As much as I’m tempted to and how much I’d love to, I don’t think I’d be able to blog episode summaries of Eden of the East (EotE), largely due to me being a workaholic. ^^;; Therefore, I’ll settle for some occasional fangirling over this series…
Starting NOW.
**A word of caution:
— This may be a tl;dr and a slightly (but not really) srs bzns sort of post
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First, an overview of Eden of the East:
From Production I.G’s official site:
Story:
November 22, 2010. Monday. Ten missiles hit the territory of Japan. However, this unprecedented terrorist act, later to be known as “Careless Monday” apparently did not cause any victim, and was soon forgotten by almost everyone.Then, 3 months later… Saki Morimi is a young woman currently in the United States of America on her graduation trip. But just when she is in front of the White House, Washington DC, se gets into troubles, and only the unexpected intervention of one of her fellow countrymen saves her day.
However, this man, who introduces himself as Akira Takizawa, is a complete mystery. First of all, he appears to have lost his memory. Secondly, he is stark naked, except for the gun he holds in one hand, and the mobile phone he’s grabbing with the other hand. A phone that is charged with 8,200,000,000 yen in digital cash. Who is Akira Takizawa? What are the secrets behind his extraordinary mobile phone? What got lost with his vanished memory?
Second, a brief explanation of why I’m so excited about this series.
Quoting a part of my first impression after watching episode 1:
(1) It’s Production I.G, so it’s kind of a given that the animation quality would be good. (2) Kenji Kamiyama directing the series – I haven’t seen GitS: SAC yet, but I found Seirei no Moribito totally awesome! (3) Umino Chika did the character design – I absolutely love, love, love Honey and Clover to bits. –> the 3 main reasons why I was eagerly anticipating this series. You could also throw in the fact that Kenji Kawai (who was also responsible for the awesome Moribito OST) is in charge of the music. Been looking forward to this one the most this season, and I wasn’t disappointed at all.
Third, some of my thoughts about the series and speculations on what it could be about (or something like that).
“Hmm. Sounds familiar. Isn’t this a novel or something?” — that was the first thing that I asked when I came across this new series. Then, I remembered there’s a novel called “East of Eden” by John Steinbeck. I’ve never read “East of Eden” and I’m too lazy to read and analyze its storyline at the moment, so I tell you now, I have absolutely no idea what the relation is (if there is any).
Based on word arrangement, I think that Eden of the East means quite differently from “East of Eden.” I see it as more of a distinctive designation, a moniker, rather than a direction. The place itself rather than its location. “So, what’s with the title?” I wondered.
“East of Eden” sounded to me like it’s referring to the place that’s in the east of Eden. Eden of the East, on the other hand, seemed like it’s referring to a certain place that is considered as the “Eden” of the East, where Eden likely means “a place of pristine or abundant natural beauty” and is quite synonymous to “paradise,” and possibly also a reference to the Garden of Eden. The “East” in this context probably means “regions having a culture derived from ancient non-European especially Asian areas,” and could be indicating Japan (or maybe a new place?) is the Eden of the East, like it’s a place that is considered as a paradise in Asia, or something to that effect (reminds me of a slight confusion I initially had years ago regarding the film title Good Will Hunting… xD) Am I interpreting it too literally? Probably, probably not.
I know the apple is related because of the Eden part of the title, but I still wonder if the apple would have any significance in the story (they used it in their promo stuff too). Maybe it’s merely a symbol. Could the 4-leaf clover in the poster mean anything as well? I guess I just have to keep watching to find out (and gladly will I do that).
On another note, I loved the words and phrases written throughout the really cool OP sequence. I thought the verses looked like some kind of prayer or poem. The last part of the text sort of reminded me a little of the gist of Psalm 23. There were also a couple of lines related to the abuse of power, one of which is from Act 2, Scene 1 of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar [The abuse of greatness is when it disjoins remorse from power].
I tried to take screenshots to try and figure out what it says, but alas, my limited skills(?) are no match for the quick frames. ^^;; I tried to Google some of the text that I managed to make out, but I couldn’t find any exact hits. Save for the line from Shakespeare and the terms from the episode, I guess the rest of the verse is a series original (is it?). Luckily, I found a pretty detailed breakdown of the OP sequence and the verse, so we can have a better idea of what it’s trying to say… It starts off with [Careless Monday], then goes:
I saw you in Heaven and heard of your glory
You saved our world from the fallen angels
I saw Messiah standing,
Standing before me with no words
Nothing but “Hope”
When we lost dread, a Demon was laughing
But now you are showing us wonder
Giving your love
With awe, down on my knees again
I’ve got to know you’re the one,
The only one reveals the world[The abuse of greatness is when it disjoins remorse from power]
[Noblesse oblige]The King has come!
To lighten up our feet
The King has come!
With justice till the end
The King has come!
To save us from the dark
Who could ever doubt? We have faith[Selecao system, 12 persons selected in Japan]
[Juiz]
[The abuse of greatness is when it disjoins remorse from power]
[Game]
[Mr.Outside]Let me walk with you when I’m lost in the wild
I know you always lead me to another Eden
Let me bless your name, O Lord, O Lord!
Your words will never fade away
Since we believe you’re the light on earth
Reveals the world
–> It definitely adds to the mysterious air of the plot, no?
It’s really rare that I’d even bother thinking quite seriously about an anime series’ storyline and events (the last one was when I religiously watched and babbled about Darker than Black and a bit on Shion no Ou). Hopefully, all the babbling I just did in this post made some sense. xD
An interesting story with engaging characters, possibly a hint of romance, and quite a big mystery that I’m eager to learn about. I’d definitely be following EotE every week and anticipating the theatrical film release after all the episodes are done. ^_^
/turns brain off; back to “chill out” mode
~ So, what about you? Any thoughts on this series?
You should watch GitS:SAC whenever you can. It also has the best stand-alone episodes in any anime I’ve watched. Not much to say about EotE yet, because I’m still enjoying the ride.
Sad… I’m too impatient to wait a week for a series… I’ll probably forget and find it again in a few months, and of ‘course, watch all the episodes I missed, and move on… soooo bored. (L\/L)
@ schneider: Thanks! I’ll try and watch it when I find the time for a marathon.
@Kelith: I do that sometimes too. I keep a list of “plan to watch” mostly for series that I think would be better seen in one sitting. Such a list helps me to easily pick a title to watch when I have nothing to do.
I just liked the fact that it was an Oasis song in the opening sequence. This makes then the second (after Radiohead’s Paranoid Android which provided the closing sequence to Ergo Proxy) major English band to do an anime.
As for the show itself. It looks good so far. Only three episodes in, so I’m going to reserve judgement until a later date.
@ Mark: Cool! Haven’t seen Ergo Proxy, so the Radiohead ED is news to me. EotE is indeed doing well so far, and we’re getting bits and pieces of answers as the mystery unfolds.
I have being seeing this series for 7 episode and is one of the best of the new era on anime (2001 century) I Really recomend it and obviously the plot is love and the action is mystery
@ Eliezer-twin: Glad to hear you’re enjoying EotE. ^^
If you look closely, “remorse” should read “remorese.” However, for someone from the production staff who can find his or her way through Shakespeare to that quote from Julius Caesar and use it correctly suggests in my mind that this spelling error is no accident.
This is after the ending of episode 11, before the release of the movies…
I have to say that as an otaku who watches countless series, this one will stay with me forever more. It’s short, but sweet, just as some other really good series. It has already inspired art from several top artists in Japan (pop art as well). Even if it has some perverted scenes (more for girls than boys like me), it’s all creative and not considered fanservice. I like that.
Now, for some bonus stuff, the prose in the opening is from the insert song, of which I can’t find the artist. It is played on the radio in episode 1 and played as the background in episode 11. Also, I noticed this myself, but just after 40 seconds into the opening, the selecao logos with the numbers come up. A bunch of lines appear in split-second intervals to connect the logos to each other. Some logos even disappear… and the events of the series so far have been related to these lines/disappearances…! The lines connected the members who got in touch somehow and the disappearances are those who were taken out of the game…
I don’t know why, but some numbers are also missing… >.>;;;
But yes. I recommend anyone who has or hasn’t felt the need of a new series to get into this one. It won’t take long (save for the two movies not released yet) and it will still capture your heart and attention. ^^
@ Juno: Thanks a lot for the bonus info! I really appreciate how much effort the staff did to add those bits of details to the OP sequence. I haven’t gotten around to finishing this series yet, so I’d be on the lookout for the stuff you mentioned when I finally find the time to catch up. ^^
a lot of good info on here.
and for the quotes that were in the OP, like “the king has come!”
those are lyrics, from one of the songs in the OST…
I’m not aware of the name of the song at the moment though ^-^;;
It plays in the last episode though. when Takizawa is standing on the merry-go-round conveniently pointing at missiles and saying “bang!”
I wasn’t really paying attention to the music but I caught a couple of the phrases and looked back at the quotes.
My overall (personal) rating of this series would be a nice 4.5 out of 5.
The ending didn’t make much sense to me, but hey.. (SPOILER)
he became a prince right? what’s not bad ass about this.
@ alex: Thanks for pointing those out! I’ll pay attention to it when I get to those episodes. I actually haven’t finished watching this series yet, since I kinda got stuck on ep 5. ^^;; I better get a move on and catch up!
Very INTERESTING so far…this deeper than skin series has me thinking, which is quite cool:)
As a person with Jewish roots, the Messianic symbolism and portraits in the songs and all are quite intrigueing. As a music fan..I LOVED the songs and enjoyed the gospelly rendition in the taxi cab in episode one.
WOW…I would totally enjoy a converstion with the series creators over a cup of coffee..(or since they’re Japanese, tea maybe?:)
A LOT of thought and “love put into this…some deep thinkers here….I’m liking that.
Thanks for the chance to comment.
Final thought: Prince+’sPrince of peace/Messiah in the bible
Someone’s been studying Western lit. and the bible perhaps!
You need to finish the series if you haven’t already.
I thought it was extremely profound, and points to the notion that salvation lies within. That standing by and waiting for someone else to change society, as the NEET’s do both in the series and in real life, is a waste of our abilities and an abdication of our responsibilities as thinking, feeling, capable human beings.
The real noblesse oblige that the series keeps talking about isn’t that of the selecao, or even of those in government or other positions of political or economic power.
It’s our obligation to our own privileges that we forget, those of intelligence, compassion, creativity, and social participation.
The world isn’t made by saviors but by individuals, and when individuals refuse to participate in the world, they have no one to blame but themselves.
That’s why the Oasis song was chosen for the opening. Pay attention to the last verse.
The whole series is absolutely beautiful thematically. It’s a call to arms for everyone who’s ever felt helpless or alone.