For my first piece on fandoms I belong to I'll go the easy route with a Fairy Tail blog. I've done things like this all the time so it'll be easy for you to see were this series of blogs will be going.
So Fairy Tail?
A manga series, adapted into a anime, following the adventures of Lucy Heartfillia and Natsu Dragneel and their Mages Guild Fairy Tail. The strongest Guild in Fiore.
If you haven't seen/read Fairy Tail yet let me introduce you to this magically world...
***Mild Spoilers : To explain properly there needs to be SOME spoilerish material in the post, made as spoiler free as possible***
In the first episode we are introduced to Lucy Heartfillia, a wizard in Fiore. She dreams of joining the Fairy Tail Guild, and her wish is granted when she meets Fairy Tail wizard Natsu Dragneel.
All of the stories in Fairy Tail revolve around Lucy and Natsu and their friends Gray Fullbuster, Erza Scarlet and Happy.
In Fiore you have magical Guilds, obviously (and without wanting to repeat the name so much) the one we center on is Fairy Tail but during our adventures in Fiore we are also introduced to Blue Pegasus, Lamia Scale, Mermaid Heel, Quatro Cerberus and Sabertooth. There are many, many more Guild out there but by the story right now these are the strongest of the Guilds.
The Guilds are ran by "Masters", Fairy Tails Master is Makarov Dreyer, Blue Pegasus is ran by Master Bob.... and so on. Each master is chosen by the current master before they leave though if they disappear/die one of the senior members of the Guild take charge ***SPOILER***(After the 7 year jump in Fairy Tail it is shown how Macao is Guild leader of Fairy Tail in the absence of Makarov.)***END SPOILER***
Fairy Tails current Master Makarov treats all the members of the Guild as family, referring to the younger members (who are usually in trouble for one thing or the other) as his "brats". We find out during the story that some of the members have been with the Guild since they were quite young, a lot of them becoming orphans after difficult things happened to them.
The Guild is full of all sorts of personalities. From the rather scary and strict (but also girly and eccentric) Erza to the drunken Cana, the pervy pair Macao and Wakaba and the strong arrogant grandchild of Makarov Laxus. Nearly every character is wonderfully rounded and many have stories incorporated into the series to explain character histories as well as develop them more.
Fairy Tail strives on its family and friendships. But it is also a Guild that doesn't hold grudges. ***SPOILERS***When the Guild Phantom Lord attacks them, in some cases very brutally, they band together as a family to keep Lucy safe. After they beat Phantom they welcome two of their members into the Guild with open arms... Or in one case begrudingly open arms. Both members then show their worth to the Guild and incorporate themselves into it. Also when Laxus starts an interGuild war, turning all the female members to stone and nearly harming everyone in their home town after he is defeated the members are shocked to see him banished from the Guild and later in the series when he comes back they are happy to see him and don't even care when he is brought back into the Guild as he was still their family.***END SPOILER***
No two stories are ever the same, even though it is quite an action filled series it still has such depth in the stories that it never gets boring. Only a few repeated themes show up from time to time (Erza's past and the strength Erza and Natsu gain through their friends) but mostly everything is a normal development of people who could be real.
Not all of the stories are happy ones and even when happy stories happen they are usually bittersweet or short.
Though the stories we learn of the traditions of the Guild as well as traditions around their world, we see the whole town coming together to celebrate different holidays and recently how the whole continent come together for the Grand Magic Games.
The magic is easy to understand we are introduced to Dragon Slayers (raised by Dragons to defeat Dragons like Natsu, Wendy or Gajeel. Or else they are implanted with a lacrima, giant magic crystal, like Laxus), God Slayers (haven't been explained yet), Celestial Wizards (use Keys to the spirit world to call over spirits like Lucy does), Ice Maker Wizards (easily understood, make things out of ice like Gray) amongst many other types.
For me the real magic is how included you as the reader/audience are in the stories. Half way through the 300 odd chapters or 170+ episodes you'll feel like part of the family. You'll love 90% of the characters and the other 10% you'll hate because they are just purely evil. Of course there might be one or two you take a dislike to, I know someone who hates Jellal with a passion for instance, but usually the reason you dislike them isn't because they are boring characters but because some plot point makes you unable to forgive their sins.
The series is a comedy sprinkled with drama, don't think you won't get deep and meaningful stories though. Characters like Natsu and Happy can have you giggling at their stupidity one moment then crying from the strength of their emotion the next. Even the most serious of characters have their moments (Erza has many, Gray and his clothes, Jellal and Ultears tickle attack at the GMG...) but it never gets so deep and meaningful that it'll bore you or make it too heavy.
There isn't an arc that feels too short or too long, they are all pretty compact and well written, they have enough room to explain things without getting too wordy and they tell the whole story leaving only what needs to be left out of the explanations.
Personally my favorite character so far is probably Laxus, I love how detailed they've been with him but a great deal of his character is still not explained (including how they actually put a lacrima in him, were his scar came from and anything about his mum, we know his dad is evil...) He is super strong but you love him for his weakness, the search for power, and the more you read the manga the more you realize he wants power because his father made him feel weak as a child.
***SPOILER***
My favorite arc so far is probably the Edolas arc because we got to be introduced to opposite versions of the characters. So instead of Juvia being in love with Gray, Gray was in love with Juvia. Instead of having no faith in her abilities Edo Lucy believed in herself and was rather more firey and stronger. It was quite funny but you also really felt for the other Fairy Tail as they were facing being killed for using magic, in the end all our Fairy Tail could do to save them was to take magic away from Edolas for good. It was a good laugh seeing some of the characters interacting with each other. In the end it hit home the message that no matter were they are from Fairy Tail is a family, all versions of Fairy Tail.
****END SPOILER****
With such a huge amount of anime episodes and manga chapters it might seem like a big thing to catch up with the series but it really is worth getting into it.
I personally can't remember why I got into it, I think it was just being advertised on a site I go on and the name popped out on me. I love fairy tales and I mistook Tails for tales and wondered what it was about, it took about 5 seconds of the anime for me to fall in love with it and I never lost the love for it either. Now I'm totally up to date with the series and love it to pieces.
If there is anything I dislike about the series it is the opening sequences. They change all the time but they usually spoil the end of the arc, therefore I think it was good to catch up with the manga first as the manga is always a surprise.
Also as Lucy and Natsu are the main antagonists the problem we have is a lot of the time Natsu is always the person who "saves the day" even though we are told many times that he is just as strong, sometimes stronger sometimes not as strong as everyone around him.
So whether you love comedy or magic or just good adventures Fairy Tail is probably for you.
You'll get immersed into a world that you just wish was real.
I'm biased as I love the series but I think it is well worth watching or reading even if you don't like this kind of thing give it till the end of its first arc before you make your mind up. It is worth starting your journey in Fiore.
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