Ziggy Made Me Glad I’m Versed in Time Travel

Edens Zero Chapter 205 Review/Recap

Time travel is an essential part of the story of Edens Zero; it has been since the beginning, even if we didn’t even realize it. In truth, all the events of the series up until the end of the Aoi War took place in a time-loop: Shiki travels into space and fights in the Aoi War, gets flung into the future, and becomes Ziggy the Demon King. Despite dropping such a massive bombshell on us, though, Mashima then decides to focus on something entirely different for the follow up chapter! That’s not out of the ordinary for a mangaka, but come on, Mashima. That’s not what we want to see.

Recap

As Ziggy finished explaining, the Edens Zero can time travel. The machines used Rebecca’s Ether to create its secret weapon: Code 3173. Etherion. To be more specific, 3173 is the universe Ziggy got sent to by the antimatter bombs. They’re in Universe 3, which exists outside the flow of time. Shiki doesn’t understand a word of what his future self is saying, nor does Ziggy explain it. He just goes into Overdrive and says he’s going to wipe out his past self.

For their part, Hermit and Sister overhear everything and, frankly, are shocked by it all. They don’t understand it, or the contradictions. Sister decides not to overthink it. Hermit, though, can’t shake the feeling about what Ziggy said.

Meanwhile, inside of Crow, Laguna, Jinn, and Holy get closer to Crow’s core, only to be beset by more of his guardians. They hold them off for a while, but then their Ether Gear stops working. On the outside, Crow’s finally caught Kleene. Much to everyone’s horror, Kleene’s sent careening straight into the ground down below.

Review

I’m going to come out and say it: what the heck, Mashima?

First, you spend the last chapter explaining the alleged truth behind the origins of Ziggy, leaving us wanting to know more. Then, instead of following up on it with more exposition, you decide to switch back to what’s going on with Crow? That’s not good storytelling, Mashima! We want to know more about what happened with Ziggy. Like, did he lose his memories when sent back in time, and that’s why he acted like his past self? How did he find Shiki, or rather, himself? Lastly, why did he go from saving mankind to trying to destroy it? There are so many contradictions, and that’s not counting what we’ve learned about the Shining Stars and Dark Stars.

As for 3173, that’s more of a recurring thing in Mashima’s work. It was related to the main heroine in his first manga, Rave Master, and those who know Mashima’s work know that he likes reusing things from his past work. He did it with Oracion Seis, Jellal and Erza’s character designs, and now 3173. As for the time travel thing, I’m just glad all those years reading comics have paid off. They gave me a good grasp of time travel and the multiverse theory.

Oh, and I’m hoping that Kleene’s fine. Honestly, though, I’m more interested in Ziggy for the moment. 

I Give “3173” a 2.5/5

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