Fairy Tail & Edens Zero author clears FFXVI only 3 days upon release, conspiracy theories arise 

Mashima Hiro, the manga artist and author of Fairy Tail and Edens Zero, recently posted a Tweet to announce that he had cleared Final Fantasy XVI, conveying his impressions of the game. Realizing that the busy mangaka had completed the entire game only three days upon its release, fans were awestruck by the brilliant display of time-management to the point of doubting reality. 

Tweet translation: FFXVI is fire! It was so much fun! I spent all of my free time in bliss playing FF! The Eikon battles were more impactful than any movie and had my adrenaline pumping! I’m going to do a slow second run now! You guys have to play this!  

Mashima Hiro is currently working on Edens Zero, which is serialized weekly, and Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest, which is being updated every two weeks. Having a weekly serialization in the Japanese manga industry is known to be extremely time-consuming and essentially a never-ending battle with tight deadlines. The workload of mangaka is notoriously heavy and some authors have even suffered overwork-related injuries or sickness. 

In such a world, Mashima seems to stand out like a sore thumb, having what seems like boundless amounts of time. On June 25th he nonchalantly announced that he had completed Final Fantasy XVI, which had come out on June 22nd . For reference, according to HowLongToBeat, FFXVI can take from 31 to 66 hours to complete depending on level of completion, which means that Mashima was quick to complete the game even for an average person, let alone for a busy mangaka. This led to amazed reactions from users, who found themselves doubting that Mishima’s day may last longer than that of average mortals. 

Tweet Translation: What a beast lol It’s like his day has 72 hours
Tweet translation: That’s way too fast…how many of you is there? 

At the same time, many users were not surprised, as this is not the first time Mishima has displayed such overwhelming command over time. Mishima had famously made and released his own game in the midst of working on his weekly manga (Related Article). The mystery escape game titled Rebecca to Kikai no Yokan he released in March 2022 features Rebecca from Edens Zero as the protagonist. This event also made fans feel that time might flow differently for Mashima. 

In reality, it might have more to do with Mashima being really fast with his work – he is generally known to be quick in drawing his manuscripts, likely leaving him with more free time than the average artist. But the productivity with which he utilizes his time is definitely nothing short of inspirational.  

Amber V
Amber V

Novice Editor-in-Chief since October 2023.

She grew up playing Duke Nukem and Wolfenstein with her dad, and is now enamored with obscure Japanese video games and internet culture. Currently devoted to growing Automaton West to the size of its Japanese sister-site, while making sure to keep news concise and developer stories deep and stimulating.

Articles: 440

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CAPTCHA