Time has revealed itself to be a setting within the spiraling conflict of gravity. The attraction and the repulsion naturally transpiring has threads of time intertwining its force ever respiring. Time usually serves as a container with its subjects bound to its progression but the fluidity of possibility opens the cover of restraint and allows for acts outside its definition to come about. This is where Shiki’s presence collides with Dark Ziggy’s ambitions. Dark Ziggy presumably has the context of time overarching his view yet Shiki is a denizen that resides outside the perspective of Dark Ziggy which is why the weight of Shiki’s existence exasperates Dark Ziggy so exponentially.
The 20,000 years timeline finally comes back into focus after being highlighted at the end of volume 1. Xiaomei did advise the readers in the introduction of volume 2 that “time” doesn’t hold much meaning in this story. 195 chapters later, time may hold a varied meaning relative to its usual embodiment but it is a core setting to how Edens Zero is presented. Time is both the game and the player. Shiki has always had an affinity with the ability of attraction and it appears his efforts of being able to attract memories of others conveys his position as outside the “wheel of time”. That power of attraction also seems to be unique to Shiki potentially due to his specific origins. More than Dark Ziggy feeling responsibility for his other self in having mentored Shiki, this situational-specificness of Shiki could be the primary rationale Dark Ziggy operates under when pursuing his mission. Shiki is a threat and he fears that.
In order for Ziggy to deduce Shiki is one who exists outside the wheel of time, perspective of time is required. Based on Ziggy’s past actions and dialogue throughout the story, it does appear that he has insight into future events or to put it in a different perspective, his vision resides in the flow of time at any point. Within that wheel, Ziggy is able to perceive all. This could be how he is always one step ahead of everyone besides Shiki. Case in point is when he mocked Shiki for choosing the wrong choice when he decided to escape Nero 66 and avoid attempting to defuse the 20,000 antimatter bombs being set off. What Witch achieved was outside of Ziggy’s calculations and the primary factor driving Witch was the love she had for Shiki. The curious aspect about that scene is how Ziggy mentions another wheel that will be complete when Shiki and Rebecca meet their death. The Wheel of Fate (chapter 164). Is this the same wheel Ziggy’s mentions within this chapter or a completely different one that is still related. Time and fate. Concepts that hold universal relevance. With the focus of the story shifting to the 20,000 years into the future where two unidentified people in suits come across the bodies of a man and woman with the man still having vitals, will it be revealed that Shiki also exist within this time? The shifting of timelines does remind me of the X-Men books Power of X / House of X where Year One, Year Ten, Year One Hundred and Year One Thousand were all relevant time instances in the story with each time frame conveying a different portion of the story that eventually makes up the story being told. That X-Men story does later continue into subsequent Dawn of X books but as the narrative becomes fractured between the loosening focus, it loses much of its intrigue.
The twist with the mother’s not being alive except Saintfire Nox is incredibly shocking and perplexing. I am honestly left stunned. Completely and utterly stunned. How can a dead body give off Ether? Wouldn’t a body without life just be a shell that generated zero Ether? Are the machines the mother’s are kept within acting as an external heart and brain to reactivate the body and thus allows the Special Ether to be generated from them? That’s a hard sell. Are we really asked to believe that all those thousands of mother’s Ziggy gathered are dead? I honestly don’t understand this. There shouldn’t be any value to lifeless bodies once life has faded. I don’t buy it that the machines are able to reactivate their dead body and allow the Ether to flow again. It seems too convenient and tragic. Awfully too convenient. I can kind of support Dark Ziggy’s sheer inhumanity by collecting the mother’s of the Edens Zero team in order to locate Mother and kill her but Dark Ziggy’s complete disregard for principle is concerning. He did mention the only reason he brought the Edens Zero team mothers’ along was to teach them a lesson. It is still completely weird that all other mother’s except Rebecca’s mother are dead. Does Ether really still exist within the base body of the individual? In their flesh and blood? As for other mother’s, it is interesting to note that Elsie’s mother wasn’t mentioned. I wonder if there is a deeper story by Elsie’s parents. And that Elsie and God Acnoella meeting is going to be interesting.
Saintfox Nox is a fascinating character especially her history in how she was branded a criminal. Because Nox possessed an incredibly useful ability, she was feared by the Interstellar Union Army and labelled a threat and consequently one of the Oracion Seis Galactica members. Opposed to actively crossing the line, Nox suffered passively because of generalised fear. Saintfire Nox can control time itself and other feared this. Seeing as Rebecca is Nox’s child, is this where Rebecca derives her time-controlling powers? Considering both mother and child are still alive, can we expect the two of them using their abilities to control time on a more micro level? Rather than summoning the Chronophage and having all the corpses of the mother’s removed from existence, can Rebecca and her mother’s use their power around a person to reverse time on the state of the body? Could a non-responsive body be brought back to a point in time where it was still functioning? I suspect such a destination is where this development is heading.
Currently the extreme morbidness of Ziggy is concerning and the tragedy in the forefront of the story is deeply woeful. For characters who reconciled the separation from their parents to have such wounds reopened, it is brutal and ostensibly contrary to what came before. Beyond this despair, I anticipate hope. Very much looking forward to the next chapter. I suspect Labilia could factor significantly into all of this. She was introduced prior to all these events for a very specific reason. If not for holding relevance within these events, why else would she have needed to have been introduced before this War? If Labilia does awaken her Ether Gear, it could likely be related to Rebecca. Another key player that has yet to take center stage is Pino. I expect Ziggy is able to access Pino’s data log and learned about Operation Planet Eater from that.
Congratulations on 200 chapters Edens Zero and Mashima-sensei. With the series on its path toward ending, I suspect another 100-150 chapters. Depending on how the vision within Mashima-sensei’s mind is adapted and presented, it could progress for longer.
Enjoyment level: 9/10
12Dimension 