Eden of the East: The Complete Series

Title	Eden of the East: The Complete Series
Director	Mike McFarland
Actors	Jason Liebrecht, Leah Clark
Release date	2010-10-19
Theatrical release date
List price	$54.98
ASIN	B003SPDS8K
Genre
Manufacturer	Funimation
Running time	275minutes
Studio	Funimation
Purchase	Buy it now!

Share

In the series, twelve men and women were chosen by the mysterious Mr. Outside to save Japan with 10 billion dollars and access to a Juiz, a phone operator with a seemingly endless ability to accomplish tasks (for a price). For the twelve seleção, saving Japan means different things; while one increases a hospital’s ability to heal, another launches missiles in what turns out to be a casualty-free attack known as “Careless Monday.”

Saki, a student whose life is stalling out, happens across a seleção, naked and without any memories, in Washington D.C. This is Akira Takizawa. The two are drawn to each other, and together they go head-to-head against the other eleven in an attempt to save the people of Japan. The series ended with Takizawa asking Juliz to make him the King of Japan, and her pleasant, feminine voice responding, as she always does, “Your wish is granted. Nobless oblige, I pray for your continuing success as savior.”

As the film opens, Saki is in New York, this time on the hunt for Takizawa, who has vanished since the day he wished to be king. As with the beginning of the series, disaster befalls her when her purse goes missing due to a prank played by another seleção. In Japan, Takizawa has gained notoriety as the “Air King” who stopped another bigger and potentially deadly “Careless Monday” attack. Meanwhile, the Eden of the East gang has experienced some success with their all-knowing program and has moved into bigger offices. They act as Saki’s support in her mission to find Takizawa.

When she does happen upon the Air King himself, his memories, as with the beginning of the series, are gone. Between his notoriety, self-made amnesia, and the interference of morally bankrupt seleção (not to mention the surprising help of one previously moral bankrupt seleção - Shiratori, the fan-favorite serial killer who cuts off the penises of rapists and womanizers). The seleção in this film not only include Shiratori and the handful we met in the series who were the perpetrators of “Careless Monday” (and on a new mission to bring chaos to Japan), but Naomoto, a seleção determined to make the ideal film by interfering with Takizawa.

It is the group after Mr. Outside and the individual Juiz AI that provide the bulk of the action for this film, which, in all honesty, isn’t much. For the most part, the film acts as a set-up for the next film, “Paradise Lost.” While seleção number one moves his chess pieces into place and is foiled, largely by luck, by Shiratori and the Eden group, we spend much of the film watching Takizawa and Saki reconnect amongst the filmmaker’s bumbling efforts to throw action and intrigue into their lives.

The film’s parallel to the series in the opening setup will make fans smile with a bit of nostalgia (the series’ opening is one of the funnier moments in recent anime). While the cheekiness from the series carries over in the film, the level of satisfaction from the action and mystery do not. It is a more subdued addition to the franchise, and some fans may turn away from the series in frustration from traversing the same ground over and over again. The success of the franchise will largely depend on “Paradise Lost” and its ability to fulfill the setup from “King of Eden.” Thankfully the art, which is almost sweet in the portrayal of characters like Saki and precise in the recreation of locations (like New York), loses nothing in translation from series to film.

This two-disc set carries a list price of $34.98 (for the DVD/Blu-Ray combo pack). Bonus features include a re-hash of episodes with character comments (a king of guide to the show), Japanese trailer for the show and movie as well as Japanese TV spots.