Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest

Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written and storyboarded by Hiro Mashima, and illustrated by Atsuo Ueda. It is a sequel to Mashima's previous series, Fairy Tail. The manga was launched in Kodansha's Magazine Pocket manga app in July 2018, and is licensed by Kodansha USA for an English release in North America. As of April 2024, seventeen tankōbon volumes have been released in Japan. An anime television series adaptation produced by J.C.Staff premiered in July 2024.

Plot
One year following the demise of Zeref and Acnologia, Natsu Dragneel and his team from the Fairy Tail wizard guild disembark to the continent of Guiltina in northern Earthland for the 100 Years Quest, a mission that has been unaccomplished for over a century. Their client, the immortal Dragon Slayer Elefseria, reveals that the quest's purpose is to seal renegade dragons called the Five Dragon Gods—Selene, Ignia, Mercphobia, Aldoron, and Viernes—each of whom rivals Acnologia in strength and threatens to cause worldwide destruction. Natsu subdues Mercphobia with aid from Ignia, Igneel's malicious biological son, who challenges Natsu to strengthen himself for a one-on-one battle.

Meanwhile, Fairy Tail recruits a new member, Touka, unaware that she is merged with another wizard named Faris. Claiming to be the White Wizard, the century-old leader of a malevolent white magic cult, Faris brainwashes Fairy Tail in a crusade to erase sources of powerful magic. Once Natsu's team rescues their guildmates, Wendy Marvell separates Touka and Faris after the latter is deceived by Selene into awakening the slumbering Aldoron, who is killed by Natsu. Despite Faris's actions, the team saves her and Touka's home, the parallel world of Elentear, after learning Selene has been blackmailing Faris with its destruction.

Selene seizes control of Diabolos, a Dragon Slayer guild that feuds with Fairy Tail over the 100 Years Quest, and pits the two guilds against each other to retrieve knowledge of Athena, a weapon built by Elefseria's pupil for use against the Five Dragon Gods. However, they are forced to unite against Ignia's ally Dogramag, a sixth Dragon God believed to have been slain by Elefseria, who ends hostilities with Selene after Dogramag is killed. Further investigation reveals Athena to be the true, mechanical White Wizard utilized by Gold Owl, an alchemist guild formed from Viernes's disembodied will. Persuaded by Lucy Heartfilia to rebel, Athena helps Natsu slay Viernes by restoring the dragon's physical form.

As the last remaining Dragon God, Ignia reveals his plan to destroy humankind by recreating the Dragon King Festival, a historic event in which Acnologia exterminated the dragon race. The battle is joined by Faris's counterpart native to Earthland, a black wizard imbued with power from Acnologia's dismembered arm.

Production
Development on a sequel for Fairy Tail began prior to the release of the original manga's final tankōbon volume following its end of publication in July 2017. Series creator and artist Hiro Mashima initially had no intention to continue the story himself, as the project's developers had decided that another artist would draw it. He was later asked by the manga's editor to be involved as the series storyboarder. Mashima revealed the sequel's development in a tweet on April 5, 2018. On June 27, Mashima announced that the manga was tentatively titled Fairy Tail Zokuhen (FAIRY TAIL続編), which was confirmed on July 4 to be drawn by Atsuo Ueda.

Manga
The manga was launched with two chapters in Kodansha's Magazine Pocket manga app on July 25, 2018, while the first chapter was simultaneously published in the 34th issue of Weekly Shōnen Magazine. The following chapters were released weekly until September 5, 2018, when they transitioned to a biweekly release schedule. The manga was published for an English language release by Kodansha USA in August 2019.

Anime
An anime television series adaptation was announced during the "Hiro Mashima Fan Meeting" livestream in September 2021. The anime series is produced by J.C.Staff and directed by Toshinori Watanabe, with Shinji Ishihira serving as chief director, Atsuhiro Tomioka supervising scripts, Yurika Sako designing the characters, and Yasuharu Takanashi composing the music. It premiered on July 7, 2024 on TV Tokyo and its affiliates. The opening theme song is "Story" performed by Da-ice, while the ending theme song is "Tomo yo, Koko de Sayonara da" (友よ ここでサヨナラだ) performed by Boku ga Mitekatta Aozora. Crunchyroll licensed the series outside of Asia. Muse Communication licensed the series in Southeast Asia.

Reception
The manga's first tankōbon volume debuted at the eleventh spot of Oricon's weekly Japanese sales charts for printed comics.

Anime News Network's Rebecca Silverman gave the first volume an overall "B" score, considering its two storylines to be a "promising start" to the series, and praising the setting for expanding the original story's mythology. However, she criticized its slow pace and inconsistencies to the previous series. Silverman opined that Ueda does a "very credible job" copying Mashima's artstyle, calling the differences "fairly negligible".