"Eden's Zero" Review

Evening, readers.  Here comes a quick review of the newest series from legendary "Fairy Tail" creator Hiro Mashima-the space opera "Eden's Zero".

This series was another "I-picked-it-up-at-the-library-but-not-at-the-bookstore" instance.  At the time, I assumed science fiction was more on its way out, and, to be fair, Mashima admits it in his afterword at the end of Vol. 1.

I myself am wary of trying to write sci-fi, mostly because I have no real background with it, but also because, these days, with modern science rapidly catching up to, if not surpassing, the likes of Star Trek and the like, it looks like it's becoming harder and harder to come up with better and more fascinating futuristic technology.

(That and everybody wants to see/know the actual science behind the fiction.  I mean, who am I-Dr. Michio Kaku?

...

Look him up.)

That being said, this very thinking has left the market wide open for something like Eden's Zero, where all the classic romantic fantasy adventure tropes are instead transported into space.  For example:

* Magic is technology
* The Great Demon King is/was a robot
* All of space is basically an ocean full of stars

One day, Youtubers (frame it however you want-they're still Youtubers) Rebecca and Happy the talking robot cat, land themselves on the robot-filled resort planet Granbell.  There they also meet the planet's sole human resident: the boy Shiki, inheritor of The Great Demon King's gravity magic/technology.

Following a fake rebellion by his robot friends in a sweet "cruel to be kind" tactic, Shiki leaves the (unbeknownst to him) dying planet to join Rebecca and Happy on their adventures.

Oh, and if certain people happen to look familiar, it's because Mashima basically lifted them (and not even basically in the case of Happy-he's the same darn guy!) from his earlier work, "Fairy Tail".

Now, I couldn't really get into "Fairy Tail" while it was coming out new in stores or airing on Toonami (because I didn't have cable at the time), but I personally find "Eden's Zero" much more charming and entertaining.

The art style is fun, the fighting isn't too complicated, the story goes along at an easy (almost too easy) pace and we're even thrown the occasional fanservice here and there.

(And I'm talking more than we get in One Piece, but not as much as we would get in, say, Daily Life with Monster Girls.)

Speaking of One Piece, Shiki is basically a more childish Luffy, and the great treasure at the end is not The Great Demon King's treasure, but the legendary cosmic goddess Mother, whom no one has ever seen.  But our heroes intend to make their way there...in order to get more viewers for Rebecca's Youtube channel.

I've heard worse reasons...

We are currently three volumes in in the English release, and the series is still holding strong, in my opinion.  Although the series is plagued by a lack of a single concrete over-arching villain, as well as the presence of a lot of different plot threads that still have to be woven together.

But, dear readers, this manga reviewer is fully set to hitch his wagon to this series' rocket ship and ride it to the stars!

(PS: I have found the last two manga that I intend to review for 2019.  They are, and I quote "Monster and the Beast" and "Kaiju Girl Carmelise".  Now that I know their release dates and they've already passed, we'll see if I can't get those reviews to you lickety-split!)