Fairy Tail Zero Chapter 1 Review - Fairies In Your Heart

Written by: Shiggins

HOORAY! THE PREQUEL HAS BEEN RELEASED! 

If you're aren't aware yet, Fairy Tail have released their own magazine! Along with this new magazine are 4 spin-offs and at the time of writing this review, two of them have started. The first one, which you are reading now, is a prequel series called Fairy Tail Zero and features none other than Mavis Vermillion and her journey to create Fairy Tail! Out of every spin-off, this has been the one I've been most excited for and thankfully, it didn't disappoint.

I love you, Mavis.

Our story begins in the year X679, which is 105 years before the first ever chapter/episode of Fairy Tail and 7 years before Fairy Tail was supposedly founded by Mavis. Mavis is an adorable 6 year old girl at the time and we see her reading a book. She is harshly interrupted by the master of the Guild she lives in, Red Lizard's Master Jeself. (Doesn't the name just drip with malice?) Jeself orders Mavis to go outside and begin cleaning. After harshly stamping on her book and the others mocking Mavis for wanting to learn magic (which is a sign that magic is a lot less likely during this age), Jeself orders Mavis to give her shoes back to him because... I've no idea! 

KAWAII!!!!!

So after yelling at her for not following his orders right away, the now barefoot Mavis begins sweeping outside. This is when Jeself's daughter Zeira returns home and cuddles her daddy, clearly bringing out his soft side. After Mavis hears a horrible conversation between the two about how her shoes were taken for Zeira and how Zeira, being the spoiled brat she is, doesn't want them, we finally see why Mavis doesn't cry. Apparently, she believes that crying will mean she will never get to meet fairies. 

Jesus! This shit is so harsh! I thought a Mavis prequel would be hilarious, not emotionally traumatising!

We then see how Mavis was told the story of "fairies never go near crybabies" by her mother and father. However they sadly passed away and had a huge debt with Red Lizard, which is the reason Mavis works for Jeself and the others, claiming she is thankful she at least has a place to live and a home to go to. However, we then go to present day for little Mavis where the Red Lizard guild is attacked by the Blue Skull guild and a small war breaks out. 

Madness.... MADNESS!

Apparently, this was common for Guilds and they would fight over anything from land to rights would break out constantly. Mavis, seeing all the death around her, panics and to her surprise sees Zeira is still alive but trapped under rubble. Mavis frees her and makes Zeira run. Zeira is protesting because she doesn't want to leave her father behind but Mavis tells her that she keeps her own parents in her heart and Zeira needs to live to do the same. 

How come a child losing their parents always causes them to become supremely wise at a young age?

As Zeira feels bad about all the things she has done in the past to Mavis, Mavis tells her she didn't care about the harsh treatment. Zeira then asks Mavis if they can be friends and this causes Mavis to get all emotionally in a happy way, since this is clearly her first friend. However, Zeira suddenly drops dead! Holy shit, that's dark! Fairy Tail just killed a 6 year old girl! Nothing peaceful or disease-related or anything like that but serious and harsh murder! And Mavis was clearly shocked too because this is when she finally starts crying.

An appropriate reaction from Nostalgia Critic.

Mavis tells us she cried a lot that day, and that she doesn't know if she'll ever get to meet the fairies now. When she returned back to the battlefield she found literally every person of both Guilds had died. (Seems oddly convenient that all of them died... but whatever. Let's move on.) We're then shown that all this took place on Tenrou Island! For those of you with bad memories, Tenrou Island is where Mavis' grave was and is also the location of where Grimoire Heart attacked during the S-Class exam, just before the timeskip actually happened.

Which reminds me; I wonder when we'll see Zeref in this prequel.

We then skip forward seven years later (why does Hiro Mashima love that number so much?), and we see Warrod Sequen, future Wizard Saint and tree-man, arrive on the island (the translation used to call him Walrot Seeken by the way). Also with him is Precht Gaebolg, future Second Master of Fairy Tail and Master of Grimoire Heart, and Yuriy Dreyar, future father of Makarov! As we can clearly see, Yuriy is the loud and ambitious one who reveals that the three of them are looking for "The Tenrou Jade" on this island. After seeing Mavis' smile, the chapter ends.

He's cool but... How the fuck do I pronounce that name!?

Opinion: Well, first of all that was dark! I did not expect murder of a child, child abuse and a small war in a prequel about Mavis! I suppose the biggest reason I was surprised was that Mavis is so cute and kind that it's horrible to think of anything bad happening to her. Which makes things worse because she's going to die soon to become a ghost. Also, I'm assuming Zeira is going to be important later. I'm not sure how yet but I do know that Mavis will never forget such a sight so obviously it's part of her character development.

The sudden timeskip was surprising because I would have liked to see Mavis rebuilding Tenrou Island and how she survived the island alone for so long. Then again, it was ended on a high note with the reveal of these three characters, all of whom we know are going to start Fairy Tail with Mavis eventually. I do hope that this series isn't shortened by such a timeskip, but I can tell that there is a huge plan going on with this story.

However, I did love it. That's a definite. Seeing Mavis' first beginnings was great and the contrast between her young form, which refused to cry, and her current form which cries all the time was pretty clever but I'm curious to see how that will be approached in later issues. 

Manga Rating: 4.5/5

Character of the Week: Mavis Vermillion for her rescue of Zeira, her personality and for being utterly adorable.

Predictions: Mavis will meet the trio who have arrived on her island. Some funny and light-hearted moments will occur where Mavis either tries to befriend them and is rudely brushed aside, or she tells them to leave and won't let them have the "Tenrou Jade". Mavis will get along very well with Yuriy but not grumpy Precht.

Best Part: Mavis saving Zeira and finally having a friend... for 5 seconds.

Worst Part: We didn't get to see Jeself die horribly.

It's ironic that Natsu is on the front cover considering we never once saw him in any chapter this week!

Shiggins:[Admin]
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Shiggins enjoys many strange forms of communication, especially those including cosplayers or presents or videos. However, until that wonderful day comes when people care enough to give him things for being him, you can contact him on his Skype; shigginsishere. He can also respond to you if you contact him through GMails at shigginsishere@gmail.com, and you can find out about him or ask him stuff on ask.fm/shigginsishere.