The world that this show sets up is fascinating. The idea of mages and guilds and the laws of magic are all very interesting and have lots of potential, but like most things in this show, that potential is wasted.
The story of Fairy Tail, or rather story arcs, are vastly varied in quality. Some of the arcs feel like genuine character pieces, but most feel like badly written filler to boost the comedy factor of the show. These inconsistencies gradually wear on you as you watch, and by the time you are reaching the end of this first season, things start to feel like a drag. The few good moments really do stand out, especially some of the backstories, but they are muddled by bad writing and even worse pacing.
The characters here are just as varied as the magic they use, especially in quality. Some of the characters develop wonderfully over the course of the season, as motivations change and truths are unveiled. Unfortunately, this makes up maybe 25% of the cast, the rest remain completely static. Most of the visual design is great, unique costumes and looks, though the faces of almost all of the female characters can be copy/pasted between them and nobody would notice a difference. Personalities vary in quality as well, ranging from believable and relatable to downright insufferable. It’s usually the side characters that are the more interesting as well, which does not lend itself nicely to a show that primarily focuses on the main group of wizards. And don’t even get me started on the terrible ecci fan service this show flaunts around in your face to hide the lack of originality in some of the characters… It’s bad, probably one of the worst out there for forced fan-service.
The audio in this show is perhaps the main reason to give it a try. The music is fantastic, written by one of my favorite anime composers of all time. It is classic fantasy action music at it’s finest, and one of the closest things I’ve ever found to folk metal in anime [we’re still a long way from that, but this is a good start]. It’s one of the best soundtracks in anime hands down, and it’s always a joy to listen to.
The overall mood of the show is fairly jolly, with darker elements thrown in during more serious arcs, but the atmosphere is almost always killed by bad jokes and poorly executed attempts at humor. When the rare joke does land, it’s often quite good, but this is few and far between.
Overall, Fairy Tail is disappointing. It has potential to be perhaps the most enjoyable fantasy anime out there but wastes this potential to follow things it thinks are trends. The characters are hard to care about, the stories are far too varied in quality, and the wasted world all come together to turn this anime into a classic example of something that could have been great, but settled for mediocrity. While this is mostly the fault of the original source material being a waste, I feel that even a radically different adaptation would have suffered the same flaws. I can see people really liking this show, and I’m happy for them, but to me, this is a clear reminder of why this genre often requires such caution from me. I’d rather avoid things that more often than not leave a bad taste in my mouth.
