Fairy Tail is none of these. When I was first introduced to this manga, it sounded like it knew where it was going. It seemed to have a plot, interesting secrets and mysteries. So far the biggest mystery to me is how Natsu isn't the Guildmaster of Fairy Tail as well as the strongest of the Ten Wizard Saints. As I sat reading chapter after chapter, I watched how characters 10 times stronger than Natsu were defeated by apparently overpowered foes, only for Natsu to stand up, eat some random flame, and beat said foe because, hey, I'm the main character.
Additionally, the same happens to the at first like-able Erza. I wanted to like her, her magic was interesting and she seemed like a fun character. But her nakama power-boosts are just too overwhelming and all the Deus Ex Machina thrown around her are just too much, extremely apparent in later chapters.
Worst of all, I know that Mashima is actually capable of making good battles and interesting characters. This story actually DOES HAVE some good characters who have more realistic battle outcomes. Yet, for some reason, he decides to leave them aside and laugh at how weak they are in comparison to his godly main characters.
To finalize my hate for the main characters, we should analyze Lucy, the MC that exists for the soul purpose of fanservice. Constant, never ending fanservice. I remember a chapter in which Natsu and Grey see Lucy naked (again) and don't react, saying the novelty is over because they've seen her naked plenty of times. I was thinking around the same lines. It's just plain annoying seeing in how many ways Mashima can remove Lucy's clothes.
What else can I say about this manga? Well, the fact that no good guys ever die is always annoying, even though that just seems to be the norm for shounen anyway, with very few exceptions. Also, that the plot never seems to advance anywhere (which brings me to wonder if it even had one to start with or if I was just being trolled into believing it did as I read on) is just plain annoying.
And as I have said quite a few times, I hate how the battles don't hold any type of suspense. We all know that Natsu is gonna win, and all the good guys will survive, something that completely pulls out of the story and makes me think I'm wasting my time when I'm reading battles.
....if anyone read this entire rant, I commend thee, thank you for reading. You can agree with me or not, it's just my opinion, I'm just pointing out that I believe this series to be completely overrated, not to say it's just plain awful, and I would just not bother.
If you really want to read an epic shounen, read Naruto, One Piece or Bleach. And don't ever compare Fairy Tail to them. They aren't the greatest series, but they are the top three Shounen, and with reason, and Fairy Tail only wishes it was half as good as any of them.
