"Eden's Zero" is set to air as an anime starting in spring 2021. Its creator, Hiro Mashima, has become an indispensable manga artist for Magazine. This is his third work to be adapted into an anime! Furthermore, his past works continue to thrive in unexpected fields, transcending the boundaries of manga and anime. This time, we'll be introducing some of the works and stories that Eden's Zero's creator, Hiro Mashima, has been involved with!
Hiro Mashima made his manga debut in 1998
Hiro Mashima debuted as a manga artist in Magazine FRESH in 1998. In 1999, his first weekly serialized work, "RAVE," began in Weekly Shonen Magazine, where it is still being published today. While most manga artists begin their careers as assistants before moving on to become artists themselves, Hiro Mashima won the Weekly Shonen Magazine Newcomer Award in 1998 without any assistant experience. This marked his debut as a manga artist.
"RAVE," which began serialization in 1999, became a huge hit, and he quickly became a popular manga artist.
"RAVE," which began serialization in 1999, is the foundation of Hiro Mashima's current work. While the series ended in 2005, it has continued to appear in numerous collaborations and other works since then. Some techniques have been retained, such as the Seven Holy Swords (Grand Chariot) used by Sieghardt in "RAVE," which is also used by Gerard in "Fairy Tail." Organizations with similar names also appear in "RAVE" (the Six Prayers Generals), "Fairy Tail" (the Six Demon Generals), and "Eden's Zero" (the Six Galaxy Demon Generals). Incidentally, Plue, who appeared in "RAVE," also plays an active role in all three works.
Ending the Series with Perfect Attendance
"RAVE" spanned 35 volumes and a total of 296 chapters over six years, reaching its final chapter without a single break. There were no breaks for research, nor were there any sudden illnesses. Even back then, he was known for being a very fast writer, and contrary to the image of manga artists always rushing to meet deadlines, he seemed to have plenty of time to complete the series. Even so, completing the series without a break for six years is an incredible achievement.
His biggest hit, "Fairy Tail," has been serialized since 2006
"Fairy Tail" is still fresh in our memory, and it's no exaggeration to say it's Hiro Mashima's masterpiece. It began serialization in 2006, exactly one year after RAVE. The series, which has 63 volumes and 545 chapters, took about 11 years to complete. His speedy writing skills from the RAVE days seem to be alive and well, as he sometimes publishes three chapters at once. As of February 2020, circulation had exceeded 72 million copies, and while RAVE was a popular manga, I believe Fairy Tail has become the magazine's signature manga. The anime has also been broadcast over three seasons, making it a feature-length anime with a total of 328 episodes. Incidentally, although characters from RAVE have appeared in Fairy Tail several times, the two worlds are completely different.
"EDENS ZERO" began serialization in 2018
Apparently, a year after the end of the Fairy Tail serialization, "EDENS ZERO," which has now been confirmed for an anime adaptation, began serialization. The worldview is significantly different from the previous two works, with the story centered around traveling to various planets on a spaceship. Happy, Natsu's partner in Fairy Tail, appears as a regular character in this work. He travels alongside the main heroine, Rebecca, but despite their similar appearances, they are completely different creatures (or perhaps different cats?) with slightly different tail colors and robotic bodies.
Hiro Mashima is active in areas other than his own work
Hiro Mashima, known for his speed and the relentlessness of his time spent drawing, is not only responsible for his own works, but also for the end cards of other anime. Recently, he was the opening artist for the first episodes of "UQ HOLDER," "Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches," and "Boarding School Juliet," both of which are published in Weekly Shonen Magazine. He also created end cards for "The Heroic Legend of Arslan" and "Bakemonogatari." He has also published manga in magazines other than Weekly Shonen Magazine, such as Comic Bonbon and Monthly Shonen Rival. He has also drawn several other one-off manga.
Popular pachinko and slot machines
While ongoing series in Weekly Shonen Jump and Weekly Shonen Magazine are rarely adapted into pachinko machines, both RAVE and Fairy Tail have been made into pachinko machines. Sequels have been made for both, and as of 2021, both titles are still available to play in arcades. Fairy Tail has also appeared in slot machines, with the latest pachinko machine just released in 2021. Weekly Shonen Magazine titles like "Negima! Magister Negi Magi" and "The Seven Deadly Sins" have also been adapted into pachinko machines, but I think it's quite rare for a pachinko game to be adapted while still being serialized in a boys' magazine.
Collaborations with Various Social Games
Among Hiro Mashima's works, Fairy Tail is undoubtedly one of the most popular, and he has collaborated with a variety of titles. Among these, the most frequent collaborations are with social games. While it would take too long to list them all, he has collaborated with many social games, including Monster Strike. Of course, collaborations aren't limited to social games. In 2021, they collaborated in various areas, including selling perfumes inspired by the scents of Haru and Ellie from RAVE. (Fairy Tail character perfumes are already on sale.)
The protagonist's name is inspired by the season.
The protagonist of "RAVE" is Haru, the protagonist of the sequel "Fairy Tail" is Natsu, and the protagonist of the currently serialized "EDENS ZERO" is Aki...or rather, "Shiki." The absence of Aki and Fuyu was also mentioned in HERO'S, a short-lived series in Weekly Shonen Magazine. In the manga, Happy says, "Actually, there is one," referring to Aki, the protagonist of "Monster Soul," serialized in Comic Bonbon, and Fuyu (Mitsurugi Mafuyu), the protagonist of "Mixed Sentai Mixture," included in Mashimaen. The author even acknowledged this on Twitter, saying he was thinking about the name of the protagonist for his next work (lol).
Why There Are So Many Stylish Female Characters
One thing that Hiro Mashima's works have in common is that they often feature heroines with large breasts! Looking at his past heroines, all of them have large breasts, and the majority of his female companions also have large breasts. You might think the author is a big fan of big breasts, but he says he's not particularly fond of them. He often goes for the big-breasted route because of his editor's preferences. Incidentally, the currently serialized "EDENS ZERO" features more small-breasted characters than previous works, so it seems like the anime will be able to cater to a variety of audience needs (lol).
Hiro Mashima, the No. 1 Gamer in the Magazine World
Hiro Mashima has openly stated his love for games in interviews and has tweeted about them several times on Twitter. He's completed FF7 10 times, played Monster Hunter for 2,000 hours, and played numerous other games during the series' run, clearly demonstrating his love of games. Perhaps due to his love of games (or perhaps not), a Monster Hunter manga was even serialized in Monthly Shonen Rival for a time. While Magazine (Kodansha) and Jump (Shueisha) have long been considered rivals, Hiro Mashima is a rather unique manga artist, drawing manga for Kodansha while also drawing one-shot Dragon Quest manga for Shueisha's V-Jump.
"EDENS ZERO" to be released as a mobile game and a home console game
As of March 2021, the release date has yet to be decided, but the official website has confirmed that "EDENS ZERO" will be released as a mobile game and a home console game, and a promotional video has also been introduced. Naturally, once released, Hiro Mashima, known for being a fan of games and the #1 magazine for Magazine, would have no choice but to play it... It's already interesting to see how many hours he'll spend on it.
Summary of Author "Hiro Mashima"
So far, I've been introducing Hiro Mashima, the creator of EDENS ZERO, and his work. I've seen the term "speedy writing" in a lot of places. I've been an avid reader of Magazine for over 20 years, and now that I think about it, it's like "it's only natural for Hiro Mashima not to take a break." (lol) Weekly magazines often go on hiatus if they continue for a long time, but I hope he continues to work hard without damaging his health by playing too much video games.
