Edens Zero Chapter 281 Review/Recap
Last time on Edens Zero, the Edens Zero came under attack from the last of the Oracion Seis Galactica: Cure and Lady Freyja. The good news is that Jinn managed to defeat Cure with little effort. The bad news is that Homura has to fight Lady Freyja, the greatest swordswoman alive, by herself. She already showed off her power by tearing Homura’s clothes to shreds, giving fans that titular Mashima fanservice. Lady Freyja is as deadly as claimed. However, the silver lining is that we might be in a real fight as we reach the story’s climax.
Recap
With Jinn slaying Cure, the other members of the Crew of Edens are freed from his tentacle restraints. However, the One is still on the Zero’s tail since an AI runs it. Worse, it’s only now that Valkyrie realizes that Homura isn’t there. To her horror, she’s fighting Lady Freyja on her own.
In the Spa, Homura barely manages to hold Freyja off with her swordsmanship, forcing her to enter Overdrive even to have a chance. As the two sword-wielders clash, Freyja monologues about why she’s working for Void: she wants to die. She’s so strong that no one can beat her, and since Void’s from the future, she doesn’t want to fight him. She’d rather die aboard the Zero at the hands of the One. Seeing how good Homura is, Freyja decides to make the girl her final opponent. Until that is, she senses someone stronger than Homura aboard Valkyrie.
Enraged at the idea of Freyja laying a hand on her master, Homura charges right at the android. All that accomplishes, though, is getting her cut down. Then, to rub salt in the wound, Freyja reveals their Ether power levels. Homura is at 620K. Freyja is at 75 million.
Review
I don’t know whether to be worried that Freyja is this strong or excited about how she is.
With Cure and Freyja coming in when they did, it felt like Mashima was trying to add them at the last minute. It is a convenient way to get them out of the way before the story’s climax, especially since one of them is Cure. I didn’t want him back, and it felt pointless with how fast Jinn took him down. However, at least now we know Freyja does live up to the hype. That said, I do have issues with her use of power-level scaling.
I can accept that she is as strong as she claims, but the remark about Valkyrie being stronger than Homura? Valkyrie herself expressed her opinion that Homura had surpassed her. While Homura did deny this notion, the implication remained. Hearing what she said feels like it’s invalidating everything. Or it’s just that Freyja is that strong.
Despite my complaints about this making Homura look bad, I am happy seeing how Freyja does live up to the hype. After Cure showed up and got beat in two chapters, I was worried that she would get the same treatment. Instead, she might be one of the strongest enemies the Crew of Edens will ever face. It will either take Homura and Valkyrie working together to take her down or the entire crew fighting her to take her down. Either way, this fight will take a while. I’m also concerned that this fight might end with Valkyrie dying again.
This was a good chapter despite my issues with using power levels this late in the game. Freyja is as dangerous as Mashima implied. I can’t wait for what happens next.
I think I know where Mashima is taking this. Now that you remind me of what she said, it was also said at the beginning of Universe 0 that their bodies aren’t able to handle the power they gained 3 years in the future. Shiki was the only one to learned the “Overdrive Route” trick, but when Rebecca Overdrived in the same arc- her body couldn’t take it either.
Maybe Homura is the same case: She’s stronger than Valkyrie in 3 years, but her body- Overdrive or not- can’t handle it. For her to match up to Freyja, she’ll have to learn a new route for Overdrive. And I think she’ll tap into it more in the way Shiki did on Lendard: Experiencing Loss. I think you’re right on the money with her killing Valkyrie. Though………… that set’s up the expectation of Witch also dying, I think. Valkyrie dies fighting- Witch dies protecting. The Edens One won’t be stopped that easily- just sayin’!