Reviews Manga / Fairy Tail

Your review makes me wonder. Why are the most popular series the ones that get accused the most of being cliche? Fairy Tale, Bleach, Naruto...do the more creative series just not last as long, or what?

There might be something in that, in the same way pop music is often a lot more simply structured than some classical piece

@Austin

A show can't be 100% creative, but many as they go along, the originality often decreases, and the tropes pile on and become cliches. A short story that uses the power of friendship and or where the protagonist never lost and no one important died is generally ok, but when a series is long and they keep using this same formula and adding more and more characters, it gets repetitive and predictable, specially if it's not just in a broad sense but a more specific sense. Natsu has defeated 4 mayor enemies (3 of which were the Big Bad) by absorbing something and gaining a power boost.

Interesting points. You're probably right.

I know tropes aren't bad, but I think doing the same thing over and over without significant variation is bad. The series I mentioned aren't usually praised for giving their own spin on things. When Naruto started, one of the most common criticisms was how generic the lead trio felt, being characterized as "The idiot hero", "The rival" and "The love interest" (though it sounds like complaints about those characters these days tend to be different). Every complaint you've ever heard about a shonen series you'll hear about Bleach, and the Fairy Tail page says that Natsu is often criticized for coming off as no different than dozens of other shonen protagonists. It doesn't necessarily make the series bad overall, but like I said I just find it a curious thing.