At an event at Kinokuniya in New York City on Sunday, Kodansha Comics announced that they have licensed Hiro Mashima’s manga Fairy Tail Zero. This single-volume story is a prequel to Mashima’s long-running Fairy Tail series. This manga depicts the origins of the Fairy Tail guild. Kodansha describes the story as follows:
Many years ago, Mavis Vermilion was a servant on Sirius Island, mistreated by a guild master and his daughter, Zera. But Mavis stayed positive, because her mother once told her that fairies never visit people who cry about their problems. When the guild came under attack, Mavis pulled Zera from the wreckage into the forest. Seven years went by, and the powerful wizards Warrod Sequen, Precht, and Yuri Dreyer arrived on the island, seeking a powerful jade gemstone. This journey would change the course of magical history…
Mashima began the prequel in July 2014 in the first issue of the Monthly Fairy Tail magazine and finished it just four months ago. A precise release date has not yet been decided upon, but it has been given a release window of summer 2016. Kodansha Comics is also publishing the main Fairy Tail manga series in North America.