The Ending Of Edens Zero Explained
"Edens Zero" officially wrapped it's eventful (and at times, downright unusual) first season back in October of 2021, and while the season finale was certainly jam-packed with plenty of action, it still left us with plenty of questions about what the future might hold for Shiki and the rest of his crew.
"Edens Zero" is the latest anime from "Fairy Tale" creator Hiro Mashima, and follows a young boy named Shiki (voiced by Takuma Terashima) who sets off across the galaxy to search for the creator of the universe, a being simply known as "Mother." He is joined on his journey by two "B-Cubers" (who are essentially this universe's version of Twitch Streamers), a human girl named Rebecca (Mikako Komatsu) and her robotic cat, Happy. The first season primarily follows the misadventures of Shiki and the ever growing crew aboard the starship known as Edens Zero as they search for crew members known as the Shining Stars. Their journey culminates in their arrival on the planet Sun Jewel, looking for a missing Shining Star named Valkyrie.
There, they become embroiled in a conflict between the planet's tyrannical leader Madame Kurenai and the enslaved working class of Sun Jewel, leading to an all-out battle between Kurenai and Shiki in the season's final few episodes.
Kurenai is defeated by Shiki, and taken captive by workers she had mistreated
The epic battle between Kurenai and Shiki finally comes to an end in the Season 1 finale, with the latter coming out on top thanks to an ingenious use of his Ether Gear. Shiki's unorthodox use of his gravitational powers has led to a few close calls in the fight up to this point, and near the end of the fight his carelessness allows Kurenai to lock onto him using her Knight Gear. After locking on to Shiki, Kurenai unleashes a missile known as the "Queen Nova" –- which will not stop until it reaches its target, and is completely unavoidable. As such, Shiki decides not to avoid it at all, and instead lands on Kurenai and allows the missile to hit him. He converts the missile's kinetic energy to gravity, completely destroying Kurenai's gear and leading to her capture.
Shiki brings the helpless Kurenai to her daughter Homura, who renounces her as a mother and allows her to go free. Kurenai quickly flees into the forest, where she is captured by a man named Cedric, whom she had previously disfigured by burning his face with a mechanical gauntlet. Cedric and his cronies violently beat her with a bat, and promise that she will be "their pet" from now on. We cut away quickly after that line, and it's left up to the audience's imagination what horrors lie in store for Kurenai from here on out -– though its clear that her karma has finally caught up with her after years of oppression.
Homura thanks her adoptive mother, Valkyrie
Earlier in the season, it was revealed that Homura (one of the newest members of the Edens Zero crew) was raised by Valkyrie after being abandoned by her birth mother (Kurenai) as a child. Valkyrie was one of four "Shining Stars" who used to crew Edens Zero, and trained Homura until her young disciple disappeared without a trace in the year X487 (via the Edens Zero wiki). Tragically, shortly after Homura and the Edens Zero team arrive on Sun Jewel they discover that Valkyrie died defending the labor district from Kurenai prior to their arrival, leaving Horuma utterly devastated.
After Shiki defeats and captures Kurenai, Homura confronts her birth mother and thanks her for bringing her into this world, but declares that Valkyrie was her true mother, despite the fact that she was a machine. The scene drives home the series' emphasis on the relationship between machines and humans, and allows for Homura to finally realize that Valkyrie was the only mother she ever truly needed. After she frees Kurenai, Homura makes her way over to Valkyrie's corpse, and thanks the lifeless machine for being her mother, after her own true parent had abandoned her. Homura leaves Valkyrie's body behind as a symbol to the people of Sun Jewel, and returns to the rest of the team shortly after.
Homura takes Valkyries place, and the crew prepares to fly out of the Sakura Cosmos
With the people of Sun Jewel free, and the mystery of Valkyrie's disappearance solved, the crew returns back to the Edens Zero, where they are confronted by the other three Shining Stars: Hermit Mio, Witch Regret, and Sister Ivry (via the Edens Zero wiki). Each one is a machine like Valkyrie, and while most seem to accept their friend's death right away, Sister is furious that the crew left her body on the planet: revealing that they could have revived her using the backup memory cache within the ship.
Shiki manages to convince her that they have to accept that one of their friends is dead, as that is what makes machines just as alive as the rest of them. It's another heartbreaking moment that drives home the fact that, in this world, machines are just as alive as humans are. This message is further reinforced when Homura vows to take Valkyrie's place despite being a human, and the others accept her as the newest member of the Shining Stars.
With the 4 Shining Stars finally assembled at last, the crew of the Edens Zero is complete, which means that the ship can finally navigate outside of the Sakura Cosmos to continue their journey for "Mother." Thus, Season 1 ends with our heroes set to begin the next step of their journey, and emphasizes the series' main theme of connection between man and machine.