Fairy Tail: Entertaining also for the younger ones, but lacks something

Written by Little_Wolf-18 on November 7, 2011 at 5:56 AM

A short warning beforehand: If you use DivX Plus Player, all files seem to be okay, but if you use VLC Media Player, the HorribleSubs .mkv files can crash your whole computer if things get messed up. I don’t know what’s wrong with them, but it doesn’t seem to be my computer since others had the same problem.

On with the review:
The story of “Fairy Tail” has a lot of ups and downs; some aspects I think are excellent, others lack big time. Biggest downside to it is that the story is clichéd in a way, with its “good versus evil” theme and the random power-ups, especially Natsu’s. Also, “Fairy Tail” lacks continuity. There is, subtly, a bigger plot behind this, born from the characters’ individual goals, but looking at the continuity of the story arcs, those can be rather random, and although this adds to the story’s unpredictability, it’s not that good for my taste. However, that also makes the story dynamic, such that it can go any way, and adds to the unpredictability between the arcs. There are still plot twists and secrets to keep the viewer entertained, even if there are also a few logical breaks by now. The story has a fast pace due to very short arcs with short fights; cliffhangers are rare, and there are no drawn-out spaces where nothing happens during the battles (like in Naruto or Bleach where the opponents just talk endlessly instead of fighting). The story seems to be well planned with light emotionality and a heavy focus on both action and humour. Also, there’s only one filler (episodes 069-075). Fairy Tail’s genres include of course fantasy/supernatural, adventure, and action genre, but also focus on humour and friendship, with a touch of drama and a few light romances.

It is very confusing to me that “Fairy Tail” seems to lean heavily into being an anime for children, with its bloodless violence and a focus on values like friendship, loyalty and trust without going much into romance, mystery, or any similar genre, but on the other hand contains some rather perverted jokes and ecchiness. If it is meant for teenagers, it should become a little more mature; if it is for kids, take out the perverted jokes, and where the heck does the ecchi aspect come from anyways?

The characters are quite unique, with individual and fitting powers; even the enemies have individual powers. The main characters also have believable background, whereas the side characters stay rather pale in comparison and can evoke the impression that they are only there to please the watcher. There are contrasts between the characters, and character dynamics and relationships are done well (there’s better animes but it’s believable at least). However, there’s lots of parallels to Rave Master, which might not be bad but is a little letdown; individual series should stay individual; of course a mangaka’s art style stays the same, and the story has definitely been changed from Rave Master, but the characters could have been changed quite easier. If you know Rave Master, you can easily see where many of the characters of Fairy Tail come from.

Character development is finely done, but the characters’ powers don’t seem to develop, which is quite sad seeing as the anime is long enough to let them develop without having the typical “hyper strong in two hours” concept. Also, all characters have their small fits of insanity, which might be funny but lately has become a little off, especially regarding the enemies.

Something I think is also quite sad is that Natsu replaced Lucy as the main character. I like Natsu since he can be quite amusing, and Happy’s one of my favourites, but Natsu seems just like another typical shounen hero; he strives to protect his friends, but lacks intelligence and often just charges into fights without thinking first. Lucy, on the other hand, has become the rather typical shounen female character at least during the fights, not very strong and often depending on others (I don’t mean her summons). She still keeps an individual character, but it might be good on the story to make her a little stronger.

Dialogue is usually straight and to the point without missing its humour. The animation overall is fine, nothing special. The magic circles might look good in the manga but animated they are an epic fail. Overall, the animation is just fine. The artwork is good, though it might be better in the manga (I haven’t read the Fairy Tail manga but Rave Master, and since both have the same mangaka, the art might be similar. The anime doesn’t do Mashima-san’s artistic style justice, in my opinion.) By the way, the art might remind you of One Piece, but that’s simply because Mashima-san and One Piece’s mangaka (forgot his name^^°) had the same sensei (= teacher). Same concept: the soundtrack might remind you of Naruto Shippuuden (or the other way around) but that’s because both OSTs were composed by the same person xD The music, by the way, is pretty well done and fits the atmosphere.

The anime is all in all light-hearted and quirky, with some touching moments, but mostly just hilarious comedy which makes it unpredictable and very energetic. The name might seem funny and doesn’t really make sense, but if you ignore that, you have a pretty good beginner anime and one regular shounen viewers might like as well. Bloodless magic battles, a generally fast pace, a subtle plot which still keeps its secrets, hilarious comedy, and lots of partly ecchi characters – voilà, a Fairy Tail.