Time to look at a steaming #2. Fairy Tail 2! Despite the fact that I had a LOT of problems with the first Fairy Tale series, I honestly thought that Fairy Tail still had some potential. Fairy Tail had an excellent animation budget, a large cast of characters of whom at least a couple were interesting, and a solid soundtrack. Under a capable director and with a few tweaks and changes, perhaps Fairy Tail could have become a top tier shonen anime. After all, the first Hunter X Hunter series was garbage, but a slightly better budget and a few tweaks and BAM! all the new anime fans think it's the greatest thing since sliced bread!
Unfortunately, not only is Fairy Tail 2 NOT a vast improvement over the first Fairy Tail, it is almost universally considered worse. Why? There are several reasons, which I will explain and break down.
1. Plot: When a shonen series goes on for a few years and fans that got into the series as age 12-13 start to grow up, there are 3 things you can do. The first is to pull a Pokemon and keep rebooting the series so old fans leave and new fans keep coming. The second is to pull a Naruto/Dragonball and try make the series darker and more action oriented to fit the tastes of a maturing audience. The third is to not do anything different, but have the title "One Piece". Fairy Tail 2 tries to pull a One Piece and not do anything different and expect audiences to keep buying it. The difference is that Fairy Tail has never had the same level of quirky comedy that One Piece does and it isn't quite as creative. Instead, Fairy Tail took a highly formulaic plot that was already beaten to death and decided to simply beat it further to death! The whole series fills like filler at this point, even when it isn't. NOTHING happens to change the status quo or challenge the viewer with a new and truly engaging plot.
2. Characters:
The main characters: Natsu, Lucy, Grey, and Happy are still just as obnoxious and generic as ever. No effort has been put into developing their characters or making them even slightly more likeable. Erza has received at least a little character development from the beginning and is by FAR the most likeable character so...why isn't she the main character again? The greatest thing that could happen to Fairy Tail would be killing off the 3 main characters with horrible, painful deaths and replacing them with characters like Erza, Laxus, and Mirajane. The supposed reason for not doing this is that having a team of just badasses would wear thin and they would be less special if you saw them all the time. However, other anime like Yu Yu Hakusho managed to pull it off. Even if the series needed to be shorter, so be it! I would MUCH rather have a short series with awesome characters than a neverending series with shitty characters. Too bad Fairy Tail is all about running as long as possible to make as much money as possible, rather than actually giving a shit about quality!
3. Art:
The art studio has changed between series and unfortunately not for the better. Anime should gradually look better each year just like Hollywood CGI gets slightly better every year. Fairy Tail 2014 looks shittier than the first Fairy Tail did in 2009! Maybe budget issues are to blame, but Fairy Tail is a highly successful series financially and that doesn't seem too likely. I honestly suspect that the studio just wanted to spend less on art and take in more cash. Unfortunately, Fairy Tail wouldn't be the first anime series guilty of simply not giving a FUCK about its own fanbase.
Overall: 4/10
I currently have this series "on hold". If something drastic happens and there is ever a reason to watch it again, I might give it a shot. As long as the series is desperately trying to maintain the status quo and wallow in its own mediocrity I will be staying far away from this underachieving waste of time.
