Top 10 Fairy Tail Moments

SPOILERS FOR FAIRY TAIL. LIKE ALL OF IT. NOT THE PLACE FOR YOU, ANIME ONLY FOLK. SORRY. 

Fairy Tail is a story. Some think it's good or even amazing, and other think it's bad or even the worst thing put to ink. I fall on the "it's good" camp of things, but adore the show and the manga with my heart. I've got a special connection with the series that I'll share about on another blog post, so there's that bias. But I'm also not one to overlook the absolutely atrocious moments of storytelling, which have sadly plagued this final arc from allowing it to go beyond the Tartaros Arc, which was entirely possible. Still, Fairy Tail is ending this week, for good or for ill, so it's time I spent an entire week discussing this controversial, yet colorful, series. 

Right now I don't really want to talk about the bad things in Fairy Tail. There's several, sure, probably more than the good if I really took the time to think about it. I want to celebrate the series that has lasted for so long. The mangaka behind it, Hiro Mashima, has been making and dedicating his life to the series for 11 years. Children go through elementary school in that amount of time. Eleven years ago we were still sitting around flying high with Bleach, Naruto, and One Piece as the Big 3.

Things have changed is what I'm saying, so you can rag on the series all you want, I just want to give a little credit to the man who has created a story known around the world and has been able to see it through to the end how he wants it. Not even Bleach got that treatment! It's incredible that Fairy Tail has reached 545 chapters and several spin-offs, as well as two feature films (at the time of this writing, who knows what the future holds). 

So today, I want to reflect on the best of the best. The moments that have helped me stick with my joy of the series, even if some of these are absolute heartbreakers. This series isn't all fun, games, and scantily clad twenty-somethings in the bodies of early 20-year olds. It's about magic, adventure, family, friends, trust, hope, faith, and most of all: Dragons are the worst best thing EVER. 

We'll start, as usual, with some honorable mentions. I tried to get images for these in case there's any confusion over which moment I'm talking about (given how several characters will fight the same person multiple times), but sometimes it just didn't work out. 

Here we go! 

Honorable Mentions

Invel vs. Gray and Juvia

Yeah, sadly couldn't get anything for this one. I don't really have much to say about this portion of the battle, since after Juvia "dies" it really just becomes Gray powering up with his Demon-slaying powers and slicing Invel what good. But the tension in this fight is brilliant. It's the first team-up of Juvia and Gray we've gotten since Gray had to leave her alone during the year-off and now they have to fight to the death. It's a nice parallel to when Meredy combined their emotions during the Tenrou Island Arc. It's a brief battle, but a memorable one from the Alvarez arc. 

Natsu vs. Gildarts 

From the anime

Another brief fight, but this one is more about Natsu's development as a person. Up until this point, Natsu has been able to win all of his fights, regardless of how much power he had or how injured he got. But from the get-go it was obvious he couldn't win this fight and it's a great lesson in knowing where to check your privilege. It's hardly even a fight, it's more like a lecture, and it was a great moment for Natsu. And it helped reinforce the idea that Gildarts served as a father-figure for most of the younger children in the guild.

Fairy Tail's Strongest Team Reunites (Avatar Arc)

(colored by TartaTail)

Ah, the Avatar Arc. Those watching only watching the anime are about to dive head-first into this incredibly forgetful arc, save for one brilliant moment where everyone's back together and about to crush the Dark guild. It's fast, fun, and gets you hyped up for the next big adventure these four are about to go on. Much as I love Wendy, this was the original four (and Happy) that got me hooked on the show, and the original four we followed on adventures to various points and places around Fiore. It was sad to see them apart, but super great and exciting to see them reunite after so long. 

Zeref and Mavis Pass On

Art by Hiro Mashima

The relationship between Zeref and Mavis didn't fully bloom until Fairy Tail Zero and a couple chapters before the war, where we learned that at a young age, Zeref was just curious about magic. He was similar to Tom Riddle, only without the innate desire for evil. He just wanted to know, and in a rather Lovecraftian way, found himself on a slippery slope of pain and loss simply because he wasn't able to die. Mavis, on the other hand, couldn't live because she had to die. Thus the two were a perfect ying-yang and nothing showed that more than when they finally realized that the only way for them to accept eternal death was through their love and hatred, since they loved the other but hated themselves. It was an incredibly touching moment that sadly felt a bit rushed, but did get an entire chapter dedicated to it and therefore makes an Honorable Mention.

Wendy Activates Dragon Force

Art by Hiro Mashima

Oh MAN was this satisfying. It's Wendy finally stepping out of Natsu and Gajeel's shadow and arguably surpassing them in terms of overall ability as a wizard. She's let go of her restraints and just destroys Ezel in one of the coolest fights of the series. Still, her activating Dragon Force and undergoing an actual transformation is what almost puts it on the list. It's the cap to her character, it's what she's been building toward all this time. She's been learning and trying but just didn't have that life-threatening push that Natsu had against Jellal to send her over the edge. Plus, the reveal of her design is so jarring in a good way, because up until this point, Dragon Force transformations haven't involved too much. She grows wings! How cool is that! 

TOP 10 

10. Acnologia vs. God Serena

Art by Hiro Mashima

Okay, this isn't really a fight, it's more like just the sickest villain moment of the series. It's just amazing. After God Serena toys with the top four Wizard Saints of Ishgar he's finally poised to take on the Dragon King and Acnologia just one shots him. It's sort of hard to speak on it without repeating "that's so  cool" and in terms of the overall plot, this moment is simply a blip on the map, but it really highlights that Acnologia isn't toying around. He's gunning for the Dragon Slayers and won't waste any time on someone calling themselves a God. Not Acnologia's shining moment, but we'll call it a solid #2. 

9. The Dragons Return

The Dragons Return

The moment that the series had been building up to! The return of the dragons that raised our heroes, and in such a glorious fashion! While their return doesn't make all that much sense in terms of timing (for some, for Igneel it made perfect sense), it does show that after so long, these Dragons still care so much for their surrogate children that they'd end their existence just to ensure their slim chance of survival against Acnologia and Zeref, who is technically on their side in the grand scheme of things. It's an amazing moment that's just so awe-inspiring in how it's executed, with everyone in Fiore as stunned and in awe as the reader is to see dragons on the side of the good guys for once! Plus you get satisfying moments with Sting, Rogue, Wendy, Gajeel, and Natsu in particular. It's a solid answer to a mystery that'd been around all series. 

8. Three Dragon Slayers

From the anime

This is without a doubt my favorite pre-timeskip fight (the major one, not the smaller one). It's us finally getting, technically, Dragons Slayers fighting a dragon. And it was nicely hinted at throughout the arc, as Faust touted this as the ultimate weapon and Mystogan making sure that the Dragon Slayers stayed intact, it was good foreshadowing that this would go down. Watching them go to work on the mechanical monster was awesome, too, as they all showcased their finest abilities and even came together in the end to echo the power of their surrogate parents. It also showed them finally able to work together as a unit without having their egos in each other's faces, and was another great moment for Wendy as she buckled the boys down and made them focus. This was definitely one the first climactic battles of the series that not only took me by surprise, but is often one I go back to. 

7. Sting & Rogue vs. Natsu and Gajeel

Art by EnyoAngel (deviant artist)

A fight that was so hyped up and so delivered on that hype. It was a nice, concise battle that showcased all the powers of the Dragon Slayers thus far and shut Sting and Rogue up, humbling them for the rest of the series. Gajeel and Natsu work in sync, but still in character, and we got to see awesome, brutal displays of power from Sting and Rogue. So many great small moments in the fight, too, like Sting and Rogue powering up to Dragon Force while Natsu and Gajeel go into their alternate modes as well, or Sting challenging Natsu and Gajeel to two-on-one and doing quite decent. It was progression for all four characters and shows how competent they are as fighters. They're smart, fast, and incredibly powerful. The ending is a bit much, in my opinion, as Natsu overpowers Sting and Rogue's final attack, but it was still cool to see him take them on 2-on-1 and show them that he's still the master Dragon Slayer, despite these being close. And it's always nice to see Gajeel get in on the action, so there's bonus points there as well. 

6. Saving Extalia

Again, another one that was difficult to get a concise image for, but the moment I mean in particular is when the Exceeds come together with Fairy Tail to stop the island from crushing their own. It's just amazing and shows what power thousands of little people can have on a massive problem. It's the representation of what the Exceeds had been going through and is backed by just great character moments from Natsu, Mystogan, and even Carla, who has a shining moment of calling them all to action. Seeing all the Exceeds come together after they'd just learn a devastating truth was also remarkable, and almost immediately redeemed them as pompous jerks. They were more than that, as shown by the Happy and Carla look-alikes (I miss them, they were fun). And yet, this was once my #1 Fairy Tail moment. You know these next five are good if they manage to bump this one down so far. 

5. Natsu vs. Zeref (First Fight)

Art by Hiro Mashima

Oh hell yeah. Hell to the yeah. This fight is amazing, and it's the best Dragon Slayer battle we get. It's a no-holds barred fist fight with Natsu at his strongest and Zeref at the best tactical position he could be in all war. The weapon he thought he would have to hunt down just appears in front of him and he can drop so many bombshells on him, while Natsu's got the last of Igneel's power blaring in his right arm with a sick tattoo. While some of the better parts of the fight are more in the talking (Zeref telling Natsu about his origins, Happy taking Natsu away before he can finish off Zeref, Zeref's resolve to kill Natsu and destroy Fiore), the image that sticks out the most to me is Natsu's absolute confidence when he reveals that he's got the weapon to destroy Zeref, and it turns out it's power from Igneel that he trained to learn. And when he lands the blow that almost kills Zeref it's just OOF. So awesome. While I don't think it's the best fight in the series, it's certainly the one that gets me the most jacked up for more action. 

4. Natsu Revealed as E.N.D.

Art by Hiro Mashima

This was the moment that turned me from an anime-only to someone that read the manga. I got caught up on the manga from where I'd been in the anime in a matter of like two days, I just had to know how Natsu, the most Shonen of all Shonen protagonists, was actual the biggest demonic force on Earth that even Igneel couldn't destroy. It's an incredible short moment but is such a good payoff to the entire arc. Consider that Natsu is so vehemently against everything Tartaros is and does and yet he is the one that they're worshiping, he is the one that they should be trying to protect. It's the end of the second act, the last HUGE reveal before some reveals that, while big (like where the Dragon Slayers come from and all that) reveals do happen, are minute compared to this bombshell. It has so many different implications and is probably one of the most important moments of the series next to Natsu and Lucy meeting, Zeref meeting Natsu, and things of that level. 

3. Aquarius' Sacrifice

Art by Hiro Mashima

Tissues? Anyone, anyone got tissues? It's the best Lucy moment, which by definition, means this is the best moment for our main character. Lucy Heartfilia went from a girl looking for excitement and adventure to falling in love with the world around her only to be shown time and again that darkness exists in the world, and sometimes, you can't win. Or if you can, there has to be sacrifice. The tragedy in all of this is the death of innocence. Lucy hasn't been beaten or broken like the other characters yet. Yes she lost her father but she knew in her heart that her father loved her, and she had nothing to do with his death. Lucy had to kill Aquarius in order to give her a slim chance, and even then, that doesn't end well, either. The Celestial Spirit King is on par with Mard Geer at the end of the day. But it was her acceptance that the bonds she shared with Aquarius were eternal that made her do it, and that, right there, is what Fairy Tail is all about. It's about, no matter what, there are just some people that will get you through hard times even if the greatest burden has to be cast upon you. It's about a young woman coming into maturity by facing the harshness of the world and believing that she is doing the right thing and that she will never, ever, lose faith in the good times she had with her friend. And it was such a good Aquarius moment as we discover that she secretly loved Lucy and adored her because of the adoration her mother Layla poured into both of them. It was all tough love and this is such a good climax to all of that. 

2. Gray vs. Silver

From Fairy Tail's 20th Opening 

The. Best. Fight. Of. The. Series. 

No other fight is this visceral. No other fight has this much stakes. No other fight has the tables turn so many times in a logical manner, and no other fight has such a big impact on the character. Natsu vs. Zeref, the first fight, is Earth-shattering but the problem is that Natsu is such a shallow character that it almost goes right through him. Silver puts Gray through the ringer because he isn't really a good person, nor does he have good intentions, but wants his son to inherit his power so that he can make the tough calls when he has to against E.N.D. I mean, come on, this is father vs. son. This is another person we've been built up all series as one of Gray's heroes, and we come to learn that he's just a man gone mad. Coupled with Silver's lie that he's the demon Deliora reincarnate (which is such a great "almost" reveal, by the way) and the fact that Gray is almost powerless to stop him, again, and you've got an incredible fight. It recalls several of Gray's fights once more, as he powers up an Iced Shell before he finally tricks his opponent and uses it to kill Silver. While it's a great moment in the manga, it's much better animated, as you just watch Silver toy with Gray and you can see Gray slipping down this hole into despair. In the English Dub Matthew Mercer does an absolutely phenomenal job portraying Silver both as a monster and as a father who has to tragically give his son the powers of a Demon in order to save the world. I won't include Juvia killing the necromancer in this one, but it is a nice addition to all of this. It's an emotionally crippling moment for Gray, but also sets him down his course for the rest of the series to fight and kill E.N.D., who we later learn, is his best friend. 

1. The Death of Igneel

Art by Hiro Mashima

Alright, listen. I get emotional about things. I'm human, it's natural. But Igneel's death really got to me, if nothing else, because it was as if this story was no longer Fairy Tail. It wasn't fun, it wasn't cheeky, it wasn't colorful. It was visceral, brutal, heartbreaking, and real. It came out of nowhere. Natsu had just taken down Mard Geer, he was going to join Igneel and together they would defeat Acnologia! And then Igneel was ripped apart, taking part of Acnologia with him. It was over. Natsu's quest had, right there, ended. This was the moment that changed how I thought of Fairy Tail. It was goofy and it was cheesy, but in the end, it has a heart, and sometimes, that heart gets broken. Igneel's death is the defining moment of Fairy Tail because it's the moment where all of the character realized that this is it. They are the ones who have to face the ultimate evils. Igneel symbolized the old era, the idea that eventually the guild members would reach their goal and everything would be okay. Consider the last few moments, though: Lucy joins the Guild and has to kill her best friend; Gray searches for his father and has to be the one to let him rest in peace; Natsu finally finds out Igneel has been with him since he was a child and now he's dead.

And yet, this moment would later become a moment that inspired our heroes. They wanted to be like Igneel, flying proud until the very end. Igneel didn't go out like a chump, he went out fighting Acnologia to the bitter end and was only caught off-guard because he was trying to protect his son. Igneel is still a hero, and his dying words are truly awesome. His final moments alongside Natsu, where he forces Natsu to proclaim that he will defeat Acnologia, is what will always choke me up. It's the end of the dream, man, and now, Natsu has to realize that he'll never get that day with his dad ever again. That's heartbreaking. When Natsu's chasing Igneel and shouting that they have so much to talk about while Igneel fights just compounds this. 

Igneel's death is the emotional cornerstone of the series for me because for a brief moment, Fairy Tail told the finest story it could and one of the finest stories I've read. This is a great, risky moment that changed the shape and scope of the series and characters around it. While he was only with us for a short time, Igneel changed the series like the proud Fire Dragon King that he was. 

And so, that's it. Those are my favorite Fairy Tail moments. Some mad me laugh, some made me get excited, and some made me want to scream into a pillow out of sadness. But all of them highlight key parts of Fairy Tail that tell me it's not all bad; in fact, it can be quite impactful. I'll never forget these moments, and I couldn't be happier that I got to witness them. 

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