Shelf Life

Eden of the East

I was just getting ready start college when Eden of the East was released back in 2009, and at the time it blew me away. The series' initial 11-episode run was one of the most tightly paced and intriguing mystery/thrillers I'd seen in a long time, and when I got to the cliffhanger ending I was dying to know how everything played out. Starting a new life at university ended up being a little more challenging than I'd imagined, though (surprise surprise). Time, work, and a college student's budget prevented me from catching up with Eden of the East's two finale movies, King of Eden and Paradise Lost, at the time of their release. Now that Funimation has repackaged both the series and its films into a gorgeous, limited edition collector's set, though, I finally had the chance to play catch-up. Was it worth the wait?

I'll start by saying that the first eleven episodes of Eden of the East remain as excellent as they ever were. The story follows the mysterious amnesiac Akira Takizawa, who has been gifted 10 billion yen and a nearly all-powerful concierge named Juiz. His mission is to use his newfound wealth and resources to “save Japan”. Eleven others have all been roped into the same game, and each of these “Seleção” have different ideas on how to save their country from its current cultural and political woes, and whoever is deemed a failure will be “eliminated”. Some use their money to save lives, while others fund acts of terrorism and political manipulation. When a young college graduate named Saki gets caught up in Akira's crazy world, she finds herself wondering if this charming young man is one of the good guys, or if he's the kind of man who's willing to do whatever it takes to win the game.

Even after all of these years, few anime have had as confident and solid a run as Eden of the East managed in 2009. The show has since proved a little divisive, given the slow-burn nature of the plot and its willingness to lead viewers on while providing little in the way of answers. For me, though, Eden of the East is brilliant. Its two protagonists are likable and engaging, and they share the kind of easy-going romantic chemistry that so many stories try and fail to force down viewer's throats. While the Seleção plot is indeed an obtuse one, I really enjoy how the series can gradually deliver answers in a way that feels measured and deliberate. There's not a lot of action going on in Eden of the East, but it produces a cat-and-mouse suspense that works just as well any showy fight scenes might.

The series owes quite a debt to Western thrillers and spy movies, and it's no coincidence that Akira name-drops Jason Bourne in the first few minutes of the first episode. Still, the thematic concerns of Eden of the East are one hundred percent unique to Japan and the country's cultural and political concerns. It recognizes the many problems Japan faces, with an increasingly aging social elite and a generation of disenfranchised youth feeling like they have no agency in the society they're breaking their backs to support. The fact that Eden of the East can actually address these issues with a little intelligence while also working as really fun science-fiction thriller is a testament to its quality.

Funimation also did an excellent job with the dub. Jason Liebrecht and Leah Clark are wonderful together as Akira and Saki, and the supporting characters all turn in great performances too. The script is funny and easygoing in a way that pairs perfectly with the show's more Western sensibilities, and the liberties it takes with translation here and there are fair and respectful to the source material. The one quibble I have with it is its overreliance on the word “Johnny”. A surprising amount of the plot is devoted to situations revolving around men's…more sensitive areas, and the script defaults to “Johnny” as slang for it. It's featured so heavily in the dub that it seems almost like a weird in-joke, and it's the only thing that threatens to detract from an otherwise excellent dub.

The series' biggest problem really lies in the fact that it is in and of itself not a complete story. The show ends with a thrilling, yet completely inconclusive, cliffhanger. Would the two films give Eden of the East the sendoff they deserve? Now, seven years after the series has concluded, I can tell you that the answer to that question is yes. Mostly. Kind of?

King of Eden and Paradise Lost are both much better than you might have heard, yet they're still the weak link in the show's story overall. A big problem is the fact that King of Eden literally does not function as a solo film; it answers few of the series' original questions while raising a whole lot of new ones, and it ends on yet another cliffhanger that resolves nothing. Back in 2010 this would have rightly been seen as a huge letdown. In 2016, however, one can easily just pretend that King of Eden and Paradise Lost are the collective second season of the show, and watch it all in one go. Coming at it like that, the story these two movies tell is much more satisfying, if not entirely up to the expectations set by the series that preceded it. A lot of subplots get rushed out of the door, and quite a few characters are given very short shrift development wise. The conclusion to everything is definitely an open-ended one, and after so much buildup and teasing I can see how it can come across as a letdown.

Still, the ultimate conclusion is ambiguous in a way that is true to the themes that Eden of the East has been trading in from the very start. A good comparison would be the recently released Terror in Resonance, but while that show was a righteously angry manifesto, Eden of the East is more a cautiously optimistic parable. It isn't necessarily out to provide all of the answers; it's trying to ask the right questions to an audience it hopes will listen. It may not be for everyone, but for me the series' strengths and ambitions vastly outweigh its flaws.

While the quality of the films may be up for debate, one thing that is very difficult to argue is that Funimation has put together an absolutely exquisite set for this release. Not only does it package together the series and its films, it includes all of the extra features those original sets included. We're talking production interviews, cast commentary, and more. In addition to all of the original features, the discs are all packaged in a premium box and paired with some physical goodies as well. There are posters, stickers, a certificate of authenticity, and even a little papercraft of the show's mascot dog, Angel. The Blu-Ray transfer is pitch perfect for the most part, though the high resolution does occasionally spotlight some of the animation shortcomings in the show and films.

Honestly, this is one of the best anime box sets I've seen in years. For about eighty dollars you get an amazing series and two pretty good movies to follow it up, all wrapped up in a gorgeous package loaded with hours of bonus material. This is a limited edition set, too, so once it's gone, it's gone. If you're a fan of the series, or you just appreciate good anime in general, you should really consider picking this up.
-James[TOP]