“Eden of the East”, and its two feature films, is an incredibly fun and often inventive anime series with well written characters. At only 11 episodes, and about 3 hours for the movies, it’s not a big time investment and is worth watching with an engrossing storyline.
“Eden of the East”
– Premium Edition –
(2009)
REVIEW NAVIGATION
The Movie | Special Features | Video Quality | Audio Quality | Overall
Genre(s): Anime, Suspense, Adventure
FUNimation | TVMA – 325 min. – $99.98 | March 29, 2016
Date Published: 04/22/2016 | Author: The Movieman
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THE MOVIE – 4.0/5 |
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Plot Synopsis: On November 22, 2010 ten missiles strike Japan. However, this unprecedented terrorist act, later to be called as “Careless Monday,” does not result in any apparent victims, and is soon forgotten by almost everyone. Then, 3 months later, Saki Morimi (SAORI HAYAMI/LEAH CLARK) 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, she gets into trouble, and only the unexpected intervention of one of her fellow countrymen saves her. However, this man, who introduces himself as Akira Takizawa (RYOHEI KIMURA/JASON LIEBRCHT), is a complete mystery. He appears to have lost his memory and he is stark naked, except for the gun he holds in one hand, and the mobile phone he’s holding with the other hand. A phone that is charged with 8.2 Billion yen in digital cash. Quick Hit Review: “Eden of the East” is a fantastic series that, sure, has some of the tropes of anime with some of its juvenile humor, but does a great job of world-building and giving a sense of mystery with Takizawa’s identity and the organization he works for and why he’s being pursued. Now, where the series takes an extra step is with a real genuine relationship that is built between Takizawa and Morimi. The voice cast also stands out. Both the English and Japanese versions are well done, providing the necessary emotions that sometimes are lacking or worse yet, over-the-top to the point of being annoying.
As far as anime goes, “Eden of the East” doesn’t hold a candle to something like “Ghost in the Shell” which, for me anyway, the crown jewel of the genre, but it’s still a well animated and enthralling series that’s well worth watching. This “Premium Edition” set also includes the two East of Eden feature films, The King of Eden and Paradise Lost, both great companions to the series and completing the journey for Morimi and Takizawa as the series had an open ended finale. Although it would’ve been great for these stories were told as a series, both serve well as basically the second season. The animation once again was impressive and the voice cast, both Japanese and English, were spot on. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 3.75/5 |
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This “Premium Edition” release from FUNimation comes with a sturdy outer box and inside is a fold out digipak containing all four discs (2 for the series, 2 for the movies). In a separate envelope are some stickers, photo cards and a certificate of authenticity (mine is #0892 FYI). “Eden of the East”: The Complete Series (Disc 2): Also: TV Spot (0:32; SD), Promotion Video (1:57; HD) and Textless Closing Song (1:22; HD). Eden of the East: The King Eden (Disc 3): Last up is Movie 1 News Flash (1:20; HD) and Movie 1 Preview (0:49; HD), both adverts for The King of Eden and a few TV Spots (0:49; HD). Eden of the East: Paradise Lost (Disc 4): Visual Commentary on the Eden System with Director Kamiyama Interview (1:38:23; HD) which is an interesting feature where you can watch the movie with visual commentary by Kamiyama as well as read text messages sent by fans during a screening. Actually wouldn’t mind something like this for our films over here… Of course, it’s not quite as interesting as an actual commentary. We also get: Movie 2 Preview (0:52; HD), TV Spot (0:17; HD), “Eden of the East” Series Trailer (1:02; HD), Eden of the East: King of Eden Trailer (1:02; HD) and Eden of the East: Paradise Lost Trailer (1:02; HD). |
VIDEO – 4.5/5 |
| “Eden of the East” is the latest anime to look fantastic on Blu-ray with a 1080p high-definition transfer and shown in its originally televised 1.78 widescreen aspect ratio. Colors are brilliantly bright and there were no major issues though there were minor bouts of banding that I did notice, otherwise, everything appears to be smooth. It’s an impressive looking transfer all around be it the series or the two movies. |
AUDIO – 4.25/5 |
| You get the choice of either English or Japanese Dolby True 5.1 tracks with the former being the default option so for purists out there, you’ll need to switch them. In either case, they offer great dialogue levels throughout the series and movies while some of the action elements are decent though hardly robust, though there is some decent enough depth. |
OVERALL – 4.0/5 |
| Overall, “Eden of the East”, and its two feature films, is an incredibly fun and often inventive anime series with well written characters. At only 11 episodes, and about 3 hours for the movies, it’s not a big time investment and is worth watching with an engrossing storyline. This “Platinum Edition” release offers some decent features while the audio and video transfers are both well done. |
Check out some more screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.