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Fairy Tail Reading Order (including 100 Years Quest and other spin-offs)

For Christmas, my niece received as a present a volume of Fairy Tail: Happy’s Heroic Adventure. I read a few volumes of Fairy Tail myself, but I hadn’t realized the series inspired several manga! So I recently took a closer look at the franchise created by Hiro Mashima and discovered it was bigger than I thought…

But first… What is Fairy Tail about? Set in a world where magic is commonplace and wizard guilds exist, the story follows the adventures of Lucy Heartfilia, a Celestial Spirit Mage, who joins the Fairy Tail Guild and teams up with Natsu Dragneel, who is searching for the Dragon Igneel. What follows are many missions and adventures!

Created by Hiro Mashima, the shōnen started in 2006 and lasted 11 years, for a total of 63 volumes. But the adventures of Natsu, Lucy, and the other members of Fairy Tail proved to be quite popular and led naturally to an anime adaptation and two movies, but also several manga spin-offs, including a sequel still ongoing!

Fairy Tail Manga in Order

The Fairy Tail franchise has spun out several series, not all of the same importance. What you need to read to have the complete story is:

  • Fairy Tail (2006-2017) – The main and original series which ran for 63 volumes.
  • Fairy Tail ZERØ (2014-2015) – The Prequel series focusing on the formation of the Guild. It’s only one volume, but it’s an important story.
  • Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest (2018-) – The ongoing sequel to Fairy Tail picks up the action after the conclusion of the original series and follows our favorite team as they aim to complete an unfinished, century-old mission. Hiro Mashima is still involved as a writer and storyboard artist, but the manga is drawn by Atsuo Ueda.

Following is a listing of Fairy Tail spin-offs which are mostly character-centric stories. Those are optional readings, and there are discussions about what is canon or not in the fandom. I choose to put everything, you’ll choose what you want to read or not!

  • Fairy Tail: Ice Trail (2014) – A prequel series with two volumes centered on Gray when he was younger.
  • Fairy Tail: Blue Mistral (2014-2015) – Four volumes relating the solo adventures of Wendy and her cat Charles/Carla.
  • Fairy Girls (2014-2015) – The adventures in four volumes of the female members of the Guild.
  • Fairy Tail Gaiden (2015-2016) – Three-volume series. Each volume focuses on a different and less prominent member of the guild.
  • Fairy Tail S (2017-2018): Two volumes. Compilation of one-shot stories that popped up during the series run and not collected anywhere else.
  • Fairy Tail: Happy’s Heroic Adventure (2018-2020) – This is Happy’s own side adventure in eight volumes.
  • Fairy Tail: City Hero (2018-2019) – An Alternate universe story in four volumes following the characters as members of the police force.
  • Mashima HERO’S (2019) – One volume crossover with Rave Master and EDENS ZERO produced in celebration of Weekly Shonen Magazine’s 60th anniversary.

There are also seven light novels set in the Fairy Tail universe. They haven’t been translated into English to my knowledge, but I still indicate where they take place in the reading order for those interested (if you read them in another language or a fan translation).

Fairy Tail, The New Omnibus Collection

If you recently discovered Fairy Tail, publisher Kodansha Comics just started to release the series in an Omnibus format, with each omnibus collecting three volumes of the manga.

Fairy Tales, All The Volumes (with the spin-offs)

Following is a more detailed reading order, including the several Fairy Tail spin-offs. This is not a strictly chronological order as the prequels are better read later in the series.

This is a good place to read Fairy Tail: Ice Trail. This prequel spin-off by Yūsuke Shirato focuses on a young Gray Fullbuster on his adventures leading to his membership in Fairy Tail. As some of the character’s backstory has just been revealed in the Sub-Zero Emperor Lyon story arc (Chapters 24-46), it’s a good place to continue to explore Gray’s past! 

Fairy Tail: Blue Mistral is a shojo by Rui Watanabe featuring Wendy Marvell in her early days in the Guild. The story follows the young girl as she goes on jobs alone and can’t rely on her friends to help her. The two first volumes need to be read together, but the two last volumes are standalone stories.

Following the conclusion of the Grand Magic Games (Chapter 340), the women of Fairy Tail became the stars of their own series in a spin-off by Boku!

After those adventures, Natsu and the Gang go on to visit other Guilds in the second light novel:

  • Fairy Tail 2: After The Grand Magic Games, Each Individual Day

This is also a good place to read the third light novel featuring the twins that Gajeel dreams about, set after the Grand Magic Games but before the Tartaros arc.

  • Fairy Tail 3: Troubled Twins

Fairy Tail Gaiden (or Side Stories) is a meta-series of spin-offs by Kyōta Shibano taking place in the one year time skip between 417 and 418 and focusing on less important members of the team.

It’s finally time to explore the past with Fairy Tail: Zero! This prequel story is set before the main series and reveals how the Guild was formed. As a first time reader, you have read everything that was needed to dive into this story without being spoiled some big plot details!

As the main series has concluded, you can dive into Fairy Tail S, two volumes of short stories released during the main series. This collection is a mix of fun little stories with some of them set during the main series while others are completely disconnected and alternate realities. If you think some should be put in the reading order above, don’t hesitate to leave a comment!

  • Fairy Tail S Volume 1: Tales from Fairy Tail
    This volume collects:

    • Happy the Blue Cat
    • The Fairies’ Penalty Game – Af
    • Welcome Back, Frosch
    • 413 Days – Juvia reveals that today is the anniversary of the 413th day since meeting Gray,
    • She’s Erza!!
    • Natsu Vs. Mavis
    • Fairy Tail of the Dead Meeeeeeeeen
    • The Fairies’ Christmas
    • Special Mission: Beware of Men Who Show a Keen Interest
  • Fairy Tail S Volume 2: Tales from Fairy Tail
    This volume collects:

    • Fairy Academy: Yankee-kun and Yankee-chan
    • Welcome to Fairy Hills!!
    • Rainbow Sakura
    • Fairy Tail X Rave
    • Fairy Woman
    • Natsu and Asuka
    • Lucy and Migi
    • Fairy Tail Stone Age

It’s time for Happy to be put in the spotlight with Fairy Tail: Happy’s Heroic Adventure! Written by by Kenshiro Sakamoto, it chronicles the adventures of  Happy as he is summoned to another world to become a hero! 

Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest, The Sequel

A wizard’s job is never done! The whole gang is back in action and they’ve decided to tackle the “100 Years Quest” – a job no one’s dared take on since the founding of the guild more than a century ago.

Alternate Universe and Other Fairy Tail Stories

Live more wild adventures with the characters of Fairy Tail in new settings, from modern-day police work to medieval Japan!

  • Fairy Tail City Hero
    spin-off written and illustrated by Ushio Andō that reimagines characters from Fairy Tail as members of a modern day police force.

  • Ōedo Fairy Tail
    light novel by Ren Kanan set during the Edo period of Japan.
  • Fairy Tail in Wonderland
    light novel by Ren Kanan with the members of the guild dressed up as characters from fairy tales
  • Wish on a Star
    Light novel by Ren Kanan based on the movie Fairy Tail: Dragon Cry.
  • Fairy Tail Gamebook Phantom Island Monster
    Light novel by Tomoyuki Fujinami. An interactive story
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