Fairy Tail Vol. #02

By Danielle Van Gorder     May 19, 2008
Release Date: March 25, 2008



Creative Talent
Writer/Artist:Hiro Mashima
Translated by:William Flannagan
Adapted by:William Flannagan

What They Say
Now that Lucy's joined the prestigious magician's guild, will she really get along with the others mages? A life of magical adventuring may be more than she bargained for, but it's certainly never boring!

The Review
Natsu and Lucy have a new mission - to infiltrate a mansion and steal a book. This should be easy for a pair of wizards from Fairy Tale, but it's clear that there's more to this mission than meets the eye. For one, the reward is extremely high - too high for what seems like such a simple job. Their first plan to retrieve the book fails miserably, and raises the stakes. With members of an elite bodyguard guild standing in their way, completing this mission may be more than they can handle.

In addition to the wizard's guilds and the bodyguard guilds, there is a special type of guild known as a dark guild - a scary kind of wizard's guild that doesn't obey the laws of the land. When the most powerful wizard in Fairy Tale gets wind of a dark guild plot, she selects Natsu and his rival, the ice wizard Gray who seems to have difficulties keeping his clothes on, to go along with her to stop it. Lucy goes along with the trio at Mirajane's request. They're not even sure what they're looking for - all Erza has is the name, "Lullaby."

Del Rey has really gone an interesting route with Fairy Tale by releasing the first two volumes together, and it's a gamble that I think is really going to pay off for them. The first volume was fun, but it didn't really show what the story was going to be like long-term. The conflict with the dark guilds and the Eisenwald guild works as a much more effective hook than the simple episodic "Natsu and Lucy take on new jobs, have hilarious misadventures" thing that seemed to be developing in the first book. Some of the Fairy Tale members who were little more than names and faces in the first volume get a little more fleshing out here as well - and they're definitely an interesting bunch.

Fairy Tale is the fun sort of adventure series that I can see myself reading for a long time when I need a pick-me-up. It's not the sort of story that gets you thinking - rather, it's the sort of story that has you cheering for the characters as they get themselves into, and out of, various misadventures. Fans of Naruto, Hunter x Hunter, and other similar titles should love this one.