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Fairy Tail guild members art with seven characters present.
Image: Avex Pictures

All ‘Fairy Tail’ Arcs in Order

With a brand-new anime right around the corner, there's no better time to be a Fairy Tail fan.

Fairy Tail is one of the most popular shonen manga and anime to release in the last two decades, and with the anime adaptation of 100 Years Quest scheduled to air on July 7, 2024, there’s no better time for new fans to dive in to the franchise.

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Like many other shonen franchises with long-running, epically proportioned storylines, Fairy Tail has been running for the better part of the last two decades, officially beginning in 2006 as part of Kodansha’s Weekly Shonen Magazine.

The best way to read every Fairy Tail arc, in order

Fairy Tail follows Natsu Dragneel, Lucy Heartfilia, and other important members of Fairy Tail, one of the most powerful wizard guilds in the world. The story goes through several different story arcs that develop the eccentric cast of characters, the guild, and the world they inhabit, all while dropping hints about the mysterious Zeref and the age of dragons, two of the main plots during the latter half of the series original story line.

The current arc follows the sequel series, Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest, using the same cast of main characters trying to complete the impossible mission known as the “100 Years Quest”, which will be receiving an anime adaptation during the Summer 2024 anime season by studio J.C. Staff.

Fairy Tail Story ArcManga ChapterAnime Episodes
Zerø arcChapters 1-13 (whole Fairy Tail Zerø manga)Episodes 266-275
Macao arcChapters 1-3Episodes 1-2
Daybreak arcChapters 4-9Episodes 3-4
Eisenwald arcChapters 10-23Episodes 5-10
Sub-Zero Emperor Lyon arcChapters 24-46Episodes 11-20
Phantom Lord arcChapters 47-69Episodes 21-29
Loke arcChapters 70-74Episodes 30-32
Tower of Heaven arcChapters 75-102Episodes 33-40
The Battle of Fairy Tail arcChapters 103-130Episodes 41-51
Oración Seis arcChapters 131-164Episodes 52-68
Daphne arcEpisodes 69-75 (Filler arc)
Edolas arcChapters 165-199Episodes 76- 95
Tenrou Island arcChapters 200-253Episodes 96-122
X791 arcChapters 254-257Episodes 123-124
Key of the Starry Sky arcEpisodes 125-150 (Filler Arc)
Grand Magic Games arcChapters 258-340Episodes 151-203
Eclipse Celestial Spirits arcEpisodes 204-226
Sun Village arcChapters 341-355Episodes 227-233
Tartaros arcChapters 356-417Episodes 234-265
Avatar arcChapters 418-437Episodes 276-284
Alvarez arcChapters 438-545Episodes 285-328
100 Years Quest arcChapters 1-OngoingTBD

As can be seen above, Fairy Tail is an expansive franchise, and one of the longer running shonen epics. Something that’s also important to note when looking at the differences between the anime and manga is that the original anime adaptation, which was handled by A-1 Pictures, Dentsu Entertainment, and Satelight.

What is the longest arc in Fairy Tail?

The longest full existing arc in Fairy Tail is the Alvarez Arc with 107 chapters in the manga, although, the longest arc in the anime is the Grand Magic Games arc with 52 episodes compared to Alvarez’s 43 episodes.

We recommend following the Fairy Tail arcs in order, but for those who want the most comprehensive experience of the series. There is a lot to get through; it will be worth it in the long run if you think you will really enjoy the world-building and characters.

Why did Fairy Tail have a time skip?

Warning: The following section contains major spoilers for the rest of the series!

There was a seven-year time skip due to events in the X791 arc which involved the main cast being trapped in a frozen-like state for seven years. This happened a long time ago, showcasing just how long Fairy Tail has actually been running.

Now that you know all of the Fairy Tail arcs you are prepared to go and experience this series for yourself, especially with the series finally making a big comeback this summer with the 100 Years Quest arc finally getting animated and reigniting what fans’ love about the franchise.


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Gabriel Rodrigues
Gabriel Rodrigues has been writing about everything entertainment related since January 2022. Now he is probably reading manga or pretending not to be really scared by a horror movie.
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Areeba Khan
Areeba Khan has been writing in the entertainment niche since 2020. Her favorite anime include Death Note, Monster, Code Geass, and Naruto. When she’s not watching or writing about anime, she likes to read, cosplay, and watch Christopher Nolan movies.
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Gordon Bicker
Gordon is a contributing writer for Attack of the Fanboy, a Games Design (BA) Honours student, and a Video Game Ambassador. He has been writing at AOTF for over a year and a half, with four years of games writing experience for outlets like Green Man Gaming. When he's not busy, he'll no doubt be experiencing games, writing poetry, playing guitar, adventuring, or happily starting a new Skyrim playthrough! As an avid Final Fantasy XIV player, he also hopes that you'll gain a warm feeling from his community stories. Gordon has reported on Fallout 4 and Destiny 2, whose favorite genres include action RPGs, MMORPG's and First Person Shooters but is always experimenting with many other types of games.
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Anna Williams
Anna Williams -- not to be confused with the Tekken character -- is an editor and writer that has been working closely with the anime and manga industry for over four years for a variety of publications including Comic Book Resources, Screen Rant, and We Got This Covered. She has had the opportunity to sit down and talk with key figures in the industry, and continue to grow a vast knowledge of the art and culture that goes into each new seasonal and ongoing franchise. She's also had the opportunity to work alongside indie game developers like Baroque Decay to edit and localize early devlog materials for their upcoming game Catechesis.
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