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Eden of the East came out of nowhere in the Spring 2009 season - with no works preceding it, not many people knew exactly what to expect, and with only 11 episodes, there were questions as to how one could possibly explore such an ambitious plot successfully.

Luckily for all of us, however, Eden of the East, even with its brevity, managed to set itself apart, providing a winning combination of engaging characters, unique plot, and surprising depth to present itself as one of the best shows of the season, perhaps of the year so far.

PLOT: 9/10

With only 11 episodes, the show pulled off a rather ... amazing feat - not once did the story ever feel rushed, and not once did it feel like there was too much information packed into too small of a package. Starting off with the "amnesiac hero" vibe that gave The Bourne Identity series its teeth and plot hook, things unfold at a rapid pace, wasting no time diving into the conspiracies of "Careless Monday" and the overlying game of the Selecao as the 12 competing individuals employ their own methods to "save" Japan.

Much of the meat of the story is presented quite well, explaining things at a level that gives you what you need to understand at the time and nothing more, yet still leaving enough dangling that you're actually anxious to watch the next episode, just waiting to see where the next puzzle piece fits. There were a few places where I would have liked to see a bit more explanation, but with the series not actually over yet I'll reserve judgement, as there's still plenty of opportunity for them to be answered when the two movies come out.

CHARACTERS: 7/10

The characters in Eden of the East were admittedly a bit of hit and miss. The main male protagonist, Takizawa, was a hit from the minute you saw him in the buff - his charisma and quirky nature made him instantly likable. Many of the Selecao and side characters, for their brief screen time, were also engaging and personable. The female protagonist Saki, however, was a rather generic character - her only purpose in the show seemed to be as a vehicle for romantic tension between her and Takizawa, and after the plot abandoned most of that tension in the first few episodes in favor of the overlying plot, she was quickly pushed to the background, her role quickly overshadowed and outshined by almost every other person on the cast. In short, she was rather forgettable, and not much important to anything, at least in my opinion - I can't really think of many places in the story after about episode 3 where she couldn't have been removed without any ill effect.


ANIMATION: 8/10


Nothing bad to say about this - the animation was very clean and well detailed, especially in terms of scenery - some of the shots of the city, especially at night, were downright gorgeous. The characters themselves were done by Chika Umino of Honey and Clover fame, so the similarities were instantly identifiable - my only complaint about this style would be some of the emotion representations, such as the "angry swirl" above the head (if there's a name for this style, I'm unaware of it D: ) - these seem better reserved for more comedic moments than were existent in Eden, and thus oftentimes felt out of place. There were also some times where the character designs seemed slightly inconsistent, but definitely nothing deal-breaking.


SOUND: 8/10

The OP and ED for Eden were great - I'm not a huge fan of Oasis, but I found myself digging "Falling Down". In terms of background music, I really didn't find myself noticing much, being too engrossed with the story, but there were definitely no moments where I was like "wow, that's ridiculously pretty/awesome" or "wow, that's ridiculously inappropriate/bad", so the whole thing sort of washes neutral.

OVERALL: 8/10

Eden of The East was a pleasant surprise, and with two movies coming out over the course of the next year, I'm already impatient about finding out what's going to happen next. At 11 episodes, it won't waste much of your time, and you won't regret the ride at all.