It was a vague spoiler! To you it won't mean much...but someone who follows the series would probably be annoyed to read it.

The author of Fairy Tail was heavily inspired by One Piece, so there's a lot of similarities in the art style, and plenty of story elements are re-used. Like Pokoko wittily mentioned though...there's a pretty massive gap in writing quality between the two. Fairy Tail largely jumps from one plot to the next without much actual build-up in between, and it never really seems like the author has more than a few chapters planned out in advance. With One Piece, meanwhile, you get the impression that the author has the entire skeleton of the story planned out. A random tattoo on one of the main characters introduced another main character some 400 chapters before he was finally shown in the story. Plot points laid out in chapter 30 might return in chapter 600. Random name drops in a previous arc might turn out to be main villains later on. I honestly can't think of any other author that rivals Oda when it comes to laying out story elements like this, in manga or otherwise.

Still, when it comes to Fairy Tail, I personally find the comedy to be great, and I love most of the characters. The author of Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches was actually the Fairy Tail author's assistant for a while, and so, even though it's a completely different genre, you might recognize a lot of similarities in the humor, particularly character reactions and pacing. Some of the character designs look pretty similar too IMO.

The character from Hero Academia I posted is actually the rival character. If you read it you'll find that initial design pretty funny, since the character is kind of a douchenozzle in the main story, constantly cursing and being a jerk. I personally find him interesting though..even though he's a jerk he shows signs of character growth pretty early, and those are usually the types I root for. I might change my tune based on that the path the story takes though.

I could have sworn I heard the author of FT worked as an assisstant for the OP guy. I believed that since the styles seem similar. That's all I know about it though... I remember hearing it was fairly popular in Japan and people read and watched it. I've also heard about the author of OP also having story points planned out way in advanced, like you said, haha. That's pretty crazy and neat.

Though now I gotta check out FT, since I follow Yamada pretty closely. Now that blows my mind, knowing that author used to work with the FT guy. I gotta find these similarities, haha.

And whoops, my bad. That char def looks like a model rival, haha. And now I wanna read Boku no Hero now to see how he is stacks up to this initial design... ugh, too many manga to read again >_<;

The author of FT was reportedly never anyone's assistant. An explanation of their stylistic similarities would be that they both say to be influenced by Akira Toriyama, the author of Dragon Ball.

Hmm, I see. No comment I guess, haha, though the style of OP doesn't make me think all that much of DB, aside from they can both be kinda sillt at times.

There's some similarities and some differences. Best way to compare would be to read that one One Piece and Dragon Ball crossover chapter, Cross Epoch.

Chihayafuru is still one of the best manga out there. I like how they're giving the Queen a lot of attention now.

Well, now I have to read this. I didn't even know this was a thing, haha.

I have never heard of that manga either. I'm gonna give it a look in a little while. o:

What?  Shameful!

Chihayafuru won the Manga Taishō Award in 2009 and was nominated for the 20th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize this year (won by Yotsubato).  It's the 12th best selling manga for the first half of 2016, which is fantastic for a Josei title, as it sold more than a ton of well-known shounen.  The anime is also absolutely fantastic.  There are live action movies but I'm scared to watch them in case they fail to do the series justice.

It's a "compeitive club" manga but it's also so much more than that.  Most of the focus is on three characters who met as children and formed a bond with Karuta, a traditional Japanese card game.  They fall out of touch but things come full circle when Chihaya, who is beautful but goofy, tries to start a Karuta club.  Chihaya is a wonderful character in that she is so honest and cheerful yet also so clueless that everyone has to work to contain her enthusiasm.  Other characters are featured, too, like the highly eccentric "Queen", which is the title for the best female Karuta player in Japan, who is also only a high school student.

(Shinobu, the Queen)

(I know it's anime but it gives a nice look at the series)

Well, I can try giving it a read tomorrow since the E3 biz has largely come and gone now, though I'm trying to finish another manga and want to start another manga or 2 too. I'll read a few chapters of it~

You don't have to if you don't want  ;p

On the subject of Chihayafuru, it's always the example I give when someone asks "which is better, anime or manga" because it perfectly illustrates how each medium has its strengths.  The anime is SO GOOD at showing the speed at which they play, which makes the games really impressive.  On the other hand, the manga is excellent at stopping time for really emotional moments.