Ahhhhh, Friendship and Magic has finally returned with its 3rd season. No, it's not My Little Pony I am talking about, but Fairy Tail. This time around our main characters, Rarity and Appleja... oh sorry, I mean Natsu and Gray are hanging out with their little club and every goddamn villain they fight against, joins their ranks because that's the way Fairy Tail's heart beats. It's friendship time!
Story:
Annoyed by very superficial, core level flaws that are practically self-explanatory? Too bad. How Fairy Tail works is completely different from the norms as it abandons every fuck it could ever give about avoiding such things. Instead, the story entirely focuses on doing whatever it wants with the best sides it has [No matter how "bad" its best is]. Let's face it, the more there is content, the more room there is for all sorts of different issues, common tropes, general cliches, character flaws, logical errors that in generally, are hidden in the details in purpose of fooling the viewer into thinking that "this shit is actually good". Fairy Tail does not lie, it does't try to hide its flaws anywhere. What we have at hand is perhaps the single most 'Be Yourself' anime I have had the pleasure of watching, and for that reason, I really like it.
On a technical level, under every single general quality trait, upon analyzing, Fairy Tails achievements are miniscule, but what it does is go beyond the norms and for that reason, it is among the most intelligent anime series I have seen, but no, not in its content -- I would never claim such a thing -- but in its making. It doesn't care. And I don't want care either, and for that reason, it is the ideal show for me. Simple? Well, it really is not! For example: Let's imagine for a second that this thing actually has a plot. In that case, the series would very likely be much, much worse than it currently is because the author is really horrible at writing anything (except zero arc which was pretty damn good actually). The best decision he has ever made, was create this series without it having a plot. Intelligence.
The other amazing factor here is the fact that Fairy Tail cannot do anything that makes the story worse than it already is. Watching this series for that reason is a real blessing. No! I am not joking the least, and do not think for a second that is an insult because it is actually the biggest praise I can give. For example, when I watched some highly appreciated series -- which I will not mention by names, you can find them on any top 20 anime list on the interweb basically -- many of them contained this one cliche which I absolutely hate. Whenever a character is about to die, another character/nakama quite literally teleports there and saves the other character from certain death in the very last second. It's so f****** annoying that it kills all the believability for myself in works that were otherwise good. When Fairy Tail does this exact same thing, it is not even a flaw but a pure feature/attribute that the viewer already expects of it. For that reason, Fairy Tail does what so many other shows can only dream of: It never disappoints. It simply can't. And that's precisely why the story is such a major success. This is one of the very few series which I can watch without asking any questions because I wholeheartedly acknowledge that there are no answers. It may be childish and problematic, but damn if the series doesn't know what it is. What I would in other cases call "an absolute horseshit of a writing", In Fairy Tail's case, I casually laugh and say "oh, that's just Fairy Tail being Fairy Tail." In one way, this entire series is Moon Moon the meme except it's an anime: this anime. I can't hate it, it's too special and precious.
Characters:
Like scarce amount of shonen series -- which I will not namedrop here -- Fairy Tail does what so many others are so afraid to do: Give us canon pairings already when the series is still ongoing. 2/3 of the big 3 were nothing but a tease, the last one purely uses girls in comedic fanservice. The biggest meme, by Bones, made romantic situations a damn running gag. Fairy Tail's characters are never disrespected in this manner nor any manner. In fact, they are loved so much and so deeply that even every single mildly interesting villain join Fairy Tail's side because letting go off them is not an option. And that's okay. I think that's great. It's one thing for the viewers to hate characters, but when authors choose any of the routes mentioned above, it doesn't become pretty to watch. I unironically respect the guy because I find the romances and the feeling side of Fairy Tail to be genuine and honest unlike in so many other shonen series where "romances" become nothing but disgusting and dishonest comedic banter just so viewers would keep their interest and follow the characters like their unconfirmed shipping relations are some sort of ongoing cliffhanger that keeps them watching the damn thing. It's so fake and purely exist to fool the viewers to a point where the fans try to convince themselves that given pairings would be some sort of "fanservice" while it's the opposite. Let's face it, Gajeel x Levy is the most "canon" canon-pairing ever written by man, and that's my biggest reason for thinking these characters are great.
Production:
The last season certainly had a worse start considering it had about as much animation as the manga. This season still has lots of still pictures going on and money is saved pretty much whenever it is possible. Fairy Tail's viewers are familiar with this so continuity exists at least. Personally I don't mind anymore as long as it never gets as bad as in the beginning of 2014. The seiyuu work is naturally identical as well, and the glorious OST is still there. The OP and ED are bit weird choices.
Enjoyment:
Fairy Tail is a flawed work, but none of its flaws are something the viewer is supposed to forgive like is the case with so many supposedly "smart" and "good" anime series. Fairy Tail doesn't give a damn, and that's exactly why it is so enjoyable and entertaining series to watch. I do NOT think "Fairy Tail is so bad that it is good", I think Fairy Tail is completely off the scale because Fairy Tail is not a good series in the most common definition of the word. It's its own thing and stays loyal to it, which may not me enough for everyone. However, I am willing to take this series with its problems and weaknesses and by doing so, I have seen how entertainment, in its purest form, is born.
ps, I saw season 2 actually twice and upon my study, I discovered that Mira Strauss is the best girl
