Fairy Tail by Hiro Mashima

Title: Fairy Tail

Mangaka: Hiro Mashima

Age Group: Teens

# of Pages: Approx. 200

# of Volumes: 13

My Rating: 4/5

Natsu is a boy who constantly gets motion sickness and can eat more food than three people put together. His best friend is a talking cat named Happy. The two friends are passing through town and Natsu is in search for a certain someone.

Lucy is a celestial wizard who's dreams is to one day become a member of the elite guild called Fairy Tail. (A wizard guild is basically a place where wizards are gathered and they exchange information. It is one of the best ways to find a job.) After leaving a magic shop, she hears that the famous wizard, Salamander, is in town. She quickly goes to check it out and every woman is head over heels for this guy! Almost falling under his charm spell, Natsu barges in, thinking Salamander is someone he knows. (To his disappointment, he have never seen the guy's face before.) This helps Lucy break away from the spell and she treats Natsu with some food in thanks for saving her.

Later on the day, Salamander comes by to invite Lucy on his yacht for a party. She keeps rejecting him until he mentions that he is part of Fairy Tail. Immediately, she changes her attitude and is eager to come along.

That night, Lucy discovers what Salamander is really up to. He is planning to ship all of the women on board away to other lands and make them sex slaves! Just in time, Natsu makes a grand but uncool entrance. He didn't care what Salamander is but he refuses to hear someone tarnish the great name of Fairy Tail. Starting to kick all of the bad guys' asses, Lucy realizes that he is a real member of the guild!

After the incident, Natsu and Lucy starts their adventures together. Together they fight against villains and bring justice to wrong-doings. But dark clouds are looming ahead that will come to greet these heroes soon enough.

Most anime/manga fans should know of Hiro's popular series, Rave Master. Compared to Rave Master, I think Fairy Tail is far better. I think the theme is much better overall and less random. (Fairy Tail is still random but in a cleaner fashion. I don't know how to explain it but that is my impression of it.) The one thing I know I'm not looking forward to is the length of this series as it's still on-going in Japan. Rave Master has over twenty volumes and I think I only made it up to ten before getting bored with it. The art has improved since his and has potential to become popular in the future. So far, so good. I'll check out the second volume if I have time.