Series Synopsis
Saki Morimi (voiced by Saori Hayami) is visiting Washington D.C. over her college graduation trip. She
makes a stop at the White House and because of a misunderstanding is approached
by the police. Before getting into trouble, a naked man (voiced by RyoheiKimura), carrying only a cell phone and a handgun, starts making a scene.
The man is able to lose the
cops and Saki gives him her coat as thanks for the intervention. The two separate
but Saki quickly realizes that her wallet and passport were in her coat pocket
and she runs after the man, who along with not having
clothes has no memory of who he is.
In an attempt to get any sort of clue about his identity, he makes a call on his highly advanced phone. The person who picks up introduces herself as Juiz (voiced by Sakiko Tamagawa) and tells him where he's staying and three strange pieces of information.
In an attempt to get any sort of clue about his identity, he makes a call on his highly advanced phone. The person who picks up introduces herself as Juiz (voiced by Sakiko Tamagawa) and tells him where he's staying and three strange pieces of information.
First, the man need only call
Juiz and she can make anything happen. Second, the man’s memory loss was a
result of his own doing. And third, he still has 8.2 billion yen (roughly $70
million US) in digital money left to spend.
Arriving at the location given
by Juiz, the man discovers a small hoard of guns and many different passports; he settles on a Japanese identity, Akira Takizawa. It is at this moment
that Saki manages to catch up with him.
Akira manages to convince
Saki to let him join her on the plane back to Japan. The past few hours may
have been strange, but what comes next almost defies imagination.
At the airport, a news bulletin
comes on saying that Tokyo had been hit with a missile attack. Saki is stunned
and speechless that something like this could happen…again. A year earlier, ten
missiles struck Tokyo on a single day. However there were no victims and thus whole
event, dubbed Careless Monday, sort of drifted into obscurity.
Regardless, Akira and Saki
are now on a mission to discover who Akira is as well as the true purpose of
the mysterious organization known as Selecao.
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| Saki |
Series Positives
I got a little excited to
watch this show solely because of its premises; strange events, mystery, conspiracy,
what’s not to look forward to. Having now seen it, I’ve got say…I'm quite disappointed.
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| Akira |
Constant Intrigue
If there was one positive I
had to say about this series, it would be that it never gets to the point where
you stop caring about what’s going on.
I’m talking about the big
questions, mainly what the hell is Selecao and what does it want to do? Don’t
expect to get these answers in this series. I hope that they will be
revealed in the two, yes two, movies that followed this show.
Despite me not liking Eden of the East, I am compelled to take
a look at these films. That may not be the most stellar of highlights a show
could have, but it’s still a highlight none the less.
The story is all over the
place and makes no sense, the characters aren’t that compelling, and the
answers we do manage to get are underwhelming at best. With all that being the
case, Eden of the East does have
enough to it to keep you around. Granted it’s not because of a need to know
desire, but more of an “I’ve come this far” mentality.
Series Negatives
The first thing I want to say
is to the person who though this was a good idea. While it is true that a
person’s Johnny is indeed a reference to a penis, it isn’t as common as you
think it is and defiantly not as common as this show makes it out to be. I
heard this phrase be used more times in this series than I have in the past ten
years combined.
I just had to get that out of
the way.
Oh...and more thing before
going into more details. Whatever sense of threat or seriousness Eden of the East wanted to create, it’s
all undone by the surprising amount of anime bull s@#$ present. It wasn’t
needed, it wasn’t called for, and it was completely misused.
The Characters
Akira is way too easy going
despite his circumstances, Saki serves no function, and everyone else is f@#$ing
boring. That sums up the characters of Eden
of the East.
Akira, holy s@#$, for a guy
who woke up butt naked with no memories, and not to mention in possession with some
rather damning evidence of him being a potential terrorist, he’s pretty okay
with the situation. This isn’t as if it started raining and you forgot your
umbrella or some other minor inconvenience, its f@#$ing problem; show a little
more concern.
In fact I can say that about
every character in this show. I don’t believe for a second that anyone fully
understood that there were literally thousands of people’s lives at stake should they
fail. Actually this series gives me a much better example.
Saki and her group get strong
justification to believe that one of their friends was captured by the serial
killer known as the Johnny Hunter. So that we're clear on the gravity of the
situation, because no one else seems to be, the Johnny Hunter’s victims die from blood loss after having their
penis cut off. To Saki and the rest its no big deal right. NO! It’s a big f@#$ing deal, your bro’s about to have his dick lopped off; a little hustle would be appreciated.
Moving on, and since I did
mention her, what's Saki doing here? I honestly have no idea; she doesn’t do
anything. Her sole function appears to be serving as the romantic interest of
Akira; why? Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for a love sub plot, but the show does
nothing with it.
All of the events are out of
her control, she isn’t critical to anything getting done, she doesn’t even screw
anything up, she’s just there for ride; and she’s the lead female character. I’m
not even going to mention anyone else because they do even less then her.
If this is the alternative to having an annoying cast, I guess I would rather have this. But this is a damn mystery
series. It doesn’t matter how good the mystery is, if it isn’t happening to people
we give a crap about there’s nothing to latch onto.The Story
Things happen and the heroes
save the day. How you ask? Well like if was for Saki, I don’t know.
The entire lead up to the
show’s climax is nothing but questions. As I said, none the big ones are
answered, but some of the smaller ones, such who Akira is and why he wiped his
memory, are…technically. There not good answers and
they certainly don’t justify the amount of build up to them. Then there's how the show’s climax is resolved.
I’m going to spoil what happens
for two reasons. First, I'm giving nothing away; literally nothing. Second, if you do watch this
show, you may catch something I missed.
A bunch of naked guys use a
phone app to target incoming missiles so the military can shoot them down. How
it got to that point, I have no f@#$ing idea.
The phone app by the way is that thing that, you known, gives this series its title. It has nothing to do with the bigger picture and
it feels like it was meant to belong to another show and was shoehorned into
this one.
This was a f@#$ing mess.
Final Thoughts
I’m not going to recommend
this show, but I am going to watch the movies.
The characters are not engaging,
the story is twisted to no end, and it all boils down to a waste of a
potentially good idea; an idea that may blossom in the films.
With all the things Eden of the East fails at doing, it does
manage to create and maintain a long lasting mystery. I do want to know what
happens and what is really going on. However if the rest is just like this
show, I’m having trouble seeing how it's going to be worth it in the end.
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