Should be noted they were subtly making fun of the people requesting Fairy Tail (in another ask, they specified the reason they typed the name incorrectly as "Fairy Tale" was because that's how most of the requests have been spelling it). I really hope that means it's not one of their top priorities to acquire it, if it comes off to them as much a "poor man's One Piece" as it did to me. They have real One Piece.
I don't that is far to call it a poor man's One Piece. Fairy Tail is more like Rave Master than One Piece. And there are difference, the Strawhats are a bunch of out laws constantly being hunted ty the marines, while the Fairy Tail guild is a legit law abiding guild, who can walk around freely without having to worry about being chased around by the rurin knights and the magic council. Yeah Gildarts is a rip off of Shanks, but that is about it. Everything else, is not like One Piece didn't rip off somebody.
As for Fairy Tail's popularity, like it or not it is as big as the Big 3, I have been on certain sites that have their own manga rankings for english speaking fans, Fairy Tail is always near the top of list, if not on the top of the list at times. (BTW, is the most popular manga on most of these lists is Naruto, it is not One Piece, it is Naruto that is the champ) Not to mention the DVD sales, Funimation was only going to license more episodes based on sales and they already licensed the whole series, so it must doing something right.
Speaking of which, I see just as much similarity in Naruto as I do One Piece in Fairy Tail. In Fairy Tail, they are broken down into teams, and they go on missions. The Strawhats don't go on missions, they are not split into different teams at least by design.
