Fairy Tail

I decided to watch the show due to the positive reviews. However after starting the show the jokes seemed a little childish and started stagnating.
The show overuses each joke. However this is just my personal opinion. People with different taste in anime might like this.
Personally i feel that the main cast and is simply a ripoff of other good shounen anime like naruto, bleach etc. For example loke seems to have an uncanny resemblance to ichigo from bleach.
The main character also seems to have the typical belief of never giving up and not betraying his friends like other shonen protagonists.
Overall the show ... seems really cliched.

I expected quite a lot from Fairy Tail.
I got less than I expected.
It's quite a popular anime, so I thought it would be a fun watch. I love the adventurous genres. But there were a lot of flaws to it, as my opinion.

In serious scenes, there are funny bits that aren't even very funny, and it ruins the mood of the scene. Also, a lot of the character's lines are bland and unoriginal. So are the personalities of the characters.

There isn't much excitement or action in the fighting scenes, and Fairy Tail is focussed a lot on fighting. Most battles are also really ... short and the scenes go by quickly. There is supposed to be a lot of emotions in the scenes, but they go by so quick that it kinda ruins it.

A lot of the characters' personalities and actions are boring and generic, so that also ruins the fun of it. The main character, Natsu, always uses the same punchline and moves in the fighting scenes, so it gets kinda boring.

Also, there are a lot of unnecessary bits of information and parts of the story that I feel like just don't contribute to the story.

The whole vibe of the anime is nice though, and the art is pretty. If this anime had neither of those, I probably would've given it a 0. Don't really recommend watching it, unless you're really bored and don't have anything else to watch.

if you intend on watching this anime you only really need to watch the first two arks as after that point this show becomes very repetitive.
each and every ark consists of them being attacked or trying to defeat a foe seamingling much more powerful than themselves.
they always strugle for very lengthed out episodes then at the last minute they get some sudden burst of strength and over-come their foes.
this gets very boring and it goes for EVERY single episode and trust me when you have watched as many episodes as i have you will regret wasting your time with this show.
i did enjoy this show ... for quite some time but after watching so many episodes the series started to feel very dry but i felt pressured to continue watching this show.

I was interested in watching Fairy Tail at first because there were a lot of reviews and whatnot saying it was good. It didn't look too bad, I thought that I'd probably enjoy it. But, it turns out I didn't like it too much.

Story: 6
It wasn't a bad show. I actually kind of liked the first episode, it looked pretty fun and interesting. I only watched the first 14 episodes, and it started to feel like they were doing the same thing over and over, and I tried to ignore it, but I got bored.

Art: 7
It wasn't that bad, but it wasn't the greatest.

Sound: 7
The ... openings and endings I saw weren't too bad. The voice acting (dub) seemed pretty cheesy to me and I could tell that this show was geared more towards a younger audience, sometimes.

Character: 7
The characterisations were pretty fun and I can definitely see why people absolutely love this show.

Enjoyment: 5
I got bored too quickly.

I cringe at myself for watching this when I was younger but at least it is not 'Big Order'

The only reason to watch this show is if you don't like your time and want to throw it away on something neither good or bad enough to teach you anything. If you want a good shonon go watch My Hero Academia or Doctor Stone. This show is filled with nothing but cliche plots that have been done better a million times over and enough filler to fill several seasons.

The fairy tail 0 intro is amazing though! I bought it on Itunes because the full song isn't ... on Spotify and it is really good!

Fairy Tail starts off pretty innocuously, following the main character attempting to find someone famed for their magical ability and their membership to a powerful magical guild. It turns out, trying not to spoil things here by being as ambiguous as possible, that this person is not initially who she [MC] thinks they are when they first meet. Needless to say, this plot twist, when it is revealed, is about as sophisticated as the show ever gets with its character interactions as after this the story becomes overtly linear and predictable.

After the first series sets up the universe for us by explaining the magic and ... magical guilds, the most interesting things about the show are the things you don't actually know about it, which is rather telling because this theme persists. The most interesting characters are the ones you never see, the most interesting places are places you don't get to go and the most interesting parts of the story are never fully elaborated on. Such as the mystery of the dragons which is only fully explored in the final chapter and the S ranked members they tease you with for ~200 episodes, then when they finally do appear towards the end it's a brief moment of badass fan service before returning to the same lame content you were dealing with before.

Ultimately the same formula is rinsed and repeated in every chapter. The guild members are contracted for a task by someone(s), they fail their task, usually by some form of ambush by a previously hidden third party, and then they return to the task after said initial defeat and, as you might expect, eventually overcome it. But what is really frustrating is the characters of the show don't overcome these challenges by some kind of endearing character development, it's just by sheer bloody bravado; merely confidence in ones own ability, their will power "to win". The characters never improve themselves or their abilities using skill or personal growth; though some do learn some more powerful magical techniques, these strong and often forbidden techniques they ironically overcome completely arbitrarily with their previously inferior ones, thus immediately rendering the newer, more impressive and powerful techniques obsolete. IE their original powers were superior all along, they just didn't realise it.

So the story is ultimately offensively shallow, but it does at least have some aesthetic. At least besides that horrendous CG magic circles that are rendered during every magical ability execution which inexplicably disappears/stops getting used (admittedly for the best) towards the middle of the show.

The characters aren't too sophisticated, in fact they're rather tropey. The most interesting ones with the most interesting abilities, you barely ever see and the ones you do you've seen a hundred times before. The run away who comes from a rich family, the strong one that has a messed up child hood, the feral kid raised by wild animals, the one keeping up appearances who has the most messed up family, etc.

Once you've watched the first 3 seasons you've pretty much watched them all. It's the same trashy vanilla sponge cake with a different colour fondant thrown over the top each time. You mostly just sit through ~25 episodes waiting for that one moment when something interesting eventually happens. "that one cool character" to show his face, "that one secret ability" to get finally used; and there's never any satisfaction to the series finalé's on account of the fact the characters only ever achieve victory but for the shallow cop-out reason that is "superior will power", blind faith in ones ability which trumps all; and of course they have the best will power because [insert arbitrary reason here].

Basically the show starts off well enough and there is the odd interesting support character, but the same tired formula getting abused becomes exhausting and i only completed it because i wasn't deep enough in the anime scene to know any decent alternatives at the time otherwise i would have dropped it.

Honestly I used to love Fairy Tail. I enjoyed the characters, most of the story, and thought it was just overall fun. I would sing praises for this show. However that changed after someone brought to my attention how provocative it was. So I started to look at it, like really look at it. I saw so many scenes I didn't realize were so disgusting to watch. I know that it is kinda expected when watching anime to see some things in the risky category. But Fairy Tail kinda took it too far and just too much.

SPOILER WARNING


There is one scene where Erza is ... in a maid outfit and the scenes focus on her privates. While doing so Mirajane has her on all fours and starts spanking her in front of everyone.
Now for me not only is it inappropriate and way to fetishy. But the scene just doesn't feel right for Erza at all. To be put down and embarrassed like that just didn't work or fit. A lot of other scenes are like this too but I found this one to be the worst.

I still believe that a lot of the characters are great but just looking back and realizing how degrading a lot of the scenes are really messed the show up for me and kind of makes me feel regretful for watching the show at all.

But if that kind of thing doesn't bother you then, I would maybe recommend it.

Not gonna rant about "there's no character development" because there's at least 1 review that says this for every anime in existence.

SLIGHT SPOILERS/HINTS AT EVENTS.
Nothing major, really, but I thought I'd warn beforehand.

Good Aspects:
-The art was very tolerable, as someone who's fairly picky.
-The sound had a happy/folk sound to it and I enjoyed that.
-Very fun and uplifting for most of the anime.

... Bad Aspects:
-The side characters are much better than the main characters. Lucy is somewhat interesting, but she always loses every fight. I'm not even blaming her, the writer just doesn't want her to win. They stop her magic/ignore the fact that she has a spirit that can save her without her keys. It's extremely annoying that only the idiot can do anything. Natsu is your typical annoying, blockhead MC who just charges straight in and has to take 50 beatings before he can do anything. He is the idiot that always manages to save the day when the writer doesn't want Lucy to be able to do anything. Erza, Wendy, Jellal, Gray, and many other characters were very enjoyable, but not focused on.
-Lots of sidetracking/fillers.
-WHY IS LUCY THE ONLY ONE WHO'S EVER TARGETED? DAMSEL IN DISTRESS STOPS LOSING ITS EFFECT AFTER THE 1ST TIME.

Fairy Tail was anime I first came upon 4 years ago and something I have not honestly kept up with when it comes to the anime, since I have been on and off during the 2014 season. Anyway here is my review of it

Story- Honestly one of the weaker parts of this anime to me. It starts off like any typical shounen anime really. It is split into arcs lasting 10 or a little more episodes. When it transition to another arc, it does a good job of that. It also has a nice light hearted So why is it one of the weaker points ... to me? There rarely seems to be plot development and the story telling can be predictable and formulaic at times. The comedy is so so for me, since I will laugh at some stuff but others will just have me shrugging or whatever. Not every anime needs to get dark, but all this seems like Natsu, Lucy, Happy and their pals at Fairy Tail vs pretty much every other guild a majority of the time in it. Not that isn't bad, but it gets really annoying since that seems to be mostly what it is. It just seems like Natsu and his guild are like My Little Pony sometimes, winning a majority of the time with the power of FRRRRRRIIIIIEEEENNNNDSSSSSSHHHHHIIIIIPPPP. It gets a little annoying

Art- One of the high points of this anime. The animation is good, but has it's ups and downs. The animation at the beginning of it was bad but it got better. The fights scenes were also pretty good, but not something I go crazy about.

Sound- The sound track for Fairy Tail is good. good. The background music does a nice job and the openings to it are great. The endings are hit and miss since I only like a few of them. The rest I honestly skipped

Characters- I'm not going to lie, this is the lowest point in the anime for me. While I like a few like Wendy, Gray and Gajeel (Honestly do not know if I spelled that wrong) most of them are one dimensional. Some are like cliches and some are just there. Granted some of them have their episode to shine, I honestly kept forgetting a lot of the members even in the guild (excluding the main ones we see, can't really forget them) other then Cana, Mirajane, Elfman, Markarov, Laxus and Lisana (barely remember her at times) and probably one more I am having trouble remembering right now. While few get their chance to shine, others are forgettable to me and have very little if any development. And going back to Lisana she is like the worst character they have built up (spoiling a little so avoid this part if you haven't seen it).
They built Lisana up as some child hood friend and possible love interest of Natsu who was supposedly dead. She ending up not being dead but in an alter version some where opposite of the place the story is set in. They ended up bringing her back and she basically ends up being a background character A LOT! Doesn't really talk to Natsu a lot, barely is in battles and if she is she is one of those characters that gets their butts kicked so others will get pissed (Like Mirajane and Elfman) and easily forgettable. I don't hate her, but I honestly don't think the story would have changed a lot if she wasn't in the series. That might just be me

Overall I give Fairy Tail a 6/10. While I came up with a lot of reason to not like it and have major issues with some of it, it is still a good anime. But I would recommend it more or less to people just getting to the anime/manga community, but for people who are already in it or have been in it for years, I would kinda debate recommending it to them

Fairy tail, an anime set in an imaginary land where magic is at use.

Story-5-Fairy tail is very predictable at moments. The first 10 episodes are probably the ones that are the least predictable. It's good but it could be A LOT better.

Art-7-The art in Fairy Tail goes pretty well with the voice actors voices.

Sound-7-The sound is pretty awesome I like how it relates to what sort of moment it is rather then what character is having that moment.

Characters-5-Characters in Fairy Tail are at the average stage. The writer tries way TOO hard to make the characters pasts relate to who they are today.

Enjoyment-4-Because it's not ... really that fun watching an anime that you can easily predict what's going to happen next.

Overall I'd rate the anime a 6.

For my first anime, it was pretty good. So if it's going to be your first then go for it. But someone who's watched shounen anime already, watch it while expecting it to be not so good.

I'd say read reviews on it first before watching.

It's been like 2 years since I've watched it so I don't remember a lot of it, but it was good for an anime starter since then I've started to like other animes more than FT.

it wants me to write a longer review so NOT RELATED TO FAIRY TAIL:
This is my first time using MAL I've never interacted with the ... anime community before lol I just used to watch and talk about it in Youtube comments or SMTH and I used to have a list in my notes or smth lol but I want to have a backup for that so I found MAL to use.

Disappointing. That is the word I would use to describe this series. At first, the main character seemed likeable and energetic, until he wasn't the main character anymore. The story for this anime is quite hard to follow and it is never clearly stated who the main character is. You could argue there are more than one, but frankly, it seems as though the only one making any progress is Natsu. Most of this anime is filled with the "Power of friendship" and fan service, making almost every fight quite disappointing and every slice of live bits, forced. This series is probably fine to watch ... in the background while doing something else, but the plot, in my opinion, isn't worth following. Overall, I'd say this show is very average and it did not bring me nearly as much enjoyment as other animes did. I do not recommend it.

The best way I can sum u Fairy Tail is as follows:

You go to a fancy restaurant and order a multi course meal. The first course look amazing and tastes really good. You look forward to the next course...only to find it's the same food only not quite as delicious. The third course is the same but a bit lukewarm. And so on, and on, and on.

Visually Fairy Tail is stunning...until near the end of Season 1 when the budget clearly ran low and the art becomes a bit of a joke. The audio is also consistently one of the best in anime and ... makes the terrible storytelling somewhat bearable.

The character designs are varied and interesting, but unfortunately by and large are not matched with any character depth. The main male protagonist, Natsu, is among the most disappointing in shounen anime I find. Besides fighting for friendship, looking for his dragon parent and getting motion sick there is nothing to him by and large. Oh he also like to fight almost anything whatever the situation.

The worst aspect by far is the story though. Every arc follows a tired pattern which basically follows these steps:

1) Strong enemy appears
2) Strong enemy beats Fairy Tail back
3) Fairy Tail regroups and bats those enemies
4) The enemies boss appears and beats back Fairy Tail
5) Fairy Tail regroups and somehow wins using the power of friendship/feelings.

The final step is particularly vexing. Unlike say Bleach where they at least attempt to explain Ichigo's power ups Fairy Tail lazily writes it almost entirely off to the power of friendship. And rubs this into your face at every opportunity. This became so nausea inducing tat by halfway through I was actively rooting against Fairy Tail.

Again it's not like the writing doesn't have the occasional good moment, Lucy's backstory was handled alright. Some parts of the tournament arc were well written. But other parts were the opposite. The Mira Jane vs Jenny mode battle has to go down as the single worst instance of forcing pointless fanservice into an episode...

Ultimately the real regret is that this show was wasted potential. It feels like the early success caught the author by surprise and he continued on without a clear vision for it...the result is what could have been remembered as legendary became mediocre at best.

Fairy Tail was the first anime I ever watched, recommended to me by a friend who was very enthusiastic about the show. When I first watched, I have to admit that I greatly enjoyed it; however, as I delved deeper into the world of anime, I had to admit that, whilst it makes a good anime for beginners, it actually has a lot of flaws.

STORY: The start of Fairy Tail has a lot of potential in terms of story, with us introduced to a teenage girl named Lucy who manages to fulfil her dream of joining a prestigious wizard guild when she meets a ... boy named Natsu on her travels. However, after a while the story begins to become repetitive and predictable; Natsu and his friends are made aware of some bad guys, travel off to fight them, usually get beaten badly before rising and defeating them again due to nothing more than strong feelings of comradery and friendship. Now, I have nothing against a little bit of friendship being used as a motivator, but Fairy Tail definitely overuses this perk which, for an anime with over two hundred episodes and over ten story arcs, only makes it drag on a bit. I ended up struggling to watch it near the end, knowing at this point that the protagonists would be victorious no matter how unrealistic the odds were. This aside, the story contains a balanced mix of comedic scenes, touching and emotional scenes, battles, a bit of romance and even some fanservice; in other words, a nice little blend of what you might find in many other anime which, yet again, makes it good for beginners who don't understand yet how annoying plot armour is. STORY: 5 / 10

ART: Again, as a beginner to anime I was clueless as to what made a good animation when I started watching Fairy Tail. Overall, however, the animation is quite good, with fluid movements, vivid colours and is particularly good in fight scenes, with all the movement and the special effects from the various magic used by the characters. Near the end, it became slightly poorer with the colours being far plainer and less enjoyable, but for such a long-running show the animation is fairly good. ART: 6 / 10

SOUND: By far one of the anime's strong points. The soundtrack of Fairy Tail uses a mixture of upbeat, Celtic-Style music during the motivational fight scenes, and some more calming, beautiful music during the sad, emotional moments which certainly enhances what's going on. I find the soundtrack to be very independently listenable and even enjoyed learning to play some of it on the violin. As well as this, the English dub of Fairy Tail is of excellent quality, although there is something to be said about the amount of yelling done in the fight scenes (there's too much). SOUND: 8 / 10

CHARACTER: By far one of the anime's weaker points. Some of the characters are quite well developed; we see Lucy turn from a weak and inexperienced person to a strong, independent woman. We see Gajeel turn from an antagonist with no sense of comradeship to a proud - albeit slightly dorky - member of Fairy Tail. We see Wendy turn from a weak, sheltered young girl with little confidence to a brave, confident young woman. However, one of the only characters who receive little to no character development is the main protagonist Natsu Dragneel. At the start, he is a cocky and feisty young man who constantly picks fights with his comrades but will burn anyone who threatens them to ash. As the end, he is still a cocky and feisty young man who constantly picks fights with his comrades but will burn anyone who threatens them to ash. Throughout the series, nothing really challenges him and, despite having been described at the start of the show as being nowhere near Fairy Tail's strongest wizards, each arc ends with him defeating the main boss with only feelings about his friends, no real help or support from them. This should not be enough to enable him to fight villains he was told he wouldn't stand a chance against. But still, all of his comrades state that the guild would be nothing without him, even though it has many members who are stronger. As for Fairy Tail's antagonists, they are very stereotypical and hard to empathise with; all of them are confident and sadistic people who don't care for their supposed comrades and, whilst they are always portrayed as incredibly strong, they lose to the main characters due to their heavy plot armour (which, for those who don't know, is when a character survives unsurvivable situations for no plausible reason other than that they are important to the plot). CHARACTER: 3 / 7

ENJOYMENT: Again, I enjoyed the series the first time but quickly got bored with it from then on. The emotional scenes really weren't as tear-worthy as I'd been promised and I eventually stopped enjoying the fights due to their repetitive and predictable nature. ENJOYMENT: 4 / 10

Overall, this anime has both strength and flaws like any other, but the flaws are quite prominent which makes Fairy Tail really only good for your first / one of your first anime. It started off with a lot of potential, but eventually overwhelmed its stay with the story not really progressing, only repeating itself.

This is probably the best anime of all time. I don't even know where to begin or why I said those words.

First of all, I did like Fairy Tail during it's first set of arcs. I watch this way back in High School (I think, can't remember anymore) and it was an OK show. Until I started to get bored and back then, I wasn't sure why. And probably because I started noticing things. Please see the guide below on why Fairy Tail is the best animu ever!


Fairy Tail's Guide for a successful anime:

[1] (un)Original Cast of Characters
Every shonen battle anime needs an MC who ... can shout and act like a total retard who probably just escaped a metal institution because that what makes them interesting. right? Brains? Pfft! Who needs that? We all know real men are barbarians, right? Real men think with their fist! And they need to be raised by dragons. That's the most manliest thing ever!

Pleasing characteristics and unique traits, who needs that when you have a character that needs to strip every once in while because *cough* comedy, ladies and gentlemen. Don't you have any sense of humor?

We also need a pair of walking boobs. Wait, make that two. Make the second one clad in armor because, why not? We need to make the second one to be useful. What about the first one? No need. She has a better role to serve that will *cough* "resonate" with the fans.

A battle shonen won't be complete without a mascot. Something that everybody around the world would love. We also need to make it funny since its sole purpose is comic relief. Oh yeah... A flying blue cat!

Perfección!


[2] Power of Friendship
Only real heroes would know how to summon the power of friendship (nakama) by using ancient chant in the form of a motivational speech. The Fairy Tail guild is notorious for using motivational speeches powerful enough that it would put politicians around the world to shame. Naruto and Luffy needs to learn from our boy Natsu if they want to be world leaders of their respective world.

You don't need demon fox powers or devil fruit powers to overcome your enemies. What you need is a speech that talks about how much you love your friends and describe how much you and your crew love each other so damn much (no homo) to the point that the cringe level will reach maximum capacity, overloading your enemy's brain cells.

That's why Natsu wins every fight. Even if his enemies are way too powerful they're no match for Natsu's divine words of nakama. Combine this with some serious beating to the face, it's enough to warm the hearts of even the most evil of villains that they have to join Natsu's holy crusade or they'll lose their shit. Of course, since they're former villains, they have to beg Natsu's approval in the most tsudere of ways. And then, maybe just maybe, they'll get a chance to taste Natsu's.... home cooked meat balls.

Natsu is a natural born leader. Maybe the dragon that trained him firebending had also past down the holy "words of power". Maybe in the future, Natsu can finally do a "FUS-RO-DAH" enough to blew Lucy's clothes away.


[3] Unlimited Boobs Work
I take back what I said. Natsu doesn't need to learn dragon shouts to make Lucy go naked. Actually, he doesn't have to bother inserting force or thought into it since almost every episode, she'll ended near naked, or full naked for whatever reason. It's not just Lucy, even the other girls, or even the guys. Nobody in Fairy Tail land is safe from this natural occurring phenomenon that strips everybody from their clothes. Might as well not wear any for fuck's sake. I'm surprise that this anime doesn't go full hentai yet.

Even the fights are are not safe from this bizarre oddity that plagues this anime. Every once in while, a random fanservice will be inserted into the fight and you're left to wonder if you should be horny or not since the fight just went back to being serious, and your hand is already at your dick... or pussy (you do you fam, you do you).

Then Natsu started his Nakama chat power up and now your dick/pussy is more confused than ever. Don't fret. Maybe that'll help you reach Nirvana, so just go with it.

MAG-NI-FI-CO!

[3] Rinse and Repeat
Why would you need a new story for your new arc? You don't need any of that garbage. What you need is more characters to introduce. The more the merrier, right? Also, more characters means more fanservice, because we're horny pieces of shit and author-san knows this full well. He's way ahead of the game. Our author is on his way to ecchi perfection, especially now that he had released Fairy Tail 2.0 ----- IN SPACE!

Excelente!

Oh yeah, right - story. Uhm... Just repeat existing tropes used in the last arc. Probably jumbled them a bit. Who cares? It's not like anybody will notice. You know what they say, "If it ain't broke, it's definitely not Fairy Tail".

To be honest, I don't even know or remember why I watched this. Is this a good watch or is this a good wank? I don't know anymore. The lines have been blurred deep under Lucy's and Ezra's tits and probably hiding somewhere in Gray's Ice Popsicle or Natsu's dragon ball.

Some people would say this is one of the best anime they have ever watched, others say that it's the worst thing that they have ever seen... I think it's alright! Incredibly flawed but enjoyable!

Story:
Ever FT arc ever: Fairy Tail does a task, they get their ass handed to them, they go for another round and they miraculously win via POWER OF FWENDSHIP!!!!!! Yeah the story really isn't anything too special, it's well paced and some arcs can be pretty epic but overall, a lot of the arcs aren't anything to ripe home about. At least it's doesn't have a lot of fillers! (at least ... compared to Naruto and Bleach)

Art:
It's pretty good! I mean, it's nothing breath taking but for the kind of show it is, it works and it surprisingly doesn't have a lot of animation errors like a lot of long running shounens have. (cough Naruto Shippunen, cough One piece, cough Dragon Ball Super) Although I kind of wished the anime had more blood in it. There's a lot of fights where the characters could barely stand up but the battle wounds aren't anything more than a few scratches. DBZ has blood, Naruto has blood, One piece has blood, Bleach has blood, Fullmetal Alchemist has blood, Attack On Titan has blood so why coun't Fairy Tail have blood?

Sound:
Admittedly the opening themes are fucking epic! The openings are definately a joy to listen to and very rarely do I ever skip the openings. The voice acting for both the sub and the dub aren't half bad either. Everyone sounds like I would expect them to and the delivery for the most part is top notch.

Characters:
Admittedly the reason that I kept on watching Fairy tail is the characters. Character development is a little non existent but a lot of the characters and their interactions with each other are a fun watch and very interesting and for a show that loves to shove the friendship message down your throat, that's a huge plus. 3 of my favorite characters are Gray, Gajeel and Wendy. Although a lot of the villains are a little generic.

Overall: Fairy Tail is fun to watch but nothing more than that. It's enjoyable but if your looking for a super deep and interegate show, this show is not for you and the power of friendship bollocks can make or break your enjoyment of the anime.

Overall: 6/10

I had a craving to watch a more traditional and longer-lasting magic anime, and my adventure watching Fairy Tail began. Fairy Tail is a show that follows its plan of action tirelessly and manages to curb its obvious criticisms with equally obvious ploys. Some are enthralled by this aspect, as you can see by the 8+ rating; other critics who bash the crap out of this show overlook the fact that the "bad" aspects of the show are done in a self-aware way. Overall I was slightly disappointed that the degree of world building I wanted from a magicky anime wasn't ... there (lacrimae are cool, but the concept is overused). There were just enough gems amidst the rubble to keep me from dropping this show.

Story: 6/10

What I look for in longer shows that span multiple arcs is some sort of interesting and/or meaningful progression as well as good use of repeats. Fairy Tail does a passable job for the most part; the copying of a simple formula for each arc is a mark against it, but they stick with it to such a degree that it ends up working out. I'll review each arc of the first season briefly.

Macao: 5/10. Bare minimum intro arc with just enough world building to start, haphazard introduction to characters befitting the genre. The newness of it all carries you through the mediocrity.

Daybreak: 7/10. Though only 2 episodes, this is the best self-contained arc of the entire series and highly underrated. We see the team start to meld, the puzzle of a mission they have is intriguing, and even the minor antagonists are given a bit of explanation unlike future ones.

Lullaby: 6/10. Natsu's big fight gives us our first glance at the show's treatment of elements, which was one of the initial draws for me. The first glance at the basic good vs evil skeleton the show uses (and of having some bad guys become good guys after their arc), which we'll see in almost every arc from here on out.

Galuna Island: 6/10. The next few arcs contain backstory for members of Team Natsu. This is Gray's, and the backstory is done pretty well. How the present plays out is relatively disappointing though.

Phantom Lord: 6/10. An important arc for character-turnover reasons, but it carries the same resonance that a good number of antagonistic forces have in this show, which is "why do they hate the Fairy Tail guild so much?"

Loke: 5/10. One of those arcs done just passably enough to move ahead the plot. In this case, we get some backstory for Lucy in the sense that we become more knowledgeable about how her Celestial Spirits work.

Tower of Heaven: 7/10. Erza's backstory arc and our first encounter with the main evil of the show, which automatically makes it good. In comparison with other arcs, this one amps up the gravity of the situation much more effectively.

Battle for Fairy Tail: 6/10. Ridiculous premise, but this civil war somehow works, probably because what the characters of the Thunder Legion do are pretty interesting and the final fight is quite satisfying.

Oracion Seis: 7/10. Plot progression is a glorious thing. This arc causes a domino effect for the next few arcs being good. The most satisfying battles yet, and important introduction to other guilds, both good and evil.

Daphne: 4/10. Wish I skipped this abysmal arc; this is the only truly bad arc of the show that has no relevance whatsoever to anything and doesn't even make sense motive-wise.

Edolas: 6/10. This arc explains a lot, has an amusing opposite personality quirk, and shows why certain new characters are important. Not really any good fights though.

Tenrou Island: 8/10. This and Grand Magic Games are THE arcs to watch. Amazing fights, very important plot progression and character development, multiple things happening at once which interact in surprising ways, whose significance isn't understood yet. The most intense climax yet. All marks of a good arc.

X791: 5/10. Interim arc to rebuild after Tenrou.

Key of the Starry Sky: 6/10. Lucy's backstory arc f'real this time. Mediocre arc that dragged a bit, but it did have some surprise twists that made it worth my time, as well as one great fight part way through.

Grand Magic Games: 8/10. The end of the first season cuts off this arc part way through, but even before the cut off, this arc impresses and lives up to its name of "grand." Tournaments in action animes usually are recipes for success, and this is no exception.

Character: 6/10

The characters of Fairy Tail are largely interesting when first introduced, but quickly become disappointing as they operate the same way each arc. There are notable exceptions, such as Erza, whose initially intimidating demeanor gives way to quirky mannerisms and obsessions. Lucy's Celestial Spirits in particular are very well designed characters, each being very unique and memorable. There are enough characters for everyone to have a few favorites (mine are Sagittarius, Capricorn, Pantherlily, Ultear, and Yukino), but almost without exception each character is linear (some painfully so, like Juvia) and operates according to Fairy Tail's agenda, which is choppy humor amidst quick-paced action with a touch of heavily suggested romance.

Now, before Fairy Tail fans ambush me with insults, I want them to at least hear me out.

Initially, I liked the series. It was comedic and fun to watch. But the comedy, that was pretty much why I liked the series so much. Other than that, nothing was very appealing to me. As I went through many sleepless nights watching the series, I felt the story or arc, was very repetitive, the jokes etc. all had been used before and didn't appeal to me as much as before.

Now, the story, could've been far better. The way I see it, the series could've incorporated ... many different elements, possibly enhanced the series. But the problem was that the creators wasted a lot of episodes on the same idea. Enemies somehow appear, Natsu (the protagonist) would use his powers and still be completely obliterated and then after a long, inspirational speech, Natsu will get (somehow) stronger and blast his enemies off into space. This anime is given a lot of credit for stupid things. I absolutely hate how the show makes Natsu and Gray see Lucy's naked body and still not make one of them flush from embarrassment. The plot is connected through loose strings; each of them representing the same overused theme.

None of the characters develop and I feel as if the show is credited more than it should. The art is alright, I suppose, But I find the animation unsightly. Overall, this show wasn't my cup of tea, and I definitely don't support it being the best shounen series possible. Still, I would recommend it to ecchi and comedy fans, although, I don't think they'll find this very interesting.

I'm not an expert on Fairy Tail. I don't know the arcs' name nor those of minor characters. It's a bit sad to stop following Fairy Tail, but I don't like the spruced up design and style of new characters. They are a bit indistinct from stock characters and bring nothing fresh to the table. I also didn't like the inane way Luxus was taken out. He simply could have remained in the form of a lightning bolt and evaded Natsu's punches. I know he was maddened with anger and that's kind of a legitimate parry to allow seasoned warriors to behave like ... unruly boys in combat.

I am pleasantly surprised that Makarov did not die before the episodes reached the half century mark. There are quite a few positives to take from Fairy Tale. I do feel kind of sad for not following it. I do want to know about Ivan and the wonderfully written Erza's feats of strength. But I'm in search of very good animes and as soon as an arc will waste my time, I'll be off. If there's a churlish undercurrent against Lucy, I'm not sure it's justified. She's not annoying, she is a likable person, some of her past has been nicely worked into the story, she fights realistically. She's not a man with boobs. She has her own personality. And I am glad to feel that it's for the best that she's not with Natsu or Gray. I swear she would wind up with Leo/Loki.

And then there is Happy. He is cute like a child. He doesn't do much. He's no longer useful. He might be a rip off of Tony Tony Chopper. I don't know. Natsu himself behaves quite like Luffy. I reckon the villain I've liked most of all is Jose. His design is okay, but his voice is out of this world. Very suitable and a mixture between obnoxiousness and cunning. His defeat was satisfactory, notably the form it took, with him standing in shock while Makarov turns his back on him after unleashing Fairy Law. So there it is, my review. As soon as I saw one of the villains for the arc where I stopped and I knew about his name - Cobra, sounds like a martial arts, b-movie name from the 70's - that I decided firmly to end my viewership with Fairy Tail. Villains from anime are dangerously close all the time in behaving like immature tweens. The posturing, and so called badass one liners can be distracting and detrimental. Give someone like Cobra a snake, then the sky's the limit for bad, embarrassing writing. So there it is, with my review, my ties with Fairy Tail end. Special mention for Juvia ( my favorite character in Fairy Tail) and Ur.

It is very well made with the pictures being very nice to look at and the fight scenes being also very well draw, but after some time of watching it you do realise that all of the arcs follow the same narrative and after a watching a few season with the same story arc it really does drain from the enjoyment because you can see clearly how it will end and this leaves no suspense for the viewer (well at least for me), but if you like fan service and not much meaningful story this is the anime for you because there is lots of ... big boobs and a lot of skin in the fan service scenes.