Review of Fairy Tail

***minor spoilers only*** (note: ft=fairy tail) For me fairy tail is one of the big three and it's stage is shared by naruto and bleach [one piece belongs to biggest 1] . All the three of them have one thing in common, they can at times become super cool, and epic with their action scenes, and plot twists but on most other occasions become super lame, crossing all horizons of lameness. Fairy tail can be best described as a pain killer with side effects, while it has quite the content to absorb u in, kill the boredom, but after some time, the side effects kick in,and u will say to yourself, why did I even pick up this shounen. The time for the side effects to show their effects will vary from person to person depending on their immunity and tolerance, but u r bound to get this feeling one time or the other, but just like being addicted to sth, it will not be easy to leave it, and ultimately u will end up following the whole anime, and that is the reckoning power of the big three. As such, after getting into a cool arc u will have a satisfactory feeling and will say, glad I picked up the anime, but even that feeling will be transient, after it is followed by lameness, and most often u will be caught in a dilemma as to how good this anime actually is, and is it wise to drop or continue the anime?

Imho the least one can do is to give this an unbiased try for the first 10-15 eps, and if u like it, feel happy because things become better and better and in case u feel not at the least moved and hate it like hell feel free to drop it. For me I don't regret watching this show, bcz even if I hadn't, my shounen fanboy would have forced me into the series one or the other time. And on the whole, it does have some real good points. I was really absorbed into the fights, and didn't have look back till the filler arc. I was immensely attracted by the opness of the guild members.

Fairy tail has got one of the easiest settings, a guild which accepts all kinds of jobs, and people get money for the completion of task. It starts off with short arcs mainly to introduce most characters of the guild. Pacing of this show (only initial eps) is one it's strongest points. It handles almost all the fairly short arcs, nicely, and aptly. It is one of the rare good works of A1 pictures (a studio I hate for needlessly butchering magi season 1). The short arcs lead to some real character development, and make the characters more memorable. It also introduces their skills, their powers, and back stories. There are literally not much complexity involved in these arcs, and this doesn't start till about ep40. From then on, there are two to three decent arcs which have very good settings. Later on, like most other animes, the fights are somewhat stretched, but that is also done very nicely, and rather add to the story.

As for art, I happen to be a fan of the old animation style which this version uses, as it shows more details of the expression of the characters. The action scenes are nicely animated, and does the manga fights fair justice. Though I don't know why none of the fights have slightest amounts of blood involved, but it isn't a part of manga either so can't really complain on animation. Art is decent as the characters have an indiviualistic vibe. The backgrounds are vibrant and go along with the cheerfulness of the anime. Sound is one of its greatest strengths as some BGMs during action sequences can literally boil up ur blood. And for calm or comedic situation has got better osts. The VA have done a decent job, especially of the MC Natsu, and his laughter itself has the strength to make u laugh. ( Animation, sound 9/10)

The main story (which is incidentally divided into many arcs) is meh.. at its best. There are quite a few times, where unpredictability hits us, and just when one thinks, at last everything is over boom! ft just had to give their finishing touch. This gives a pleasant and satisfactory sensation. But on the whole ft is 90% predictable (except for the current arc which I dare not spoil). There is almost little suspense, which is quite unique from its rivals of same genre, which specifically add suspense to create better story. Ft banks more on it's action scenes, and unpredictibilty rather than on mystery, or suspense, which is fairly ok with me, as it is better than screwing up a whole arc, which will surely trigger the side effects.

As for some complexity in the plot it occurs when they take on some dark guild. Their encounters with dark guilds have produced two very decent arcs, and are responsible for the attraction this anime gets. This is where kickass actions take place, and some of the best fights are hidden. Along with nakama power ups, there is quite an amount of combo attacks used which add to epicness of the fights. Even in these arcs, some very lame fights are evident, and I would recommend to fast forward them. There is also a filler arc, and conventional wisdom suggests it be better skipped.

While not completely apparent, but the story as a whole progresses step by step. Every arc has some connecting points to previous arc, and not completely distinct. New characters are gradually introduced, and some later become members of ft, and become integral part of the story. (Story 7/10)

Characters is one of the selling point of the series. Starting with the MC natsu, who is ur average shounen protagonist, emphasizes on power of feelings (which is actually just adrenaline rush decorated with good words), he is still likable, due to the great sequences of action scenes. His partner Happy, a speaking cat with wings is also likable and together the duo forms the epicenter of comedy. Then on Lucy who is partly the narrator of the series and gives us first hand account of fairy tail, and later becomes an integral part of the story. Then comes the best of best Erza Scarlet, one of the main reasons ft is still ongoing. A real beauty, and really op. She covers up for almost all the lameness this series has.

As for villains, don't expect some godly epic characters like akatsuki, espada, shichibukai, or genei ryodan. The villains are just average.... They scarcely scare u, except for Zeref, who is pure form of evilness. There are ok villains like Oracion seis, and Grimoire Heart. There also do exists some badass characters like Laxus, Mystogan and Gildarts, but for that u gotta watch the anime.

Well, there are few characters who shouldn't have existed and are completely one dimensional, so just ignore them, fast forward and give no shit to that.

(Characters: +10 for Erza, -6 for some retarded characters who shouldn't have ever existed and waste precious moments of the anime, +3 for all the other members of the guild, 7/10)

Fanservice is a debatable point. Well every shounen uses it, especially one piece in recent times, but ft is the trend setter for this at atleast. While the series is devoid of frequent fs which makes it non ecchi, there are abrupt places of fs, which depends on viewer as to how much it adds to their taste. I don't know how far does this influence the popularity of the show, but this doesn't affect the overall progress, so it's passable. If u srsly are into the series only for this, it is more prudent to watch the ovas. I m not a fan of fs, so it didn't mean much to me.

Fairy tail is highly enjoyable series for someone who is open minded, and accepts whatever the series has to offer with pleasure. The comedy is intricately embedded into the anime, and can make u cry from laughter on few occasions. There is also quite some hinted romance between natsu and Lucy, and people like to call to NaLu. The series has its lame moments, some which aren't bearable to watch and look like complete waste of time, and prudent behaviour will lead to fastforwarding those trash stuff.

Well I have been saying trash stuff, lame fights, so what do I exactly mean. How can fights be lame? The answer, these are fights whose outcome is obviously known. On many occasions Natsu defeats the boss level, but in the next arc struggles with the minions and again after sometime defeats the boss of the new level. And all this happened without any training menu, they call it natural ability, but even then there should be some justifying logics. This is what I mean by real lameness. If the characters would have undergone some excellent training under some renowned guy, then it would have added to character development, and story progression, but here it plays the exact opposite role, and makes some fights very less interesting, better called dumb. We understand ft are badass, but it seems, the anime is cock teasing us. But again this is not a fairy-tail only problem, and it exists with all long running animes.

Ft has some of the best starts mostly due to the excellent pacing of initial episodes. The eps were not sth too special, nor did they have some kind of very touching stories, which pierces our heart, rather they had a appealing charm, which glues us into the anime. The most probable reason for this as of yet we are not actually used to authors style, but once we get a hang of it, it essentially turns into cliche stuff for us, which then exponentially reduces our enjoyability.(Enjoyment 8/10)

On the whole, ft leaves us with sensation of varied degrees. Someone looking for good character development, and cliche shounen story, following a cliche route with cliche powers, with excellent action scenes, good pacing and a long running and ongoing anime will heavily enjoy the series. It is one of the good animes, which will make u crave for more and more epicness. On the other hand if one is looking for plot depth, mind blowing thriller, symbolism behind stuff or some other things -------then why r u even here? This is a pure shounen, catering to shounen fans only.

So for whom is this recommended? This seems redundant, and I guess I have managed to paint a faint picture of ft, and the answer to the question is implicitly stated. But I still wish to mention a few things explicitly, and I will consider some most probable cases. First, if u r some absolute newbie to the anime world, dragged by a recommendation of death note, and this is ur entrance to shounen, consider one piece, as it is a safer recc. There are high chances u will like ft, but still slim chances u may dislike it. Second, if u r invited to shounen genre by hxh, and are expecting same kind of shit! Sorry, it ain't on that level, but it has it's own uniqueness. Don't have extremely high expectation. Third, if u r a shounen fagot, who has missed the show, and are wondering, wheather or not to pick this up, there are 90% chances u wil like it. It's mainstream for u.

Ft has come a long way, and definitely needs applause. Not many shounens have been able to fare so well. It is a rather recent anime than others and yet has found a place for itself. It was is and probably will be compared with Naruto, one piece or katekyo hitman, because of the huge similarities they share, but even with the handicap of being a late addition to the list, it manages to captivate the viewers, and ranks first on many popularity based manga sites. It definitely doesn't have some kind of psychological thriller or some masterpiece story, it is what it is, a good collection of enthralling shounen fights. Ft hasn't reached the point of everything becoming lame, but is on its way. But the shounen genre as a whole has seen worse than this. Luckily ft doesn't have any episodes where it takes 3 eps to charge a kamehameha, and 4 eps to launch it. Every ep has some interesting things, but it is upto the viewer as to how much they will enjoy the show.

(Overall 7.5/10)

*Civilized criticism is always welcome."