So we’ve been covering a lot of the newer shows with our recent articles, so we decided it’s time to cover a show that’s been going for a while now and comes recommended by a lot of folk.
Fairy Tail
Quick Stats:
Genre: Fantasy, Action, Adventure, Comedy, Shonen
Comes in Manga flavor?: Yes, Before the anime
Episodes: 223 (Ongoing) Plus 6 OVA
Premise of the Show:
In the magic saturated land of Fiore, wizards and sorcerers are a common sight. These practitioners act like skilled tradesmen who band together in organisations they aptly call “guilds”. Then, based off the level of talent among their number, they take on paying mercenary work for all the poor non-magic wielders who need assistance. These jobs could be as simple as taking down a rampaging monster that is plaguing a small village, to retrieving long lost heirloom items or even running odd and bizarrely mundane errands.
The series begins with Lucy. A young aspiring wizard and practitioner of Celestial Spirit magic, who has decided she wants to try apply with the most impressive guild around, Fairy Tail.
As she sets out, she meets a young fellow called Natsu who saves her from a unscrupulous wizard of low moral fiber, and just like that, her adventure is underway, building up to significantly epic storytelling worthy of and high magic world adventure.
Natsu’s hot headed nature means he’ll brawl with pretty much anyone
Story
The story takes a similar approach to most Shonen shows of long running fame, in that every few episodes are focused around a specific theme or adventure with the occasional self contained episode thrown in between. The tales are well banded together with the glue of great foreshadowing and events that intertwine with other future arcs, often with story threads tying back to what you may have thought were earlier inconsequential facts in the series. Now and then they pull a thread a bit too thin, but they quickly recover by producing a whole new tapestry of tales in order to refresh the show and make you feel like it isn’t just a “new flavor of the week” approach.
Plus they use the “Animated magic circle” approach to magic effects, which is always awesome
Characters
Like any long running anime, Fairy Tail has broad range of character types. What keeps them really fresh is that the level of magic in the world allows a good many of them all to practice their own forms and custom styles of magic Although not immediately apparent, almost every single character has there own fleshed out back-story. This results in very few “bland” background or supporting characters that seem to lack motivation. Each new story arc adds a whole slew of fresh characters in the forms of allies and villains as well, quickly ballooning the cast into impressive proportions considering the effort they go too with each one. Also, the shows long running nature allows the writers to explore even the lowliest back stories and produce character development other then the stock standard stuff normally dished out in a shorter show.
Music
“Don’t Judge a book by it’s cover”, the old adage goes. But if you were to do so in this case you wouldn’t be let down! The openings and endings of the series are exactly what you’d expect from a action packed shonen series, with catchy tunes abound. Interestingly, the soundtrack has a weird quirk. It has music which seems to be a remix of some of Heroes of Might and Magic 4‘s soundtrack. Now don’t get me wrong, I really like the music from the Heroes series. I just find is somewhat strange to suddenly encounter those tunes in a medium operating 90 degrees away!
I’m sure there were valid deals struck with the composers or IP owners of the works. So as an added bonus to getting to watch an awesome show, the soundtrack gives a boost of nostalgia at the same time as well.
Art Style
Using an art style that is pretty standard for the genre and current works, the art is neither the best thing in the anime, nor is it the worst thing. There are a few characters that could perhaps have been drawn a little better. But overall, the magic effects are well thought out and unique.
Oh and they have fan service… loads and loads of fan service
Overall
I have enjoyed this anime greatly since it came out and it’s long running nature means it’s very easy for you to catch up on watching it. I will, of course, sad when it ends but it seems to be following the Shonen action adventure formula of a million mangas, so I’m not worried for the immediate future. The series has captured my imagination and heart since the first arc and I definitely recommend you grab some of the DVD boxsets or some issues of the manga and give it a watch/read, especially if you were a fan of the older Slayers franchise or perhaps looking for something to fill the Bleach and Naruto shaped holes in your watching/reading schedule.