Eden of The East

 

Preface:

 

Since this is going to my first actual review on this site, I thought I should start off with a banger of a show like Code Geass or FMA Brotherhood. But, I decided on Eden of The East because this was the most recent show that I saw. There will probably be some hiccups along the way but please bear with me as I am a noob trying to put down his review while his memory is still fresh. 

Please note that this review will not include the 2 sequel movies.

 

Basic Info

11 episodes

Made by Production I.G

Genre(s): Drama, Action, Romance, Sci-Fi, Mystery

Plot (Spoiler Alert!)

Basically, the plot is about uncovering the past of our MC Takizawa-kun who seemed to have erased his own memory. There are a lot of mysteries to go over about this dude such as; who is he, why did he end up naked in front of the White House, how in the world did he get his hands on a flip phone containing a 100 million dollars and a AI system that’s way more advanced than Siri or Alexa in 2006 etc.  To answer some of the questions above, he is a “Selecao” which is the name given to players of a game where the objective is to save Japan by leading it in a better direction whether it be by killing off worthless dudes on the street, building a hospital for the growing elderly population or just YEETing the entire country by blowing it all up with missiles. They are given sufficient funds and they can use it freely by ordering a AI system. They can make just about anything you can think of from purchasing gums to making the prime minister of the country say whatever you want.Our MC must face these crazy players and try to come up with some plans of his own as the losers will be “eliminated”. There are some romantic elements and political shenanigans thrown in there but the fast pacing of the story keeps you on your toes and the cliffhanger endings of each episode gets you coming back. If you’re still on the fence, I suggest you give it about until episode 4 since that’s where the action of the game really begins.

Characters

The introduction to the MCs was very weird. We first see them acting like they lack any sort of common sense. The cute Japanese girl with the unnatural hair color, Saki is just throwing coins into the White House in front of officers because she thought this wasn’t shady at all and that making a wish to the fountain in the White House was going to change something, and for the other... well, her “prince” just casually shows up naked with a pistol in his hand. Even though I could not understand what was going on,  this impact was just enough to get me interested in the characters and made me want to stick around to learn more. I think I got my time’s worth since at least one of them turned out to have depth. Saki was looking very interesting at the start with her various worries about life after graduation, working in society, a feeling of being a burden to her family and a forbidden love that would never come true. However, instead of really dealing with any of those, she just latches onto Takizawa just because he was an interesting guy that showed up at important times. But who could blame her, even with his memory gone, his cheerful personality, knowledge about movies and a mysterious past are traits that anyone would be attracted to. I could’ve never imagined a naked guy being a savior of a country, but he manages to pull it off. Their interactions were very cute and my shipping radar was ringing non-stop. 

The supporting cast are all interesting in their own ways. The NEETs in the Eden of The East are all very capable and independent characters except for one fella named Oosugi. You got your teenage Larry Page(inventing a useful search engine as a university graduate), a tech savvy Tsundere loli, a Hikkikomori hacker with a surname that can conveniently be read as “Pants” to describe how he doesn’t have any pants on etc. But all jokes aside, they all have their unique spice to them while still being believable and charming at the same time. The antagonists are all very unique with different values that our main crew has to tackle. Even though some of them are just straight up crazy or scummy, you can’t completely deny their way of living and their ideas to change the country for the better. I am not sure if anyone in their right minds would give 100 million dollars to a female murderer chopping off people’s “Johnnys”, but thanks to that, we get to see different perspectives on Japanese society and ideologies which makes the show interesting from beginning to end.

Unique characters overall and I really enjoyed watching their stories play out.

Review

This was a show that I watched when I was searching for a solid romance story. The art style looked familiar (same artist from shows like March comes in like a lion and honey and clover) and the plot summary looked interesting so I gave it a shot. I wasn’t sure if it was because I was procrastinating on my assignments, but it was pretty good that I consumed the entire season in one sitting. I wouldn’t say this is a  romance show but it is more like a human drama story. It is a face paced 11 episode show but it didn’t feel like it was rushed. I really liked the characters and the constant spending of big bucks was really thrilling. While the ending may be abrupt, it was a really solid show. Watching this Anime really made me think about my place in society and what I could be doing. If you have time and are looking for drama with cute designs, I would definitely recommend it.

Enjoyment level: 4/5 -It got me hooked real fast and I marathoned it without trouble.

Overall score: 8/10 -A solid watch if you are into drama and mystery.