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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 Give “Lady Freyja” a 3.5/5

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Edens Zero Chapter 280 Review

The race is on for the Crew of Edens to save the life of Mother. They need to summon a Chronophage, but they can’t as long as Cure and Freyja are onboard their ship. And while the fight between Freyja and Homura looks to be interesting, I don’t care at all about the one between Cure and Jinn. Thankfully, that “fight” isn’t even a fight. It’s a curb stomp.

Recap

Despite Ziggy running his fist through Void, that’s not the end of him. Using his Cat Leaper powers, he reverses time and avoids the attack, saving him. Yet Ziggy’s still determined to bring his son down. 

Aboard the Edens Zero, Jinn and Cure continue their battle, with Cure monologuing how his failure to destroy Swan made him realize that he was evil. However, he didn’t care; he liked being evil. As the two continue to clash, it appears like Cure manages to ensnare Jinn with his powers.

Jinn, on the other hand, remains unfazed by anything. First, he says that Cure is trash and always has been. Second, he uses his cybernetics to easily escape Cure’s trap and pummel him. Third, he remembers where Crow’s core was and guesses that it’s the same for Cure. While Cure’s begging for his life, Jinn runs him through with his wind ether, complete with a post-mortem one-liner. 

Review

Well, that was fast. I was hoping that Cure would go down quickly, but I didn’t think it would happen in a single chapter. Either Jinn has gotten stronger, or Cure has gotten weaker. Either way, I wouldn’t call what happened here as a fight. From the expression on his face, it seemed clear that Jinn was in control of the situation from the start. Given how he had fought him in the previous timeline, it makes sense for him to remember how to deal with him. Either way, it was nice to see him get his just desserts for a second time.

More importantly, it was nice to know that in Universe Zero, he never got to commit his biggest crime against sentient life. That means that Holy never lost her family or went through her horrible experience. Everyone wins, except for Cure. But that doesn’t really matter.

As for Void, it looked like I was right on the money about him using his time powers to undo his injuries. The only way that sort of thing could get anymore broken is if he could use it to stop time or fast forward it around himself. Hopefully, he’ll be kept busy long enough for the Crew of Edens plan to work. 

This chapter was basically the equivalent of that one meme where someone’s telling someone else to “shut their ***** *** up.” I liked that, and I liked the fact that we’re not going to see Cure again. However, I’m more curious as to how Homura’s fight will turn out. Bring the pain, Homura!

I Give “Wind Lance” a 3/5

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Edens Zero Chapter 131 Review/Recap

So, I think that we can all agree that after the knockdown, dragged out fight on Foresta, Shiki and the others all need training. If they’re going up against Justice, Ziggy, Shura, and Emperor Nero, they need to get stronger. Thankfully, Xenolith is going to train Shiki up to defeat his Grandpa, and the others are going to get in on this. But I should warn you guys: Xenolith’s training methods are a little…out there.

Look, we know Mashima seems to like using fanservice and appealing to fetishes. Let’s not judge him so quickly.

Recap

Fifteen years ago, Ziggy taught Shura how to use gravity Ether Gear. As a result, present-day Shura’s flourished to the point where he calls himself the King of Gravity. However, he also proves to a tyrannical king. Right before he and the Oceans 6 head out, he murders the lone machine member, Reverend Cyca. When the others become horrofied, this is the guy’s rationale:

In the sky above Foresta, Xenolith has the crew of Edens Zero undergo intense physical training using their VR system. According to Witch, the tech they use syncs with reality, letting their bodies feel the burn. She calls it VR-synC. Much to everyone’s surprise, Kleene and Jinn also join in on the training, with Kleene saying that she intends to join the crew alongside her brother.

In addition to physical training, Xeno insists on teaching everyone how to use Ether Gear even when physically restrained. And rather than explain it, I’m just going to show it outright.

I believe this is a case of expectations vs. reality. With the reality involving everyone being suspended from rope and trying to activate their Ether Gear while Xeno throws stuff at them. Unfortunately, not only do they fail to make any headway, but the VR-C gets hacked. The culprit? Apparently none other than Ziggy the Demon King!

Review

So, I’ve got several thoughts about this latest chapter that I would like to make known.

Firstly, I am very disturbed by the level of sadistic cruelty exhibited by Shura. He outright murdered one of his comrades!

It’s made even more jarring with how this chapter reveals that Shura used to be a sweet little boy. But between the time he learned how to use Ether Gear and the present, he became a monster. It’s sad, really.

Secondly, I had a feeling that Kleene and Jinn would join the crew of Edens Zero full time. Hell, I guessed that Jinn would be an eventual ally of Shiki years ago. Also, Kleene’s smile must be protected at all costs.

Third, Xenolith’s a weird guy; I still can’t pin down his personality, aside from the fact that he’s a ladies man. At the very least, he’s taking his job as a teacher seriously. And since he’s going to have to go through maintenance in a week for an extended period of time, he has to.

Fourth, as pervy as using bondage training may be, I can see the logic behind it. The best way to train oneself to use Ether Gear while restrained is through practical experience. And it’s not like Xeno’s intentionally making it sexy. Though he did that to Weisz to troll him, which is awesome.

Good chapter all around. I was caught off guard by the bondage training, as this is still a Shonen manga. That said, it’s not the craziest training method I’ve seen in manga.

I Give “VR-C” a 3/5

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