Last year in June 2024, I reread Fairy Tail (original, not 100YQ) for the first time in years, so I wrote up my thoughts on the series - I decided to finally share that review here. Overall, I enjoyed it and would probably rank my battle shonen something like this (best to worst, with only a handful of titles to not go overlong):

#Battle Shonen

One Piece (Part 1 before time-skip)

Hunter x Hunter

Naruto (Part 1)

Black Clover / Fairy Tail (need to revisit BC but lean to BC being better atm)

Toriko (Part 1)

===

Dragon Ball (original series before Z)

One Piece (Part 2)

Naruto (Part 2)

Psyren

===

Toriko (Part 2)

DBZ

Bleach

[I've read and watched many others, but these are some off the top of my head. The === means there's a significant gap.]

General

For context, I read FT when it was originally releasing, and it was one of the consistent releases I was reading alongside One Piece, Naruto, etc. After the series finished, I stepped away and didn't visit the series much until last year.

On my reread, I liked it more, though it helps that I was binging. I also didn't reread every chapter and skimmed some of the less interesting parts. Anyway, here's some thoughts on the arcs (if I skip something, it's because I didn't care for the arc or skimmed it very heavily):

Arcs

• Eligor/Lullaby/beginning arcs - this was one I skimmed because I didn't care for the arc. It establishes some characters that join the core team like Gray/Erza, but I didn't have any attachment to them yet and wasn't invested yet. I was a bit excited when the demon was actually summoned at the council meeting, but it deflated almost instantly. Also, in hindsight, Kageyama was a strange character that got a LOT of focus yet never returns AFAIK? I dont care for the character though, so that didn't help the arc.

• Lyon/Deliora/First S rank quest arc - didnt care for this arc, which is ironic because Gray later becomes my favorite character. But I dont like flashback/memory arcs since I prefer seeing present day scenes, and I still didn't care enough about the characters at this point to feel invested. The fight choreography/magic didn't especially grab me either.

• Phantom Lord arc - I liked this arc. I enjoy the idea of a battle between two top guilds, and I thought it did a good job easing in more characters like Mirajane/Elfman while establishing more of Lucy's background. I enjoyed Gajeel/Element 4 as enemies, and I enjoyed seeing Makarov actually being taken out by the wind minion instead of Jose himself. Also enjoyed seeing them fight the S ranks of Phantom. This was one of the arcs that pushed me to being a bigger fan of the series.

• Tower of Heaven arc - I didn't care for this arc for the same reason I didn't care for Lyon arc: I don't like flashback-heavy arcs. It did work a bit better since I was more invested in Erza at this point, but I still prefer scenes set in the present. I also enjoyed the assassin squad more than other mooks from past arcs like Lyon's minions. Not sure how I feel on Natsu's power-up. I think I prefer it over his "flames of emotion" to win but still dislike power-ups.

• Battle of Fairy Tail arc - really liked this arc, definitely among my favorites and probably the one I've reread the most. I love the idea of a battle royale within the guild and liked seeing the members dwindle down to Natsu/Gajeel, then the females of the team coming back to defeat the Raijinshuu one by one. Also enjoyed Mystogan's entry into the fray and the team-up with Gajeel against Laxus. In general, Gajeel had a nice heel-face turn that I enjoy, and this was the beginning of it. Also liked Fried a lot as well as finally seeing why Mirajane was S rank.

• Oracion Seis arc - it was fine. I liked learning about the Balam Alliance and the idea of forming a good guild alliance to counter it, plus it was neat to see the range of characters from Jura to Wendy. I didnt care for bringing Jellal back, but Nirvana was an interesting idea, swapping good/evil among mages, so I could see why it'd be a threat. But I also think Brain/Zero/Midnight were disappointing compared to how much they were hyped, and I didnt enjoy Natsu's power-up again. Best moment was probably Erza willing to slice off her poisoned arm and the initial introduction of the six, like how Gemini infiltrated to take out Jura.

• Edolas arc - I like Mystogan but didnt like this arc. It felt like something out of a fanfiction with them going to a whole parallel world. I dont like the explanation of the flying cats and preferred it just being two coincidental partners that Wendy/Natsu met and befriended, and the whole explanation of the world and Exceed felt a bit contrived/convoluted. That said, I liked seeing a more badass Lucy, and the idea of a world focused on magic-powered weapons was interesting, as well as evil Erza, etc. Still, not a fan overall.

• Tenrou Island/Grimoire Heart arc - I like this arc a lot, probably in my Top 5. I like the idea of an S rank exam and how the teams/partners were formed, as well as how GH invaded. Didn't love all the fights but most were solid enough, and I liked seeing the team gather together to ward off the invaders. Also liked the remnants going to fight the ex-master Hades as well as Laxus' return. Cool to see the other Fairy Supermagics too.

• Grand Magic games/Eclipse door arc - fifty-fifty on this arc. Really like tournament arcs, and I liked the formation of teams as well as introduction of other strong guilds (including some old faces). I like both A team and B team, and Raven Tail/Saber Tooth as rivals was really exciting, as well as new strong third parties like Kagura and Bacchus. Some of the tournament challenges were interesting too. But then the latter half of the arc became a lot more disappointing, around the time Natsu soloed Sting/Rogue. Similar with Erza soloing the 100 beasts (when one was supposedly strong enough that even a Saint Wizard may not win) or Gajeel suddenly "awakening" to motion sickness (despite him and Cobra being much more mature and capable than start of series Natsu). And Raven Tail is maybe the biggest waste of potential in the series. The whole celestial door, dragons, and machinations of the princess/prime minister was a convoluted mess of a storyline too. That said, I do still like aspects of the finale like Jura vs Laxus and the general battle royale nature of it all. So eh, my opinion is split on this arc.

• Giant village arc - I liked this arc. Short but fun idea showing the characters as kids. Helps that Gray is my favorite character, and I liked seeing him tackle his childhood trauma and face off against a much stronger foe (demon) who reminded him of Deliora. I also liked Flare and her change, as well as the callback to Atlas Flame from the previous arc.

• Tartaros arc - liked this arc, probably in my Top 5 as well. I liked the scattered nature of this arc, where the guild tries to piece together the tiny bits of info they have from council members, and I like how some FT members were captured but escaped (like Natsu/Lisanna, etc). And seeing Laxus of all people taken out early really upped the stakes to make the dark guild feel particularly dangerous. Gray had nice moments in this, though I don't like him "inheriting" powers from his father. Also didn't like Erza beating Kyoka while blind/deaf/etc - it's another of those BS battle. But I still liked it a lot overall with the guild house even blowing up and scenes like Wendy/Carla willing to sacrifice themselves but doing it together because they love each other. Final team-up against Mard Geer was enjoyable too.

• Avatar arc - didnt care for the arc and feels almost filler-y. The main characters are just so far beyond the dark guild that there's no stakes and they just stomp all the fodder, etc.

• Alvarez/Zeref/Acnologia arc - I liked it overall, though there's issues. Definitely some lost potential like the 1st ranked Saint being one-shot by Acnologia and some BS like how he doesn't blitz and one shot characters like Wendy later. And then dumb things like Gray believing Invel (who just "murdered" Juvia) and going to murder his childhood friend based on the words of Juvia's murderer. It feels like a forced excuse to have a GokuVsVegeta/NarutoVSasuke esque battle with one of the most contrived/forced reasons in all the manga. But all that aside, I did enjoy the Spriggan 12 and how a lot of their abilities were "hax" but countered, like Erza's water blade vs the sand guy or Sting eating Larcade's light but using Rogue's shadow to deal damage. Enjoyed Brandish and her ties to Aquarius/Lucy's past and August's twist background as Mavis and Zeref's kid, etc. Didnt care for how Acnologia and his spirit was beaten or how Zeref was beaten but eh, overall, as far as endings go, it was fine and enjoyable.

Top 5

I'd say my Top 5 arcs are probably

1) Battle of Fairy Tail

2) Tenrou Island

3) Tartaros

4) Phantom Lord

5) Grand Magic Games

#Overall

Alright, now that I've gone over that, I wanted to share my thoughts overall. I like Fairy Tail for being lighthearted and happy. You know you're gonna get a happy ending with probably all the characters surviving and winning. There's a sense of family/friendship running through it, and it plays heavily with shonen tropes like the "flames of emotion" giving greater power. I honestly far prefer HxH's style of strategic battles, but for a "turn off your brain and enjoy the ride" type of series, FT fits well.

Issues

That said, there's lots of issues that hamper my enjoyment. You can clearly see the author making up a lot of stuff as he goes or just straight retconning things. Ex Cobra/Tenrou Gajeel are highly capable and competent dragon slayers (Wendy too TBH), yet none showed motion sickness on the boat to Tenrou/when Cobra was walking inside of Nirvana. If start of series Natsu is vulnerable, then Tenrou Gajeel/Cobra absolutely should've been.

Many fights are asspulls too, like Kyoka heightening Erza's pain about 100x fold and removing her sense of sight/smell/touch/sound, etc, and she still accurately lands attacks and wins with the explanation that "she's Erza". A lot of power-ups also feel arbitrary. I know there's a precedent of Natsu eating magic to power-up, but it cheapens the victory when he's being pushed and just eats whatever's around him to gain powers. (And there's moments like Laxus' lightning somehow lingering, etc.) I could go on (Makarov constantly surviving, Lisanna being brought back, and so on), but eh, I think most reasonable fans agree with these issues.

But even though I talk about these issues, I still enjoy it, and I'm pretty accustomed to issues in battle shonens like One Piece and Naruto. Naruto's got its talk no jutsu or OP has moments like Pell surviving, etc. Since I dont expect anything deep or super strategic in FT, I can accept its shallow aspects and just go along with the fun of the series.

Characters

Character-wise, it's fine. A lot of characters have a quirk to differentiate them like Elfman shouting about being manly or Cana always drinking, etc, but they do have some moments like Cana having doubts after her S Rank exam coming up or Elfman wanting to overcome his trauma with his sister (granted that was backpedaled a bit with her revival but again, it's not meant to be a deep series). None of the characterization is particularly deep, but its fine and mostly consistent. Favorite character is Gray, then I also like a lot like Mavis, Mystogan, Fried, Mirajane, and others. Dont care much for Natsu, but eh, he's pretty cookie cutter as far as shonen protagonists go.

Art

The art is clean and solid. It has a lot of excessive fan service of course, but magic and fight scenes are easy to see, and a lot of panels are particularly great, like when a character suddenly shows up to save the day. The backgrounds are also sufficiently detailed, and I'm a fan of the clean style Mashima uses. In contrast, something like One Piece has some better shots at times but also feels messier and harder to tell in some scenes.

Other Shonen

Speaking of, I did want to talk about how this compares to other shonen for me. I mentioned that I liked it on par with Black Clover. I think I prefer BC's fight scenes, and I like Asta a lot more than Natsu, so that helps. Both do things with guilds/quirky characters and powers, but I like how BC does its villain organization better. That may be because FT's villains lose in an arc and dont generally come back (and more of the victories feel BS and hollow), but BC has lingering threats that feel much more serious. But I like FT's lighthearted vibe more and general world and brighter themes.

That said, I much prefer OP/HxH above both. HxH does its characterization of both heroes and villains very well, and the fights are deeper with more strategy and nuance. OP isn't as good with its characterization or strategy in battles, but there's a greater feeling of adventure, a stronger emotional core in a lot of arcs, a more built-up world, and the humor is better.

Conclusion

But yeah, overall, I liked revisiting FT. It's light, bright, happy, and though there's issues, it was a fun romp, which is what you need sometimes.

I tried 100YQ, and it's alright, mostly the same feeling with some differences. Still, don't love since I dont like series that end and then become extended. But anyway, overall, FT is a fun series. I enjoy it but don't love it. It's fine, fun, and lighthearted, which is what you want sometimes.