If you want to start watching the show, you can find the first season here: http://www.youtube.com/show?p=9Gmeyb_bhXI&tracker=show_av
Sub > Dub btw.
I have some free time and don't feel like working since I just finished a midterm. So moar writing.
So a couple months ago, I started watching an anime called Fairy Tail. In the beginning, I only watched 1 or 2 episodes at a time, because they were fairly unimpressive and only served as a way to procrastinate and spend my free time. Once I hit episode 10 or so though, I got into it and started watching 4-5 episodes at a time, and in less than 2 months, I had finished all of the current episodes (120).
Fairy Tail is about a wizard guild named Fairy Tail that is in a city named Magnolia. It takes place in 700 BC or AD (can't remember which) and what's special about the world is that many people can do magic, like in Harry Potter. How this works, I'm not exactly sure, but yeah, there are wizards and witches in this world, though you never hear the word "witch" used to refer to anybody. The show focuses on the entire guild, but there's more emphasis on Natsu Dragneel, a fire wizard, and Lucy Heartfilia, a celestial wizard who summons Celestial Spirits to do her bidding (they're kind of like Patronuses in Harry Potter). Unlike Fullmetal Alchemist, the show isn't a single plotline that eventually ends; it brings in a new one every 10-20 episodes, and when the current plotline resolves, there's some filler and then a new one kicks in.
Even though I did marathon the hell out of this anime, it isn't a particularly strong show. Unlike Fullmetal Alchemist and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, this show doesn't have very much depth, and consequently, isn't anywhere near my Top 5. The plotlines are all fairly similar for the most part and can be boiled down to: 1) Bad guys enters 2) Good guys fight but are initially at a disadvantage 3) Bad guys almost win 4) Good guys make a comeback, vanquish the bad guys, and save the day. Nobody really ever dies (the show abuses this a lot), there's no blood, and in the end, it's a just a fairly standard good vs. evil storyline repeated over and over again. It also does the cliched "Bad guy into good guy" thing with around half of the villains, if not more. So why the hell do I like this show?
Well, what the show does have is energy, charm, and creativity. While none of the characters are particularly deep, they're all very likeable, and they're very diverse. Each character has a unique aspect to them, and they're all creatively designed, well acted, and funny. One of the characters, Erza Scarlet, is one of my favorite female characters of all time in form of media, because she's a total badass, never a stereotypical damsel in distress, and surprisingly very funny at times. Natsu has your Marty McFly "never back down" trait, which plays out very humorously at times. He also has a blue pet cat named "Happy" who can fly and is pretty much comedic relief, a role that he consistently executes very well. It's just really fun to see all of these characters interact, build relationships, and invoke whatever unique characteristic they have. There's also an insanely huge amount of characters, so there's always some new inter-character relationship being cultivated, some unexplored character being developed, or just a new character being introduced to keep things fresh.
Similar to Momento and Miyazaki films, the anime relies heavily on the sheer creativity behinds its settings and characters. The settings are always very colorful and original, and it's really interesting seeing all of the different types of magic play out in the show. The show also constantly introduces new characters, and it somehow consistently comes through giving each one a new, cool, creative type of magic ability. The anime also continuously expands on the abilities of current characters.
One thing I really admire about the show is how well it balances its serious moments and humorous ones. This show has a ridiculous amount of slapstick, and often times, it's clear that the writer was trying too hard to design characters and environments ludicrous to the point of hilarity. However, most of the slapstick is executed quite well, and despite how carefree the show is so much of the time, it manages to pull off some legitimately touching serious moments. Yeah, nobody ever dies and nothing really bad every happens in the show, but with its competent cast, well-written dialogue, and sublime soundtrack, it gets the job done.
Speaking of the soundtrack, it's simply wonderful and adds a ridiculous amount to this anime. Similar to Lost, this show would lose an immense amount of its punch without its soundtrack. The carefree and fight-scene music is this awesome, hard-to-describe combination of bagpipes (Yeah, I know right?) and orchestral music, and the sad music is on Michael Giacchino Lost levels. The melancholy pieces of the soundtrack are simply beautiful, and the emotional moments in this show would essentially be nothing without them.
The one theme the show pushes is friendship, and similar to how well the show executes its emotional moments, it surprisingly pushes this theme rather well. The concept is beaten to death, and if you examine the plot, you can break down a lot of it into this: 1) Natsu starts fighting bad guy 2) Natsu starts losing 3) Natsu gives some speech about how he will always keep on fighting for his friends 4) Natsu goes super Saiyan and wins. Yet there's something about the way that Fairy Tail does it that keeps it heartwarming each time. I can't really put my finger on it, but like before, I think it's a combination of the stellar soundtrack, voice acting, dialogue, and very likeable characters. You really get a strong sense of how powerful the bonds are between the Fairy Tail members, and as lame as this sounds, I think that it would actually be really cool if Fairy Tail really existed and I could join it.
In the end, Fairy Tail is an incredibly well-done feel-good show, and while it may not make you think and ponder the secrets of the universe, it's definitely entertaining and even heartwarming at times. If I could describe the show in one line, it would be "Yu-Gi-Oh! done right", because it's constantly pushing friendship and somehow succeeds. On top of that, the show has the rare ability of effortlessly flowing between its humorous and emotional moments. The characters are all very likeable, the soundtrack is full of masterpieces, the voice actors are great, and the show's jam-packed full of creativity. If you have some free time and just want to watch something entertaining that will never make you sad, I recommend checking out Fairy Tail. Peace.
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