Edens Zero

From the mind of Hiro Mashima, Edens Zero is a space fantasy manga following the adventures of Shiki Granbell and Rebecca Bluegarden on their journey to find the goddess of the universe "Mother". While many people make the assumption that this manga will be filled to the brim with "nakama power", like it's predecessor Fairytail, Mashima has actually done a fantastic job of subverting those expectations while poking fun at his own trope. This manga is full of compelling characters, interesting plotlines, and fascinating twists. I thoroughly enjoy this manga and will continue to read it weekly as long as it runs.

A lot of people already had an opinion, a bias, a preconceived notion about Edens Zero before they even began diving deeper into the series. A lot of people seemed to have prematurely judged this manga because of their sheer distaste towards Mashima since it was heavily and positively reinforced at the time (even until today) instead of actually experiencing the story themselves. If the series isn't your cup of tea, it's fine. However, I do believe it's rather unfair to scrutinize the series and the author so monumentally just because of the author without even attempting to read a generous number of chapters (unless such author has done something messed up in real life or any similar situation)

I think that Mashima's writing really improved. Moreover, a lot of character designs have become more unique, and the word "friend" is pretty much a running joke. Edens Zero pretty much subverts and even goes as far as take jabs on a lot of the negative aspects of his previous work. Arcs are tightly tied together, characters have interesting personalities and are entertaining, the implications of friendship are of a higher degree than of Fairy Tail, it has slightly dark undertones, stakes are existent, the storyline is compelling, the art is undeniably stunning and easy to follow, and the worldbuilding is amazing. When you look past the character designs, EZ is really good. It's been living under Fairy Tail's shadow for quite some time now and is being branded as FT 2.0 when in reality, they're pretty different.

Although, I do believe that Mashima dropped the ball with the final arc of FT, I still don't really understand the drive of people to hate on an author and his series because it's a popular opinion and that big personalities such as anitubers think so as well. What I do understand, however, is that Edens Zero is a major improvement from Fairy Tail. Genuinely hoping that it continues and/or even improve its already good trajectory.

First Impressions: This is generally my thoughts on the first chapter and all I can say is that it's not entirely bad as I thought it'll be. I can see some Fairy Tail inspirations... Happy, the talk of friendships, the main character looking like Gray, and the concept of dragons but as a story on its own it definitely does look interesting and some what unique, characters still have that charm Fairy Tail and Rave Master had, the Art is nice to look at but it's really hard not to think once again Fairy Tail lol. (even though the art from Fairy Tails is essentially identical to One Piece) The enjoyment of reading it is definitely a high for me and I hope it gets better from here.

I made this first impression on 8/22/2020, lets hope for the best and see if I still have the same reaction as I did with the first chapter...


--Real Review-- (Up to chapter 108 8/29/2020)(Will Update every 100 chapters)
Story - 9: I generally went in reading this manga thinking it'll be completely trash due to the amount of bad reviews and bad rating it had... I can tell you it's not bad at all, in fact it's no where near that! It really shocks me how creative the world building is in here like how it really delves in to the lore of the space surrounding the characters. I get people are going to compare Fairy Tail to this series and trust me I was so salty over the last arc and was just ready to criticize this but this series has its own originality and heart and again I get it that there's a lot of similarities like some of the characters looking the same, how friendship is still a trope here, the guild, and of course the biggest one Happy but stop right there, look at this series as it own without comparing it to that heaping trash and you'll truly be surprised. Before I go on with the other aspects, I should tell you what to aspect from Eden Zero, it aspect some of the lovable humor that Hiro is known for, some honestly surprising dark moments, generally sad moments that even made me cry and it's really hard to make me tear up, realistic battles that actually requires strategy and brain power and not stupid ass pulls, actual threats with some great building leading up to it, and the urgency of wanting to know more.

Art - 10: I love the art, I know it's the same as Fairy Tail and the characters have the same character models but other than that, their surroundings just looks amazing and the planets are just so original and imaginative. It also seems the drawings are telling a story for themselves also, instinctively telling you when the characters is in a very dire situation or if they just having a good time.

Characters - 9: I don't like how some of the characters look similar to the ones in Fairy Tail and it seems a few of them have the same personality also... Other than that every one else are unique and have their own quirks that generally make them lovable. I get some people are going to compare Shiki with Natsu but after a few chapters I started to see him as his own character, the similarities are still there but he's just adorable and I can't find myself to dislike him one bit and on the plus side, he doesn't pull shit out of his ass. One more thing the villains are actually built wonderful in this series and all of them are actually threats! Not one time where they defeated by 'friendship' but actual skills and smarts! I give this series +1 for that.

Enjoyment - 10: After One Piece, I am really excited to read the next chapter! I just hope it doesn't fall so hard like... again Fairy Tail, I really hoping this series the best and I do once again hope that people change their minds on this series, it's really a sleeper hit and the anime will indeed get some eyes on Eden Zero if done right!

Overall - 9: It's Not Fairy Tail And It's Not Rave Master, it's Eden Zero and I will continue to support this series and I hope you do the same too <3.

(I'll probably fix the typos and re-edit some parts of this review later, for the mean time I'm going to sleep lol)

Most reviews for this series came out back when it was only recently starting up and I feel like it's a shame to have most peoples experience based on that alone. Being a person who only recently got into the series but has read up to the current chapter as of now (104) , I can say without a doubt that the series is highly enjoyable and worth a watch

Story: 8
Mashima hasn't done as much of a heavily story based series since Rave Master back in the early 2000s, but Edens has proved he's still as willing as ever to get back into the swing of things. from the beginning, small relevant plot threads are woven into the story that come back later on as massive parts of the overarching narrative. Obviously, I won't spoil anything, but the twists coming both make sense and give a whole new perspective on the series with a second read through. It starts off slightly mundane in the beginning but around the start of the digitalis arc, things really start getting going with fast paced action and genuine character moments, speaking of which:

Character: 8
It is true some characters bare a heavy resemblance to the Mangakas past work, Fairy Tail, but it clearly doesn't dampen on their newer personalities and large set of new characters that are charming in their own way. Shiki and Rebecca do very much have different personalities from Natsu and Lucy. Shiki is an adventurous, slightly perverted but kind user with an affinity for making friends at every moment to a sickening degree (on purpose) and Rebecca is an intelligent, peppy, marksman that actually contributes a ton consistently to the story and can hold her own with the rest of the group. I could go on about the rest of the charming cast, but it'd be better to just read for yourself as they're a fun bunch

Art: 10
Mashima has never done better, especially for his first ever fully digital affair. The shot composition in some panels is so detailed and extravagant you have to wonder how the man pulls it off every week. At this point, Mashima being a hardworking artist has been a staple for a long time, so you'll know what you're getting into. Not to mention in this series he has no trouble going into darker themes and imagery than he ever would've done for FT.

Enjoyment: 9
I had a blast reading this series and have been on the edge of my seat for the 45 or so chapters with good reason. The entire thing is really engaging for the reader with the colorful cast of characters we get to see partake in the adventure (who have great chemistry), the imaginative worldbuilding that was so lacking in Mashima's past work, some intriguing villains unlike anything he's written, and amazing art.

Overall: 8

Check this out if nothing else. You'll be doing a disservice otherwise.

I'm writing this review because I am sick of people trashing this series. This series is NOT "just Fairy Tail in space," it is NOT bad, and it is NOT driven by friendship-power; this series is actually AMAZING, it's shaping up to be Mashima's best work yet as so far it's better than Rave at this point.

Summary before getting into the details: Despite the main character talking about friendship a lot in the first few chapters, this series does NOT "run on friendship-power," and nobody is ever handed some kind of BS power-ups on a silver platter after making cool speeches about friendship. In fact, it's the opposite, as the universe consistently shows the main character that his views are naive and unrealistic. Below I will go into details.

Okay, so here's the issue: It would seem that Fairy Tail made people lose all their faith in Mashima, as most readers/watchers of the series with actual brains and good taste only stuck with it to the end because they were invested enough to want to see what would happen. But as a result, now that FT is over (not counting 100YQ) people no longer want to give Mashima a fair chance, so after reading just the first few chapters of this manga and seeing how much "friendship" gets brought up they decided "oh it's just FT in space and it sucks and Mashima sucks blah blah blah."

Here's the thing: This series is a lot more similar to Rave than it is to FT, and if people gave it more of a chance than just the first couple volumes they would see that clearly. The universe of this series is very GRITTY and GRIMDARK, and it DOES NOT CATER to the naive ideals of friendship that the main character believes in. In FT, we got the whole "Love is the One Magic" thing, so that friendship-power basically ran the whole series. That isn't the case here. The universe of Edens Zero is one in which people literally get murdered in cold blood immediately after making a cool speech about friendship and bonds (true story, that really happens) and in which people who are suffering and beg for help are unable to be saved and die horribly before the protagonists' eyes. This series is actually DARKER than Rave was.

It does NOT have friendship-power. The main character Shiki is able to make his ideals of friendship and bonds work, but only by WORKING REALLY HARD FOR IT WITH HIS FRIENDS: Nothing is handed to them by the universe or the plot as some kind of dumb reward for Shiki's naive viewpoints. They truly have to WORK to make their ideals stick in a universe where the vast majority of people are much better off if they only look out for themselves, a universe full to the brim with horrible things like slavery, racism, the use of sapient beings as experimental subjects against their will, and human trafficking at the level of forced-prostitution (as I said, this series is even darker than Rave was).

Some people WORRY that this series will eventually "go downhill" as Fairy Tail did, but they DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT THAT, and here's why: Mashima had a complete outline for Rave's story and all the major arcs (and the story's length) from the start while just making up details (battles, character interactions) along the way. And he's said that he's DOING THE SAME WITH EDEN'S ZERO. He's outright stated that in FT he only had the first few arcs outlined and a few plot points (he hasn't said which but I'm assuming the time-travel, Zeref, and E.N.D. stuff) planned; but since the series got way more popular than expected he extended it LONGER than he planned and made whole arcs up as he went along, not knowing how long he would end up making it, and that's when the series went downhill with crappy friendship-power writing.

AS FOR EDEN'S ZERO: Mashima has stated online and in interviews that he's writing EZ the way he wrote Rave rather than like FT. He's had all the major plot and arcs planned from the start, even knowing HOW LONG HE WANTS TO MAKE IT (between Rave's and FT's length), while just coming up with details along the way. That's why EZ is as well-written as Rave was and is way better than FT! Also incidentally that means the series is now about 25 to 30 percent done at about 100 chapters.

Interesting stuff, right? What it shows is that Mashima learned from his mistakes with FT and plans to not repeat them by making sure to plan/outline all the arcs of this story from the beginning like he did with Rave. I have complete faith in Mashima that this series will continue to be excellent, because he has a full outline/plan that he's following and he showed with Rave that he can write wonderfully when he has a plan; it's when he makes up arcs as he goes along that his writing sucks like what happened in FT.

About the character-designs that people complain about: Sure, some of the character-designs are reused/recycled from Mashima's previous series, but it annoys me how people get angry at Mashima for that while giving Akira Toriyama a pass for how every male character in the Dragon Quest games looks like either Android 17 or Goku, or giving Rumiko Takahashi (Inuyasha, Ranma, etc) a pass for only ever drawing four or five distinct female faces. Why is it okay when they do it but people suddenly get all angry at Mashima for reusing his character designs? Also, the art-style evolves as the series progresses, for example later in the series Rebecca looks much more different from Lucy than she did at the start.

As for the story/characters/art themselves: This series rules. As I said, the setting is a compelling, vast universe that is very gritty and grimdark, even darker than Rave's setting was. As always, Mashima's art is wonderful in both the more static scenes as well as in fight-scenes, as well as character-designs (there are plenty of new characters, including major ones, who don't resemble those from his previous series). The plot is very compelling with a nice mix of over-arching plot-lines as well as arc-specific stories, and strong elements of mystery throughout. It gets me very emotionally invested, a lot of characters have very tragic or otherwise emotionally compelling backstories that at times have made me actually cry. The character interactions are wonderful (even in FT that was always a big strength) and the characters themselves are absolutely fascinating people. The series explores themes of civil rights, slavery, objectification, trauma at the level of C-PTSD, and much more, it's honestly even DEEPER than Rave was in terms of the level of themes it explores that are relevant to the real world. Finally, the mechanics of battle and the power-sets (Ether Gears) are really cool in this series, and the battles themselves are just a treat to look at. Something specific to note is that the main character Shiki has much more interesting powers than Natsu's "I can shoot flames" powers were. Mashima also does a very good job with the progression of the power/hax scaling in the series so that it feels natural.

Very good.
This is hands down one of the best ongoing mangas in the world right now.
The art is top notch.
The stakes are high and people die, and our protagonists are in very very dangerous situations.
The fights are cool.
Interesting characters, character interactions and beautiful character designs.
The world is absolutely interesting and unique(it takes place in an entire whole UNIVERSE).
And its in SPACE!
Also, Its getting two games and an anime very soon, so it will only get more popular from here on out.
Kudos to hiro mashima for giving us a master piece of a manga.

Ok so I never write reviews but if it's for this series I figured why not. First off, anyone who knows Mashima and his works should know by now that he will without fail reuse the same characters and the story is going to heavily lie on friendship. For those who don't like Mashima's other works, you probably wont like this one either. However for those of us who loved FT and love Mashima, I would strongly recommend Edens Zero.

I personally enjoy adventure stories and I don't feel the need for a manga with no flaws, I want to read something that gets better over time. Stories that get me so excited I read through them in one sitting are my absolute favorite so I get pretty sad every time I finish a chapter and have to wait for the next one. I think my favorite part of this story is the characters, it's kinda like seeing my favorite characters from FT except in a new story. I absolutely love each character and their abilities and personalities. I won't go into anymore detail about the story but I personally love it, and I respect the opinions of those who don't. Though if you're like me and enjoy the troll that Mashima is then I think you'll like this story.

First of all I come to present myself as someone who has seen all the sleeves of Hiro Mashima, but this doesn't mean that he's 100% in favor of his way of making stories.

You don't have to be an idiot to realize that this manga has a quite favorable potential to become a good manga, after all the "shonen nekketsu" despite its lack of originality over the years is still a pretty good, entertaining and preferred by many.

This manga has all that, probably it is very uncreative and with well-known designs, but after seeing more than 30 chapters I've realized that it's its differences and this makes it particular.

In history to which it goes, I can say that it's a 10/10, since it begins with a purpose so that the history can advance of certain form, and until now it has stayed in the correct way, without plot devices, without deux ex machina, and without those kinds of things that ruin a story in some way.

Of the characters cannot talk much about them except for the protagonist who is Shiki, because he's the only one who has revealed more his story and construction of the character, despite being very similar to Natsu of FT, is very well done.

Finally the art of this story is 10/10, since Mashima has been drawing very well the settings, the space, the planets, and the whole environment is quite wonderful lately.

This story has a lot of future, the one that comments that it's a mediocrity because it's very similar to its predecessors is a fool, since it's the style of the creator and it's his primordial formula for the creation of the manga.

Manga 10/10

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.
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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.
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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.
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[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.
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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)

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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.

Eden zero new shounen sci/fi / adventure / mystery work
by hiro mashima
First the story
a journey that we see a naive boy who travel into space
with badass girl who record cube tube videos
to get high views
.. and without spoilers i think story will take great slope
.. Every chapter we see a lot of mysterious things
Events are evolve rapidly
so i think it Well worth 8/10 until now under expectations
and i hopeful that hiro can and he will make a lot of great stories
with great plots in the future
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Art :
Art is good as hiro care about dimensions and the details
panels divisions are good make a sense of movement
I liked it
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Characters are funny they makes a beautiful mood
and its suitable for mystery genre to be the hero is naive
.. he will see a lot of things he will learn and we will enjoy different things
also we saw d. waiez and we are waiting to see how evolution of a relationship will evolve
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Enjoyment is 10
because of
the events are brief and simple
you will not read nonsense .. the manga has short and enjoyable conversations
at the end i think Eden zero will be the best of new generation of shounen manga