class=”alignleft size-medium wp-image-57500″ title=”eden of the east” src=”https://www.heyuguys.com/images/2010/11/eden-of-the-east-228×300.jpg” alt=”” width=”184″ height=”242″ />Screened at the closing of this year’s London Sci-Fi Oktoberfest, Eden of the East was premiered in the UK in a themed anime showcase. As the entire series will be released on DVD and Blu-ray on the 29th of November, I thought that it would be a good opportunity to review one of my favourite television shows to be released this year.
Based on the original story by Kenji Kamiyama, the series takes place a few months from now where Saki Morimi (Saori Hayami) is on a trip to America and bumps into a naked Akira Takizawa (Ryohei Kimura) with no memory of who he is. Shortly after, Akira finds a photograph, numerous passports and a mobile phone with eight billion yen in his supposed apartment and decides to travel back with Saki to Japan.
When they both return to Japan, they both continue to see each other while Akira learns that he is part of a mysterious game set up by Mr. Outside, with the goal being able to change the world into a better place and competing with eleven other competitors. Despite the fact that the series has only eleven episodes, the story never bored me and managed to mix a number of different themes and emotions that worked really well.
Even though Akira is caught up in an interesting situation, the writers gave Saki is given nearly as much care and interest, blending both of their issues together in a way that makes a satisfying-enough ending. The series is also directed by Kamiyama (who has previously directed Guardian of the Sacred Spirit and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex/Solid State Society) has done a terrific job in bringing out the most out of the animation department and making the right creative choices for each episode.
While many people have seen the director’s previous work, this proved to be a great introduction for people such as myself who has not seen his other television shows before, and proved to be my favourite animated television series this year for how great the quality is for the animation and how it really brings the most out of the script for each episode’s focus point and emotion. The end credits are also one of the best credit pieces that I have seen with its use of paper and stop motion.
Kamiyama’s creative choices for the smaller and simple sections in the series also deserves to be mentioned as it really does help to make each episode as engaging as possible. This ranges from giving the American police English dubbing in the Japanese version to giving each character their own way to express the same emotions that really helps give the series its quality. Overall, Eden of the East is a great series if you like anime in anyway and is a great introduction if you have not seen the director’s work. This is definitely worth watching on Blu-ray for those who can access that format.
