Manga Review: Fairy Tail Volume Three

[Jason]

Title: Fairy Tail
Volume: Three
Mangaka: Hiro Mashima
Publisher: Del Rey
Serialized in: Weekly Shonen Magazine
Genre: Fantasy
Rated: Teen (13+)
Price: $10.95/US

Picking up where the last volume left off, Lucy, Grey, Natsu and Erza, along with Happy the cat, are tracking down a band of vicious rogue magicians who are out to kill lots of people with a magic death flute, or so the Fairy Tail wizards think.

A big chunk of the volume is spent on the battles waged by the characters, with the exception of Lucy, who is proving to be a little too much the generic manga girl who stands around doing nothing much. Erza, on the other hand, is one rough and tumble woman whose magic is in her ability to 'requip' herself, instantly changing her weapons and armor with a thought. Meanwhile fire and ice, i.e. Natsu and Grey, are running around taking out Esienwald's minions only to learn that they are trapped by a wall of wind and that they have been lured into this trap for a reason. Esienwald's real mission is to kill all the magic guild masters at their big meeting.

Enlisting the aid of one of the bad guys, who was stabbed and left for dead by his own people, Fairy Tail escapes as Lucy finally steps up to the plate. But will they be in time to save the guild masters? Worse, their own guild master has learned of this team up and is in fear they're likely to do so much damage even he can't repair it all. I still enjoy Fairy Tail, in spite of some of the typical big-boobed, helpless moments Lucy is portrayed in. the characters are fun and the storyline interesting.

The art is still nice, though quite fanservice orientated (witness the boobs on Lucy). For those who like to know, the special effects are left in place with English translations next to them but it’s not cluttered, I like the art, it’s detailed and expressive and as usual with Del Rey, there are a lot of cultural translation notes.


Reviewed By: D.M. Evans
Proofed and Edited By: Jason Punda