Writer: Mathieu Bablet
Artist & Cover Artist: Guillaume Singelin
English Letterer: Chris Northrop
Translator: Dan Christensen
Editor: Mike Kennedy
Publisher: Magnetic Press
Price: $19.99
Release Date: March 4, 2026
We all make our own way in life, even if our parents don't agree with our choices. After graduating from high school, Warren is looking forward to attending university. Then his best friend tells him that she has a different plan. Eloise has applied to Sentai Corp and looks forward to a life of excitement and adventure.
Warren has worked hard to earn a scholarship. How will he find university life without Eloise? Or will Warren decide to help Eloise defend the public against the dangers threatening his community? Let's leap into Shin Zero: Book One and see!
Story
Warren is happy to leave High School behind. But saying goodbye to Eloise is something different. So even though his mom urges him not to work so he can focus full-time on university, Warren follows Eloise into the Sentai program. His mother wishes Warren would spend more time with his family. But Eloise can’t wait to leave hers behind and move to the city. So, when another Sentai tells Warren about rooms for rent, he and Eloise move into the apartment with Satoshi, his cousin Sofia, and their friend Nikki.
Like all the applicants accepted by Sentai Corp, Warren and Eloise work as independent contractors. They check the job listings and accept a security position based on the required skills and threat levels. Naturally, they hope the employer will give them a five-star review. Warren doesn't mind the low pay, provided he doesn't have to fight anyone. But Satoshi yearns to do something more important for his country.
In Shin Zero: Book One, Warren and Eloise enjoy a peaceful world. But it wasn't always this way. Kaiju climbed from the sea to terrorize civilization for seventy years. Humanity organized the Sentai program to combat these giant monsters. Like Nikki’s grandmother, the Sentai who first fought the giant beasts are still around. But the giant robots, piloted by the mecha pilots whom Satoshi idolizes, are not.
Satoshi worries that the giant robots and the skilled Sentai pilots will be needed when the kaiju eventually return. In Mathieu Bablet’s story, the young Sentai needs the kaiju to return. Barring that, he needs to understand why they vanished. Otherwise, Satoshi is just a relic of the past, like Warren's father, who no longer fits in his old Sentai costume and works for minimum wage.
Art
A crowd surrounds the central A-frame of a building complex. The solar panels and building supports suggest Vs and triangles. Eloise and Warren sort through their lockers stuffed with shoes, papers, photos, and books, and pack up what they want to keep. After passing through the empty cafeteria and pool room, Warren uncaps a marker and disfigures photos of the top achievers in Shin Zero: Book One.
Both graduates like their hair unruly. On the bus ride home, Eloise binds her hair into a bun and puts on glasses. While his younger brother plays with action figures and kaiju toys, Warren grabs a cereal box adorned with a monster name and image. But in a city filled with skyscrapers, weary Sentai gather for moral support while children purchase drinks named after monsters. Guillaume Gingelin makes the Sentai stand out by coloring their costumes. Color also slips into his detailed black-and-white art when characters dream of a potential future or commemorate the heroes of the past.
One of the original Sentai narrates her experiences about sharing the world with the kaiju amid brown ink. While Warren and Eloise learn about their flatmates, Chris Northrop fills dialogue balloons with uppercase words. Increased volume and emotion distort the balloon shapes, especially when Satoshi urges people to investigate why the kaiju disappeared. When he discovers a way to transform their lives, colored boxes identify each Sentai’s texts in Shin Zero: Book One. Thanks to Oni Press, Magnetic Press, and Superfan Promotions for providing a review copy.
Final Thoughts
Once, they were heroes who protected civilization against giant monsters. Now, their children and grandchildren don their costumes and work as glorified security guards. Many young people try out the Sentai lifestyle. But few make it into a career. Warren can have any future he wants. But the person he wants to share it with is slipping away from him. And in Shin Zero: Book One, Warren will do anything to win her over.
Rating 9.8/10
For more info, see my Shin Zero: Book One Spotlight.
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