Edens Zero – 01
The sheer volume of shows crossing the initial interest threshold this season means the cutoff for “digest” status is going to be higher than usual. And that applies both to first impressions and general coverage posts, though as ever scheduling is going to have a lot to do with that. That said, Edens Zero is not a series that was high on my expectations list going into the season, so it might just have landed here anyway.
Edens Zero has made the move from A-1 Pictures to J.C. Staff, though Fairy Tail director Ishihara Shinji is back in the saddle to provide continuity. Happy is back too, though not having read the manga I have no idea if the character itself has any connection to the one from Fairy Tail or Mashima Hiro is just including him for marketing purposes. I had my moments with Fairy Tail, but was pretty bored with it by the time I dropped it. And as a general rule Edens Zero doesn’t seem to be as well-regarded by Mashima fans, though that in itself is hardly decisive.
This premiere is just fine, even if perceptibly cheaper-looking than Fairy Tail. I imagine it will please Mashima fans as the usual standards are here – lots of T & A, panty jokes. an amiably goofball protagonist, and Happy being Happy. This time around the focus is on a boy named Shiki, being raised by robots in a kingdom called Granbell that it turns out is actually a theme park planet. Lucy lookalike Rebecca eventually turns up in a spaceship with Happy in tow, adolescent ecchi mishaps ensue, and eventually she and Shiki flee the planet – where the robots are revolting – and Shiki can fulfill his dream of going to space and making friends.
The twist in the story (though one could argue the whole space thing was a twist, I suppose) was that the robot revolution was just a ruse to get Shiki to leave before the robots ran down and stopped working. That was kind of a nice turn, though above and beyond that things felt pretty much by the book. It’s a prequel episode so it would be pointless to draw any conclusions about Edens Zero until the real story gets underway (presumably next week). With Ishihara in charge you know the direction will be competent, so it’s really going to come down to whether Mashima has crafted a story worth following here.
Shaman King 2021 – 01
Just to reiterate, I have almost no baggage with Shaman King 2021. I’ve never read the manga and have probably seen less than 2 episodes of the 2001 series in total. All I know is it was extremely popular, ran for 32 volumes and had a 64-episode partial adaptation, and reportedly had a pretty crappy ending. Apparently there were also some racially insensitive characters as well, though that’s been cleaned up some (whatever that means by Japanese standards) in the remake.
With that said, I can take this series as it is, for better or worse. And the first episode was pretty good, on the whole. The material definitely feels “dated”, though that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The casting is a mix of old (like Konishi Katsuyushi as Amidamaru but also Manta and Hao) and new (like Hikasa Youko as Yoh), and the animation looks pretty clean and modern in a very Saturday morning way. I can’t speak to pacing, because I have no idea how fast the manga lays out these introductory events, but I know that if you can’t do a complete adaptation in 64 episodes you certainly can’t do one in the 52 this version has been announced to run (for now).
One niggle for me is that I have a bit of a block with characters who smile constantly (it was an issue with Yakusoku no Neverland). I get that Yoh is a super nice guy and all, but seeing that smirk non-stop – even if it’s sincere – does grate just a bit. A pet peeve. The premise itself is about at stock shounen as it gets – a kid born into a destiny that impact the whole world, a twin as a rival for that destiny, spirits and spirit battles, a butt-monkey best friend. It’s the sort of thing that can work if embraced unreservedly by the writing, and has the added advantage in 2021 of riding a nostalgia wave since we don’t get so many shounens like that these days. But why do so many guys in this town wear their shirts unbuttoned?
I have no idea whether Shaman King 2021 will interest me enough to blog it. It’d have a better chance in a season with less sheer volume, and it has the feel of a show I’d watch but not have a lot to say about. Still, there’s enough pedigree here that I want to give it a fair shot before I make the call on that, and that means at least one more episode to show me what its made of.
brigid001
April 2, 2021 at 7:35 pmNever read the manga but watched the original Shaman King anime and overall found it enjoyable. Nothing groundbreaking, but found the cast likeable and I remember the voice acting being quite good! Glad to see they have changed one of the main character’s designs (who has yet to appear) as it was quite racially insensitive as you mentioned.
Pacing here was a bit fast for me but pretty much expected given the episode count. Overall though not a bad intro!
Out of curiosity did you end up dropping JJK or did you keep watching? I dropped initially but then did decide to go back to it and overall was fairly enjoyable experience. Again nothing groundbreaking for Shounen, but the fact it lacked a certain annoying character in KNY gave it a certain edge over that show for me.
Guardian Enzo
April 2, 2021 at 8:23 pmNo, I dropped it after about 7-8 episodes. That random tournament arc made no sense and was just stultifying, and all the new characters annoyed the fertilizer out of me.
Rita
April 3, 2021 at 2:13 amI remember very, very little from the Shaman King anime other than the fact that I watched it, but I do remember reading and enjoying the manga (even if the specifics are all blurry now- I just realized it’s been nearly a decade since I read it and I’m currently processing where time has gone). So I am looking forward to the anime, if for no other reason than to see how they end it XD Because the one part I DO remember clearly was the very rushed ending of the manga (technically ended with no proper resolution then started back up in another magazine to finish proper).
Jen
April 3, 2021 at 2:18 amEZ’s episode was fun as a successor to Fairy Tail, sort of reminded me of the early days. Since Fairy Tail was my gateway into manga (D. Gray-man broke me into anime) I tend to forgive the small things that put me off in the episode. I haven’t read the manga so I’ll just watch and see how it goes.
Shaman King I haven’t seen the anime for but did binge the manga a long while back. And watching this felt like opening up a time capsule. Definitely worked in its favor for me since, asides from the nostalgia buzz, felt refreshingly unique. Out of the two, I’m moreso excited for this one and being hopeful that the complete adaptation in 52 episodes somehow works out.
Scampi
April 3, 2021 at 5:42 amI thought Edens Zero is actually better received than Fairy Tail because there is a long-running plot instead of Mashima just winging it with Fairy Tail. The planet designs and human-robot relation/conflict are interesting too, I just hope Mashima don’t get too ambitious with the later for his own good.
Guardian Enzo
April 3, 2021 at 8:47 amI’m only going by aggregator scores, which are obviously a flawed measure but the only tangible one we have. Maybe in Mashima fan circles it’s a different matter.
Archaon
April 3, 2021 at 9:01 pmIt mainly due to how the series start. It’s a combiantion of Mashima basically troll everyone by reusing a lot of design from FT, cameo from FT characters and the first few chapters translation make the MC seem really annoying.
Ramsés
April 3, 2021 at 7:51 amI read a few chapters of Eden’s Zero. I thought it was fine. At least it didn’t seem to me as obsessed with friendship as Fairy Tail (sorry, but it came up to a point where I couldn’t stand it).
On the other hand, I watched Shaman King when I was a kid and I loved it! My classmates and I used to play as if we were characters in the show, so I still have a certain affection for it. I wish the creators a lot of success with the remake!
Guardian Enzo
April 3, 2021 at 8:50 amIt’s funny you say that, because the premiere has the protag basically obsessed with friendship, ROFL. Guess that’s just a Mashima thing – friendship and comically oversized bazongas.
Jindujun93
April 3, 2021 at 3:48 pmAh, Shaman King. I actually never watched the first anime, but did read the manga, and while it can be very entertaining when it is at its strongest, the final third or so was such a catastrophic mess that it actually soured my feelings on everything that came before it as well, which is something only few manga achieved for me so far. I more or less only watched the premiere because I felt like it’ll probably be a mess, so there was some morbid curiosity involved – and yeah, this here kind of has Karakuri Circus written all over it again (though I actually cared about KC, so that adaption hurt). Adapting more content than the first anime with even less episodes seems like a recipe for disaster, so I’m kind of glad that I’m not invested enough to give this more than one episode.
Bob
April 5, 2021 at 9:18 am>And as a general rule Edens Zero doesn’t seem to be as well-regarded by Mashima fans
On the contrary, it’s respected more by Mashima fans.