Fairy Tail was just one of those works that had a fantastic premise, but slowly trudged along into the path of another cliche shounen manga.

• Story •

My biggest problem with the story is that there is simply waaaaay too much "nakama power". Frequent shounen readers will get what I'm talking about - in the midst of a difficult, risky battle, at the climactical point where the protagonist is seemingly about to be defeated, the author goes ahead and gives them a power-up without any logical basis on the premise of "I CAN'T LOSE HERE!!!!11!1! I'M GONNA PROTECT MY FRIENDS!!1!1!1!1!!1!1!1!1!1!1", expertly emerging victorious from the fight to go and save said nakama.

Almost every fight includes some variation of this trope. And if it doesn't, it's just an OP fight with the opponent getting one-shotted, thereby showing the protagonist's power.

Another aspect I'm iffy with, sort of related to this, is that most of the 'good guys' do not die. This isn't a problem in itself, and there are many manga that execute this nicely, but Fairy Tail.. ugh. I can't say more, because of spoilers, but it's up to you to decide

As I said, the premise was good. Sure, it's not exactly unique (a lot of other shounen share this type of plot, after all) but it had potential. Magic. Guilds. A decently-built world. It could have been something, but again, any hint of that something was gradually lost as the story progressed.

One last thing that a lot of people complain about - fanservice. Yeah, I guess. It has gratuitous nudity and sexual themes that detracts from the storyline. It wouldn't be much of a problem (or maybe it still would to some) if it wasn't diminishing the plot, but it is.

• Art •

One of the few positive things about this. While the art is nothing special, it certainly is adequate and, in my opinion, well-drawn. Mashima has a distinct art style and I believe it suits the story.

• Character •

Ugh. So, female protagonist: weak, needy eyecandy character that always requires other people's help. Male protagonist: dense, simpleminded, hotheaded, loves to fight, OP. Rival character: dark hair, seemingly colder than the MC, sometimes dark and brooding, admits friendship in the end. Hmm, isn't this starting to sound familiar? (Oh, I don't know - One Piece, Bleach, Naruto, KHR, insert almost any other shounen here.)

So basically, yeah, the characters are just cliched tropes that have been tried and tried again in this world of manga. Character development? Hmm. There's certainly a lot, but I wouldn't call it any different from the normal "bad guy turning good guy", "one of the protagonists' backstory revealed, thereby overcoming the challenge together and strengthening friendship in the process" 'developments' that you see often.

• Enjoyment •

Now, I was rather young when I started Fairy Tail. Around eight or nine, in fact. At that point I was incapable of thinking very much rationally, so suffice it to say that I enjoyed this a lot. I read it again a few times though, and slowly it dawned on me just how much of a trainwreck this actually is.

• Overall •

To summarize, this is an overrated, cliched shounen manga that's filled with nakama power, fanservice, static characters, and various other overrated, cliched shounen tropes. What it's NOT filled with is a good plot, good character development, or just, in general, something enlightening, something more. I don't think I'd really recommend this to anyone, but I guess if you're just looking for mainly fight scenes and a lot of action (and bewbs), you'll be able to get through this without many complaints.