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]

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Adaptation:	Edens Zero
Sequel:	Edens Zero 2nd Season
Summary:	Edens Zero (Recap Movie)

Yasuno, Kiyono
Japanese

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Staff

Shioya, Yoshiyuki

Producer

Suzuki, Kaoru

Producer

Ishihira, Shinji

Director, Storyboard

Suzuki, Yuuji

Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

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Opening Theme

	1: "Eden through the rough" by Takanori Nishikawa (eps 2-12)
	2: "FOREVER" by L'Arc-en-Ciel (eps 13-??)

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Ending Theme

	1: "Eden through the rough" by Takanori Nishikawa (eps 1)
	2: "Bouken no VLOG (冒険のVLOG)" by CHiCO with HoneyWorks (eps 2-12)
	3: "Sekai no Himitsu (世界の秘密)" by Sayuri (eps 13)

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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.

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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.

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Oct 2, 2021

mythical_k

Recommended

This anime has the potential to become even better than Fairy Tail. Edens Zero is known as the "Fairy Tail" ripoff, but just because the art is too similar doesn't mean the series itself won't be good. Going through a space setting for this anime, Edens Zero contains aspects that differentiate from Fairy Tail in terms of how it's created by Mashima that gives the series its individuality. There are tons of differences in the Edens Zero anime adaptation that pales in comparison to Mashima's previous works.

The plot itself is simple, with a goal that may take forever. But along the way has the main ... cast visit various planets in hopes of accomplishing that goal. The world-building is an improvement from previous works from Mashima. Not only did it show what each planet was like, but it further showed how important each of them was for the cast to grow as characters, and that was well done. The power system is unique but intriguing to learn more about how Ether functions towards certain users. I love the creativeness in abilities, such as gravity, swords, and other types of skills. It doesn't focus on one specific superpower used by multiple users, and it gives the characters their uniqueness. Another aspect that I liked is the darkness this series has shown so far. Not only was it well-written, but it foreshadowed how Edens Zero will not be light-hearted all the time, and it will get intense as the series goes on. Mashima doesn't use the usual power of friendship trope that often, so that's also a respectful choice to make as that trope can be overused.

The story isn't anything too special, but I liked the build-up each of the arcs had towards the series's future. It starts with the main female of the show arrives at the main character's home planet and meets him. Eventually, he leaves with her to go and reach their goal. This first part focused on time travel and a rescue mission while gaining new crewmates in the process. The anime may overuse the fanservice in this adaptation, focusing on the fight scenes and progression to the story, and that aspect was well done. The second half was more focused on the introduction of new characters and the development between the ones that appeared for longer. Most of their backstories were emotionally driven, and it showed how those characters have been through much pain in the past but can overcome it with the present. Combined with the occasional darkness, the story will progress even more with actual character development for the main crew.

Despite the same face syndrome shown in the characters, they were still enjoyable to watch, not to mention there have been differences in their abilities and importance in the series. First off, Shiki may look like Natsu from Fairy Tail, his backstory shown how he won't be relying on the power of friendship trope but has a different goal in mind. Similar to another series that will release its anime adaptation this month, he wants to make over one hundred friends across the galaxy. From there, it makes Shiki relatable to those that want to make friends as he does, and I liked that in his character along with his Ether Gear ability. As for the main female character, Rebecca herself has the potential to avoid becoming useless, and her development as a character deserves respect. All of the other crewmates of Edens Zero were fun to watch, but a recurring character, Happy the cat, bothered me a bit. At first, I was disappointed how Mashima reused a character from a previous manga to a new one, but his ability to turn into guns took away that factor. The main antagonist has yet to be revealed in the story. But in the future, the minor villains may be explained some more and eventually lead to some plot twists within the series if executed properly.

As much as I liked Fairy Tail, the animation in Edens Zero was way better than the second half of the former series. Actual movements were going on, and it rarely used slideshow animation for a majority of the fight scenes. Shiki's gravity ether gear, in particular, was well animated. It showed how it functioned while making the manga panels for those scenes come to life. However, the reuse of certain scenes wasn't the best part, and it took up too much time for the episode it's featured. Although the animation still has its flaws, choosing JC Staff as the studio for Edens Zero was the right call.

The soundtrack was pretty exciting during the first half. The opening and ending sound amazing. It gave the impression of the journey's beginning and how it will be exciting to watch while getting a glimpse at the Edens Zero crew's personalities. The second half of the series had calmed down a bit in terms of how the music sounded. The opening itself showed how we're beginning to get adjusted to the series, and that there will be more to come later on in future adapted episodes. The ending for the second cour was bittersweet, focusing on the characters' past while showing how far they've come since those events occurred offscreen. The sound design is incredible, especially during the use of Ether Gear. The sound effects are satisfying to hear and bring on the impact of each ability shown throughout the series.

Overall, Edens Zero improves on the mistakes Fairy Tail made and turns them into improvements that make the anime better. It would be wise not to refer to Mashima's same face syndrome that's shown in the characters and focus on how the story will progress as it continues. I hope the anime will be able to properly execute the further chapters at this level of quality. Once again, if Edens Zero fixes the flaws that Fairy Tail had, then it has the potential to surpass Fairy Tail and previous works from Mashima as the best adaptation of his manga.

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'Edens Zero' Gets Second Anime Season

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Poll: Edens Zero Episode 25 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Oct 2, 2021	81 replies	by Deenso »» Jun 3, 6:18 AM
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Edens Zero

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