Higashi no Eden

**SPOILER FREE REVIEW OF THE SERIES AND THE TWO MOVIES**

After watching the first few episodes of Eden of the East (a.k.a Higashi no Eden), I was extremely impressed and very excited. I thought I had found a compelling mystery anime with lovable characters, a great storyline, and fluent animation. I couldn't wait to see what Eden had in store, so I sat through the entire series and both of the movies in a huge marathon. You want to know what it all amounted to? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. The storyline of this anime goes absolutely, positively NOWHERE at any point in any of the movies or ... episodes and gives the phrase "dragging it out" an entirely new definition. This is one of the most disappointing anime I've ever seen simply because it gets you so excited with it's engrossing beginning, and just plateaus for the remaining 90% of screen time.

Story 3/10
Synopsis: A man wakes up outside the White House stark naked with a gun one hand, a cell phone charged with 8.2 billion yen in funds in the other hand, and no memory of who he is or how he got there what so ever. The man, who goes by Takizawa (even though It's not his real name), goes on to find out that he is involved in a game in which he and twelve other contestants were given 10 billion yen and told to "Fix the country". He meets a girl named Saki and together they go on an "adventure" (if you can even call it that…) to discover Takizawa's past.

For the first few episodes, this is a compelling concept. Additionally, Takizawa jumps off the screen as a charming character with tons of personality and Saki (Takizawa's love interest) seemed like she would develop into a likable character. I thought Eden couldn't go wrong with so many stellar pieces in place. Well, it did. Very wrong.

The #1 problem with Eden is that the plot never builds into anything significant or exciting, with the exception of the end of the series portion of Eden, which was entertaining, but certainly not worthy of being considered a true climax. After that moment, nothing happens. Literally nothing. There are a few new developments that never lead anywhere, the contestants of the game start to get narrowed down, but that doesn't lead anywhere, and worst of all, the promising relationship between Saki and Takizawa doesn't lead anywhere! In the first couple of episodes, I absolutely fell in love with these characters! They had personality, they had chemistry, and they were unique! You want to know what it all built up to? Absolutely ZILCH.

And that brings us to the ending of the anime, which I won't spoil, but to summarize my feelings on it; it sucks. There are happy endings, sad endings, and there are bad endings. Bad endings are the endings that just leave an unfilled void in your soul; the unmistakable feeling that everything you just watched has been for absolutely nothing. That is the kind of ending that Eden has.

Oh, and I haven't mentioned the plotholes yet. For instance; there is one scene where a character sprouts wings and flies away. Yep, just for no apparent reason. It is never explained, it is never mentioned again, and it is the only supernatural thing that takes place in Eden. Those are the kind of plot holes we are dealing with here. It's hinted at that this could have been a hallucination but that honestly just raises even more questions if you ask me.

In short, the story to Eden had huge potential and capitalized on next to none of it. Wildly disappointing. 

Art: 8/10
The animation is probably the highlight of the anime. Everything is pleasant to look at and the animation is always fluent. I liked the animation style quite a bit. It never really has a chance to shine though, thanks to the general lack of action and climatic/exciting scenes, which a damn shame.

Sound: 7/10
The soundtrack is unique and pleasant to listen to. Eden also has one of my favorite EDs ever. The voice acting is pretty good in both versions, but I'm not crazy about Saki's voice actor in the dub.

Characters: 4/10
The only two characters worth talking about are Takizawa and Saki.

Takizawa, as I mentioned earlier, really stands out in the beginning of the anime as a charming character overflowing with personality. He is a great protagonist for the most part, and he receives a fair amount of character development, but he remains disappointingly static throughout the anime and his personality can only make up for so much. I liked Takizawa a lot, but he just feels like another wasted opportunity. 

Saki, as I also mentioned earlier, is Takizawa's love interest. She seemed like she could develop into a great character with a distinct personality but guess what? It never happens! Are you sensing a theme yet? She ends up being a stereotypical female character who is just sort of... there. She seems to be gradually written out of the show, in fact. The relationship between these two is built up more then anything else in the show, and that makes it all the more disappointing when even that ends without giving the viewer an ounce of payoff or satisfaction what so ever. 

The fact that these are the only two characters worth mentioning and both of them are disappointments is all the information you need to infer that Eden's characters fall flat in yet another, lets say it together this time, (ALL: Wasted Opportunity!)

To be fair ,there are a couple decent side characters, but none of them are relevant enough to the plot or entertaining enough to take the time to talk about.

Overall: 5/10
Eden of the East left a disgusting taste in mouth. It builds you up and builds you up and builds you up only to have no payoff at the end (or any other point) what so ever. It is a colossal waste of potential and I really can't recommend watching anything past the 11 anime episodes, if even those. It may as well of ended there, because the true ending is about as satisfying as if it had just ended after the episodic portion of anime; no closure and no real climax.

This is a perfect example of the all to familure anime falterings of having a good concept but failing completely to execute it. While the story it self is good enough to keep you interested it never really seems to go anywhere. Hopefully the movies to come will shed some more light on this but judging this as a complete series it is majorly lacking. The story starts off with a series of interesting questions and circumstances that are begging for an absolution, but few answers are ever provided and the few they do offer up just lead to more unanswered questions. You might as ... well stop watching after episode 1 because the story line isn't going to get all too much clearer to you, and you'll be left asking yourself the same questions at the end of the series that you did at the end of the first episode.

Art 8- Character design is rather poor and childish but the texturing and animation is outstanding. This is a great example of CG blending with traditional animation that looks great. Some of the most interesting art in the series can be found in the ed, really original concept they used there.

Sound 9 The main girls voice is a bit on the annoying side but other than that no real complaints, this is one of the best intro songs I've heard and it really does well in summing up the themes of the anime.

Characters 6- You never really grow to care for any of the characters in this. With the exception of the male lead most characters are typical and bland, and the main intrigue of the male lead is the fact that he has no memories. The main girl comes across as whiny and pathetic with out any strengths of her own aside from her looks. Undeveloped love story angles, which would have been fine not to develop if they hadn't started on that path and then just seemed to forget about it by the next episode. There repeated use of the term 'Johnny' to refer to a penis comes off as childish and silly, in some instances it's made to be taken this way, but in other, more serious parts of the show, such as threatening to rip off ones 'Johnny' and a character that has never been treated right by any ones 'Johnny' and needs to be loved by a good 'Johnny' just comes across as bad and makes it almost impossible to take the scenes seriously.

Enjoyment 7 For the most part I sat through this waiting impatiently for the next episode to find out the answerers to the questions raised previously, but since those answerers never came apparently it was all in vein. So while it did keep my interest for awhile, it wasn't much more than a disappointing let down in the end.

Overall 6- I had some enjoyment while watching it but I can't particularly recommend this to anyone. Hopefully the movies (or perhaps second season?) will help to actually finish the story that they did a good job in creating. If taking this as a complete series, it fails, but as an opening to a series it could have alot of potential.

After reading rave reviews on today's title, Eden of the East, I decided to take a few days to see what all the fuss was about. The first episode opens as Saki stands in front of the White House, launching stones from outside the fence onto the open greens. The police promptly accost Saki, but she is saved by an unknown man, running around naked while waving a gun. The story then follows their adventure back to Japan and into his history which has been erased from his memory. To complicate matters, he has been gifted a cellphone that connects to a woman who can ... grant any wish a human could dream of, requiring only that the wisher uses his funds to become the "savior of the world."

While I can certainly understand the initial appeal of this series--a title full of average-looking, everyday folks caught in a mysterious battle usually signals a story saturated with magic realism that depends less on sensationalism and more on depth and criticism to wow its audience--I have to say that Eden of the East quickly fell into the usual traps. Much like Speed Grapher(2005), which promised to offer a more mature take on corruption and government, Eden of the East sets up a strong, interesting plotline but was both too short and too slow-paced to follow through on its promise. One strand of the story looks at a cruel serial killer who seems somehow connected to the mysterious cellphone and stumbles with what I can only describe as mediocre and stereotypically shallow execution. The ending, which was clearly meant to ensue in utterly epic proportions, fell flat, both plot-wise and visually. Meanwhile, a story like Eden of the East that struggles fiercely to become a masterpiece, typically warrants dynamic and creative directing; needless to say neither was present as far as I can see.

But for all its shortcomings, Eden of the East still ranks above average in its enjoyability and execution. The ED and OP were quite enjoyable, and I can clearly tell that production hired very interesting creative directors for both sequences. The voice acting, while unspectacular, demands little criticism. The animation was purposefully "just decent" though I would have enjoyed better camera angles and choreography. Furthermore, with just 13 episodes, it's worth the time to watch if you are interested in a series that doesn't fall as close to the stereotypical drivel that we are used to by now. Many viewers may even attribute more depth and better execution to this series than I have.

A timeless masterpiece this is not, but Eden of the East can still be very enjoyable. It's brevity, though damaging to the overall execution, certainly still makes it worth watching on a Saturday afternoon. If you are looking for a better series from Kenji Kawayama though, this one is DEFINITELY not representative of his talents (see Seirei no Moribito or Ghost in the Shell).

written for Minitokyo's Newsletter: MT-Maigetsu

On a trip to the United States, college student Morimi Saki stumbles upon an odd sight. Of all things, she meets a naked Japanese man, armed with a handgun. As she learns, this man has no idea who he is, or how he got there, and all that he can really remember are films, save for which one his personal favourite was. Soon, it becomes apparent that Takizawa Akira, as he is now going by, is a lot more than he first appears, as he finds out that he may have been part of a terrorist act committed in Japan. Then, he only gets even ... more shrouded in mystery with the presence of an odd phone; which he is told possesses ten million yen, and all that he is told to do with it, is to continue to be a Messiah.

Now, on the surface, this premise is interesting enough, albeit a little silly. The show starts strongly, but unfortunately, it doesn't stay that way. Although it's genuinely funny at first, the jokes quickly grow stale. The drama almost never works, because of a bit of silly dialogue that makes you want to laugh rather than take it seriously, there are plot holes left and right, especially towards the end, and speaking of the ending, it's silly. It feels really rushed and doesn't make much sense at all.

Really, this is just a perfect example of an interesting premise with poor execution. This could have been something great, but it falls sadly short. You can feel the potential this series had, but it really blew it. It's just too bad when this happens, it really is.

The characters are, well, a bit shallow. Okay, really shallow. Takizawa's air of cool is interesting, and he's fun to have around, but for most of the series, the man doesn't show any emotion. He isn't well developed, and when they try to develop him, it's very sloppy, and makes him come off as annoying. Saki never really goes through any changes in the series aside from the fact that she changes who she has a crush on. By the end of the series, she's still as helpless and ignorant as she was in the beginning. Some of the minor characters in the show, such as Satoshi, Ryou, and Yuusei appeared to be really interesting, but because of the series' short runtime, were never given the chance to develop properly, and the show really suffers from it.

There are good things about Eden of the east, though, and one of them is the animation. It's smooth, and well done, without any CGI affect that plague many recent anime to throw it off. The landscapes are all beautifully drawn, and full of life. The character designs are a mixed bag, some being incredibly detailed, and some being very simple, but it usually works.

The music in Eden of the east is usually pretty unremarkable except for maybe one or two pieces. The rest are entirely forgettable. That cannot be said about the opening theme, though, or, at least the English version of the song. (To clarify, the Japanese version has an opening with English vocals, and probably due to licensing issues, the English version has the opening with Japanese vocals.) The English version of the song is sung by the British band "Oasis". It is incredibly catchy and fits very well with the animation. This, unfortunately, cannot be said about the Japanese version of the song. The Japanese version is sadly, uninspired and doesn't fit well with the opening animation at all.

The acting in Eden of the east is great in both languages, but the Japanese version really went the extra mile here by hiring English-speaking voice actors to play English-speaking characters. There isn't any cringe-worthy 'Engrish' here!

Overall, Eden of the east is a bag of sadly wasted potential. It has some interesting characters, and the plot can be exciting… when it wants to be. The payoff, though, is wholly unsatisfying. Great animation, and an awesome opening can't really make up for all the series, unfortunately, did not do right.

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.

(TLDR at the bottom, thanks for reading.)

Eden of the east is a story of many parts that never seem to come together to make one cohesive whole. It has some interesting ideas about social and economic issues which form the backbone of the story. But then there are many other bits tacked on like a death game plot that is way more complicated than it should be, many different groups of people for the economics bit to bounce off. Everything is slightly off kilter giving some of the events a slightly surreal/dream-like atmosphere and a few other bits.

But these events don't come together and seem ... to get in the way of each other.

On a social/economic level, the show is about the issue of NEET's (not in education, employment or training). Mainly focusing on the millennial generation, Eden of the east shows us the Eden group, a group of wildly diverse people who have made an extremely successful app but are still on a job hunt as they cannot market the app properly. Eden of the east tackles this is by giving twelve people, called seleção, 10 billion yen and allowing them to do whatever they wish with it. The main character Takizawa uses a method called pump up economics. He uses his money to help the bottom of society in an attempt to give them an opportunity to make something of themselves. In contrast to the other seleção's that are using different economic tactics to solve this issue. Putting them in direct conflict with Takizawa.

Well, that is what the show should have been.

Instead, it focuses way too much on the death game mystery plot. The Eden group are never used in a way to show the themes of the story but as a way to solve the mysteries the series throws its way, this has the side effects of having them just being a group that sit around and talk about the other seleção's actions. It is normally all for nought anyway as the plot is mainly driven by Takizawa's spontaneous actions. This show doesn't even work as a death game plot either as many of the seleção isn't even relevant so to the story and the show just ends up focusing on a few.

While the show can be a blast when it is spurred on by Takizawa's impulsive actions and the surreal events the follow. It also can (at times) effectively sprinkle in its social themes by showing the issues of the side characters. But the show also falls apart when it's death game plot is concerned. If the director knew where the appeal of the series lay and just cleaned up the script a bit then the show would be better as a whole, but as it stands the show is full of a really good moment and some not so good moments.

There is also a few other issues, like with the pacing. The show starts out quite episodic and it is quite enjoyable like this but due to this the show can't tell its story and then leaves the ending of the tv anime extremely unsatisfying. No the films aren't any better.

TLDR: Eden of the east has some good moments but is let down by some not so good moments.

Higashi no Eden...Let's just say that it similar to some other short animes that attempt to incorporate too many themes and plots and end up only haphazardly completing them if there were completed at all.

This anime would've been more worth while if it was 10 to 15 episodes longer. With this added length would allow more character and plot development and subsequently lead to an actual conclusion.

Overall I feel empty after watching this anime because there were so many aspects, aside from the characters, like the selecao itself that could've been further developed.

Perhaps my arguments are misplaced as I've yet to see the Movies/OVAs ... but as a stand alone series it is incomplete and disappointing.

Aside from the plot the art style is unique but perhaps a little to minimalistic for my tastes.

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.

I didn't really like Eden of the East. The story has something to offer, but eleven episodes are just not enough to really introduce any characters or answer any questions. One has to watch the movies too, and after seeing the anime I am not really inclined to spending another couple of hours watching them. To me it looks like the producers weren't completely sure about what to produce: The style jumps back and forth between slapstick humor and strong violence (lots people being killed and getting their "johnnies" chopped off), always avoiding to settle for the one or the other. Too much time is ... "wasted" on a couple of characters which do not really contribute much to the story, like Saki and her friends. To be honest: I hated Saki from the beginning. She is a textbook example for the pathetic, self-centered, useless female character so many anime creators seem to think they have to include.

Back in 2009 people probably didn't have much choice, but nowadays i would suggest to skip Eden of the East for Mirai Nikki or Steins;Gate. If you have seen Yuno in action, you won't shed a tear for Saki.

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 game ends.

However, can Takizawa really be classified as a tried-and-true NEET? It is true that, aside from Yuki (ironically), Takizawa is apparently the only Selecao member not seen being employed, having any education, or being in training. Presumably, he was selected by Mr. Outside to be a Selecao member because he could represent the NEETs of Japan, perhaps hoping that his charisma, charm, and resourcefulness would make him a good leader that is able to benefit the nation. But if Takizawa really wants to contribute to society, does that not nullify his being a NEET? I mean, the guy is a real go-getter; in fact, everyone in the Eden of the East club is a go-getter and are all motivated to find a place in society by making their own company. So why are they all called NEETs if a NEET is someone who does not seek any meaningful, contributing position in society? This straight-up does not make sense.

Let's also circle back to Yuki, Selecao No. 10, for a second. His whole idea for launching missiles at Japan just seems futile and lame. Like I said earlier, he is not portrayed in the series as working a job, training for one, or going to school, so by Kamiyama's definition, he is a NEET, no? That makes it even weirder that he is on board with a plan to kill a whole bunch of NEETs in the most inefficient way possible: missiles. As suggested in the spoiler section, why not create unions or initiate some kind of protest or change within the system to facilitate growth within those individuals of the population that lack motivation, give them some opportunity, get them schooled, create more jobs, etc.? Some therapy may also be in order. Instead, "NO, THEY ALL MUST DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!".

Perhaps the point therein is that people like Yuki and his cohorts are irrational, that the things they do make no sense and we just have to accept that, correct them, and move on. But if we just write off the main antagonistic force as being stupid and crazy, then we aren't left with any central conflict that is intriguing or worth spending time thinking over.

What I am trying to say is that Eden of the East lacks nuance in how it presents its themes; it doesn't care enough to provide any meaningful characterization or thought-provoking subject matter or discussion, and this is a hallmark of poorly conceived writing by authors who have something potentially interesting to say but lack the creativity and open-mindedness to get others to think about it in a way that prompts discussion. If their intent is not to spark discussion, however, and just shove their ideas down the audience's collective throat, then their writing isn't really worth experiencing outside of entertainment value anyway.

Kenji Kamiyama is a hack writer. For every work of his that I have seen, there was never any real point or message to it, and upon actually attempting something meaningful, he botches it. I don't have high hopes for anything he creates later on; it's only with that mindset that I could ever squeeze some semblance of enjoyment out of his work.


Happy watching!
- LC

I've just finished watching, and I'm quite conflicted. If you don't want my mixed opinion to influence negatively your decision to watch the anime, skip the next two paragraphs. (Also let me note that the whole review carefuly avoids spoilers!)

I wish I could rate this higher, but the last 2 episodes threw the whole anime off the window for me. Like, it was building up something interesting at a nice slow pace that was quite enjoyable, developing the dynamics between the characters meanwhile, with comprehensible and entertaining situations. Then the 10th episode comes in and pushes the whole plot forward faster than the circumstances themselves ... can make room for. Then the final episode comes in like a real 'fast forward' to the 'end' of the story, which leaves you confused about what you just saw, and why and how is it all connected. After viewing the episode again and making sure you didn't miss any detail, you can confirm that things are simply not very well connected, and it leaves you with the feeling that the true plot of the series was not well developed, like a 10 year old that has an exciting wild idea for a movie and wants to give suspense to it and make good scenes, but doesn't care about connecting things very well and make it all make real sense.

On top of that, everything is (or more correctly, most things are) explained in those last two episodes, and it all happens just too fast and several things are not clear at all. Matching with the analogy of the 10 year old, a lot of the final explanations about the plot come across as implausible deus ex machina that would be logically prevented in real life as simply the easiest route of action. There are a some unrealistic, thoughtless and unexplained behaviors there, coming from all sides just to justify the plot and the ending.

That being said, the first episodes are a f****** delight. I think that the creators of this anime were talented, but they themselves didn't know what they excelled at while doing The Eden of the East. It is the main plot (or the justifications and details about it) which can be considered unsatisfying, while the best moments of this anime are within the parts that can usually be considered filler in other animes; the situations that simply develop the relationships between the characters, or the situations that show a little more of what they are about. That is done with craftful simplicity here, not trying to make it seem more complicated than it is, letting you immerse in the beauty and excitement of the situations themselves, and feel the charm of the characters. The relationship between the main two characters builds up in such a cool but somehow natural manner (even with all the strange elements involved) that it came across as almost magical to me, and at some points very relatable.

The two main characters are a treat indeed, each in their own way. I'm trying not to make spoilers here, so I'll just say that one of them is an awesome nutcase (in a way that I personally loved). The creators showed ability in giving such vibrant and believable personalities to those characters, but they neglected the rest in comparison; they are content in fulfilling their roles, although most do their play just fine. There are a couple of exceptions though, and here, again, I have to point to the last two episodes. Everything there is a mess, including the characters. It has to be mentioned that the anime is only 11 episodes long, and it feels like half of its potential was cut down right there. There are some characters that are presented earlier in an interesting way and showed a great potential to impact on the story, then they leave the screen for an episode or two -nothing wrong with that itself-, but suddenly the anime ends and nothing about them is developed further, nor they reach any kind of closure that the viewer can see or infer. It really feels like the pace at which the story was being presented up until the 9th episode was not actually the pace for a 11 episode anime. I don't know the story behind the development, so I have no clue if they just planned it like this or if they had to cut it down in the end, but to me it feels like it's the second case.

So, in conclusion, I think that they would have made a great, great anime out of this if they focused mainly on the love story. And I'm not a fan of love stories, I'm usually bored by them, but this one -with all the interpersonal details around, and the character personalities, and the intriguing or relatable scenes...- was getting really great and tasty in my opinion. They should have stripped down the main plot to something less grandiose (or maybe just the finale... [METAPHORICALLY-COVERED HALF-SPOILERS HERE] suddenly there's hordes of Johnnies in natural state, the sky booms, some sort of 21th century cyber-Napoleon-move happens in a second... like... WTF? [END OF HALF-SPOILERS]), instead of stripping down the number of episodes. Both things didn't combine well at all. So, I guess the movies will have a saying on all of this.

I still recommend watching The Eden of the East, because those who are not as critical with plot development will most probably find things to love here. I think that half the time it actually kicks ass in some way or another, and you just can't say it's boring or not entertaining. To me, it is saldy flawed in a very specific area, but one that is crucial for any kind of art dependent on story. That aside, the music is cool, the voice actors are very competent, and the art and animation, despite being a little simple to stand out as great, are very cute and effective.

Damn, it was an interesting anime (even with its quirks) until the 10th episode came in. The whole ending seems like an accident, honestly. It feels like another different anime (or a different crew behind it) intruded it and finished it without much care. I hope the movies didn't inherit the same weakness!

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 or narrow plans for Japan, and maybe 1-2 of them could have had more self-serving motivations.

For the first few episodes, East of Eden seemed like my new favorite anime. The animation was beautiful and smooth, the mystery plot was intriguing, and the ED was by School Food Punishment, a band I fondly remember listening to years ago. What makes EoE stand out from the get-go, however, is the positive vibe the atmosphere and characters possess. Many mystery and crime shows tap into themes of corruption, bureaucracy, and so on, and EoE does not shy away from pointing out these problems either; In fact, this is what the entire setting of the story is about. But instead of edgy, nihilistic detectives ... and bloody, gut-wrenching exposés on the “inherent darkness of mankind” that are all too common in the genre, EoE delivers its ideas in an optimistic light.

The characters are full of life and charm, nuanced yet instantly likable, and the art style gives them exaggerated expressions and movements that resemble a moe show more than a mystery one. While the themes of the show cast a bleak look on society, and the story dips into cold-blooded murder and crime, East of Eden carefully restrains itself from becoming overtly dramatic or dark, and instead counter-balances the criticism with humor and optimistic heroism from the main leads. East of Eden's approach to the ills of society is refreshing in a genre mired by heavy-handed gore and pretentious treatises on human nature.

The setting of the show is revealed almost halfway into the first season, where the story inexplicably decides to continue focusing on the initial premise, the missiles and the MC's memory loss, a move that marks the beginning of the show's collapse. The larger setting of the story is ignored for the less-interesting missile mystery, offering only small glimpses into the stories of the other characters (small, yet perhaps still the most interesting parts of the show later on). The critique of society, which the show focuses on so much at the start, is nowhere to be found; never are the high ideals and optimistic worldviews of the leads reinforced upon later on (their personalities fall apart along with the plot). The rushed reveals of the last few episodes are ultimately underwhelming and littered with plot holes, frustratingly contrasting with the tension and excitement the first half of the show painstakingly builds up.

I use the word frustratingly because this show was so close to becoming one of my all time favorites. And yet, a refusal to develop the themes further and deliver a solid story drops East of Eden all the way down to a 6 for me. I was at the edge of my seat for the first few episodes. But by the end, I was frustrated, disappointed, and sad at what it could have been.

(first time reviewing please no bully)

This anime isn't too bad, just a little boring and slow. Even though one would expect an 11 episode series to feel fast.

The story is intresting but not touched upon enough. There is so many pauses in the series just talking about a character's morals instead of actual story. The characters basically are just written as big sacks of morals and nothing else. most of the characters just seem so robotic and just desighned to think a certain way about a subject, but have no personality at all. This is not true about the main character. He is actually well defined and feels human. ... Even though I would consider him above average intelligence, I would not say he is a genius. most of his tricks he tries to get him out of trouble a moreso crazy, than smart. But they are crazy enough to work. He is great to watch and somewhat salvages the series.


The artwork for locations is top notch however character designs range from mediocre to repulsive. Mainly the facial expressions can be repulsive.


The soundtrack isnt very memorable. Dont expect anything good or bad from this.

My reccommendation for this is very low. 11 eposodes isnt to big of a waste of your life if you dont enjoy it.

The anime had very good potential, but for me it didn’t really live up to it. The story started off very intriguing - a naked guy who’s supposedly a terrorist has lost all his memory. Oh yeah, I don’t think we ever found out why he was in that situation in the first place...which leads me to point out that there were many unanswered questions left in the anime. How exactly does Juiz work? What was with those white zombie johnnys? Were those just figments of his imagination? What was up with the other Selecaos? Who exactly was the Supporter? How did Selecaos get selected ... in the first place? Plot flaws aside, the characters were very weak as well. Pretty much every single character was plain and stereotypical, besides Akira. But even he wasn’t all that great as he went through no development at all (just like all the other characters) Akira - This character was honestly only mediocre at best. Had a really interesting entrance at the beginning, but ultimately he turned out to be “the charming boy with a dark background”. Saki - Typical teenage girl that falls in love with the “bad boy”. Osugi - The desperate boy that gets friendzoned. Itazu - Stereotypical NEET. Obese, shut in, 1337 hax0r that can somehow crack down a highly confidential system in a matter of minutes
So yeah, unfortunately I don’t really have the interest left to watch the movies. This anime was quite disappointing for me. Might only be because one of my friends hyped it up like crazy. But still, there were too many flaws for me to enjoy it all that much.

I jumped into this show because it's compared to Zankyou No Terror more than any other show. And while that comparison is in some sense justified, the two anime are vastly different from one another in terms of the quality of writing and the emotional depth of the characters.
This isn't a bad show, but it's not something that stands out due to its merit. It's more bland than anything else, it just feels like there was a fair amount of potential in the story-telling but for one reason or another wasn't able to tie everything together neatly.
The build-up was frustrating. It starts very ... slow and more than once I considered dropping it when I was only a few episodes in. The show does try to redeem itself in the second half (and, to be fair, does manage to do it to a reasonable extent) but it ends before everything can be resolved. Sure, there are the movies, but even taking that into consideration it feels like it's not the best way (albeit not the worst) to end a series.
All in all, this show's a big mess, but I wouldn't blame you for finding it fairly enjoyable.

I liked Higashi no Eden, you could even say I enjoyed it, but I think it's ultimately a lot of wasted potential. It could have been great.
The anime tries to put a lot of things into one, but it ends up being a mess. The battle royale plot is not its strongest aspect - but, you know, it's fine, because I don't think it should be considered a battle royale anime like Mirai Nikki, for example. I wish it was more of a strange and surreal (but ultimately charming) story instead of a battle royale mystery story. The most entertaining parts were those ... moments when Takizawa did something out there, all those elaborate schemes that are not very realistic but fun to watch. The show seems like it's trying to do both instead, and fails at both.
I don't really see anime as a medium for social commentary, but maybe making the issues it tries to comment on even more absurd, showing how bizarre the situation is, would have been great. The anime shows only hints of it, unfortunately.
Same with the characters. They had a lot of potential, but just... Not weird enough, but still likeable. The romance aspect is there, and I liked how non-anime it is. It happens naturally. I don't mind Saki being a bit boring because I think it balances Takizawa's weirdness out and grounds him a little bit. I think making the romance plot the only non-weird aspect of an overall weird show is a great idea.
This is why this show is fine to me. It not terrible, but you end up thinking about improving and rewriting it instead of fully embracing it.

I was really, really disappointed by this anime. Higashi no Eden started out so strong!

Both the male and female leads were interesting, and the universe and mystery were interesting too. However, six or so episodes in the plot suddenly stopped making sense. There were characters and plot points barely even mentioned before suddenly being super important, and we were supposed to know why. And the whole "Johnny Hunter" episode was.... I just couldn't keep on watching after that.

I gave it a six because it's definitely less forgettable than a 5, and the first five episodes are quite fun. I still might recommend it if ... you like both mystery and sillier anime.

like everyone else said, the first episode is amazing, so fascinating, such charismatic leads, and afterwards the show remains entertaining but not in any sense great.

it was absurd half the time (the first episode itself, but also the NEETs! the johnny killer! lol) and that's my favorite thing about it.

i loved akira, he was so easy to root for, and probably because i loved akira so much i HATED ogushi. wow. i hate him. whiny b**** boy. leave saki alone! stop putting your nose in things and jumping to conclusions! ugh I REALLY HATE HIM and i have no one to tell so ... i'm writing it here. i was motivated to write this review (my first animereview thing) just so i could complain about how much he got on my nerves.
anyway
akira and saki, animation, absurdity=best things about the show. too many loose ends, it peaked in the very beginning, ogushi=worst things.