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After over 300 episodes, Hiro Mashima’s shonen epic Fairy Tail is about to come to an end. It’s been a long ride, as when counting the two hiatuses the series has been around for a full decade. But everything must come to an end, and with the Alvarez Empire story wrapped up, it’s time to say goodbye to Natsu, Lucy, Erza, Gray, and the others until the 100 Years Quest inevitably ends up getting animated.
But before we leave the Kingdom of Fiore for good, it’s time to count down the best story arcs Fairy Tail ever had. Some of them were certainly stronger than others, but all of them had a certain charm to them.
Updated August 11th, 2021 By Anthony Mazzuca: Fairy Tail had a good run as a series, spanning over a decade and bringing fans plenty of fun excitement. When it wanted to be serious, it had plenty of heart-wrenching moments— despite what the detractors will say. Those emotional moments help differentiate the arcs from one another, putting the better arcs up on a pedestal. With the series over, it’s time to rank nearly every story arc in the series.
15 Daybreak Was The Start Of Lucy & Natsu’s Journey Together
Daybreak is one of the initial story arcs and one that didn’t have a whole lot of depth to it. It centered on retrieving a book from Duke Everlue’s mansion. The fights in it were nothing all that exciting, but it has two things going for it.
One is that the ending was very well done. The other is that it’s the first time the core trio went on an adventure together. It’s the start of a relationship between Lucy and Natsu that would be the core of the series going forward.
14 Avatar Built Tension With Gray Potentially Betraying The Guild — But Felt Like A Filler Arc
Avatar worked as a bridge from Tartaros to the final Alvarez Empire arc. In it, a group of Zeref worshippers known as Avatar made themselves known as the successors of the Balam Alliance.
There was some potential to it, but none of Avatar felt like they were a threat at all to Fairy Tail. The real draw was that Gray had seemingly turned his back on Fairy Tail and joined the cultists. Without that, the arc felt like filler.
13 Sun Village Helped Flesh Out The Stories Of Flare & Gray
Sun Village was a prologue arc that led directly into the far superior Tartaros arc. Unlike the Avatar arc, it actually had a purpose in progressing both Flare and Gray’s story.
Without Sun Village, Gray coming face to face with Silver wouldn’t have had the same impact. It was nice to see a side character like Flare gain some depth and backstory as a character as well. It even had the return of Minerva as she continued her vendetta against Erza.
12 Zero Followed The Founding Of Fairy Tail & Mavis’s Backstory
Fairy Tail Zero was made for fans of Mavis Vermillion. If a viewer found them or Zeref a meh character, the prequel arc wasn’t going to hit home. Those that liked her will be in love with the story arc as it goes into her past in detail, giving looks at Zeref and Yuri when they were younger.
It’s great for all of those character’s development, but the star is Zera, a friend from Mavis’s past. The reveal that Zera wasn’t real towards the end of the arc was gut-punching.
11 Emperor Lyon Allowed Gray To Take Center Stage Over Natsu
One of the more underrated arcs came earlier in the series with Emperor Lyon. Admittedly, it’s dragged down a little in the first half with Lyon’s two underlings being boring in both personality and magic but picks in the latter half.
Once Lyon gets involved, and the story between him and Gray gets unraveled, it’s a quality arc. Few characters impacted the story as much as Ur did. She greatly impacted three separate characters despite the fact she was hardly ever on the screen.
10 Alvarez Empire Manages To Tie Up Many Loose Ends But Does So In Largely Disappointing Fashion
The last arc of the main series, the Alvarez Empire story arc has a few weaknesses. The Spriggan 12 gets hyped up as this unstoppable force, yet several of them get wiped out in comedic and unsatisfying ways. This arc stands above others primarily because it does wrap up many of the mysteries which have been around in the series since day one.
However, it does feel somewhat unsatisfying as end series arcs go— there aren’t many final power-ups or incredible battles like fans have become accustomed to by this point. In that respect, the Tartaros arc was arguably far superior.
9 Loke Gives Greater Depth To The World Of Celestial Spirits
The sixth story arc in the series focuses on the Fairy Tail guild member Loke. It’s a short arc that explains the character’s background as a Celestial Spirit and how a being that technically belongs to an entirely different world was able to remain in the world of humans for so long.
Though the storyline is meant to focus on Loke, it also gives Lucy her moment in the spotlight. In addition to giving us a glimpse into the rules and world of Celestial Spirits, this arc is also one of the first times we get to see just how much the Spirits have meant to Lucy.
8 Tower Of Heaven Gives Erza Much Needed Backstory To Flesh Her Out
The Tower of Heaven arc allows both the viewer and the guild to learn about the backstory of Erza, the so-called Queen of the Fairies. After a couple dozen episodes of seeing Erza as the strongest person in the room at all times, this arc goes a long way towards showing the cracks underneath her magic armor.
Seeing her backstory with Jellal and how she spent her early years as a slave is heartbreaking, and seeing how hard Natsu and her guildmates are willing to fight for her shows us just how much the guild means to one another.
7 Phantom Lord Is The First Time Things Get Serious In Fairy Tail
The Phantom Lord arc is arguably the first time things get really serious for the entire guild. The first few arcs slowly introduced the world of Fairy Tail and set up the character dynamics for the main characters. But this arc sees the entire guild under attack by a rival guild called Phantom Lord.
Over the next nine episodes, we get total chaos, with attacks on each other’s guild halls and showdowns between different members of the group. It is the first time fans get to see just how much Makarov cares for his guild as the master and why he’s not the old guy to mess with.
6 Oracion Seis Was The First Dark Guild That Fairy Tail Ever Had To Deal With
Throughout Fairy Tail, the team eventually battles against every relevant Dark Guild on the continent. But you never forget your first. Oracion Seis was an incredibly powerful guild made up of six members. It’s a small number, but large enough for Fairy Tail to ally with not one but three other guilds in order to have a chance.
Even then, it takes everything all four guilds have to bring down just the first five members of the team, to say nothing of their even more powerful leader. The Oracion Seis arc goes a long way towards expanding the overall world of Fairy Tail, giving us an inkling of just how huge everything is.
5 Battle Of Fairy Tail Showed That The Bond Members Of Fairy Tail Have With Each Other Can Never Be Broken
Smack in the middle of the Tower of Heaven and the Oracion Seis arc is the Battle for Fairy Tail, where the guild owner’s grandson Laxus Dreyar comes to try and claim Fairy Tail for himself. Though Laxus and his Thunder God Tribe are outnumbered, they give some of the strongest members of the guild a run for their money.
This arc is one of the best in the series for two reasons: the showdown between Laxus versus Natsu and Gajeel and the “Fairy Tail” symbol during the Fantasia parade. Though this battle of guild members got more serious than any of their past ones, this arc showed that the bond between members of Fairy Tail couldn’t ever be broken.
4 Tenrou Island Introduces The Final Boss Of The Entire Anime
Fairy Tail’s Tenrou Island arc is where the series finally sets in motion some of the plots that get paid off in the final arc. During their annual tests for promotion to S-Class, a select group of Fairy Tail mages is attacked by the dark guild known as Grimoire Heart.
As usual, the dark guild pushes the team to its limit as they face a host of new, esoteric magics that make victory look near impossible. But most importantly is the ending, where the final boss of the entire series is introduced. Acnologia is a giant dragon who nearly kills the entire team by expending almost zero effort. No one can say Mashima doesn’t know how to up the stakes.
3 Grand Magic Games Allowed Fairy Tail To Finally Run It’s First Tournament Arc
Impossibly, it took Fairy Tail over 150 episodes before they ever thought to do a tournament. After being gone for seven years thanks to Tenrou Island, even the strongest members of Fairy Tail have been left behind, and the guild is now in shambles. The Grand Magic Games appear as an opportunity to allow the team to put themselves back on the map. This arc was filled with some great fights not only for team Fairy Tail, but it also lets some of the other guilds make themselves relevant as well, including Mermaid Heel and Fairy Tail’s new rivals: Sabretooth.
2 Edolas Gives A Surprising Amount Of Depth With Happy & Carla As Exceeds
When the entire Fairy Tail guild is transported to a world where magic is scarce and even their own magic powers no longer work, things start to look pretty bleak. Fortunately, the entire guild is made up of people too stubborn to know when to give up.
Transported to an alien world, the team of Fairy Tail comes face to face with the true origin behind Happy, Natsu’s adorable talking cat partner, as well as the story behind their fellow guild member, Mystogan. They also get to meet alternate universe versions of themselves. These range from hilarious for Natsu’s daredevil race car driver Expy to terrifying for Erza’s completely evil Expy.
1 Tartaros Would’ve Been The Perfect Final Arc (But Unfortunately It Wasn’t)
Sure, the Tartaros arc has Erza’s worst, most nonsensical fight ever. But setting that aside, it’s full of some of the best moments in the series. Finally, meeting Gray’s father, seeing Laxus’ devotion to the guild and his friends. Wendy going full-on Dragon Force mode and Lucy summoning the Celestial Spirit King.
The entire guild teams up to take on the final villain. It’s too bad this couldn’t have been the final arc of the series, as it gives us a ton of reveals and pushes the heroes to their limits. The Alvarez Empire is just a disappointing epilogue chapter by comparison to this arc.
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