Eden's Zero Review - The Sun Jewel Arc

Written by Shiggins

An arc that shines?

Spanning from chapter 49 to 68, the Sun Jewel Arc almost feels like the conclusion of Eden's Zero's first major quest; Finding the four Shining Stars. We've had Witch, Sister and Hermit, with Hermit easily taking the prize for best arc so far at this point, so I think most of us was expecting another "Do the thing to get the person on our party" arc. Instead we got... something better, I'd say.

Note: SPOILERS for the Sun Jewel Arc.

That's just an assault on the eyes.

After having discovered the location of Hermit, the crew of Eden's Zero headed to the "planet of time", known as Mildian, needing information from the fortune teller Xiaomei (who you might remember best as the narrator) to get the location of the final Shining Star, Valkyrie Yuna. After winning the information from her by going against some strange fighters, the group head to the planet Sun Jewel, a mining planet of gemstones. And of course, things quickly get dangerous.

I was wrong. THIS is an assault!

Since Valkyrie was Homura's mentor, your chances of liking this arc will mostly depend on how much you enjoy Homura... luckily for me, she's probably my favourite EZ character so far. She's funny, quirky but is also a badass when the time calls for it and not afraid to join in the fun alongside the hardships, which I believe is very important for a character to feel like part of the team. So an entire arc all about her and her mentor is already a win in my book.

The plot of the arc is very simple. They arrive on the Sun Jewel, which is ruled by a figure known as "The Crimson Woman", Kurenai. Shiki and Homura quickly break one of her many rules, and end up imprisoned within the gemstone mines that help power the entire city. Meanwhile, Rebecca tries to figure out how to save them by joining forces with several new characters, including an anime-obsessed b-cuber, and a panty-stealing miner.

"References" like this are so distracting that I'm convinced Eden's Zero is going to canonically meet Fairy Tail one day.

So do we finally get to meet Valkyrie in this arc? No, in a surprising twist, she's already dead! Like... dead-dead! Proper dead! No resurrection or fake-out, or even a final scene where she gets to say goodbye to Homura. Scenes like this are what help keep Eden's Zero from just being Fairy Tail in spaaaaace because this sort of stuff can't be reversed, which is something Fairy Tail liked to do a lot, let's be honest here. Maybe we'll find a recording of Valkyrie in the future, but for now she's dead, frozen like a statue, and even gets decapitated by a villain at one point for no reason except to be a dick! Bloody hell Mashima, when did you upgrade your core from soft to hard?!

Of course, the edge of Eden's Zero isn't just in Valkyrie's fate but also our main villain, Kurenai. Throughout the arc, we see the cruelty of how she manipulated Valkyrie for her own end goals, glimpses of how horrible her life before were, and a recurring minor character who she turns from sexy boytoy to a personal tortured pet for nothing more than a good laugh. And by god, the revenge he gets on her at the end... I don't even want to imagine the implications of what he did to her, but let's just say I believe she and Professor Umbridge have something in common now.

Homura's development is far more welcome, not because it's less horrific, but because it brings her exactly where I wanted her to be; An official investment in the crew. Before this arc, it was made clear that Homura's goal was not to help Shiki or Rebecca, but find her mentor, and she'd go with whoever she could to accomplish this. While she was with the group and having fun with them, it was implied she could easily pack her bags and go it alone when the job is done. Now, Homura has a new motivation, is openly happy to be with them, and is clearly not leaving anytime soon. It's an important arc for the character, and one I'm glad happened sooner rather than later, not wanting her to be detached from the others for too long.

The power of a death in fiction, used correctly.

Eden's Zero continues it's trend of world-building with the Sun Jewel planet, with lots of rules and giant robots, but it is yet another big metropolis city in a galaxy full of them and that's disappointing. When I remember other manga out there that involve lots of travel and different locations, I remember how absurd and beautiful they can get. One Piece's Water 7, Naruto's Konoha, Hunter x Hunter's Greed Island... Cities are cool, yes, but let's get some really messed up and unique places soon! Something that pleases the eye. Something more inspirational than a big busy city yet again. And as proven in the past many times, Mashima-senpai is capable of that.

The new characters are quite a combination. On the one hand, we've got annoying panty-stealing thieves (seriously, anime love that trope, don't they?) and typical pain-causing bastards with a penchant for cruelty, neither of which I enjoyed that much. Then again, we've also got Kurenai, the flashbacks that showed us Valkyrie, and a loser who loves his anime. Something about that last one really rubbed me up the right way.

Not the hero we deserve, but the one we need.

As for the returning characters, they get the job done well enough. Rebecca is still awesome in my books and she gets something that is clearly going to be a massive influence for the story in the future, Shiki gets to fight a giant robot, which is hilarious to me because of the contrast of a kimono-wearing empress inside a mecha suit, and Weisz takes on a strange pseudo-Great Saiyaman role. They bring out some fun fight scenes, sure, but nothing that worth talking about except a team battle against a jewel-covered beast, and the way Homura defeats the evil Garrot. That ending for him was nnnnnnnnnnasty.

There's also Captain Conner here but he's not important right now.

To be brief, the Sun Jewel Arc is all about Homura, and everything else has fallen by the wayside. Shiki and Rebecca take a backseat so she can grow as a person at a very welcome pace, so she better not be your least favourite character. If so, this arc might be as rough for you as it was that poor boytoy... But as stated before, I enjoy Homura and thus was able to enjoy this arc quite a fair bit, thanks to some ridiculous fight scenes, painful sadism and engagement with the swordswoman. For those who want a comparison between Eden's Zero and Fairy Tail, I can say that when I was 70 chapters in with Fairy Tail, I was not nearly as invested as I currently am 70 chapters into Eden's Zero. Let's hope that's a very good sign.

To end my review, here are some Homura images for you to appreciate.

Oh manga. Whether it's Fairy Tail, One Piece, Naruto, Dragon Ball, Black Clover, Inuyasha or even the great UQ Holder, you always have friendship save the day.

Shiggins:[Admin]
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Born under the stars of the Dark Gods, Shiggins owns the power of the Great Eye and is utterly magnificent in his omniscience. If you dare to discover more about someone as great as him, then go ahead. And to all my friends and family members, YOU are wrong and I should be disappointed! Not the other way round!,. You can find out about him or ask him stuff on ask.fm/shigginsishere or go to his tumblr page http://otakugajeel.tumblr.com/