WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Episode 1 of Edens Zero, "Into the Sky Where Cherry Blossoms Flutter," now streaming on Netflix.
Anime fans are flocking to Netflix to watch Fairy Tail creator Hiro Mashima's latest series entitled Edens Zero -- and are greeted by a shockingly sorrowful and bittersweet series premiere. The story follows Shiki Granbell, the only human living on the machine-inhabited planet Granbell in the Sakura Cosmos. When a sudden twist of fate causes Shiki to meet his first fellow human, life on Granbell takes a tragic turn for the worse. Here's what you may have missed on the hauntingly heart-wrenching series premiere of Edens Zero.
As a young boy, Shiki was adopted by the Demon King Ziggy who raises him on planet Granbell, a deserted theme park planet that hadn't been visited by humans in 100 years. Ziggy is known as the King of Robots and has a soft spot for humans and machines alike, using his vast knowledge to explain to Shiki how he'll meet fellow humans and make friends across the Sakura Cosmos. Edens Zero opens with a young Shiki standing alongside Ziggy and Michael as they observe the night sky and speculate about Shiki's future.
Michael, an average machine built for the planet's theme park, claims he can't be Shiki's friend because he's a machine without a heart. Ziggy immediately rejects this sentiment and tells Michael he does have a heart, to which the latter is relieved. As the intro quickly shifts to the present day, Shiki is much older and still the only human living on the deserted planet. Along with Michael, Shiki considers all the machines on the planet to be his friends and shows his gratitude toward them by constantly repairing the older ones so they won't die or break down.
When the planet is suddenly visited by a space-traveling B-Cuber named Rebecca and her cat Happy, Granbell sees its first human visitor in 100 years. It starts as a joyful occasion where Shiki gets to meet his first fellow human and introduce her to his robot friends like Michael. After the machines throw a celebratory party, things take a drastic turn for the worse when they kidnap Rebecca and Happy and tie them to a pole. The machines grow dark and sinister, claiming humans are the enemy and threatening to kill their two visitors. When Shiki tries to talk sense into them and remind them that they're all friends, they reject him and start beating him up. Even Michael now views him as an enemy.
Heartbroken and fearing for his life, Shiki reveals his ether gear to fight off the attacking machines and save Rebecca and Happy. The trio escape to Rebecca's spaceship and leave the hostile Granbell behind, despite it being the only home Shiki's ever known. Feeling confused and betrayed by his machine family, Shiki cries on the spaceship as they leave and declares the machines and Michael are still his friends despite their sudden betrayal.
Once Shiki leaves Granbell, the machines suddenly cease their hostile behavior and watch his spaceship leave with painful smiles. It's soon revealed their mean and violent behavior was all an act performed by the planet's inhabitants after devising a plan to convince Shiki to finally abandon their dying planet. Afraid he would never choose to leave the planet on his own, the machines that loved him dearly knew their time was drawing to an end and didn't want Shiki to stay behind to fix them. Not wanting to leave Shiki all alone after their deaths, the machines spare him the guilt and pain of knowing they've reached the end of their life.
After the machines' final act comes to a close, they begin to collapse and die as soon as Shiki's spaceship leaves. The camera zooms in on a bittersweet Michael, who recalls Ziggy's previous words to him about having a heart. As he watches the spaceship depart, Michael utters an eerie line before permanently shutting down: "If I knew I'd feel this sad... if I knew I'd feel this lonely... I would never have wanted a heart in the first place." While Episode 1 closes with a heart-wrenching scene of the machines meeting their demise and being abandoned, fans are haunted by the tragically beautiful performance of Edens Zero's debut.
