[Analysis] Edens Zero – Rebecca Bluegarden: The Girl Who Leapt Through Space, Time & Reality

December 27, 2021 by Syphin 2 Comments

Within the story of Edens Zero, one of the major devices tying together the numerous threads existing, is, alongside Shiki, the girl who saved him from his secluded fate, Rebecca Bluegarden. Together, as the mysteries within Edens Zero unfold, the relevance attached to these two characters increase. Their stories move forward as the core driving force to the eventual revelations involving Mother and the enigmatic cliff-hanger volume one of Edens Zero left the story at with it peaking at the world 20,000 years in the future. Threads that have been set-up in past arcs are slowly revealing their connection to the present and future events. Through Rebecca and through Shiki, impossible will become just a door to step through.

After the summary of Rebecca’s abilities in chapter 172, it now becomes clear how her powers will evolve going forward and what an Overdrive Rebecca can possible do. Abilities that will not only empower Rebecca but change the very landscape on which the story is flowing. Forward isn’t the only direction the story can go. With Rebecca enabling the navigation of time, space and reality, the story can move back to previous moments and adjust events at that time to create futures different from the ones expected. Three Universes currently exist and it is inevitable that there will be more. When Xiaomei mentioned that “time holds little meaning” within Edens Zero, I find myself now understanding what she truly meant.

Additionally, Universe 2 isn’t exhausted yet. It still holds relevance. Noah may have suggested that destruction is all that awaited Rebecca and Shiki in that world but that was just a supposition based on the available information at that time. What Rebecca is capable of achieving is cheating the very system itself. Knowledge is power and if Rebecca returns to a time with specific information, inevitable isn’t just the expected. Imagine traveling back into your younger self to write a test you knew all the answers to, the outcome would be different unless you were already prepared at that time. A new path based on Rebecca’s subsequent actions exist. Universe 2 can be saved and so can Witch (yes, my belief in Witch returning back into the story isn’t going to die). Without a doubt, there will come a point where Rebecca is required to travel back to the moment in the Aoi Cosmos Arc before Nero 66 exploded. Events surrounding Shura, Ijuna, Creed, Nero and Witch will change. When Rebecca evokes such a change, she will then revert back to the current time in Universe 2 where changes sourced from the past moment will begin to define itself in the story’s present. Can Shura become an ally? Can Witch be saved? Can Universe 2 take center stage of the story again? When Rebecca and Shiki are involved, possibilities are endless. And impossible exist within that possible.

Rebecca has two forms to her power as Noah mentions. First is her ability to reverse time within her universe by at the moment, 90 seconds. Rebecca leaps back to a past moment, an ability she likely used throughout her life without complete awareness of it until her battle on Sun Jewel against Nino. The subsequent effects of using this ability aren’t permanent as the world eventually corrects itself to fill in the variance created by Rebecca. Overall history is not changed.

The second ability Rebecca possesses is her Cat Leaper ability. With this power, Rebecca is able to displace herself wholly into another Universe that exists parallel to the one she, at that time, resides in. Using this ability changes the very future pathed forward. It allows for many branching fates possible to be embraced. Rebecca can’t currently navigate through these Universes but what would it mean if she could?

Rebecca has yet to reveal her Overdrive ability and I suspect this is very intentional by Mashima-sensei. What Rebecca will be able to achieve while in her Overdrive state is the ability to freely travel through the Universes she existed in. When a new Universe is embraced when Rebecca uses her Cat Leaper ability, she creates a sort of checkpoint at that moment which she can traverse through. A path defines itself across the Universes which the Cat Leaper ability allows access through. Rebecca has only ever moved forward through the Universes but if she were to try to move back to past Universes she existed in, what would happen? I believe that is where the story is headed. When Rebecca learns more about her Cat Leaper ability and comes across foes that challenge Edens Zero beyond anything else they faced in the past, Rebecca will need to start exploring alternatives to how her abilities function.

There is a part of Rebecca’s powers that Noah did not cover, mainly due to Rebecca not being completely aware of this ability. The dreams Rebecca has of future alternate timelines is a response to being able to access the Edenverse. Rebecca sends her consciousness temporarily leaping into an alternate moment. At present, the ability activates in a defensive manner but its effects appear to be significant. It not only gives Rebecca a glimpse into an alternative moment that could come to be but this ability creates a point in time and space for Rebecca she can traverse across. When these dreams become less a dream and more a vision and memory, Rebecca will come to understand how her powers can be expanded in application.

Traveling back across Universes and even sideways, allows for a new avenues of story telling and characterizations to open up. Rebecca indeed possesses a miraculous power and as the story has been hinting since its inception, Shiki will be integral in assisting Rebecca attain such a power. Rebecca is a very cerebral character and I truly do feel that if she comes to understand how her Cat Leaper ability functions, she will able to make use of those abilities to their fullest extent. Rebecca will definitely need assistance to reach such a point but she has began on such a path and the conviction she holds cannot be stopped now. I believe in Rebecca.