One of David’s favourite Manga/Anime series was that of Fairy Tail. The soundtrack from the anime is superb and we often used to listen to it separately from the episodes. It was written and illustrated by Hiro Mashima. It was serialized in Kodansha’s Weekly Shonen Magazine from August 2006 to July 2017, with the individual chapters collected and published into 63 tankobon volumes. The story follows the adventures of Natsu Dragneel, a member of the popular wizard[a] guild Fairy Tail, as he searches the fictional world of Earth-land for the dragon Igneel.
The world of Earth-land is home to numerous guilds where wizards ply their magic for paid job requests. Natsu Dragneel, a Dragon Slayer wizard from the Fairy Tail guild, explores the Kingdom of Fiore in search of his missing adoptive father, the dragon Igneel. During his journey, he befriends a young celestial wizard named Lucy Heartfilia and invites her to join Fairy Tail. Lucy forms a team with Natsu and his cat-like Exceed partner, Happy, which is joined by other guild members: Gray Fullbuster, an ice wizard; Ezra, a magical knight; and Wendy Marvell and Carla, another Dragon Slayer and Exceed duo. The team embark on numerous missions together, which include subduing criminals, illegal dark guilds, and ancient Etherious demons created by Zeref, a wizard cursed with immortality and deadly power.
The manga has been adapted into an anime series produced by CloverWorks which was broadcast in Japan on TV Tokyo from October 2009 to March 2013. A second series was broadcast from April 2014 to March 2016. A third and final series aired from October 2018 to September 2019. The series has also inspired numerous spin-off manga, including a prequel by Mashima, Fairy Tail Zero, and a sequel storyboarded by him, titled Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest. Additionally, A-1 Pictures has developed nine original video animations and two animated feature films.
The manga series was originally licensed for an English language release in North America by Del Rey Manga, which began releasing the individual volumes in March 2008 and ended its licensing with the 12th volume release in September 2010. In December 2010, Kodansha USA took over the North American release of the series. The Southeast Asian network Animax Asia aired an English-language version of the anime for seven seasons from 2010 to 2015. The manga was also licensed in the United Kingdom by Turnaround Publisher Services and in Australia by Penguin Books Australia. The anime has been licensed by Funimation for an English-language release in North America. As of February 2020, Fairy Tail had 72 million copies in print.
