Fairy Tail

Fairy Tail (フェアリーテイル) is a Japanese manga series by Hiro Mashima. It has been serialized in Weekly Shōnen Magazine since August 23, 2006 where it is still on-going. The individual chapters are being collected and published in tankōbon volumes by Kodansha, with 23 released. An anime produced by A-1 Pictures and Satelight was released in Japan on October 12, 2009. The series follows the adventures of the celestial wizard Lucy Heartfilia after she joins the Fairy Tail guild and teams up with Natsu Dragneel, who is searching for the dragon Igneel.

The series was licensed for an English language release in North America by Del Rey Manga, which began releasing the individual volumes on March 25, 2008. .

Plot
A young celestial wizard, Lucy Heartfilia, runs away from home and travels to the land of Fiore to join the magical Fairy Tail Guild. Along the way, she meets Natsu Dragneel, a teenage boy looking for his foster parent, a dragon named Igneel, with his best friend, Happy the cat. Shortly after their meeting, Lucy is abducted by Bora of Prominence, who was posing as Salamander of Fairy Tail, to be sold as a slave. Natsu rescues her and reveals that he is the real Salamander of Fairy Tail and has the skills of a Dragon Slayer [fire type], an ancient magic. He offers her membership into the guild, which she gladly accepts. They, along with armored maiden Erza Scarlet, ice maker Gray Fullbuster, and Happy, become a team performing various missions offered to the Fairy Tail guild

Manga
Written and illustrated by Hiro Mashima, the Fairy Tail manga premiered in Weekly Shōnen Magazine in the August 23, 2006 issue. The series is still ongoing. , 209 chapters have been serialized. The individual chapters are collected and published in tankōbon volumes by Kodansha, which released the first volume on December 15, 2006. , 23 volumes have been released in Japan. A special in Weekly Shōnen Magazine featured a crossover with Flunk Punk Rumble, released in 2008. The official fanbook, Fairy Tail+ was released on May 17, 2010 in Japan.

The series was licensed for an English-language release in North America by Del Rey Manga. The company released the first volume of the series on March 25, 2008. As of September 28, 2010, 12 volumes have been released.

Anime
The anime adaptation premiered on October 12, 2009. It is co-produced between A-1 Pictures and Satelight. From episode 1 on-through episode 11, the opening theme song was "Snow Fairy", performed by Funkist; with the ending theme being "Kanpekigu-no ne" performed by Watari Roka Hashiritai. The second opening theme song for the anime was "S.O.W (Sense of Wonder)", performed by Idoling!!! while the ending theme song was "Tsuioku Merry-Go-Round", by Onelifecrew; both of these spanning from episode 12 through episode 24. Opening three was "Ft.", created by Funkist, while "Gomen ne Watashi" was the ending theme by Shiho Nanba both also spanning from 25 to 35. The fourth opening theme song was first shown in episode 36 being "R.P.G. ~Rockin' Playing Game~" by SuG as the 4th opening to the series. "Kimi ga Iru Kara" performed by Mikuni Shimokawa also premiered on episode 36 as the 4th ending, until the season one's finale on September 27, 2010. Season two premiered on October 11, 2010, with "Egao No Mahou" by Magic Party and "HOLY SHINE" by Daisy x Daisy as the 5th opening and ending for the series, respectively. The series so far currently has 59 episodes aired, with 72+ episodes in the making. The Anime was ended with its 48th episode on Animax Asia for discontinuity of the show.

Video games
An action video game for the PlayStation Portable titled Fairy Tail: Portable Guild was unveiled at the 2009 Tokyo Game Show. The game was developed by Konami and was released on June 3, 2010. A fighting game for the DS, titled ''Fairy Tail Gekitou! Madoushi Kessen'' was released on July 22, 2010.

Music
As of July 2010, two original soundtrack CDs have been released. Fairy Tail Original Soundtrack Vol. 1 was released on January 6, 2010, containing 36 songs from the anime. Fairy Tail Original Soundtrack Vol.2 was released on July 7, 2010, also containing 36 songs. The music for both these volumes were composed and arranged by Yasuharu Takanashi. Character singles were also produced. The first character song single, featuring Natsu and Gray, was released on February 17, while the second single, featuring Lucy and Happy, was released on March 3, 2010.

Reception
In Japan, the fifth volume of Fairy Tail was ranked seventh in a list of the top ten manga, and the series once again placed seventh after the release of the sixth volume. About.com's Deb Aoki lists Fairy Tail as the best shōnen manga of 2008. It also won the 2009 Kodansha Manga Award for shōnen manga. It has also won the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation's Industry Awards in 2009 for best comedy manga.