killermouze

In a nutshell

This review is up to the 30's in episodes. As of the 60's, the anime has just become stronger, and the story arcs have become much more interesting. I have noticed a slight increase in fan service, but its not rediculous as compared to other animes. Its more of a "little extra" rather then a main element. I've also noticed that the switch between funny and serious happens more frequently with many little jokes and hilarious antics spread throughout even the most serious episodes keeping the whole anime light and fluffy. Also, if your looking for some romance, Fairy Tail is sorely missing. While it shouldn't be a main point of the story based on its style and genre, I feel like there is so much potential for some character to grow through relationships. While the character's are still awesome, character development has not been developing as much as one would hope. Still, awesome anime. Enjoy!

Fairy Tail is a wonderful series with both decent story arcs and solid animation. However, its greatest attribute is the excellent, well thought out, hilarious characters that fill this anime with awesomeness. Watch this. Now!

Story: 7.5

The story starts out relatively simple enough with the main female lead joining up with the male lead to go on epic adventures together. Shortly after, the two begin their epic quest together with the help of friends they meet along the way.

While the story is predictable and almost one giant cliché (hidden massive power, etc), it strays from the pack due to its epic battles, and its ability to seamlessly go from its hilariously fun mini-arches and adventures, to a dead serious story of sacrifice and determination. In many ways, it makes me think of a mixture of Host Club and Bleach.

However, besides the cliché story arcs, the biggest problem is there doesn’t seem to really be much of an overall plotline. Sure there are good story arcs, but they all have a definite beginning and end that never really seem to affect the wider girth of what is Fairy Tail. Tiny cliff hangers and clues are scattered throughout the show. I’m just wondering why they haven’t acted upon it. There was a lot of potential here due to the stellar characters (see below) and overall atmosphere. Due to this, it breaks my heart because it got two out of the three most important elements to compliment a downright legendary anime. Why couldn’t they have added a great original and continuous storyline to bring out Fairy Tail's full potential!?!

Nevertheless, listening to manga fans, I have heard that my overarching epic storyline I’m looking for should be coming to the anime next season (assuming there is one). I’m looking forward to it. However, even if that is true, it shouldn’t take until the third season to really get to the meat of things.

Animation: 8

The animation is what you would expect from a series this new. It’s clean and crisp, with ample detail on the backgrounds. The battles and explosions are especially good, and it’s easy to tell the animators paid particular attention to these. What really hooked me to the animation was its cute and unique style. Everything from the guild buildings to the dress of the characters are interesting; sometimes almost bizarre (there is a guy whose head is basically a box). Hot girls too! At other times however, there are obvious shortcuts; particularly on the more laid back episodes.

Sound: 7

Decent music, ample battle sounds, non-squeaky annoying voices (HELL YES). Besides that, nothing really stuck out at me.

Characters: 9.3

HOLY SHIT. Pure awesomeness. I haven’t seen character’s this good since… I don’t even know. The characters are all unique and interesting with well flushed out past. What is so amazing is that there are so many characters, and they all have dynamic and interesting personalities. It takes skill to have a really good protagonist (which Fairy Tail has two of). It takes much more skill to have an entire cast of really good characters. Through flashbacks, the vast majority of the major characters' pasts and motives for acting a certain way are explained. There are no cliché characters in this anime.

The true genius. The cream of the crop. The hot tamale. The big cheese. It has to be Nantu. With him, you have a protagonist who is truly one of the funniest characters I have ever seen. He loves to pick fights with everyone, and doesn’t seem to care so much about destroying personal property; he isn’t malicious about it though. He is basically one hilarious kid who is hot tempered and definitely one of a kind. However, what makes him truly shine is how he can go from carefree and funny one second, to dead serious and willing to sacrifice everything for his friends and his guild the next second. The fact that the personality given to him can believably and seamlessly switch from one to the other is one rare feature! I find that a lot of animes fail here because the two sides of the character's personality don't really fit together. The one flaw in Nantu character that I have seen is that while everyone else’s past were explained in detail, Nantu’s is not. This makes it slightly awkward at times that the anime has given the viewer much more information about the side characters history than the main guy.

Lucy, the female protagonist is almost as good as Nantu. Shes funny and spunky, and over confident in her appearance? Anyways, she greatly compliments Nantu by adding a little more structure and down to earth vibe that keeps things from going completely out of control while maintaining the silly, than serious atmosphere. She is pretty hot to boot! Like Nantu, her personality is such that she can change moods and demeanor at a second's notice in a seemless and believable way. Her biggest problem (though small) is she suffers from the same lack of a backstory that Nantu has. While the anime gives some background on her, it just doesn't seem to be as flushed out as the other characters.

I don’t want to talk too much about the other characters as telling you too much about them could arguably be spoilers. Learning about the characters is part of the story here. Just trust me that there good.

Overall: 8.5

I must admit, when I started watching this anime I had no idea what to expect. Reading the synopsis, I thought it might be a mildly entertaining anime. After watching it, I’m very impressed, and it has now become one of my favorite series. The overall score is much higher than the average of the other scores due to what I like to call the "Fun factor" (something I think Anime Planet should add). Anyways, the fun factor is just my ranking on how plan fun and interesting a series is to watch. In a way, it could be called the "How addictive is it" or "Can you marathon it" rank.

Anyways, I just wish the main storyline will pick up already! If you haven’t seen Fairy Tail, go out and get it. Find a fan-sub, I don’t care. Just watch it. It won't disappoint.