Actual rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars



A couple years ago, I became obsessed with Fairy Tail. I had watched the first two episodes at an anime club at my local library in 2013, and all of a sudden I felt a connection. I read the manga like crazy, started watching the anime like crazy, and I was all of a sudden caught up in an exciting fanbase that always got me pumped up. I liked seeing the magic, I liked the theme of friendship, and I adored Lucy and Natsu to the point that I shipped them together an

[Mashima also does a good job at setting up Zera being an illusion created by Mavis thanks to her magic abilities. From the fellow characters' ignorance of her to the only real conversations between the two existing in private, there were a lot of subtle hints that worked incredibly well. (hide spoiler)

[If I had to pick a favorite, it would be the scene with Mavis and Zeref when she creates the animal illusions for him. That in particular broke me. (hide spoiler)

Actual rating: 2.5 out of 5 starsA couple years ago, I became obsessed with. I had watched the first two episodes at an anime club at my local library in 2013, and all of a sudden I felt a connection. I read the manga like crazy, started watching the anime like crazy, and I was all of a sudden caught up in an exciting fanbase that always got me pumped up. I liked seeing the magic, I liked the theme of friendship, and I adored Lucy and Natsu to the point that I shipped them together and loved to see them grow.Now that three years have gone by, I'm no longer as big of a fan as I was. The longer thathas gone on, the more convoluted and ridiculous it has become. From the plot twists to the girls getting their clothes ripped off to the cheap fanservice, the manga series has degenerated into something completely nonsensical and just trying to be as appealing to everyone that I just don't see myself being a part of anymore.However, I wanted to give this franchise another go, so I decided to pick up the prequel manga that Hiro Mashima drew and wrote in a monthly magazine devoted to the series. Overall, while I did find some good moments here, I feel likeshowed the weaknesses of the main series and Mashima's writing as a whole.Moving aside from the art, which is fine, the thing that I really liked about this manga was Mavis. Her wit was very unexpected and surprising, and I liked how we had a crafty female lead despite those moments where her smarts seemed very convenient for the plot. The friendship she shared with Zera was also heartwarming, and although it felt rather poorly shoehorned at the start, it straightened itself out by the end. (view spoiler) If there's one thing that Mashima does well, however, it's the intense action scenes where everything's going to heck and the heartrending emotional scenes. Both involve tensions running high and characters at their best, and they were definitely the best parts to read. (view spoiler) That's where the magic ends, though.'s main problem comes in the form of its lack of character depth. Even after finishing the volume, Precht, Warrod, and Yuri don't have much characterization outside of what they later become. I mean, we know they're treasure hunters, but that's pretty much it. Mashima devotes no time to them, and while I can understand why (Mavis will always be the most important one), I never really liked them. They were just cardboard cutouts making their way across the pages.The pacing was also incredibly fast in the first six chapters. The first was Mavis's incredibly fast backstory, then we have the present and the gang coming together and a mission and I just got so lost and bored. Even Mashima himself admits everything got rushed in an interview in the back of the volume, something that makes me want to ask whether he should have gotten the time to get everything he wanted down. By chapter 7, though, things got better, and they continued that way throughout the story, but compacting everything together was not a good plan.So, in conclusion, isbad? No. But I ultimately don't see it having nearly as much depth as I thought it did in the past. Hey, maybe it never did in the first place. But with the constant repetition of the friendship theme over and over again, the lack of concrete characterization, and a need to get to the action as fast as possible, this prequel really showcases how at this pointis slowly winding its way down.