SharkVice's manga / #Shounen(42)

I kept hanging onto this until the end because I thought despite the really slow arcs there was going to be an amazing arc in the end against the main villains that would bring an epic end to the story. However, in the end all you get is a few amazing arcs (the Tower of Heaven, the Grand Magic Games, the Tenrou Island arc) while the rest of the manga is, with all due respect, far from 1st rate (that last arc that I so greatly anticipated was complete mayhem). The only thing that is really worthwhile in this manga are the ships. Mashima is clearly superior at writing romantic subplots when compared to other best-selling shounen mangakas such as Kishimoto (Naruto), Oda (One Piece), and Kubo (Bleach). However, Mashima's storytelling and arcs are significantly lacking when compared to the same mangakas. Besides that, I personally think Mashima made a questionable decision when he decided to make Lucy the main character of Fairy Tail. Usually character growth from the main character is a key element of shounen manga. That being said, despite Lucy receiving several power ups as a wizard, she was never able to become a character that was essential to the story, she could never fight an important fight, and her abilities as a wizard were overshadowed, not only by the rest of the main characters, but also by many side characters. Even Levy, from the same guild, who doesn't have an offensive type of magic is more useful than Lucy in the story. At times, her presence in the story almost seemed forced with Mashima always creating connections between Lucy and their adversaries that would make Lucy relevant to the story. Despite Mashima's effort to keep Lucy firmly grounded in the story, one would often forget Lucy was the main character due to Natsu, who's comparable to famous characters such as Goku, Monkey D. Luffy, and Uzumaki Naruto.

Being very different from the original, this one takes a more comical and unrealistic stance. Also, it's more gay than the original lol

I watched both animes a few years back and now I decided to read it and it was still really good. The story pulls you in and you never get bored. Despite the tags I put up, the story isn't completely angsty. There's a lot of good times and a lot of bad times. It feels very real, very layered, and that's what draws you in.