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WARNING! CONTAINS SPOILERS!!!

The second movie and the very end of whole series about the NEETs, SELECAOs some guys with amnesia and a pure-hearted girls :D At last almost all questions finds their answers and we have a winners and we have a… winners :P Who was the real enemy of Akira? Who is Outsider guy? What will happen with Higashi no Eden? Why the paradise have been lost?
Don’t even try to call Juize… she won’t help you! :D

=Story=

The whole plot ends here! At last the storyline get it fast! But after slowpokes like TV series and, in some aspects, last movie it ... is going just… to fast! So we have a car (or should I say truck :D) pursuits, dynamic escaping scenes (of course with the looooong dialogs in middle of them) and many flashbacks that can give us some answers on what really happened and what can happen on account of that. As I mentioned in the last review we have new player- the Japanese government. Well… for me they gone a little too far with this but… I can forgive it if we will consider the very solution of the story.

Watch out, now time for some spoilers and general interpretation of what is shown on screen!!!

So out of nowhere we learn from the SELECAO no. 1 that… he really didn’t need that money to do what he wanted to do! He’s blaming the society for the country situation (wise guy! XD) and he just tried to put some pressure of it. To show people the common enemy, terrify them with it and at the end- gather under patriotic and separatists banner! Now I don’t want to spread conspiracy but look closely 9 years back in time on USA and draw some conclusions… But of course we have a all good guy like Akira, who will not allow this to happen. Yeah only he can win the game!
And hmmm… the government and the story of his mother… This motive just… suck! Again the authors of anime didn’t calculate the proper time to solve it properly. Result? Subplot becoming main plot and totally destroys all beautiful climate of Noblesse Obelige phones, the Oustsider guy and the deathly information-game.

Thanks to those very authors, the very end of anime was saved!

But after all Noblesse Oblige phone plus the protoplast of Higashi no Eden program are the main tools of Akira… The main tool of “making Japan better country”! His last speech is a quite too pompous, but through this words the great moral flows… Mr. Outsider was found by side character and… he was pleased. I would be pleased too if I would be him and if I would try to save my country, because… Today world really should be in youths hands. I live for example in country that had been experienced by two totalitarians systems. And when I hear another news in which another politics are blaming each other that they are other country agent, that they have “unclean” past… They can only blame others. And youths? All those people that are full of ideas, energy, motivation? They are just used. They cannot have a proper job after years of education, they cannot even have an influence on development in their own country! It is really time to put aside history and start to build future on the shoulders of new generations!
Akira gave everyone a chance by giving one virtual coin. It is really better to have one coin and multiply it by yourself, than having millions of yen and the secretary that can do everything. Why? Because YOU will earn this money with YOUR hard work and it will be good both for YOU and YOUR country! Country is for citizens not citizens for country!

And what Mr. Oustsider done? He done the best thing that he could do… he gave a gift for all the SELECAO… The gift that should be given to every human being. It is a chance. A chance to start everything from the beginning. So what is the ultimate prize for Noblesse Oblige game? Erasing of the memories! So… the Takizawa already won this game… twice! But now he won it for everyone.
You may ask what is good at loosing memories. But look. If we have amnesia we may not know our names, our addresses our account numbers and our work. But we don’t loose everything. We still have our personality, we have our specific behaviors, we still have our talents and skills! We have our knowledge and experience, even if we don’t really remember it… But what is most beautiful- we are really ourselves. No influence of other people, no influence of environment… we are just who we are! And what about others and their feelings? Look at Saki. He lost memories again. She kissed Akira. He promise he will go back. Why? Because the feelings that we once felt cannot be forgotten too. Saki is like an anchor for Takizawa, that keeps pushing him forward… to do something even more crazy and effective than he done before losing memories… Sky King + Mr. Outsider? = saved country ;)

So at the end I’m giving the 9 for storyline. I would give 8 but the message that flows through the end of anime is really, really meaning and became an saviour of Higashi no Eden :D

Score: 9 (Great)

=Art=

I thought than nothing can surprise me after watching the last movie if we are talking about the arts… But my breath was taken at the very beginning of the movie! Yeah now the 3D elements are pretty popular in anime but… there is a motive where we have a roulette circle with SELECAO numbers. And we have a little metal ball rolling through the moving circle of that game… and when I saw reflections of the surrounding of this moving ball… Oh, damn! And they done it “just” for opening! Great work! No, no… I should say… Outstanding work, producers! I believe that your graphics are NEETs ^^

Score: 10 (Outstanding)

=Sound=

Well I must confess that I done a terrible mistake in the last review! The last scene of Paradise Lost when the Saki and Akira are kissing opened my ears on the one of the nicest and cheerful (well it sounds like a Christmas carol somehow for me XD) music motive in whole series!
‘Reveal the world’ by Brenda Vaughn… Yes this one will be surely on my MP3 soon =)
So, the score is going one point up! Very good work!

Score: 8 (Very Good)


=Character=

What to say here… authors just done the very same thing that they were doing whole the series. So they provide another new characters into the story (PM wife, Juize “voices”, PM himself and mother of Akira) but here is just no time to fully expand them. What is more… the “Interest Hunter” story ends too quick (whew what a relief XD), other characters are just a pawns and the manipulation that consisted of putting together side character with the almighty Mr. Outside… well I guess it is not good resolution :/
So, the score stays as they were but for those who are the fans of the old characters and stasus quo- put one point higher!

Score: 7 (Good)

=Enjoyment=

Well enjoyment gone up for sure! The story is solved at last, more action is provided, I opened my ears for the great music and this outstanding graphics…
We can add to this the message from the authors and the pretty good ending of the storyline!
Well… generally I hate good endings but… let me make another exception, ok? ^^

Score: 8 (Very Good)

=Overall=

And the overall now. To tell the truth this is actually overall of whole series!
The story even with some dead ends, some unanswered questions and generally focused on the two main characters plus the countless numbers of the NEETs (:P) is very cheerful and charming one ^^ It is talking about very important things, things that we don’t want to move during everyday life, but… the way they are shown in Higashi no Eden is really eatable and digestible. The climate with the Noblesse Oblige phones at the lead is unique and so close to what we can see just behind the window, that it will really influence the watchers. But it will influence us good way…

Noblesse Oblige… no, no… let us all be a Sky Kings! Let’s grab the life and make it better for us and our children!

Score: 9 (Very Good)

Akira, Saki and Higashi no Eden creators (not to mention SELACAO) are back in the bussiness again! This time they attacked bigger, silver screens and... it looks, sounds and feels much better than TV series! What Takizawa is up to in USA again? Who is others SELECAO? Where and who is Juize? You want to find out? Then prepare for the awesome art in the best American-japaneses way ;)

=Story=

The Higashi no Eden removal from TV episodes to two movies is like a hittong the bulls eye. The lazy spreading action in 11 almost 25 min length episodes was just a level lower than the word ... “boring” :) Now… when the creators have only standard 120 min to solve the storyline equals quicker action. But even so… the authors didn’t made it and must’ve make another, second movie to finally end the struggling story of Akira Takizawa adventures as SELECAO and the little sub-story of Saki… But about this we will talk later, after reviewing Paradise Lost ;)
So, most of he action is taking place in the USA (and I love it this way :D). But hmmm… isn’t it a reheating pork to start the story line in almost same place and almost same way? Well, almost makes a difference, ‘cause Saki isn’t parading all naked XD, but… other things are similar to the original… :)
The similarity also refers to the pace of the story. So after dynamic start we have stagnation and then- dynamic end with many, many questions… Too many questions and I’m thanking to God that I could watch one movie after another to feed my curiosity ;)
What I want to mention it that the love substory even if it seems to have an important place at the beginning, it is putted into back row again! Poor Saki…
Other subploys that I wished to be fully resolved also gone to rest. Like our beloved “Interest Hunter” or the missile guy.
Instead of this we have a new players in Nobless Oblige game and they are not SELECAO… They are a little mundane than them, but they have very huge influence on the country’s cases too! And in the middle of all of that we have Higashi no Eden (now the proper organization!) itself… So two powerful forces against a good peoples will… Who will win? If you want to find out, watch the movie then! ^^ Well… Generally… watch both of them :D

Score: 8 (Very Good)

=Art=

Just like in the TV series the art of draw and shown world is just awesome! We can feel the real perspective, the crowd, the city… everything that we need to feed our eyes! Also the bigger screen equals better resolution and frame rate and believe me- it works!
The only think I can complain about is that “American scenes” lost their climate a little… But it just must look like that if the story is moving like a ping pong ball from the one far west and another far east country :)

Score: 10 (Outstanding)

=Sound=

Of course like I mentioned above the ‘movie format’ allows us to use more tasty effects that are not generally used in TV series. So… the 3D sounds are passing exams! The background sounds are very realistic and voices, especially those from US (am I a psycho? XD) are quite climatic and perfectly introducing us into the world, our world shown in this anime.
Hmmm If it comes to the music… I have mixed emotions. From one hand we have an average opening + ending but from another… those good music motives that we can remember from TV series.
But the problem is that, the TV series was to sort to recognize and like this music… that’s why I’ve focused on then now, wjile watching the movie. Yeah it is climatic (the theme when “Interest Hunter” arrives :D) but… good. Just good. No fireworks here!

Score: 7 (Good)

=Character=

And now a couple of words about my fav side of every anime- the characters!
I’m glad that some of those that I mentioned in Highashi no Eden review things were improved but… generally we have stagnations here too :/
So… there are some SELECAO characters that are shown again (missiles-guy Yuuki, strange guy in hat Tsuji) but… no fireworks here again! Even is they are the members of the game… they are not shown at the screen very often. Too bad. Such a potential…
But from the other hand… we have the SELECAO no. 1 back to game (in great style!) and one of my most liked characters Itzu, who was ‘drawn’ again! What I have in mind when talking about ‘panties-man’? Of course his accent, his self-confidance and specific sense of humor!
What’s with others? Nothing special again… Akira stays outgoing, charming guy, Saki- innocent pure girl and Micchon (‘I’m not Micchon -_-‘’) plus other Highashi no Eden crew- they just… theirselves. Grey and second plan characters without the greater influence on the storyline…

Score: 7 (Good)

=Enjoyment=

And again I have a mixed feelings about it… From one hand Kings of Eden is a feast for the eye and (in some cases) for the ears, but if it comes to out minds… There are some problems... But it is not like that, that this movie is a failure! It is very hard to move from TV series to movie to finish the storyline there! So for me- the enjoyment is the still the same as during the TV series… and just like the TV sereies the hunger rise in the last couple of minutes of anime :)

Score: 7 (Good)

=Overall=

So time for summary! King of Eden is a great job, especially when we will think about the technical aspects of this anime. We have everything that we had in TV series, more sound and video effects and a little spreaded characters. The plot is still like a snail, but if we will be patient, we will see the final :)
Treat this movie as a prologue to the next one… generally those two should be one movie :D That would be save me so much bitter words in this review…

Noblesse Oblige! Keep reviewing and I hope the Higashi no Eden fans won’t kill you soon our saviour!

Score: 8 (Very Good)


Sorry for any mistakes ;)
Special thanks for my anim guru, Z-girl >^_^

Words are poor. All letters, cyphers, whole sentences... Do we really need them?
Yes... they are poor...
Look at this little house. A house from cubes. Little croocked, looking like a baby's toy... and an old man inside. But not a single word. But the what we see is so meaning. Thigs, gesture... even when we are forgetting how to write, how to speak... the memories and some pictures in our minds are still with us.

An old man was building floor after floor... to escape from reality shttp://myanimelist.net/myreviews.php?seriesid=5365&go=writeomehow. But as he was building it... he lost the reason for this. He was hunted down by his ... own routine. A picture with a woman... but just a picture. Pipe, fishes, wine, TV...
But when the past started to hunt him again, he just gone up and builded the next floor. From the routine.
But thanks to the thing that is routine actually and that suppose to have no meaning... He was forced to dive into his memories. Thanks to fact he missed... a pipe... So many of them he had, but... he missed it somehow.
As he was going deeper and deeper, he started to remind some things, some gestures, some situations... he remembered all things that created his life.
And the he saw house from below once again. He looked from the very ground on that he built... a huge an beautiful and cosy home. But did he built it himself?

Now the house is drowned, abandoned , like other houses that surrounds him. Because people alredy moved and left memories behind... like he will do also.
One day there won't be another brick to put...
One day there won't be enough strenght eve to raise it from the ground...
Or maybe there will be so many floors that house will collapse?
Or maybe there will be so many floors that there won't be anything on a new builded floor? Because on every floor he left something... forget something important...
But till that time... a wine, a picture, a gestures from a past saves him.
In this very moment... he know why and for who he lived and will continue to live!
Untill a memorey of him will be also drowned...

Thanks nyan! >^_^<

WARNING! CONTAINS SPOILERS!

What do we need to for ruling this world?
An army? A high education or maybe have a royal background? No... it is all wrong. What we really need is a cash and the tool which will help us with distribution of it...
But is the 10 billions yen enought to do so? Higashi no Eden is trying to ask this question during the 11 episodes. The new meaning of "noblesse oblige" was just born. But is there any of those random "noblesse" feel the responsibility of "obelige"?

=Storyline=

12 totally diffrent people... 12 saviours-to-be... one supporter, one winner... sounds a like some kind of ... reality show. In fact it is pretty similar to those shows... but instead of cameras and microphones we have mobiles containing some letters and cyphers... and cyphers hardly ever lies...
So if we compare high amount of money that belongs to the people that are just not the saint ones... yeah it equals a brutal and viloent massacre, the rat race and fast action included :D And what we have in the Higashi no Eden? The beginning of anime- totally rocks and makes watcher just curious how the story of a naked young man from Washington DC will end... Police, collection of passports, full armed closet... yeah it is fascinating and Bond-films like! But it is only a beginning and it can fool us... In fact this anime serves us a 11th episodes of cautionous stalking and then in last two episodes suddenly everything comes to the sunlight!
Well we can weight it down on the main character amnesia, but... generally whole series looks rather like a long prologue than a first season of anime. So the ones who like fast action, car chases, intense firing, can be disappointed... But before those will skip this anime... look around! Today the most powerful force is information and the most powerful weapon is the information plus the tool to share it with someone... And that very essence is shown in Higashi no Eden!
Another think that I just must mention is the other subplots, like love plot in Higashi no Eden... Again, 11 episodes is not enough to even highlight it on account of that the main plot had a problems to fully spread... So I didn't saw the movies connected with Higashi no Eden yet and I don't know what is shown there, but... I guess that Saki need to be patient if she want to get closer to her prince ;)
So, for me the first season is too short, the action is like a snail, but that doesn’t mean this anime is not good. On the contrary, the unanswered question is making us more and more curious… Who is supporter? Who is Johnny? Is the rapists “interests” safe? Is anyone can be a prince or king of county this days? ;)

=Climate&World=

The greatest advantage of Higashi no Eden is it’s climate. The big conspiracy, corrupted people, intimidated society, terrorist attacks… Sounds familiar? :) Yes, it is the very same world we are living in now!
As they saying ‘the devil is in the details’ and you know what? I just love this ‘devil’ ^^ Because the details can make the even anime world more realistic. Prove? Look at the first episode closely…
The Washington DC is so… American! The voices of people, the streets and and and (my favorite ‘devil’ :D) the military like shoes that Takizawa found in his apartment… Yeah, those are U.S. Army model called “Panama” that were used in Vietnam War… Yes… just a little detail but look how thrilling it is for such realistic freak like me XD
Not to mention the refers to the real films like “The Bourne Trilogy” or “Taxi Driver” and many, many others.
But fear not Japanese Fans! After first ep. we are going to our beloved world of subways, huge highways, big corporations and workaholics ^^ And the motive with abandoned shopping center… just epic!
But what really impressed me in Higashi no Eden’s climate is the case of NEET’s… This is the first time I met such a term and I thought it was created for anime ^^ (how foolish I were! XD) So I searched internet a little and… NEET’s are no longer the guy, who cannot fit to the modern society… Today they are generating a huge financial problem for all governments around the world! So… the NEET’s can become an dangerous weapon in bad hands… plus they are well-trained in the art of Information Technology… they can even stop the missile attack ^_- And if such a website like Higashi no Eden would really exist (well… actually we have facebook…XD) I would feel uncomfortable… I could be only hoping that my pic wouldn’t became a “wanted one” like Takizawa’s :P
Oh! I almost forgot the main feature! The cell phones… I guess most, if not all of us, who’ve seen this anime, would like to be owner of SELECAO mobile… and I’m not talking about those money on account (but it would be a pleasure too ^^) but the awareness of having such a cool stuff…
So magnetic and scary appearance of those phones was perfectly shown in the scene in which out weird SELECAO member that loves cigars (and something else :P), was floating with a pair of the black wings and instead of the sword or other stuff which perfectly fits such apocalyptic-like situations… she is holding this thrilling phone…

=Characters=

Akira Takizawa
A couple of words about characters… let’s start from Akira! Yeah, he is a smart and cheerful guy with eternal carefree attitude. He is so exudes with charisma, that people on the streets are even giving him their own garment instead of escaping from the young exhibitionist :P But on the other side of the coin we have a guy with huge sense of altruism, who suffers from what all such good person suffer in our sad world… He was betrayed by the those who he helped :/ But he was so intelligent to that he choose to erase his memory rather than spectacularly finishing life :) In emo-times committing suicide is very trendy XD
Someone can say he is a trifler too much but… for me he is a good actor. Even when in pain, he can smile and keep going… even when broken, he can stand up again and help others once again... Plus he is a gentleman and have a good manners… perfect material for husband and Saki knows this ;D So in one sentence: He is very motivating one!

Saki Morimi

A shy but simultaneously brave girl, who thinks that White House is a center of the world XD Why brave (not to say stupid :P)? Which girl would have a nerve to throw a coin to the garden of the most secured house on the Earth and go alone with a guy, who was chased by police and going all naked? :) Any volunteer there? :P
Morimi might look like a typical girl, but actually she is a strong woman. Loosing her parents, living on a credit of her sister and trying to do an emancipation, she dream to breakaway from the world that surround her. She is a romantic one, dreaming about the prince… And who can give her all that? A prince himself! She believes in uncreated story of Akira and help him instead of people who are full of suspicions about him… I don’t know maybe she is naive or… maybe she’s pure heart is whispering to her to trust Takizawa? But before answering that questions in ourselves just look at the power of the real “trust” … look that this “trust” can make others to stand up again and fight…
In one sentence: a pure loving-girl!

Others

Well generally there wasn’t time to get to know other characters properly. The corrupted detective is dieing too fast and I regret it ‘cause he could be a nice rival for our courageous Akira. Other SELECAO are not better. The cigar-perv woman is the plot which would be (I hope) solved in the future, missile-guy is just a puppet… a doctor with a vision, also killed… but wait… there is those two… The clever government bureaucrat who almost crack the nut of all game… yeah this plot and his story should be spreaded more! Merciless, concrete perfectionist. A rising main bad character ;)
And the last of SELECAO… the guy who didn’t even spend a single yen from his account, but using limousine for transportation… yeah very suspicious.
Instead of SELECAO we have other typical, boring family members, typical jealous-boy and (not that typical XD) friends of Saki. So, old and experienced woman (:P), a leader without leadership skills and a closet guy :) Add to this a cute nerdy Micchon (“I’m not Micchon..” :D) and the panties-named genius and you have a full kaleidoscope of personalities! I like Especially Itazu… the perfect example of a underestimated talent, who is sacrificing his health for the mental causes… And of course there is a 20 000 NEET statists with cellphones without wears XD Yeah they are like zombies ;)
Generally those characters have (or had :P) potential, and I hope their plots will be spreaded in the future too!

=Summary=

Great drawn anime with also great potential which will be fully used in the future… Worth of attention and gives us a lot to think after seeing the last episode… thinking about this damn society system in which many talents are wasting , thinking about how single pure heart can affect a broken man and thinking what people are able to make when they are driven to the wall…


Sorry for any grammar mistakes and so on, and so on...

Special thanks to my lovely kitty, who is my anime guru >^_^< nyan nyan!