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“If you were suddenly given immense power and obligation to change your nation for the better, what would you do?”

Eden of the East is primarily a thought provoking, vicarious, full-scale twisted game of right and wrong, society, abuse of power, responsibility and conspiracy. We are made to think of how everything that Eden of the East throws at us is somehow strangely connected; (The mysterious Selecao, the anonymous ‘Supporter’, Mr. Outside, the missing 20,000 neets, the careless Monday missile attacks, Takizawa’s lost memories) the audience is given substantial information and in our minds to try and solve the furtive puzzles, and in doing so, try ... to distinguish how the grand scheme of things will eventually pan out.

Almost immediately, Eden of the East has a huge initial impact, it drags you in, entices you from the get-go, the sense of ambiguity and enthusiasm to find out who the main characters are, and why they are there; especially the character Takizawa Akira, the fact that he is introduced with no memory of his past, completely unclothed, yes naked! Whilst blatantly waving a gun in one hand and holding a weird-ass phone in the other. To top it off he is also in front of the Whitehouse occupied by security. It just instantly screams out its individuality, quirkiness and a sense of what you’re going to expect. If that somehow does not draw you in, then of-course the hilarity of the other random mishaps that occur, also does. (A casual stranger randomly giving half naked Takizawa his trousers, Takizawa calmly removing his jeans to show a female officer his genitals! xD) That should at least hold your attention in some form and all this is just the first episode!

This sets us up with a respectable base for the plot; the storyline is absolutely unique, the premise is very intriguing with the sense of unpredictability along the way, as well as the twists and turns that keep you glued to your seat, whilst giving out just enough information each episode for you to take in and ponder, concurrently preventing from donating excessive information that would spoil the mystery of the plot.

This goes onto the next point, pacing. The pacing of episodes seems to vary; with slow paced starts and faster more revealing conclusions to episodes; this gives a great structure to leave the audience wanting more. As well as this the atmosphere continually switches back and forth from serious to nonchalant, keep it both solemn and light-hearted at the same time; this links in with the decent ranging soundtrack it has, which also is able to successfully create a plausible atmosphere.

Being a relatively short in length, a credible amount of character development is shown, particularly for the two main characters. (Saki; innocent, likeable and charming and Takizawa; quirky, mischievous and optimistic) They have engaging chemistry together predominantly in the early parts of the anime. We get to know them quite well without ever losing the sense of mystery behind the plot and Takizawa’s past. In connection with this, Takizawa’s fascinating ability to always remember films, although losing his memory xD, was a particular aspect of his character I really liked; this ties in with the regular references linking to films (To name a few; Taxi Driver, Bourne Trilogy, Dawn of the Dead, Kate and Leopold etc etc). In some ways Eden of the East starts off similar to ‘The Bourne Identity’, which is a film cleverly, referenced during the first episode.

Another aspect I truly adored was the fluid animation; what we get is the vibrant colour schemes, convincing detailed scenery of each location and occasional CG, overall giving it high quality animation.

Although with its vast amount of positives, there are little things I disliked. Though I think development for its two main characters is sufficient enough; I would like to have known more about its supporting characters. I think the length of the series undeniably had a part to play in this. In addition to this field, the uselessness of Saki in relation to the actual plot really bothered me also. (I also hated Ohsugi xP)

In many ways I think it had unleashed potential. It could have been better than it actually was, as it should of expanded on the endless ideas and inklings the initial plot might of had; perhaps better direction could of made it into a more enhanced thriller or whether the length of the series had a hand in this? I’m just hoping the movie sequels will have a superior explanation of the unanswered questions and how it left off.

While it unquestionably feels like the ending is slightly abrupt and unfulfilling, the pros certainly out-weigh the cons with the actual outline of the storyline making the overall difference as it causes the audience to contemplate the situations, choices and responsibility of the characters, and coherently places yourselves in their position. Its quite good-quality entertainment anime with boundless possibilities of the budding plot make it a highly recommendable series to watch.

“One of the most beautiful qualities of friendship is to understand and to be understood.”

What Kokoro Connect essentially delves into, is exactly that, the notion of what friendship is, and how do we keep it alive when your true desires, love, selfishness, fears, pasts and fragility are all unleashed and out in the open.

One day a sudden paranormal occurrence of body-switching haunts a small group of five friends, which in turn alters their relationship and every day lives.

Since the plot is pretty much straightforward with a slight twist, Kokoro Connect is more of a character motivated Anime; with it being more ambitious ... on the interactions and chemistry front between the characters. I think the characters are not only convincingly believable, but have a real depth and insight to them; (Yui; androphobia, Iori; multiple personality disorder?) we truly see a good portrayal of emotions and human nature.

The supernatural occurrences definitively disrupt the harmony amongst the five friends as it not only, sends their feelings in turmoil, but also makes them closer friends simultaneously. The initial idea of body-switching is, in itself a charming premise but also happens to open a can full of funny situations too, as you can imagine.

What I also liked was the atmosphere that Kokoro Connect gives; the orangey sunset sceneries at the beginning feel reminiscent of high school nostalgia with intentions to keep it light-hearted. Alongside that, there is also an eerie, sinister tone when the entity Heartseed enters the fray (his gormless, creepy, unpredictable look about him also contributed to this xD). That is certainly one factor that kept me interested, the eagerness to find out what is behind the mysteriousness and ambiguity of this Heartseed entity that was causing all the supernatural phenomena, the enigma of his powers, what he actually is and what his real intentions are.

Although those are the defining factors I liked in particular, there are also many evident blemishes I could also point out. Being a slice of life drama set in the high school timeframe following both female and male students there are predetermined hints to your conventional genre clichés, we have seen it all to often with the overplayed depictions of love triangles and pour-your-heart-out, lovey-dovey confessions scenes; all I can say is Kokoro Connect doesn’t differ from this nor does it attempt to, while it tries not to overly focus on these things, the fact remains is that these overdone concepts are embraced, and the way it’s pulled off may be too generic for some.

We also have the character designs and art style that are nothing special to be honest; all plainly bland looking, nothing outstanding, it’s what you would expect from most other Anime. The characters themselves could also be considered cliché, as you might say it features some of your common personalities in Anime shows, although I still think it’s one of the more stronger aspects of the show.

While the general premise of the Anime starts quite well, what with the body-swapping idea, it eventually moves onto other mind-boggling notions. With the original idea still fresh in your mind, I feel the episodes gradually drop its appeal with each supernatural premise, and swings its tone to a less light-hearted, funny atmosphere to a more darker and dampening one at the ending stage of each phenomena; this also inserts more exaggerated, melodramatic and overemotional moments. Although this tonal shift could in my opinion be handled in better fashion, it also effectively brings in, deeper more meaningful themes.

However the most unsatisfying thing was undoubtedly the ending, lets just say there are so many unanswered questions and left with a sense of bewilderment and discontent. (This thing really irked me xD)

So, all in all “Why should I watch this?” you maybe thinking, well if you enjoy a well thought out Anime, which makes you think about the real meaning of friendship and puts you into empathetic scenarios, albeit engaging you into an emotional roller-coaster of a drama with heartwarming conclusions at times, while still keeping it funny and light-hearted, then I say go for it!

Bromance~!!

Rainbow: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin is a dark, dramatic, thriller of an adventure set in a post WWII setting. It focuses on seven troubled adolescent boys through their emotionally, melodramatic journey, together through corruption, violence, injustice, malice, dream-chasing and friendship in search for the ray of light that is freedom and happiness.

Rainbow is what I call a “Hardcore” Anime, and what I mean by that is, that it is not one of those Animes you watch for its escapism or happy entertainment value, its one of those Animes with serious themes and really makes you contemplate and ponder about the brutal realities in life. Rainbow ... is categorised in the Seinen genre as it does unquestionably appeal to a mature male demographic because of the grim, dark and rebellious undertone throughout the series, so be warned about its explicit imagery (You have been warned!!! >.>) and scenes which may well be disturbing for some people, although in my opinion it is put to good use, giving an intensely dramatic atmosphere and highlights successfully its thematic intentions (Even if sitting through it seemed like torture -_-).

I would say Rainbow is one of those underrated Anime, people tend to prejudge and overlook because of its murkiness and bold, old fashioned art style but hey lets face it, the majority of people are going to divert their attention to something more attractive in their eye line and that goes for most things in life unfortunately.

Rainbow has a very character focused plot and much of the series is more about the journey the characters undergo; we are taken in by each and every one of the boys hardships and pasts to what eventually led them to end up in that cell 2-6 with ‘An-chan’. Each part of the gang has his own unique personality and traits; An-chan the leader, mature, older than his age persona, Mario with the fighting spirit and never back down attitude, Spoon with the naïve, likeable larger than live character, Soldier with the serious, hard, unbreakable personality, Cabbage with the gullible and loveable nature, Barimoto the clever fella with the plans and Joe the emotional boy who overcomes his fragility. Each and every one of the gang has a rightful place, and their differences in persona makes them ever more closer. Although I do think the characters are quite likeable to some extent, the characters sometimes seem to have a ‘pantomimey’ (if there is such a word) effect going on both in physical appearance and actions, as in the ‘bad guys’ seem a bit over the top, farcical-esque (Intensely Irritating Ishihara and Dr. ‘Old Wrinkly Pedofile’ Sasaki ^^) the ‘good guys’ seem occasionally like one dimensional, untainted angels who can do no wrong, this I find particularly cringey at best (Maybe its just me?) and did unsettle me at times.

Some elements I particularly liked about this Anime such as the calm demeanour of the narration within the Anime, I felt, added to an effectively compelling atmosphere they were trying to depict and the range of colours and props used throughout the Anime also contributed to an already fixed tonal nature and represents its time period commendably.
To be honest Rainbow won’t be everyone’s cup of tea that’s for sure, as it does centre through gloomy themes and some episodes will seem like such a chore to muster (Did for me).

The message that Rainbow showed me is that even in an ugly world full of life and death situations there can be hope in courage, dreams and most importantly friendship if not fraught with sacrifice but in determination, persistence and trust we can find freedom and happiness even in the darkest journey for justice. If you are in search for a well paced, different-from-your-conventional-Anime, dark, deep and emotionally character driven Anime that will make you think for a long time and be ingrained in your memory in both good and bad ways, this should be at the very top of your ‘Plan to watch list’.