Hi no Tori: Eden no Sora

Talking about bad adaptation, I guess most of us already know about the live-action “Dragon Ball Evolution” or the second season of “The Promised Neverland”. Welp, unfortunately, it just happened to be the same case for this Anime. I didn’t have much expectation when seeing the trailer but this is just too much to deal with. Calling this abomination a trainwreck is even an understatement.

The disaster inherently stems from the concept in the first place. Let’s imagine, if allowing Anime to be aired on Netflix through batch release is considered a crime, then allowing the masterpiece “Hi no Tori” to be directed by an incompetent ... person and exclusively aired on Disney+ is unquestionably an atrocious sin that must never be tolerated. Whoever came up with this idea has made the worst decision in their life.

You may already know or maybe not but the prototype of this one - “Nostalgia” is deemed one of the greatest arcs in the Manga, along with “Karma” and “Resurrection”. Harsh, raw, dramatic, high-stakes, psychologically heavy, these characteristics are what made the original highly regarded. It doesn’t shun bringing controversial subjects like incest, homicide, cannibalism for its thematic exploration. Yet sadly, none of those traits are presented in this adaptation. Instead of getting something deep and mature, we’ve got a light-hearted, shallow, frivolous, child-friendly story that is safe to watch in your living room with your niece or nephew.

The over-modification to befit the medium is repugnant to the point no trace of the source can be found. I really really do wonder if that director actually read the work himself. Almost every setting and world-building was altered. Characters should appear never appear, characters shouldn’t appear appear. The details should exist never exist, the details shouldn’t exist exist. The character should be dead somehow alive. What a heinous joke, I can’t remember how many times I shook my head while watching this.

Man, if only it had at least one saving grace. The characterization is even more cringeworthy and the theme of homesickness is portrayed in the most superficial way possible. In the work, Romy is depicted as a strong, determined, independent, decisive woman. Her struggle for survival and to carry the weight of being the only woman on the planet Eden, seeing her husband and her offspring gradually pass away causes great damage to her mind. It’s the trauma that begets an immeasurable pain of fear, loneliness, despair, and thus, leads to her strong feeling of nostalgia. The sincerity and earnestness make us sympathize with her and her story. So what do we have in the Anime? A weak, naive, happy-go-lucky mother who sleeps most of the time until her descendants wake her up because the show has to avoid incest which is not suitable for kids. Then she stays as the queen for 40 years, the motivation for her homesickness only boils down to her boredom. I’m crying hard for its cheap sentiment not gonna lie. In addition, her journey returning to Earth later is also a mess. The Manga provides us with an arduous voyage that’s full of terror and danger, a dark and vast universe as though depicted in Lovecraftian horror. Upon reading this part, I could feel every fiber of my body getting goosebumps. Alas, just like other elements, what is presented in this Anime hardly can’t be taken seriously.

It's all I want to talk about. Sorry if it feels like a rant but I’m not only madly disappointed but also irritated by this disgraceful piece of crap. If you feel tired of mainstream Anime and currently are seeking a new experience then it might not be a bad watch. However, if you’re a Manga fan or merely someone who loves to see something profound, intellectual, impactful, thought-provoking then I genuinely advise you to stay away from it at all costs.