Higashi no Eden Movie II: Paradise Lost

Spoiler-free (nothing outside of the MAL synopsis) should-you-watch review:

If you're watching this before seeing the series, stop and watch that first. However: the series doesn't stand alone, the movies are clearly filling in for the second arc, and you should treat them as the remainder of the same season. To see my notes on Eden of the East as a whole, check my review of the series.

This movie is better than the first, but as a resolution to an anime that underwhelms, I'll let you guess what happens. Big problems get solved in unsatisfying ways. Some payoffs are more of a trickle, and some just ... don't happen. Don't let that dissuade you, though, it is still Eden of the East, and my praise of the series mostly stands. It is the resolution to a charming and unique show, and it still felt good.

I mentioned this in my review for the series: a sense of groundedness pervades the show. I think that's where many reviewers are sensing the disappointment and underwhelmingness. But there's something very *true* about that underwhelmingness; whether you appreciate it or not is up to you. There's no reason to skip the very ending if you've come this far already, so go on and watch it.

While it did come to a reasonable conclusion, Eden of The East the Movie II: Paradise Lost did not capture the same excitement and intrigue as the first season. The production quality remained consistent, but the writing felt as unsubstantial as the first movie. There was little time to produce acceptable resolutions to many of the characters introduced throughout, in addition to giving few answers to the questions presented. All of the same positives are here, but the slow narrative decline led to a realistic but mostly unsatisfying outcome. It is worth experiencing the conclusion, but do not expect the same highs as previously seen.

This is the end of Eden of the East, and am I happy about it? Truthfully, I am. While the series was a fairly entertaining ride the first movie was pretty pointless. Paradise Lost is the conclusion of the series, yet…doesn’t really feel concluding at all. It just felt like more nothing.

It’s strange really. This series is supposed to be focused on far reaching consequences and the results that these twelve people have on the well-being of Japan, yet you don’t see much of anything really change. There’s the missiles, which changed some things, but after that it feels like all of the things these ... characters do have no really worthwhile consequence. At the end of Paradise Lost you feel like you’ve watched nothing because of how incomplete it feels. And that’s not because the ending is lame (which it is, it is not exciting and doesn’t really make a ton of sense), but because this movie cuts off, just like the series and the last movie, without a clear ending. It’s like this is meant to be continued, but somebody realized that was not a good idea and canned the project. Like maybe there was supposed to be a third movie but the first two were so repulsive that nobody wanted a third.

The hour and a half this movie takes up does have more plot progression than the previous film, but, as I said, nothing feels substantial and everything seems inconsequential. Things are happening, but none of it makes a ton of sense. There are bad guys, but none of them are any good (just as I’ve said with the past two reviews). Nothing is changed here. It’s just a bunch of nothing. And I’m sorry to hurt anyone’s feelings, but this series isn’t that smart and isn’t that good because of the fact it does nothing. Takizawa and Saki are back in Japan to end the game. They learn a bit about Takizawa’s past (Takizawa has magically regained a lot of his memories too). And then there’s a long stretch of nothing. There’s all this set up to a nice final confrontation, but there’s no finale that wraps everything up. Takizawa ends it rather boringly and that’s that. A series and two movies to lead up to a conclusion about as thrilling as watching paint dry. And even then, it’s not a conclusion.

So what is good about this? The animation and sound. There you go. Otherwise the story is dull, uninteresting, unexciting, and pointless. The characters are all pretty much the same. Nothing about the plot stands out. Nothing about it is particularly good. Nothing about it is exciting. It’s all arbitrary feeling. As if whoever wrote this was forced into writing it and didn’t really care. It has no heart behind it.

Taken as a whole, the series starts off good but degrades over time. And that’s sad, because as I’ve said before, I love the premise. But if this is all you get for an ending, if this is all the series leads to, then I feel like I’ve wasted my time.

Paradise Lost is an apt name. At first this series seemed like something I could really love. Turns out, it loses any hope of that halfway through the main series and goes downhill from there.