English Dub Season Review: Eden’s Zero Season One

 

Overview (Spoilers Below)

In this sci-fi anime, Eden’s Zero, follow Shiki and his friends on a journey across the galaxy to find all four sisters and give the Edens Zero battleship its full power. On the way, they encounter a player who murders people in a virtual world, a devious hacker, a power-hungry leader, and a person who can see the future.

Our Take

The first twelve episodes of this series introduced a young boy named Shiki Granbell (Sean Chiplock), who meets the equivalent of a YouTuber, Rebecca Bluegarden (Kira Buckland) and her cat companion, Happy (Tia Ballard), as they search through time and space for a being called “Mother” (Colleen Clickenbeard), with Shiki trying to make as many friends as he can. This space romp continues the story of Shiki, Rebecca, and Happy, with some comparing it to earlier works by Hiro Mashima like Fairy Tail and Rave Master, as their crew continues to expand. The entire English VA cast moves the series forward with its energy, radiance, and exuberance.

The animation of this series from J.C.Staff is smooth and captivating, especially in battle scenes. It continues to astound, especially with new opening and closing themes beginning with episode 13 and moving forward. There are colorful characters, backgrounds, and animation which often blows you away. This includes the introduction of the wealthy sector of the planet Sun Jewel in the later part of the season. The show’s second opening theme is “Forever” by L’Arc-en-Ciel, and the second ending theme is “Sekai no Himitsu.” J.C.Staff is known for producing well-known series like A Certain Scientific Railgun, Revolutionary Girl Utena, and Azumanga Daioh.

There is the typical storytelling device of a narrator named Xiaomei (Jenny Yokobori). She is the Time Oracle and presides over the Temple of Knowledge on the Planet of Time. She knows everything in the universe and has future-vision a little like Garnet in Steven Universe, as she knows that the future branches out in various possibilities. She is weirdly obsessed with putting her visitors through battles, not knowing their outcome. She spends most of her time in the series as a narrator from the audience, not unlike the Watcher in What If…?

I found the episodes where Shiki and his friends go to Digitalis, a virtual planet/dimension, interesting. This isn’t because Pino chooses to be a human, Homura chooses a male avatar, or Weisz a female avatar, the latter two choosing avatars different from their original genders. Rather, it is due to the setting itself it seems to be applying to those who play with virtual reality or online multiplayer games. Specifically, Shiki and his friends can’t rewrite the code of the planet, but can use their real-world abilities, and they can log out of the game. The mix between reality and the virtual world reminds me a bit of The Hollow, which toyed with this concept.

Eden’s Zero has similarities with other shows which have hackers, as Hermit is well-skilled with breaking into systems to help her friends. Hermit is a bit different, however, as she has a dark past. She was deceived by humans into building a cannon which obliterated another planet, and for years she is tortured by scientists for their own ends. While she is rescued from a prison, the trauma of her experience prevents her from stopping a hacker which is destroying the Edens Zero, until Rebecca connects directly with her, and Shiki tells her to believe in herself, causing her to regain some faith in humanity.

The characters of Happy, who can transform into blasters, and Pino, who has an EMP which can knock out technology for a brief period, are interesting additions as well. Perhaps it is a commentary on anime shows themselves when it turns out that the Ether Gear that Rebecca, Homura, and Shiki use do not work when your hands are tied. In contrast to other series, it is made clear that everything has a heart, no matter whether it is human or robotic. However, this also means that humans and robots can die and stop functioning.

One of the intriguing plot threads is Homura’s journey. She becomes more a part of the team in these episodes, but is willing to save her friends, even from innumerable odds, like on the digital world, when she is facing a government spy, Amira (Emi Lo), who is impersonating her, and a murderer who is cheating to stay in the game. She hopes to reach her master and mother-of-sorts, Valkyrie, as part of the mission to find the goddess of the universe and struggles with facing a copy of Valkyrie when she visits the Planet of Time and thinks back to her early life. This comes to a head in episodes 19 to 25, when the crew go to the planet Sun Jewel, with wealthy and poor sectors. Whether it is  like Star Wars and Fairy Tail, or not, it is a unique series in and of itself.

Homura finds out that the brutal Madame Kurenai, who won’t tolerate any crime or violence on the planet, is her greedy mother, who has enforcers to keep “order” in the labor district of the planet and wants to destroy the whole district with a superweapon as it isn’t profitable for her. She also discovers, to her horror, that her master, is no more, and she takes time to process this, while the audience learns of how Kurenai betrayed Valkyrie, continuing to fight with encouragement from her friends. Following Kurenai’s defeat by Shiki, she rejects Kurenai’s plea for forgiveness and says she wants nothing to do with Kurenai. In a bit of karma, Kurenai runs into the forest and is captured by Cedric, a man whose face she burned off, and they turn her into their “pet.” Homura makes peace with what happened, leaving Valkyrie behind, and decides to take on the same role as Valkyrie. Two of the shining stars, Witch and Sister, even embrace each other over the death of Valkyrie, and cry together, sad to see the loss of their friend.

There are funny parts in the series, like the different outfits the characters wear, including skimpy ones, especially embarrassing Rebecca. She is a character who changes outfits more than any other character, including when she wears an outfit from a popular anime, only to have her be embarrassed by Labilia Christy (Lizzie Freeman), an arrogant B-Cuber. She also spends time discovering her own magical powers, even using them to defeat Nino, a B-Cuber who declares that anime will save the universe, and saves the day by telling Kurenai’s enforcers, known as the Punishers, to stand down.

Eden’s Zero does not shy away from maturity. For instance, episode 21 has warnings for language and smoking. In other episodes, we see characters being tortured or dressed in outfits which appears to be fan service. On the other hand, Weisz, a male character, is naked in one episode, and embarrasses himself, so it’s not only women who wear revealing clothes. Additionally, there is fighting in nearly every episode, mainly led by Shiki to protect his friends, including in the final episodes of this season where Madame Kurenai fights against Shiki in a huge mecha, through the city center and into the labor district.