Manga creator Hiro Mashima announced at midnight on Tuesday that his Fairy Tail and Rave (Rave Master) crossover manga is being adapted into anime. The anime will be bundled on DVD with the special edition of Fairy Tail's 39th manga volume on August 16.
In the crossover story, Fairy Tail's main character Natsu and Rave's main character Haru are lost, so Lucy and Elie —the heroines of both series — embark on a search for them.
Mashima published the original crossover one-shot manga story in the May issue of Kodansha's Magazine Special magazine in 2011. In addition to the material he already created for the crossover manga, Mashima is drawing the original artwork for new sequences in the anime. The new sequences will add Musica and Let, two Rave characters who did not appear in the crossover manga. Mashima posted the animation correction sheet below:
Upon Mashima's posting of Haru's animation correction sheet, Haru's voice actor Tomokazu Seki repeated, "Long time no see." Chihiro Yonekura, a singer of theme songs for both anime, also welcomed the news.
Mashima assured Fairy Tail fans that they can still enjoy the crossover anime even if they have not read Rave yet — although he added that they will enjoy the crossover more if they do know Rave. He noted that he is supervising all parts of the crossover anime personally.
Like Fairy Tail, Rave is another fantasy action manga created by Mashima and adapted into anime. Tokyopop had published the manga under the name Rave Master from 2003 until 2009, when Kodansha ended its contract with Tokyopop. Del Rey then announced at New York Anime Festival in 2009 that it picked up the license. The anime premiered in Cartoon Network's Toonami block in June of 2004. The American television network Syfy then launched the anime during Manga Entertainment's Ani-Monday programming block in 2009.
Del Rey published 12 volumes of the original Fairy Tail manga in North America, and Kodansha resumed publishing the manga with the 13th volume in 2011. The manga inspired a television anime that just ended on March 30 with the words "To Be Continued." Mashima added, "It's actually not over yet. I can't say more than this, but I hope you watch the rerun starting in April and wait for the day I can announce some good news." Crunchyroll streamed the Fairy Tail series as it aired in Japan. Funimation released the anime's fourth part on DVD and Blu-ray Disc in North America in February 2012.
Source: ANN