Fairy Tail vol. 3

Story & Art: Hiro Mashima
Translation: William Flanagan
Publisher: Del Rey

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed volumes 1 and 2 of this series. I’m not a big wizard fan (let the Harry Potter fan-boy emails come) and I really got bored with Rave Master, because Mashima never stepped outside of his formula and the story was going nowhere. But, this was something that brought me back to my child hood and I really got that sense of adventure when Natsu, Lucy, and Happy took off for Fairy Tail. Now the Dark Guild Eisenwald are going head to head with Fairy Tail for the Lullaby (no, not what you think, but a magic weapon). Eirgor, leads the mission to broadcast the Lullaby all over town. Titiana Erza sends fire mage Natsu and ice mage Gray after Eirgor himself. All hell breaks loose and there was plenty of action in this issue to make up for the lackluster second volume. Mashima manages to keep the momentum going, but with villains, now that the villains are finally proving to be more than a thorn on the side to our heroes. With one hell of a cliffhanger he has really up the ante in this volume and it just keeps me wanting to come back for more. As always there are wonderful translation notes in the end, but this volume also has a Happy the cat mini story. The only bad thing or good thing, depending on how you look at it, is that I can see this series going on forever, much like One Piece. This book is hilarious and gives nudges in the ways of relationships, but leaves enough room for the reader to wonder about who might end up with who. It’s got a perfect mix of action and magic that any manga reader will appreciate. A