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.
