Edens Zero Chapter 161 – Ziggy VS Nero: The Fall Of Jaguar

September 30, 2021 by Syphin 2 Comments

What exactly happened with Ziggy? What programming is compelling him on the path he is currently treading? The goals that once drove Ziggy have been almost rewritten or warped into his current schemes of a world of mechanical lifeforms. Were such desires always path of his system or where they updated into Ziggy by a mysterious force that has yet to reveal themselves? Whatever the case, Ziggy needs the Aoi Cosmos and intends to drop Nero into the void of endless darkness.

The association hinted at by Ziggy concerning Machines, Mother and Chronophages is very curious. Is there a larger galactic plan ongoing within the shadows of the Cosmoses? And what actually would the connection between these three be? I suspect it may something to do with birthing life in machines. The Chronophages absorb time/life from the planets they pass through but have yet to show what they actually use that energy for. Sure, some of the energy may constitute nutrition for the Chronophages but the extent of the energy they absorb is seemingly beyond that required for existing. It may be that the energy from the Chronophages is used by Mother to bestow life onto inanimate objects such as machines. I doubt we will clarity on the connections within this arc and this story is one tied to the over story of Edens Zero. Over the course of the Edens adventure, we will though get clues to the connection Ziggy alluded to.

The fall of Jaguar was unexpected. For a member of the Oración Seis Interstellar to be killed already without conflicting with the Edens Zero crew is a surprise. Double so with it being revealed that Jaguar was also once part of the Oración Seis Galáctica. He was an uncontrollable force but through some event was able to be recruited by the Interstellar Union Army as a member Oración Seis Interstellar. His death may have been sudden but there is likely something larger in play beyond the events that transpired within this chapter. Jaguar’s death did serve the purpose of magnificently setting up the conflict between Ziggy and Nero.

Ziggy’s disinterest in Jaguar and Nero’s praise in him was hilarious. Nero and Jaguar may possess strength rivaling Ziggy but in that moment Ziggy was clearly overshadowing them both. Jaguar though did get his chance to force Ziggy to turn his attention to him with the destruction of two of Ziggy’s “Four Dark Stars”. The existence of Brigandine and Killer as machines does imply that Ziggy can rebuild them again. Or would Ziggy create two new machines to replace them? Hopefully not as the reflection between the Four Dark Stars and the Four Shining Stars have already been made. Ideally, Ziggy would rebuild Brgandine and Killer into stronger versions of their past models. Turning back to Jaguar, he unfortunately placed himself in a position where both Ziggy and Nero were his enemies. Despite the strength he possessed, he could not stand against both Ziggy and Nero.

Nero’s reliance on his dice is such a fascinating characteristic and power dynamic. How would Ziggy go about overcoming Nero? All the mentions by Nero about how he is unbeatable as long as he controls the Empire Dice is a very telling foreshadow about what may happen to bring about his defeat. If Nero can’t be beat while possessing his dice, what happens when one disarms him of said dice? From a certain perspective, Gravity does seem like a bad match-up for Ziggy. I don’t expect Ziggy to lose so it will be interesting to see how Nero’s defeat in constructed and executed.

Shura’s schemes are so shallow but I won’t deny that if he can set-off the explosions on Nero 1, he would be getting ride of those that would stand in his way. I wonder why he is telling Shiki this though – does he plan to mentally destabilize Shiki? At the very least, the mention of Ziggy and other events ongoing within other parts of the Aoi Cosmos does serve the purpose of breaking Shiki’s focus and forcing it to split between the current moment and concern over what may happen on Nero 1. Shura though is missing the most key part of his plan, the activation of the All-Link system. Why is so confident that he cannot be stopped? He knows about Rebecca and her desire to stop the All-Link system. Is there something else Shura has not mentioned that from his point of view guarantees him victory?

The determining factor for how the events will play out is definitely Rebecca. Both her current actions and how she utilises her Cat Leaper ability. I do not believe it is currently necessary for Rebecca to use her Cat Leaper ability to turn back time in order to revert the deaths that have happened so far as such deaths can remain in the story to enhance the subsequent events to follow once the Aoi Cosmos Arc concludes. Something more substantial and fatal needs to occur before Rebecca utilizes her abilities. Keeping the Cat Leaper time jumping abilities to a minimum also helps keep the stakes raised within the story. Rather than always have Rebecca turn back bad situations, there should be moments of loss to balance out the miraculous nature of Rebecca’s ability.

It is a shame that Creed was killed but what would be the benefit of reversing time to save him? Would Homura and Creed have become friends in that timeline? Creed’s death brings focus back to Homura’s home planet and to Homura herself. Homura is now aware that she is not alone in her feelings about the outdated Oedo class system. Someone within the Shogunate Family believe change was necessary and this may inspire Homura to want to help Oedo going forward. If Seiji felt that broadening Oedo’s culture was necessary, there may be others in his family that believe so as well. Creed’s death also potentially sets up Jesse lying to the Interstellar Union Army and placing Creed’s death on Homura. Very curious to see how this plays out. Also looking forward to seeing how Rebecca, Pino and Ijuna work together to stop the All-Link system. Can’t wait for the next chapter!