Edens Zero

All his life, Shiki has been surrounded by machines. At Granbell Kingdom, a long-abandoned amusement park, he is the only one of his kind around. That is, until Rebecca Bluegarden and her feline companion Happy arrive, unaware that they are Granbell's first visitors in one hundred years. Their goal is to make fun videos for their B-Cube channel, but what they find instead is a friend in the socially awkward Shiki.

When Granbell becomes too dangerous for the three of them, they set off on an adventure through the Sakura Cosmos. They hope to make more interesting videos and even find the elusive goddess Mother, while Shiki wants to make more friends, spurred on by the words of his late grandfather. Of course, the journey will not be easy, as no one has seen Mother before, but Shiki is determined to reach his goal and explore the boundless reaches of space together with his new friends.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Granbell, Shiki Main

Terashima, Takuma Japanese

Kougetsu, Homura Main

Aoki, Shiki Japanese

Bluegarden, Rebecca Main

Komatsu, Mikako Japanese

Steiner, Weisz Main

Tezuka, Hiromichi Japanese

Happy Main

Kugimiya, Rie Japanese

E.M. Pino Main

Izawa, Shiori Japanese

Ivry, Sister Supporting

Fujii, Yukiyo Japanese

Mio, Hermit Supporting

Takao, Kanon Japanese

Crimson, Elsie Supporting

Ohara, Sayaka Japanese

Regret, Witch Supporting

Yasuno, Kiyono Japanese

Shioya, Yoshiyuki Producer

Inage, Hiroyuki Producer

Suzuki, Kaoru Producer

Ishihira, Shinji Director, Storyboard

Reviews

Oct 2, 2021

KANLen09

Recommended

I may not have seen or been the biggest fan of Rave Master nor Fairy Tail (the latter being a lot more referenced), but it's clear that what Hiro Mashima is doing, he's doing it well. And Edens Zero may just be the culmination of the best of the best of his works, that say whatever you want about it being a Fairy Tail rip-off (which is true). In hindsight, Edens Zero's lore overall is much more interesting than the cluster-eff of botched executions that was Fairy Tail, and I'm glad I gave it a chance because while I'm not so much a Shonen fan, ... since Yuki Tabata's Black Clover made me think otherwise, I guess I've gotta go for it, and came out pleasantly surprised. BTW, it's not a perfect "10" score like any fandom giving scores of that just to prove their point (I know I did for Black Clover, which is purely justified), but it's best said that you judge it for yourself.

Where Edens Zero set apart itself from the predecessors of both Rave Master and Fairy Tail, it falls heavily on the story and plot (which is pretty much a character case study more than anything), which I feel is much more consumer-friendly and more grounded that puts it in line with most Shonen shows out there (other than starting out really badly because of the easily contrived plots similar to Fairy Tail). Where Fairy Tail took off with a fantasy-cum-adventure style, Edens Zero is more of the same, except now with the famous/infamous moniker of "Edens Zero is basically Fairy Tail in space". Believe me, try to convince anyone that they've seen the character designs of Fairy Tail from the likes of B-Cuber Rebecca Bluegarden (which is just Lucy Heartfilia in a sci-fi spin of a shell) and Happy (which of course the character design hasn't changed), and they'll just reek with a "EWWW" kind of magnifique facial expression. It's pure fantasy hilariousness if you ask me. Nonetheless, as you would expect of Hiro Mashima, the infamous "Power of Friendship" trope is still here, and despise it all you want, but it has worked for this prolific mangaka circa. 1999 with Rave Master, and it continues to be the driving force of his written story in all 3 works with variable execution fails or success.

Similar to legendary managaka Eiichiro Oda's plot of One Piece where Monkey D. Luffy goes on a pirate adventure with the many now iconic mercenaries, Edens Zero copies that blatantly, but gives it a sci-fi spin of a mystery to find the coveted One Piece, er *ahem* sorry, the elusive goddess Mother in the space universe realm of the Sakura Cosmos. But that story starts with the character foundations, and this I feel is where Edens Zero really shines at its best. From Shiki Granbell, the boy who was left on a planet full of robots that were disposed to become a total scrapyard, to Rebecca and her companion Happy, whom the latter is an amateur but growing B-Cuber and the latter providing comic relief as usual, it really starts out being the conventional wisdom of the Average Joe that Edens Zero does nothing to change the viewer's mindset, since basically they're rehashed straight out from Fairy Tail. It's only the overtime effect that really changes how one sees Edens Zero at least trying to be something different from the accursed predecessors of a love-hate relationship, and the payoff is with the same tried-and-true in-heart talk bickering of "just one more episode" that only applies to the more persevering and persistent ones (like myself). And when I say that Hiro Mashina truly goes deep with the characters and their backstories, he's not joking that it evokes happiness that turns into sadness and anger, as replicated from the diverse character cast like the Demon King's Four Shining Stars (that pilot the Edens Zero ship with Ether) to the crew of Shiki, Rebecca, Happy, Weisz Steiner, E.M. Pino and Homura Kogetsu. Every character backstory is just as important to gear the story to its intended place, and for the most part, it really resonated with me the same way when I've watched Black Clover before (because it's the same goddamn thing). It makes you want to feel for the characters who bore their side of the grunt in their own way through the pain and suffering, and that might easily come as a plot device, but it always works in the Shonen space, whether you like it or not.

If there was a director that I could feel that he/she could do no wrong, it's Shinji Ishihira, whom more than his veteran experience of directing the OG Fairy Tail along with a few others (few notables being Heybot, Log Horizon, Munou na Nana and this season's Tsukimichi), he's a proven veteran taskmaster at what he does to keep the original source material fully adapted, with nothing left cut out (save for those that are mostly due to time constraints). This director knows what he's doing and doesn't beat around the bush in order to appease the audience with as much of the source material as possible so to judge shows based on the authors' writing calibres. Another wonderful job done Ishihira-san with J.C.Staff, which really doesn't feel like crap quality and mimics the old 2-cour style consistency from years past.

The music aspect, the VAs have done a good job voicing their respective characters, especially Shiki's VA Takuma Terashima and Homura's transgender VA Shiki Aoki, just to list a few because they provide color to the characters. No complaints about the OST when you have the awesome artistes like TNNK (Takanori Nishikawa) himself, CHiCO with HoneyWorks, L'Arc-en-Ciel and Sayuri performing their OPs and EDs. I would've pretty much preferred TNNK and CHiCO's 1st Cour set over L'Arc-en-Ciel and Sayuri's 2nd Cour set because of the change in the tonal change of the story stratosphere, but they're good songs nonetheless.

To enjoy Edens Zero is to have an open mind about not thinking that it's gonna be like Fairy Tail. Because as much as the resemblances are uncanny, it's the journey of the characters that make up the story that'd make or break the experience of watching a standard tropey Shonen (that you'd wish to unsee one too much). It's very Hiro Mashima-like, but finally in a good way to break the mould of the reputation he had for the predecessors with the narrative change. Quite enjoyed this one a bit, and you'd be doing a disservice to pass this up like said series.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Oct 3, 2021

aku_wabi

Mixed Feelings

There are many people who compare FT and EZ. and well it makes sense to do so, since both works are by the same mangaka. one of which was a hit. So one would expect EZ to have better things than FT right?

Well in the following review I will give my opinion on some things:

Story: I have to be honest, I love FT but EZ has a stronger story and a better plot. Although comparing EZ with FT in history does not make sense, since, what work is not better than FT in this regard? but you still have to give EZ an extra point. ... since in quality, Mashima improved a lot.

7/10

Art: I think it is the most conflictive point among the fans. Since EZ looks like a copy paste of FT. but of course later you see that both series are from the same creator and it makes sense that they have similarities. but it is one thing that they have similarities and another is that you only change the color of their hair or put a patch on the characters. In one of the volumes of EZ. Mashima showed some of the sketches that he had for the characters in the series. And if you look at it, you say "Fuck, you already had such a cool design for Rebecca or Shiki. Why the hell did you make them so similar to Natsu and Lucy?" That there are so many characters similar (equal) to FT, it was intentional. maybe to retain FT fans. But even so, I think that if you wanted to do a different story than FT, then the design also changes, right?

3/10

Sound: I'm not saying the EZ soundtrack is bad. it's just that it falls short compared to FT. it doesn't have an OST that you say. "Damn, that is good." or that it really complements the battles.

1/ 10


Character: The characters are missing something. like they are very flat. except for Hermit and Homura. I think all the others are rubbish. Shiki, you have nothing interesting to show. He really is not a character that is memorable. Rebecca, it falls into a cliche from the start. She has nothing to offer as FMC.
Weiz, I'm not a fan of perverted characters. I do not understand what is the point of putting a character who sees his "daughter" (Rebecca) with lustful eyes.Homura, there isn't much to say. she is the best waifu of the series

4/10


Enjoyment: EZ in epicity, battles, moments, OST, is far from catching up with FT. I think if you are a person who has not seen FT before. surely, you will enjoy the series for its fanservice, some battles / moments,but I think EZ is far from FT at this point

5/10


Overall: EZ is a story that is narratively superior to FT. but it is far from being able to achieve many things that made FT one of the most popular series in Kondansha and Japan.

If you expect to see something epic, comedy or some emotional moment, EZ is not for you. If you want to see a series where its story is entertaining and solid, where it has some "Dark" touch or if you want to see a lot of fanservice (from my point of view EZ has more fanservice than FT), then EZ is for you

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Oct 2, 2021

SingleH

Not Recommended

Anyone criticizing this show for being a Fairy Tail rip-off is totally missing the point.

ALL of Hiro Mashima’s manga are a rip-off of the one which came before. This man has only ever told one story, but that story isn’t called Fairy Tail, it’s called Rave. Rave is a generic, hot-blooded shounen action series about a guy with spiky hair and a blonde bimbo with big tits who go on a magical adventure to fight evil with the power of friendship. Rave was a massive, long-running success, and after it concluded, Mashima quickly launched a new series called Literally Who Gives a Shit, but seeing ... as this manga was not successful by any metric, it only ran for about a year. But Mashima didn’t give up, and in a matter of months, he came out with Fairly Tail. Fairy Tail is a generic, hot-blooded shounen action series about a guy with spiky hair and a blonde bimbo with big tits who go on a magical adventure to fight evil with the power of friendship. Does this sound familiar? Well, it did to the audience, because unlike Literally Who Gives a Shit, Fairy Tail was actually successful, and having learned his lesson, Mashima followed it up with Edens Zero: a generic, hot-blooded shounen action series about a guy with spiky hair and a blonde bimbo with big tits who go on a magical adventure to fight evil with the power of friendship. When Edens Zero first began in 2018, and I first saw people whining and bitching about the blue cat, Happy, being reused from Fairy Tail, I just laughed maniacally. The carrot-nosed Pillsbury Doughboy, Plue, was not only reused from Fairy Tail in Edens Zero, but was also a reused entity in Fairy Tail back from when he was a mascot character in Rave. So forget about Happy. This fucking guy rode through not two, but THREE of Mashima’s manga series. Are you seeing my point yet?

A month after the manga began, the scanslation site, MangaStream, dropped Edens Zero, stating via Twitter:
“In case you’re wondering - we decided to drop Edens Zero. FT was the series we first worked on, so we felt like we owed it a shot, but… Maybe next time [Mashima] should try creating original characters, not verbatim copies. Just sayin’.”
I'm sorry, but the main guy, Shiki, is a copy of Natsu? The big titty waifu, Rebecca, is a copy of Lucy? Then what about Natsu being a copy of Haru, or Lucy being a copy of Elie? I’m not defending Mashima’s shameless lack of creativity—far from it—but if people are out here acting like one of his cookie-cutter stories is better or more sacred than another because they have nostalgic bias toward one and not the other, then I’m here to remind everyone ALL OF IT is trash. It’s the most basic-bitch, bare-bones, clichéd, hackneyed, battle shounen drivel that there has ever been, including Rave, by the way, which people have been accusing of ripping-off One Piece since before many of you were born.

So, is Edens Zero good, yes or no? No, of course not, but it does have redeeming qualities. First of all, the animation is surprisingly alright. I’m not about to oversell this, but I expected absolute garbage, and that’s not what I got. The animation isn’t bad, multiple fights honestly look great, and the backgrounds are fine too. You wouldn’t think so with JC Staff, but this show had a fairly solid production, and their most impressive core staff like Kenichiro Aoki really got to go crazy throughout the whole series. The visual aesthetic almost ruins it, though, because the artwork is just so unbelievably bland. While Rave and Fairy Tail had pretty bad animation and subpar directors who never did anything visually interesting with them, Deen and A1 did an okay job with their presentation. This may be hard for you to appreciate in 2021, especially now that other shounen anime have spend years copying and exhausting their style, but the look and feel of both Rave and Fairy Tail fit their era perfectly, their art styles were memorable, and their colors had sprit. Edens Zero, on the other hand, looks dead inside. Everything about it feels deeply uninspired, even when the animation is nice. The music can be fun, but it’s largely unexceptional, especially in comparison to Fairy Tail which I think everyone agrees had a consistently fantastic soundtrack. But that really is what Edens Zero boils down to, isn't it? It’s just vacuous and forgettable. It has some technical merit, and I suppose it could be enjoyable if you just turn your brain off, rip it out of your skull, and throw it in the trash, but this is recycled plastic, and it barely even stands up to the original products, products which themselves were hardly amazing.

Thank you for reading.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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