I'm not going to talk about the Fairy Tail anime as a whole. I'm not going to go into an absurd level of detail regarding the fight scenes. There is poor animation for the first half, and although it improves over time I'd never say it reaches the territory of being "great animation". Many people coming here likely have seen or otherwise considered watching Nux Taku (an anime youtuber that sort of founds himself upon memes)'s video on Fairy Tail. There are many fantastic points in that video, but there is one key takeaway to be gained.

The protagonist of Fairy Tail, isn't Lucy, nor is it Natsu.

The protagonist of Fairy Tail is the Fairy Tail guild itself.

Before we continue... I am not going to try to say that everyone "should" or "will" like Fairy Tail. But find out for yourself whether you are one of the many that do.

Characters are flawed, but they are written that way because none of them are meant to become the next Hokage. Nobody is going to become the king of the pirates. There aren't dragonballs to collect here. Each character has their own little goal which seems mundane in the grand scheme of the world and the plot. But those characters evolve and progress together as the guild of Fairy Tail. You aren't watching to see Natsu find his father. You're watching to see the guild evolve as a family, together.

Hiro Mashima has written a pretty poor power scaling system for Fairy Tail. Inconsistent fight endings, powers being stopped by things that should be obliterated by them, the power of friendship, etc. There's also "plot armor" in the form of

But is that really a bad thing? Sure, it is for a show like the other shonen series I mentioned previously. Though who's to speak to the end that power scaling needs to be perfect in Fairy Tail? Who's to say that this flaw isn't intentional to further the beauty of the series.

Mashima is 100% capable of a fluent and comprehensive power scaling system. Power systems in rave master for the most part and so far in Edens Zero are both very balanced. In Fairy Tail it can be inconsistent and ignored sometimes. But I think he does that absolutely intentionally. For lack of better terminology... I think that Mashima tries to intentionally break that power scaling system because the emotional impact of those scenes is much more important and much more powerful than any magic spell or punch.

Surely, if you have heard of Fairy Tail, you've heard of the combined hate from one side, and the sheer passion and love from the opposite. That love isn't unfounded. All of these big fight scenes end in a predictable finish. But what's not predictable is the growth of the characters by the end of it. They might not change drastically as people over such a short time, but that's not the point - they change TOGETHER, as "Fairy Tail".

Much of the meaning and depth behind the characters in Fairy Tail isn't explicitly stated to you, though I think that makes it all-the-more fascinating to dive into analysis of. The following information is just going to be me analyzing 2 characters - Gray and Lucy - according to what is revealed within the first 20 episodes of the anime. Bare in mind that spoilers will exist for those first 20 episodes here, and you may not recognize some names if you have yet to see them. I will mark when this section starts and ends to help if you are still here and reading my ramblings!

CHARACTER ANALYSIS BEGINS

Gray

I won't reference the direct setting or episode, as I still want to keep this as spoiler free as possible. I'll just dive into this analysis with my information.

Ur turned herself to ice as a sacrifice in hopes of allowing Lyon to live a free and happy life for himself. She wanted Gray to never tell him so that her sacrifice wasn't meaningless. But as Lyon reverted to dedicating himself to trying to overcome her instead, Ur's sacrifice was inevitably meaningless and pointless. Gray had been constantly blaming himself for that sacrifice for over a decade. He was depressed and wanted to die, but bottled up those emotions just like so many people do in the real world. He says a powerful like that I didn't catch the first time around in his fight vs Lyon, which was, "I have been ready to die for the last 10 years."

He is stopped from sacrificing himself here by Natsu, which is representative of the fact that he finally has a support group. Now that he's with fairy tail, he doesn't only have friends, but for the first time since childhood, he has a family there to care for him. Continuously through the anime, for the most part, there are writing nods to this when Gray attempts to use Iced Shell. Attempts at suicide or self harm aren't once and done, they require continued support and help from friends and family. Between how sad the story of Ur and Lyon's lives are, and how cleverly hidden Gray's emotions had been, I think it's incredibly well handled.

Furthermore, since Gray's iced shell on Lyon would have been revered via Lyon's moon drip ceremony on the island... This was also representative of Gray's family helping him avoid meeting the same fate as Ur. Not just helping make sure that Gray didn't end his life, but about the fact that Gray's sacrifice would have been meaningless just like the loss of his teacher, Ur.

Lucy

Early in... When it's revealed that Lucy comes from a very wealthy and well-off family. She was coddled and treated like a princess by those around her and was stuck in that life despite how glamorous it sounds to the outside. She felt trapped. So when she spoke of her desires in the first episode of joining a guild... Recall that she did do super lovey and dreamy and excitedly. That's because it's a genuine dream. To escape her mundane and confined life in hopes of feeling like she is truly "living". A sense of adventure, finding like-minded people, making friends, being able to finally be a real teenage girl and not just a token of her family. She didn't explain her heritage to the guild as she joined because she didn't want to be attached to that. That's why she's hopeless at the start. Because she has absolutely no experience. She wants to fit in so she acts like she's a big shot, but she knows she isn't and she knows that she isn't helpful in the slightest. She constantly works to improve herself so that she can not only feel proud of herself, but also so she can be of use to those around her. The anime doesn't specifically tell you some things in the dialogue in this exposition, but the information is there. She's not weak or useless just as a character flaw in the beginning. Lucy shows growth in strength both emotionally and in terms of performance. She's a dynamic character that I love. Only through Fairy Tail and her new life that she developed for herself was she able to reflect upon her old family life and see her parents and sibling(s) in another light. Lucy is just a beautiful and tragic character in my opinion.

In that episode I'm referring to what seems like just a normal saving moment of Natsu jumping out of a tower in hopes of her guildmate catching her is actually much more. It's Lucy finally feeling comfortable enough with the people around her to take a literal and metaphorical absolute leap of faith. To put all of her devoted trust into someone, literally entrusting them with her life. Something she didn't feel capable of with her real family, but was with her new one at fairy tail.

Every character in the Fairy Tail guild is suffering in their own ways. Anyone is welcome, because everyone has their own problems. It's none of their business to pry into your past and into your darkest moments. But when Lucy breaks down crying and can't say anything other than "I love Fairy Tail" I found it extremely beautiful. Because that was after a really symbolic moment of her finally realizing she found people that truly care about her and that she can trust. She doesn't feel alone or trapped any more, she just feels like she can be "her". That's all that matters.

END CHARACTER ANALYSIS

Almost everyone in fairy tail is orphaned or distanced from their family. Some of them LOSE that family over the course of the show and the ever-changing story. Though YOU are also written to be a member of fairy tail. Mashima did a great job of that. While you aren't a member of Luffy's straw hat crew, you ARE a member of the Fairy Tail guild... The fairy tail family. They don't call Makarov gramps just because he's old, either. They call him Gramps because that's exactly what he is to them. He is their family, their role model, their parental figure, their grandfather.

Fairy Tail is really quite a beautiful series. Flawed, but there is depth and beauty even to those flaws. While many might not understand those flaws, others might not know how to look for them, and others might not care enough to try... there's a strong community behind the series that passionately loves the series for all that it is and represents. Not even all Fairy Tail fans recognize some of the hidden depth and meaning behind the characters and the series as a whole. But hey, just like the members of Fairy Tail, we all have our flaws.

We are Fairy Tail.

Final Notes:

If I were to give a word of advise to anyone interested in watching... don't approach Fairy Tail as a battle shounen. You may end up disappointed. Approach Fairy Tail as an experiment; as something "special".

My 90/100 is a personal rating based on my scale rather than one based on direct comparison to similar anime. I'm unwaivering on the idea that Fairy Tail really is something special, though.

Oh, and it's great seeing characters in a shonen anime find relationships and start to fall in love with eachother. Many ships are fulfilled here, and those that aren't are still being progressed and worked on for the fans in Fairy Tail 100 Years Quest.

Feel free to reach out to me if you'd like to discuss the series! I have so much more that I'd love to talk about regarding the depth of some of these characters, and I find it fascinating to explore the stories and nuances behind each member of our guild. I have much more to share.