Fairy Tail #1-242 (Thoughts so far)

Strange, isn't it? I won't recap any of the Big 3, but I'll gladly recap a lengthy shonen series like Fairy Tail! Why? Well, because it's easy, and most people are aware of the Big 3 anyway. Fairy Tail, unfortunately, doesn't get as big as a limelight. It's popular, but those who haven't picked it up are too reluctant to do so. Because they are stupid. No, I kid! I gather it's because people are afraid it's the typical shonen series that quickly gets pointlessly repetitive as the arcs go by. It also doesn't help that the series will also seems like "One Piece - Pirates + MAGIC!" at a glance. I can't blame anyone for that, because there ARE similarities, and the anime does fall into this trap quite easily. I urge everyone, however, to give it a chance! It will surprise you, and the art improves dramatically as the chapters go by!

Anyway, here's the shortest recap I can do for the story so far: Fairy Tail is a manga which follows the adventures of a mage guild known as, of course, Fairy Tail. The setting is Earthland (creative!), where magic is commonplace, and magic users are carefully governed. We are initially introduced to Lucy Heartfilia, a mage who specializes in Celestial Spirits (think summoner), who quite accidentally falls into a friendship with Natsu Dragoneel, the main character and a powerful wielder of "Dragon Slayer" magic, which allows him to utilize fire, and his partner, Happy, a cat with wings (no seriously). Eventually, she becomes one of Fairy Tail, and also learns the incredible importance of... NAKAMA!! Which, similar to One Piece, is what this manga is all about. Every character rarely gets anywhere without help from one of their friends or guild members. Even those who seem like loners end up relying on others soon or later. There's no escaping friendship! Although such a theme can normally be pretty corny, Fairy Tail does it fairly well (tee hee).

The story then continues into Lucy's first mission as a member of Fairy Tail, partnering with Natsu to find a lost guild member. After they succeed, it then quickly switches gears towards something more epic. We get introduced to more characters and situations, like the beautiful and deadly Erza Scarlet, the ever awesome and always stripping Gray Fullbuster, and a more dangerous mission. The whole time, the manga manages to balance hilarious gags and exciting action. Each arc also continually gets more awesome, as the guild faces greater and greater threats, from other guilds, dark guilds, world changing magic, parallel worlds, forbidden magic, to history's most powerful, and feared dark mage (no, not that one). What's also a treat is that none of the minor characters are really THAT minor. They all have their own backstory, whether it's covered by in an arc or bonus material, and will always end up contributing some way to the overall storyline. I love it when the details aren't overlooked, which can happen frequently in manga with this many characters. It's really become a favorite of mine, and it's one of my "MUST READ"s when a release gets scanlated.