The Titan And The Witch. Edens Zero Chapter 201 BREAKDOWN

I was originally going to title this review “Attack The Titan!” as a reference to Attack On Titan, but I felt that was a little to “on the nose.” They’re both just fancy ways to say that we’re finally focusing on the fight against Crow. And I call Holy a “Witch” because……… she’s as evil and conniving as one, and she is in the “Steel Sorceress 94,” so……….. she’s kind of a Witch. One that I would let hex me anytime. Did I say that? Let’s just get on with it! Edens Zero Chapter 201: “Melt.” Let’s begin………

REVIEW

The chapter opens back in the core of Lendard, where Ziggy left the rest of the crew. They’re still shook up seeing their mother’s here- Weisz already knew she was dead, but seeing her body dug up like this messed him up, and Homura didn’t want to see her mother at all, but seeing her corpse like this is still pretty shocking. And then you have Rebecca; her earliest memories started when she was already an orphan- she didn’t know what happened to her parents, and decided to not think about it. So finding out the her mom is not only alive, but an important figure in some church- it’s not making any sense to her……..

Homura suggests that they grab Nox and begin Operation Planet Eater, but Rebecca doesn’t want to begin with so many people here on Lendard- dead or alive. Weisz agrees that he’d rather bury his mother back on Norma, so Homura suggests that they at least grab their own mom’s and bury them properly. Rebecca still doesn’t want to; she wants to get them all. So reminds her that their friends are still in combat. Rebecca’s Compromise: They use Warrior Maid 95 to grab as many capsules as they can, and THEN “Planet Eater” goes into motion.

Speaking of; we cut back over to the Edens Zero, still in combat with aerial combatants and the likes. Hermit returns to the Control Room. She tells Connor that the intruders have both been dealt with; Killer self destructed and Clown is powered off, with Sister keeping an eye on him in the brig. So now they can focus all their attention on Crow. Kleene says that the main canon “Star Bringer” is at 70% charge, and Hermit honestly thinks that’s enough. Problem: Crow Absorbs Energy– as Kris and the others learned swarming him.

And of course; physical attacks are nothing. So they’re not even sure they’re do anything if Star bringer reaches max power. But Holy says it’ll be enough- if they can hit him dead in his core. Which is what she aims to do with her Ether Gear: “Melt.” Self explanatory. But first she has to find it, and for that she’ll have to find where the energy goes when it hits him. She looks for the flow of his ether, and finds it- melting a hole straight to it!!

With a hole directly to his core and the Star Bringer at 100%; it looks like the Edens Zero has won this battle. But just then……….. Crow sends out these small metal tentacles that latch onto the Warrior Maid 95 and sucks it into himself- smirking as he does so. But she manages to get a link through to the Zero, and tells them to fire anyway. But Hermit knows Shiki, and what he said when Holy came aboard: “Treat Her As One Of Them.” Knowing that- They can’t do it.

The end of the chapter jumps back to that moment 20,000 years in the future. Big Piece Of Information: Humans are extinct at this point. These 2 droids have found Human bodies- male and female. The male specimen is alive, so they plan to recover their findings at their Home Base: Planet Eden. Edens Zero Chapter 201 END!!! It’s not much, but it’s Something!!

Analysis

……….. I’m noticing something with Rebecca with the help of IronNancy on Youtube. There’s a bit of an “inconsistency” to her character when it comes to this sort of thing; she was the one whoe taught Pino that you shouldn’t abandon your friends when the Chronophage came to Guilst, but then turned around and said that they needed to get away from Nero 66 without even trying to think of a way to stop it. But here she’s stubbornly trying to save people who are already dead? Does that seem right? You could look at it in a few different ways:

1. Each situation was different, requiring a different way of thinking- 2 cases in which they have the time do something, and 1 where there wasn’t.
2. Knowing that it was her power that tends to summon these things; she’s being overly cautious with her powers now. She’s trying to find any reason not to use them because she’s still trying to reject that what happened to Norma was her fault.
3. Each situation had a different number of people in crisis; she only had to save 1 person on Guilst herself; they only had 20 minutes to evacuate a WHOLE @$$ PLANET for Nero 66; but it’s this 1 room on Lendard.

It could just be that I’m looking into too much- that scenario 1 is the case and she needs to think differently depending on the situation. I don’t think that Mashima is ever going to address it directly, and it probably doesn’t mean anything. Or…………. is he pulling even more from Elie in Rave Master than anyone is thinking?

In that series; Elie……………………. was not “Elie.” She was “Resha Valentine,” the woman responsible for creating the Rave Stones. And sometimes; Resha’s consciousness would take over Elie, and she would do what important character like that do in stories. We have seen 2 cases in which Rebecca inhabits a future version of herself- chapters 69 and 149. What happens to her when she’s unconscious in the present? “She’s just asleep,” right? Yes, that’s what we’re told. But what if some of their knowledge of future events seeps into her mind, telling her what happened so she can either go along with it- or prevent it?

All I’m saying is that Shiki has only recently become conscious of his ability to “make people’s memories fall into him-” he actively did that with Brigadine. But he’s made memories “fall into this world” without knowing, as we’ve seen with Pino in chapter 97. This indicates that memories of yourself from another timeline can “fall” into you. So is this the case with Rebecca? I definitely think so, but I could just be looking too much into a perfectly logical situation. Either way I kind of liked the scene when Homura yelled at Rebecca.

Weisz and Happy are trying to ease her mind; Homura’s completely focused on the mission at hand and needs Rebecca to get out of her “feels” and play her part! Maybe a bit “cold,” but perfectly honest. This is a War– you can think about these moral quandaries when you’ve saved all Organic Life In The Universe, woman!! He says from the safety of his computer screen unable to fully comprehend what’s running through her mind now that she knows she can summon a beast that changed 1 world forever and potentially wiped away thousands if not millions of lives………

Something that I just thought of having read and commented on RJ Writing Ink‘s review of the chapter is the idea of what the Flashforward is trying to accomplish. It has been heavily hinted that Ziggy is Shiki from an alternate time- one where things………. didn’t go so well; one in which he had to be completely rebuilt from the ground up as a robot. Things like Mashima originally having Shiki’s name be “Ziggy;” the double page from chapter 165; the countless times the Shining Stars have compared them; and likely other small details when you look through the story since the concept of time travel was introduced.

But with the male specimen in the Flashforward being alive, but in the VACUUM OF SPACE on a barren planet next to an actual corpse; I’m starting to think: This is Ziggy’s Origin Story. These 2 droids took him to the Planet Edens and rebuilt him, giving him the name “Ziggy.” And that Shiki came back in time for the purpose of stopping whatever happened!! I want to keep talking about this, but anything beyond the initial premise would be speculation- speculation that would go to waste if this theory ends up being untrue. But I think that you can gather where this scenario would be headed.

All this said; there would be gaps in the theory, such as “Why did he help build Granbell?,” “Where does Xenolith come in?,” the Shining Stars origins, and even “How did he manage to go back to the past?” But I think that this might it. It’s clear that this Flashforward is important somehow, but how does it tie into the main story other than “being the worst case scenario?”

Other than that; we have the fight against Crow. Very underwhelming part of the arc; I don’t know what Mashima’s intention with this plot line is. Open up a new spot on Galactica for Justice by having Crow killed off? I mean; if the crew doesn’t fire the cannon, then Holy’s just gonna melt Crow from the inside. Though that would also destroy the Warrior Maiden 95, thus making it more difficult to get all these moms off of Lendard before it gets rewound. If that even happens because of how Rebecca is acting right now. I don’t know man; I’m not as “psyched” for this part of the arc as I thought I was………………

Conclusion

Not, uh…………….. Not my favorite chapter. It might get better upon binge reading it when the volume comes out, but………. right now it’s kind of underwhelming. This arc has had more “downs” than “ups,” but I’m holding out for next weeks chapter. No spoilers, but……….Heh heh heh he…… So cool. And we only have the title: “True Face!”

But that’s all I got for the lot of ya today, folks. Until the next post, everyone; Have a Magically Wonderful Day. By~~~~e!!