Eden of the East - Movies Discussion Thread

[Haak]

Originally Posted by roriconfan

If we take this statement to extremes then there is nothing valid to write in any review. Everything a review states is subjective, like what you think of the animation or the story. So why not state why the average you give to a series is so much away from the average of the series and then take this to a broader view? Heck, might as well start by saying "my opinion of why this series has a high average is".

If you want to take it to that extreme then there's nothing stopping you but there's no reason to either. In any case why you think a review is meaningless just because it's subjective, I don't entirely understand. I haven't once come across a person that actually take a review as anything more than what a certain person that's slightly more perceptive than the average person, thinks. I, for one, have always assumed that's a given.

But what about the other extreme? Are all reviews objective then? Even though you'll eventually find two that contradict each other? That's logically impossible isn't it?

Originally Posted by idiffer

actually most ppl do exactly what you are argueing against. its called "stereotypes". no scratch that, EVERYONE judges ppl on smth LESS than fact. not in ALL cases of course, but still a big portion of the time. so its nothing to be surprised about..

You're not seriously suggesting that just because lots of people do that, that makes it okay, are you?

[MeoTwister5]

Finally got the time to watch King of Eden. That said, it's not bad but not stellar either. Definitely not as good as most of the episodes even if they have 80 minutes to work with.

One thing that was absolutely exemplary with the series was that most of the time you could cut the suspense and the tension with a knife even without guns blazing background explosions and the like. All you had were 12 people with cellphones, a shitload of money and the command to "Save Japan" or die in the process.

This is the first big problem of the film, where it only manages to capture maybe half of the pacing and suspense that made the series great. For a good third of the movie it's pretty much Saki angsty-ing around the US claiming to be looking for Akira, yet she looks so listless and directionless during most of it. Granted of course she has the right to feel that way, but for the most part it feels like a teenbopper romance subplot rather than part of the entire mystery that is once again unfolding.

On the plus side it finally sheds some light on many of the Selecao. Background of Mononobe was very much appreciated, as well as some general information on the other Selecao that have really yet to make an appearance. The biggest shocker is the info on Hiura. It completely changes for me the probable function of the Supporter and Mr. Outside, and it seems Mononobe doesn't even know about it. That and No.6 is a sick, twisted and completely fucking nuts.

To me, the movie's biggest problem was that given his renewed amnesia, they basically played out episode 2 and 3 again through the whole movie, this time nearing the end of the story. In ways the re-emergence of the romantic amnesiac subplot tends to overpower the overall story,more obvious now at the end where we expect the ball to be rolling down the hill by now. There is so much more going on now with Mononobe, Miss Johnny Cutter, the entire debacle with the Eden program and the unmasking of Ato Saizo. If this movie struck the balance between Saki and Akira's personal relationship with the entire plot of the Noblesse Oblige it would have been great, but no.

In the end it felt like 2 steps forward but 1.5 steps back. The movie's saving grace was actually an excellent cliffhanger.

Spoiler for King of Eden spoilers:

With Mononobe systematically eliminating other Selecao from the game by destroying their Juiz systems in order to win the game and use his status to remake Japan as he sees fit, it's a suspenseful setup to what will likely be a battle of brains and wits between Akira and Mononbe. Between I and IX.

Despite it's flaws, I eagerly await for when Paradise is Lost.

[klare]

watching Eden with their near perfect bg rendering is really enjoying, the movie still provide that

Spoiler for the surprise is:

the Johnny-hunter suddenly become a good person, she suppose to chop them all...

i think King of Eden is ok overall, maybe we have high expectations after an excellent series, looking forward for the final movie

[plau]

The movie was alright. Although I didn't enjoy it as much as I would have liked to. There are still no good versions of the movie around.

[Jan-Poo]

I have to agree with Roricofan, and it pains me to see how a series that started with such wonderful premises with such an interesting plot and original set up would turn out to have a development that can't really be taken seriously.

The disappointment from me comes from the thought of such a good material gone wasted, not for the final product itself. It's a real pity.

I still had some hopes after the tv series ending, because I thought the movie would put the story back on track, but it just confirmed the trend the series was taking and made it even worse.

Now if you never considered the potential this story had to begin with or didn't care because you just watched it for the romance aspect, then this is a very good movie. Unfortunately that isn't the case with me.

[roriconfan]

Originally Posted by roriconfan

Spoiler for tl;dr:

Let’s start by mentioning that this review covers the series and the two following movies. So reading this review is like reading those two as well. They are after all the same story and the producers simply didn’t want to make this a full series for some reason.

So, Eden of the East. Such an amazing work and such a shitload overflow all wrapped up in the same package. It takes talent to be able to win and fail at the same time and indeed the guys who made this knew what they were doing.

For starters the animation gets a nice 10 from me for being so detailed and lively to the point of having nothing bad to say about it. Every background is brimming with details and colors, most of which really look like real locations of today’s urban America and Japan. All the characters’ movements are so smooth and lively most of the time, you really can’t compare them with the average stiff mouth-flapping cardboard of an average anime. All faces are drawn rather simple but have such an amazing liveliness in expressions, you can’t help adoring the characters. Not even the SD moments felt bad! And boy, the artistic touches they gave to the opening and ending themes with all that paperwork is simply stunning. Although not Miyazaki level, the animation is simply the best thing one can expect from tv series up to that point. I salute the work given here.

Sound? The same! 10 again even here. I usually don’t care much about this section but here it was something to praise. The opening song by Oasis is now amongst my favorites and not without a reason. The BMG and the voice acting are both good to hear, without any of the usual things I loath in anime. No ridiculous pinches, no random tunes, no unneeded noise in the background. And the dialogues have decent context when they don’t try to explain the otherwise messy story. I can’t find anything bad here as well.

So far, so good, a perfect mark to both animation and sound. Can it go on like this? … Nah, this is where things start to get ugly.

The story is one of those things that try to impress with a triple aerial flip but end up landing on their head. It felt really amazing at first, with the mystery behind a plethora of elements that webbed a global scale conspiracy concerning total control. And up to the first half of the series, it was also a perfect 10 as well. After that though… it lost all sense and justification. Specifically, when that bitch magically sprouts wings and flies out the window. That never made sense and was never explained. Not only how she did it but also why did she HAD to result to such a costly gimmick and not just open the freaking door and leave like any normal person would do. Up to that point, the series was presented logical, and justified. No magic gizmos and stuff. But after that? It became a random pile of unsupported facts and practically performed a U turn in themes and seriousness. Boy, it was terrible!
I will try to spoil as less as possible but it is needed to explain myself. We learn early on that the lead man did something to himself, all part of a grand masterplan that affects the lives of everyone in Japan… Why did he do it? What on Earth did he accomplished by doing that? I’ll tell you what. Nothing! He did it for no reason at all! It was nothing but a huge hindrance without a single good aspect! Not even that but guess what, he did the exact same thing again at the end of the series! Do you believe that? The exact same thing that did nothing but stomping him! What for??? No sane reason!
If you want me to pinpoint the root of all phail in this series, that would be none else that the use of one of the most overused and terribly executed tropes of all times. Amnesia! Yes, you heard right, loss of memory. I have yet to see a story where amnesia is not a lame excuse to prevent the story from ending right away. Even more, it is always done so conveniently, that it turns any story to a kindergarten level. So guess what, this anime managed to outdone itself by taking the use of such a trope to new lows. It is usually used once in most stories. Here? It is used all the time! As a stupid reset button that cancels all sense of progress and importance of events. Imagine you, busting your balls to get smart or wise or rich. And then for no sane reason, you decide to throw everything away and start from scratch! All supposed to be part of a plan to save lives when in practice none of this happens! It was a dumb thing to do, plain and simple! So, imagine then managing to recover all that you lost after lots of hard work and even knowing you hindered yourself like that. What do you do then? You throw everything away again for no sane reason! Do you believe how stupid this sounds? Well, it sounds epicly stupid if you include to all this, the fact that it is supposed to be a plan though by a genius! If it was a retard, I would understand the phail. But a genius??? And not only that, it also repeats the exact same mistake??? This goes beyond all scales of ridiculous! Thus, I give mark only to the first half of the series, which is like one third of the total duration, as worthy of a mark. The rest is a junkpile of stupidity, unworthy of even standing next to the initial episodes. Man, when will those scriptwriters learn not to use the wrong tropes? Or even when to stop using them instead of building more crap on top of that crap. I am really disappointed.

Onwards to the cast. As far as liking them for what they do or move or talk, I love them. Their lively expression, their vivid movements and naivety from time to time make them simply adorable! Even most of their motives are well presented most of the time… MOST of the time. Because when that tard of a trope called amnesia enters the frame, well, so long personalities! They forget anything they do and even the reason they did it in the first place, while even neglecting to mature or develop after all this shit. The story even has the nerve to end by resetting everything, a trope so terrible that it makes the dvd of this series to be useful only as target practice. So although I liked their personalities, as characters they are nothing of worth as they reset and don’t mature and don’t even think sane most of the time. Just terrible! I give half score to the cast, for being victims of the farce that is the story.

So, does this series has replay or historical value? Well, it sure had a lot more before that terrible use of pukenesia. I still say it is very pleasing to watch with a blank mind as visuals and music are great, while the cast is adorable. I suggest it as yet another easily digested work of fiction but I also make sure to add a huge anathema to it for wasting an otherwise great start… Yes, once again we have an anime which starts great and jerks around more and more as it goes on. Sigh!

Originally Posted by Jan-Poo

I have to agree with Roricofan, and it pains me to see how a series that started with such wonderful premises with such an interesting plot and original set up would turn out to have a development that can't really be taken seriously.

The disappointment from me comes from the thought of such a good material gone wasted, not for the final product itself. It's a real pity.

I still had some hopes after the tv series ending, because I thought the movie would put the story back on track, but it just confirmed the trend the series was taking and made it even worse.

Now if you never considered the potential this story had to begin with or didn't care because you just watched it for the romance aspect, then this is a very good movie. Unfortunately that isn't the case with me.

What romance? The guy preferred amnesia to being with the girl of his dreams.
...Plus, she was useless as a character to begin with.

[Haak]

I'm pretty sure there was some strong UST between the two.

Atleast, I remember getting strong vibes in the series and film.

[roriconfan]

Τhe guy had her eat from the palm of his hand, invited her over to his place, impressed her with his fortune. She was obviously shaking her tail back. What went wrong other than bad storytelling?

[Haak]

Don't know, considering I haven't fully watched the whole of this supposedly bad storyline. Thanks for spoiling it for me though. So far all I can say is that Akira has just been a bit preoccupied.

[mike.]

I just finished watching the first movie, and wow, was that boring. That was just completely awful as a movie, and awful as a continuation of the series. Only one significant thing happened withing the entire 80 minutes of that.

I do not say this as a troll, but as someone who was severely disappointed by this movie. Killed any interest left in the series for me.

[Notebook Darling]

I didn't have any expectations for the movie and I must say that I enjoyed it. It was nice that they didn't rush the plot and it was a great set-up for the second movie.

[BlueDo]

So yeah, I didn't watch the movie until recently.
Had to rewatch some parts of the series to actually understand/remember what's going on.

Also, a few days ago I read some passages from the Catcher in the Rye, and I realized that the Merry-go-Round scene in the movie was completely referencing the book.
It even showed a sign of it at the park!
The golden ring was also talked about. It also reminded me of the part where Saki gave Akira her red hunting hat.

[karumofin]

so whens the last movie coming out?

[Sigu]

Originally Posted by karumofin

so whens the last movie coming out?

DVD of the last movie are going to come out on 8 August in Japan.

[karice67]

Originally Posted by Notebook Darling

I didn't have any expectations for the movie and I must say that I enjoyed it. It was nice that they didn't rush the plot and it was a great set-up for the second movie.

I went in exactly the same way the first time, which is probably why I enjoyed it. Finally got a chance to sit down and watch a subbed version, which helped with a lot of things I'd missed, but...some parts made me wonder if the translator had actually watched the entire movie before starting on the translation... They also seem to have worked on some of the "flat" animation that I remember seeing at the cinema.

I'm still looking forward to seeing Paradise Lost...from the general vibe here, I'm thinking it'll be similar to GITS:SAC in the sense that it deals with political and social issues in Japan that we 'outsiders' might not understand. (Typical of Production I.G. perhaps?) Unfortunately, like Haak, I'm regretting having stepped back into this thread before I got the chance to do so. Keep the spoilers under spoiler tags, please

[Bangirasu]

Movie 2 next week in DVD, isn´t it?

Can´t wait to watch it.

[ViewtifulAlchemist]

Hm, after I completed the original 11 episodes I was banking on the 2 movies to really push things forward and hopefully finish this series off properly with at least a decent bang instead of a whimper. The movie wasn't that bad to me, a setup for the grand finale that is 2nd movie is par for the course.

Most of the time it felt like a recap of earlier episodes.

Spoiler:

Akira has amnesia again let's slowly walk with him on his journey of rediscovery again, yay.

I can see how they rubbed some people off the wrong way.

I forgot how much I loved the animation and backgrounds of this series, really absorbs you into their world. The English dialog was surprisingly decent compared to other Engrish I've heard in other series. Taxi guy had lol'ing when he

Spoiler:

was reacting to Saki's gun.

With the way things went down in the end of the movie, everything should (hopefully) be shifting into high gear for the next movie. It should be worth the wait.

Spoiler:

The whole Akira vs. Mononobe final battle of wits may put Light vs. L to shame, heh

[Francismeunier]

Just finished watching it and it was amazing!

Best part below!

Truly amazing that finally Saki kissed Takizawa! It was a dream come true!
This whole movie is a solid 9/10

Other comments are.......Juiz girls all look like clones almost here and here. Although I did like their high five. Brilliant escape route of Kasuga along with Itazu here. This part was the fatal clue she said to admit that Aya is indeed the mother of Takizawa! After that whatever she said did not get to me because I know she was the one. Does she ever look beautiful too here=>

Spoiler:

Only scene which I cried with Saki. She got to me pretty bad at this part......Why hello there Mr Outside! Finally we get to see much more a better view of your face. Damn he looks old. Such a cute Takizawa this here is and glad they showed him when he was younger. Interesting I liked the different color scheme of Mr. Outside's phone.....especially the color was nice. Finally nice city view! It was splendid.

Guess other things that were nice was how Yuuki shot at Mononobe at the end and he crashed assuming he is dead. Takizawa driving Juiz truck. His message to all that the old should leave the young to work. Mikuru's expression at one point and that slipper slap to Mr. Outside at the end of which I will a GIF of it later on. Also OP is fantastic!

[karice67]

Finally completed it myself, and...I think I'll be blogging about this series for a while (though I'm not quite ready to do so yet).

I have the feeling that...a lot of Western fans are or will be disappointed. The reasons will differ for everyone (e.g. you may have been expecting a more exciting finale with a simple straight answer, it may have been way too unbelievable etc).

Personally, I think the creators said what they wanted to say...and it's up to the (Japanese) viewers to take what they can from it. Other than certain things about Juiz, I felt that Higashi no Eden was actually quite a realistic depiction of what Japanese society is like today, and it's a society that's really different from any other society that I've lived in (or know about because its media is so pervasive, e.g. a number of societies in the US). I don't think their message is really intended for those of us who live outside of Japanese society and the mentality of the Japanese people.

I don't want to go further into this at present, but in response to a couple of things that were discussed/mentioned on the previous page of posts...

Spoiler:

Originally Posted by roriconfan

^ Ok, but I doubt the lead dude was "experimenting" on how to save Japan with his amnesia trick. It was presented as a masterplan he had planned all along to save the country.

Experimenting? Masterplan? The first time he erased it was supposedly because the betrayal from both the people he saved and the people he recruited on Careless Monday was preventing him from moving on in his quest/mission to improve the country. The second time was probably something that Juiz came up with based on his request to become king of the country*. Takizawa never had a masterplan, unless it's his desire to make everyone take responsibility to do what they can and thus change the country.

(*though why the final erasure didn't work even though he managed to erase his memory twice is a bit beyond me...)

As for him giving up on his happiness with Saki. That's Takizawa taking responsibility for doing what he can, because he has the means to do so. Whether he'll be able to achieve what he wants and return to her is another question, but at the very least, in making himself a terrorist, he had chosen to do something that would have endangered her if she'd stayed with him and both of them knew that. Sometimes there are things you have to give up if there is another dream you wish to fulfill, and happiness with the person you love isn't always the dream that people choose to fulfill.

[ZODDGUTS]

What a dull ass movie. I already consider the TV series to be good but wasted potential but this movie ugh, what a complete waste. Can't say I'm looking forward for the final movie.