[Eden of the East] Impressions

May 4, 2009 by Bookwurm 2 Comments

I’ll drop (put on hold) FMA for the time being and start to marathon it when it’s about to reach the part where the anime initially diverged from the manga, which will probably be close to the end of the year. Instead, I’ll have it replaced with Eden of the East. In short, for the season, I’ll be following only K-ON and Eden on a weekly basis. On the other hand, I’m dropping Shangri-la. Eden of the East seems to be the one everyone’s talking about (other than K-ON and FMA) and I must say that even I am impressed with the series. Yes, it caught my attention right from the first episode. No wonder Koda said it is amusing. Mind you, it really is.

Mirai Nikki with less madness? I hope so, because while I do think that the concept for Mirai Nikki is pretty cool and unique, I didn’t really like the story itself (or the characters, to be more specific).

Impressions: Some of the stuffs that I found interesting

Spies, Secret agents, Government Conspiracy Theory or whatever you want to call it. Nice nod to the Bourne Movie Series there. Amnesia as a plot device can be quite difficult to work with. Done wrongly, it’ll just seem like a pathetic excuse to fill in plot holes or plot faults through the memories in later parts of the story. If done right, it can make for a good mix of thriller, suspense and mystery story. Rather similar to how flashback arcs can annoy as much as it serves to give the character depth. Anyway, it’s too early to tell how Eden will go with this plot device – but I’m hoping for the best.

Let’s face it: no girl will follow a guy she barely knew just like that but it does make for a good romance story (kinda weird for a guy to say this lol). In a way, Eden seems to be bringing back those classic romance storyline about love at first sight and going on an adventure together.

Last of all, a show that doesn’t reference other anime or otakulture (otaku culture). Yeah, shows like Lucky Star and Hayate no Gotoku were pretty funny but other shows trying to ride on their fame by making such references tend to get boring after a while. And when not referencing anime, it’s almost always Star Wars or something that’s way overused. This is most notoriously with Gonzo – honestly, I like Star Wars but all those constant references is getting on my nerves due to overkill, what with their same dead horse routine. In fact, Hayate doesn’t really count because it actually does parodies more than the average, typical anime nudges (Die Hard on the Titanic lol that was brilliant). And for the case of Eden, it’s not just the meta-reference to Jason Bourne. 🙂

Good English in my animu? It’s more likely than I thought!

Shouldn’t it be “arrived according to keikaku (where keikaku means plan)”? 😀

The character design is rather simplistic but the arts quality is nothing short of fantastic. Just look at details of the backgrounds in the show, as well as the animation for the OP and ED.

Episodes Watched: 3

Impression: 8.5/10, High Potential

*On another note, the Spring Preview (which just came out) on A-Source.com has all the contributors giving Eden thumbs up.