Fairy Tail (Japanese: フェアリーテイル Hepburn: Fearī Teiru) is a Japanese manga series written and

illustrated by Hiro Mashima. It was serialized in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine from August 2,
2006 to July 26, 2017, with the individual chapters collected and published into 63 tankōbon volumes.
The story follows the adventures of Natsu Dragneel, a member of the popular wizard[3] guild Fairy Tail,
as he searches the fictional world of Earth-land for the dragon Igneel.
The manga has been adapted into an anime series produced by A-1 Pictures, Dentsu
Inc., Satelight, Bridge, and CloverWorks which began broadcasting in Japan on October 12, 2009.
Additionally, A-1 Pictures has developed nine original video animations and two animated feature
films. The series ended its initial run on March 30, 2013. A second series premiered on TV Tokyo on April
5, 2014, and ended on March 26, 2016. A third series of the anime series began airing on October 7,
2018, and is slated to have 51 episodes.[4][5][2] The series has also inspired numerous spin-off manga,
including a sequel storyboarded by Mashima, titled Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest, which launched on July
25, 2018.
The manga series was originally licensed for an English language release in North America by Del Rey
Manga, which began releasing the individual volumes on March 25, 2008 and ended its licensing with
the 12th volume release in September 2010. In December 2010, Kodansha USA took over North
American release of the series. The Southeast Asian network Animax Asia aired an English-language
version of the anime for seven seasons from 2010 to 2015. The manga was also licensed in the United
Kingdom by Turnaround Publisher Services and in Australia by Penguin Books Australia. The anime has
been licensed by Funimation for an English-language release in North America. As of February
2017, Fairy Tail had 60 million copies in print.[6]
The world of Earth-land is home to numerous guilds where wizards[3] apply their magic for paid job
requests. Natsu Dragneel, a dragon slayer wizard from the Fairy Tail guild, explores the Kingdom of
Fiore in search of his missing adoptive father, the dragon Igneel. During his journey, he befriends a
young celestial wizard named Lucy Heartfilia and invites her to join Fairy Tail. Lucy forms a team with
Natsu and his cat-like Exceed partner, Happy, which is joined by other guild members: Gray Fullbuster,
an ice wizard; Erza Scarlet, a magical knight; and Wendy Marvell and Carla, another dragon slayer and
Exceed duo. The team embark on numerous missions together, which include subduing criminals, illegal
dark guilds, and ancient Etherious demons created by the immortal dark wizard Zeref.
After several adventures, Natsu and his companions encounter Zeref living in isolation on the
guild's sacred ground of Sirius Island.[7] A battle over Zeref ensues between Fairy Tail and the dark
guild Grimoire Heart, which attracts the attention of the evil black dragon Acnologia. The Fairy Tail
wizards survive Acnologia's assault when the spirit of their guild's founder and Zeref's estranged
lover, Mavis Vermillion, casts the defensive Fairy Sphere spell that places them into seven years of
suspended animation. After later participating in the Grand Magic Games tournament, Fairy Tail wages
war against Tartaros, a dark guild of Etherious that aim to unseal a book believed to contain E.N.D.,
Zeref's ultimate demon. Acnologia returns to annihilate both guilds, prompting Igneel – revealed to
have sealed himself within Natsu – to emerge and battle Acnologia. However, Acnologia kills Igneel in
front of a helpless Natsu, who departs on a training journey to avenge Igneel.
One year later, Natsu returns to discover that Fairy Tail's master, Makarov Dreyar, has been futilely
trying to postpone an invasion by the Alvarez Empire, which Zeref governs. Zeref and his forces assault
Fiore, intending to acquire Mavis' body preserved beneath Fairy Tail's guildhall, which houses a
wellspring of infinite magic power called Fairy Heart. While battling Zeref, Natsu is informed of his own
identity as both Zeref's younger brother and the true incarnation of E.N.D., whom Zeref resurrected as
a demon with the intention of being killed by him. When Natsu fails to do so, Zeref absorbs Fairy Heart
from Mavis in a bid to rewrite the present timeline with one where he might prevent the atrocities he
and Acnologia have caused. Natsu incapacitates Zeref to stop the drastic changes to history this would
create, while Lucy edits the book of E.N.D. to make Natsu human. Mavis then lifts her and Zeref's shared
curse of immortality by reciprocating his love, which kills them both.
Meanwhile, Fairy Tail and their allies detain Acnologia within a space-time rift discovered by Lucy's
ancestor, Anna Heartfilia. However, Acnologia escapes while his disembodied spirit traps all of the
present dragon slayers within the rift to maintain his godlike power. Lucy and the other wizards across
the continent immobilize Acnologia's body within Fairy Sphere, while Natsu accumulates the other
dragon slayers' magic and destroys Acnologia's spirit, killing him and freeing the dragon slayers from
captivity. In the following year, Lucy publishes a novel based on her experiences at the guild; at the
award ceremony, two strangers resembling Mavis and Zeref meet and befriend each other. Afterwards,
Natsu and his team depart on a century-old guild mission,[8] continuing their adventures together.