Over the course of the decade of its run, Hiro Mashima’s bestselling manga series Fairy Tail became a staple of the shonen genre.
Although not a part of the big 3, Naruto, Bleach, and One Piece, it comes immediately after that ranking, on the same or similar level as other over-a-decade-old long-running popular fantasy/supernatural/sci-fi shonen like Gintama, Full Metal Alchemist, Hunter x Hunter, Hitman Reborn!, among other examples.
Over the years, Fairy Tail became entrenched in the collective consciousness of avid anime fans everywhere, as its vividly colorful mages became highly recognizable, even to those who had yet to watch a single episode.
As often happens with long-running series that span many years, Fairy Tail has a lot of content to sift through, and not everyone has the patience or time to dedicate to getting through everything, filler episodes and arcs included.
So, here’s what you need to know about the order of the Fairy Tail arcs: whether they are canon or filler, which chapters and episodes they span, and when they were released.
The chronological list of the ‘Fairy Tail’ arcs
If we were to go along the chronology of the world itself, we’d start with the prequel Fairy Tail: Zero, which follows the guild’s founder Mavis Vermillion, and what led up to her creating Fairy Tail. The story can be found compiled into a single 13-chapter volume, separate from the rest of the series.
However, instead of starting here – which you could – it would probably be best to go along with the anime’s release date order.
- Macao Arc (canon) – Manga chapters 1-3; Anime episodes 1-2 (Oct. 2009)
- Daybreak Arc (canon) – Manga chapters 4-9; Anime episodes 3-4 (Oct. – Nov. 2009)
- Eisenwald Arc (canon) – Manga chapters 10-23; Anime episodes 5-10 (Nov. – Dec. 2009)
- Galuna Island / Sub-Zero Emperor Lyon Arc (canon) – Manga chapters 24-46; Anime episodes 11-20 (Dec. 2009 – March 2010)
- Phantom Lord Arc (canon) – Manga chapters 47-69; Anime episodes 21-29 (March 2010 – May 2010)
- Phantom Lord Arc (canon) – Manga chapters 47-69; Anime episodes 21-30 (March 2010 – May 2010)
- Loke Arc (canon) – Manga chapters 70-74; Anime episodes 31-32 (March 2010 – May 2010)
- Tower of Heaven Arc (canon) – Manga chapters 75-102; Anime episodes 33-40 (June 2010 – May 2010)
- The Battle of Fairy Tail Arc (canon) – Manga chapters 103-130; Anime episodes 41-51 (Aug. 2010 – Oct 2010)
- The Battle of Fairy Tail Arc (canon) – Manga chapters 103-130; Anime episodes 41-51 (Aug. 2010 – Oct 2010)
- Oración Seis Arc (canon) – Manga chapters 131–164; Anime episodes 52–68 (Nov. 2010 – Feb. 2011)
- Daphne Arc (filler) – Anime episodes 69–75 (March 2011 – April 2011)
- Edolas Arc (canon) – Manga chapters 165–199; Anime episodes 76–95 (April. 2010 – Sept. 2011)
- Tenrou Island Arc (canon) – Manga chapters 200–253; Anime episodes 96–122 (Sept. 2011 – March 2012)
- X791 Arc (canon) – Manga chapters 254–257; Anime episodes 123–124 (March 2012)
- Key of the Starry Sky Arc (filler) – Anime episodes 125–150 (April 2012 – Sept. 2012)
- Grand Magic Games Arc (canon) – Manga chapters 258–340; Anime episodes 151–203 (Oct. 2012 – Oct. 2014)
- Eclipse / Celestial Spirits Arc (filler) – Anime episodes 204–226 (Oct. 2014 – March 2015)
- Sun Village Arc (canon) – Manga chapters 341–355; Anime episodes 227–233 (April 2015 – May 2015)
- Tartaros Arc (canon) – Manga chapters 356–417; Anime episodes 234–265 (May 2015 – Dec. 2015)
- Zero Arc (canon, prequel) – Fairy Tail: Zero chapters 1-13; Anime episodes 266–275 (Jan. 2016 – March 2016)
- Avatar / Reunion Arc (canon) – Manga chapters 418–437; Anime episodes 276–284 (March 2016 – November 2018)
- Alvarez Arc (canon) – Manga chapters 438–545; Anime episodes 285–328 (Nov. 2018 – Sept. 2019)
- 100 Years Quest Arc (canon, sequel) – Fairy Tail: 100 Years chapters 1–??; Anime episodes TBA
It should be worth noting that the anime series also has 2 additional movies and 9 OVAs. If you’ve gone through the hours upon hours that make up the whole series and would like to see the return of our eclectic guild of mages, we should expect to hear of a release window confirmation for the anime adaptation of Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest sometime this year.