The Fall 2019 Manga Guide

Fairy Tail Box Set

What's It About? 

Lucy is a young magician girl looking to join the fabled organization Fairy Tail, a group known for powerful magics and causing all kinds of trouble. Surprisingly, Lucy has a chance encounter with Natsu, a boisterous and lively fire mage and a member of its ranks. And so, after some kidnappings and chaos, Lucy joins Fairy Tail, finding a violent, party-filled group that nonetheless is a gateway to freedom and adventure. You might not need enemies with friends like these, but you'll at least never be short for things to do and journeys to have.

Fairy Tail is a long-running, recently concluded shounen series by Hiro Mashima. This box set contains volumes 1-11 and retails for $120.89.

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Is It Worth Reading?

Rebecca Silverman

Rating:

The art in the early arcs of Fairy Tail may not be at its best, but the stories arguably are. This is where Hiro Mashima sets the stage for basically everything that's to come, albeit somewhat unintentionally, if some of his author's notes are to be believed; Fairy Tail seems to be a story that grows organically rather than being fully planned. Be that as it may, these first eleven volumes take us through the Phantom Lord debacle, Lucy assembling many of her Celestial Spirits, the Loke arc, and the start of the Tower of Heaven storyline, to say nothing of introducing Natsu, Gray, Lucy, Happy, and Erza, along with important second-tier characters like Jellal, Juvia, and Gajeel. Everything starts here in both the literal and figurative senses, with the added bonus that the books are easier to hold than the oversize omnibuses.

Among the stronger storylines in this set, the Loke arc, covered in volume nine, is among my favorites. It's where we really see Lucy's character established solidly and come to understand her true power and level of commitment to what she does. Previous arcs handle her past (and Gray's), but this is where we see why she deserves to be in the guild and how her past has shaped her. More importantly, she's clearly more than the boobs of the operation, something she's not always given credit for. Erza may get most of the approval as the “strong woman” of the story, but Lucy (and Wendy!) are no slouches either, and both of them manage to do so without being stereotypical Strong Female Characters, which is more impressive at this early stage of the game.

This box set is fairly sturdy in terms of the actual box, but the only real extra it comes with is a sheet of chibi stickers of Team Natsu. They're cute, but nothing amazing. The same can be said for the design of the box itself; it has a newer illustration on the back, but the sides are just the Fairy Tail logo. It is cheaper than buying all eleven volumes new, however, and if your collection still has the Del Rey name on the spines, this does fix that problem to unify your books visually. Otherwise the content is exactly the same as the original releases. Still, as a way to ensure that someone gets into the series, this is a pretty good gift, because the cliffhanger of ending before the Tower of Heaven storyline finishes is a decent way to ensure that they keep reading.

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Faye Hopper

Rating:

I have read too much Hiro Mashima. Well, that's not accurate (I haven't touched Rave Master and I've only read one volume of the 63 that comprise Fairy Tail); I have thought too much about Hiro Mashima. And this isn't to say that work is entirely without merit (I actually liked Edens Zero), just that his thematic interests are not terribly rich or exciting, and his artistry as a mangaka is lacking. He's puerile, his stories are the maybe the most conventional Shounen on the market, and his characterization is flat and uncompelling. If he were anyone else, I would immediately forget about any one of his various projects. And yet, he's one of the most popular in the business. Fairy Tail is a big deal, evidenced by the massive, $120 box-set I am tasked with commenting on. That's the root of my semi-fascination, really, this discrepancy between his extremely tepid storytelling and his enormous prevalence. After reading Fairy Tail for the first time, however, I think I've finally cracked the code of his prominence.

Hiro Mashima is enduringly popular entirely because his work is prototypical Shounen. I know this because I didn't hate Fairy Tail, not at all. The first volume isn't really good, to be sure; Mashima's paneling is awkward, the characters are almost entirely one-note copies of One Piece characters (Natsu is Luffy, Lucy is Nami, etc) and there's a bizarre Libertarian subtext that runs under the constant delinquency and problem-causing of the main organization. But it is certainly good enough. I wanted to read the second volume upon completing the first, perhaps because I've been conditioned by enough serialized Shounen to know how infinitely bingeable these kinds of stories are. But also, maybe because it is a semi-competent version of a kind of story I really, really like, a kind of story I have been reading since I was a child. In terms of garnering an audience and maintaining their interest, you only need to push their buttons such that they will keep reading. This could be done through invention, carving out a space for a new kind of story and new kinds of characters, or it could be done through using tried-and-true, carefully tested genres and modes. Fairy Tail is the latter.

Initially, I was angry at myself for wanting to carry on from the first volume. Again, it's not very good, and there are so many much better things to read. But I like Shounen. I like One Piece, and I grew up on series that are genuinely a lot worse than Fairy Tail. It's ok to indulge in work you know isn't the height of its genre and has serious, crippling issues. Media consumption is whatever you want it to be, and if that means I want to read a somewhat mediocre Shounen series because it pushes enough buttons I like, that's just fine. It'll mean I think more about Hiro Mashima, but you know what? I've dug this hole already. I might as well dive down.