List of Edens Zero characters
The Edens Zero manga series features an extensive cast of characters created by Hiro Mashima. The story is set in a fictional universe called the Grand [|Shiki] Cosmos, which comprises multiple planetary systems called "cosmoses" that the protagonists navigate using the titular starship. The characters consist mainly of humans, robots, and aliens, the majority of which inhabit the "Sakura Cosmos".
Described as a "space fantasy" series by Mashima, Edens Zero depicts several characters that use a magic-like technique called Ether Gear to harness their bodies' Ether – a magical power source – like the machines of their universe. Other characters include, which are users of an online video platform based on YouTube, and cyborgs, alternatively called in the series. Multiple iterations of the same characters from alternate histories also feature prominently throughout the story, particularly those created by a time-devouring space monster called the [|Chronophage], and others who inhabit numbered parallel universes across the multiverse.
Critics and readers have compared the characters' designs and attributes to those from Mashima's earlier series Fairy Tail, some of which they noted were intentionally derivative.
Creation and conception
When developing Edens Zero, author Hiro Mashima wrote several characters' storylines to tie closely to the foundation of the story, which Mashima stated would "almost never change mid-series", amidst those he introduced and changed during the story's progression; he described his storytelling method as falling "somewhere in between" his previous works Rave Master, whose stories and characters he had largely worked out by the series' midway point, and Fairy Tail, where the only predetermined aspect was the backstory of protagonist Natsu Dragneel. Mashima's writing approach led him to include new characters to the main cast who were not originally planned to be, while several planned characters such as [|Homura] and the [|Four Shining Stars] were introduced earlier than intended, resulting in a majority of female characters joining the main cast over male characters.A number of characters are modeled after characters from Rave Master and Fairy Tail, including Happy, [|Elsie Crimson], and [|Justice]. Plue, another recurring character in Mashima's manga who featured prominently in Rave Master, makes a minor appearance as well. The manga also includes fictionalized versions of YouTubers whom Mashima has met.
When discussing the series' villains, Mashima stated that his personal theme for Edens Zero was to make them "the absolute worst kind of trash possible" so that readers could look forward to their downfalls, while also giving them their own convictions that would lead them to battle the protagonists. He was influenced to do so after receiving comments from those who sympathized with villains that he intended to be "real of garbage" in his previous works.
For the manga's second half, which advances the story by three years, Mashima deliberately gave minor visual changes to most of the characters' designs apart from Shiki, whom he wanted to "stand out"; he added that, with the exception of [|Hermit] and Jinn's redesigns, there "wasn't really any thought" put into these changes.
''Edens Zero'' crew
The primary characters of the series are the crew of the Edens Zero – Edens being an acronym for "Ether Drive Eternal Navigation System" – an interstellar warship left by [|Ziggy] as inheritance to his adoptive grandson, Shiki. The crew's goal is to navigate the universe in search of [|Mother], both to prove her existence and have their wishes granted by her.In the story's second half, the Edens Zero is revealed to have come from 20,000 years in the future of Universe 3173, a parallel universe where androids suffer an Ether shortage due to Mother's disappearance and humankind's ensuing extinction. To prevent this, the ship was built on the planet Eden for Ziggy to travel to Universe Zero, a temporal convergence point that influences all other universes in the multiverse, using the power of Etherion to travel through time. The crew uses Etherion to reach Universe Zero for the final story arc, where they regain their memories of past universes after living altered, often idyllic lives, while also retaining their experiences in the new world.
Shiki Granbell
Shiki Granbell is the sole human denizen of Granbell, a theme park planet inhabited by robots. Shiki uses Gravity Ether Gear, "Satan Gravity", to freely manipulate gravity for himself and others, a power learned from his surrogate grandfather, Ziggy, who found the infant Shiki on a voyage for Mother beyond the Sakura Cosmos. He is characterized by his obsession with making friends, as well as a paralyzing fear of bugs. After Granbell's dying robot community chases him away with Rebecca to save him from solitude on their planet, Shiki searches for Mother to fulfill his goal of making 100 new friends across the universe. In the process, he receives the Edens Zero from Elsie Crimson and inherits Ziggy's title of "Demon King" as the ship's captain. Eventually, Shiki discovers his origins as the sole survivor of a dying planet Earth, Mother's original form 20,000 years in the past, who is first brought into the present era after the Chronophage briefly returns Mother to her planetary state. After recreating this event to save Earth, he and Rebecca settle on Granbell and have a daughter.Continuing his theme of naming protagonists after seasons, Mashima chose the Japanese word meaning "four seasons" for the main character of Edens Zero to represent the culmination of his previous works. The series' second half features the character's transition into a young man, which was planned early in development. Mashima hesitated to incorporate the change due to concerns of negative reactions from "fans of the boyishly cute Shiki"; he left traces of his old design to alleviate this, describing the change as "shifting him from cute to cool".
Rebecca Bluegarden
Rebecca Bluegarden is a and [|Shooting Starlight] member from the planet Blue Garden, where she lives after being separated from her parents, [|Connor] and [|Rachel], during her childhood. She aspires to attain one million subscribers for her account, Aoneko Channel, which suffers from low viewership due to poor-quality content. She is an expert markswoman who acquired her skills from playing first-person shooter video games. After stimulating her Ether through repeated baths in the Edens Zeros spa, Rebecca develops her own Ether Gear called "Cat Leaper", which enhances her jumping power and agility, and allows her to rewind time and mentally "leap" into parallel universes at different points in time; this power serves as the basis of Etherion in the distant future, where she transforms into the Chronophage. Mashima named the character after the Japanese band Rebecca, drawing inspiration from their song "Friends" to compliment Shiki's friend-obsessed personality.Happy
Happy is Rebecca's best friend and partner, based on the character of the same name from Fairy Tail. He is a feline alien from the planet Excede who was fatally injured in a traffic accident during Rebecca's childhood, leading their benefactor, [|Professor Weisz], to transfer Happy's mind into an identical android body to help him survive. Happy can transform into a pair of firearms called Happy Blasters, which fire non-lethal Ether bullets. He loses his mechanical abilities in Universe Zero, where he never experiences his accident and remains flesh and blood.[|Weisz] Steiner
Weisz Steiner is a man from the planet Norma who practices the Ether Gear "Machina Maker", which allows him to instantly remodel machines to improve their performance, deconstruct them, and create weapons. As a result of Weisz fleeing Norma before the Chronophage rewinds fifty years of its history, there are two alternate versions of him that co-exist as separate people: his adolescent self, an amoral but good-natured criminal who joins the crew after betraying his gang leader, Sibir; and his elderly, present-day self, who has since matured into an esteemed robotics professor. The young Weisz assumes a superhero identity named Arsenal using a powered exoskeleton that he custoizes with his Machina Maker, built with the help of [|Hermit Mio], with whom he eventually pursues a relationship in Universe Zero.Mashima described Weisz as "one of the good guys, but still a scumbag", which he noted is an uncommon character type among his works. He also said that Weisz's role in the story was "pretty clearly laid out", which made it "fairly easy to get to do what I want".
E.M. Pino
E.M. Pino is a miniature "anti-bot" android who generates an electromagnetic pulse that disables machinery and Ether Gear within range for short periods of time. Pino was built by Ziggy to become the "Light of Edens", the "next generation" of androids to the Four Shining Stars, but had her memory erased by Weisz's gang when she arrived on Norma for maintenance from the present-day Weisz. She joins Shiki after assigning him as her new master, later desiring to be reborn as a human through Mother. During the crew's battle with Ziggy on Lendard, he restores some of Pino's memory while struggling against the Edens Ones control, which allows her to fulfill her purpose of freeing him through her ability to Overdrive. In Universe Zero, she suffers a malfunction over learning the origins of the Four Shining Stars, which leads to her eventual deactivation. She is later revived by Mother, deciding against being reincarnated as Shiki and Rebecca's human newborn and accepting her identity as a machine.Mashima created Pino to serve as the mascot character of the series, but during development of the manga, he found it increasingly difficult to include her within the first chapter, where he incorporated Happy to stand in for her. As with Weisz, Mashima said that he found it "fairly easy" to write for Pino due to her established role in the story. He later called Pino his favorite character in the series, adding that he worked out "a lot" of story details for her, and that she would "probably" become an important character. Her name comes from Mashima's attempt to make the term "EMP" sound "cute".