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Fairy Tail is by far the most overrated Manga/Anime I have ever seen. The characters are so shallow; Natsu revolves only around the concept of "I must save my friends! Friendship is good! Evil must be destroyed!" Grey's character only goes as far as to just tag along with Natsu and just defeat the opponents. Erza, outside of that one arc where she had her flashback, has always been a mentor character and nothing more. She's always been there, just helping out whenever she needs to. Lluvia is just in love with Grey and that's as far as her character develops. I could go on. I'd also like to mention that not only are these characters shallow, they are far from dynamic. From the 300 chapters that have been released, barely any of the characters seemed to have changed in the slightest bit.
The plots are insanely redundant. A good chunk of them all seem to revolve around Lucy (and when its her time to shine in these arcs, she does NOTHING) and when they aren't, it just happens to be some random looming threat and they just send in a couple of guild members with maybe +1 more character that's from an outside guild, and that's the extent of it. The Laxus arc was the only one I particularly enjoyed. The Edolas arc was also a neat idea, but I thought it was boring as it dragged on.
To add insult to injury, the most recently finished arc (the one with the dragons 'n shit) ended poorly. Some say it ended well, but anyone who's ever read Rave knows that the author is just repeating an idea that he got from his previous manga. Sure its nice for new readers, but to those that read Rave it seems more like a low effort way to end the arc. Plus it ended so randomly. Since when did that mage know how to reverse time? How was such a major power never explained before? Not only was this idea recycled from his previous manga, it was executed waaaaaaay better in Rave. In Fairy Tail, it was done sloppily.
And did anyone notice that everyone in this manga seems to be freaking immortal? Why is it that nobody dies in this manga? Right when its reaching the climax of a story and a character is in the brink of death, whether he/she is a major or minor character, he/she always appears to die, but then turns out to be perfectly fine for some random reason, which completely kills the mood of the story.
300 chapters in, the story still feels like no progress has been made. Here, I'm referencing the status of Natsu's dragon. I feel like each new arc is drawing farther and farther away from the main story.

I know I have more to say, but I can't think of anything else in the moment.

Fairy Tail is just a clusterfuck of generalized shonen tropes and stereotypes and it's not like it's the only one.
Honestly,
Depth in the shonen genre of anime is about as rare as a satisfying ending in a harem.
If you watch them you will always see the same overused basic cast of characters.
The "I'll fight for what I believe in/My friends" standard main character has really become a problem.
Not that that is a bad character trait, but it becomes bad when it's your ONLY character trait. That's the problem I have with shows like Fairy Tail, Yumekui Merry, Naruto, Bleach, Ao No Exorcist, and really most if not all shonen suffer from it in some way

I think for me it's more about disliking the fanbase rather than disliking the show...

Quote from Nikx232

I've personally enjoyed reading Psyren. That thing needed an anime so bad.

First time I read it I absolutely loved it. Second time I didn't like it as much as I started spotting holes in the story. If it were to have a Anime, I'd personally prefer it to focus on either the origins/past of characters like Junas and Vigo (serial killer guy), basically just WISE in general, or to focus on what Grana did after he escaped and/or to see how the people in the first timeline fared after telling Ageha to wake up. If there was to be an anime, I'd prefer it not to focus on what the manga did.

Quote from Raptor

Fairy Tail is by far the most overrated Manga/Anime I have ever seen. The characters are so shallow; Natsu revolves only around the concept of "I must save my friends! Friendship is good! Evil must be destroyed!" Grey's character only goes as far as to just tag along with Natsu and just defeat the opponents. Erza, outside of that one arc where she had her flashback, has always been a mentor character and nothing more. She's always been there, just helping out whenever she needs to. Lluvia is just in love with Grey and that's as far as her character develops. I could go on. I'd also like to mention that not only are these characters shallow, they are far from dynamic. From the 300 chapters that have been released, barely any of the characters seemed to have changed in the slightest bit.
The plots are insanely redundant. A good chunk of them all seem to revolve around Lucy (and when its her time to shine in these arcs, she does NOTHING) and when they aren't, it just happens to be some random looming threat and they just send in a couple of guild members with maybe +1 more character that's from an outside guild, and that's the extent of it. The Laxus arc was the only one I particularly enjoyed. The Edolas arc was also a neat idea, but I thought it was boring as it dragged on.
To add insult to injury, the most recently finished arc (the one with the dragons 'n shit) ended poorly. Some say it ended well, but anyone who's ever read Rave knows that the author is just repeating an idea that he got from his previous manga. Sure its nice for new readers, but to those that read Rave it seems more like a low effort way to end the arc. Plus it ended so randomly. Since when did that mage know how to reverse time? How was such a major power never explained before? Not only was this idea recycled from his previous manga, it was executed waaaaaaay better in Rave. In Fairy Tail, it was done sloppily.
And did anyone notice that everyone in this manga seems to be freaking immortal? Why is it that nobody dies in this manga? Right when its reaching the climax of a story and a character is in the brink of death, whether he/she is a major or minor character, he/she always appears to die, but then turns out to be perfectly fine for some random reason, which completely kills the mood of the story.
300 chapters in, the story still feels like no progress has been made. Here, I'm referencing the status of Natsu's dragon. I feel like each new arc is drawing farther and farther away from the main story.

I know I have more to say, but I can't think of anything else in the moment.

Now hold on, don't you think you're being a little hasty? Most of what you said is correct, but I think you may be looking at it wrong. To me anyway, Fairy Tail is kind of like a cartoon, in the sense that it's kind of pick up and play. A lot of people watching Fairy Tail may not have watched a lot of episodes, but are still able to enjoy it. I don't think it was intended to be a real 'serious' anime, with multi-layered plots, epic character development and requirements of must-have-watched-entire-show-to-understand. Leave that genre to anime like deathnote etc. If your looking at it in the same light as other, more serious anime, it's not very good, but if you look at it in it's own light, for what it is, I think you may grow to like it.

It's just a matter of how you turn your head and squint at it.

Quote from Syclone903

Now hold on, don't you think you're being a little hasty? Most of what you said is correct, but I think you may be looking at it wrong. To me anyway, Fairy Tail is kind of like a cartoon, in the sense that it's kind of pick up and play. A lot of people watching Fairy Tail may not have watched a lot of episodes, but are still able to enjoy it. I don't think it was intended to be a real 'serious' anime, with multi-layered plots, epic character development and requirements of must-have-watched-entire-show-to-understand. Leave that genre to anime like deathnote etc. If your looking at it in the same light as other, more serious anime, it's not very good, but if you look at it in it's own light, for what it is, I think you may grow to like it.

It's just a matter of how you turn your head and squint at it.

I think you're generalizing anime as if it has to be some extreme, like either Doraemon or Death Note. A middle ground exists. On top of that, you can excuse a manga for not having epic character development or good plots when it doesn't present itself to have one, like Doraemon. But Fairy Tail presents itself almost like every other Shounen manga; you can see its clearly trying to emulate writing formulas like character development, but it falls short. Its not the lack there of, I can see that he's trying to do it, but it's bad.
People can only see it as a pick up and read because it can't be read seriously as a manga because of how shallow as a whole thing is.

Then ignore the fact that he's trying but failing, and take it as if he isn't trying at all. And what you said "It can't be read seriously as a manga" contradicts what you said about manga not having only extremes, to me anyway. They've found a formula, it's enjoyable to read, take it as it is. It doesn't matter what they're trying to do, it works, in some weird way, and that's all that matters. Ignore what he might be attempting to do, and enjoy what he is actually (maybe unintentionally) doing. Or, to make a long story short:

Deal with it.

Quote from Miccool

I think for me it's more about disliking the fanbase rather than disliking the show...

Yeah fanbases can be pretty stupid at times.

Quote from Syclone903

Then ignore the fact that he's trying but failing, and take it as if he isn't trying at all.

Trying to look past shallow character development and redundant boring plots doesn't make it better. The phrase "look past its faults" only refers when minor problems that plague the writing is present. In Fairy Tail's case, the whole foundation is written poorly.

Quote from Syclone903]And what you said "It can't be read seriously as a manga" contradicts what you said about manga not having only extremes, to me anyway.[/QUOTE]
I don't understand what you mean. I stated that a manga can be a mix of both one-shot stories and a shounen-esque formula. Fairy Tail is within this range, but it's written badly. A poorly written book for example does not suddenly make it acceptable in another form. I never contradicted myself.

Quote from Syclone903

They've found a formula, it's enjoyable to read, take it as it is.

That's like, your opinion man. Its not enjoyable to read, and I don't have to take it as it is. It sounds more like because you enjoy reading Fairy Tail, you're offended that others don't, and you're trying to make them read it. Face it, not everyone likes what you like. You can deny it, but that's the connotation behind your words right now.

I feel this is relevant:

Quote from MiccoolI think for me it's more about disliking the fanbase rather than disliking the show...

Moving on,
[QUOTE=Syclone903

It doesn't matter what they're trying to do

Of course it does. Why wouldn't it? Didn't you just agree with me that Fairy Tail's plot and characters suck? It could be leaps and bounds better. It DOES matter what they're trying to do.

Quote from Syclone903

it works, in some weird way, and that's all that matters.

Yes, it gets huge amounts of success out of being one of the most shallow and typical mangas ever, something that you agreed with. I don't see how that makes it so great, but okay.

Quote from Syclone903

Ignore what he might be attempting to do, and enjoy what he is actually (maybe unintentionally) doing.

Your telling me to ignore like 95% of the manga and try to enjoy the 5%. That's like telling me to ignore 95% of the jackass that Beiber is and look only at his 5% good side. Or another example, ignore 95% of how bad a product is and tell me that I should look at a measly 5% of how good it is. Now you see the faults of Fairy Tail? You actually have to ignore more that half of the manga in order to actually enjoy it.

Quote from Syclne903

Deal with it.

I hate gays. Reason? Don't have any. Deal with it.
I think children should be shot. Reason? Because they cry a lot. Deal with it.
I think computers are useless. Reason? The loading screen takes too long. Deal with it.
I think Fairy Tail is awesome. Reason? Because I said so. Deal with it.

That's a useless phrase when presented with bad support or none at all. Your only support thus far is "Because its so shallow, its good for picking up and reading from time to time." That's your only support. Notice that this support doesn't actually make a manga good, but just makes a light out of its flaws. With only this, you're telling me to "deal with it." I hope you actually realize what you're saying.