Fairy Tail

Fairy Tail is definitely one of the most popular shounen anime and if you are thinking of watching it based on this fact alone, then I encourage you to read some reviews first. I have one small request, reader. Please try to keep your egos in tact and read the review before evaluating it. We all have our reasons to like or not a show.Thank you. Stay tuned. I am still amazed at myself that I managed to watch all of this series, but that only indicates that there are some positives to it and I somehow enjoyed it all. What can be said about thestory? Nothing really special, a girl named Lucy wants to become a wizard in a famous guild and after she meets Natsu, one of its members, she manages to join him and thus, they form a team and start on taking missions and embark on journeys. Natsu is trying to find his parent, a dragon who raised him and taught him rare magical skills and abilities based on fire. Although the concept of guilds, which is taken from online games is interesting, it is in no way original. The story progresses in arcs with each arc being connected nicely with the next one and the transition between them feels smooth and logical. The atmosphere and the nature of each arc generally remain the same lighthearted and cheerful vibe following the vibe of the anime on its whole, except for some moments and scenes which need to be dark to show the contradiction between good and evil. Although, the story of each individual arc can be described as cliche, you could at least expect the execution to be masterful for a popular anime like this, right? No, they decided to shit all over the place with the word mediocrity, though there are some glimpses of good storytelling and directing in some arcs, but this is exactly what they are, glimpses. Individual elements of each arc are interesting but the story itself is unoriginal, although how it's told and executed is what counts the most and this show had the potential to be great, but they vomited it all out to appeal to the general public and/or their target group If this was their purpose than they nailed it. Linear, repetitive and predictable storytelling and the use of generic guidelines as in any typical shounen of this type leave no room for the element of surprise for some rare plot twists that might exist.Also the amount of fan service, aka huge breasts for almost every female and semi nudity for males, is staggering at the least. Generally, the arcs are short and leave no room for good development and the pace of each arc is out of place. I felt that some arcs needed faster pace but others slower, go figure. Some episodes are uneventful with no action and on top of that no story or character development of any kind. Dialogues are mediocre and superficial for the most part but there are comedic moments where combined with sound and animation made me actually laugh hard. The blend of action, comedy and drama is mediocre and as I already mentioned "Oh the potential!!!!". Animation is one of this anime strong parts. For a long running show, it is pretty consistent in quality and is very good. Colors are bright and cheerful which suit the anime very much and they adjust well to the atmosphere and the mood of the scene. Facial expressions are distinct and well portrayed. The designs of characters are unique and suit their personalities quite well which in consequence make them somehow memorable. The only complain I had is in the moment of fight scenes which could be depicted better and in more detail. My favorite part ironically or not was the sound. My gosh it was incredible!!! I actually searched and downloaded some soundtracks of this anime and I usually don't do that. The sad music and ost's in the epic moments of the anime are just amazing. OP and ED songs are really great you will love them trust me.Incredible is the fact that the soundtracks match their arc themes and the moments of sadness,joy,tension,mystery and action too damn well. There were parts in the anime that wasn't that melodramatic but with the right ost it actually managed to invoke from me a sad emotion. Also, I don't remember any misuse of sound, it was just perfect. Voice actors are all good and for the most part, fit well to the characters. Fairy Tail's characters is another disappointing fact. We are introduced to a large cast of characters who are one dimensional and static. Main characters are flat and underdeveloped. I understand that combined with short arcs there isn't much room left to develop so many of them, but they could at least try. Every stereotype of this genre can be found in this series, from the typical hotheaded male protagonist to the evil villain who becomes good and changes sides and the fact that most of them remain the same throughout the series makes this show even more predictable. It's impossible to be caught by surprise when you expect for them to act based on their generic stereotype and they act exactly like that in any given situation. The villains of the show are equally as underdeveloped as the main characters. Of course, there are some exceptions and we can see glimpses of good development here and there which are later ruined to the bones. So much good development is so brutally destroyed, that it is frustrating even to imagine the potential of this series. Nonetheless, there are likeable characters whom you will want to cheer for but that doesn't change the fact that most of them are flat and superficial. The last disappointing fact I want to mention, is the fighting scenes. Battle system is your typical "raw strength+power ups wins" concept. Almost no amount of thought or originality can be traced anywhere. Some abilities are cool, but that's it. The battles are won by overpowering the enemy and no strategical thinking is involved. Superficial and annoyingly tiring dialogues and monologues which ruin the pace of the story take place in every fight scene and I mean literally in EVERY fight scene. I know that concepts like friendship and comradeship are important, don't misunderstand me, but not when they are in excess and feel like they try to nail it in my brain with a drill and on top of that, at the expense of the story. Power levels are confusing as one reviewer stated. There are no trainings but main characters manage to win enemies they shouldn't be able to win like ever. Oh yea, I forgot the power of friendship and nakamas!!! Silly me. Generally this whole thing can be summed up in 6 steps. Step 1: A strong enemy appears. MC's are beaten up by the enemy. Step 2: MC's yell about friendship and the power of nakamas. Step 3: They power up emotionally and physically by the power of friendship and random stuff. Step 4: MC's overpower the villain. Step 5: No training of any kind whatsoever. Step 6: New arc. Go to step 1. When an anime can be summed up like this than in my books this is not good at all. All in all, Fairy Tail generally has a vibe of positivity and lightheartedness. If you like characters that seem cool, raw power, mc's that overpower their enemies who rely on their friends and protect each other, if you like good animation with awesome soundtracks mixed perfectly to every scene, if you liked something like D-Gray Man or Bleach than you should watch this show and I am sure you will enjoy it very much. I definitely recommend this to children, as well. But if you are an experienced anime viewer or if you like intelligence, good story, plot and character development, if you like insane plot twists and strategic battle scenes with complex fighting systems or if you want to watch something of this genre but don't have much time than don't waste it on this and watch something like Hunter x Hunter or Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood. Story: 4/10 Characters: 4/10 Art: 8/10 Sound: 10/10 Enjoyment: 6/10 Overall: 5/10 *English is not my native language, excuse me for any mistakes. All feedback is appreciated.* **EDIT** It has been pointed out to me that this review has an elitist tone, this was definitely not my intention and I don't consider myself to be superior or more intelligent than any of you.**

Fairy Tail isn't so much a bad anime, it's just over-welcomed it's stay. It was a one trick pony that was constantly played until you get annoyed and see the repetitive nature of the show and it's sad because this had a lot of potential to be really good . Story - (3/10) This is one of the weaker aspects of Fairy Tail as it gets daunting and rather boring because there is no real progression, and it becomes incredibly predictable with how it will play out, at first it was pretty fun since the stories did serve a proper purpose and introduced us to some othercharacters but as it goes on, you feel that it's afraid to make changes to the characters so they just write what they know and that's where the repetitiveness comes from. The gags were funny for the first 20 episodes but then they get really old fast as well as the fanservice, it even gags at important moments, you could have a serious fight but instead have a comedy bit in the middle completely ruining the mood for the fight. Art - (6/10) The animation is pretty good for a shounen anime as it can be fast paced and some of the magic does look pretty cool but at the same time, the designs of most characters seem really plain looking, minus maybe 2-3 characters everyone else looks really generic. Sound - (9/10) Quite possibly the best thing about Fairy is the sound as it mixes irish folk music with some modern day sounds blending really well and does match the battles that happen, this was something I am glad they kept as it was something very different from the norm. The OP's and ED's were also very nice to listen to and mainly composed of some very energetic pop music. Characters - (2/10) This is by far the worst aspect for Fairy Tail, one dimensional, bland, incredibly cliche and just lacked development. I will start off with the main character Natsu who is to me one of the worst MC's in anime ever. He never develops, there is no challenge for him, he doesn't have any conflicts with how he does things its just 'I'll beat the crap out of you' no matter how evil that person is, even if they kill someone he will still treat it more like a sparring match rather than him losing control and losing himself in the process of it, if he's always going to be this guy who doesn't think and just swings away then its going to get really boring really fast.He doesn't so much get stronger but rather uses the power of friendship after making a speech and wins. Lucy is another character I just could not handle because she was just fanservice and a plot device, she didn't get stronger each time, she just gets caught in a messy situation, screams a bit, summons a spirit and that's it, her character seems to be a key for the arc to go through but apart from that she is utterly useless. Now despite all the bashing of the characters I will say that there are some decent characters like Erza, Wendy, Gajeel and Gray because most of them did get stronger and developed and were conflicted with how they did things but even they can fall victim to lousy progression. Enjoyment - (4/10) It was fun at first but once the story and comedy repeated all the time, you get sick of it and switch to something else straight away, there is no proper pacing and some arcs went for too long that you don't feel as invested or interested any more to care Overall - (3/10) Fairy Tail lacked a lot of important elements and was clearly confused as to what it wanted to be, it was either over the top battle or a comedy, it was too messy to balance both because it couldn't have the comedy at the right time, I wouldn't recommend this anime because it's fallen to the many cliches and doesn't really bring anything solid to the table.

Story (3/10): Oh god. People praise this as one of- No. THE best shounen anime out there. HAHAHAHAHAHA, no way dude. I swear, the writers follow a step by step process on a poster hung up in their office when creating this. This is what the poster reads: 1. Fairy Tail is aware of some evil people. 2. The regular Natsu, Lucy, and Happy group, sometimes with Gray and Erza, set out for adventure and to beat the bad people. 3. They find the bad dudes, and these bad dudes are seriously bad dudes. 5. A guild member (usually Lucy) is put in danger 5.Natsu attempts to fight them but they are far too strong. 6. Cue flashback/motivational speech about friendship. 7. This will then summon this random "will power" within Natsu. 8. Natsu beats the seriously bad dudes that are way OP for him and shouldn't be able to beat. 9. Celebration and breathing. 10. Back to the guild for absolute shite humour consisting of Juvia loving Gray, Gray taking his clothes off, Erza hurting people, Natsu destroying crap or eating, Lucy is making stupid faces because of what the guild members are doing, and brown hair girl is drinking. 11. Return to step 1 for the beginning of a new arc. Art (6/10): My only complaint is the magic. I feel like is could be much better quality. Like, Natsu's flames looked like fire animations you'd pick up on Clipart or something. Apart from that, I suppose the art was pretty solid. Y'know, not outstanding, but just average. Sound (6/10): Asides the less than average sound effects that is to be expected in all lengthy shounen, everything was pretty sweet. Fairy Tail had a nice OST, good OP's/ED's, and decent voice acting. Characters (3/10): Of the 141 episodes I watched, every character did not change one bit. Even after that, however long timeskip it was, nobody changed. Except for their appearance I suppose. The villains, the villains, the villans... They are so awfully cliché, I want to vomit. Think of the most generic super villain you can think of. Done? Alright. Yeah, he/she's in this. People just trying to destroy the world, or cover it in darkness, etc etc etc. Pathetic. Now if we move onto Natsu, I have a complaint. Tell me how he could defeat all of these villains. They were over powered to the max... Like at that crystal joint (tower to heaven or something of the likes?), that guy was WAY out of his league, but no. All he had to do was have thoughts of Erza, and he's gold. I can't remember what he did, but I think he merged with the crystals? Either way, it's a last minute power up and that sort of crap ruins series. There are a lot more examples, but my memory is so bad (I'm editing this 5 months after I wrote the review, and even longer after I dropped it). Enjoyment (2/10): I enjoyed it for a long time while I was still in my newborn anime diapers. I'm pretty sure this was my 4th or 5th anime ever. So obviously, I had no real taste, and sort of just watched and liked whatever I watched. But now that I've been watching anime for a while now, I see that this series is just crap. One hundred and seventy something episodes of pure repetition, garbage humour, and cliché villains. Overall (3/10): Definitely not the best shounen anime. In fact. The worst. I've watched every episode and read every chapter so far of One Piece, and Fairy Tail doesn't hold a match to One Piece. Of the 650+ episodes of One Piece I've seen, there has been, yes, MC's beating over powered characters, friendship flashbacks for random "will power" etc. But the level of repetitiveness is FAR less noticeable in One Piece. I'm not saying OP's a masterpiece, but it's definitely light years beyond Fairy Tail in terms of "the best shounen to date". And then I watched Hunter X Hunter.

It just sucks the way it ended… Not that it ended badly, it just sucks that it ended at all. Fairy Tail is, for lack of a better term, your generic shounen. You have a group of teenage wizards running around fighting bad guys and all the while they get stronger as Natsu Dragneel looks for his father… who is a dragon. Shounen clichés come with the territory, and Fairy Tail is no exception. Think about it. If you make a shounen, no matter how you make it, it is going to have some generic components. What makes Fairy Tail so unique is that it isgood in spite of all the clichés the plot may have. You have to remember something that so many people easily forget. Not every part of a generic shounen is bad, and Fairy Tail actually does a really good job capitalizing on the things we love in a shounen. It has great humor, consistent arcs, short recaps, nice fight scenes, and most importantly nice character development. The members of the Fairy Tail guild are an interesting bunch to say the least. Since they can all use magic their fighting styles are extremely diverse. After the first season you will feel like you know the members of the guild personally. There are dozens you are introduced to and you will most likely remember their names because the show does that good of a job at giving the characters a long lasting impression. When something happens to one of the members of the guild it will probably make you sad, maybe even bring on some tears. You won’t even realize you have an emotional attachment to these characters until something happens. It is almost as if you are blind-sided a bit by the connection you have with the Fairy Tail guild members, and you will most definitely have a connection with the members as you will most likely see yourself in one of them. I guess it doesn’t hurt that this anime had an all-star voice cast to help with making you like the characters. That’s right; you’ll definitely recognize at least a few of the voices in this anime. The first one that I noticed was the voice of Toradora’s Aisaka Taiga, but the show itself has many more notable voices than that including Alphonse Elric, Hanekawa Tsubasa, Miki Sayaka, and Amane Misa. A voice cast like Fairy Tail’s does not come around often and is something that must be acknowledged when going into this anime. Not only does the show have an all-star voice cast but the score for the show is also pretty over the top. Normally it would be hard for a show to get the soundtrack just right but Fairy Tail managed to do it extremely well. The art and animation should really go without saying. It is extremely well done, and fluid allowing for really awesome fights to be had. The style of the art is a little strange though, and not unlike One Piece it may put some people off at first, but after a few episodes you will find yourself really loving the art, just as you will find yourself loving the anime as a whole. I myself really love Fairy Tail. I love the jokes that I used to see, the characters that I got so attached to, the fight scenes, the soundtrack, the art, and you know what? I even love all the generic shounen aspects that came with it. If I had to describe the show in exactly five words I’d tell you “Fairy Tail is really fun.” Because it is, it is just plain fun to watch. That’s why I’m sad that it had to end. I didn’t want it to have to end. ---BREAKDOWN— Story – 5 Art – 7 Sound – 10 Characters – 9 Enjoyment - 9 Overall - 8