Fairy Tail Manga is Coming To an End

Another manga is about to bid fans goodbye. Hiro Mashima’s long-running Fairy Tail manga is confirmed to end. Hiro Mashima is revealing in the end notes section of the 61st compiled volume of his Fairy Tail manga on May 17 that he will end the series in two more volumes, or in the 63rd volume.

Mashima is also revealing that he plans to start a new work soon, and is excited about starting that new work. He also stated that he wants to tell a new story with new characters in a new world.

For those who are fans of Mashima’s work, there’s reason to rejoice as well. As one manga ends, another begins. Instead of a follow-up, spin-off or prequel, his next work will be a new one. According to Anime News Network, this work will have new characters, a new world, and a new story.

Fairy Tail has had quite a great run. The manga has sold over 60 million copies all over the world, and its anime has had quite the following outside of Japan. This month, Fairy Tail: Dragon Cry opened in Japan, and a lot of fans abroad are crossing their fingers for any announcement of an international release.

I’ve followed Fairy Tail for quite a while. Even though, it’s had criticisms as well as praises, I still sort of appreciate the fact that it’s one of those rare mangas that pretty much lets you see your shipped OTPs in actual canon work. My favorite will still be Gajeel and Levy, of course.

Here’s to Mashima-sensei’s new work. Hopefully, it reaches the same status as Fairy Tail enjoyed.

Plot

The fictional world of Earth-land is populated by wizards who coalesce into guilds to hone their magical abilities and apply them for paid job requests. Seventeen-year-old wizard Lucy Heartfilia runs away from home to join Fairy Tail, a wizards guild famous for its members’ overly destructive antics. She is invited into the guild by Natsu Dragneel, a wizard with dragon-like abilities who travels the kingdom of Fiore in search of his missing foster father, the dragon Igneel. Natsu forms a team with his cat-like companion Happy and Lucy, later joined by ice wizard Gray Fullbuster and armored wizard Erza Scarlet. The five embark on numerous guild missions, which include subjugating criminals, illegal dark guilds, and ancient Etherious demons created by the dark wizard Zeref.

Several of Fairy Tail’s members encounter the immortal Zeref on the guild’s sacred ground of Sirius Island. A conflict 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 Mavis Vermillion, their guild’s founder, puts them into seven years of suspended animation with her defensive spell, while Zeref leaves the island to ruminate over his next course of action during this time.

Shortly after the missing wizards return, Fairy Tail participates in the Grand Magic Games, a tournament held to determine the strongest guild in the country. In doing so, they prevent a time travel conspiracy by a future counterpart of Rogue Cheney, one of the rival competitors, to ravage the kingdom with dragons brought from the past. Zeref, observing these events, decides to eradicate humanity for their continuing conflicts. He thus oversees a battle between Fairy Tail and Tartaros, a dark guild of Etherious demons who aim to unseal E.N.D., Zeref’s ultimate demon. Acnologia returns to annihilate both guilds, but is stopped when Igneel emerges to battle him, revealed to have sealed himself within Natsu. The wizards defeat Tartaros while Igneel is killed by Acnologia, whom Natsu vows to defeat and avenge Igneel’s death.

One year later, Natsu returns from a training journey to discover that Fairy Tail’s master Makarov Dreyar has been staving off an invasion by the Alvarez Empire, a military nation ruled by Zeref. Zeref and his forces assault Fiore, intending to acquire Mavis’ physical body preserved beneath Fairy Tail’s guildhall, which houses a wellspring of infinite magic power known as Fairy Heart. During his battle with Zeref, Natsu discovers his origins as Zeref’s younger brother, whom the immortal dark wizard reincarnated as E.N.D. (Etherious Natsu Dragneel) out of a desire to die. When Natsu fails to kill him, Zeref extracts Fairy Heart from Mavis to relocate himself to a new timeline where he may prevent the destruction he and Acnologia have caused, destroying the present timeline in the process.