Mashima Picks Up the Pen Himself Again
The announcement landed on July 29 through the official X account for Hiro Mashima's works: "FAIRY TAIL 20th Anniversary!!!!!!! Hiro Mashima returns!!!!!!!" The post confirmed that RE:FANTASIA, a completely new Fairy Tail story drawn by Mashima himself, starts its short-run serialization in issue 35 of Kodansha's Weekly Shonen Magazine, on sale that same day. It is his first serialization in the magazine in two years.
The emphasis on "drawn by Mashima himself" matters. Fairy Tail, his battle fantasy about the wizard guild of the same name, ran from 2006 to 2017 and grew into TV anime, theatrical films, stage productions, games, and merchandise along the way. The TV anime aired its finale in 2019. The story did continue after that: Mashima storyboarded the sequel Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest, in which Natsu and the returning guild members take on the legendary "100 Years Quest" job, while Atsuo Ueda handled the art. That sequel received its own TV anime from July 2024 to January 2025. RE:FANTASIA puts the original creator back on art duties for the first time since the main series ended.
The fan response was immediate. According to a report from Japanese anime news site Anime Anime, X filled up with posts like "Welcome back (crying)" and "I can't stop crying. This was the first shonen manga I ever fell for. Welcome back." One fan wrote that just picturing the anime's "Snow Fairy" opening theme playing again was enough to set them off.
An October Volume With a Togashi Tribute Inside
The collected volume is already locked in. A regular edition (¥570 before tax) and a special edition (¥1,500 before tax) both arrive in Japanese bookstores on October 16, 2026, each running 208 pages. Anime Anime notes the date could still shift.
The special edition is aimed squarely at collectors. It bundles a 16-postcard set that includes congratulatory illustrations from five fellow manga creators: Hunter x Hunter's Yoshihiro Togashi, George Morikawa, Koji Seo, Miki Yoshikawa, and 100 Years Quest artist Atsuo Ueda. The rest of the set reproduces Mashima's own art, covering the Weekly Shonen Magazine cover, the volume cover, the color title pages, and a selection of black-and-white scenes from the new story.
Five Cities, Five Signings
Mashima is also going on the road. A nationwide signing tour starts October 24 at Sanseido Books' Nagoya flagship, then moves to the Coach & Four Shinkawa-dori bookstore in Sapporo on November 7, Maruzen & Junkudo Umeda in Osaka on November 21, Maruzen Hakata in Fukuoka on December 5, and Kinokuniya's Shinjuku flagship in Tokyo on December 12. Details on how to apply will be posted in stages on the official 20th anniversary site, and the organizers note the dates are provisional.
Looking Ahead
RE:FANTASIA is running now in Weekly Shonen Magazine, though there's no word yet on how many chapters the short run will last. The first collected volume hits Japan on October 16, and the signing tour stretches from late October to mid-December. No English release or simultaneous publication has been announced for RE:FANTASIA so far. Kodansha has also been marking the anniversary on video: an official FAIRY TAIL 20th Anniversary Special PV thanking fans worldwide is up on YouTube. Further 20th anniversary updates, including the signing applications, will roll out on the special site.