Now I consider myself a fan of this anime.
Story: 6/10 because it tends to be repetitive. You find an enemy which wants to hurt humanity in some way, or conquer the world. In the end it is defeated by Natsu & co. and in 60% of the cases they turn out to be Fairy Tail's allies in the future.
Enemies appear for no reason, when an arc is over (enemy boss is defeated) you get about 3 or 4 filler episodes and then, an enemy pops up. Somehow it gets related to Fairy Tail and then you know the story.
However it's rated at 6 because arcs are good, even fillers are good. My favourite arcs are: Tower of Heaven (Jellal), S-Class Exam (Tenrou Island) and Grand Magic Games. I dropped some tears at some point, but not because I was sad. It's the emotion you get from the fights and the history behind them.
Keeps the protagonist's objective though. Igneel's search tends to be mixed in every arc as you get reference from someone talking about dragons or mentioning them.
Art: 7/10, animation was good. Pretty well done, colors dance in the screen as you watch a fight between a fire mage and an ice mage (red and blue), and what I most liked about it was the perfect contrast and combination that was notorious in the characters clothing/hair. Natsu being pink-haired and having a black and orange suit with a white scarf, and Lucy with her golden hair and white/blue clothing. Wasn't the best animation you are going to see, but its definetely worth enjoying. It gets better as you watch the anime, you can notice that at Ep 16, fx and animation aren't the same than Ep. 155.
What really got me about art was Natsu's fire mixed with the animation, it was really well done, I mean, it looked like real fire. Gray's ice was beautiful definetely.
I almost forgot detailing how beautiful Magnolia is.
A really well done job. Not the best, but nicely done.
Sound: 10/10. Strong point. This is one of the main reasons I started watching Fairy Tail. Music is absolutely gorgeous. Sound effects are great too, not to mention the seiyuus' work on this anime. Every voice fits every character perfectly. It's not the case that you see a giant ogre with a tiny voice.
If I were to talk about music, I wouldn't end, so I will be brief. If you don't get excited with the song "L'Luvia" (the theme of the character Juvia Locksar), or "Sannin no Duragonsureiya" (The three Dragon Slayers), you aren't human. My favourite piece of music is "Gray no theme" (the theme of the character Gray Fullbuster), it makes you really want to fight. "Happy no theme" (the theme of Happy, the blue cat) gets you ready to see something really funny. "S Kyuu Madoushi Shoukaku Shiken" (the theme of the S-Class Mage exam) fills you of pride. My opinion about this is that the OST is perfect.
Moving to the OPs and EDs, they are wonderful. Almost as good as the OST.
I will proceed to tell you my favourites.
Openings:
Number 2: S.O.W. Sense of Wonder, by Idoling!!
Number 8: The Rock City Boy, by JAMIL.
Number 7: Evidence, by Daisy x Daisy.
Number 5: Egao no Mauhou, by Magic Party.
Endings:
Number 1 Kangepiku no ne, by Watarirouka Hashiri Tai.
Number 6 Be as one, by w-inds.
Character: 10/10. Another strong point. You learn who is who, quickly. I was never in the situation of "Oh, who was this guy?". Everyone at Fairy Tail guild is important, of course you have the protagonists and later on, main characters. The "Fantastic Four" as I call them, the ones you see in the picture of Fairy Tail here in MAL, are the protagonists. There is other important people at the guild however, strong mages, funny people (which leads to bizarre situations), and of course the master. You are going to love them and hate them, you will embark on a trip of emotions with this characters. Even the villains have their own background that may make you feel that, they just were not evil at all.
One little point against is that there is a lot of characters. As I said before, I never forgot anyone of them, but there is just too many. A lot of Fairy Tail guild members, there are another guilds, and then a lot of villains (keep in mind that there are 15 arcs, and each one of them presents approximately 6 or 7 new persons, if they are not re-used.)
The anime is seen from the point of view of Lucy Heartfilia, one of the main protagonists, although sometimes it is seen from Levy McGarden, a mage of Fairy Tail and a friend of Lucy.
I never get tired of watching them, specially during the filler plots, where you see their non-fighting personality.
I liked most of them, to the point of rising my favourite character number to 10.
Had to split them in Men and Women.
And so, my favourites are:
-Men
Gray Fullbuster
Gajeel Redfox
Gildartz Clive
Natsu Dragneel
Jellal Fernandes
-Women
Elsa Scarlet (Elsa is the correct spelling of the name, in japanese. In english we are used to see her name as Erza).
Mirajane Strauss
Juvia Loxar
Aquarius
Kana Alberona
You will find more about this characters when you watch the anime.
Enjoyment: 8/10.
I don't rate it at 10 because of what I said when talking about story, it its repetitive. I am ok with filler plots, but when there is one arc filled of reused villains that again get easily defeated, you tend to get bored. However, when in between arcs you get those 3 or 4 filler episodes, then you can call yourself happy, it is really great to rest from a lot of fights and explore the Fairy Tail universe a little more. I got bored only when an episode was really silly and had nothing to do with any arc.
Now that I have finished the anime I can't wait to start reading the manga and watch Fairy Tail 2014! It's re-watching worth is medium. I only re-watched episodes that had good battles or character development, or precious music usage.
I consider it one of the animes that I liked the most, but not one of my favourites. However, it is an unforgettable one, the fond you grow with the characters as you watch the episodes is great, making it harder to forget this anime.
Minna-san, I hope you enjoyed reading my review.
