Fairy Tail

Even though this series has been around since about 2008 or so, it took me until about a couple of days or maybe even a week or so ago to even start seeing it.

And I have to say, pretty much all the negative things that I've heard about the series have turned out to be true for the most part.

Natsu Dragneel is like Goku, Naruto, and Luffy thrown into a blender. With the end result being pretty ugly. Natsu is quite possibly the most badly written shonen character I've seen. Granted, I am only at the GMG arc because I only watch the anime, which I think is slightly better. But for the most part Natsu has not changed from the beginning in any significant way. He is the typical fight loving, dense, lives to eat hero.

You may say the same thing holds true about a couple of other heroes in shonen, but with Natsu this, and his dragon boner for friendship are pretty much all there is to his character.

For all the hatred that Lucy seems to get, she comes off as a pretty realistic character in my honest opinion. She didn't take years to ever try to partake in a battle like Sakura. And she isn't as dependant on others like Orihime was for so damn long . I far more enjoy seeing her(with or without clothes) than Natsu.

But another thing. I don't hate the series. Itseems that even in series that I do little bit we hate I can always find at least a few characters that managed to entertain me and make me care about them. I like Gajeel, Wendy, Lucy, Gray, Jura, Ichiya, Elf man, Mirajane, Mystogan. And plenty more!

I when live the world they live in. Its modern fantasy, that's something I love seeing.

Ijust kinda hard to believe that this series is made by the same guy who created something as excellent as Rave Master. Its like he lost himself or something. I find the series enjoyable enough. A guilty pleasure if you will. But it ultimately has more downs than ups.

What are your experiences with Fairy Tail, Comicvine?

@blackwind: I enjoy Fairy Tail quite a bit. Honestly, people tend to take the show way too seriously. It doesn't really deserve a lot of the band wagon hate it gets. Most of the haters also tend to be people who have never seen the show. Another large percentage of them are just people trying to hype up their favorite show (One Piece fans do this in about every anime related forum I've been in). Then there are those who just don't like it, which is understandable. A lot of Shonen aren't really "good" per say (the lone exceptions being Full Metal Alchemist, Space Dandy and Death Note in my opinion). They build interesting and loveable characters in a crazy world to tell their story. Fairy Tail does that incredibly well. I don't know if people noticed, but Fairy Tail is also a comedy drama above all else. That's what I began watching it for. So you could consider me surprised that I actually felt strongly for the characters during pretty well thought out emotional moments. Is the story itself really good? Well, yes and no. The real premise of the show isn't one that's heavily focused on or followed throughout the series. The main story is interestingly enough, not really told in the forefront. The premise of finding Igneel and defeating Zeref and the Black Dragon are, until recently, typically behind the story of a specific arc. This is both good and bad. Good because it's an interesting concept. Bad because the subtle/back burner nature of the story sometimes makes the show feel aimless. The arcs for the stories themselves are also fairly interesting. The have lots of twist and turns that break away from your average formulaic story telling. It honestly surprised me when people said that it's a formulaic story. I completely disagree with this statement, as what IS formulaic about the show is not the stories at all, it's the resolutions. That has more to do with plot structure than anything else. They're generic because, until recent arcs, they all end the same way. Fairy Tail defeats the bad guys and then they return to the guild stronger than before, ready to take on their next challenge. The reason why people say the plot sucks is because the show itself doesn't place a ton of emphasis on Natsu's journey to find Igneel/defeat Zeref and the Black dragon. There is a reason for that though......Natsu isn't the true protagonist of the show, Lucy is. It's all told from her perspective and interpretation. She is the main character of Fairy Tail. Her character's main overarching story is aiding Fairy Tail in any way she can. That's why Natsu's base story, the show's real underlining story, isn't focused on as much. The show is about family and friendship, which is what Lucy's overarching story essentially encapsulates. So, the story itself isn't written badly at all. In fact it's actually a very interesting way to tell the story. What IS written badly is the pacing and the balance between the two stories. The balance more so than anything else, as that's what makes the show feel aimless at times.

As for characters, they are arguably the best part of the show. Each and every character in the show is awesome in their own way (especially the strong female characters). I would have to disagree with you about no character development coming from Natsu, even if he is one of my least favorite characters in the show. Almost all of the characters in Fairy Tail have had some major or minor character development. Just because they haven't turned a total 180 doesn't mean they haven't developed. I could go on forever about the character development in Fairy Tail, but I'll leave that for another post. I don't like Natsu that much because I personally just dislike characters like him in general. Goku, Luffy and Naruto have always kind of annoyed me. As far as how he's written, up until recently, I can halfway agree with your description of his character. The last things I'd like to talk about are the three things that everyone complains about. The first two are typically people just spouting out their ass, the last one is something that I find to be a completely valid complaint. The first two are the friendship power ups and the fan service. If you actually watch the show, it isn't actually guilty of that many friendship power ups....at all. It's typically them finding a new way to use magic to defeat their enemies. It's also mentioned several times throughout the show the emotions actually determine the amount of magic power you can have/release. What Fairy Tail does do a lot of, something almost all shonen are guilty of, are asspulls. They can be really annoying, but they exist in abundance in almost every anime I've ever seen. The fan service, if you haven't noticed, is meant to be a joke. If you don't like it, then that's fine. I personally find it rather funny when it occurs. Speaking of fan service, Fairy Tail also does some of the best (most bearable) fillers I've seen in any anime. I tend to find a lot of people agree with that statement, even if they don't like the show. The last part, and the part that bothers me most about the series is Hiro's use of fake deaths. They bug the shit out of me. They're used as cliffhanger baits rather than actually story progression. In all of Fairy Tail, that's the one thing that I call Hiro out on. There is a reason why it's done (a lot of it has to do with his producers not letting characters die. As he actually planned for Erza, Master Makarov to die, and for Lisanna to stay dead).

Does that excuse Hiro from bringing them back the next chapter? No. There have been main characters that have died, and there will be some big deaths on the future, but these death fake-outs irritate me incredibly. All in all, Fairy Tail is actually a pretty good show. It knows what it is and doesn't try to be things it's not, which is why I love it. Is it an incredible anime? Nah. I don't think One Piece, Naruto, Attack on Titan, or Bleach are incredible animes. Nothing like Cowboy Bebop or Wolf's Rain. But for what it is, I really enjoy it. Can it be stupid? Yes. Can it be full of bullshit, absolutely. But it can also be full of suspense, epicness, and mystery (when it comes to certain aspects about the world). It's also incredibly emotional and very funny. It makes for an incredibly enjoyable show if you don't take it too seriously (which the creator even admitted that you shouldn't). There are also some pretty wise speeches given, as well as some deep real world parallels throughout the show (not nearly as much as One Piece, but they still exist). I enjoy it, and many of my anime loving friends do too. Ignore the hate, as it circulates everywhere on almost every show. I remember the Naruto hate. Every show goes through those phases. So if you like it, continue to watch it, if you hate it, then don't watch it. All in all I really enjoy it and I can't wait for the new season to start up.

I personally love fairy tail(no one hate on me for that) but if anyone should die it should be makarov even though i love him i personally like this arc but i will admit it has it's problems.

agree mate

I've never watched Fairy Tail so I have no say in the matter lol. The name doesn't look that creative though "Fairy Tail" really?? like "fairytale" *sighs*

I hate it too, kinda broke my interest in anime and manga for a while. On the bright side that helped push me towards comics

Showed it to @darkdetective27 and he hated it

Generic and predictable as it gets, it has it's moments but most of the time they are ruined because "lol we won because my friends believe in me".

@foxerdes: Basically what this guy said.

@blackwind: See what I mean.

pacing wise I've liked it better than bleach and naruto. its a silly take on the over the top anime . plus they handle filler better lol

Fights are too predictable now and still no one has yet to even get seriously hurt.

Meh Anime. Meh Plot. Bad Characters. Meh Girls.

@soa: Pretty much agreed. A lot of the haters reasons for not liking it are things that I could, and have, thrown at almost every shonen anime.

@bobandjim1260: very true.