Sommerleigh Pollonais, Senior Writer
Plot: A young boy cut off from the world meets friends and sets off on a hard, long journey to be reborn.
Review: That plot synopsis doesn’t begin to cover what this anime is about, so let me dig a little deeper for you.
Edens Zero tells the story of a boy named Shiki who has grown up surrounded by only machines, specifically robots. Granbell is a kingdom that doubles as an amusement park and Shiki is the only human there. So when a girl named Rebecca and her feline friend Happy arrive Shiki is over-the-moon excited to make actual human friends. For reasons I won’t get into lest I spoil things, the robots turn on Shiki and Rebecca forcing them to leave the robot kingdom and journey into the cosmos to seek out adventure and a being called Mother who our hero believes holds all the answers to who he is and where he comes from. And, of course, they make lots of kooky friends along the way.
On one hand Edens Zero is as standard as anime gets. If you’ve seen Fairy Tail or Hunter x Hunter, you’ve seen Edens Zero. Even one of my personal favourites, Black Clover, could be compared to Edens Zero (let’s just call it EZ from here on out). But for this anime fan that doesn’t take anything away from this genuinely funny and highly energetic series.
Shiki and his “will you be my friend” shtick may wear on others, but I found him so genuinely sweet and dorkably likeable as a character, I couldn’t help but “aww” or laugh out loud when he chose to offer his friendship, even in situations that were downright dangerous. EZ is a comedic adventure but it also has a lot of heart and some seriously dark moments hidden beneath a veneer of bright colours and adolescent-looking characters.
An example of this would be Rebecca and Happy’s backstory which is endearing but also really messed up when you think about it. Another example is after acquiring a powerful spaceship (initially called Skull Fairy but later revealed to be Edens Zero) previously owned by the ironically-named Demon King (again to avoid spoilers I won’t say why his name is ironic) they find out they have to find the Four Sisters who, once reunited, will make the ship capable of travelling far enough to find Mother.
One of the Sisters is found on a planet called Guilst, a place that was once a paradise but is now a home for all kinds of criminal activities. When you see what exactly happened to this Sister, you’ll see what I mean about how dark this series really is. Yet the comedic elements are used to gloss over the bleaker moments a lot, which I’m sure won’t sit well with all viewers. For me it was a bit jarring, but the pacing and lighthearted energy made it hard to linger on this flaw as I found myself more excited to see what craziness would pop up next.
The visuals aren’t anything new or mind-blowing although I did find the blending of CGI and hand-drawn animation used for the space scenes beautiful to look at. The fight sequences are high energy and executed extremely well. Throw in the zany comedy, a wonderful group of characters (I HAVE to know what that red button on Moscoy’s belly does!) and the overall lighthearted tone they seem to be going for and Edens Zero is the perfect anime to recommend to a friend who always wanted to get into the genre, but feels overwhelmed by the more cerebral or complex stuff out there.
Simply put, the show is fun! With only one season to get through now is the perfect time to check it out. And if you happen to have yourself a Netflix subscription, it’s only a few clicks away.
Sommer’s Score: 7 out of 10
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Sommerleigh of the House Pollonais. First of Her Name. Sushi Lover, Queen of Horror Movies, Comic Books and Binge Watching Netflix. Mother of two beautiful black cats named Vader and Kylo. I think eating Popcorn at the movies should be mandatory, PS4 makes the best games ever, and I’ll be talking about movies until the zombie apocalypse comes.
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