Rave Master

Rave Master (called Groove Adventure Rave or simply Rave in Japan) is a previous manga of the author of Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima which ran in Weekly Shonen Magazine from 1998 to 2005. Which tells the story of Haru Glory, a teenager who becomes the second Rave Master and is destined to bring peace to his world and save it from the threat of Dark Bring (Shadow Stones in the English version). Along the way he gains friends who join him on his quest and slowly unravels the mystery of the Rave Stones (his power source), The Dark Bring, his destiny, how it affects those around him and the fate of the world in general.

Many elements of this series pop up in Fairy Tail often. Many characters have similiar designs as Rave Master characters. Most notably:


 * Plue, Haru's guide, being one of Lucy's Celestial Spirits
 * Lucy Heartfilia resembles Elie
 * Gray Fullbuster resembles Musica, and he wears a necklace that bears resemblance to Haru's Ten Commandments sword
 * Jellal Fernandes is based off Sieg Hart
 * Natsu Dragneel resembles Haru


 * Faust resembles Shakuma
 * Mirajane (when she was younger) resembles Julia
 * Etherion is a highly destructive magic in both series
 * Gildarts takes design elements from Gale Glory and Gale Raregroove

One can also spot characters from Rave Master in the background. The cover for chapter 91 even featured Lucy and Natsu dressed as Haru and Elie from the series.

For more information of the series, check the Wikipedia article on Rave Master or its Wikia site.

Trivia

 * In chapter 15 Pg. 6, Elie is running away from the station to escape lullaby.
 * In chapter 47 Pg. 20, Let and Julia are there and witness Levy, Jet and Droy being defeated by Phantom.
 * In chapter 102, Elie, Julia, Musica, Hebi and Haru appear in the background.
 * In the Beach omake Pg. 1, Hamrio Musica, Belnika, Ruby, Julia and Elie from Rave are there.
 * Grey's necklace bears a close resemblance to the completed Rave.
 * In Chapter 112 Pg. 19 and 20, several forms of Ten Commandments can be seen among Erza's armory.
 * In Chapter 75 Pg. 15, the casino has a sculpture of Ruby.
 * One of the staves Mystogan uses casts Matenrou is the same as the one Ruby wields from Rave (http://www.onemanga.com/Rave/269/02/)