You like the title? If I’ve changed it by now, then the original title was “A Battle In Miltz Hot Spring! Rebecca vs Joker Helix!!” A retro-type anime intro. I had a WEEK to workshop the title, so I decided to go with something a little cheesy at the moment. I’m starting this post Saturday, July 22nd, 2023, at 4:42 pm- a whole WEEK before this chapter would officially come out!! He says like he’s 110% certain you’ll even get to SEE this post; I don’t know what my schedule for work looks like the week this post is supposed to come out(not that it MATTERS because my Dear Store Manager wouldn’t be able to make a schedule to save her life). Hopefully this post doesn’t go to waste; I hope you guys get to see it because I think the introduction is gonna good. Wow, jerk myself off, why don’t I? Did I really just say that? Ew.
Eh, whatever; I’m in a bit of a mood at the time of this introduction. Maybe that’ll change after looking at Feather more. Okay, let’s get serious: Rebecca is about to do battle with one of the Oracion Seis Galactica of Universe 0!! Well, that’s how it looks. You’ll see what I mean in a minute. Let’s just start the post already(he says like he didn’t stop there and waited for the chapter to come out after this)! Edens Zero Chapter 249: “Within The Stillness Of Time.” SIDE NOTE: The chapter leaked a week early. Good thing I already finished the recent “Chainsaw Man” post in a day!!
Overview
Picking Up From The Last Chapter: Time is frozen for all except Rebecca, who finds it difficult to get out of the Hot Spring due to the Miltz’ frigid temperature. Never noticing that The Enemy Is Floating Behind Her. She sees them, and the enemy attacks with their hair. She avoids the attack, and saves Feather from another. The enemy gets under water and kicks her out of the springs- and making her Freakin’ Cold. She continues avoiding attacks, and finds that her body temperature won’t allow her to Overdrive! She gets caught by a hair tendril, and is sent flying through the wall between the Men and Women’s baths- boob first into Shiki’s face. He wouldn’t mind even if he WASN’T stuck in suspended animation. Though Rebecca- being active- realizes that she’s stark naked right now. And that reminds her of something.
She recalls the events of chapter 84, when she moved from Universe 1 World 29 to Universe 2 World 30- in the shower. She puts that together with what Witch told them in chapter 235 about “Ether Activating Easier When Naked” and the knowledge that she no longer has the power to travel through time, and realizes that this is the enemies doing. And she manages to catch a glimpse of their Name Tag: “Joker.” She is fighting Joker Helix Of The Oracion Seis Galactica. And losing because she can’t use her Ether gear that effectively in the cold.
She gets kicked into a building and manages to wrap herself in a towel. She’s trying to get inside where it’s warm, but Helix chases her down and kicks her through the floor into some Engine Room- where it’s much warmer. Meaning our girl can fight back!! Which she does impressively, even breaking part of the Engine room and sending it Helix’ way and finishing it in Overdrive with “Bellholy Needle(a reference to her first use of Ether Gear).” But Helix is still rearing to go. Until a Gunman shoots them through the head and reveals that Helix is just Joker’s “Alter Ego” under Void’s command. The REAL Joker seems to be the Gunman- the one and only Professor Weisz Steiner!! At least that’s what it seems to be. Edens Zero Chapter 249 END!! To be Continued In Chapter 250: “Joker.” So we’re Finally meeting the Professor- after seeing him for the first time in Rebecca’s flashback in chapter 2 of this story; NOW we’re meeting him? Better late than never, I guess……..
REVIEW
I wanna say “I Have A Bit of Time On My Hands,” but, uh……….. time FLIES when you’re happy and DRAGS when you’re miserable. So I’m gonna make the most of the time I have talking about something I didn’t get to last week due to the lackluster Dragon Ball Super review. 1) Feather’s Body. So Nice, He Drew It THRICE. I don’t know what kid of lives the Interstelar have lead in Universe 0, but we didn’t know what “Tragedy” befell them in the other Universes either. Mashima said in his afterwords for Volume 27 that he “no longer cares” to draw the darker stories we had prior to Universe 0. It spun off from a name he came up for for Universe 0, which basically talked about how making the “Happy Days” story relies a lot on “Circumstance” and that his view on the subject was that “It’s Fine So Long As The Reader is Happy.” To which I say: Eh. I liked the reaction to Witch and Valkyrie’s deaths and how well Mashima handled the death of a loved one; Belial Goer Was F*ckin’ LEGENDARY; and a lot of character development ended up coming from those Darker Stories- I ultimately see what he means.
Sister, Homura, and Elsie all had a “Survivor’s Guilt” story with people they cherished dying one after the other; Justice was- as RJ Writing Ink put it- a “Knight Templar” whose only story revolved around “Revenge Revenge Revenge” like a certain Red eyed Ninja but didn’t have that “cool” factor to him; and making multiple dark stories leads to Edgelord Territory. Because the more and more dark stories you write- the “Darker” and “Darker” you get until you cross certain lines I shouldn’t have to say. It was nice for a time, and I won’t lie that some of the darker moments during Kaede War weren’t some of its better qualities- I understand his decision. This group has suffered enough. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised in Holy’s sister were alive and well in this Universe. I want to say that the fact that Cure is still a villain and Holy joining Interstelar means that Sarah has to have died, but…….. Not really, from all that we’re seeing in Universe 0. And we straight up don’t know why the others have joined, so Mashima just has a clean slate to make whatever kind of story he wants for them here.
And of course: The Doorway To Mother. “Who The H#ll Built It?” I bet would be everyone’s first question. I’m gonna assume someone from the Dark Ages- the Original Adventurer who found Mother, I bet. I was under the assumption that- once the Relic they made in chapter 111– had absorbed a sufficient amount of Mother Ether, then it would just “Make The Path” on its own- just rise up one day and make a Light Path that they needed to follow. This works, too, I suppose; certainly has a lot more lore potential, I guess. But the fact that no Adventurer who has gone hasn’t found her means something’s on the way there- something that stops every Adventurer dead in their Tracks. What could this be, I wonder? I take you back to chapter 5, where we first here the term “Time Slip.”
This term exists for a reason: To describe a random jump through time. Where did this term come from and why does it have to exist. MINI THEORY: The Quest Towards Mother Ends Up Sending People To Random Points In Time- be it a cosmic accident or fate itself at work, following this path sends you through wormholes that lead to various moments in the Universe. This might be how we tie back to the fabled “Dark Ages” that Ether Gear originates in; how we meet the Heavenly Knights of The Dancing Sakura and see Human Xenolith; how we get the origins of Ether Gear; and maybe even find out who the the Adventurer was the found Mother in the first place. Wouldn’t it be crazy- if it was Shiki that was the Adventurer? He might very well be the Reincarnate of that Adventurer- “Born Again” after encountering Mother. This leads into the idea of this story being a bit of a Time Loop situation, and the main story we’ve been following being the loop that breaks it. That’s one idea!
Then of course there’s Pino’s Hidden Memories. Wonder why Ziggy saw fit to lock up that information? Rachel said it was a “precious” memory, so it’s not like it’s something “tragic” or “traumatic,” but it’s certainly something story critical, considering the Human variants Shiki saw on Kaede. Maybe it pertains to why they’re machines? Or why they’re based on Humans? That part isn’t clear. It would have to be based on because- again– probably not something sad. Then again, considering Sister was sick in her past; it might be something similar to Happy’s original story in chapter 2: Treasured Friends of hers that died but were made into Machines by Ziggy. Something to that effect, maybe.
Then you have this chapter. Remember my review for chapter 242? I talked a lot about how well written Rebecca is, and about how she wasn’t buying Muller’s ploy. That turned out to not be the case; she fell for it in an instance of………. I don’t what term to use- “Mischaracterization;” “Character Assassination(this one might be too extreme a term),” or what have you- but it was MAD out of character I felt. I feel like Rebecca should have seen through that trap when she heard Shiki say “My Dear” and acting differently, but………… Whatever. I just know that I mentioned how strong a fighter she is and how well she adapts to the situations she finds herself in(most notably being able to find clothes when hers come off). This chapter shows that perfectly; she not innately tough like the rest of her crew- and even they had to go through a lot to be as strong as they are. So she was always left to work Twice As Hard as the rest of them- especially when she was without her Ether Gear at the start of the series. This chapter shows that- even after unlocking her power and getting a debuff in the form of her losing her Time Reversal abilities- she’s kept that adaptability.
I mean, Buck @$$ naked in the Freezing Cold after a Hot Spring, and she managed to get a New Oracion Seis Galactica member into a situation where she could win! Alone!! Our girl’s tough. Though I am curious how Helix was able to pause time like this………… Actually, it makes a little bit of sense. I mean; “Cat Leaper” may not be able to move through or reverse time anymore- and it’s only though Shiki’s gravity and the Anti Matter bombs that anyone was able to travel forward in time. Stopping Time is an entirely different thing; Helix might be able to pause the flow of time for everyone but their target! Because time still exists in this Universe- you can’t move through it, but it’s still moving. Meaning that it can be stopped. At least in the context of a Time Travel story.
Man, this is getting to be a long one, huh? ‘Cause I still have 2 more points. That being Joker’s identity and Pr Weisz. When I saw Helix last week, I had the immediate thought- looking their physique- that this was a Female. But with the end of the chapter saying this just an “Alter Ego-” a fake created by the Real Joker- I don’t know if that’s specifically the case. I will however say that I though that Joker Helix was Labilia. My thinking is that- In Universe 0- her disease got the best of her and she was left with a choice: Die, or- like Xenolith- become a Machine. She chose the latter, and continued her B Cuber career under the name “Joker.” Why is she working with Void and the Galactica? That is the question. Though all this assuming she’s even “Joker.” The end of the chapter, as well as the what the Professor says at the end here, implies that he’s “Joker,” and made “Helix” for whatever reason.
But from what we’re to understand; “Joker Helix” is the name of some B Cuber. And it seems like Pr Weisz is the one who introduced Rebecca to the concept. So………. Maybe the Professor was a B Cuber at one point? I think I know the type of content he would do, but I doubt he was ever really that popular. But why would he make Helix for Void? Or did he infect Helix with a virus that made them loyal to to them- like the Foresta incident? As for why the Professor would build Helix: Bodyguard. With a “Nice Body To Look At.” Something that he and his younger counterpart would have in common. All jokes aside; I don’t know what’s going on with this plot. All I know is that we’ll liking be getting explanations from Pr Weisz next week on Joker, Helix, and maybe a little bit of his past in relation to our Weisz.
SPEAKING OF: It’s ACTUALLY gonna happen next week, huh? The Long Awaited Meeting. I know I was all excited for Shiki and Justice to meet, but……… well, you see how THAT went. And he never even got a rematch to undo that defeat. We still got time; maybe Shiki will get another chance some other day. Then again, with Elsie still being an ally and Justice now being her significant other– I doubt it. Still waiting on the pay off for that Shiki vs Homura tease from chapter 21. But there’s the tease during Foresta where Homura asks if they’ll have to fight for a wish from Mother. But the thing both of them would wish for is already here in Universe 0, so they just plain have no reason to fight at that point. So………. that’s just no gonna happen? Whatever; the Professor and Weisz are finally about to meet!! Both are perverts, so they’ll likely bond over that. Though probably perverts of a “Different Sort;” our Weisz is just a h0rny Teenage Delinquent- The professor is an old man who’s “real charm comes with age.” I imagine his “taste” has matured, if nothing else. Been waitin’ for this since chapter 11 of this story and here we are 239 chapters later getting it. This had better be GOOD………
Conclusion
I DID IT!! Wow, in just 2 days. And all before I have to go in to work! This calls for a Celebration!! Because I didn’t get to show you all last week; the image below this paragraph(be it the last paragraph or second to last) will be the Legendary Feather Panels from last week! Eh, I was gonna put that here, anyway. I just don’t have a whole bunch of thoughts to say down here. I’ll say that I’m actually not made at all with how long it took to finally get this the meeting between the Professor and Weisz. And this is how I’ll be addressing them going forward into the next chapter. Let me know what you guys think in the comments, and ’til next time, folks- Stay Safe, Stay Golden, and Have A Magical Rest Of Your Day. Later!!
