So I started watching Fairy Tail at a friend's recommendation. I haven't watched anime in a while, so maybe the shounen tropes don't bug me as much due to lack of overexposure, but I'm really enjoying it.
Unlike its brethren in the genre, the main cast has a pretty even gender ratio, relatively speedy pacing, and more time is spent world-building than navel-gazing. It's also pretty funny, but One Piece does that well, too. Actually, comparisons to One Piece all-around describe the show pretty succinctly. It's like One Piece, only with Mage Guilds instead of Pirates. And female cast isn't worthless. And the art is less weird, though that may or may not be a point in its favor since I like One Piece's weird art. Fairy Tail certainly does a good job on character design - nothing overly outlandish, but everyone is very distinct and it avoids the usual problem of "Everyone looks the same except for hair, eye color, and jaw shape".
I highly recommend it to Andy because its concept reminds me a lot of his tastes in stories, though it has a more light-hearted tone than most of his stuff.