Eden’s Zero review and Mashima-sensei “stealing” my OCs XD (Patreon)

Well, hello there!

It’s been a while since I wrote a journal talking about anything but business (I miss those days L ), but, since I have a little of free time from job and I want to talk geek to someone else, I’ll give you a simple and totally unrequested opinion about a recent anime I started watching: “Eden’s Zero”.

Warning: long post is long.

Oki doki. Back in 2018, when the original Fairy Tail manga ended and Hiro Mashima’s new work beginning soon, it was natural I had to give it a chance. After all, I’m a huge fan of Mashima-sensei and his drawing style (especially in the female department) has helped me to polish my own, so it was just natural I was waiting for this new story like you have no idea.

Then chapter 1 came out and I was like… “huh… alright. Not the most interesting beginning, but hey, most of the first chapters of each new series are boring. Maybe this will get better”. Second chapter 2 came out… still didn’t like it. Then 4, 5, 6. Still didn’t like it. I stopped reading the manga at the end of Space Pirate Elzie’s arc and I felt a little disappointed with how “basic” this story was and how lazy Mashima-sensei was with the character designs. At first, I really disliked that he recycled the designs of some of his characters from Fairy Tail for this story, then I realized that Mashima-sensei uses the same narrative and artistic style as legendary manga artist Osamu Tezuka, where he treats his characters as actors and they just “act” in different stories, and now I just love that idea! But the story… yeah, well: basic shonen at its finest. Now I’m not saying this is bad. This is a shonen manga and I’m not the target audience for these stories (at least not anymore): young kids and teens are. So the basic storytelling and “the power of friendship resolves everything” just doesn’t work for me anymore.

So yeah, I stopped reading this manga, but I kept a close eye in the artwork and illustrations (still a fan of Mashima’s work after all) … then I noticed something that really caught my attention, and it was the design of 2 characters: Sister Ivry and Homura.

For Sister Ivry I was intrigued how her design, pallet color and personality remembered me the early designs of an OC I created long time ago: Sister Cleah. Especially the personality: A beautiful woman, who, despite having a lovely and caring nun appearance, in actuality, was a foul-mouthed, violent and really powerful warrior (the only difference is that my OC was obsessed with coffee and I changed her silver-colored hair for a pink salmon one in future revisions). But hey, sexy nuns in manga/animes are not something necessarily original and the personality was just a coincidence, so I quickly forgot the matter and continued with my life… then Homura came out.

Now, for those who have been following me for years and years, know that there was a time when I dedicated my gallery absolutely to my OCs and, one of the most popular ones among my watchers was a female samurai called “Crystal” (real name Kagero). I tried to make her design simple but still quite recognizable and likeable among my plethora of female OCs: white skin, big expressive golden eyes, orange and yellow clothes to make contrast with her long blue hair, a beauty mark under her left eye and being a calm samurai using an unusual sword as a weapon. In other words: a sexy, yet elegant Asian-like warrior… and how’s Homura design? Well, white skin, big expressive eyes, orange and yellow clothes to make contrast with her long blue hair, a beauty mark under her left eye and being a calm samurai using an unusual sword as a weapon. In other words: a sexy, yet elegant Asian-like warrior. The only differences are that Crystal’s eyes are golden while Homura’s are dark brown, and Crystal uses a crystal-blade sword while Homura uses an energy blade.

Don’t get me wrong, I know this is just a coincidence as well, but holy cow!! This is definitely one of the biggest coincidences I’ve seen in my life!! And, since then, I like to think that, secretly, Mashima-sensei is a huge fan of mine and he decided to make a “tribute” to one of my characters in his work… I know it’s not true, but let me dream, damn it!

Back to the show: with Eden’s Zero anime released not too long ago, I decided to give it a second chance and I watched the first 12 episodes uploaded to Netflix and, this time, I’m fully invested in the story. I’m planning to continue with the manga as soon as the anime ends. Still, I think this is Mashima-sensei’s weakest work so far, and to avoid making this post longer (by the way, thanks for continue reading this far) here’s a quick list of what I liked and disliked about Eden’s Zero:

What I liked:

1. The story, despite being ridiculously simple (at least right where I am right now) is still enjoyable enough to continue reading/watching it.

2. So far, most of the main cast is likeable with nice personalities (with one huge exception).

3. DO I HAVE TO SAY HOW AMAZINGLY HOT THE FEMALE CHARACTERS DESIGNS ARE?!!

4. The world built so far is amazing! Special mention to the Chronophage. The idea of a powerful cosmic entity that feeds on time is incredible! It gives me a Lovecraftian vibe every time I see it.

5. Favorite characters: Rebecca, Weiss and Homura.

What I disliked:

1. The sense of humor is quite weak compared to Mashima´s previous works. The jokes are too predictable and silly and those which worked at first, were burnt out really quick (Like Homura’s habit of speaking out loud what she’s thinking without noticing it).

2. I know (and I hope) this is just because I’m so early in the story, but the villains, so far are the least treating and interesting I’ve seen so far. They’re sooooooo boring. But, again, maybe it’s because I’m so early in the story.

3. And last but not least: I. F*CKING. HATE. SHIKI!! He’s so loud, naïve, annoyingly obsessed with friendship and impulsive that every time I listen to him, I want to stop watching the show and quit once again (infact, he was the main reason why stopped reading the manga back then) … and I know, I know what you’re thinking “But, JJ, he´s just the typical shonen hero. He’s supposed to be designed this way to catch the attention of the young audience”. And I know that! Heck, some of my favorite shonen heroes have precisely the same personality, like Luffy from “One Piece” or even Natsu, from the other Mashima’s work “Fairy Tail”, but f*ck me. This is so poorly executed that I swear to god that sometimes I think Mashima-did this to parody the archetype of shonen hero, but instead of being clever, is infuriating… or I don’t know, maybe I like Luffy and Natsu ‘because I grew with them and the nostalgia factor helps them, and I’m so old right now to have to deal with dumb, loud and over energetic characters like Shiki. Now I prefer more calm, mature and yet naïve main characters like Tanjiro from “Demon Slayer” (what a beautiful manga/anime and what a great main character).

So yeah, this was my long review on “Eden’s Zero”. I really hope the story gets more interesting over time, and I truly hope that Shiki matures as a character because, so far, he’s the absolute worst part of the show.

Once again, thanks for reading this review and I would really love to know your opinion.

Have a great one!