Eden Of The East - DVD Review

"Eden Of The East" perceives its anime roots with a more grown-up perspective of technology, social media activism and the changing face of terrorism as a method for functional and repetitive human behavior. Using both interesting plot devices and a splash of humor along with a modern vision, it creates an interesting balance of the burgeoning youth of today.Disc 1 The progression of neo-terrorism stories that balance what might have been a new world order become more prolific when creatives search for a standard of life against what may be seen as an invisible foe. What is interesting in the idea of "Eden Of The East" is the notion that a society (or its backers as a whole) have run out of ideas and simply think that a complete new way of thinking is required to make a clean break possible. The story here follows a young man who becomes "aware" as he is naked in front of the White House. Through a series of coincidences including a girl from Tokyo throwing a quarter on the lawn at the same time, he comes to see that there is more to his life than he perceives. Taking it rather nonchalantly, he makes his way with her back to Tokyo where a second missile attack has unnerved the country. Once on the ground with the use of a phone given to him, he realizes that he is part of a collective of Selecao which are "chosen people" given unlimited ability to make things happen with the intent of bridging society for some unforseen means. People can be made to say things or killed in an instant. Different Selecao are kept appraised of each other's purchases. While the girl (Saki) that he comes back with pines over her brother-in-law who she is in love with, our hero thinks that the best way to bring the people together is trusting his instincts. He signs on with a technology group which the girl belongs to and gives them means by which to make a new scan app within phones a reality. The paradox is that he erased his memory for a reason and the reasoning of that is not made known. While the Japanese and subtitles are how the series was originally made, the actual written thoughts seem a little too structured whereas the dub is alot more effective with its use of modern slang to appeal to the younger demographic but also give a broader sense of conversationalism. Disc 2 Playing the mysteries within a new structure, our hero Takizawa begins to understand the structure of who he has become. There are a series of misdirects, specifically in the aspect of the Johnny serial killer, though the inclusion of a mythological perspective in terms of winged death seems a little too premature. The idea of what happened to 20,000 hackers makes a little more sense after Saki and Micchon introduce the would-be savior to "Underpants" who has been working to figure out the conspiracy. This draws out the behind-the-scenes culprits whom Takizawa specifically erased his memory to protect himself from. He saved many people from harm in the previous missile attacks but he must find a different way to keep the peace. The resolution, though cinematic, plays to more a wishful thinking perspective. The reveal of the personage of Juiz simply leads to more questions as the King Of The East becomes reality. Again the English translation plays much more conversational while the Japanese version adheres more to plot structure.In terms of extras, there are two 20 minute long interview pieces with both the director and the character designer (who chose not to be seen on camera) as well as the Japanese voice actors who play the two leads. The reality is that the questions are not focused enough to give a true feeling of the work involved. The character designs as discussed by Umino define a character portrait but not necessarily internal psychological structure. The TV and promo spots play the notion of terrorist and savior within an interesting context but don't bring the interpersonal structure of the team into play. The ending credits sequence (which is also included without credits) is neat simply for its new use of cut-out animation using black and white structure. In terms of new trailers, "Corpse Princess" seems to have its tone down to an art while "Casshern Sins" highlights a more streamlined anime but with a lack of narrative allusion."Eden Of The East" goes far to address a continuing predilection in the Eastern World in regards to the impression of fear and neo-terrorism to bring about a new way of thinking. In ruminating out loud with an artist of Kamiyama's range who approached the notion of spy politics with "Ghost In The Shell" attacks a new subject with visual flair and relateable characters but also with an inherent lack of technological variance. Out of 5, I give it a 2 1/2.