Higashi no Eden

I haven't watched the movies yet so this review will solely be about the anime. Higashi no eden has a very interesting plot. Whoever says that this anime is a rip off of Mirai nikki he has just seen only the first three episodes. Those two anime shouldn't even compared. While Higashi is not as mindfuck and violent as mirrai nikki is way smarter. But still even though it had a unique plot it still missed that something that didn't manage to make me love it. Also it leaves a lot of unanswered things so you have to watch the movies to have a complete answer I guess (I haven't seen them yet as I said before). The animation is amazing especially for a 2009 anime. The OST's were pretty good especially the one in the last episode. But the song that stood out was the opening with very fluent English lyrics and full of meaning. The ending was catchy with some beautiful visuals. Also the voice acting was pretty good with very good dialogues The character section was really weird especially the two protagonists Saki and Akira. The anime is centered between those two characters while all the others are staying in the margins of the plot. Those two have an amazing relationship right from the first episode but I didn't like the fact that apart from the protagonists the anime doesn't care a lot for the minor characters with one or two exceptions). Overall I wouldn't say that I loved this anime but I didn't hate it either. It was an interesting story that if the creators tried a little bit more it would have been really interesting.

WARNING! CONTAINS SPOILERS! What do we need to for ruling this world? An army? A high education or maybe have a royal background? No... it is all wrong. What we really need is a cash and the tool which will help us with distribution of it... But is the 10 billions yen enought to do so? Higashi no Eden is trying to ask this question during the 11 episodes. The new meaning of "noblesse oblige" was just born. But is there any of those random "noblesse" feel the responsibility of "obelige"? =Storyline= 12 totally diffrent people... 12 saviours-to-be... one supporter, one winner... sounds a like some kind of reality show. In fact it is pretty similar to those shows... but instead of cameras and microphones we have mobiles containing some letters and cyphers... and cyphers hardly ever lies... So if we compare high amount of money that belongs to the people that are just not the saint ones... yeah it equals a brutal and viloent massacre, the rat race and fast action included :D And what we have in the Higashi no Eden? The beginning of anime- totally rocks and makes watcher just curious how the story of a naked young man from Washington DC will end... Police, collection of passports, full armed closet... yeah it is fascinating and Bond-films like! But it is only a beginning and it can fool us... In fact this anime serves us a 11th episodes of cautionous stalking and then in last two episodes suddenly everything comes to the sunlight! Well we can weight it down on the main character amnesia, but... generally whole series looks rather like a long prologue than a first season of anime. So the ones who like fast action, car chases, intense firing, can be disappointed... But before those will skip this anime... look around! Today the most powerful force is information and the most powerful weapon is the information plus the tool to share it with someone... And that very essence is shown in Higashi no Eden! Another think that I just must mention is the other subplots, like love plot in Higashi no Eden... Again, 11 episodes is not enough to even highlight it on account of that the main plot had a problems to fully spread... So I didn't saw the movies connected with Higashi no Eden yet and I don't know what is shown there, but... I guess that Saki need to be patient if she want to get closer to her prince ;) So, for me the first season is too short, the action is like a snail, but that doesn’t mean this anime is not good. On the contrary, the unanswered question is making us more and more curious… Who is supporter? Who is Johnny? Is the rapists “interests” safe? Is anyone can be a prince or king of county this days? ;) =Climate&World= The greatest advantage of Higashi no Eden is it’s climate. The big conspiracy, corrupted people, intimidated society, terrorist attacks… Sounds familiar? :) Yes, it is the very same world we are living in now! As they saying ‘the devil is in the details’ and you know what? I just love this ‘devil’ ^^ Because the details can make the even anime world more realistic. Prove? Look at the first episode closely… The Washington DC is so… American! The voices of people, the streets and and and (my favorite ‘devil’ :D) the military like shoes that Takizawa found in his apartment… Yeah, those are U.S. Army model called “Panama” that were used in Vietnam War… Yes… just a little detail but look how thrilling it is for such realistic freak like me XD Not to mention the refers to the real films like “The Bourne Trilogy” or “Taxi Driver” and many, many others. But fear not Japanese Fans! After first ep. we are going to our beloved world of subways, huge highways, big corporations and workaholics ^^ And the motive with abandoned shopping center… just epic! But what really impressed me in Higashi no Eden’s climate is the case of NEET’s… This is the first time I met such a term and I thought it was created for anime ^^ (how foolish I were! XD) So I searched internet a little and… NEET’s are no longer the guy, who cannot fit to the modern society… Today they are generating a huge financial problem for all governments around the world! So… the NEET’s can become an dangerous weapon in bad hands… plus they are well-trained in the art of Information Technology… they can even stop the missile attack ^_- And if such a website like Higashi no Eden would really exist (well… actually we have facebook…XD) I would feel uncomfortable… I could be only hoping that my pic wouldn’t became a “wanted one” like Takizawa’s :P Oh! I almost forgot the main feature! The cell phones… I guess most, if not all of us, who’ve seen this anime, would like to be owner of SELECAO mobile… and I’m not talking about those money on account (but it would be a pleasure too ^^) but the awareness of having such a cool stuff… So magnetic and scary appearance of those phones was perfectly shown in the scene in which out weird SELECAO member that loves cigars (and something else :P), was floating with a pair of the black wings and instead of the sword or other stuff which perfectly fits such apocalyptic-like situations… she is holding this thrilling phone… =Characters= Akira Takizawa A couple of words about characters… let’s start from Akira! Yeah, he is a smart and cheerful guy with eternal carefree attitude. He is so exudes with charisma, that people on the streets are even giving him their own garment instead of escaping from the young exhibitionist :P But on the other side of the coin we have a guy with huge sense of altruism, who suffers from what all such good person suffer in our sad world… He was betrayed by the those who he helped :/ But he was so intelligent to that he choose to erase his memory rather than spectacularly finishing life :) In emo-times committing suicide is very trendy XD Someone can say he is a trifler too much but… for me he is a good actor. Even when in pain, he can smile and keep going… even when broken, he can stand up again and help others once again... Plus he is a gentleman and have a good manners… perfect material for husband and Saki knows this ;D So in one sentence: He is very motivating one! Saki Morimi A shy but simultaneously brave girl, who thinks that White House is a center of the world XD Why brave (not to say stupid :P)? Which girl would have a nerve to throw a coin to the garden of the most secured house on the Earth and go alone with a guy, who was chased by police and going all naked? :) Any volunteer there? :P Morimi might look like a typical girl, but actually she is a strong woman. Loosing her parents, living on a credit of her sister and trying to do an emancipation, she dream to breakaway from the world that surround her. She is a romantic one, dreaming about the prince… And who can give her all that? A prince himself! She believes in uncreated story of Akira and help him instead of people who are full of suspicions about him… I don’t know maybe she is naive or… maybe she’s pure heart is whispering to her to trust Takizawa? But before answering that questions in ourselves just look at the power of the real “trust” … look that this “trust” can make others to stand up again and fight… In one sentence: a pure loving-girl! Others Well generally there wasn’t time to get to know other characters properly. The corrupted detective is dieing too fast and I regret it ‘cause he could be a nice rival for our courageous Akira. Other SELECAO are not better. The cigar-perv woman is the plot which would be (I hope) solved in the future, missile-guy is just a puppet… a doctor with a vision, also killed… but wait… there is those two… The clever government bureaucrat who almost crack the nut of all game… yeah this plot and his story should be spreaded more! Merciless, concrete perfectionist. A rising main bad character ;) And the last of SELECAO… the guy who didn’t even spend a single yen from his account, but using limousine for transportation… yeah very suspicious. Instead of SELECAO we have other typical, boring family members, typical je…

I knew it wouldn't be long until my next review, as I started this halfway through Ergo Proxy, and so that's one pro/con straight off the bat - this is a bite-sized anime with only 11 episodes! Despite that, I personally think the anime didn't feel rushed and so let us segway into the full review of Higashi no Eden, or Eden of the East: Story - If my opinion means anything, this opinion may deter you from watching this but I don't think that's fair, I think the show is still good but the story is certainly the weakest link in the show. I realize saying this I'm likely going to get a letter soon from a collection of you on MAL saying I should burn/rot etc, but allow me an explanation. Know what I said earlier, how I said the show doesn't feel rushed? You'd think that would mean, in my opinion, I thought everything was well explained right? Well, that's my main problem. You're still scratching your head halfway through at the characters, even some new ones getting thrown in right at the end, and they're all really well explained, and I commend that. However, the main characters motive, a certain organizations purpose and motive, the other characters linked to both the main character and said organization, VERY disjointed, there was no real cohesive storyline despite the fact these characters and the organization are essentially THE PLOT OF THE SHOW. For saying it's about missile attacks in Japan, there's no real tension either. Now, to combat this, I watched Zankyou no Terror (which I think I reviewed and highly recommend, whether I did review the show or not) before Eden of the East, and both shows have VERY similar plots, and so this may have spoiled the plot for me as I may have sub-consciously thought I was just watching the same show by a different art team, but I dunno. Either way, it's still enjoyable if not always easy to follow. 6/10. Art - Thankfully, for the shows creators, it's fans and myself (for the hate I'm likely to get for the above), the story is certainly the only real weak link. The art is gorgeous. No Cowboy Bebop or Dragon Ball (I think everyone can appreciate hand-drawn art styles), but it's certainly a looker. It really conveys whatever it's try to depict, whether that be Saki (the girl on the cover) and her cute face, or the architecture of Tokyo, it's all very colourful and clean. 9/10. Sound - The sound is great too. Not as good as the visuals, but still well implemented. For me not saying there's much tension, there's actually some very tense, but also action-type music, where it's needed, but then there's also calmer interludes and rifts and such as it's needed. So it's very well implemented as well as just being, or should that be sounding, good. The opening is by Oasis (yes, "Wonderwall" Oasis) and the closing theme is just as calming, by a Japanese artist. All very very nice. 7/10. Characters - So, to quickly rattle them off (by second name for convinience): Saki, Takizawa, Mr Outside, Kazoumi, "Sis" (don't know real name, either it's not said or my memory), Ohsugi, Kasuga, Katsuhara, Shiratori, Mononobe, Kondo and "Panties", or Itazu. I'm gonna give a quick bio of each so strap yourself in:- Saki is in America studying in her last year of university. She's sweet, cute, kind and forms a bit of a love triangle between herself, Takizawa and Ohsugi. And she starts to fall for Takizawa, when she makes her return back to Japan after graduating. It's not shown them having a relationship, but it's certainly implied she has feelings for him. She's likeable if not a bit bland. Takizawa is the real protagonist, being linked to the aforementioned organization, and he has a phone given to him by this organization which allows him to do whatever he wants, along as he has the funds (he has over a billion yen, so essentially for such a short run-time this means the power is limitless). Sounds interesting, but with the plot being so disjointed in my opinion, it doesn't work as well as it could have. Mr Outside is implied to be the head of said organization, but he's not seen much, if at all, I can't exactly remember. He's only really there as a goal for Takizawa to work towards, as he repeatedly says he'd love nothing more than to punch Mr Outside in the face for setting up this game (said game being the plot, so won't be mentioned as NO SPOILERS) so take that as you will. Kazoumi, Sis, Ohsugi, Kasuga and Katsuhara form a group that, well, I don't particularly understand there purpose. They're goal is to help the thousands of NEET's (people not in education, employment or training) that rose out of the aftermath of the missile strike (this is the only spoiler, it's in the bio, and it's needed for context), but other than that I don't see any purpose. Kazoumi is the straight-talking thinker of the group, Sis I actually thought was the mother of either Kazoumi, Kasuga or Katsuhara (as the former two look in their twenties, and Katsuhara looks between 12 and 15) but she's just another part of the group, Ohsugi is litreally just there to be jealous of Takizawa and Saki (oh, and Saki is with his group as well, again this isn't explained), Kasuga is the comic relief character and Katsuhara is the cute one, but also, how did my friend describe his sister... The typical mardy teen? Because that's how I'd likely describe Katsuhara as well. Oh, and she's a tech wizard. Basically the fan favourite because a) she's a loli and b) she's a computer geek. Right, to quickly rattle off the rest - Shiratori is also in possession of a phone that can grant her any wish, same restrictions as those placed on Takizawa apply, and is there just for conflict. It's implied she was abused in the past as her "trait" is chopping off rapists and murderers "johnnys". I'm sure all the males, and a lot of you females, know what a "johnny" is. Moving swiftly on... Mononobe is revealed in essentially the penultimate episode, don't really see his point, he just wants Takizawa's phone so he can have more money, and therefore more power. Kondo is a detective and has exactly the same motive as Mononobe and then there's "Panties", so called because he lost his pants at school and ever since being stripped has been a shut-in since. I won't reveal his purpose as it's rather integral to the plot, but he's your typical shut-in. All in all a big cast for such a short show, and most rather likeable. 8/10. All-in-all, should you give 3-4 hours of your life for the show? Had the show been any longer, I would've had to have a long think about it, but for such a short run-time what are you really missing by giving up 3-4 hours? And for as bland and disjointed as the plot and some characters can be, you care for these guys. There's a philosophical message Saki rattles off in epsiode 9 or 10, possibly even the final episode, and while it's the same thing you've heard countless times, (something about how Takizawa isn't evil even though he fired the missiles, this is the only other spoiler don't worry!) it actually really spoke to me about humans and their good nature, at times. So yeah, if there are other shows you think you'd enjoy much more, watch them first, but if this interests you, the characters are interesting enough and the art and sound are great and certainly good enough to fill this bite-sized show. I award a credible 7/10.

When I first saw this anime as a recommendation I thought "Why not?". Indeed it was pretty good but I can't say it was incredible. -Story : 8- The story was very good,without gaps or illogical plots but for the first part it felt like they were trying to slow it down too much.After this the second part went into full rush and it ended way too soon.It left me with a lot of questions that I hope will be answered in the two movies. -Art : 7- While the environment and other parts of the art were indeed great the characters looked like some plain old monkeys. Saki always seemed that she is that female monkey that helps the main character in the movie The Planet of the apes.Indeed the bodies of the characters looked pretty life-like but their faces...plain creepy. -Sound : 10- The sound was incredible,the voices were always great and they felt realistic for the most part.You could really see the emotions in their voice and both the intro and outro songs seemed great to me. -Character : 9- The characters were all well-defined, their behavior was normal and there were no moments in which a character develops illogically fast ,a problem that's pretty normal for anime(We're looking at you Bleach). -Enjoyment : 8- I can't say it really glued me to the screen but it kept me interested until the end so I'd say I enjoyed it. -Overall : 8- It's definitely a good anime and it's definitely a must-watch especially if you like mystery/survival game types.

I've seen plenty of survival game anime and watching another one didn't really impress me, but somehow, Higashi no eden had a different feeling. The whole kill or be killed thing wasn't the main ideea of the series. It was something much deeper: the feeling you have power but don't use it for yourself, on the contrary, to help others. That's pretty much why I find this anime quite original in many points of view. Story: 9 Beginning with the story, like I said it's not a very inspired one. Main character Takizawa Akira finds himself naked in the middle of Washington with no memories where he meets Morimi Saki, a fourth-year collage girl. In the following episodes they return to Japan, hoping that Akira will get his memory back. However, what comes next is much more complicated as he learns that he is involved in some kind of a game where he has 8 billion yen to "save Japan". Things tend to become hard to follow due to the fact that the most important things are left unsaid until the very last episode. On the other hand, that's one of the good parts of the anime because it makes you want to watch episode after episode. But if it's not "the game" the main idea, then what is it? Personally, I think the anime teaches us that good people still exists. The plot is focused on rediscovering Akira's self who chose to have his memory erased not because he had done something bad, but because ha had been hurt by the people he saved. And I'm gonna stop here because I don't want to spoil anything. Art: 8 I found the art very similar to the one in Tokyo Magnitude 8.0. Characters have simple features but very distinctive, not many detalis being included. Compared to the characters, the environement looks much better, but still designed in this simple but fine manner. Sound: 10 Both the opening and ending are ok. Same for the voice of the characters and the rest. I don't have any negative remarks. Character: 9 Takizawa Akira is undoubletdly the one who makes the series so great. Like many other main characters he has this tricky appearance, making the impression he always knows what he's doing. He never loses himself no matter the circumstances and always puts others' selves before his own. I always apperciate a good character development and I would have given this section a 10 if it hadn't been for Morimi Saki. While Akira goes through a lot of things (he finds out he saved the world once but took the blame on him for destroying it just to protect the people he cared about and then he erased his memory in order to let go of the pain and start over), Saki does nothing at all. Basically, her contribution to the plot is nearly 0. Oh, yes. They kiss once, but that's everything they have in common. Of course, Akira slowly falls in love with her and so does she but the action is so focused on Akira himself that their relationship becomes insignificant. However, I can't criticize this too much because in the end, the anime is not just a slice of life-romance-drama anime. It is an action-mystery genre, not to mention some peple would find it quite violent. So despite the synopsis, which looks like the beginning of a romance anime, the series is not about that. Enjoyment: 9 With so many genres gathered in a 11 episode anime and so many confusing things and thoughts, I really enjoyed it. It was both sad and happy, full of action and funny moments, covered in mystery and having all these wrapped with a romance ribbon. So why I rated it 9? The end was such a disappointment! The whole atmosphere where Akira saves the world once again is wonderfull indeed but when the last episode ended I was like "Ok. So?" I felt like I was looking at a flower ready to blossom but then it wilted. I know the movies are the sequel but seriously, this is not how a series should end, leaving the viewers with an empty feeling. Overall: 9 Despite the flaws, Higashi no eden is one of the best animes I have watched but I expected more. Akira is an outstanding character but he overshadowes the other ones. The last episode is the key of the anime but the end left me speechless in both a good and a bad way. Nevertheless, I highly recommend it to anyone. There's a little bit of every genre, all gathered in a very harmonious approach.

One of the worst, most nonsensical and contrived anime around. It's your typical mystery/political thriller setup with an annoying amnesiac Gary Stu caught in a political conspiracy. The conspiracy involves a game where 12 players are selected to "save Japan" using aproximately $100 million USD, which can be used to purchase intel, hire hitmen, or even fire state owned missiles, by calling a concierge on a magic phone and issuing orders. It's supposed to be somewhat grounded in reality, but the logistics and efficiency of fulfilling each order might as well be "magic", and the system untraceable and invulnerable to scrutiny or conflict. A 50-story hotel building deep in Tokyo for only $15 million? A barrage of tomahawk warheads for only $10 million? I bet they still think penny candy is a thing. If this was the extent of it's shoddy premise, I could at least have shrugged it off as the whims of supernatural anime forces and just enjoyed an honest to goodness battle royale of scheming and subterfuge between players. But the anime subverts expectation and disappoints, aggravates, and bores no matter what sympathetic light you try to shine on it. Instead of tense battles between contenders using their newfound powers, we have instead, slow, plodding, agonizing backtracking and exploration of the MC's past and affiliation with the game and it's system. The clues lead to an absurdly stupid mystery and the finale just cements the stupidity. The writers are obsessed with labeling all youths in Japan as NEETs and making the anime into a lousy social commentary on overthrowing the old establishment and empowering change so that the disenfranchised NEETs can save this corrupt country of Japan. And how does it support the claim that the country is corrupted to the core? By showing the female protagonist, who doesn't even fit the description of a NEET, having her skirt drenched in beef noodle soup by an unruly employer. The world is surely rotten to the bone! Meat bone! They also label everyone in her group of friends, who are part of a promising startup company and seem like perfectly functional human beings, as NEETs. They've built together a Google Lens style app that's crowd-sourced from a social network, an amazing feat of engineering, named the eponymous Eden of the East, and it is absolutely inconsequential to the larger story and only used to manufacture two-bit drama between the characters. Hey look this generic looking black haired Japanese guy looks like a LOT of other people in Japan, according to the app! He must be some shady con-man with multiple aliases! On top of NEETing everyone under the age of 30 and gathering an army of NEETs to masquerade as public servants to evacuate large disaster areas or having 20,000 NEETs chase you around in the nude by pretending to be a villain for the lulz, you can also use NEETs to aim at and destroy incoming ballistic missiles with the flick of the wrist through the immense power known as bullshit. And some bright individual in the writing room, having unearthed the discovery of a century, that "johnny" exists, one of hundreds of slang words no one ever uses for that wiggly thing between a man's legs, proceeds to shower the script with johnnys. Here's a johnny. There's a johnny. Let me see your johnny. (That's exactly how an American would say it!) All the NEETs are named johnny. Johnny has officially overtaken half the word count, with NEET a close second. And what about all those promised battles and devious villains? They don't exist. You meet only a handful of the other players, they basically don't do anything, and their motivations are as threadbare as their screen time. The MC barely has a relationship with the rest of the cast other than showing his typical Gary Stu charm and the female protagonist might as well be a cardboard prop he drags around to pose with. Speaking of props, the anime mixes the blandness of Studio Ghibli faces, complete with no nose, with the deadness of bad CG animation, creating it's own unique horror show of talking doll heads. The music, what little that appears, is lazily sampled from Seirei no Moribito's soundtrack, from the same composer, and is too dramatic for the zero real action shown on screen.

Overall, it was pretty dreadful and one of the worst I've seen! I only decided to watch due to the good reviews.. Characters: No character development, no romance, all side characters are useless including the main girl. She does nothing the whole series. Story/PLOT: It makes hardly any sense. It reminds me of an episode of Pokemon where the bad guys are terribly stupid and give their plan away, literally. The main guy smiles too much so it pretty much means he's fail-proof in every episode.You'll see what I mean after EP. 1 Sounds: It was pretty good except for the intro, which is an English emo song. Art: It was alright except the characters looked a bit too bland. The main character even had a guy who looked just like him, I thought it was his brother or clone or something but apparently no one noticed. Enjoyment: None really. They didn't really explain anything in detail so it was hard to follow.

After watching Eden of the East, it was way better than what I had expected. The story line in the TV show could be a but hard to follow at times and you have to pay attention. The show had a good mixture of action, mystery, and comedy. I do feel as though the relationship of Akira and Saki could have been more in depth. Many unsolved questions in the show were solved in the following movies. Although the plot was weak in some parts the overall feel of the show left the viewer satisfied as they finished the series. I really enjoyed watching this anime and believe it to have been a great investment of my time. The art work was wonderful. The lighting gave it a realistic feel. The character development was pretty good. They gave us enough back story to understand the characters. This was a very fun story to see unfold and kept me guessing throughout the entire show. If you decide to watch Eden of the East, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

This is a great anime for binge watching! It hooks you right within the first 10 minutes events transpire to where you got to keep watching and every episode answers questions but also reveals more questions thus requiring you to keep watching! This show is very original and very cool espionage story line. Multiple people are chosen to participate in a game where the players are given 10 billion yen and a phone that can do basically ANYTHING and the objective of the game is to make Japan/The World a better place before the 10 billion yen runs out. And to just see the different archetypes in this show and how they use the money to meet their ends, whether it be to actually make the world a better place or if it's for some other selfish reason, either way this show is very entertaining and a great crime thriller that is easy to binge watch due to the low episode count.

Eden of the East is my third favourite anime of Spring '09 and is an anime that I would reccomend to everyone (ok, not everyone... shounen-only fans probably won't like this). Story: The story of Eden of the East is its strongest element. It is unique, exciting,, humorous mysterious, touching, is a good representation of modern World and its social status and life style and may even make you think about the things it represents. The spotlight is given to Japanese NEET's, their reasons for being NEET's and their place in society. Art: The art of background is detailed and beautiful. The scenes of surroundings will often cause a lose of breath. However, the character designs don't look good to me. They often don't fit with the background, many characters are forgettable in looks and emotions they are supposed to show sometimes look weird. However, I saw that many peoplel ike the character designs so I guess that the above comment is just my taste thus I will give it an 8 rather then a 7. Animation: Because of the art style, animation is fluid and realistic. Sound: While I didn't notice the sound most of time, there were some scenes where it improved the current atmosphere thus I gave it a high grade. Characters: While the plot is great, the only truly deep character is Akira (tough even he could have been developed in a better way). Others have very little depth or they didn't get enough spotlight (not surprising since the cast is large and there are only 11 episodes here.) Enjoyment: Trying to predict what will happen, trying to understand what is happening, trying to find answers on the questions you got just an episode before and good humour make this an enjoyable series. Overall: One of the best series in Spring '09 which might have gotten a higher score if it were a bit longer (yes, I know that there will be (or are, depends on when you read the review) movies, but we are speaking about the series here) thus getting time to further develop other characters and make the relationship between Akira and Saki deeper.

Man… Not gonna lie, I had some realllllly high hopes for this show. The first 3-4 episodes do a pretty great job setting up an interesting mystery and building intrigue around this charming but unreliable main character. And even after those eps, it brought up some real neat ideas! How are young people reacting to a society that ignores and belittes them? What are they capable of? How many (legal and nonlegal) ways are there to “save the world”? But after all that set up, all you end up with is characters you don’t care about, an unfulfilling endpoint to the mystery, a suspense plot with no exciting climax, and a romance thats dead on arrival. It’s textbook definition of disappointing. I feel like my biggest gripe has to do with the main characters. Esp for our main heroine. I never once felt anything toward Saki because she lacks any agency in the story or the plot. Like I thought a certain theme was developing with her that would make up for her nonaction in the story, but nope! She’s just there to be Akira’s love interest. Which isn't bad per se, but the romance felt so inorganic and flat and just plain weird at points. Like she finds a naked man with no memories, a gun, and a phone that gives him whatever he wants, and only in the later eps (past ep 5) does she start getting suspicious or ask any real questions about who he is! Cmon!. She doesn’t even seem to care much when her friends are in danger, it just all Akira all the time! Speaking of, Akira is ok. He’s charming, but I felt like his logic and intelligence was being hindered for the sake of the “mystery” I guess?? He asks alot of questions, but he keeps making the same mistakes and the way he keeps getting tripped by by the other villians and the way these obvious clues kept going over his head made him seem way dumber than the mysterious “mastermind” the story wants him to be. Also the secret behind the reason he lost his memories and his big plan were pretty anticlimactic and nonsensical. Music is great, random movies references were fun, character design is lovely, and so is the animation, but god everything else is just meh. Was really looking forward to this one :(. Terror in Resonance was a better time honestly and I still gave that show a 7.

This won't be a long review, just a concise and direct one. Balance of power. A longstanding issue to humanity since the first civilization was born. In this story, the writer wants to express how humanity can actually very easily be persuaded to change their opinions regarding something just out of convenience and general conditions and situations. Plot wise, this kind of genre has not been a smooth road for much of series trying to tackle down the problem. However, when we visit Higashi no Eden, we can actually see how the balance of power works in this series. It opens up and introduces us to a rather awkward pairing of Morimi Saki -- a common conformist folk who just happens to be on a college graduation trip -- and Takizawa Akira -- a young man who seemingly has no memories of himself whatsoever and appearing naked, on top of that. This kind of opening rather lightens the atmosphere so as to not being dark and mysterious from the beginning, however, it does not quite convey what the writer wanted to express about the storyline. The first episode, specifically the first half, is almost a make-it-or-break-it point for quite a lot of audiences. In this series, the introduction to the main problem was a bit late, coming near the end of the first half, and being quite vague about it. Fortunately, nearing the end of the first episode, the status quo is revealed more readily to the audiences. Through the series, we are going on a trip with Saki and Akira being mainly trying to recover Akira's memories, why he wiped his memories himself, and amidst the calamity due to other Selecaos' activities, happens to be able to save countless civilians. These particular patterns continue until the end of the series where ultimately Akira was able to save the day, again. In our viewpoint, the main plot somehow needs more dynamicity. However, we must also point out that the writer was able to presents a compelling morals, such as how being honest, caring, and helpful is actually one of human's innate traits. And to said that this was executed rather finely and in an efficient and timely manner. Nearing the end, we learn more about the game, its rules, creators, and expected outcomes. Also, we learn how different people with drastically differing view of the government act respectively to their ideals. Also, we learn of the characters involvement or dis-involvement along the way. With the ending states that Akira somehow requested to be the king of the country, it has a caveat that it, in itself, is actually a cliffhanger and does not fully resolve at least the aforementioned main issue in the series. With this, we conclude the review on the main storyline. Next, we would like to go over the intra- and inter-characters developments, especially focusing on several implied details. Character wise, Akira is one of the most developed character story, however, only being chronologically developed from now onward, without ample information regarding the backward flow. This may or may not appease the audiences as the story itself starts after Akira wiped his own memories. Then, we have Morimi Saki, somehow being designated as the "companion" of Akira, due to the fact that even when she frequently appears, her character wasn't developed as quite even to match Akira's. The variances are becoming more palpable nearing the end of the series where Saki even portrayed as being late with grasping the situations. However, we would like to redirect our attentions to read between the lines. The two characters, Akira and Saki, they clearly exude the atmosphere of liking each other quite deeply, even sharing their (presumably) first kiss. This kind of atmosphere exist whenever they are together, and this actually contributes both to the positive and negative aspect of the ending, which we will discuss shortly. After that, other side characters are being developed quite amply, in accordance to their respective capacities. This also applies to other Selecaos development. In fact, they are not under- or over-developed, being in just quite the right amount. Finally, we arrive at our discussion regarding the ending. We clearly see that Akira saves the day once again and requested that he appointed as the king of the country. In our viewpoint, however, this is a cliffhanger as we can't actually know for sure what being a king of the country has afforded Akira. Fortunately, we see that in the end, no character is left behind and each one of them actually contributed to the progress of the story, one way or another. All in all, Higashi no Eden is a must to watch, but also be forwarned that it may confuses the audiences at first, and left hanging until finishing all the episodes AND the three movies. The technicality, visual, and audio aspects are all very good and well composed. The soundtracks are a good listening material. Nonetheless, it remains as a fresh material, able to reinvent itself after several times, and still being relevant to the main storyline. We hope that you enjoy this review, do share your thoughts, comments, and even ramblings. Best regards.

One of the more complex series I've seen recently, Eden of the East is definitely a breath of fresh air with all of the cookie-cutter anime that have been released in the past few years. Created by Kenji Kamiyama, people have been fawning over this anime since its release in 2009. But what is it about the series that makes it so unique? Is it the subject matter? Is it the characters? The series definitely has a lot going for it, but there are just a few nagging issues that keep this series from being the best that it can be. As a quick aside, yes, I am aware of the two movies, but this is a review of the series independent of said movies. Eden of the East definitely has the most unique character introduction I've ever seen. The main character, Akira Takizawa, wakes up in Washington, D.C. in the nude with just a gun and a cell phone charged with 8.2 billion yen. He ends up saving a girl named Saki Moirmi from arrest, and manages to get back into Japan with her. In the interim, the country has fallen victim to a missile attack known as “Careless Monday.” Takizawa wants to find out where he came from, who he was, and why he has been given such financial means. Along those same lines, Takizawa finds out there are others like him, all with their own motivations, and cell phones loaded with cash, with the enigmatic Juiz there to always fulfill a request, no matter how insane it might be. If the person has the money, she'll do it. The web of conspiracy theories slowly reveals itself: who is behind the Careless Monday attacks and why would they want to destroy Japan? The stars of the show are definitely Takizawa and Morimi, with the two making for an interesting couple, but it's definitely more of a “prince/damsel in distress” dynamic between them. Jason Liebrecht gives a fairly subdued performance as Takizawa, but it works because his character is always Joe Cool—he doesn't lose his temper, he doesn't make a scene unless he has to, and he's always calculating, looking for the best way to get what he needs. Leah Clark is the precocious Morimi, who is dragged into a situation she didn't ask for, but is drawn to Takizawa and is always looking to help. There is a budding romance between the two of them, but it definitely feels forced in the early parts. Luckily, it shows up intermittently, without being too much of a distraction. With an excellent setup and interesting characters, Eden of the East has a lot going for it right off the bat, but the problem is the show's lack of length. Clocking in at only 11 episodes, they try to cram in as much of the story as they possibly can, and for the most part, they're successful. However—similar to Mnemosyne—there just isn't enough time. Unlike Mnemosyne though, the story doesn't take a nosedive in the last half. It just gets a little crazy and requires full attention (and maybe a re-watch) to understand all the big reveals, which I won't spoil here. Also, I have taken issue with the ending, which just wraps everything up too neatly, and it doesn't set up the first movie very well. Also, for a series this short, the pacing could have used some work. One thing I can say about Eden is that it nails the artistic side of anime. The animations and character modeling are very well-done, at times making you think this is an OVA, and not a television series. As such there is no dip in the quality of animation, as is common in anime as they get closer to the end. The characters also look a little less Japanese than most models I've seen, but I can't shake the feeling that Morimi (and a few other characters) looks like a frog. A standout area of the animation are the locales, which are lovingly rendered. The opening scenes in Washington are amazing, and the rest of the locales look like you're really there. This is a highly atmospheric anime that does everything possible to draw you into its world. The music is mostly forgettable...with the exception of the opening and ending themes. I don't know, maybe it's because you hear them so much, but the ending theme (futuristic imagination by school food punishment) deserves special mention because it has one of the most unique ending sequences I've seen. It was so good that I actually watched the clean ending, something I have never done. It seriously needs to be seen to be believed. In the end, Eden of the East is a great series, but has some hangups that keep it from being all that it can be. With a good but unsatisfying ending, characters that seem to come and go, and a story that borders on convoluted, it balances out the excellent art style and intrigue that pervade the series. Again, Eden of the East is great, but it isn't the transcendental anime that many seem to think it is.

After many recommendations and (forceful) encouragements from my friend to watch Higashi no Eden, I finally gave in and decided it was worth watching. At first, like with all anime, I felt that it was too boring and that I should drop it, which is what I ended up doing. after a while I came back to this anime to finish watching and by the 10th episode I was like "why the f*** did I not watch everything" but once I finished it I then thought of it with less fondness due to the ending, which I would like for the creator of the anime to expand upon, since I have no intention of watching the two movies. Story: 7/10 The first episode was the best starter to any anime I have ever seen which made me want to see more, even though the next episodes made it boring. As I advanced through the episodes I noted that there wasn't much action for the people that like action anime, and that there wasn't enough emotions for those who like meaningful anime with emotions. However, after understanding the problem behind the phones it made me curious how someone could make Japan a perfect country using money. Art: 8/10 There are those animators that draw fat little people that just make me want to turn off the computer and never turn it on again, and there are those that make every single person look perfect with sharp cheekbones and other features. This anime has it balanced, meaning that the main characters were (of course) close to perfect since we have to see them every episode, while the ordinary person looked like an average person that is just living his life. Sound: 7/10 I'm really picky about sound and I would say that the intro track was nice and made me want to hear it again and again, as opposed to the anime I'm currently watching. I gave it a six because I'm a music freak and fellow musicians might understand my partial disappointment with the songs and melodies chosen for this anime. Characters: 5/10 I seriously didn't get what was up with this guy, he came up with a great idea for an anime, and then he gave it two people without a personality. For example, at the beginning, when Yuki meets Takizawa, she acts like a complete robot, doing everything he asks her to do, and then somehow falls in love with him, even though all evidence is to suggest that he is a terrorist. Takizawa on the other hand would randomly yell out random phrases whenever he was surprised, and when half the country depended on him to do the right thing, he just says, nah, I'll just release these 2,000+ people into the streets of Japan so that they try and find me. and possibly kill me and thousands of innocent citizens. I don't know if that argument sounds rational, but that was my impression of him. Overall: 6/10 Even though I really loved the concept of the story, the anime was still really boring due to the lack of activity, in the first few episodes while the guy is trying to figure things out. Those first few just ruined it all for me. and later, closer to the end, the whole story just ended too suddenly, in only a few episodes the whole conflict was resolved before I could even understand what the conflict was (well, I did understand it enough ATM, I'm not THAT retarded). To sum up, if you don't have any anime you really want to watch, or you just want something to pass the time, this is a good anime for that, but if you want to sit down and plow through the episodes, I wouldn't exactly recommend this.

"If you won't save me, please don't waste my time." --Oasis - Falling Down (OP for Eden of the East) Most of the discussion of Eden of the East (Higashi no Eden) focuses on it as an atypical mystery/romance with likable and interesting characters which is nevertheless brought down by its comparatively weak plot that never really delivers on the suspense it builds up. I agree with this assessment, but that isn't what got my attention when I watched this series. In Eden of the East, I saw a surprisingly eloquent show about millennials (Generation Y) and how we try to find our places in this world. I'm going to focus on this aspect of Eden of the East in this spoiler-free review. Many of both the protagonists and antagonists portrayed in Eden of the East find themselves somewhat lost in a world that doesn't quite seem like it was made for them. Saki's lack of direction in her life prevents her from getting a job after graduating from university. Her friends' attempt to build a startup, but it suffers from a lack of funding and interest. Ohsugi is the only young character shown to have gainful employment, and he feels out of place at his job. A sizable amount of characters proudly self-identify as NEETs (not in education, employment, or training) and don't consider themselves to be a part of society. Even some of the antagonists use their isolation from society as a justification for violent actions. Conversely, characters over thirty seem more a part of their society, but believe it can be changed and improved. However, these older characters don't consider those younger than them in their plans to reform Japan into something greater, once again, making the younger characters feel out of place. Eden of the East feels very much written not merely for millennial anime viewers (I'm going to avoid the term otaku due to its negative connotations in Japanese), but feels like it was written about them! Many characters use the internet extensively, and imageboards in particular play a role in the plot. Memes form a major part of how information is transmitted and older characters ignore or do not understand these memes. The terrorist attack, Careless Monday, is focused on much less than people's reaction to it, a possible reference to the generation shaping (in the United States, at least) terrorist attack, 09/11. Both of these events passed by very quickly, but discussion of them never stopped. Finally, the characters in Eden of the East feel like cooler version of millennials. The young people portrayed in the show come off as stylish and thrive off making pop culture references. Even the geekiness of the characters only seems to boost their charm, especially shown by a hikkikomori who uses his computer skills and internet savvy in a badass fashion. It was unusually easy for me to put myself in the place of the protagonists, greatly increasing the immersion of the show. Eden of the East itself feels like a show built around the exclusion of young people from society and the passive protest many of us do as a result. The characters don't start massive street protests or foment violent revolution like The Sect from Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade, but that merely highlights differences between millennials and baby boomers (Jin-Roh is probably set in the late 1960s or early 1970s). Instead, the characters either passively sit on the sides of society, refusing to participate or they commit terrorist acts alone with little outside support. I think it's quite telling that the older Selecao focus on making society more orderly while younger Selecao focus on making it more chaotic, reflecting differences between our generation and that of our parents. Before I end this review, I should also briefly discuss other good things about Eden of the East. Its early episodes create a very interesting world that I felt very drawn into. Its romance aspects are surprisingly well done, especially since I tend not to like how anime handles them. I liked how the romance focused on a young woman not quite sure of herself rather than the cliched anime example of a young man not quite sure of himself. Even though in real life, I'm a straight guy, I could easily see why Saki likes Akira and I found him to be a very compelling character. Eden of the East also did a good job of creating interesting antagonists with striking motives for their actions. Lastly, the English dub of the series is very well done and does a good job of making the social criticism discussed earlier feel very relevant to a Western audience. There's quite a bit to like in this show. The problem with Eden of the East is that, like others before me have said, it never quite delivers on its promises. I got a strong sense that the characters were all dissatisfied with the current state of Japanese society, but these same characters don't have any good way to change it (a common criticism of millennials!) I would say Eden of the East is character driven, rather than plot driven, but the characters really don't change much throughout the series. Even the movies, which progress at a much faster pace don't seem to change the characters a lot. I agree with other reviewers here on MAL that nothing feels like it changes over the course of the story. Throughout the show, I had this sense that the creators were trying very hard to say something, but they couldn't quite get it out. While I suppose this prevents the show from coming off as preachy, it also leaves it feeling imcomplete and empty. I wrote this review to avoid plot spoilers, but I wonder if knowing the entire plot changes anything about one's enjoyment of the show. Despite an unusual narrative focus and notable imperfections, Eden of the East has spawned imitators. Durarara!! adopts protagonists who are stylish young men and women that clearly watched more than a few anime series in their day. Mirai Nikki (Future Diary) builds a life and death plot around super powered cell phones held by people with wildly differing views of themselves and the world around them. Zankyou no Terror uses terrorist acts as a way to highlight problems in society. Each of these shows takes a different direction than Eden of the East and they do it with different degrees of success, but if you liked one of these three shows, consider watching Eden of the East and see what you think of the similarities. I feel like Eden of the East isn't far off from being a masterpiece, but the parts it is missing take a lot away from its impact. I liked Eden of the East quite a bit, but I like the above discussed social criticism quite a bit more than the plot or characters, leaving the show feeling a little gimmicky. If you found the first two-thirds of this review very compelling, I think you would enjoy Eden of the East for its commentary on postmodern society. Also, consider watching this show if you liked any of the above mentioned anime that adapted ideas from it: Durarara!!, Mirai Nikki, or Zankyou no Terror. I guess the last thing I want so say here is that before I watched Eden of the East, I felt that there are no works of fiction that adequately describe the lost feeling so many people around me have. Unfortunately, after watching Eden of the East, I still feel the same way. Thanks for reading and I hope you liked my review! Addendum: I think it's worth noting that I was born in 1991, so I am part of the millennial generation portrayed in Eden of the East. Lastly, as long as this review is, I feel like I missed some major things like the references to Shakespeare, vaguely relevant lines from Christian spirituals, the messianic aspects of Akira, and the color schemes used. I wasn't quite sure how to include them so I didn't discuss them at all. Some time in the future, I may delve into these a little. I get a bit too wordy with these things. :)

[Adapted From Original Blog Post] Here's something to ponder for a couple moments. Anime is partly loved so greatly from me because just how different it feels from other mediums. Anime has a unique feel to it, from the tsunderes, to the nonsensical shounen power ups, to the fact that everything must always revolve around a highschool. You find stories you couldn't anywhere else, for example, I firmly believe that anime like Gurren Lagann, Bakemonogatari or even Clannad just wouldn't work if they weren't anime, the overall zaniness, insanity, cliches, and weirdness of the medium allow certain things to work where in other forms of entertainment they would just be viewed as... well just freakin' weird. And don't get me wrong, anime is freakin' weird, but sometimes when there is so much of this weirdness, it starts to lose the appeal, and almost feel repetitive. When I start to feel this way, I can turn to one of three things. Firstly, I could just stop watching anime for a bit and watch American television. That's never going to happen though, so secondly, I could turn to anime's downright deranged side and see how much weirdness I can take. Or lastly, if I don't want to be scarred by what I might see, I could turn to anime like the topic of this review: Eden of the East, an anime that tackles a kind of story that anime usually just doesn't go for. If anything, Eden of the East feels like something that would be produced over here in the West, but through a great premise, a good taste for music and a fantastic first few episodes, Eden of the East pulls it off. Well, almost pulls it off. So, before plot and characters and all that, let's talk about the show's background shall we? The original creator of Eden of the East and the director of its anime adaptation is Kenji Kawayami, and he hasn't been around the industry that much, but his most notable accomplishment is handling the script and directing Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. The script for Eden of the East was actually written by three people, which is a little odd, the first and most prominent being Dai Sato, who was the head writer of both Eureka Seven and Ergo Proxy, as well as writing the script for Wolf's Rain. The second writer was Shoutarou Suga, writer of Isshuukan Friends(which admittedly I haven't seen but looks really good), and the third Naohiro Fukushima, who... um... wrote the ninth episode of Eureka Seven AO, and pretty much that. Which isn't encouraging. Animation is by the highly prestigious Production I.G, who have created some of the best looking anime of all time, for example, Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex and Guilty Crown. More recently though, they've been up to things such as Psycho-Pass, Haikyuu, and of course, co-producing with Studio Wit on a little known anime that goes by the name of Attack on Titan. And lastly, Eden of the East aired from April 10th to June 19th in 2009, and is only 11 episodes. Now, onto the plot. In November of 2010, an unheard of act of terrorism was committed in Japan. Ten missiles were launched from an unknown source and with no time to react to them, land squarely in the middle of Japan's largest cities. But shockingly, a miracle occurs, and though all ten missiles find their targets, somehow not a single person is harmed. With this amazingly low number of casualties, Japan moves on practically forgetting the incident entirely, which has come to be known as "Careless Monday". A few months later after this fateful event, we meet our main character: a young woman named Saki Morimi, who is amazingly not in fact a highschool student, but a senior at university, on a graduation trip with a group of friends in Washington D.C. However, as she stands in front of The White House(and throws something onto the front yard), things become very bizarre, as after she is questioned for throwing said thing over said fence, she is saved by a charming man named Akira Takizawa. The thing is, he is stark naked, holding a gun in one hand, and a cellphone in the other. After Akira takes off suddenly, Saki follows him to the airport, and learns a few things. Firstly, that cellphone has about 8 billion dollars on it, just sitting there, and another thing, Akira doesn't appear to remember anything about who he is or how he ended up outside The White House in the first place. Also, after using that cellphone to speak with a mysterious woman named Juiz, Akira learns that he is one of 12 "Seleção" and begins to realize that he might be more involved with the events of Careless Monday than he could possibly imagine, and that the money that is currently sitting in his phone is only one step in an elaborate plot that must be completed by all 12 Seleção, a plot that will ensnare all of Japan, either "saving" it, or destroying it. And then, with these great plot-points and ideas, Eden of the East proceeds to commit a cardinal sin of the mystery show that it is, and plays it safe. OK, so this is a little complicated, so stay with me a minute. First of all, I don't want to give away too much about the story. The reason why the first few episodes of Eden of the East work so well is that the questions it presents are very interesting, and the anime doesn't give you too much information too fast. It's only till about episode 4 that you actually start getting the full view of the plot, and since I consider the actual main idea of Eden of the East's plot to be actually really, really, good, this is easily the best part of the series. But here's the two big problems that kill this idea as quickly as it is raised. The first problem is what I've already stated, the series plays it safe(I'll explain what I mean), and maybe this would be tolerable in the series, since tons of anime start to fall on typical tropes and cliches as they go on, but there is one particular reason why it doesn't work here. The actual plot of Eden of the East is one of the most ambitious I've seen in anime for a long time. Once the main idea falls into view, you start to realize that it opens the possibility for a lot of other cool ideas, a huge amount of brilliant scenarios, as well as the ability for the show to dip into as many themes as it could possibly want, but it just doesn't. Here's what I mean by playing it safe. I'll keep the exact reason they have this money or who gave it to them vague, but all Seleção have this massive amount of money, and slightly different views of what completing their biggest mission actually looks like. This would, you'd think, set the stage for a set of very interesting battles between Seleção with clashing ideologies, both in themes, as both sides are presented and you work that brain of yours, and action-wise, as two people with an ungodly amount of money and power take their battle throughout all of Japan. However, this never really happens, besides a distinct point in the series when Akira is battling Seleção XI, as they both manipulate traffic to stop one another from reaching their destination, and yeah, that was pretty awesome, I just wish it had happened more than a grand total of once in the show. Sure, Akira does go toe-to-toe with a couple more Seleção in the show, but it's never within the complicity that the show is capable of, which really just baffles me. They obviously know just how far they can go with this idea, again, another reason why the beginning of the show works so well is that the other Seleção are faceless entities that could be doing who knows what, maybe manipulating the world's economy or something, but the people we actually do get to meet are painfully boring in their objectives. And when they are trying to do something interesting, namely the Seleção at the very end of the show, it doesn't really make a lot of sense from a logical standpoint as their motivations are never really explained. However, most of these issues most likely stem from the show's second big problem, is it soooo rushed. Eden of the East is a mere 1…

Eden of the East is a remarkable story. At the start of the series, I had a few doubts to the series. Whether it will live up to my expectations. There wasn't a time when I was bored. The story picked up immediately. This was one of the best series I've seen in a while. STORY The story was incredible! Each episode left me clinging to the edge of my seat. I couldn't wait for the next episode. The story was developed good. ART The art was rather nice, overall. I actually expected it to not be the best, but it was a good turnout. SOUND I loved the OPs. The songs were great. I kept on getting the songs stuck in my head. CHARACTER The character development was nice. Unique. I loved that the developed each character, no matter how long the were in the series. The did a great job. ENJOYMENT Enjoyment? I have to say this series was AWESOME! OVERALL Do you think this lived up to my expectactations? Absolutely not! It was better than I thought it would be.

“If you were suddenly given immense power and obligation to change your nation for the better, what would you do?” Eden of the East is primarily a thought provoking, vicarious, full-scale twisted game of right and wrong, society, abuse of power, responsibility and conspiracy. We are made to think of how everything that Eden of the East throws at us is somehow strangely connected; (The mysterious Selecao, the anonymous ‘Supporter’, Mr. Outside, the missing 20,000 neets, the careless Monday missile attacks, Takizawa’s lost memories) the audience is given substantial information and in our minds to try and solve the furtive puzzles, and in doing so, try to distinguish how the grand scheme of things will eventually pan out. Almost immediately, Eden of the East has a huge initial impact, it drags you in, entices you from the get-go, the sense of ambiguity and enthusiasm to find out who the main characters are, and why they are there; especially the character Takizawa Akira, the fact that he is introduced with no memory of his past, completely unclothed, yes naked! Whilst blatantly waving a gun in one hand and holding a weird-ass phone in the other. To top it off he is also in front of the Whitehouse occupied by security. It just instantly screams out its individuality, quirkiness and a sense of what you’re going to expect. If that somehow does not draw you in, then of-course the hilarity of the other random mishaps that occur, also does. (A casual stranger randomly giving half naked Takizawa his trousers, Takizawa calmly removing his jeans to show a female officer his genitals! xD) That should at least hold your attention in some form and all this is just the first episode! This sets us up with a respectable base for the plot; the storyline is absolutely unique, the premise is very intriguing with the sense of unpredictability along the way, as well as the twists and turns that keep you glued to your seat, whilst giving out just enough information each episode for you to take in and ponder, concurrently preventing from donating excessive information that would spoil the mystery of the plot. This goes onto the next point, pacing. The pacing of episodes seems to vary; with slow paced starts and faster more revealing conclusions to episodes; this gives a great structure to leave the audience wanting more. As well as this the atmosphere continually switches back and forth from serious to nonchalant, keep it both solemn and light-hearted at the same time; this links in with the decent ranging soundtrack it has, which also is able to successfully create a plausible atmosphere. Being a relatively short in length, a credible amount of character development is shown, particularly for the two main characters. (Saki; innocent, likeable and charming and Takizawa; quirky, mischievous and optimistic) They have engaging chemistry together predominantly in the early parts of the anime. We get to know them quite well without ever losing the sense of mystery behind the plot and Takizawa’s past. In connection with this, Takizawa’s fascinating ability to always remember films, although losing his memory xD, was a particular aspect of his character I really liked; this ties in with the regular references linking to films (To name a few; Taxi Driver, Bourne Trilogy, Dawn of the Dead, Kate and Leopold etc etc). In some ways Eden of the East starts off similar to ‘The Bourne Identity’, which is a film cleverly, referenced during the first episode. Another aspect I truly adored was the fluid animation; what we get is the vibrant colour schemes, convincing detailed scenery of each location and occasional CG, overall giving it high quality animation. Although with its vast amount of positives, there are little things I disliked. Though I think development for its two main characters is sufficient enough; I would like to have known more about its supporting characters. I think the length of the series undeniably had a part to play in this. In addition to this field, the uselessness of Saki in relation to the actual plot really bothered me also. (I also hated Ohsugi xP) In many ways I think it had unleashed potential. It could have been better than it actually was, as it should of expanded on the endless ideas and inklings the initial plot might of had; perhaps better direction could of made it into a more enhanced thriller or whether the length of the series had a hand in this? I’m just hoping the movie sequels will have a superior explanation of the unanswered questions and how it left off. While it unquestionably feels like the ending is slightly abrupt and unfulfilling, the pros certainly out-weigh the cons with the actual outline of the storyline making the overall difference as it causes the audience to contemplate the situations, choices and responsibility of the characters, and coherently places yourselves in their position. Its quite good-quality entertainment anime with boundless possibilities of the budding plot make it a highly recommendable series to watch.

Hey look at that, an anime with an original plot! You don't see many of those these days! Eden of the East was a fresh breath of air. In an industry that thrives on the same old humor, love stories, and fight scenes it was nice to see something that wasn't exactly like every other anime you've seen. The moment the first episode starts in Washington D.C. you had no idea what was going to happen next. I like that. Eden of the East was adventurous, following an oddly confident man with amnesia. You go along for the ride as he tries to discover his past and the troubles that he'd gotten himself into. Eden of the East is pleasantly unpredictable. All of the characters are likable and it questions the limits of human kindness. It's just like a Hollywood mystery. And the fact that it's only 11 episodes makes it more like a long movie rather than a show. You'll want to watch the entire thing in one sitting. Buy it, rent it, I don't care. Just so make sure that you see Eden of the East.

Eden of the East sort of resembles a death game anime at first, but it's only superficially similar and not nearly as stupid as what you can expect from that genre—or at the very least, these 12 participants are a little more thoughtful and not always murderous. The 12 are referred to as Selecao, and they're given 10 billion yen and a phone they can use to issue orders and have any of their desires fulfilled. This can be as simple and innocuous as ordering an item—it can also entail assassinating someone or launching a missile. Their purpose is to revitalize, save, change, or otherwise alter Japan—we can assume it's meant to be for the better, but they have enough power at the tips of their fingers to destroy Japan. The logistics are absurd, and they can be granted just about any very difficult to pull off stunt at the drop of a hat. It actually makes no sense. It appears they're able to carry out anything at breakneck speeds and always have someone ready to pull off the most random requests. There is a complex request in one arc that involves what looks like magic or an illusion: the glass in a highrise building is shattered, and a winged character flies off with another person in tow. Yeah, I don't understand how that request is even possible in less than 1 minute, or at all... There are a lot of conspiracies packed into this story—and Careless Monday, an incident where multiple missiles hit Japan, was an act of terrorism on the scale of 9/11, the only big difference being that no one died. In fact 9/11 might be a decent digression to paint a picture of what's really going on here, since it's ingrained in the psyche by this point, and it's also referenced several times in the series. There are a lot of conspiracy theories and actual conspiracies surrounding this event. I won't go into my specific views or any details, but let's look at the approach that considers the event to be an inside job. The people who would have performed that inside job are the equivalent of the Selecao—of course, other Selecao are also able to interfere and prevent that from happening, if they don't think this is a good direction for the country. One might ask how 9/11 would be good for the U.S., and I'd have to ask the same for the missile strikes on Japan, but, hey, we all have our reasons (you can understand the motivations for something like 9/11 by looking at the way politicians exploited the event, but there is no good reason for the missile strikes on Japan—the Selecao behind that is just an impulsive moron). Anyway, similar to that event there are a lot of rumors about why and how the terrorist attack happened, what happened to 20,000 missing NEETs around the same time, etc. At its heart, this is a sociopolitical thriller, one where we're, again, subjected to a main character—Akira—with amnesia. This seems to often be considered a hackneyed approach to storytelling, but it can produce great results. I believe the ultimate explanation for why the character has amnesia is less than satisfactory and a bit tacked on—and there was a good enough premise here to make a better show without amnesia, to be honest. The show starts off with a very comedic nature. This is the anime where the main character appears butt-naked right outside of the White House in Washington D.C., with a phone and a revolver, and just happens to run into the main female character Saki, who becomes his romantic interest, then we're met with many jokes about his "Johnny." For whatever reason, EotE has a strange obsession with calling penises "Johnny," a psychedelic sequence/movie reference that's pointlessly added with aliens latching onto our main and saying "Johnny," and there is even a female serial killer who chops off the "Johnny" of rapists. It's kind of embarrassing. Character-wise, there's not much going on other than the chemistry between the two leads. Saki's your typical romantic interest, a throwback to when every film had to have a romantic lead, and she may as well have been omitted—but then we wouldn't have gotten all of the sassy movie references that are abandoned halfway through. The amnesia must have hit Akira so hard he doesn't remember enough to have a personality beyond being tiresomely happy-go-lucky and spontaneous. Saki's simp friend also is thrown into the mix for more yawn-inducing dramatics and an eventual STUPID, sloppily written fake-out scenario that served no purpose. The rest of the characters are exposition devices or padding. Most of the story is Akira backtracking to figure out what happened in the past and his connection to the NEETs and the terrorist attacks. Along the way, he meets Saki's friends, and they are all part of a startup company featuring an app that utilizes facial recognition. It has no bearing on the story whatsoever. Although it seems to be suggested these characters are NEETs. This doesn't really make sense, if so, because these people aren't NEETs—they're part of a startup with an actual working project, just no funding, so I guess the point is general difficulties or unfairness pertaining to startups, innovation, self-employment, etc. While it's possible Akira's focus is more broadly on reforming the job market, I think his focus is meant to be on NEETs, based on writing cues—so I think this might just be clumsy writing again. Hilariously enough, the primary example of work difficulties is with Saki—she fails to get a job after just a few attempts, and Akira is like OMG GIRL YOU SUBMITTED LIKE THREE JOB APPLICATIONS AND THEY DIDN'T JUST GIVE YOU A JOB RIGHT THIS MINUTE?! THIS IS AN INJUSTICE! TIME TO REINVENT SOCIETY! It's bizarre writing. Of course, there are societal issues in Japan, but this series does a poor job of presenting these issues. It seems to suggest the presence of NEETs alone is enough for the writing to be done. The rushed ending is supposed to reveal to us the glorious untapped potential of NEETs, but they don't even really do anything that the main character couldn't have easily done with his phone. They just prance around naked (yes, 20,000 stinking naked NEETs). At only 11 episodes this is a tad short, and I believe it was intended to be much longer—there are some films that continue the story, but they're held in lower regard than this series, and nothing short of a reboot can change the fact that this is a mostly well-told but overly rushed production. Several of the Selecao don't even make an appearance at all. 3 of them appear right at the end, and there's another 3-4 along the way. One of the Selecao is presented as an early antagonist, and in a poorly written scenario, he steals the MC's phone, and while you expect some kind of comeuppance, this idiot antagonist tries to use up the funds on the MC's phone, but accidentally depletes his own funds! What? This scene has bugged me ever since (another issue is when Akira encounters a person who knows about his past, but he doesn't ask him anything, seemingly for no reason other than bad writing). Only one of the Selecao has a clear motivation. This particular character is a doctor who wants to reform medical care for seniors in a way that provides both care and work and a community very synergistically. The way he presented it appeared to be a good idea and a model to follow. The series would be better if the other characters had as developed of a plan. Instead we have to follow around our scatterbrained main character on a sugar rush while he "finds himself," along with scenes from all the characters that don't matter. We should have been presented with a longer series focused on the 12 Selecao, all with their own motivations and scheming; a little more introspection; without being bogged down with "I DON'T KNOW WHO I AM" for the whole series; no romance; no worthless characters. The MC's motivation about work is fine, though it would have been handled better without the amnesia angle; the doctor is also solid. Each character could have had more broad …