Reviews Manga / Fairy Tail

Full of highs and lows

Fairy Tail, like other popular shonen mangas, has a tendency to inspire very positive or very negative reactions, depending on the viewer. While one could say that it's due to personal taste, and that does play a role, it's also because Fairy Tail has a tendency to alternate between impressive moments and considerable letdowns.

The plot involves a girl named Lucy joining the eponymous mage guild and going on various adventures It takes a while to get to the main story, but there are a good number of twists and turns along the way, which makes it fun to watch.

The battles can be quite fun to see, when their potential is fully realized, and are often won through strategy, teamwork and creative thinking. Unfortunately, many battles are concluded with some kind of Ass Pull (possibly the most blatant being when someone actually says that Erza overcame a crippling disadvantage "because she's Erza"), and many epic battles take place almost entirely off-screen. Which ones qualify is a matter of personal taste, but it's likely that you'll find yourself dissatisfied with at least a few battles' resolution, and want to see more of others.

Somewhat similarly, the characters vary in quality based on how well they're utilized. Some undergo a fair amount of development over time and have nicely fleshed out personalities, while others are sadly underutilized, and others are overexposed despite not being all that interesting (Natsu, the main protagonist, is the most frequently cited in the latter group), to say nothing about whether characters' power levels live up to the hype. Again, this is ultimately a matter of personal taste, but if you don't end up hating the series, you'll probably like at least one character, while also wishing that character had been shown/developed more.

Like many other shonen series, Fairy Tail heavily emphasizes The Power of Friendship. It's often used well, such as when you can see the camaraderie in the guild and friendships between various members, but occasionally can lead to corny friendship speeches as heroes make implausible comebacks in battle (e.g. the aforementioned incident with Erza).

All in all, Fairy Tail is often enjoyable,but how much you enjoy it depends on how high your expectations are and how well you take it when the series doesn't meet them.