Fairy Tail is an anime based upon the manga, with the first season being 48 episodes long. It is set in a world with magic, where it is an ability that some people have. It is commonplace for them to sell it and utilize it to their benefits. The anime starts off with Lucy Heartfilia, a celestial wizard, which is basically a fancier way of saying that she is a summoner. She possesses keys that is able to summon celestial beings that she has formed a contract with.
ome of the more powerful people in this world and they’re a rowdy bunch, so it’s all the more curious that Lucy was so easily accepted.
The anime has plenty of tropes that it embellishes. It’s got an episodic nature for a large portion of the season, where the episodes are self-contained. In the beginning, these mini-arcs span one to two episodes. It uses this method to introduce the world and characters but feels unsatisfying as you know the events will usually not affect the future direction of the plot. The other thing is that the anime really likes stock footage. The first few times, they’re fine, but after around the third or fourth episode, it’s pretty disappointing. It feels like for the damage and genericness the stock footage brings to the anime, it’s not worth the cost saving. Effectively, all of the attacks by the characters will be a form of stock footage.
For a rowdy bunch of powerful magic users, you’d expect a lot of fighting. The fight scenes range from okay, to the very dull and lazy. You’ll start to realize something after a few episodes in. The anime implies the action being done, rather than actually animating it, so you’ll get a static scene of the punch or result. It’s basically another cost cutting measure, amplified by the sheer amount of what can be termed as filler content, even if you’re not familiar with the source material. This is because those episodes feel pointless, adding very little, if anything, to the anime.
The anime has a lighthearted tone and attempts to have plenty of humor. Some of the humor works, some don’t. When those running gags that don’t work keep on reappearing, it can be lame and cringey to watch. The anime seems to be lacking an addictive hook. There’s no overarching ultimate objective for Natsu and Lucy that keeps you watching, even if you know that it might either take a long time or they’ll never reach it. Instead, it’s the pair taking on a quest, beating the enemies, and then rinse and repeat.
It doesn’t help that the two main protagonists each have their flaws. Natsu is emphasized as a hothead, rushing into things and not using his head in many situations. While he has redeeming qualities such as his loyalty to his friends, he’s still a punch first and never ask questions type of guy. While Lucy has a problem in that her strength is easily outclassed by others. Natsu is constantly hinted at having significant hidden potential, while the other team members Gray being an accomplished and experience ice user, and Erza is one of the most powerful in the whole guild, Lucy’s own physical abilities are weak. Lucy relies heavily on her summons who aren’t even that strong. As a result, Lucy ends up becoming a comic relief character.
The middle of the season finally starts off a big arc and it was the meatiest and most satisfying one so far. Although that isn’t saying much given everything else before it was resolved in one or two episodes. There are a lot of more backstory for the main characters, as well as a swathe of supporting characters. That said, the villains for this arc felt somewhat out of control, such that there doesn’t seem to be any rules, laws, or a sense of proper order in this world, as another guild can just easily commit atrocious crimes against others without repercussions.
The second half of the season continues with two more significant arcs, with substantial amount of backstory and worldbuilding. The combat also improves, where it relies a tiny bit less on stock footage, although the static scenes remain. You can tell that some scenes have the potential to be powerful moments in the story. Unfortunately, due to the underwhelming choreography of the combat, or the lack thereof, these moments are over in the blink of an eye and it falls flat.
Overall, the first season of Fairy Tail is average and at times, generic. The storytelling and pacing is poor, with many of the episodes being too episodic and the season as a whole lacking focus. It’s only carried through the appeal of some of the characters like Lucy and Erza, but the former isn’t a great protagonist since she doesn’t do much. Natsu and Happy on the other hand can be borderline annoying. The obvious cost cutting measures of the animation doesn’t help either. There are times where the anime almost becomes good, but every single time it fails to reach that point. It’s far from the worst anime, but there are also a lot of better ones out there as well.
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