I ' m actually rewatching the show with my friend it ' s his first time watching it , and it ' s definitely different watching it the second time around . We ' re currently around a fifth of the way through . My thoughtsI love watching it because of the characters I ' ve become attached to . The cast is huge and pretty memorable . The magic is cool , the character designs are cool , and some of the personalities are amazing . That being said , this is what I don ' t likeFT 2009 episodes 1175 is something you have to get through . The first 21 or so episodes before the Phantom Lord arc I actually told my friend to read the manga because they were relatively boring to watch . Another thing is the first series has too many redundant speeches . It really gets tiresome when you hear the same friendship and love is true power or whatever a million times during a fight . I keep telling my friend the anime doesn ' t get addictive until you hit the Grand Magic Games at the back end of the first series . The humor is great , and the fanservice is just there . I never really bothered with the latter anyway . FT 2014 was done much better . The art style is better and authentic . The openings and endings look and sound amazing . The canon episodes , and even some filler , are amazing , ESPECIALLY Tartaros . Bottom LineYou should watch it because it starts off at decent and leads up to amazing . I GUARANTEE you there will be a character you will love andor identify with . Is it too silly at times ? Yes . Does it make up for it later ? Tartaros .