It was serialized in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine from August 2006 to July 2017, with the individual chapters collected and published into 63 tankōbon volumes.

The story follows the adventures of Natsu Dragneel, a member of the popular wizard[b] guild Fairy Tail, as he searches the fictional world of Earth-land for the dragon Igneel.

The manga has been adapted into an anime series by A-1 Pictures, Dentsu Inc., Satelight, Bridge, and CloverWorks which was broadcast in Japan on TV Tokyo from October 2009 to March 2013.

A battle over Zeref ensues between Fairy Tail and the dark guild Grimoire Heart, which attracts the attention of the evil black dragon Acnologia.

Later, Fairy Tail wages war against Tartaros, a dark guild of Etherious who aim to unseal a book believed to contain E.N.D., Zeref's ultimate demon.

Disillusioned with the conflicts performed in his name, Zeref decides to rewrite history and prevent his own rise to power; he intends to accomplish this by acquiring Fairy Heart, a wellspring of infinite magic power housed within Mavis's equally cursed body, which is preserved beneath Fairy Tail's guild hall.

After finishing his previous work, Rave Master, Hiro Mashima found the story sentimental and sad at the same time, so he wanted the storyline of his next manga to have a "lot of fun.

Mashima's later concept for the serialized version involved Natsu as a fire-using member of a courier guild who carries various things on assignments.

[5] In the period between Rave Master and Fairy Tail, all but one of Mashima's assistants left, and the artist said making sure that the three new ones knew what to do was the hardest thing throughout the first year of serialization.

[9] Written and illustrated by Hiro Mashima, Fairy Tail was serialized in the manga anthology Weekly Shōnen Magazine from August 2, 2006, to July 26, 2017.

[17] A special issue of Weekly Shōnen Magazine, published on October 19, 2013, featured a small crossover between Fairy Tail and Nakaba Suzuki's The Seven Deadly Sins, where each artist drew a yonkoma (four-panel comic) of the other's series.

[19] A two-volume series called Fairy Tail S, which collects short stories by Mashima that were originally published in various Japanese magazines through the years, was released on September 16, 2016.

After Del Rey Manga shut down,[24] Kodansha USA acquired the license and began publishing Fairy Tail volumes in May 2011.

[34] Kyōta Shibano created a three-part meta-series titled Fairy Tail Gaiden, which was launched in Kodansha's free weekly Magazine Pocket mobile app.

[38] Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest, a sequel to the original manga, began serialization on Magazine Pocket on July 25, 2018.

[40] On June 27, 2018, Mashima announced another spin-off manga for the app, Fairy Tail City Hero, written and illustrated by Ushio Andō.

[72] Nine original video animations (OVAs) of Fairy Tail have been produced and released on DVD by A-1 Pictures and Satelight, each bundled with a limited edition tankōbon volume of the manga.

[73] The third, "Memory Days",[JP 3] was released together with the 31st volume on February 17, 2012,[74] and features an original story written by series creator Hiro Mashima.

A sixth OVA, titled "Fairy Tail x Rave"[JP 5] is an adaptation of the omake of the same name and was released on August 16, 2013, with the 39th volume.

[79] The DVD was bundled with a special edition release of the 36th volume of the manga on February 13, 2013, and included an animated adaptation of "Hajimari no Asa" as a bonus extra.

[89] In 2016, a browser game developed by GameSamba titled Fairy Tail: Hero's Journey was announced to be open for closed beta testing.

Two of the songs from the album, performed by anime cast members Tetsuya Kakihara (Natsu) and Aya Hirano (Lucy), were used for both OVAs as the opening and ending themes, respectively.

Other songs on the volume are performed by Yuichi Nakamura (Gray), Sayaka Ohara (Erza), Satomi Satō (Wendy), Wataru Hatano (Gajeel), and a duet by Rie Kugimiya (Happy) and Yui Horie (Carla).

[106] According to Oricon, Fairy Tail was the eighth best-selling manga series in Japan for 2009,[107] fourth best in 2010 and 2011,[108][109] fifth best of 2012,[110] dropped to ninth in 2013,[111] to seventeenth in 2014,[112] and was fifteenth in 2015.

"[122] Carlo Santos, also of Anime News Network, agreed in his review of volume three; having positive views towards the art, particularly the action scenes, but citing a lack of story and character development.

[123] By volume 12 Santos suggested that Mashima's true talent lies in "taking the most standard, predictable aspects of the genre and somehow still weaving it into a fun, fist-pumping adventure.

"[124] Reviewing the first 11 volumes, ANN's Rebecca Silverman wrote that while the art in the early arcs of Fairy Tail may not be its best, the stories arguably are.

[125] Her colleague Faye Hopper was more critical, calling the manga a "somewhat mediocre shounen series [that] pushes enough buttons" so as to make her want to read more.

[130] In his review of the second volume, Santos also praised the development of "a more substantial storyline," but also criticized the inconsistent animation and original material not present in the manga.

"[132] In his reviews of the fourth and sixth volumes, however, Santos praised the storyline's formulaic pattern, though saying that "unexpected wrinkles in the story [...] keep the action from getting too stale," but calling the outcomes "unpredictable".