Who Is Edens Zero's Mysterious Narrator, Xiaomei?
Edens Zero recently finished airing its first season on Netflix, and the new anime from Fairy Tail creator Hiro Mashima already has fans asking a lot of questions. Eden's Zero is about Shiki, a boy raised by robots who travels across the cosmos seeking the creator of the universe (he also has the ability to control gravity, because why not?). Adventuring alongside him is Rebecca, a streamer attempting to become famous on this universe's equivalent to Twitch, and her robotic cat sidekick Happy.
This rather lighthearted premise is juxtaposed with the series' emphasis on a gradually rising conflict between robots and humans, along with the ever-present threat of a gigantic, time-devouring dragon coming to wipe out all life in the galaxy. There's a lot to unpack in the first season alone, but surprisingly, one of the most pressing questions fans have right now is actually directed at the series' narrator.
Is Xiaomei a time traveler, a deity, or something else?
"Edens Zero" makes use of an omniscient narrator named Xiaomei, who appears early on in the story to describe events that will happen in the future. She boasts an extensive knowledge of the world, its characters, and events of both past and present. There are moments she breaks the fourth wall, addressing the audience directly – and at times even enters the narrative itself, though she abstains from giving any concrete answers or directions to the series protagonists.
So who is she, really? The general consensus from fans on the show's subreddit is that she's somehow connected to Mother, the universe's creator: she's either a relative, a descendant, or an avatar for the creator itself. "She may be a person reborn from another person who encountered Mother before," suggested u/DarkstarX84 on Reddit. The series' emphasis on time manipulation makes this theory one of the more interesting amongst fans, as the ultimate goal of series protagonist Shiki is to find Mother.
Another user u/DemonZiggy speculates that she could possibly be "a higher tier character than Mother itself," a deity in her own right. It's also possible that her role could be like The Watcher in the Marvel TV show "What If...?" which saw the character eventually get more directly involved in the story against his better judgment. For now, the best we can do is speculate, but it definitely seems that Xiaomei is a character of immense power and one who will have a big impact on the story down the line.