Summary: >

Takizawa is a guy with some problems. He has no memories. He's buck naked holding nothing but a phone and a pistol in front of the White House. There's also a girl staring at him. Meeting her turns out to be a stroke of luck as she's Japanese and a big help in getting him back to Japan. Takizawa starts to learn some unusual things about this phone he's carrying. The woman on the other end claims to be able to do anything he asks for, and it's connected to a bank account containing billions of yen.

Takizawa learns that he's one of 12 people selected in Japan known as Selecao, who are gifted with 100 Billion yen to change the course of Japan for the better. If the balance reaches 0, the person will die. Having amnesia, Takizawa finds his closest ally is just a normal girl trying to find a job named Saki. Having first met her outside the White house under such odd circumstances, she's more apt to believe his story. Some big questions remain. Who started this game? What can the phone really do? How can anyone make an impact on a nation?

This review covers the 12 part TV series, and the conclusion in two movies.

Thoughts: >

*sigh* I wish I had better things to say about this series. I really do. It's got a lot of fantastic ideas, and a canvas for which a masterpiece could easily emerge. As it started out I would have easily rated this series as good, but it builds up towards an ending that is a huge disappointment, so in the end I could only rate this as average.

The entire setup of the game is a really cool idea, and has a vast amount of potential. It's particularly annoying that the people who made Eden of the East seemed to know that and even hinted at where it could have gone, before basically ignoring those things to concentrate on mediocrity. I wonder if this series wasn't the result of some highly creative brainstorming for conceptual ideas, but all of the inspired people were completely absent when writing the actual story. But even though they don't push concepts anywhere their potential, it's still really darn good.

[+] Some Wasted Opportunities

I was left wanting as far as the characters were concerned as well. Saiki felt like a place holder. I couldn't name any defining attributes of her personality, or anything unique she brings to the show. Takizawa on the other hand has an upbeat cheerful attitude towards everything. That's nice and all but it doesn't seem to have any other side other than that. This is par for the course in Eden of the East. The characters are very likable but lacking substance.

The story starts out is crazy, then settles in to a lull. As it progresses it slowly builds up into something that gets better and better. While I can't elaborate too much on the story, the nature of the game is a cool idea, and fascinating the way it interacts with human nature. I'm not sure I was all that hip on how the the end crisis for the TV series was resolved, but I enjoyed the results. Extrapolating what could happen with a series that still has a lot of material to reveal and so much potential leads you to believe that Eden of the East is going to be one of the anime greats. Instead it crashes and burns in the order of two movies.

Movie I: The King of Eden - I would prefer do reviews for these separately, but this movie makes that impossible because essentially NOTHING HAPPENS. I can't justify a review for a show that can be summed up in about 3 sentences. After the TV series, Takizawa wipes his memories again, and Saki is worried about him but after six months discovers he's alive in New York. She finds Takizawa and the two run around NY, while another Selecao occasionally harasses them. The two then decide to return to Japan. - Filling in the blanks with "stuff happens" isn't that far off. It reiterates some things from the TV series, but new developments are mere slivers. One thing this movie does accomplish is other Selecao start to be removed in a way I can only describe as "cheap". Instead of giving their contribution any meaning, they are simply written off in a way that is incredibly unfulfilling.

Movie II: Paradise Lost - This is another review that would be hard to separate because I can't reveal what has happened up to this point without spoiling the story and thus it's hard to elaborate on where this movie goes wrong. The relationship between Saki and Takizawa doesn't gain any traction here either and had already been adrift for some time by this point. And seriously, you give two people in their 20s a heap of cash, tons of power at their disposal and put them in intense situations all the time... and these two STILL can't hook up? No wonder Japan is having a population crisis. The fact that Saki really doesn't do much of anything in the series AND doesn't get together with Takizawa pretty much invalidates her existence in the series. So annoying! For that matter the exitence of everyone and everything in the series ends up invalidated. Many of the mysteries surrounding the game turn out to be anticlimactic. The story meanders in a few pointless directions, and concludes in a way that is frustrating. I have a hard time believing people who first got interested in this series will enjoy the turns this plot takes by the end.

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With 12 episodes and two movies, it's not the biggest time investment, but I still felt a bit cheated by the finish. Seriously, the ending sucks that bad. I won't tell you to avoid it, because it does have some VERY cool ideas, some likable characters, and is reasonably entertaining. Just be prepared for a disappointment when following Eden of the East to its conclusion.