Manga Review: Fairy Tail 3 by Hiro Mashima
In a world where a substantial minority of people can use magic, most magic-users join “guilds” so that they can legally employ their powers to make a living. One such guild is Fairy Tail, known for its eclectic collection of weirdos and misfits…who are still extremely powerful and sometimes competent. This is the guild that young summoner Lucy Heartfilia joins when she befriends fire elemental mage/martial artist Natsu Dragneel.
They form a team with Natsu’s flying cat friend Happy, and then are upgraded to Fairy Tail’s “strongest team” by adding ice maker Gray Fullbuster and armored warrior-mage Erza Scarlet. Together they go on tough missions against “Dark Guilds” that use their magic illegally.
In the volume to hand, #3. our heroes are up against Eisenwald. That guild was once a legitimate one, but its members did crimes on the side. As a result, they were declared a Dark Guild. Their leader, Erigor, disputes the justice of this, as now all of the guild members cannot make a legal living, regardless of their personal culpability. He and his followers have stolen an evil magic flute named Lullaby that kills all who hear it played, and taken over a train station with a powerful public address system.
Now the Fairy Tail members must battle the assembled forces of Eisenwald to prevent mass murder, but is this town what Erigor’s really after? And given the destructive power soon to be unleashed, will any building survive?
This shounen battle manga features a heavy dose of character comedy due to the eccentricities of the main characters, but at least for this volume, the situation is treated as deadly serious. The villains absolutely will kill or at least attempt to kill anyone in the way of their objective, and the heroes can’t hold back against them.
At this point in the manga, Natsu and Gray quarrel frequently due to their opposite magic styles and somewhat incompatible personalities. Not that they will let anyone else harm their rival! They and Erza are the combat heavies in their unit, with Lucy’s limited number of zodiac summons making her more of a utility mage and support character at this point (she’s going to get a lot more powerful by the end.) Happy can only fly, but as none of the rest of the team can do that yet, he’s still very useful.
Happy is also useful for helping Natsu use his powers to best effect. The fire wielder’s abilities get stronger when he gets emotional, but that also affects his judgement. In general, the fight scenes are cool, but only Natsu vs. Erigor is one to write home about.
The art is cartoony, and most of the characters are distinct, but it looks like there’s a bit of same-face for attractive women. Gray has a tendency to shed his clothes randomly, but it’s treated more as comedy than female-oriented fanservice. The male oriented fanservice is a bit more obvious, a couple of underwear shots and some of Erza’s armors leaving vital areas unprotected. Junior high readers and up should be able to handle it.
This volume completes the Eisenwald case, but our heroes have little time to rest on their laurels before Erza is arrested by the Council that oversees the use of magic. Are the charges trumped-up, or is she being framed?
There’s a short story about mushroom gathering, and end notes on translation and honorifics.
I’m not keen on getting into yet another interminable battle manga, but I know many people really enjoyed this.
