Review: Fairy Tail Delivers One-Two Punch of Manga Fun

A brave, honorable and almost indestructible boy, his mischievous furry companion, and a band of renegade misfits seek adventure and fortune in an eccentric, magical world. No, you're not reading One Piece, Dragon Ball or any number of similar shonen manga adventure titles... You're reading Fairy Tail, the latest effort from Hiro Mashima, the creator of Rave Master.

Granted, Mashima will not win many points for originality here. But you gotta give him credit for borrowing from the best and getting it down to a science. Fairy Tail may not be unique, but it is undeniably entertaining, and nicely drawn to boot.

Props also go out to the Del Rey Manga folks who've given Fairy Tail a first class debut that's a step ahead of the the rest. Instead of giving us one volume then making us wait for a few months for the next installment, we get two volumes at once to immediately get up to speed with the wildly hyperactive wizards of Fairy Tail.

Read my reviews of Fairy Tail Volume 1 and Fairy Tail Volume 2 and see if this wild and wacky shonen adventure has that spark of manga magic or if its spell fizzles out.

Also, check out the Del Rey New Manga Preview Gallery to see more of what's in store for 2008.

Image credit: © Hiro Mashima / Del Rey Manga