Review of Fairy Tail

Fairy tail is one of those shows that has had a lot of attention on it for along time - both with lots of praise and lots of bashing. Many has some kind of opinion of it, so what the show really manages to do is provoking emotions - good or bad. I personally has watched all existing episodes (minus some filler arcs, but I come to that later), and are up to date with the manga so I have had time to given it some thought. I gonna be honest, the first time I tried to watch it, I dropped it after 2episodes with the thought to maybe check it out later - it felt pretty childish. When I again picked it up and started giving it a serious shot, Fairy tail soon started to grow a lot on me until I had given most of my holiday on it. I´m may be slightly biased in this case, but I are absolutely not blind to the shows flaws - the show is by no means perfect in many ways. But I truly love the show, flaws and all. Yes, it´s many time childish and over expresses emotions. Yes, many times we get random mood breaking comedy and cliche battle speeches. Yes, most of the power-ups is because of "I do this for my friends" kinda of motivations. And you know what? It doesn´t bother me at all, which is strange because that kind of stuff can easily irritate me. But in Fairy tails case I grow to love the show for it just that instead. It´s hard to not compare Fairy tail against the other big shounen names out there (Bleach, Naruto, One Piece, DBZ, Hunter x Hunter etc.), but it also should be able to be judged on its own premises. In my review of Fairy tail I have done bit of both - compared it to the big ones and how it stand alone.

Story: 8/10
I should first mention that I give the score based on Fairy tail as o whole (anime + manga) and minus the filler arcs. Why? Because i don´t think the filler arc has the same feeling as the manga based material at all ( I recommend that you skip those), and that all story´s should be judged when you have most of the whole picture. So, down to business. I actually for the most part really enjoyed the story with it´s crazy random little inputs, bonding moments and major battles. If you really pay attention to the plot, you will see that the show many times are very well thought throw and detailed. It can be information in what you think was just a random comment/conversation and so on. But all the time you get clues to the major plot and upcoming events. Hiro Mashima has really managed to create a detailed and awesome fantasy world. Even when you think important plot progressions, like the background and function of the dragon slayers, are lost in the sea of events somewhere - don´t get your hopes down. The story slowly builds up to those moments (yes, sometimes waaay to slow, but hey? Arn´t we used to that by know?). Yes, sometimes the story seems to go at totally random direction (and can many times do so), but the major plot, battles and mysteries are put out there from the start and links together more and more as the series progresses. The manga is still ongoing and Hiro (the creator of the manga Fairy tail) will be directly involved in the upcoming seasons. What I have seen is many complains about is the many times overused fan-service. It´s absolutely true - it used a lot. Shore, some serious battles and moments are ruined by it (Hiro you pervert), but it dosent take away the feeling that Fairy tails story and characters are all about (at least not for me). The complexity and details of the Fiore and it´s history, the guilds and political structures, the use of magic and the different types (you got fire magic, air, water, metal and so on), character relationships, time travelling, magical experiments, dragons and demons, makes Fairy tail to one of the biggest and best adventure story´s in anime out to date. It has a heavy focus on friendships, believes, loyalty, determination and love. All the things that brings together a strong family and team. If that kind of stuff annoys you, don´t watch this - Fairy tail is all about that. Sometimes you can have a bit of hard time to feel the characters pain in battles, due to that we see very little blood and deaths in this show. Dirt and bruises yes, but nothing like Ichigo almost bleeding out against Kenpachi. What we do got a lot of instead, is lot of different magic attacks, fist fights and explosions. Some of the magic attacks are really crazy (in a good way), so you can´t relay on that the strongest fighter will win - some times it´s the fighter with most secret attacks and dirty tricks that will come out victorious. Do Fairy tail has an original story? As a base no (strong wizards fighting against all odds, and wins over and over again, friendships trumps over all and that kind of stuff). In it´s execution? Yes. The world and details of it (magic, history, guilds, inventions and so on) are very original and unique to Fairy tail. Of course some arcs are a bit weaker and sometimes a bit exaggerated border to childish. But then we have some real strong ones (as for example"Tower of Heaven arc" and "Tenrou Island arc"). As the story progresses the mood of the show and it´s enemies gets more serious, so it will not stay in it´s initially childish mode (for most parts any way).

Art: 7/10
The art isn´t that great compared to many other shows. But have in mind that this is a long running show, which has a tighter budget to every episode. It is how ever produced by to major studios ( A-1 picture and Satelight), which are shown with some really nice settings when money are put in to them, and much of the magic gets time to really shine (for example Natsus fire magic). What they have manage to do, and should get credit for, is that they have stayed true to the manga´s art. All character has their unique designs and some are just so weird - but it´s Fairy tails crazy world so I think they fit in perfectly. Some fight scenes are a bit hard to fallow do to some so called "cut-and-past" feeling to them, so don´t expect top class fights as in for example the Fate series. But it also has equally as many detailed and crazy nice fight scenes. Facial expression is very strong and clear, and many times the body movements to. All over I think the art and animation suites it purpose and the show it self.

Sound: 10/10
Here i´m getting a bit excited. I absolutely freaking love the soundtrack! The soundtrack is dominated by Irish/Celtic folk influenced rock. It´s makes a fantastic job of bring out that feeling only Fairy tail can bring out in me. It´s well composed, well coordinated and right up epic (for example "Dragon force" or "Fairy tails main theme"). I´m glad that they decided to stay with it all through all the anime, and just add some new song here so it wouldn´t get boring. The OP´s are all very energetic and catchy. They suites the show great and often follows the mood of the arc it used for. All OP´s also showcases a lot of clues of what gonna happen in the following episodes, which I thought was brilliant. It peaked my curiosity of what´s gonna happen next. ED´s are a bit goofy at the beginning but if you watch them to the end, the showcases a lot of emotional stuff for selected characters. Many random sounds highlighting the comical aspects of the show. For VA, I watched the dubbed, and I actually liked them all. They played their part very well. They manage in most cases to catch the core of the character.

Character: 10/10
Also here I think it´s one of Fairy tails strongest parts. Like for example Bleach, it has a broad cast of characters, many with unique features and personalities. As for character developments it varies, but what ever you love or hate the character - the character will force some emotions from you. I´m still a bit awed in the sense of Hiro´s imagination of creating all of these strong and colorful characters. Our main crew is Natsu, Lucy, Erza and Grey. Of them I think Erza and Gray have the greatest development (both personal wise and in fighting skills). But the charm in Fairy tails characters lays not in a major character development - is´s in their characteristic personalities. You know there you have them. Natsu gonna get motion sick and run head first in a fight without any strategy, Lucy is gonna end up in small cloths and win by some random luck chance, Erza will hold speeches about the light in ones heart and go berserk in one of her armors, and Grey will say typical cool boy stuff and freeze people up. It´s what I like about them. The most enjoyable thing with Fairy tails characters is the dynamic between them, and how much team Fairy tail regards each other and innocent life. Some characters are plain weirdos and some are archetypes, but in their own unique design and little role to fill. Most character are being reused in a good manor, to fill other important roles in the story. To follow the Fairy tail crews journeys was nothing but awesome for me. Some canon and still up for discussions relationships are also very heart warming and well matched. You gonna get some strong moments with your favorites, that´s for shore. Many of the main and supporting cast is also given well deserved detailed backgrounds and in real time attention.

Enjoyment: 10/10
I had a absolute blast watching this show, and giving the show a 10 despite some obvious flaws in the plot, character developments and in the animation. In it´s imperfection Fairy tail has so much to it, which brings a unique feeling to it. I call it "The Fairy tail feeling". I benched watched all that was out in no time at all, sometimes I even forgot to eat! Total Fairy tail deep dive.

Overall: 10/10
Just looked on briefly Fairy tail may appear very childish, repetitive and some times even stupid. But if you look down under the surface you soon see a much deeper show, with characters that will be hardly tested and a plot that actually has a direction. You just has to give it the time it takes to evolve. Overall very enjoyably to me. I started to read the manga as soon as the last episode was watched. And of that I can state that the upcoming season is gonna be totally badass - for shore the best so far. It´s where we gonna get some answers to long asked questions and see what everything else has build up to.

"The biggest mistake you ever made, was to mess with Fairy tail" - The Fairy tail Guild members