relationship/overall attitude. The fight scenes are interesting and eye catching, and the story is fun to follow. Fortunately 161 chapters in, and I've yet to see Fairy Tail's story turn for the worse, like many shounen manga/anime fall victim to. So here's looking forward to an anime that can go strong for years to come.

Overall:

I give Fairy Tail a 9. The story is solid, and it's very enjoyable, and that's really all you can ask. If you want to complain about art, sound, and character, all I have to say is keep watching. My old review said "you'll just have to trust me that things will get better" and I'm glad to see that that premonition came to pass. In my opinion, an anime is all about how much you enjoy it, and Fairy Tail is one to enjoy. read more

So fairy tail's anime has come to a sudden end and thus i find myself with the urge to give out my thoughts on this series. i hope you enjoy it! and i hope you understand that my English is not the best and what i'm saying is merely an educated opinion ^^ also all of my review should be spoiler free.

Story: 6/10
The story is driven by arcs and its structured so each of them features a big boss. the reasons i gave a 6 are: weak development and consistency.

weak development comes into play when i think back to when i started the series. 175 episodes have passed and if you look back to the start how much has the character changed? what about what events have changed drastically the plot? for a 175 episodes, not enough in my opinion.

consistency comes into play when i think about all the things they make up. some spells look so overpowered and end up being weak later on. (rune magic for example) there are many spells that feel that they are just there because the author wanted to create this type of scenario rather than being consistent.

Art: 9/10
No complains here but still not my favorite. The animation is well done and the art has a good style to it.

Sound: 10/10
One of the best soundtracks i have heard in a while. they are many memorable songs and they really give an awesome mood to the show. definitely one of the reasons that made me stick to the show.


Character: 7/10
characters are fine. they is little development in the 175 episodes that i have watched as i said before. however this is not a big deal. my biggest complain about character is that they are over ridiculed. by this i mean they tend to exaggerate certain ridicule characteristics like Natsu's inability to ride vehicles or gray stripping (and everybody overreacting to it). i mean they are fun and all it just that sometimes it is too extreme.

Enjoyment: 8/10
my main problem is that often a very serious and epic mood is broken by a bad placed joke (the scene cut animation also help in this). don't get me wrong i really enjoy comedy i just think that placing comedy in the middle of the climax is really mood breaking. other than that the series was pretty enjoyable. i have to admit that i watched some of it fast forwarding some parts because of redundancy but that was ok.

overall: 7/10
A series that you can enjoy but not a masterpiece at all or something i will put in my favorite list. read more

I will keep this very brief, no point wasting your time reading a really long review.

Fairy Tail had a lot of potential. Tons of it. The story is amazing, and the characters are very well done. What screws it all up is the progression of the story. Things ALWAYS turn out for the best, which gets very annoying at a certain point, because it makes the anime less exciting and more predictable. The most annoying part of it is the amount of times the heroes save the day at the last second. I honestly can't even count the times all the heroes have already used up all of their magic, they are all beaten down, but somehow, someone, usually Natsu, manages to summon amazing strength to defeat a seemingly unbeatable opponent. It makes for a very predictable story line.

The animation is very decent, although almost every female character has gigantic breasts in it, which you may think is typical for an anime, but here it is way way more common, and they don't even make the effort to conceal it.

I did enjoy watching it for the most part, however all the deus ex machina moments in the anime made me feel very frustrated. It could have been done much better, and as I have not read the manga yet, I don't know if the writer or the producers are to blame.

I give this an 8/10, because it is a very easy anime to enjoy. read more

I have currently watched all of the Fairy Tail episodes that have come out to this date. 165.

Fairy Tail has a ton of potential but it just looses it! The story becomes repetitive and the characters do not develop! You don't see them training hard enough, even with the 2 year time-skip. The comedy is getting less and the fan service more.

You can obviously see the anime pushing between pairings. To me, that's not something I like.

Unlike most top anime's, the endings are always predictable. Natsu mentions Nakama and suddently gains plot armor, wins and that's that. He is shown to be able to defeat anyone, even when it doesn't make sense how he could defeat him. After the battle, he doesn't develop nor does anyone give him recognition for what he has done. One of the worst parts for me is that he has no goal. Luffy want's to be the Pirate King, Naruto the Hokage. What is you're goal Natsu? Nothing. With no goal or actual aim for the show, it might remain longer, but with no development.

P.S He only mentiones finding Igneel, which bothers me a lot, since he doesn't even care about his REAL parents.

Story : 6/10
Art : 8/10
Sound : 9/10 (Music is nice BTW)
Character : 4/10
Enjoyment : 7/10

Over all : 6/10 read more

This is my first review!
I’ve heard of an anime called Fairy Tail becoming part of the legendary animes out there. I've watched it, and to my surprise it’s not good as I expected it to be.

Art:7
Well to be honest, I really don’t pay attention to the art when it comes to anime. I think anything goes well. However, compared to other animes out there, it has a good artistic look. Very cartoony and joyful feeling.

Music:7
It actually has very good music. The soundtrack is epic, sounds like medieval time music, and its good. It also has a lot of classical music, like Can-Can, Pomp and Circumstance, A on a G string, and a lot more.

Characters:4
I’ve seen a lot of Shounen animes, and well this is your typical characters you find in an anime. Natsu is your average energetic guy who loves eating, and always pumped up when going into battle. Similar to Naruto and Luffy. Lucy is also your average wacky girl who is very clumsy and not very powerful. Yet she has a very nice body, like the rest of the girls in Fairy Tail. Gray and Natsu are always competing about power and constantly fighting with each other. Finally, Erza is like the babysitter in the group; she is serious, strong, and intelligent. In other words, the characters are not really that unique.

Story:5
This anime is about this teenage girl names Lucy Heartfilia whose goal is to become a great mage. On her way, she meets this boy about her age named Natsu Dragneel , and Natsu invites her to be a member of Fairy Tail. In there, they form a group along with Gray, Natsu’s friend/enemy, Happy, Natsu’s pet, and Erza. All 5 do jobs in Fairy Tail in order to earn money. Its not a very unique or exciting storyline. When fighting, Natsu ‘natually’ gets to fight with the final boss, and wins epictly, like in a typical Shounen anime.

Enjoyment:6
I have to be honest, but the anime does have a lot of humorous scenes. The gang is always fooling around, Lucy always wants to get guys attention but fails, Natsu and Gray are always fighting, Happy always thinks about fish and says the most hilarious stuff, and much other things. Inside the guild is a joyous feeling. However, this is not the reason I don’t like it. When it comes to fighting, the battles are always predictable. Natsu always fights the boss, and wins naturally. Also the good guys always win no matter what. If everyone is in peril, they somehow win by an ultimate attack, or something miraculously happens. In other words, its dull. The battles are not epic or fun to watch. Additionally, not a lot of deaths occur. Everyone always survives to be good and dandy. Not much blood is spilled either.

Overall, I give it a 5. It isn’t exciting and so typical. The storyline is typical, the characters are common, fights are dull and predictable. A lot of people seem to like it because of the humor and cause it has a joyous environment. I like humor, but not all the time.
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Okay, so I wanted to write a review about Fairy Tail for a while, and here it is.

Honestly I nearly dropped the show after a few weeks. The story is just your average shounen, nothing really outstanding yet. The art is only slightly above average, the magic circles look kind of weird and the fights aren't as intense and well animated as they could be. So normally this would have been dropped by me, as many other average to slightly good shounens.
However there were three things that kept me hooked, and these are the main things I want to talk about here.

First, and this is only for the fanboy in me, this show does not only have Hirano Aya, but also Kugimiya Rie. That alone was enough for me to keep me interested for a while, and if your a sucker for their voices like me, then you'll probably really like the interaction between Lucy and Happy. As for the other voices, they are generally quite good too.

The second thing I really enjoyed about Fairy Tail are the characters. Most of the mages in Fairy Tail and especially the main characters are either awesome, funny or both. They are not to deep characters, but Erza, Lucy, Natsu, Grey and Happy as the main bunch are really enjoyable, so are the others like Juvia or Makarov.

But what really kept me watching the show is the music. This anime has one of the best background music I've ever heard. Nearly every piece of music is memorable and extremely well down. From Irish Folk like pieces over Pop/Rock themes to pieces with influence from Symphonic or Power Metal the soundtrack is simply perfect. They could probably show a few stick figures doing their laundry and I would still watch it just because the music is so great. They could even air a discussion of your local parliament and with this music it would seem like an awesome battle. Almost everytime a new piece of music starts I can feel shivers running down my back. The music in this anime is just outstandingly good.

So if you are interested in shounen I would suggest at least trying Fairy Tail. It is a fine show, with a few flaws and an unbelievable awesome Sound. read more

In my opinion, the series was average to start with.
But as it progressed it just kept getting better and better.
Each arc seemed to be better than the arc before it.
If you have seen anime like Dragon Ball Z, Bleach, Naruto, Yu Yu Hakusho and similar anime you'll understand exactly what I mean.
The characters are amazing, especially Natsu, Erza, Gray, Gajeel & Gildarts ofcourse.
The Tower of Heaven Arc, the Fighting Festival Arc, the Oracion Seis Arc, Edolas Arc and the Ternou Island Arc have been the best.
The series constantly shows how friendship and determination can overcome all obstacles no matter how tough they may be.

Story: 8/10

The story, though on the weaker side at first, has its share of twists and turns, and keeps you at the edge of your seat as the series progresses.
It is basically about a guild called Fairy Tail and the members of this guild go on missions and earn money. Those who have seen Naruto will understand the similarity. To begin with, it was just about doing those missions. But like I said, it doesn't stay in that zone for too long. Various things come up and the story takes a completely unexpected turn.

Character & Enjoyment: 9/10

Natsu, my favourite character in this series, fights for his guild and his comrades and overcomes the odds every time with the help of his friends.
He has got that 'Never Give Up' attitude which just makes you want to see more of him. It isn't just him though, everyone in Fairy Tail are like that and they fight for the pride of their guild.
The characters of Fairy Tail are also funny, which overall makes it enjoyable.

Art & Sound: 9/10

Nothing to complain about in this department.
The visual effects have been great and the music couldn't have been better.

Overall: 9/10

Definitely a must-watch series for all those who are in to powerful fights involving magic. Without a doubt it is one of the best Shounen series after Naruto, Bleach,etc. read more

fairy tail:- beat bad guys subordinates, make friends with them, beat the final bad guy, make friends with him/her, throw in some fanservice and flashbacks, throw in some emotional scenes where they cry over pointless crap, have some crappy comedy every 5 seconds, talk about friendship and thats fairy tail for you -_-

it was good, keyword was, but then after watching the same thing happen over and over again, it gets tiresome

Magic, power, friends, guilds, and fights - Fairy Tail.

The anime revolves around a guild named Fairy Tail. The guild has a close bond, strong members, and a handful of enemies. Magic such as wind magic, fire magic, summoning magic, all sorts of magic can be found in this anime. It's the typical shounen anime similar to One Piece, Bleach, and Naruto.

Before automatically stating that this anime must be a "copy" of One Piece hear me out. In theory, you could say every shounen anime is like One Piece; Fairy Tail is not an exception. However Fairy Tail is just as similar to One Piece, as Bleach or Naruto is similar to One Piece. The difference is Fairy Tail focuses more on plainly fighting, emotional moments, and "friendship".

Story 9/10: The story of Fairy Tail is pretty basic, there are different arcs for different scenarios. It's what goes on in the story/plot that makes the anime awesome.

Art 7/10: The art is not that high quality, probably due to the large amount of episodes and of course budget/time. The characters are all attractive/appealing to look at which is a bonus.

Sound 10/10: I really like the OPS/EDs, and two of the characters in the anime are very good singers.

Character 10/10: The characters are really great they make the anime. Their emotions and personalities are what makes the anime shine. The characters voices, attitudes, and abilities are always interesting.

Enjoyment 10/10: This anime is a joy to watch, I could easily watch all 175 episodes in less than a month. The anime is quite humorous, exciting, and sometimes emotional.

Overall 9/10: Personally, I find this shounen anime much better than some other older shounen anime's because of the character's personalities. They aren't robots, or in a strict society where they must act a certain way with demanded respect etc. They're themselves and I'd much rather have watch an anime with relatable characters than an anime with dull senseless characters.





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Fairy Tail is an above average shonoun anime series. It's based on a great manga series, but it does fall a little short of the Manga's quality. However, it is fun to watch, and the characters really do make it what it is. If you like shonoun, then this is a must see.

My score of 8 is disregarding the "filler" that is in the series, though the filler isn't that bad for the most part. There is a noticeable difference in quality when filler takes over. If you are a fan of the Manga and haven't tried the anime then you might be a little disappointed. If not, then you should find this to be a fun series that has its own little charm.

What is Fairy Tail? Yes the "Tail" is how they spell it, and the usage of the word is addressed at one point during the story. In a nutshell, this is a story about mages in guilds that battle each other. There are different kinds of magic, and most mages specialize in one type. It is more or less medieval themed, and the main male lead character is trying to find a dragon (his "parent"). The story holds strong themes of comradery and friendship. It's about finding strength by being a part of a guild, and Fairy Tail is more of a rowdy family than an organized guild. They are always destroying towns by mistake and just getting into lots of trouble while saving people. It has a lot of good messages embedded into it, and it's also filled with lots and lots of comedy.

The anime holds to the overall feel of the Manga for the most part, but falls short on the quality of the artwork. It tends to be a little "cartoony" which takes away from it a bit. There are a lot of inconsistencies throughout the series in the animation and artwork, but it's easy to ignore with all of the zany and comedic scenes.

The music is pretty catchy and works well, and the voice acting is a little above average. There are plenty of cheesy moments, but it all seems to be on purpose. It is overly cheesy at times, but then they come back around and hit home when they mimic the Manga a little more closely. I can't use the word "inconsistent" enough when talking about this anime series.

The story is great, and it's the story that smoothes the inconsistencies out. I love the story in the Manga series, and they don't butcher it too much in the anime. I have definitely seen far worse adaptations. They have interesting but predictable plots throughout the duration of the show, but it really is fun to watch despite that fact.

What makes Fairy Tail are the characters. Natsu is one of my favorite anime characters, hands down. He is the motivational character of the series that drives the others to do their best. Again, he's not as cool as he is in the Manga (by a long shot), but they hold true enough to his character in this series. Every character has their comedic moments, but the anime really does push that trait a little further than its source does.

The series does end before it should, the manga is still ongoing but the gap was closing between the two fairly quickly. They do end it with a "to be continued" so there must be plans for some form of continuation because most series just end with a black hole.

I know I keep saying Manga this, and manga that.... but if you like this series and you haven't read the Manga then you must read the Manga. It's a fun read, and it is a much higher quality. Even with that said, I will repeat what I said before about this being an above average shonoun series, so I do recommend it. read more