Title: EDENS ZERO
Serialized in: Weekly Shounen Magazine (June 26, 2018)
When did this get licensed: IMMEDIATELY. Ok, maybe not that immediate. But on April 10th, Kodansha Comics revealed sketches of Hiro Mashima’s latest project. That was at least a sign. Then that project was officially announced that it’d be a worldwide release (in 5 different languages no less!) in May called EDENS ZERO.
Summary (Taken from Crunchyroll manga page):
Eleven months after the grand finale of Fairy Tail, master mangaka Hiro Mashima is back with a great adventure beyond imagination! All the steadfast friendship, crazy fighting, and blue cats you’ve come to expect… IN SPACE! A young boy gazes up at the sky and sees a streaming bolt of light. The friendly, armor-clad being at his side tells him gently, “That’s a dragon.” The fact that he’s joking isn’t important. What’s important is the look of wonder on the boy’s face… and the galaxy-spanning adventure that’s about to take place! Join Hiro Mashima (Fairy Tail, Rave Master) once more as he takes to the stars for another thrilling saga!”
How you can read it: On Crunchyroll manga, ComiXology, Kindle at the moment.
THOUGHTS:
The best way to think of EDENS ZERO for now is Fairy Tail…but grand adventures in the cosmos!
That’s probably a good thing, but it is also still too early to tell this work will be all that great. For example, Fairy Tail was pretty fun for the first couple of volumes I read. Then I got around to Volume 20…and was no longer interested. So who knows where Hiro Mashima’s latest will go. But there are some good things at the moment, so I will touch upon those!
It stars three main characters — Shiki, Rebecca, and Happy. The headliner of course is Shiki, as he’s grown up on Granbell, a fantasy planet full of abandoned robots, and was brought over by a mysterious demon king. Shiki eventually leaves the planet after Rebecca, a human from planet Blue Garden, stopped by. This led the bots to enact their devious plan: trick Shiki into thinking they were evil, and thus force him to leave the planet, without him knowing that they would become obsolete. Once he did leave, however, a few people — from a huge life form known as Mother to a space pirate who is Erza — now either seem set to ponder his future or want to take him for whatever reason.
It’s set up My Hero Academia style by the way. In MHA, the very beginning informs you that this is Deku’s journey to become the best hero, and the steps he’s taking. In EDENS ZERO, we know by the end of Chapter 1 that Shiki’s name will be remembered throughout the universe. The only thing that’s left in doubt is whether he’ll be remembered for good or for bad and…hah, how bad can he be? That said, he has a ways to go, from learning how to interact with humans (he’s never dealt with them) to figuring out who he really is. His power, known as Ether Gear, apparently is something that was used in the Dark Ages but not much anymore — if at all. From that and him believing he’s seen Mother before, what exactly is his potential we’ll have to see.
The other characters also leave just enough doubt to wonder about who they really are. Well, maybe except Happy, who in this version is a small cat robot, and one that can turn into guns. Whether he can change into other forms we’ll have to see. But Rebecca is the one who you wonder about, as she was abandoned as a kid. Wouldn’t be surprised if she has an interesting past as well, and the only way to find out is by going on a space adventure.
That’s honestly going to be the make-it or break-it part for this manga. After the three left Granbell and went off into space, that’s about when the series settled in. It’s essentially promising trips to many different planets, though for great reasons — getting views on Rebecca’s B-cube account. Was wondering when a manga would do something like this, and Mashima would be the one doing it! But chances are the motivations might change if the series goes on long enough. For now though, Rebecca’s earnestly doing whatever she can to grow her channel, and with Shiki’s strength and her friend Happy by her side, she has a chance.
But uh, going to see Mother might make for a difficult journey…
Needless to say, the art style has not really changed drastically from Fairy Tail. This is generally never a huge deal as most, if not all, manga artists stick with their traditional art. The only reason it’d be an issue here is if EDENS ZERO does become like Fairy Tail. I’d like to think it won’t, especially since it made a callback to it in Chapter 3. The best way it can do so is by, of course, exploring space, but also highlighting these B-cubers and the best and worst aspects of them.
So yes, I’m gonna keep reading this to see where it goes. It’s solid enough for now, and there’s enough questions I’d want answers to that I’d like to know.