Fairy Tail

Fairy Tail is a rare anime that can compete with the longest running shows and in a lot of cases, win. I read the shit out of this manga and loved every second of it. I couldn't put it down. The anime is equally awesome, despite some questionable changes from the manga. With 175 episodes, you will have to invest a fair amount of time to complete it.

Natsu is an awesome fire magician, not many people can beat him.

Lucy Heartfilia is a young girl whose dream is to become a part of one of the greatest magical guilds in the world. She sets her heart on Fairy Tail, a guild with a rowdy reputation but one of the most powerful. Luckily she meets Natsu Dragneel, a member of Fairy Tail. Lucy and Natsu hit it off because both of their goals align; they want to become strong mages.

Guilds are a group of mages working together, often given tasks by the local community to deal with monsters and various problems. There are hundreds of guilds throughout the land, some prestigious and law abiding, others notorious and dark. Fairy Tail is known by almost everyone, and while they have a lot of allies they have just as many enemies.

Fairy Tail, and several of its members.

The plot starts out pretty simple, fighting a new monster every week. However, it quickly develops into something better, with battles between guilds and opposing mages. If you like the initial premise and the idea of lots of magicians with different abilities fighting it out, this anime only increases in quality all the way through. Plus with 175 episodes, there's barely a scent of filler.

Every anime has dull moments, a lull in the plot, badly animated scenes, horrible filler and fanservice. If you watch anime you are guaranteed to be subjected to some of these awful moments that make you question why you're watching it at all. In Fairy Tail, I barely noticed the bad bits at all. It's a fluent anime, that wasn't dragged out longer than necessary. Some of the magic is innovative and pretty interesting.

Erza is a badass, she has countless types of armor.

As shounen this show is slightly above the rest. It has plenty of stereotypical moments, cliche, and slapstick. That doesn't make it bad, because it still manages to stand out with a colorful world and some surprising twists. You will recognize many of the voice actors from other popular shows, most of them are well known.

Another interesting feature is the spells and abilities that magicians can use. There are many different types of magic and some pretty cool abilities. For example, Natsu was trained by the great fire dragon Igneel. Thus, his abilities are increased by consuming fire. Erza specializes in Ex-quipping, which is the ability to summon different armor and often magical weapons onto her person. While a lot of the magic in Fairy Tail is your standard Magic Missile stuff, there are some unique and cool spells.

Lucy is the main character, but it quickly becomes about the guild instead of just her.

Fairy Tail's strongest selling point is the characters. The guild has many members, all of which have amusing perks and personalities. Take Gray for example, he seems like a perfectly normal mage. Except he has a strong penchant for taking all his clothes off at random. You get to meet the entire guild within the first dozen episodes, and you'll find yourself attached to at least a couple of them.

Initially the animation is lazy for the first 30 episodes, it does get a little better after that. It's a shame though, because the fights had the potential to be amazing. Sadly, the blood is also taken out. What I'm trying to say is; this anime is fun to watch and enjoyable. However, it's not without flaws. Watch Fairy Tail if you feel like you'll enjoy it, or if you like One Piece.