Has Fairy Tail Already Peaked?

It seems to be an evil trend in many Shounen style anime and manga that the series will hit its finest hour before it can come to a proper conclusion, which leads many fans looking back and saying, "No, it should have ended here." With the latest arc of Fairy Tail presumably going to be the one that closes the series out (did you read the latest chapter? Yeah it should be obvious), I was left to wonder if this goofy little series has already hit that point. 

Let's look at some examples in recent history. The most recent, and most relevant probably, comes with Bleach. The overarching story of Bleach is pretty hard to pin down, but you could argue that it is the ongoing struggle of the Shinigami against the traitor Sosuke Aizen and his Arrancar. The story of Bleach is less about Ichigo, really, and more us looking in to see what Aizen wants; that being, to see the Soul King for reasons that, hey, we never found out.

Many will argue that Bleach's finest hour was during the initial Soul Society Arc, in which Ichigo led a ragtag group into the heart of the Shinigami to rescue Rukia. Here we are introduced to the various Shinigami and its the biggest explosion of world-building before the arrival of the Vizards and Arrancar. I'd say that, while that arc is very good, the final battles with the Arrancar are pretty awesome as well. Ichigo and Ulquiorra is one of the most emotionally impactful battles of the series and shows the development of both characters throughout the fight. It's arguably the best bout of the entire arc, although there are plenty more awesome ones with the other captains (also the reveal with Yuri was pretty dope). 

And when all is said and done, the arc ends on one of the most emotional moments of the entire series and it's an ending that is fitting. It brought everything full circle. It was great! 

But, instead, it had to keep going. I'm not really sure why that is. Then again, this is mostly due to the fact that we weren't allowed to have many answers from Shonen Jump as Bleach was cut short before many answers could be revealed. Even with that, though, the Thousand Year Blood War Arc wasn't as satisfying a narrative as the rest of the Bleach story had been. What was really the point of it, anyway? There were some cool reveals, like Section Zero and how Yhwach bonded himself with the Soul King, but it didn't have to go on for that much longer. 

Bleach is the most obvious example of this negative trope, as the story did feel like it reached its natural conclusion following the climactic Aizen fight. Another somewhat obvious one, and one that is often made fun of, is Dragon Ball. 

Many people online joke that Akira Toriyama, the creator of Dragon Ball, when all was said and done, meant for the series to end following the Cell Games Arc. Goku's story was over and it was Gohan's turn to serve as the protector of Earth. The Bojack Unbound film certainly showed that this was the case, and was a nice little side-story into the glimpse of what the world could be like under Gohan's 11-year old watch. 

For me, Dragon Ball could've ended at numerous points: following the battle with Piccolo, following the battle with Frieza, following the Cell Games, and Vegeta's sacrifice. When did the story peak? Well that's debatable. I do think the series ended on much less of a note with the material we got at the end of Season 9 than we did in Season 6. It was just odd for the series to make another major time jump after we'd just gotten one. Remember: the last thing we see, canonically, is Goku ditching the World Martial Arts Tournament to train with Uub. Dragon Ball Super only exists to fill in the ten-year gap between the end of Kid Buu and the arrival of Uub. Feels weird, doesn't it? 

So what's all this have to do with Fairy Tail? Well, the latest arc of the manga has essentially divided the fanbase, but in reality it's exposed the major strengths and weaknesses of the series, leading the story into a questionable direction. 

On the one hand, there are many dour moments that have forced fans to drop the series altogether. Things like fake-out death moments with key characters, the enemies being not as strong as we'd believed, and just general "friendship is the key to victory" moments that have sort of stockpiled into annoyance at this point. Hiro Mashima seems to be just replicating the actions of previous arcs and tries to up the stakes but hasn't managed to do so quite yet. It seems apparent that he wants to pit our heroes against the odds by giving the forces insurmountable numbers to defeat as well as putting the ultimate villain, Zeref, front and center, but the feeling of dread isn't one I get from him, but from new characters only just now being introduced (and Acnologia, but he's not around as much right now). 

Then again, the series has shined in a ton of different places. Acnologia has shown off his power quite a few times, the fight with Natsu and Zeref is still a series highlight, Gray is showing more development as he reaches further into the demon powers Silver gave him (and warned him about), we're closer to learning more about Erza's origins beyond the Tower of Heaven, and E.N.D. is just about ready to come into the fold for realsies, yo. The series is paying off in ways that seemed far off, and yet the pacing is just right enough for it to make sense. 

And with us so close to the end...has Fairy Tail already reached that point that we'll look back and say "oh, no, the series should have ended there?" 

Yes. 

And no. 

With regards to the "yes," I think all you have to do is point at the image or thumbnail or whatever. The material with Tartaros is undoubtedly the best of the series, surpassing even Edolas for me (though that arc still rocks and is a major turning point in character development). Tartaros showed our characters at their lowest point and while they were still able to rise above, it's clear that all of them didn't come out as positively as they should have. Everyone seemed to lose something, be it the guild hall, a friend, or even someone that they thought of as a guardian or someone that they could hold onto. Think back at the most powerful moments and it isn't when characters are cheering and screaming and yelling about friendship. It's when they are losing someone close to them and are emotionally distraught. 

You have to ask yourself at this point what the story of Fairy Tail really is. Just an adventure story? Not quite. I think the story that Fairy Tail is building to, or has built, rather, is that of family. Some of the most influential moments of the series stem from the idea of family, and almost all of the key characters are related in some way through their family. Zeref and Natsu, for example, is a big one, but then again, Lucy and Zeref as connected through their families as well. Of course this is something yet to be explored, but it's an interesting view at the series. After all, Lucy is our main protagonist. We witness the series through her eyes, we follow her the most. Who was the character we picked back up with after the Tartaros arc? Lucy. 

So the story of Fairy Tail isn't quite over yet because Lucy's story has yet to come to fruition. In what is a pretty smart move, Mashima redirected Lucy back into the story in a way that makes a great amount of sense. Her mother went missing the same year that Natsu and his friends lost their dragons? That can't be a coincidence, and it isn't. Eclipse is just a one time thing that uses the powers of Celestial Spirits, all of which Lucy can control? Well that's funny, almost like Lucy...has something to do with all of this. 

I would say that Fairy Tail can't have ended with Tartaros. Sure some of the characters saw their stories come to a close, but it was just those last-second details that drove them forward. Don't get me wrong, several of the protagonists have seen their character arcs wrap with Tartaros: Erza, Wendy, Gajeel, Elfman, Mirajane. Gray, Natsu, and Lucy weren't quite done. In a brilliant last stroke before the arc closed, Mashima tied Natsu and Gray's fates together with the big E.N.D. reveal, and Lucy's story was just beginning as she would be tasked with finding her job as a writer. Natsu and Gray's stories would have ended if not for E.N.D., as Natsu had closure with Igneel and Gray with his past against Deliora. 

In terms of sheer quality it's tough to say whether or not this final arc will surpass Tartaros. Major moments that have been foreshadowed and built up seem to be headed our way finally, with today's chapter building MAJOR excitement and signalling a showdown five hundred chapters in the making. I still have faith that the final battles with Zeref and Acnologia will be epic as all hell, and I hope that the series can end on a high note and isn't, you know, preemptively cancelled. After all, the anime isn't currently airing, so we're already on the trail that Bleach was on. 

Regardless, the story is not quite yet over. After all, nobody's answered the burning question of the guild: Do fairies have tails? 

Social media: 

Twitter: @seanovan13

Instagram: @seanovan10