Fairy Tail-Episode 1-Anime Review: Zerojackson.

                                Fairy Tail: Episode 1

                                   

I think it's relevant to start this review off with my thoughts originally on Fairy Tail. I had heard about the anime/manga series through the grapevine by watching anime reviewers on  Youtube, but never decided to check it out. Why? I'm going to be brutally honest here, but I thought it looked stupid. And by stupid, I mean babyish. Now, I know how horrible a thing to say that is, as Anime are not babyish, obviously. But, to me, it looked as though this was something completely and utterly not worth my time. You've got flying cats, and Wizards. Now, don't get me wrong, I love Wizards and all. I just felt as though it would be sorta like this:

Fire Wizard Casts Flare! Does 10 points of damage!

Water Wizard Casts Hydro Pump! It does 6999999 points of damage! It's super effective.

I dunno, that was just my original thoughts. However, the series has been gaining increasing popularity from what I can tell. I'm not a big reader of Manga, I prefer Anime. Always have, and always will. Nothing wrong with Manga, I just prefer watching things rather than reading. Although, I don't see Manga as the same as a book. Maybe it's just because it has more words? Bah, I dunno.

I should also point out, rather quickly, that I will be making many comparisons to Naruto. It's probably the only anime that I've seriously watched, unless you count Pokemon when I was Ten. So, yeah. That's all I have to say, let's get onto the review!

Fairy Tail: Episode 1- The Fairy Tail.

So, we start things off with a narrator (watching this in sub, btw, I don't know if there is dub for this....) telling us about the Kingdom of Fiore, home to about 16 million people, I believe. There, magic is a something that is a common occurrence  and Wizards are aplenty. Most Wizards join Guilds, a meeting place where Wizards can interact among themselves and take on jobs.

We start off the episode in the port town of Hargeon, where we are introduced to our two main characters.

The first is a pink haired boy by the name of Natsu. And the other.... is talking blue cat by the name of Happy. Now, this was one of the reasons I disliked and did not want to watch Fairy Tail in the first place, because of the flying cats. However, my judgement is that both of these two are fairly likeable  Happy's catchphrase 'Aye' is nowhere near as annoying as 'Believe it!' from Naruto. And, also, in another comparison, I much prefer Natsu to Naruto. By far. But, we'll get to that later.

Anyway, a attendant at the train station goes to ask Happy is Natsu is okay, which he replies that he always get's like this while travelling.

This is something that interests me. According to what I know so far (Keep in mind I've watched to Episode Two, and have gone into this completely and utterly blind) it seems that Natsu get's sick from any kind of travelling that is not on foot. This is a rather interesting affair for a main character, and could be used against him. That's one of the things that I think everyone should look for in characters. Well, there are three things: Likeability (Or hatred, depending on whether the character is a good or bad guy) being able to relate to the character, and whether or not you can get into and push for the character to succeed.

And this is where things get interesting for me. Natsu intrigues me. I really, really like him. And I don't know why. He's not as loud, or as boisterous as Naruto, which is a plus in my book, but he does have those moments. Maybe it's because he's just someone people like? Maybe, but I really should get on with the review and stop waffling. Keep in mind that I will waffle a lot, and I mean a lot during these reviews.

So, they get off the train after some comedic relief (which is something I dislike, but more on that later) and Happy mentions that there information should be correct about somebody being in this town. This somebody, or rather something is known as 'Salamander', a person which they are both looking for.

The scene cuts and- HOLY SHIT HOOOOOOOOOOOOOTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!

*Ahem*

Anyway, the scene cuts to where a blonde girl is standing in a magic store, looking for a bunny to pull out of a top hat, or something. Her name is Lucy.

Something I've noticed about this particular Anime is that not too many people have Japanese names. I don't know, is Lucy Japanese? Perhaps....

Anyway, I'm not going to lie and say I'm not biased because Lucy is sooooo hot! She, like, really is. Holy sweet baby jesus...

So, she spots a 'key' and tries to bribe the old owner to lower the price using her looks.

I should point out that I much prefer Lucy to say, Sakura, in the original Naruto series. She actually does some shit. And she's hot! But, no seriously, I think that Lucy being somewhat useful, and yet not, annoys and makes me smile at the same time. That made no sense, but I'll get more into her during the next review for Episode 2. Just know, she's FUCKING HOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yup.

So, she get's angry because he only lowered the price by about 1000 gems (the currency in Fiore, apparently) and apparently her looks weren't worth it.

Seriously though, someone wrap Lucy up for Christmas. And, preferably under all that wrapping she's not wearing anything? Yeah, thanks.

So, she overhears some girls talking about the great and almighty 'Salamander!' and she goes to investigate.

We cut back to Natsu and Happy, and the human of the group is complaining that he's very hungry, but the cat gleefully informs him that they have no money. Seriously, I swear this cat is fucking happy all the time. I understand it's in his name, but seriously.

Random Guy- "Holy shit the orphanage is on fire and they were having a 'Show Off Cute Puppy and Kitten Day' and they are all burning to death OMFG!!!!!!!"

Happy- "Yay! They're all burning! I can smell there burnt flesh! Yay, I'm eating great tonight! FEED ME FOR I AM THE DEVIL INCARNATE!!!!!"

........

Anyway, so Natsu and Lucif- I mean Happy come across a group of girl's screaming over Salamander. Natsu hopes that this is 'Igneel', who is apparently a Fire Dragon. I know Twilight is over now, and even though I don't actually hate those movies, do you people really need to find something else to latch onto? First it's Vamps, and now Fire Dragons. I'm looking forward to the Smurf phase...

'2014... AN EPIC WOMAN BY THE NAME OF LUCY HAPPY GOES ON A QUEST TO DISCOVER THE LOST TREASURE OF MENTRYINGTOGETINTOMYPANTS. ALONG THE WAY, SHE IS FORCED TO CHOOSE BETWEEN THE MYSTERIOUS DRAGON CDWARD EULLEN, OR THE SEXY CENTAUR BACOB JLACK. WHO WILL SHE CHOOSE!!!!???'

I'm copyrighting that shit....

Anyway, it turns out that it's not Igneel, but some random Wizard dude, named Salamander.

Lucy notices that she is falling in love with this guy more by the minute, and finds this very odd. Of course, she can't stop it, and is soon reduced into a fangirl...

Until Natsu jumps in. He's pissed that it's not a Fire Dragon, and shouts to Salamander "Who the heck are you!?"

And, he walks away in anger that it's not his beloved sex beast. And then raging fangirls pummel him into oblivion for disrespecting Salamander. Said fellow offers him an autograph, which he refuses. And he is pummeled into Oblivion, again.
So, Salamander leaves on pink flames as he spins into the sky. Lucy is pretty pissed off, as she stomps over and thanks Natsu and Happy expressively.  She explains that Salamander was using a charm spell/ring/ thing to make people fall in love with him, and that it has been banned for ages. After a rant, she asks if there is anything she can do for them.
Cue Natsu gorging himself on food while Lucy looks on somewhat disgusted. Anyway, she then explains to them about guilds, and how she has yet to join one herself, but wants too. I find the idea of guilds fantastic. With the possibility of so many guilds that one could create, it could seem feasible to have many different characters and plotlines. Perfect for Fanfiction.
So, after gushing over the guilds, Lucy asks them who they were looking for. Natsu and Happy explain they were looking for Ingeel, who's a Fire Dragon. Naturally, Lucy shouts at them for being stupid, and states that there was no way in hell a Fire Dragon would ever be sighted in a city.
And, then they react like this. This is one of the main problems I have with Anime. I don't want to say it's childish, because that's not the right word. It's just not my type of humor  There are some hilarious segments in later episodes that are genuinely funny, but stuff like this also appears a lot and just doesn't interest me. However, this story is weird in of itself, so I'll let it slide. Well, no I won't. I just hope it gets better as the series goes on...
Anyway, there's a scene where Lucy walks off and Natsu and Happy thank her by bowing. This embarrasses her, she shouts at them yadda yadda yadda. As I said, I'm not interested in this type of  humor. 
So the scene cuts to Lucy reading a magazine, (which includes a really hot pin-up model, who'll we'll meet later on) and Salamander sorta leaps out of the bushes. That's not creepy at all.
Of course, Lucy is pissed that she was tricked, and, too 'make it up to her' he offers her an invitation to his party on his giant boat. She hotly declines, saying she want's nothing to do with him. I probably should, at this point, show a picture of Salamander:
He's not actually that bad looking, really. I should point out that I'm not someone who's attracted to just one gender. I should have probably pointed that out in the introduction. But, it's besides the point. Just know that I will comment on how attractive I think a character is, being a boy or a girl.
Anyway, Salamander makes a comment that he is a member of the guild Fairy Tail. This immediately causes Lucy to go ga-ga over the man, and states in her head that she's always had a dream of joining Fairy Tail.
Salamander promises to put in a good word for her, if she comes to the party.
I wonder what she's going to say.....
Anyway, the scene cut's to Natsu and Happy chatting, and they overhear some girls talking about Salamander being from Fairy Tail, and being on the boat on the horizon. Natsu looks and immediately feels sick. Best hero ever.
Lucy is in Salamander's private quarters, I believe, as he tries seducing her. He offers her some some wine for a toast, using his magic to try and glide droplets of it into her delectable mouth. However, she senses something's amiss, and then realizes he's using sleep magic!
And so, she, well, stands up, bitch slaps the droplets away like a boss and calls him a perverted asshole dick-headed douche. Well, okay, she doesn't. But, that's what she was thinking.
Anyway, he lowers some curtains surrounding the room. And reveals a ton of men all handling and holding unconscious women. Lucy realizes that this was just a ruse to round up women too..... I don't really know. Have his way with them? Keep them as sex slaves? Sell them? Eat their livers? The possibility's are endless!
Anyway, Lucy has a really short 'fight' and I use the term loosely, as Lucy get's ready to use her 'keys' which allow her to summon helpers from other dimensions. Salamander just bitch-slaps it out of her hand and into the ocean, and she admits defeat. Seriously, I would keep a few off of the key-chain, just in case something like that happened to me.
Anyway, just as all hope is lost, and our well endowed character is about to be eaten/captured/ravished by Salamander and his motley crew......
Natsu crashes through the top of the ship. He's ready to save the day with his amazing skills- oh, wait, no, he looks as though he's going to through up. Long live out illustrious protagonist.
Lucy berates him, but, she is luckily saved by the Devil Incarnate Happy and his wings!!! Yes, freaking wings! Apparently it's type of magic. Flying cats, woo! Using his tail, he carries her out of there and away into the night.
And then the transformation magic thing ends, and they both plummet into the ocean. Lucy manages to retrieve her keys, and summons Aquarius!!! 
Happy almost orgasms because she thinks he sees a fish, and the summoned spirit thing informs Lucy that if she drops her key again she'll kill her. Gotta love loyalty, wait till you see some of the others....
Anyway, she uses her pot of justice to sweep the boat onto the beach, along with Happy and Lucy. Poor Natsu probably threw up everywhere.
Anyway, Aqua then remarks that she failed. She states that she got the boat as well, causing Lucy to facepalm, more or less. And then she disappears, and tells Lucy not too call her, as she's going on vacation with her boyfriend. This was the funniest moment in the episode, and had me giggling and laughing happily. Because you can giggle sadly....
So, Salamander and his goons are chilling, when Natsu leaps out of the wreckage and states that Salamander isn't a member of Fairy Tail. He states angrily that he would recognize him, and vice-versa. Happy then subtly (sarcasm) informs Lucy that Natsu is in fact a Fairy Tail member!!! This actually shocked me... Don't ask why.
So, after a goon mentions that Salamander is in fact Bora, who was kicked out of his guild. 
And then they commence battle. Now, I should point out that, as you know, I thought the fights were going to be horrible. They're not. They're amazing!!!!
I never thought I would like the fight scenes so much, but I do. I didn't think they would be so fast paced, so energetic. The fight is actually really short, and I don't want to spoil the fight itself, but the best scene is when Bora uses his pink flame to do a line across the port town that makes it erupt in an explosion. It was like something out of Dragonball Z! 
Anyway, Bora tries to use his red/pink carpet attacks on Natsu, but he eats it! Yup. Happy explains that Natsu's ability is that he uses a rare and powerful magic called Dragon Slayer, that allows him to change parts of his body into that of a Fire Dragon to use. It doesn't literally turn his body parts into a dragon, it envelops them in flames or something. It was used slay dragons, and it was ironically taught to Natsu by a dragon! Gotta love irony... 
Anyway, the fight ends with.......

A FALCON PUNCH!!!!!
And so, Bora is defeated by Natsu with a flaming punch to the face.
The City Guard come to arrest and murder Natsu, Happy and Lucy for ruining their FUCKING TOWN! Seriously!? Assholes, there is such a thing as damage control...
Natsu grabs Lucy and runs, and remarks that she wanted to join Fairy Tail. And so, Lucy is rather happy being a fugitive on the run from the City Guard..... I wonder if it's ever mentioned again the amount of lives and damaged they may have destroyed!!!

And that's it. That's the episode. 
Well, was it good?
Let's review it with a scoring system:

Plot: It's the same plot that begins most anime, I believe. One throw away villain does something bad and the protagonists shows off how awesome he is picking up a sidekick or a cast of side characters along the way. However, since I've only seen this in the few anime I've seen, I'll leave it be. But, still, it's stereotypical for an anime opening episode, and they could have tried to break the mold. They really could of. 6/10.
Setting: The port town of Hargeon is really pretty, and I like the premise so far with the Guilds and the Magic. I would am enjoying it a ton. 9/10.
Characters: Natsu is a likeable protagonist, Lucy is hot and a good supporting character, and I look forward to seeing her develop. Happy is..... I dunno, I wouldn't say unneeded, and his catchphrase (Aye!!!!!!!!!!!) is rather cute. Still, the void could have been filled by a human character. But, there is some funny banter with Lucy along the way. 8/10.
Humor: This is the weakest point, at least for me. The only funny bit was with the summon, and everything else was so weak and sorta childish that it made me want to skip over some parts. 2/10.
Animation: I'm no Wizard, and while it's not the best looking shit ever, it's still fantastic to look at and solid all around. The circle things that they do when they use magic look fantastic. As does the last shot. Really nice to look at. 9/10.
Sound: I'm not really going to comment. The music was nice enough, I guess. 7/10.
Overall Enjoyment: Would I recommend watching this episode? Yes, not mentioning the fact that it's the first episode of the first season, the characters are interesting, the fight scenes good, the animation and sound solid, the plot is interesting, and deep enough to entice me to watch further,  and Lucy has boobs! What more could you ask for!?
Overall: 8/10. A solid first episode that somewhat annoys me with the humor and Happy. Well, I can't really say he's annoying, more that he's not really that important. I will definitely be watching more, and I recommend you do the same!
Have a great morning/afternoon/evening/night!

Signed,
Jackson.