Manga Review: Fairy Tail

Fairy Tail is a manga created by a guy named Hiro Mashima whose only praiseworthy manga was Rave Master. In truth he is a quite silent manga artist and has not made any epic manga's yet. That was before he made the epicness that is Fairy Tail which was started in august 2006 and is on going with 100 chapters so far, being presented in the weekly shonen jump. Now what is this manga about? it could not be anymore like an magical MMORPG.

The story is set in a world where some people are gifted having the ability to use magic while others cannot. This society of wizards and sorcerers align themselves to different Magical Guilds. And the name "Fairy Tail" is the main Magical Guild in the manga which contains all the protaganists. The story centers on two protaganists Natsu a "Dragon Slayer" and Lucy a "Stellar Spirit Mage". Lucy is a girl who has dreamed of joining the magical Guild "Fairy Tail". While she is walking through town at the beggining she meets a boy named Natsu who is looking for his father and mentor a gigantic dragon named Igneel. After a series of bizzare circumstances Natsu reveals that he is actually a member of the magical guild Fairy Tail and offers Lucy a membership, which she whole heartedly agrees. Thus the start of their crazy adventures begins.

So basically in this world exists hundreds of Magical Guilds. These Magical Guilds all have their own Guild Halls which are their bases. Members of the guilds are mostly all magic users. What do these members do? why they simply pick a mission to do off a notice board. They can partner up or go it alone and they get paid a reward for completing the mission. The actual Guild Hall's could be ships, castles or even a bar like Fairy Tail is. Each Magical Guild is run by the Guild Master who is always the strongest mage. The organisation that controls all these Magical Guilds is the Magic Council. The Council are composed of the most powerfull mages in the land and their orders are absolute. Disobeying the orders of the Magic Council names your Magical Guild a Dark Guild.

Lucy Heartphilia: She is the kind of girl you would see in Shojo Manga's like NANA. She is energetic and a bright cheerfull girl who adores her looks and is always the one to overreact the most. She is the female protaginist and her magic is Steller Spirits. A steller Spirit mage uses Keys to summon fighters from another Dimension. These fighters then do battle instead of the Summoner. However summoning more then two gets you exhusted. There are two different types of keys, Gold Zodiac and Silver. Gold Zodiac are the rarest and their is only 12 of them, where as Silver are the common ones. Think of her as a Poke'mon Trainer, there we go thats what she essentially is except using Keys.

Natsu Dragonil: He is the main male Protagnist in the Manga. He is the laid back care free kind of shoen protagnist. He gets into fights alot, and always wants to protect his friends. He is searching for his father a dragon named igneel. Not only did Igneel raise Natsu but also taught him the most powerfull fire magic in the world "Dragon Slayer". Dragons have the greatest fire, but "Dragon Slayer" magic is even stronger. Natsu can produce flames all over his body and use it to attack his enemys in wing, tail, claw forms. He can throw it like projectiles and easily melt material. With his magic he is unaffected by fire damage. Did I mention he gets travel sickness by simply being carried?

Erza Scarlet: She is the strongest female mage in Fairy Tail and is an S ranked mage. She is a senior member of Fairy Tail and commands alot of authority. Erza can be disrcibed as a protective mother. She watchers over other members and doesnt want them to be hurt. She is very direct, strict and will use violence to solve her problems. Erza is a Sword mage and always wears her armoured suit. The magic she is uses exquip, a type of magic that swaps weapons and armor at will. She has over 100 different armour types with spacific weapons aswell. Though when I say 100 that also includes every day clothes like dresses. Think of any swordswoman character in an RPG. Go to the menu and equip different armours thats her, its also instantaneous.

Now the first thing you will notice is that the Art Style is EXTREMELY close to One Piece. I am not kidding just compare the two they are almost identicle. However the art is not as "kiddish" as some parts in One Piece is, it is alot more mature. Backgrounds are always drawn fully and the scenery looks amazing. The art style is overall very clear and you can make out everything very easily. In the fight scenes action lines are drawn very well. The designs of the characters are also very well presented which you can see how their personalities are. There is nothing really bad about the Art style at all, unless if being really close to One Piece style is bad. It is average shoen level.

Overall this manga is still pretty new and is not yet in its major arcs yet. The lead up to the current arcs are just to ease you into the story. Hence why it is composed of different sorts of missions and such. This is one of those Manga's that has huge potential in the future and yet it has not been realised yet. If you read it, you will not be let down becuase it is a good read. It is not a great read, well not yet but if you are really into magic and might Manga's this is for you. Hell if you are a fan of RPG's or MMORPG's than this manga is for you becuase its like one big game! It will become somthing fantastic.