is a Japanese anime television series, which premiered on Fuji TV
's Noitamina timeslot on April 9, 2009. Created, directed and written by Kenji Kamiyama, it features character designs by Chika Umino and animation production by Production I.G. Based on an original story by Kamiyama, it is the first original noitaminA series.
A compilation of the tv series,
Eden of The East Compilation:
Air Communication, had a limited theatrical release on
September 26, 2009. Two other theatrical films are planned for
release in Japan on November 28, 2009 and March 2010
respectively.The anime tv series has been acquired for release in
the US by
Funimation
Entertainment.
Plot
On November 22, 2010, eleven missiles strike against uninhabited
areas of Japan, claiming no victims. This apparent terrorist act is
referred to as "Careless Monday" and disregarded by most people.
The series
begins three months later, with a young Japanese woman named Saki
Morimi visiting Washington
D.C.
as part of her graduation trip. When she
gets into trouble, a mysterious Japanese man, who introduces
himself as Akira Takizawa, helps her through it. The man appears to
have no memory and is completely naked, carrying only a gun and a
cell phone charged with 8.2 billion yen
in digital money. The cell phone has the phrase,
noblesse oblige ("nobility obligates" or
"noble's obligation" in English), printed on it. While they are
coming back to Japan, they learn that a new missile attack has
taken place in their country.
Development and conception
The series was announced in 2008's 23rd issue of
Hakusensha's
Young
Animal manga magazine, denoting Kamiyama's
involvement as creator, director and writer and Umino's involvement
as character designer. It was further announced that two theatrical
films are also planned for the series, which is stated to premiere
on November 28, 2009 and January 2010 respectively, after the
television series ends its original run. In March 2009, it was also
announced that the series would premiere on noitaminA on April 9,
2009. On March 19, 2009, the official website to the series
relaunched with a trailer, which announced that the opening theme
would be "
Falling Down" by
English rock band
Oasis, while the
ending theme was "futuristic imagination" by Japanese band
School Food Punishment. On April 9,
2009, the series began its run of 11 episodes, to be followed by
two films. Another film will be shown in theaters before the two
films. It will be titled Eden of the East Compilation: Air
Communication. It is a film retelling of the 11 episode TV
series.
Characters
Main characters
- Saki is in her last year in university. She is 21 years old,
born on January 6, 1989. After her parents died she lived with her
married elder sister and her baby. She visited New York City
as part of her graduation trip with her friends and
after visiting Washington
D.C. alone, she meets Akira Takizawa who helped her out
when she threw a coin in the grounds of the White House
and is questioned by the police.
After
noticing that she left her passport in the coat she gave to Akira,
she follows him and then decides to go back with him to Tokyo
, Japan
. She
plans to work in the company her brother-in-law owns, because she
is ashamed of living off their money. She could only go to college
with the aid of her sister and her brother-in-law. Her ability to
enhance the value of junk items have been one of the main reasons
Eden's success.
- Seleção No. 9.
- He lost his memory during a brain washing program. He meets Saki Morimi
in Washington
D.C., appearing naked and only carrying a gun and a
cellphone. When he helps her out because she threw a
coin in the grounds of the White House and is questioned by the police, she gives him her
coat, scarf and hat. He has a very modern cell phone with
the phrase "noblesse oblige" printed on it and 8.2 billion yen in
digital money credit. When he makes his first call, a female voice
claiming to be Juiz answers. She sends him a map that marks an
apartment building where he is apparently staying. In his
apartment, he finds guns and many different passports which seem to
all belong to him. Saki returns after realizing she left her
passport in the coat she gave him and the two decide to return to
Japan together. According to his passport, he lives in
Japan, in Toyosu, his name is Akira Takizawa and he was
born on January 7, 1989 and is therefore 21 years old making him
one day younger than Saki Morimi.
Eden of the East
Eden of the East started out as a small recycling group, but has
quickly turned into a springboard for a successful commercial
website, thanks to Micchon's revolutionary image recognition engine
that resides in Eden website and Saki's ability to improve the
value of any item, including junk. Soon, the site's ability to work
on phones attracted many people as members, inclusive of students.
It has also grown into a popular matchmaking site.
The group however, is small and consists of only a few members who
have only recently graduated from college.
- He is a friend of Saki's and in the last year in university, as
well. He
went together with her to the graduation trip to New York
. He
has an unrequited love for Saki and is both suspicious and jealous
of Akira Takizawa. After seeing him several times with Saki, he
decides to find out more about Akira's past.
- He appears to be the de facto leader of Eden of the East.
However, he admits that he has no inherent talents and that most of
the credit to Eden of the East's success belongs to Micchon and
Saki. His ultimate goal is to create a paradise for NEETs.
- Real name .
- Micchon is a very shy girl, who is only open and frank when
around people she is close to. She is apparently a genius
programmer, as she is the person who programmed Eden of the East's
image recognition software.
- Onee appears to be an older member of the club.
- Kasuga is Ōsugi's friend, and seems to possess a great insight
into the qualities of others. For some unknown reason, he hides
under a desk during club meetings.
Selecao
Twelve individuals (including Akira) are each given 10 billion yen
by the mysterious Mr. Outside for them to spend. This huge sum is
in digital currency only and cannot be exchanged for real world
money. The Selecao are allowed to spend the money how they see fit,
but they must make use of the money to find a way to "save" the
country. The supporter who is hiding as one of the Selecao will be
sent by Mr. Outside himself, to assassinate one of the other
participants if they try to escape, use the money wrongly or fails
with his/her mission to help society; it is also mentioned that
when one of them successfully "saves" Japan, the other remaining
ones will be eliminated as well, regardless of their less than
complete successes. The name "Selecao" comes from the Portuguese
word "Seleção" (Selection).
- Selecao No. 1.
- The mysterious man seen in the red car at the beginning. He
appears to be collaborating with Yuuki and is not afraid to take
morally questionable actions such as running down "Panties". He is
one of the executives of the ATO Institution and is the one who
reveals to Takizawa about Mr. Outside and Takizawa's past. His
ultimate goal is not only to win the game, but to replace Mr.
Outside himself.
- Selecao No. 2.
- Another Selecao working with Mononobe and Yuuki. He seems to
care very little about Mr. Outside's "game" and wishes simply for
it to be over as soon as possible. He claims he has not spent any
of the 10 billion yen he was given.
- Selecao No. 4.
- A
detective in Japan.
After spending almost all of his money without accomplishing the
mission given by Mr. Outside, he steals Akira's cellphone in order
to take possession of his cash, but his plans are flustered when he
is informed by Juiz that a Selecao's money can only be used by its
rightful owner. He is then killed by his wife while attempting to
return the phone to Akira, but warns him of how dangerous the game
is before dying.
- Selecao No. 5.
- Hiura is a 52 year old former talented doctor specializing in
neurosurgery. Due to an accident, his hands are unable to be used
in surgeries that require precise accuracy and eventually resigns.
Based on a former thought that the number of patients a doctor can
help are limited, Hiura uses the cellphone to aim for the ideal
treatment for all illnesses. He is eliminated by the Supporter
after spending all of his money, but although he failed to save
Japan, he tells Akira that he succeeded in his own mission.
- Selecao No. 10.
- The perpetrator responsible for the missiles fired on Careless
Monday. Despite this, Yuuki is very meek and shows hesitation when
forced to assist in the silencing of "Panties". He works for
Mononobe as they have similar goals. Yuuki's motivation for
Careless Monday was as an act of revenge against the society he
hated. He was forced to work to support his ill parents and felt
cheated by the system.
- Selecao No. 11.
- Shiratori is president of a model agency by day; however by
night, she is actually a serial killer. She uses the cellphone to
clean up evidence of her murders and cover up her crimes. She kills
men by chopping off their penises ("Johnnies") with a cigar cutter.
However, she only targets men who have victimized women, like
rapists, and it is implied that she had been a victim herself,
inspiring her current actions as a Selecao.
Saki's Family
- Saki's elder sister. Works at the family bakery - "Sangetsu
Pan". After her parents died, she and her husband took care of
Saki.
- Saki's brother-in-law, whom Saki had a crush on.
Others
- A mysterious female voice who is connected to the twelve
Selecao. She gives them information and provides for their requests
to be answered, from bribing authorities to assassination orders.
Her name comes from the Portuguese word for "Referee". In episode
10, it is revealed that Juiz isn't an actual person, but an
advanced artificial
intelligence.
- An unseen and mysterious character who chooses twelve Japanese
citizens as Selecao and gives them the special "Noblesse Oblige" phones. Mr. OUTSIDE gives
the Selecao their mission to bring stability to Japan in whatever
manner they wish. However, he will send a "Supporter" to kill any
Selecao who uses up their money before they can complete their
mission. The "Supporter" will also eliminate any Selecao who breaks
any of the "rules" established by Mr. OUTSIDE, which include acting
purely for self-interest or simply doing nothing with the phone for
an extended period of time. Mononobe strongly believes that Mr.
OUTSIDE is actually , a powerful businessman who helped build
postwar Japan. Takizawa also noted that "Ato Saizo" is a pun for
the Japanese pronunciation of "Outside." It is possible that Mr.
OUTSIDE/Ato may already be dead, or may even be the mysterious
Supporter himself.
- A prodigious yet reclusive hacker that
the Eden club nicknamed "Panties" based on an alternate reading of the Kanji in his name. Once an
engineering student, Yutaka became a recluse after losing his only
pair of pants. Takizawa offers him Kondo's Selecao phone to aid in
his investigation of the events surrounding Careless Monday. He was
run down by Selecao I and X in their car, and was presumed dead,
but is shown in episode eleven in a hospital recovering from his
wounds.
Staff
Reception
The Japanese release of the first DVD volume debuted on July 29,
2009 in 23rd place on the
Oricon video
charts, with 4,394 copies sold. The first volume of the Blu-ray
Disc release was released on the same day, and debuted in 7th place
on the SoundScan Japan Blu-ray charts.
The series received high marks for its first episode in the
Anime News Network Spring 2009
Preview Guide. Reviewers Theron Martin, Carlo Santos, and Casey
Brienza each gave the first episode a rating of 4.5 out of 5, while
Carl Kimlinger rated it a 5 out of 5. In his review, Martin wrote
that "this is not your normal anime series. If you're looking for
the new season's most unusual entry, something well departed from
all of the game adaptations, shonen action series, and cutesy
romances, this one is it." Additionally, he praised the artistic
aspects of "outstanding background art, appealing character
designs, highly likeable lead characters, and a unique closer." He
concluded that "this one does everything it can to draw viewers in
with its first episode and get them to want to keep watching, and
many will." Santos commented that "there's only one reason this
episode falls short of perfect: it's not until the end that the
story really takes off," but also pointed out the "slick,
expressive animation." Brienza started her review saying "Well,
what the heck; might as well be blunt right from the get-go: I
loved it," but criticized the "hackneyed plot" and claimed it "has
been ripped whole cloth from a Robert Ludlum novel." Ludlum is
known as the author of
The
Bourne Identity. Her praise related to "the scrupulous,
realistic detail of the Washington D.C. setting" and the "gentle,
whimsical innocence" of "Chica Umino's character designs," as well
as "the scatological humor... and tender hopes of the heroine"
which reminds me a lot of Hayao Miyazaki." Kimlinger, while
admitting "I am not a fan of Kenji Kamiyama," stated the episode
was "a weird and charming start to a weird and charming show." He
wrote that "the first few minutes of Eden are some of the funniest
in recent memory," and commented that "both leads have a
conspicuous excess of likeability, and Kamiyama displays a mastery
of smiling humanism that would have been unthinkable earlier in his
career." Like Brienza, he pointed out that "the debt Eden owes to
The Bourne Identity is considerable," but concludes that "the
result is, in a word, superb."
References
External links
Wikis
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