Review: ‘Eden of the East’

Strange cell phones, secret organizations and 20,000 unemployed Japanese citizens suddenly disappear and a school girl gets pulled into the middle of it when she’s rescued by a nude man suffering from amnesia and brandishing a cell phone in Washington DC. This is how we’re introduced to Eden of the East. Yeah it’s a lot to process, but the journey is well worth it.

Saki Morimi is a college graduate on a trip to the United States when Eden of the East starts. She leaves her fellow graduates in New York to head over to Washington DC to see the White House. It’s not long after her arrival that she gets into some trouble with the police over throwing something and a naked man distracts them, saving her. The man is Akira Tokizawa, or he soon will be. After Akira helps Saki, she gives him her coat and they end up back at his place. He has no idea who he is or where he comes from, but he does find a small apartment filled with weapons and explosives and several passports with many different names. Assuming one identity (Akira) and burning the rest he runs back to Japan with Saki and their adventure begins.

Eden of the East is about a game. A game that has twelve players called Selecao (Selaso). These Selecao are all given special cellphones and 10 billion yen in digital currency. They can spend it any way they see fit, but with the goal of “saving Japan”. Each player can see what the other players are spending their money on, but none of them know who each other are. Akira is a Selecao and his trail of spending is his only link to who he was in the past. The evidence in the USA leads him to believe he’s a terrorist, but he doesn’t quite believe it, or he doesn’t want to.

Saki comes with him when they reach Japan to help him piece his life back together and figure out who he is. That’s where things really start to get weird. He lives in a shopping mall, is obsessed with movies and has a dog with angel wings strapped to it’s back. What’s interesting is how many references to obscure films are made. Obscure French films like “Le Grande Blue” are mentioned and more than once.

What really starts to become clear is that Akira might be responsible for rounding up 20,000 uneducated and unemployed citizens called “NEETS” and killing them all in a missile attack. Is Akira the kind of guy to kill thousands of people based on their cultural status to make Japan a better place? Or did he have other motives? That’s where the mystery is.

The other Selecao all have different motives. Some don’t want to play the game, but rather use the money to better their own lives. Others want to help a very small part of the Japanese community by helping hospitals and the elderly and some want to bring criminals to justice instantly without the law getting in the way.

The way they all go about their plans is rather interesting. Each player has a direct line to “Juiz” a woman who can make anything happen. When I say anything, I mean pretty much anything. You want the prime minister to say something, Juiz can get him to do it. Want some one dead, and Juiz will have a sniper ready in a matter of seconds. It does take a stretch of the imagination in some of the instances, but it also shows the viewer just how powerful the people running the game really are.

The title itself actually refers to a group of characters you don’t meet until about half way through the series. Eden of the East is a group of students who came together to repair old equipment, recycle it and sell it again giving it new value. Many of them are actually NEETS. They developed a piece of software called Eden of the East that will take any picture and identify any person or object in it. It’s very cool stuff and comes in handy about half way through when people start to wonder who Akira really is.

The animation here is extremely clean. The characters all have very unique   but realistic looks, and the scenery is all painted very beautifully. There’s a smattering of CGI for cars and water, as well as large crowds, but it’s all done   with cell shading so it fits the style of the show very well. The audio is great as well. A terrific soundtrack and one of the better opening themes in a long time. The opening credits remind me of a James Bond movie and the end credits are some of the more imaginative I’ve ever seen.

Where the show suffers is that it’s not all wrapped up in the end. There are a few too many loose strings and unexplained occurrences. Some characters just don’t feel like they belong at all, and some are given a little bit too much importance without actually doing anything. It’s likely the show will have a sequel though.

As a TV Show this series has a lot of ambition and a lot of great writing. It’s finale is satisfying but makes you want more. If you’re looking for a good mystery to sink your teeth into filled with missing people, secret organizations and a woman that has an obsession with cutting off peoples “Johnnies” then please check this series out when it hits your shores. 4 out of 5 stars.