Eden's Zero: If you loved Fairy Tail...

[Razade]

So for those who followed Fairy Tail and the thread we had here...it seems our friend is back with another manga. The characters look the same, some are even named the same, the level of writing is...as bad as Fairy Tail got at the end and the other characters paraded out aren't very promising either as they look exactly like characters from his earlier works. I guess Fairy Tail and Rave Master sold enough that he's allowed another series though so...guess we get to buckle in.

First Chapter was as predictable as could be. Evil robots but it's an act, etc etc etc. Getting some series "We're not One Piece because we're in space" vibes as well. Also a lot of callbacks to Dragon Ball.

[khadgar567]

good start to time skip we have our natsu clone and his girl friend already. and cover shows buch of fairy tail chacters and if my huch is corect this is basicly episode three of hiro mishima's trilogy. we have bits of back ground fluff missing but it will be solved in next few chapters. so good start to new series i hope we hit edolas arc quickly enough.

[Kitten Champion]

There is a point where you're referencing yourself too much. Like, there are certainly elements from Groove Adventure Rave in Fairy Tail - some directly transplanted characters and character designs, art assist like Plue, prototypes for his magical concepts - but he also clearly improved between Rave and Fairy Tail that it was more encouraging to see him fulfill more of his potential than anything. Fairy Tail was better drawn, its world and overall design as a series was more focused, the characters better realized, and it fundamentally worked better as a Shounen battle manga with the crisper art style and more defined characters/setting/rules.

Basically, while familiarity and Mashima having tropes he's fond of is fine... He probably should have done more to push himself outside of his immediate comfort zone.

That said, the first chapter is usually not particularly interesting. Exceptions exists, but they almost invariably feel predictable and rushed, because they have to tell a complete story within the page count and get out the necessary exposition + character introductions to explain what the manga is intended to be and the potential arc for future chapters. Making a self-contained fairly short story with either clunky exposition dialogue or those narration boxes. There's something of a template required there.

[Razade]

I'm just resting on previous encounters honestly. Fairy Tail and Rave Master didn't start out bad. I'd actually say that Fairy Tail started out really promising but around the time they went to the other World/Introduced Wendy and the Six I started to lose any hope the series was headed into One Piece territory of good and falling into Bleach/Naruto nonsense. The double time skip all but sealed that deal for me honestly.

And while you're right, that the first chapter is as much a pilot as anything else...there doesn't seem to be anything that doesn't indicate that it's just not Fairy Tail in space. The main characters look the same as mentioned, one just...being the same for all intents and purposes. I'd not bat an eyelash if it turned out it actually WAS Happy from Fairy Tail and this is just what he's doing now that Natsu and Lucy are dead and gone. That'd at least be an interesting twist and it'd provide some reason for Mashima to have similar concepts, names and appearances throughout his works if this was indeed some sort of move to set up a meta-world between the three works.

It isn't going to be that. To be certain. It's not even going to shoot close to that. I doubt we'll get anything addressing why Happy the Blue Cat is Happy the Blue Cat.

And that, alone, is enough reason for me to deride the series with impunity.

[Rynjin]

There is a point where you're referencing yourself too much. Like, there are certainly elements from Groove Adventure Rave in Fairy Tail - some directly transplanted characters and character designs, art assist like Plue, prototypes for his magical concepts - but he also clearly improved between Rave and Fairy Tail that it was more encouraging to see him fulfill more of his potential than anything. Fairy Tail was better drawn, its world and overall design as a series was more focused, the characters better realized, and it fundamentally worked better as a Shounen battle manga with the crisper art style and more defined characters/setting/rules.

That's...not an opinion I think everyone will share.

Rave Master's art was certainly rougher, but the plot and characters were miles better if only because they were simpler and all the fights didn't rely on asspulls.

Mashima wrote himself into a corner with Natsu's fire powers and didn't leave himself an effective out, so the fights up to the part I stopped (around the time they ended up in an alternate dimension or whatever) boiled down to "I hit him harder" or "New one use only neato type of fire that is poorly explained and never mentioned again.

At least Haru had a defined upgrade system from chapter 1.

Also WTF happened in the early '00s that generated all these promising mangaka who just copy themselves over and over? It happened with the guy who wrote Black Cat, with Mashima, and I'm sure there are others.

[Razade]

Rave Master had its own turning point as well though where it went from "This isn't terrible" to "Why the hell are you doing this dude?". It's Hiro's calling card really. If he was just allowed to focus on drawing and hired an actual story person he'd be in good company. A lot of manga-ka are going that route. Look at Promised Neverland and Dr. Stone. It's a trend I'd rather see continue frankly rather than just one dude and some staff. Even Oda's moved away from doing all the work, he mostly does the finishing touches and story.

[Rynjin]

Throw Tite Kubo on that pile. Love his art and panel layout (at least from early on) but he self-admittedly was so stressed out by writing that he couldn't manage the pressure in any other way than drawing 20 new dudes to throw into the blender.

[Razade]

Throw Tite Kubo on that pile. Love his art and panel layout (at least from early on) but he self-admittedly was so stressed out by writing that he couldn't manage the pressure in any other way than drawing 20 new dudes to throw into the blender.

Yep. A lot of great artists just shouldn't write. Kubo is absolutely on that pile. I'd put Kishimoto on that list as well. Or at least someone to a) keep the Executives off because Kishimoto is apparently too nice a person to tell other people that it's his story and b) keep Kishimoto to script instead of writing himself into a corner and introducing more jutsu to make it work.

[Anonymouswizard]

Yep. A lot of great artists just shouldn't write. Kubo is absolutely on that pile. I'd put Kishimoto on that list as well. Or at least someone to a) keep the Executives off because Kishimoto is apparently too nice a person to tell other people that it's his story and b) keep Kishimoto to script instead of writing himself into a corner and introducing more jutsu to make it work.

And some of us half decent writers can't draw. Okay, a lot of us, having both skillsets to a high level is something very few people seem to have, including the Playground's local Giant.

Alright, I'm being a bit over the top there. But the fact is that the two skills don't seem to crop up in the same person that often. Even in manga having different people do the story and art isn't exactly a brand new thing (Death Note was around long before the current crop), but it becoming more common is a good thing.

Spoiler: Off topic rambling about my own attempts to write

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As I was saying to a friend, the only thing stopping me from turning a couple of ideas I had into webcomics is that I don't have the art skills. One of which is a project I'm trying to work on, combining it with one that I couldn't get to work due to a lack of things to happen, and the first step has been to go through the world document and remove all the Neuromancer/Shadowrun references (okay, there's like one or two, never got it that fleshed out, and I originally had this set in the 2050s? I think I was using an even more hilariously unrealistic alt future back when I first tried this, might have to move this up to the 2090s or so for my own sanity).

Although even years ago I was using the same basic archetypes, female MCs tend to be the badass with the gun while my male MCs have technical skills. Yeah, another Case and Molly, I think I was directly copying at the time. Also I'm surprisingly detail light, my characters don't have physical descriptions as of yet and the type of gun a character has ready isn't even specified, I think I originally imagined a rifle but as written the narrative suggests a handgun.

Sorry for a tangent, this thread just reminded me of all this for some reason.

Anyway, might check this out, as the only reason I could never get into Fairy Tail was that when I originally tried there was just so much already.

[Razade]

Second chapter. Happy's an android because...of course he is. Still seems to be Happy, so...uploading his mind? No clue, guess we'll get that explained eventually. Lot of background characters look like Fairy Tail characters. And. Third main character. Ezra Scar....er....Elcy Crimson.

The nadir of creativity, indeed.

[HandofShadows]

Sounds like BioShock Infinite. Constants and Variables. Instead of magic you have science and alternates of the same people.

[khadgar567]

Okay more questions are neading answers but hey kubo might be trying slower but its basicly second episode kinda done. Any one get rave chick vibes from rebecca and our erza clone just created another set of questions.

[LaZodiac]

I haven't read any of this and won't be because I don't hate myself, but I'd like to note just from what I've read in the thread I can see this going for a "surprise it's a sequel to Fairy Tail set in it's universe or the no-magic world or something" eventually and I want to make it clear I'm calling that now for when it does do this fifty chapters from now.

[lord_khaine]

I had noticed this as well. I though about making a thread about it myself, but decided to wait a few chapters so that there were more to talk about.

But i can see that the judgment train is alreay running perfectly fine on just ½ a wind.
(½ a wind in this case being just the 2 chapters released)

[Razade]

I felt confident enough just on one chapter frankly. Second chapter only seems to demonstrate I was right. Let's not be unfair here. The dude's done two major Manga series and a trend has long since emerged. It's not like I'm just here picking away at some new artist and their old one shots. The dude's had two anime, two manga, at least one movie and a ton of extra work outside the Dojin (and tons more work in the Dojin) sphere. If you throw out a main character that looks like your last one and a female sidekick with the SAME DANG MASCOTS with the SAME DANG NAMES and then introduce people who are obviously the same characters you're opening yourself up for it.

[Anonymouswizard]

Yeah, I'm going for 'surprise' sequel to Fairy Tail set a long time later with identical descendants. I'm off to read the prequel so I'll understand stuff when it comes up.

Spoiler

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Glossing over that Lucy has either lost or been abandoned by her parents? May I call clumsy foreshadowing? Also glossing over what exactly the deal with Happy is, is this meant to be Mind Uploading or just a replacement goldfish deal?

[khadgar567]

That cheeky little bugger shiki found mans real best friend the x ray specs that show whats undernead every ones clotes. There are people who can kill to have the specs he grabed