Review of Edens Zero Season 2

Edens Zero is back for its second hurrah, and it's more of the same Hiro Mashima goodness that was Season 1 back in both Spring and Summer 2021. But sadly, director Yuuji Suzuki passed away before Season 1 ended, and re-living the fright to hear this news just as the season wrapped up 2 years ago, it was (and still is) heartbreaking to hear because Edens Zero was his first and only full series where he got the reins to direct a show of his very own and invest heavily in the anime adaptation. R.I.P Yuuji Suzuki, you had a good start as a promisingdirector, but life had decided to cut you short of your potential to be a rising star. The cosmos greaves in your coveted name.

With all of the condolences out of the way, heading right into Season 2, we continue the adaptation of Volumes 9 to 16 of the manga, compromising from the ending of the Sakura Cosmos Saga with the Belial Gore and Edens One arcs, to the near end of the Aoi Cosmos Saga with the Red Cave, Foresta and Sandra arcs just right before the notable big war that is the long-winded Nero 66 arc. That will be the Prelude to the Aoi Cosmos' war (which will be the main focus if the producers decide to continue with Season 3).

Obviously, new revelations come as they go, and Shiki and Co. face new friends and enemies on top of the same challenges that led them in this space-continent journey, which has not seen an end to itself. Just about the new things that are put into focus, from the resurrection of the Demon King Ziggy's true devilish intentions from raising Shiki as his very own, to the eventual end of the big bad evil from the height that was built since the 2nd half of Season 1: the man of destruction himself, Drakken Joe. Also, Shiki's pursuit to find Mother's remnants is just as strong as the heart's objectives would allow, and with frenemies like Drakken Joe's elite force of the Element 4 (each contributing to the stability of the Dark Alchemist himself) and returning characters like Skull Fairy's Space Pirate Elsie Crimson, the battle of the Aoi Cosmos slowly creep in, enlarging the playing field amongst a lot of the players involved, as Shiki and Co. realise that they're not on their own this time with Edens Zero and (eventually) the Element 4 on their side fighting for the peace of the Cosmos, which rages the fight between humanity and robots.

Without the promising Yuuji Suzuki, director Toshinori Watanabe was called upon to continue the former's good work, and although he has quite the resume to his name, he kept the format largely intact as how the late director would've wanted it to be: good pacing and action-oriented settings, with Hiro Mashima's progressive character development making up the lack of attention that Season 1 got 2 years ago. To be fair, the sequel had noticeable improvements over the prequel, though that difference I wasn't able to notice since it retained the same intriguing elements from 2 years prior that kept my attention glued to the small screen, so that's an OK thing.

Along with J.C.Staff's continuous good work under Toshinori Watanabe with decent to good production values, the OST was sadly one area that felt kind of average. Takanori Nishikawa's OP song for the 1st half may not have the same pumping-action feel as Season 1, but for a TNNK song, it's still as good as it can be. Lozareena's 2nd half ED is just a nice, calm and mellow song, and it's a good reliever of a song from all of the action. But the others, like ASCA's 1st half ED and Tani Yuuki's 2nd half OP, forgettable at best.

Edens Zero is still Hiro Mashima's pinnacle, and my overall thoughts have not changed since Season 1. But the one thing that I do know is that the Battle of the Cosmos is not over, and it'll bring everyone together for one colossal fight that'll determine if good or evil wins, deciding the fate of the Cosmos.

I'm pumped for more, so that should go without saying.