With the recent announcement of the Edens Zero anime I keep seeing the same questions, confusions, and common misconceptions on absolutely every platform I go on. I thought it’d be helpful to compile them all in one place and try to clear up some things people genuinely seem to be confused about. With Edens Zero being the third work from Mashima, it’s subject to some... opinionated responses. I wanted to create a list of actual facts and information because it’s important for others to be able to learn about it without the individual biases of internet haters / supporters being involved.
If there are any questions you yourself have, or others that you’ve seen commonly asked or given incorrect responses to, feel free to leave a reply and I’ll try to update the list when I get the chance. Also, feel free to share this with anyone you know who might be confused or need clarification, the more factual information we can spread the better.
Lastly, I’ll be staying as spoiler free with this as possible, so if you’ve never seen Edens Zero, or are contemplating watching it, this won’t spoil anything plot wise whatsoever. If anything, I think it would be helpful to read this before getting into the series so you’ll be somewhat prepared for what you’ll see, but that’s up to you.
This is gonna be a monster of a post, so check it out under the cut below!
[Updated: Jan 20, 2021]
Just a tiny disclaimer: I’m not going to be answering questions such as “is this as good as Fairy Tail?” or “is the story writing better than Fairy Tail’s?” because that is extremely subjective. I can make a post similar to this one about my feelings about the series in response to questions like that if anyone is interested, but at least here, I’m aiming to be as factual as possible.
Why does this look like Fairy Tail?
I’ll be honest, it was hard to choose a first question to start this out with. But I believe that this is the best possible place to start.
The reason that Edens Zero looks similar to Fairy Tail (in terms of art style) is because the authors of both series’ are the same guy: Hiro Mashima. Just by looking at Edens Zero, there are notable similarities stylistically and character design wise in relation to some of his older works. So that’s where that familiar feeling is coming from when you look at Edens Zero.
Why are some of the characters in Edens Zero the same as characters in Fairy Tail?
Short answer: They’re not.
Long answer: There are characters in Edens Zero that are specifically designed to resemble characters from Fairy Tail. It’s not coincidence, or even a lack of creativity. Mashima would like people to be able to make connections and draw similarities between the characters of all his works. That being said, he makes sure to include differences between them so that his audience knows they are not the same characters.
If you’re concerned about the personalities of the characters in Edens Zero closely relating to those of Fairy Tail characters, then the series has already given us little to no need to worry. Where a character may fall short of a completely unique design, they often make up for it with their distinct personality and their backstory. A character that has a striking resemblance to one you already know might be an entirely different person in Edens Zero.
So when you look at the protagonists of the series, and they remind you of some familiar faces, those familiar faces are exactly who Mashima wants you to think about. But that isn’t to say they are mere “clones” of the people who came before them. And that goes for more than just the protagonists actually, but they’re the most notable similarities early on.
Is the Happy in Edens Zero the same Happy as the one in Fairy Tail?
No, the Happy in Edens Zero is NOT the same Happy as the one in Fairy Tail. Yes they have the same name and similar designs, but they are different people (cats?) with different backstories and different companions.
Why is Happy even in Edens Zero?
He’s the companion character. Mashima dabbled with making him a different species, but ended up settling on a classic fan favorite design. He sees Happy sort of like his mascot, since he has now represented both Fairy Tail and Edens Zero.
If you look closely, there are other non human characters who pop up from Fairy Tail, as well as Mashima’s eldest animated series, Rave Master.
Does Edens Zero happen in the same universe as Fairy Tail? Alternate universe? (Fairy Tail in space? Fairy Tail in the future?)
The Fairy Tail and Edens Zero universes are completely separate. Edens Zero is not a Fairy Tail time skip, nor are any of the characters in any way related to Fairy Tail characters. (If me hinting at it wasn’t enough: Eden’s Zero is not Fairy Tail Next Generation)
Alas, that would mean that the male protagonist is not the secret love child of Natsu and Gray, but you’re free to write as much fanfiction about that as you like!
Is Edens Zero a continuation/spin-off/reboot/sequel to Fairy Tail?
Edens Zero is a fully original work, unrelated to the story of Fairy Tail. (Does it feel like the millionth time I’ve said that, because it should). So no, it’s not a continuation. Edens Zero also doesn’t qualify to be a spin off because it’s not a subset of Fairy Tail; it isn’t the Fairy Tail story or world twisted / changed in any way because Edens Zero is a standalone piece.
It also stands to reason that based on everything I’ve already said, it isn’t a Fairy Tail reboot either. Edens Zero will take you on a completely different story, because the two series’ aren’t linked. And finally, no, Edens Zero is not a sequel to Fairy Tail because guess what? Fairy Tail actually has a canon sequel! It’s a biweekly manga series that goes by the name ‘Fairy Tail 100 Years Quest’. So logically, Edens Zero can’t be a Fairy Tail sequel when one already exists.
(Also, per the dictionary definition of the word “ripoff” – an act or instance of stealing off of another – Edens Zero doesn’t qualify. You can’t really steal something you already own.)
End Note:
Edens Zero is the third work from Hiro Mashima getting an anime, and it’s understandable that there’s a lot of confusion around it. Especially after the PV dropped and it was clear that the art style was very similar. And not to mention everyone losing their minds when they saw Happy in this strange new world. All of a sudden it raises these questions and there isn’t really a definitive place to get answers.
At this point I’m sure I sound like a broken record. But I’ll repeat these things as many times as needed to clear up the misconceptions and misinformation being spread around. As new people get introduced to Edens Zero, they will likely be asking these same questions for years to come. So I found it useful to just try and catch the problem now while it’s still new.
If the day ever does come where Mashima tells us it was all a hoax, everything was a lie, and he was playing us like an instrument the entire time... then I’ll be sure to update this.
Again, there are probably plenty of questions that I never touched on so feel free to comment anything else you or others need clarification on! I was doing some research for this and wow, Google really isn’t spoiler free, is it? Which is obvious, because it’s just a machine, but I hate that even if someone wants more information on something, looking it up is out of the question because that would give them spoilers about some pretty crucial plot details. That makes me feel awful, as a person who absolutely hates spoilers. So I want this to be a compact, spoiler free, factually based post about a lot of the common questions in the Edens Zero fandom.
Bet your account isn’t doing well because you post about a couple that will never interact again... try posting other characters too maybe?
Lmfao
Honey....
they’re 👏🏻 fucking 👏🏻 in the 👏🏻future👏🏻😂 !!
I reblog and post about almost all EZ content wtf yall on?!
The reason my EZ blog aint doing as well as i hoped is cause there’s already other EZ blogs bigger than mine that people can go to, but i don’t blame them for it though. Also im not the type to bandwagon on bullshit sometimes like everyone else is *cough* Weiszmura.
I was just being whiny cause i was tired, i was working on both EZ artwork and FT artwork and on the side i was working on stuff of my own, so seeing my stuff not being appreciated like some other peoples actually upset me a little and made me think about it because i work hard and i put effort into the stuff i do. I thought about just doing FT art again because to have my work for EZ ignored or not appreciated hurt, i love EZ and i love promoting the fandom, it’s characters and Mashimas work, so i was upset. But now i know that theres fans that actually do appreciate the EZ art i put out so im fine now lmao! You can go home 👋🏻😴
I wouldn’t have gotten into the fandom if it weren’t for my friends but i have some things i want to say about the ships.
Shicca
Cute, okay, doesn’t grab my attention a lot. not much to say about it since its going well.
weicca
strange but they have a funny, fun dynamic. itll be weird if weisz from the past were to meet his future self and see himself dating the kid he raised tho...they have a lot of moments ill say it could just be platonic though since its more about joking around and teasing.
Weiszmura
its a no from me. they don’t interact and she’s clearly more into shiki. i seen people only bandwagoning on this ship then when they read the story its like “you click bated me” theres more on weicca than this ship.
shikimura
Its unpopular i even forgot to add it right now but if she wasn’t trying to kill him and what not i think it go well but im rooting for the latter.
Weishiki
(don’t know if thats how their calling it)
Haven’t seen much on it and im not into yaoi so ...?? i guess its fine ? shiki isn’t a bitch so i like that he’d kick weiszs ass if he messes with him.
lastly
wunny
this ship is okay....i would hate it if weisz treated her like an object (pays attention only to her body) but the chapter covers and whatever i see on them their interactions are always casual convo...so that makes me feel a lot better about it.
i don’t like that weisz is shipped with females he clearly only cares about their body’s.
I'm not making much progress on EZ because cyber genres aren't really my thing but I really want to get more into it cause of wanting to know more about Shiki x Rebecca's relationship
Don’t bother interacting with my posts if you’re a fuck yeah blog. know i dislike you and your fuck yeah blogs. you’re all just in it for the popularity and idiots fall for it.
