Not that it ended badly, it just sucks that it ended at all.
Fairy Tail is, for lack of a better term, your generic shounen. You have a group of teenage wizards running around fighting bad guys and all the while they get stronger as Natsu Dragneel looks for his father… who is a dragon. Shounen clichés come with the territory, and Fairy Tail is no exception. Think about it. If you make a shounen, no matter how you make it, it is going to have some generic components. What makes Fairy Tail so unique is that it is good in spite of all the clichés the plot may have.
You have to remember something that so many people easily forget. Not every part of a generic shounen is bad, and Fairy Tail actually does a really good job capitalizing on the things we love in a shounen. It has great humor, consistent arcs, short recaps, nice fight scenes, and most importantly nice character development.
The members of the Fairy Tail guild are an interesting bunch to say the least. Since they can all use magic their fighting styles are extremely diverse. After the first season you will feel like you know the members of the guild personally. There are dozens you are introduced to and you will most likely remember their names because the show does that good of a job at giving the characters a long lasting impression. When something happens to one of the members of the guild it will probably make you sad, maybe even bring on some tears. You won’t even realize you have an emotional attachment to these characters until something happens. It is almost as if you are blind-sided a bit by the connection you have with the Fairy Tail guild members, and you will most definitely have a connection with the members as you will most likely see yourself in one of them. I guess it doesn’t hurt that this anime had an all-star voice cast to help with making you like the characters.
That’s right; you’ll definitely recognize at least a few of the voices in this anime. The first one that I noticed was the voice of Toradora’s Aisaka Taiga, but the show itself has many more notable voices than that including Alphonse Elric, Hanekawa Tsubasa, Miki Sayaka, and Amane Misa. A voice cast like Fairy Tail’s does not come around often and is something that must be acknowledged when going into this anime. Not only does the show have an all-star voice cast but the score for the show is also pretty over the top. Normally it would be hard for a show to get the soundtrack just right but Fairy Tail managed to do it extremely well.
The art and animation should really go without saying. It is extremely well done, and fluid allowing for really awesome fights to be had. The style of the art is a little strange though, and not unlike One Piece it may put some people off at first, but after a few episodes you will find yourself really loving the art, just as you will find yourself loving the anime as a whole.
I myself really love Fairy Tail. I love the jokes that I used to see, the characters that I got so attached to, the fight scenes, the soundtrack, the art, and you know what? I even love all the generic shounen aspects that came with it. If I had to describe the show in exactly five words I’d tell you “Fairy Tail is really fun.” Because it is, it is just plain fun to watch.
That’s why I’m sad that it had to end.
I didn’t want it to have to end.
---BREAKDOWN—
Story – 5
Art – 7
Sound – 10
Characters – 9
Enjoyment - 9
Overall - 8
