Manga Review: Fairy Tail, Vols. 1-2

Fairy Tail, Vols. 1-2

By Hiro Mashima
Published by Del Rey
Rating: Teen (13+)

Celestial wizard Lucy had always had one dream–join the legendary Fairy Tail wizard’s guild and finally become a legitimate wizard. But her path to glory has been less than brilliant, as she lands herself smack in the middle of a rather dicey situation while pursuing her latest lead. Enter Natsu, the strange kid with explosive fire magic who bails her out–and apparently, hails from Fairy Tail! Upon arriving at guild HQ, Lucy discovers that Fairy Tail lives up to its infamous reputation; the guild is a free-for-all stocked by the magical world’s most powerful weirdos. Finally an official member, Lucy teams up with Natsu, first to rescue a Fairy Tail comrade and then to unravel the mystery of a strange book kept by some rather unsavory characters. Things take a turn for the darker when a deadly flute falls into the hands of the Eisenwald Guild, who plan to use the morbid music to their own ends–and it’s up to Fairy Tail to stop them!

If there’s one thing that this manga excels at, it’s breakneck, exuberant energy. It’s hard to hate a series that tries as hard as Fairy Tail does; every chapter is packed with equal parts quirky action and just plain wackiness for a final product that hits more than it misses. The pace is decidedly shounen, with characters spouting off attacks and epic battles taking the forefront of every chapter, but Mashima has the good sense to keep everything on the side of the humorously weird, something his Shounen Jump contemporaries could do to learn. That said, the basic outline of the plot is nothing new; epic quests, fanservice, quirky side characters and themes of honesty, teamwork and pride are genre staples, and Fairy Tail does little to liven them up. But that’s not what Fairy Tail is here to do; rather, it’s the strange, wacky bits that keep the series flowing, with moments so out of left field you can’t help but crack a smile.

Character duality works to an equally favorable end, with Lucy providing the right amount of down-to-Earth, fresh-faced thoughtfulness to counterbalance Natsu’s over-the-top swings between aggressiveness and moments of startling honesty. The aforementioned quirks aren’t bad either; Lucy harbors secret dreams of writing a novel about her adventures (much to her embarrassment) while Natsu is consistently wracked by crippling motion sickness. The already sizeable background cast sports everybody from a hard-drinking beauty to a wizard with a penchant for stripping down, although these remain a largely untapped resource for now.

Mashima’s time spent as an assistant to Oda Eiichiro (of One Piece fame) isn’t lost on the art, which can become so eerily similar to that of Eiichiro’s that fans of the former may do a double take. No shoujo tones here; Mashima’s plays it thoroughly shounen with plenty of speed lines, disproportionate women, and destructive fights. Action scenes flow adequately and cleanly, an achievement for a series that always seems knee deep in fire and smoke when it comes to battles. Lucy and Natsu’s emotional swings are rendered with the comic intensity they merit, although Lucy in particular seems prone to flash through the entire emotional spectrum within the span of a few pages.

It’s also clear that Fairy Tail is settling in for the long run, as its quest-of-the-week setup may grow thin in future volumes if it’s not supported by more plot along the way. There’s the danger in Fairy Tail; it maintains a leg up because its skimpy plot is forgivable in light of its wackiness, but as the energy begins to age, it’s going to need some substance to keep it strong. For now, the series remains buoyant on its quirky start, and hopefully can match the development to its energy down the road to provide installments as good as this one.

Volumes one and two of Fairy Tail will be available on March 26th.