Not Good.

Hiro Mashima, known for his previous works such as Rave Master and Fairy Tail, returns for his third soon-to-be long running manga series, Edens Zero. In this story, Mashima decided to stray away from his all too familiar fantasy setting in favor of a space adventure. Yet,this change in setting, with a whole new cast of characters, has yet to show that Mashima has improved in his writing at all. In fact, Mashima already begins to fall into the same writing mistakes that were all too common in Fairy Tail and Rave Master. Unspecific power scaling,surface-level characters, and abysmal pacing are issues that are present chapter fucking one, and only continues to further sink this series into mediocrity with each passing chapter.
The story is not much to ride home about either, and comes off as another generic space adventure that doesn't provide anything interesting,such as non traditional character motivations or an ever looming conflict, that would make it stand out among the rest.

On another note, the amount of recycled material taken from it's predecessor is unacceptable. Whole character designs, such as Erza Scarlet (now known as Elcy Crimson), Lucy Heartfilia (Rebecca), Wendy Marvell (Lavilla Christi), and Happy (No change), are shamelessly reused not only in order to appeal to Fairy Tail's lingering fanbase, but for Mashima to either have an excuse to bring back characters he can't let go of, or to not be bothered to make actual new character designs. But the similarities don't stop there. The theme of friendship is also ever present, and will surely play a large role in its central narrative, much like Fairy Tail. And though the manga's in-universe source of power has been changed to "Ether", by Chapter 4 it's blatantly called magic when Shiki states, "In unscientific terms, one could call it magic. MAGIC.."

The only thing that you could really complement this manga for would be its art, which admittedly has its own certain charm. However, compared to its current contemporaries in the shonen genre (One Piece, My Hero Academia, The Promised Neverland), Edens Zero falls short due to its lack luster and bland paneling, and lack of significant stylization that would set it apart from Fairy Tail.

The fact of the matter is that Edens Zero is lazy. Some people try defending the fact that the reused character designs are not a problem, without realizing the lack of creativity this manga, as well as Mashima, displays as a result of these designs. Its biggest flaw as a series is its failure to set itself apart from Fairy Tail by falling into the same narrative mistakes and not learning from them. Evidently,Hiro Mashima does not really give a shit about making a good manga at this point. He knows fans of his previous work will support him, and by sticking to the same formula that Fairy Tail had will lead to eventual success. This mentality of his, as shown through his work, will never allow him to improve, and as a result he will never make a series worth significant merit.

However, despite my grievances, I will continue to read Edens Zero. Not because I genuinely enjoy reading it, but to masochistically (and sadistically) watch Mashima commit the same errors all over again.

(An up-to-date follow up to this review is pending......eventually.--)

Helpful

read more

A lot of people are saying that this is just rip-off of Fairy Tail.. but wait, is it really true? Nope.

STORY 8/10

This Manga have uniqe story, with totaly different setting.
I wont spoil you because it will just make your experience with this manga worse but for comparison - while Fairy Tail was fantasy/adventure styled, this is more sci-fi/mystery/adventure styled..this manga will make you ask questions, think about depth and enjoy fights from the very first chapter.
-----------------------------------------
ART 9/10

Art is really great, you can instantly see whats going on even in panels that have many things drawn in, facial expressions are one of the best I ever seen and pages are greatly detailed.
-----------------------------------------
CHARACTERS 7.7/10

Characters are great, each one is really interesting and both main characters somehow destroys stereotypical Female/Male duo that is in the 90% of shounen manga.
--
[Next information might contain mini spoilers but will not or only slightly effect your enjoyment of manga]

Main male character is totaly innocent while main female character is badass on the inside and have some really uniqe traits that female characters have really rarely + some of them are that unique that I never seen them before . Both characters are strong in fighting and have good chemistry between them.
------------------------------------------
ENJOYMENT(?) 9/10

[In short] - Chemistry between characters, great comedy and nicely incorporated fanservice with nice story depth and mystery from the very first chapter. - This things makes Edens Zero very enjoyable series in which I couldnt find one forced or rushed scene.

[Comparison, you can skip this part if you havent read Fairy Tail]
- Now to the point about Mashimas old manga - FT... this is total opposit of what Fairy Tail was. You dont need to read more then 1 chapter to get this.
And similarities? Oh yea, character designs are really similar and for the first sight they look really similar, some almost same as fairytail characters..
But is this really a reason to hate or somehow lower rating of this manga? No, its not.
Why? Because even if you got totaly same character designs its still a different story with different personalities and different setting. This manga is actually more interesting even in its first 2 chapters then Fairy Tail was most of the time. (atleast for me)

----------------------------------------
OVERALL 8/10

There isnt much to rate from 130 pages but I can sense big quality and potential in this. That is what makes Edens Zero worth 8 points of 10... in future I might give it even 10 or if potential is wasted only 6 or 5. But Iam writing about quality that Edens Zero have currently and thats what is most important.

/Sorry for grammatical mistakes/

Edit: After chapter 6, manga is even better, Iam progressively questioning more questions and it becomes more interesting by every chapter. I might rise the score of story or even overall if this goes on.

Helpful

read more