Higashi no Eden

To start off with my review, if know the band, Oasis. Yes, the LEGIT british band OASIS who are well known for singing champagne supernova and wonderwall. Then, did you know that their song "Falling Down" was featured here in this very anime? Well, except if you bought the FUNimation Version of this anime, well you only got Saori Hayami's OP for 10 episodes while Falling Down is only used in Episode 1. Well, that's the reason why I've got myself hooked because of that. Because first of all... F***ING OASIS! Those are my favorite band. So I said myself, "hmm... I should gave it a try." So here I was, watching the anime and NOT SKIPPING the OP and I was in bliss listening to Oasis's song. Because this is the second time (besides Radiohead in Ergo Proxy) to listen another foreign band outside Japan. Anyways, I'm getting out of the topic, so let's review Higashi no Eden. Or in English, Eden of the East. So we start at the episode where there was a naked man named Akira Tokizawa who has a gun and a weird cellphone, known as a "Selecao", that can do whatever you wanted to do in exchange for a digital money which is originally worth of 10 billion yen and it was been given to the selected 12 candidates who were participating in a kind of game. Whoever loses their money, either squandered, didn't use the digital money or they failed to do their objective as a messiah, then they will be killed by a supporter. For short, they must oblige their mission as the new God of the new era using this unholy Cellphone that controls the fate of either the whole world or the user itself. The theme is kinda looks like it was came from MadHouse's "Death Note", except that it was kinda slow paced at first, and it has also some deaths as well... but not that brutal like it was shown in DN, and the story is not very that dark. But what they have in common between Eden and DN is that, they have this kind of, what so called, "God of the new world" thingy. Except that they were 12 gods in their country, and they have one goal... To continue to become a messiah or savior of this country, either it's bad or good. The whole plot is good but it left us with SO MANY plot holes to fix with. It's like the whole 11-episodes of this anime is not enough though. So IG decided to go have a 2-part movie to seal the holes in this anime. First off, if your asking "why IG didn't just made more episodes rather than just wait for the movie to be released?" A simple answer is that, maybe we will see the full and explainable plot on the movie rather than just cut into halves and make it as an episode then, we'll wait for a week to release it. Second, "is it enough to cover these 11 episodes of this anime by watching the 2-part movie?" Well, we will get to that if I watch those 2-part movies. But, here, at least we have some explanation to which what is happening and what are the objectives of each selecao characters. This is a good start to watch with and... It's like this is just a prologue to those two part movies. Which is, yeah really disappointing. No real plots, just some introductions and their goals and stuff. But at least, we have some few actions, comedies, some love story teaser that maybe it will show it to the two-part movie and some mysteries and unsolved mysteries in this 11-episodic anime. Which is worth to watch. For the Art, well, it's fine alright. The surrounding are great as well including the character's artwork and... due to the graphic nature, you might see a scene where a horde of naked male shown at this anime. If your innocent, don't worry this is not eechi or even more than that, so they instead put a white swirling lines for censorship of the penis. The sound is, surprisingly, awesome. Especially at the first episode where IG ACTUALLY put some REAL AMERICAN voices here to portray their american roles in an american setting. It's pretty great actually, I was expecting to hear some Japanese VA who are struggling to speak english. But that very first episode is just pretty splendid. Well done IG! As for the Japanese Dubs, it's great also. As for the OP, like I already typed earlier, the reason why I've got hooked in this anime because of Oasis. So as for the OP song, "Falling Down", well it has a pretty deep meaning onto it when I watched the lyric. I searched it after that and still have no idea what it is though. But the beat of this song is pretty serious including Noel Gallagher's voice tune, which is pretty melancholic. For the ED, it's quite the opposite to Oasis though, it was performed by School Food Punishment and their song "futuristic imagination" is very melodic and it has a meaning to it. The characters here are well-developed and well known. Especially to Akira Tokizawa as, for once, he was very insomniac person until he decides to find the truth of who he really is. They also show some flashbacks about Akira's past life and his goals before, and when he understands it, he quickly do the action for the sake of mankind. And as for the twelve selecao members, well I've only seen few of them. One selecao user is helping the cause for good measures and risking his life for them, two were the reason who is behind the "careless monday" scheme, a police who is also a selecao user is tracking Akira, and one selecao user who... likes to cut dicks, yes, DICKS, because she hates dicks and she hate rapists, which is a good thing. So far, they're only 7 out of 12 of the selecao users were introduced here. So maybe the other 5 are at the movie. Which is pretty irritating considering on how this anime which garnered a lot of potential, is just ended into a cliffhanger. But at least the movie is just around the corner and the only thing we need to do is to watch it. Overall, it's slow paced, this is looks like to be the intro of the movie, the cliffhanger ending, and some negatives didn't stop me to watch this anime from start to finish. And it is VERY RECOMMENDABLE to watch this anime. This is anime is focuses more on mystery, so if you want to watch it, then DO IT! You wouldn't miss it!

If there was one word I could use to sum up my thoughts on the Eden of the east franchise, including the series and the films, it would be... OK. Just OK. Nothing AMAZING or OUTSTANDING and I don't think it's 'TEH GREATEST ANIME EVAR ZOMG!!!', but for what it's worth, it's good and if you were to watch it you would have a reasonably enjoyable experience. Why do I think this? Well, that's what you're reading the review for isn't it? Firstly, the story starts off with an interesting premise having main character, Akira Takizawa, standing naked in front of the white house with a gun in one hand and a weird looking phone in the other. And the mystery just expands from there, to terrorist attacks, government conspiracies, secret organisations etc. The plot is very interesting but sometimes it is hard to grasp what's going on with all the political talks and government babble. Furthermore, there are just certain parts of the plot that do not make any sense at ALL, but we'll get to that later. Don't get me wrong, the plot gets very intense and investing at certain points, however I always felt that the stakes sometimes weren't high enough. What I mean by that is that something very nerve-racking could be happening but afterwards nothing really makes the situation more dire. I would go into more detail about this but I don't want to give away spoilers and anyone who's watched the show will probably get what I'm talking about. Secondly, the characters. Ironically, I found the least interesting characters in the series to be the two main leads. Takizawa is the reckless airhead but has a plan and a good heart and Saki is the very normal girl thrown into these events because of Takizawa. They aren't bad characters, far from it, and their chemistry is very cute but I just find the side characters, specifically the workers for the Eden of the East company, to be much more interesting and fun to watch like Osugi (The one desperately pining for Saki) and Mi-tan (who's name is NOT Mi-tan!). All characters involved in the terrorist group are very interesting as well, though I wished some of them were given more back story. ON THE OTHER HAND, there is one character in the show that I legitimately did not like throughout the series, and that is Juiz. Juiz is the voice embedded in Takizawa's phone that can pretty much do anything as long as it costs less than 10 billion Yen. The first obvious problem with her character here is the problem with any show that has a device that can theoretically do anything that the character wants; it completely shatters the tension of any situation as you know they can just use that device to get out of it. But I would be fine with that and just brush it aside if that was Juiz's only problem, but it's not. Sometimes, she states that doing certain(typically plot important) things are impossible as she cannot perform it under the money limit. Yet other times, she can do seemingly IMPOSSIBLE feats and they are completely within the price limit?! What kind of sh*t is that?! And to my knowledge, it is NEVER explained how she did these! If anyone knows the answer behind these then please let me know, because it just boggles my mind! Don't take this the wrong way, I'm not saying Juiz is a bad character personality wise, because she has a very memorable personality and gets a lot of funny lines and sarcastic remarks throughout the show. I'm just saying the way she is implemented into the story is honestly, really inconsistent and bad. Anyway, enough Juiz ranting, let's talk about the presentation. The art in this show can look beautiful a lot of the time. The city backdrops, as well as the streets at night just look gorgeous. It's shows like these that seriously make me want to go to Tokyo. The characters are also animated very well, though very average looking and nothing really outstanding. Th soundtrack is also pretty meh. The first opening song as well as the ending song are great, but I cannot really remember any of the background music or any other tracks. Finally, the dub is good. All the voices fit the characters well, but it isn't really anything too special. Overall, Eden of the East, as I said at the start, is OK. It has a lot of problems, Juiz being the main one for me, but you will most likely enjoy it if you ever decide to watch it. Give it a shot and see if you end up enjoying it more than I did.

Higashi no Eden or Eden of the East was overall a good anime. In the beginning of the anime, I didn't really understand what was going on because the story didn't really go anywhere in the first few episodes but as the story progressed, it got better (ep 9). I found the story sweet but it has to start well and end well, hook the viewer. For me, it started well but the story didn't get to the point where ' I have to watch it now!!!!' but as soon as i reached episode 9, I was like that, so i gave this a 8/10 in the story. This is a really sweet story, hint of romance, although it doesn't show as much. I would recommend this anime if you want something short.

I honestly didn't get it at all. I just kept watching and kept watching, And at the end of the last episode, I just said "So...what? What happened? Why?" I had so many questions left over, why did this happen, why did he lose his memory, why did this girl he met of the street (kind of) fall in love with him Just didn't get it at all. Maybe the story was too complex for me. Dunno.

Eden of the East is centered around a man in his early twenties named Akira Takizawa. He has lost his memories and the first thing he does in this sudden state of amnesia is prance around the grounds of the White House naked while holding a gun. During this prance, though, he meets Saki Morimi, the random Japanese girl who randomly is at the White House when the random naked Japanese guy is running around randomly. Well, these two wind up in a silly situation where they are running from the police in what can only be described as some form of a Jason Bourne homage. From there the duo go to Japan where Akira wants to learn more about his past. What he does find out is that he is part of a huge conspiracy and may have been the guy behind a series of missile attacks on Japan. While this is all fine and good, and this plot alone is decent, there is still more to dig into. My favorite part of the plot is the idea of giving twelve random strangers ten billion yen to change Japan. If they run out of money, they die. If they aren’t doing anything to change Japan, then they die. It’s a really cool idea that, in better hands, could have been a bit more effective. What I hated about the plot of Eden of the East was that it started off really good, but midway we are introduced to Eden of the East, a kind of computer recognition software, and from there things get really strange and seemingly inconsequential. This is especially prevalent during the few episodes concerning the “Johnny Hunter”, which were freaking hilarious for all the wrong reasons and could have been left out with the series having the same impact as a whole. At first I had no idea what a Johnny Hunter would be, because either I’m really dense or that term is really outdated. Just say “Dick Hunter”. It’s not like you’ll offend anyone considering you have a whole plot concerning a woman who garrotes male genitalia if they can’t perform in bed. The bad guys of the series seem to only be there to explain things. There is never a bad guy who is bad, there is just a bad guy who knows more than anybody else seems to. It’s like taking a James Bond villain, cutting out all the parts that make said villain evil, and just leaving the part where he explains his ingenious plot to take over the world. It doesn’t really make you root for one side or the other, in fact you don’t really root for anyone here. The plot moves so fast and the explanations are so quick, you can’t keep up and you can’t really root for anyone because by the time the series is over you’re still mulling over the plot. That’s not to say it’s bad. I quite enjoyed the plot but the pacing was bad. There’s that middle stretch that doesn’t seem to be there for any reason, it’s not bad, but it breaks up the pace of the series and could have been used to elongate explanations and do them in a much more exciting way perhaps than standing around for half an episode. The ending is alright. Everything comes together and I do enjoy how it ended so large, but it just kind of ends. Typically after the big finale happens there’s a bit of exposition on what happens to the characters and that final kiss that you expect, but Eden of the East forgoes that epilogue that so many series use because it is effective, and instead opts to cut to the credits and leave you wondering what happens next. SPOILER: And I need to point out that the oblivious people walking around Tokyo during the finale who look up as if just noticing that fifty-nine missiles were blown up over the city, and have some sort of scared expression because the sixtieth is flying over, annoyed me. There are tiny things like this sprinkled throughout the series that take away from the authenticity. So the plot has a cool premise that is executed somewhat mediocrely. That’s about all I can say that sums that up. The animation. I really feel like I’m one of the few people who found it kind of okay. It had a certain style that I liked as far as the backdrops and scenery was concerned, but I found the characters to look strange. What I hate most is the fact that these characters that should be adults all look like teenage kids. As far as the characters are concerned I felt the animation dated, but I will say that overall, the animation is pretty damn good. Sound is good as well. The opening is nice and the ending is meh. The American voice actors all perform decently, there was no outstanding or terrible performance to report. I’m not going to go into my usual long-winded diatribe about the characters because there’s not a lot I can get into. Akira is a decent character with good motives but his personality is not that unique and really doesn’t shine. His occasional wittiness is not as good as his seriousness. I preferred when he was talking business rather than talking about johnny’s. And the female lead, Saki, is just kind of there for the ride. Kind of like Marie in The Bourne Identity (the book, not the movie). She’s kind of useful, but overall not a really exciting character. The tease of a romance between the two is never fully realized, but does flesh out a bit. The bad guys are all, as I said before, dull and uninteresting. They’re there to give us backstory, but not there to provide compelling villainy. Other than them, the guys at Eden of the East don’t really compel. Overall, none of the characters you can really invest yourself in and none are that exciting. I sound like I’m complaining a lot, and I truly have been, but I did enjoy Eden of the East. It is one of the few anime I’ve watched in the past year that left me wanting to watch the next episode and marathon it as fast as I could because I enjoyed it so much. It was good, semi-mindless fun. The premise was cool, and the plot played out in a decent, albeit skewed, way. It was short and sweet. Fun and exciting. There’s a lot Eden of the East did right, but a few things it got wrong. Those wrong things do not totally detract from the experience, but do hurt it nonetheless.

Had a shock upon watching the first episode, glad that I stayed on. Story The story kept me excited and wanting for more in each epsiode, especially after episode 3, if I remember correctly. The ending was expected but I preferred it though. The first part slowly covers the buildup of the romance between Takizawa and Saki and also, the start to find out more about this mysterious cellphone and his memories that he lost. Art I personally hated the artstyle of the censored parts but I don't blame them, they can't possibly show an uncensored version. But other than that, the artstyle is pretty good with detail, for instance, the outlines of the missiles and etc. I like the artstyle of the characters as well. They are drawn pretty well. Sound Got to hand it to the one who composed the OST, and some of it sounded very much like Kenji Kawai's works, with one I particularly liked was the intense mood background music during one of the episodes. Character I wouldn't say I am not a fan of a characters but I wouldn't be too over for them though. I would have liked if they introduced the other Selecao but it would probably be too tight for the show's schedule considering that it only consists of 11 episodes. I haven't watched the upcoming movies so hopefully this changes. However, one thing I hate would be weak-minded one of the Selecao seemed to be. One last thing would be the utmost sadness I feel for the reason the protagonist lost his memories for. (Don't think I could say as this counts as spoilers, I believe.) Enjoyment It's been a good experience so far but I feel there could be so much potential for this show, I especially liked the genre too. It combines a bit of romance, action and thriller together. Overall, it wasn't a bad show, there's one episode whereby they showed this "illusion" which I found it highly unbelieveable to pull it off but other than that, it's all good, looking forward to how they are going to do in the movies. Liked the music, especially the OST.

To be honest im kind of shocked by all the glowing reviews that Eden of the East has gotten by a lot of people! Before everyone starts bashing me, let me say that i am not saying that this is a terrible anime. However in my opinion it is also not a GOOD anime. The story was a very interesting idea but it was extreemely rushed and not done very well at all, this could be attributed to the fact that the anime was barely 200 minutes long. No complaints on the Ost's or artwork as they were both up to par for me at least. To me the only likeable character was Saki, and that was only to a degree as she was fairly shallow, most of the other characters are eithier assholes or just plain and unmemorable. If this was done right it could really have been a masterpiece of anime. Alas because of the characters and underdeveloped story i can only give this a 6 as it was quite mediocre.

Higashi No Eden is quite the work of art. I describe it as a very balanced anime. It had a little of everything. Romance, drama, mystery, comedy, and fantasy. The characters were all interesting enough for you to be invested in the story and the story itself was unpredictable. Leaving me wanting more everytime the end credits rolled. I don't remember there ever being a moment where I became bored with this anime. Being a mystery type anime, it does a very good job in terms of suspense. With a surprise around every corner, you know just as much as the characters do. The humor is subtle as it should be, but makes for a good laugh. Overall, very well thought out story, great progression and great execution.

Higashi no Eden was by far the most entertaining anime ive watched in a while. the characters were so nicely developed. The story was interesting and it always managed to keep me at the edge of my seat. some scenes i didn't understand, but the plot over all was amazing even though i dont hear this anime mentioned often i definitely would recommend watching it!

Higashi no eden (Eden of the east) is an 11 episode anime of long suspense and great enjoyment each episode leaves you on a cliffhanger which makes you want to watch the next episode straight after, The story of Eden of The East is amazing it has unpredictable twists in that no-one ever saw coming, it keeps you alert as anything could happen at any moment. The Art of this anime is extremely well done especially akira takuzawa's yellow motorbike. The sound/Audio of this anime runs perfectly and is great! The characters are well thought as their are a certain number of 'selecao' and the main character is one of them. Akira takazuwa is the main character who meets a girl Saki, Saki becomes involved in the anime straight from episode 1. What will jealous osugi do? Eden of the east is very enjoyable it's fun to watch and the twists are perfected. Overall i would give this anime 8.7/10. Get watching if you haven't watched it before people!

Story: I will admit the plot is a little confusing, especially for people who aren't watching it carefully, but the plot is incredibly cool, terrific, and exciting. There's a little bit of everything, but the whole Selecao idea is very confusing. I also had some very big questions that weren't answered in the end (I'm waiting to see if it'll be answered in the second King of Eden movie, coming out fall :P?). There was almost always something to keep me interested in, between the butt load of cash that Takizawa had, him losing his memory, the love story (that, I'll warn you, doesn't develop into MUCH), and the mysteries of the Selecao and NEETs. There are a lot of factors that go into this series over such a short period of time. It's confusing but interesting. Animation: I LOVE Takizawa and his fluffy hair (I don't know why, but I always stare at character's hair/eyes). Takizawa is adorable. Saki on the other hand looks a little awkward and like a frog. The animation has some unique points that catch me off guard. There's the occasional scribble bubble or w/e you call that (maybe there was just one, but it still stood out to me...). It was fluid for the most part, but nothing really outstanding. Sound: I don't really pay attention to sound and nothing stood out to me (it rarely does). I wouldn't really take my word in this category, since I'm not really grading on anything. Check it out for yourself :P If you're like me, you won't notice XD As for the op/end... The op was unique, but I remember skipping through it a lot. It wasn't terrible, and actually kinda interesting, but... yeah XD Watching the ending is so cool! D: It's so unique and cool >W< but this is the sound category >_>... sorry. The ending is fun and better than most! I didn't skip through this one (except when I really wanted to watch the next ep). But if you wanna make your own decisions, go to youtube and find it out for yourself XD Characters: I love Takizawa ._. He may not be realistic, but he's very unique. Somehow he manages to be a BA and an EXTREMELY nice person at the same time. His personality is something I ALWAYS have to hang off of. I'm always curious at what he wants to do or plans to do, and he does the most extremely bizarre things. I swear, watch this series just to watch him almost kill himself or wake up in D.C. naked :D *this isn't a spoiler, it's in the bio* (Also, if you're like me and watch series mostly for the characters, trust me, you'll love him). Saki is really dull to me. She's extremely kind, but also naive and just boring a lot of the time. She does surprise you every now and then, but mostly she's the typical shy Japanese girl. But Takizawa's awesomeness makes up for it. They get about equal screen time. Saki also has family/friends that help her and talk about this program called Eden. They're typical background, help the plot move along characters. There's one annoying guy who has a crush on Saki, and he's just stupid. You'll probably get annoyed with him a few times, but you'll get over it. There's also a NEET I must mention. He's is probably the only fat anime character I will ever love. Itazu is a genius programmer and pretty funny at times, but he's a big fwuffy teddy bear ;-; Overall: This anime is one of my all time favorites (clearly since this is the first time I'm review something and maybe the last since these take so long D:). It's a must watch with a terrific balance of everything. The only issues I have with this anime are the unanswered questions (which I have yet to discover if they are answered in the movie continuation), and Saki's lack of personality. She shouldn't bother you too much, though, if you're an otaku because most girls are like that, huh? But please, I beg you to try on this series. There are a lot of epic ideas to the series, and it's terrific and working at making big things even bigger. Watch and noblesse oblige :3

Story: Storywise, EOTE does everything well. Right from the start, we were already sucked in into the world of EOTE by such a wonderful story plot. This was truly a unique plot and it stood out from the other spring animes. They created something that would definitely make us more interacted with the story – like for example, what would you do if you had a magic cell phone and you could do whatever you wanted? The creators explored and definitely created a great anime that truly took a somewhat romantic anime and put an extra twist in it. Rating: 10/10 “Definitely no complaints there. The story is definitely what made EOTE truly shine.” Development: Well from the start, I knew that they were going to be lots of characters introduced throughout the show, but I didn’t know there would be this much! They sure took their time introducing the other characters to the show, even introducing 3 new characters at the second to last episode! It was good that they didn’t rush through everything, and I’m glad that it will continue over with 2 additional movies planned to air later in the year. The characters for me definitely were explored through very well and were well developed. Hopefully, the other minor characters will be explored more through the next two movies as I am eager to know more about them =]. The story also developed well throughout the show and it was good to know it wasn’t really rushed. Rating: 8/10 “Solid, well developed characters that were nice to watch. I just wished more of the other minor characters were explored more.” Art / Animation: The art of EOTE was definitely average. I thought (judging from the poster) that it was going to look very outdated and ugly, but it definitely caught me by surprise there. It also reminded me a bit of other Hayao Miyazaki works (mainly Spirited Away), I think it was the way Saki was designed. It wasn’t a strong point (the artwork / character design) but I guess I have such high expectations in terms of art in an anime that for some, the artwork would be considered excellent. I love their animations though, very nice and smooth. Definitely gotta love their 3d cars XD. Rating: 7/10 “So-so character designs but pulled through with neat animation work.” Sound: I absolutely ADORED the opening song of EOTE. Especially the kickass animation they had in it. If you’re not going to watch EOTE, then at least watch the opening. The ending was nice too, and neat animation as well for it. Throughout the show, I have no complaints with the BGM being played in the background. It was fitting to the show and that is what counts, well at least I that is what counts… Rating: 9/10 “Nice opening and ending song with some neat animations in both of them. Also, a nice score being played in the background which enhanced the show as a whole.” Enjoyment: I thoroughly enjoyed watching EOTE, and was one of the only two (the other being K-On) which I truly watched and enjoyed during this season’s lineup. Valkyria Chronicles was a close third though. Anyway, EOTE is something anyone would enjoy, and would keep you entertained and would keep you watching. Rating: 9/10 “Enjoyed every episode of EOTE and was definitely entertaining.” Final Rating: 43/50 “A nice engaging show that is something that should be watched by everyone. Nice and sweet characters as well as a great soundtrack make the show stand out even more. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I’m sure all others have enjoyed it as well. If you haven’t tried it, now is the perfect time to do so.”

I thoroughly enjoyed watching this anime. The story was great. The plot wasn't easily predictable and it moved at a quick pace. Never a dull moment. The characters were also well rounded. Akira, the main character, always kept me entertained. He wasn't at all predictable, which I really like. What I enjoyed the most was the theme. I like the Armageddon-esque plots. They usually always make great shows. It makes you think. All in all, I loved this anime and can't wait until the movies come out. You won't be disappointed!

I'll say it now, and I will again in my GitS:SAC 2nd GIG review: Kenji Kamiyama is a hack writer who hasn't written anything good since the first season of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. Moribito was somewhat okay, but that series draws heavily from source material, so I don't think it counts. You could even say the same for SAC, but I don't know enough about the GitS manga to make that claim. The point is, though, from 2nd GIG to Napping Princess to whatever other (mostly) original project he created, I have been sorely disappointed. Thankfully, the 11 episode Eden of the East series didn't disappoint as much as those works (low expectations and all), but it says something about a show's quality when the only way to get through episodes 8, 9, and 10 while maintaining a baseline level of interest is to artificially stimulate my brain by watching it on 1.5x speed with subtitles enabled. Show-making at its finest, everyone. All right, though, let's be fair and talk about some obvious pluses. The artwork is consistently polished and entertaining throughout the entire series with some solid character designs and high background detail. Yes, there are a few goofy-looking CGI crowd shots (they were unavoidable even in 2009, apparently), but they honestly only served to accentuate how much I could laugh AT the show, so I managed to enjoy them. Eden of the East can also be pretty funny at times. The main character in particular, Takizawa, has a lot going for him in terms of making the show marketable to people who enjoy fun, goofy, and entertaining characters. The rest of the cast... not as much, but they can get into some comedic hijinx, too, my favorite incidents of this being Kasuga's reveal from the rolltop desk, the "date" between Kasuga and Ohsugi, and the NEETs in the mall chasing everyone at the end. The music is also not bad; it's not Kenji Kawai's best (I still think that title belongs to either Fate/Stay Night or the original GitS film, I can't decide), but it does have some intense moments that do well to serve some well-crafted and suspenseful scenes. Yes, in spite of my earlier remarks, I am complimenting Kenji Kamiyama for actually being a halfway decent director. His writing may not be good, but he can do quite a bit in terms of visual presentation, although maybe not as well as some other directors, such as Akiyuki Shinbo or Sayo Yamamoto. There is another plus I can say: in contrast to other home media releases by Funimation, I was actually rather impressed by the DVD release Funimation put out for this show. Note that I got it from my local library; I would NEVER buy this, unlike Psycho-Pass, which, while it has some amazing extra content in the form of the all-too-rare audio commentary I so love, it doesn't allow on-the-fly switching between languages and enabling/disabling of subtitles, which is pretty lame since every other Funimation release I have seen allows this. Eden of the East is no exception, and it made comparing the two versions engaging and infinitely less tedious. The English dub is actually pretty great, featuring some actors whose work I really enjoy and unfortunately don't hear enough of, especially Jason Liebrecht, Michael Sinterniklaas, and Stephanie Sheh. I also thought that Christopher Sabat did an exceptional job here. Additionally, I am quite happy with the alternative opening theme that was chosen. Apparently, the story is that Oasis, the British band that made the series' opening, wanted too much money from Funimation, so the company just contracted series composer Kenji Kawai and female lead/singer Saori Hayami to make a different opening theme, one which I much prefer. It makes the opening feel like it's gearing the audience up for an actual mystery-thriller, so give it a listen if you haven't already. Also the ending sequence is pretty creative, and I really enjoy School Food Punishment (you broke up too soon!!!). Okay, that's all for positives; on to why this series is a train-wreck of bad storytelling, stupid or nonexistent character motivations, and things that just don't make sense. -------------- SPOILER WARNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!------------------ 1. Why does Takizawa erase his memory at the start and end of the series? He "lost hope"? Really? Isn't his defining character trait that he is always hopeful? Why would being branded the bad guy bother him to the point of not being able to deal with it if HE'S THE ONE WHO DID THAT OF HIS OWN ACCORD? Seriously, I can almost see Kiritsugu Emiya rising from his early grave to slap him in the face. ERASING HIS OWN MEMORY DOES NOT CHANGE THE PUBLIC SENTIMENT AT ALL, AS EVIDENCED BY THE RANDOM GUY WHO RECOGNIZED HIM. Oh, and follow-up: if that guy recognized him, why would Takizawa NOT TALK TO HIM!??!?!?!?! I was asking that the entire series. 2. How the hell does Saki know everything that she's rattling off in the last episode about what happened with Takizawa and the 20,000 NEETs? Nobody told any of that to her, and she would never have gotten information about the NEETs stealing some stuff after the Careless Monday incident from the Selecao phone records. If she had, then why would she be saying all of it to the Eden of the East members considering they also had access to that information? 3. How does Juiz work so damn fast when coordinating Takizawa's EMOTED MOVEMENTS (not spoken, EMOTED) with instructions for the JSDF in the ending scene? 4. Why does Yuki think firing missiles at Japan will solve insane working hours? Maybe use your 10 billion yen to introduce unionization and better work culture, at least starting with the public sector and moving toward private. This idiot emo thinks destroying stuff will make people unaffected by those attacks work less. That literally could not make less sense. I cannot believe somebody okayed this. (I UNDERSTAND SOME READERS ARE THINKING ABOUT NEETS BEING LEECHES ON SOCIETY. MORE ON THAT AFTER SPOILER SECTION) 5. For some reason, the serial-killer lady sprouts wings to escape using this "Grand Illusion" butt-pull that Juiz set her up with. How the literal flying hell did they get it all set up (in addition to patching up Takizawa) before Saki got there? She was already en route! 6. Do you mean to tell me that Ohsugi really wasn't kidnapped by the serial-killer lady, but that his bag was stolen by a serial rapist who just happened to be targeted by the lady even though said guy was nowhere to be seen (if memory serves) and she was clearly looking at OHSUGI in that scene!?!?!?!! And that same guy takes pictures with a (presumably) identical-looking phone and posts them online with the captions reading, "HELP ME I AM GOING TO DIE BY HAVING MY JUNK CUT OFF" to the same message forum that Ohsugi frequents?!?!?!!?!?!? I don't know if Kenji Kamiyama came up with this, but whoever it was should be demoted. This is just... I can't. I can't with this. -------------------------- END SPOILERS --------------------------- Okay, now that I am (mostly) done ranting about plot, let's think carefully about what this series is really trying to say and how if falls flat on its face. From what I can interpret of this show (which isn't all that hard, considering the dialogue is basically DEVOID OF SUBTEXT), Kenji Kamiyama is trying to say that NEETs are every bit as capable of doing good and contributing to society as anyone else and that a combination of social norms and the subsequent stressors/mental pressures from society alienate these individuals and keep them from realizing their potential. In a sense, Mr. Outside, the facilitator of the game, choosing to purposefully sponsor Akira Takizawa (whom he apparently classifies as a NEET) is exactly what Kenji Kamiyama may be saying needs to happen; by sponsoring people, they are given the chance to spread their wings, and this truth extends to NEETs as well. This idea is further backed up by the sequel films, where Takizawa gives everyone a single yen and the gam…

I came to watch Eden of the East after seeing it on a number of "most underrated anime" lists. Several of my personal favorite series are a bit off the beaten path and likely fall into the "underrated" category so I'm definitely open minded with this kind of thing. Ultimately, while I certainly didn't dislike the show, I definitely wasn't ever wowed either and what I watched felt above average and nothing more. Art- The art felt, like most of the show, above average to me. It wasn't ever ugly but it wasn't ever gorgeous either. The animation was smooth and never choppy and I have neither huge qualms nor huge praise for the visual elements of the show. Sound- The voice acting was good- better than above average but worse than very good- and the music really didn't stand out to me at all. Nothing made my ears bleed, but no individual song on the soundtrack felt especially great or memorable for me and there's nothing I want to add to my playlist after the fact. The intro and outro songs felt very average and cookie cutter. Characters/Story- The base premise is fairly unique and intriguing and I was interested in it from the early going and it kept my interest throughout its short ride. However, this anime is by no means free of plot holes, conveniences or outright unexplained story elements. A common problem I've cited numerous times in other reviews with 12 ish episode anime (in this case 11) is a lack of proper character development and/or a lack of answers to critical plot elements simply due to lack of time and this anime is yet another victim of this epidemic. I'd argue that only the lead character approaches being properly developed (and doesn't even make it the full way there) and everyone else, including the female lead, have a long way to go. 11 episodes is simply not enough time to properly develop a medium sized cast of characters within the spectrum of relevance. This anime also leaves a lot of important questions unanswered, has a rushed and super convenient ending and overall lacks of sense of resolution to many parts of the plot. Without doing further research outside of the anime itself viewers will never know whether Mr Outside is alive or dead, who The Supporter is (if there is one at all), who the other never shown Selecao are, what the fate of Selecao number 1 is, how Juiz is able to fulfill some of the seemingly impossible requests it's able to fulfill, etc. For me this simply wasn't satisfactory. I'm not a manga reader and don't want to have to look things up in order to find answers- the anime should provide them for me. Enjoyment- Watching Eden of the East I was never bored or feeling like I was going to fall asleep but I was never on the edge of my seat dying to know what was going to happen next either. Other than being a tad rushed as a whole, as the show is only 11 episodes, this anime is generally free of pacing issues and there aren't any blatantly slow and boring stretches. For the most part I enjoyed what I watched, but only at the "Hey this is pretty decent" level as opposed to "Wow this is amazing!". It's a show I'm glad I watched once but would have very little interest in watching again. Overall- Above average- no more and no less- in almost every category, Eden of the East is a decent show worth taking a peek at when you've got a night in with no plans, but temper your expectations. Glad I watched but wouldn't want to watch again. +Interesting base premise +Average or above average in all categories- doesn't blatantly fail at anything +Reasonably paced/engaging -Many unanswered plot points/lack of resolution -Average or above average in all categories- doesn't particularly excel at anything -Lack of character development -Forgettable and generic soundtrack OBJECTIVE RATING- 6.5 PERSONAL ENJOYMENT RATING- 6

-This review is in English and Spanish. -Esta review esta en Inglés y Español. ENGLISH I had hopes in this anime, that with its plot and the hand of Production I.G would be interesting but i was mistaken. Has an interesting premise that has been wasted with bad characters and an approach more directed to become an anime slice of life than an anime focused on the premise that presents. The story at the beginning presents an interesting premise that could lead to a great anime, but is wasted straying from the plot trying to become a slice of life, which makes it quite an anticlimatic anime,when the anime tries to be serious ends up diverting and ends up trying to put comedy, which annoys the little atmosphere of suspense that has the anime and when the anime tries to be a slice of life it becomes serious putting the main plot. To that add mediocre characters because here we go with the next point, the characters.The main character is a Gary Stu with any positive trait that you can think of, although it has something of charisma which makes it something less horrible, the rest of characters can not say much,the companion of the protagonist does not have any blood in the veins so a main character who is bad has to push such a false relationship is not pleasant and the rest of people are normal people that only annoy the atmosphere of suspense that could have the series. The only "good" point are the antagonists that at least seem interesting, but neither end because they barely give them some time on screen, in addition to their motivations are mediocre and suffer from strong victimization. As for the graphical section, although the animation is fluid and has decent funds, they put CGI in more than one occasion and when the climate of suspense breaks, they put in a horrible chibi style to finish off the little climate of suspense that remains to the anime. The sound section the opening is good and nothing more, has environmental issues of suspense and a slice of life does not have any bad subject, but also does not have notable themes. In general if I had to define the anime in a few words I would define it as an anime of suspense, without suspense,a very wasted plot, that remains like a failed anime that I try to put an interesting plot but fails in all the senses, from the script, going through the characters to the graphical and sound section is not remarkable. In fact,i really try to enjoy it, but it's very frustrating, the characters are frustrating, and their atmosphere is also very frustrating. I'm sorry but i cannot recommend it. FINAL NOTE: 4/10 ESPAÑOL Tenía esperanzas en este anime,que con su argumento y la mano de Production I.G sería interesante pero me he equivocado,bastante. Tiene una premisa interesante que se ha desperdiciado con malos personajes y un enfoque más dirigido a convertirse en un anime de cosas de la vida que un anime centrado en la premisa que presenta. La historia al principio presenta una premisa interesante que podría conducir a un gran anime,pero se desperdicia desviándose de la trama principal,tratando de convertirse en un anime sobre cosas de la vida,lo que lo convierte un un anime muy anticlimatico.Cuando el anime trata de ser serio termina desviandose y termina tratando de meter comedia,lo que molesta porque destruye el ambiente de suspenso que tiene el anime y cuando el anime trata de ser sobre cosas de vida se hace serio poniendo la trama principal. A eso sumale personajes mediocres porque aquí vamos con el siguiente punto,los personajes.El personaje principal es un Gary Stu con cualquier rasgo positivo que se te pueda ocurrir,aunque tiene algo de carisma que lo hace algo menos horrible, el resto de los personajes no se puede decir mucho, el compañero del protagonista no tiene sangre en las venas por lo que un personaje principal que es malo tiene que empujar una relación tan falsa no es agradable y el resto de la gente son personas normales que sólo destruyen la atmósfera de suspenso que podría tener la serie. El único punto "bueno" son los antagonistas que al menos parecen interesantes, pero tampoco termina de ser un buen punto porque apenas les dan algún tiempo en pantalla, además de sus motivaciones son mediocres y sufren de fuerte victimización. En cuanto al apartado grafico,aunque la animación es fluida y tiene fondos decentes,ponen CGI en más de una ocasión y cuando el anime tiene clima de suspenso,lo rompen metiendo un horrible estilo chibi para acabar con el poco clima de suspenso que tiene el anime. Sobre el apartado sonoro,el opening esta bueno y nada mas,tiene algunos temas ambientales de suspenso y algunos que servirían para un anime sobre cosas de la vida,si bien no hay ningún tema malo,tampoco hay alguno destacable. En general si tuviera que definir el anime en pocas palabras lo definiría como un anime de suspense,sin suspenso,un argumento muy desperdiciado, un anime fallido que trato de poner un argumento interesante pero falla en todos los sentidos,desde el guión, pasando por los personajes,hasta la sección gráfica y sonora no es notable. Ahora,yo traté de disfrutarlo, pero es muy frustrante, los personajes son frustrantes y su ambiente también es muy frustrante. Lo siento, pero no lo puedo recomendar. NOTA FINAL:4/10

If you asked people to describe the story of Higashi no Eden (Eden of the East), they would probably say something along the lines of “a story about twelve individuals called Seleção who have been given the task to save Japan from it’s current state and is has some great moments talking about socioeconomic issues. Personally, I disagree. I would describe it as a story about roughly forty-thousand Japanese “Johny’s”. If you watch the show, I guarantee you will understand what I am talking about. That said, I believe Higashi no Eden is a show that everyone should watch because it has some great characters, touches on some important issues, and can be absolutely hilarious and thrilling at the heights of it’s surrealism. Higashi no Eden is a show in which I have taken an immediate liking to the main characters, Akira Takizawa and Saki Morimi. Akira is an extremely charismatic character and that becomes apparent as he asks a stranger on the streets of Washington DC for a pair of pants and that person hands his over. Saki Morimi meets him while she is in DC. She is immediately fascinated by the way Akira acts, and due to circumstance they return to Japan together. This is the start of their relationship. One great thing I found is that their relationship felt real and not that stereotypical as many anime tend to have. Eden of the East manages to talk about some socioeconomic issues during the length of its eleven episodes. These range mainly on the rise of the NEET (Not in Employment, Education or Training). Many Millennials are living with their parents and not joining the workforce. This has become an increasingly worrisome in countries such as Japan. There are many reasons for this, one being that the Baby Boomer generation currently happens to hold many of the higher level work positions. This results in the Millenials being stuck in lower tier jobs as they can’t find ones that fit their degree. This barrier in the job market is partially why NEET’s are more prevalent than ever before. This has made NEET’s seem like a burden on society but Higashi no Eden shows that they can still be useful. There are many instances in this show where NEET’s band together through the internet to save people from disasters, an example of this is them establishing an emergency evacuation operation to save people from being killed by missiles. Higashi no Eden is a show about a generation that wishes to make something of themselves but is denied by the paradigms that have been set in place by the generations before them. While the socioeconomic aspects of the show were great in my opinion, the most enjoyment I had watching this show was when it shows how absurd and surreal it could get. Watching roughly twenty-thousand naked men get off a boat and rush for their cell phones is something I don’t think I could ever forget. Unfortunately though, not everything is executed well in Higashi no Eden. The show can sometimes be a half-baked experience as some episodes can be downright boring to watch. The show also features a cast of secondary cast of characters which are important to the show and it’s themes, but take up way too much time just sitting around and talking. To add to this, the story has a death plot going on in as whichever Seleção manages to save Japan first lives while all of the others die. This was much too convoluted and sometimes barely makes any sense. Also, due to their only being eleven episodes, the ending of the anime is bad, and the two movies that follow up right after end up being even worse. Still, I was happy I watched them. Higashi no Eden is a show that has some excellent characters, talks about socioeconomic issues relating to NEET’s, and is masterful with it’s surrealism, the shows falls apart sometimes under the weight of a convoluted death game plot and characters which got too much screen-time. Ultimately, Higashi no Eden was an enjoyable experience that I would recommend to everyone. Overall: 7 (Good)

Eden of the East sucks. Now, don't get me wrong, there's definitely some clever ideas scattered throughout this anime, but as an anime it's all over the place. The premise, 12 individuals receive special phones, access to a huge sum of money, and the task of "saving Japan" is definitely interesting, as the vague goal allows for different people to reach different conclusions on what "saving Japan" means. The main character (Takizawa) is savior number 9, but he suffers from amnesia, which he quickly discovers is a result from his own decision to erase his memories. This to is a clever way to draw in the audience as we follow his quest to solve the mystery of who he is "Jason Bourne" style. Sadly, it's all downhill from there, which is extremely disappointing to me, because a good friend recommended highly this anime to me as one of the best he'd ever seen, and at first I was really interested to see where they would go with it. Well, by the time the story introduces a character called "the johnny hunter," a psycho bitch who literally abducts men and cuts their genitals off (no, I'm not kidding), I realized the true nature of this god awful anime. It takes a special kind of stupid to think up a character and story arc as unpleasant and ridiculous as this one and attempt to pass it off as a serious development. This isn't mere fan service (sure the woman walks around in her underwear, because why not, right?) or just quirky bizarre anime humor, this is a genuinely revolting amount of excess. Try to imagine the situation reversed: a man abducts little girls and tortures them to death by mutilating their sexual organs. THAT is sick. And this is equally sick. This anime makes me sick. It's one of the biggest missed opportunities I've ever seen. We've seen so many fantastic anime that push the boundaries of what anime can be, and this one had the potential to go the distance, but boy oh boy did it fail spectacularly at that. What a waste of my time.

In the long run i give this show a perfect score. Why you ask. Because I enjoyed it that's why. It's the story of 12 people who are given Cell phones loaded with cash and then told to change the status of their country, and if you are deemed unworthy, you will be tracked down and eliminated by someone called 'the supporter.' Going into this show i had low expectations and wasn't expecting it to be so good. Overall there is clear motivation for each character, all are doing what they think is best to help the country. Now what does that entail? terrorism? Charity? Philanthropy? It's solely in the hands of the 12 Cell phone holders. High re watch value and thoroughly entertaining. I am certain you will not be disappointed.

Higashi no Eden 8/10 Story: 9/10 This was a really short but nice story about a guy who lost his memories and tries to remember who he was and what he did in his life before, and in that process realizes that he is part of a disturbing game. The anime shows how a person can change just by loosing his memories, how he can be lost and what he would do to get his memories back. Also it shows some really interesting things like "what would you do if you could do anything you want?" would you save the world, destroy it or probably let it be just like it is. It's strange how people can be different when you ask such questions, and you can see all that in this anime, that's why i recommend it highly to watch. Characters: 8/10 There is one part i didn't really like: the short amount of time you have to learn and understand the characters you just saw, because there are so many of them and you have to realize what they are thinking, and that wasn't really easy to do in just 11 episodes. But on the other side, that made it even more interesting, it was like seeing small plot twists every episode. Animations: 8/10 Anime aired 6 years ago, but the animations are quite interesting and well made, there are characters who look a bit strange but i think that was to characterize the character itself, it was kinda needed to draw them like that. For the surroundings and colors, really fine made, can't complain much. Music: 8/10 Opening theme: I haven't heard a English opening for so long and when i listened to it i didn't liked it at first, but after hearing it a few times i realized how it fits with the anime, that calm sound and lyrics, they DID choose a good opening for the series. Ending theme: I like the ending theme even more, it was such a nice one and it ended every episode in such a nice way that it made me love the ending For the background music, i have to say that i didn't really paid attention to it, co i could say that it wasn't anything special, but also not bad, cause then i would realize it for sure. Closing words: Even if the anime is really short, and you are probably thinking there is no way they could put up a good story in such short time, try watching it and you will realize that you were wrong. Also, there are 2 movies of this anime i have to watch, it's a direct sequel to the story.