Have you seen the show Lost? Most people agree that it had a good set up, atmosphere and mystery to it in the early seasons, but good mystery is rendered pointless by shitty conclusions and a lack of character development. Eden no Ori ended up far worse than Lost did, seeing as Lost actually compensated for its poor plot choices by focusing more on characters. (A strategy which got less and less effective as time went on, but I digress.) I mention Lost because this manga seems to have gotten much inspiration from it and failed in the worst way possible. Ultimately, nothing was answered and indisputable plot holes were everywhere. Who is Hades? Who the fuck knows. Who unleashed the bacteria/fungus? Who the fuck knows. How did they leap through time? Who. The. Fuck. Knows.

People were giving this “10” reviews when just a dozen chapters had come out, without considering the fact that it's easy to set up a "mystery island" plot; what matters is the ultimate delivery, and this manga had none to speak of. This manga is actually pretty good at tricking you in early chapters, but the fact that it’s spitting in your face becomes less and less subtle as it progresses. As both of the top reviews were written by people who hadn't even made it a third of the way through the series, their praise should be ignored.

The art was all centered around fanservice. That is the only notable thing about it, which isn't saying much seeing as it is a staple of most modern shounen manga. It's not particularly good or well-placed fanservice either. The girls are not well drawn and many of them look almost exactly the same, although they can sometimes be distinguished form one another by breast size. Also note that no dramatic scene is complete without a panty-shot, making these important scenes impossible to take seriously in any capacity. Basically, the art was generic and bad. The fight scenes got very repetitive, and while this was also due to a lack of creativity in general, it was usually because they were all drawn exactly the same way. I felt like I'd seen the same panel hundreds of times.

The characters were either "good" or "bad" and either "expendable" or "important." Did you get eaten by a three headed saber tooth lizard tiger? Don't worry, you're an important character. You'll be fine somehow. (No joke. It's that bad.) The main character is a Mary Sue who remains calm and brave in the face of any danger and becomes athletic and smart overnight, despite the fact that he's just a slacker. He has a love interest that has no personality other than "tits." He has a friendly rivalry with a delinquent with a heart of gold who, despite being a middle schooler, can crush professional boxers and overpower wild animals bare handed. The delinquent has a relationship with a woman who only exists for him to protect her and look cool while doing it. The main character also has a friend who is a plot device nerd and has a laptop with infinite battery plus an encyclopedia of extinct animals and other programs that are useless in day to day life, for god knows what purpose. How does he always find the animals just by their appearance anyways? There are a lot of extinct animals to sort through. Point is this: the characters are one dimensional and simply poorly written. Some of them had half-assed backstories thrown in, but these seemed, well, half-assed. There is also a big titted flight attendant and a trap-loli. Why? Because tits, traps, and lolis. Also more damsels in distress. Another thing: this series loves damsels in distress. A whole lot of them. There are a lot of damsels, and they are all frequently in distress.

All of the dialogue between the characters is clunky and unrealistic. It is never entertaining or compelling. Not even once did I crack a smile or think about what deep things they had to say.

The juvenile ideas and general factual errors were a minor issue in comparison to everything else, but still worth mention, in my opinion. The author made up historical, physiological, and scientific facts whenever it was convenient and decided that logic in general was a crock of shit. It also featured some very unintelligent (read: incorrect) psychological ideas mixed in with a bit of political commentary with a depth that I would expect from my 9 year old cousin. It threw in the supernatural out of nowhere and quickly broke those rules as well. Why do the predictions sometimes come true and sometimes not? Because the eternal power of friendship can overpower fate?

So what was the point of Edon no Ori? What can you get from it? It failed as a mystery, an action, and as a romance. It ultimately had no positive points or redeeming qualities to speak of.

The creator should learn to plan ahead in his next work. This manga seemed very thrown together and generally all over the place. It showed not a modicum of originality or intelligence and I would recommend it to nobody. Even those with poor taste must admit that the conclusion was no conclusion at all. This manga should only be read as an example of what not to do when telling a story.

Story: 0/10
Art: 3/10
Character: 1/10
Enjoyment: 0/10
Bonus: 0/10
Overall: 4/50 or 8% (.8/10)

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A 21st century Japanese apocalypse/horror (or more accurately, "no hope") manga; your first thought? Tits. Your second? Ass. This is the drawbacks to all those fan services, those juicy, bouncing, voluptuous drawbacks. Something about the end of the world or death, and women (who's "accessories" make her fit more on a farm in montana than an urban Japanese environment), make the Japanese (and probably tons of Americans) scream MOAR!!! Does this honestly make sense? If the world ended, wouldn't small girls with washboards survive better? So shouldn't all horror apocalypse stories star creepy old lolicons and doll-size girls instead of reckless selfless and otheradjective-less guys and his herd of cows?

These were some of my first thoughts when I read the synopsis for Cage of Eden; When in the first chapter, the guys are watching a video of their classmates in swimsuits. I thought, this is just another fan service filled action, adventure, comedy, romance, horror manga.

And man, was i wrong.

It was strange to think that I read a manga, where the Male:Female ratio was 3:2, and not 1:20. It was strange that even though the main girl has tits, she shows them ONLY when she bathes (BLASPHEMY!!). I'm going to make comparisons to Highschool of the Dead, not only because of the similarity of the story's feel, but because they counter each other in so many ways, and in the end, i still like CoE better.

Plot: Cage of Eden blends a good amount of action, adventure, and horror. Comedy and romance are the bench players, chilling out, rooting for the team, and every once in awhile they come out and play. CoE blends these genres very well and there are good timings of romance and comedy. When HSotD characters are surrounded by zombies, their first thought is "Will so&so fuck me if i save her?". HSotD had too much melodrama. It made me think, people are fighting for their lives and your trying to figure out which pair of breasts likes who? Cage of Eden focuses on survival, and only throws comedy/romance in when completely necessary and in times when everything is fine or when it fits. My favorite element of CoE; however, is the horror. When your surrounded by zombies, but there's a military force somewhere, it offers some sanctuary. CoE doesn't excel because it's on an island with tons of extinct monsters, it excels because of several scenes that just tell you, "it's fucking useless, you'll die here".

*Mild Spoiler, but a spoiler nonetheless*
The only signs of salvation CoE every offers, are often shut-down immediately. Settlements of people often go from normal, to insanely dangerous in several chapters. One of the most horrifying moments was very early on, when the protagonists and several other students try to sail to safety. The protagonists are betrayed and kicked off the boat where they return to the island. The others sail to a 10 ft rock, tricked by a mirage that caused them to believe it was an island. They are then eaten by a extinct sea monster. Not that scary?

Spoiler End

CoE isn't BOO horror, it's that creeping horror. It's like watching a slasher flick; everybody knows the killer, but what can you do? CoE gives that feeling, that you can't escape, you'll never be safe, only death is salvation

The story is a blend of plot and character driven arcs, with only one big goal in mind for our protagonists: Survival. There aren't any outstanding characters, but each character has something to offer to the groups overall survival. None are sitting eye candy, they all work, and there isn't a character i feel you can call a waste of space. Arcs are interesting and are filled with mystery. There are some good twists to the plot, which simply add to the terror.

Art: I had a hard time believing the synopsis when i read it. The characters look fragile and Yuyu hakusho-ish, but unlike Yuyu, most people who died weren't highschool girls/boys who were eaten and stomped and brutally murdered. I can best compare it to happy tree friends, characters are simple and very shojo looking, only to get fucking chomped on as a midnight snack. Animals look great and detailed as well as death sequences. I can't tell if the animals that show up are real or not, but the author definitely did his research.

A great series altogether, action is around every corner as well as horrifying deaths or monsters. Not alot of fan service, but fan service is either something you look for or don't care about. I found the amount here is satisfactory without it turning into full on porn. Cage of Eden proves that putting a body and brain behind those tits can still make a series great.

Story: 9
Art: 9
Character: 8
Enjoyment: 10
Overall: 9

Go read it bitches

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