Eden of the East (Review)

Eden of the East Asks the Big Questions like “Wait, Who am I? Where is This Series Going?”

The short-lived anime Eden of the East, written and directed by Kenji Kamiyama (who also worked on the Ghost in the Shell television series), presents an intelligent premise, but it rushes to fit all of its ideas into its 11-episode arc.

Despite fluid animation and a well-meaning script, the series feels a little off-balance at times, as though it’s unsure of what audience it’s trying to reach. Perhaps if it had more time to develop its thoughts and explore more of the world created within its story, then it would be on par with Kamiyama’s previous work. But while it might not be as good as the Ghost in the Shell series, this is a high bar to set for any series, and on its own Eden of the East is a unique anime that stands separate from the pack.

The anime starts, as all great stories do, with a naked man waving a gun and cell phone in the streets of Washington, D.C. We soon discover that this seemingly crazy man, Akira Takizawa (voiced by Jason Liebrecht), has somehow been stripped of all his memories. What’s even more interesting is that his cell phone is connected to an account with more than 8 billion yen in it and a concierge, Juliz (voiced by Stephanie Young), who is able to make any possible request he has a reality (including making the Prime Minister of Japan say “Uncle” on national television).

Apparently, he is one of a select few Japanese men given these phones with access to Juliz and 10 billion yen and given the orders that they are to change the country. The one who does will be spared, while the others will be killed. So, Akira teams up with tourist Saki Morimi (voiced by Leah Clark) to try to figure out who he is and how he can stay alive.

In a pleasant twist, the protagonist, Akira, is a film buff who for some reason can remember dozens of films, but not his real name. One can’t help but smile when he postulates, “maybe I’m more of a Jason Bourne than a Travis Bickle.” However, this character quirk was not used nearly as much as it should have been. It felt almost as though this one defining characteristic was abandoned three episodes into the short-lived series, which is a shame since when you have a character with amnesia, presenting him as an absolute can be difficult to create an audience connection.

This anime paints Akira as an optimist who smiles and walks through life with a unique boyish charm. Perhaps it’s really the voice work of Liebrecht, though, that pulls everything together. After all, the dialogue can be a bit dry, especially toward the beginning of the series when the audience is constantly and painfully reminded that the character suffers from memory loss.

With subplots galore, the end of this show seems to sneak up on the viewer. While its questions about terrorism, group dynamics and the power of social networking reign especially true in this time (the anime was created in 2009), it feels like it was sticking its fingers in far too many soups and, in the end, the series lost focus. If it had more time to explore as much as it seemed like it wanted to, Eden of the East might have been able to make a bigger impression. Still, the show does offer a unique change of pace and, in a way, is vaguely reminiscent of anime like Death Note, especially with how much it relies on its cerebral content over high-octane action sequences. However, it might have been more effective if it had gone deeper rather then spreading itself so thin.

The anime might leave audiences with a lot of unanswered questions, but it certainly has its charm. The voice acting is well done, and, while it does have certain elements of romance between the main characters, the series keeps the subplot from overpowering its focus. The most outstanding feature of this series, though, is the fact that it is very different from most anime out there. It’s just a shame that a change of pace can’t make Eden of the East compelling enough to be truly great. Like its muddled themes, it simply moves vertically away from the rest of the anime out there.