Eden of the East

Anime series

On Monday, November 22, 2010, ten missiles strike Japan, but cause no casualties. This apparent terrorist act is referred to as "Careless Monday" and is eventually forgotten by the populace. The series begins three months later when Saki Morimi, a senior at university, visits Washington D.C. as part of her graduation trip. When she gets into trouble, a mysterious young Japanese man appears completely naked except for a gun and a cell phone, and rescues her. The man has lost his memory, but learns that he has a bunch of fake passports at his apartment; he chooses the Japanese one which names him Akira Takizawa. While he and Saki return to Japan, they learn that a new missile has hit.

Akira discovers that his phone carries ¥8.2 billion in digital money, and that he is part of a game, where twelve individuals called Seleção are given ¥10 billion to "save" Japan in some way. The Seleção are able to access a concierge named Juiz, who can fulfill their orders for a price. However, if the money is used up completely, or for selfish purposes, the individual will be eliminated by the Supporter, the anonymous "twelfth man" of the group. He encounters various Seleção along the way, including a police detective, a hospital director, and a woman who is thought to be a serial killer. He learns who was behind the Careless Monday missile attacks, his role in the events, and the reason his memories were erased.

The title of the series comes from the name of a cell phone application developed by several of Saki's friends. The app can recognize and provide details about objects, and is linked to a user subscribed information database.

The King of Eden

In New York City, Saki searches for Akira Takizawa but when the driver unloads her suitcase and it spills to reveal firearms, he gets frightened and drives off with her purse which also has Akira's Seleção phone.

Saki muses over the events in the past six months. After the thwarted missile strikes, Akira erases his memories and disappears, but leaves Saki his phone with a message for them to meet at that special place. Eden of the East has become a successful small business. Images of his pointing at the missiles have made Akira into a folk hero dubbed the "Air King". Saki searches for Akira in Washington D.C. but fails. Hirasawa reveals to Saki that the Eden team can now monitor the Seleção activity logs and continues to support Akira. When the prime minister Iinuma collapses, the team discovers that Juiz has changed Akira's surname to Iinuma, and speculate whether this is part of fulfilling Akira's request to become King of Japan as an illegitimate son and possible successor. After a log entry places Akira in New York City, Saki heads there. Back at the present, Saki contacts the team, who tell her that the prime minister died, and several Seleção have made moves to find Akira, including Number 6, who has firearms planted in Saki's luggage. Hirasawa tells her to give up and go to the consulate's office, but Saki refuses and wants to follow one more lead. Meanwhile, Jintaro "2G" Tsuji (Number 2), now a producer for the Air King brand, talks to Mononobe (Number 1) about making his move in the game.

At the East River by the Brooklyn Bridge near Ground Zero, Saki finally meets Akira, who does not remember her. He helps Saki recover her lost items, after which, Saki reveals that she has been looking for him. Meanwhile, Panties upgrades the Eden team's software and searches into Akira's past. The Eden team reviews the status of the Seleção and discuss the game mechanics where an eliminated player (Number 5) had his memories wiped instead of being killed.

Near Akira's place, Jikimoto (Number 6), described as a film enthusiast with a camcorder, has been tailing Saki for a while. He argues with Juiz over the refusal of his requests; he wants to film a dramatic death for Akira. Juiz eventually concedes to one of his requests, and turns the heater up in Akira's room so that it explodes, however, Akira and Saki are saved because of a last-minute call from Kuroha. They escape to a movie theater that Akira frequented when he was young. Meanwhile, Panties and the Eden team look through Akira's records but discover that Juiz has hacked Eden; their cellphones have been compromised with roving bugs; and that Mononobe is behind this activity. While Akira and Saki explore the city for more leads into Akira's past, Tsuji orders Juiz to publicize that Akira is the missile terrorist, and that Akira will wear an Air King T-shirt to anger the public and to increase his chances of being assassinated.

Saki and Akira go to a park with an old carousel that has a gold ring, which triggers more of Akira's memories, but then men in suits, as well as Jikimoto approach, however, Kuroha arrives and they escape. Kuroha tells them that Iinuma's wife wants to meet Akira. To stall the hacking, Hirasawa shuts down the Eden system.

At the airport, Kuroha and Akira get a log update from Mononobe, who launches a missile that destroys a Seleção-logo truck and takes Number 12 out of the game. Another missile takes out Tsuji's truck, but Kuroha sacrifices her truck and her game status to the third missile. Kuroha tells Akira that she can no longer protect him; she leaves Saki and Akira, who board the private jet back to Japan.

Paradise Lost

Akira and Saki return to Japan and immediately meet Chigusa Iijima, the wife of the deceased Prime Minister Iijima. Akira has been accused of being the illegitimate son of the late Prime Minister, so Chigusa snatches some of his hair for a DNA test. Akira is separated from Saki but asks her to track down his mother by using his pet dog to identify her through Eden of the East's website. Takizawa manages to escape his escort by trading places with one of the 20,000 NEETs he involved in his fight against the "Careless Monday" attacks. Akira makes contact with the Eden staff, who inform him about the convoy of Juiz trucks that are driving back and forth on the highway.

Saki and Osugi track down the dog (Annie)'s owner, a woman named Aya, who denies being Akira's mother but admits she did live in New York for a time and had a fling with Iijima. Mononobe learns of Aya, and sends police officers to interrogate her. Aya flees, followed by Saki who confronts her again. Aya again denies her relation to Akira, however, Saki becomes convinced that Aya is indeed Akira's mother after she reveals the previously undisclosed knowledge that he was abandoned with 500 yen. Meanwhile, Akira finds his Juiz truck at a rest stop but witnesses that Mononobe's truck is being driven away from the others. Akira drives his Juiz truck after Mononobe's which he then steals with the help of the Eden staff. Hirasawa goes after Ato after Seleção No. 3 reveals that she is ordering something for Saizo Ato, the true identity of "Mr. Outside".

Hirasawa meets Ato, who is an elderly taxi driver, and who doubles as Seleção No. 12 and the Supporter. Ato admits he picked the Seleção from his taxi clients by asking what they would do if offered 10 billion yen, with the exception of Akira who was selling newspapers, and who provided him with a curious perspective about the use of money in Japan. Akira and the Eden staff drive the trucks to Chigusa's house. Mononobe arrives and asks Akira retire from the game so he can take control of the government. Akira at first considers the option as long as Mononobe agrees to be the prime minister, however, he eventually declines, and plans his final action in the game. He asks Juiz to force download "Airship" to all the phones in Japan, and broadcasts a message where he role-plays the terrorist and tells everyone to radically change the future of Japan; he gives each recipient one yen.

Impressed by Akira's gesture, Ato ends the game. Contacting the remaining Seleção, whether or not they had been eliminated, he declares all of them winners and as a farewell gift, broadcasts a signal that erases their memories of the game, with the exception of Akira whose memory had already been erased before. Ryo Yuki (Seleção No. 10), who previously had destroyed his phone and had not heard Ato's message, confronts Mononobe and tries to kill him, only to get hit by Mononobe's car which then crashes. Akira checks the DNA results from Chigusa and learns that he is not Iinuma's son after all. He departs, but not before he and Saki kiss, and he promises Saki that he will reunite with her some day. In the epilogue, Saki narrates how Eden closed down for a time to support the NEETs, and how Akira had not yet returned. In a final scene, Akira finds Ato's taxi, and hits him with a slipper, announcing that it was 'good enough'. They then drive off to deal with their next order of business.

Main

Akira Takizawa (滝沢 朗, Takizawa Akira)

Voiced by: Ryōhei Kimura (Japanese); Jason Liebrecht (English)A young man who lost his memory because of a brainwashing program, Akira Takizawa meets Saki Morimi in Washington D.C., appearing naked and only carrying a handgun and an extremely advanced cell phone with the phrase "noblesse oblige" printed on it and 8.2 billion yen in digital money credit. When Saki is questioned by police after she throws a coin in the grounds of the White House, he helps her out and she gives him her coat to thank him. 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 follows after realizing she left her passport in the coat she gave him and the two decide to return to Japan together. His real name and DOB are unknown; his current identity as Akira Takizawa was chosen from the passports he found, which lists that in Toyosu, Japan and that he was born on January 7, 1989, one day younger than Saki Morimi.

Saki Morimi (森美 咲, Morimi Saki)

Voiced by: Saori Hayami (Japanese); Leah Clark (English)Saki Morimi is a young woman in her last year in university. After her parents died, she has been living with her married elder sister and her family, who have been supporting her through college. She visits New York City as part of her graduation trip but leaves her friends to visit Washington D.C. alone. At the start of the series, she throws a coin at the White House lawn and is approached by police, but Akira Takizawa bails her out of trouble. After realizing that her passport is in the coat she gives to Akira, she follows him, and later goes back with him to Tokyo, Japan. She tries to get a job so that she does not become reliant on her sister's family, but after her interview with her brother-in-law's former company goes badly, she follows Akira on his adventures and gets her old club, "Eden of the East", to partner with Akira on their business venture.

Eden of the East club

The Eden of the East club 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 the 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 student subscribers. However, after the students abused the social matchmaking abilities where a girl dropped out and the university launched an investigation, the team slowed development on the project. In addition to Saki, who handles public relations, the members include:

Satoshi Ōsugi (大杉 智, Ōsugi Satoshi), a friend of Saki who holds unrequited love for her. He is the first among the club members to join the corporate world. He is voiced by Takuya Eguchi in Japanese and by Michael Sinterniklaas in English;

Kazuomi Hirasawa (平澤 一臣, Hirasawa Kazuomi), the de facto leader of Eden of the East. He has delayed his graduation with his ultimate goal to create a paradise for NEETs. He is voiced by Motoyuki Kawahara in Japanese and by J. Michael Tatum in English;

Mikuru Katsuhara (葛原 みくる, Katsuhara Mikuru), nicknamed Micchon (みっちょん), a shy but frank girl who programmed the Eden of the East’s image recognition system. She is also Hirasawa's cousin. She is voiced by Ayaka Saitō in Japanese and by Stephanie Sheh in English;

Haruo Kasuga, a club member who likes to sit inside the clubroom’s rolltop desk. He notices Osugi had gone missing after he had dinner with him. He is voiced by Hayato Taioh in Japanese and by John Burgmeier in English.

Sis (おネエ, Onee), a club member who reviews the legal documents. Her real name and age is unknown. She is voiced by Kimiko Saitoh in Japanese and Lydia Mackay in English.

The club has also used a consultant, Yutaka Itazu (板津 豊, Itazu Yutaka), a prodigious yet reclusive hacker nicknamed Panties (Pantsu) based on an alternate reading of the Kanji in his name, and the fact that has been a shut-in since he lost his pants two years before the start of the series. He is voiced by Nobuyuki Hiyama in Japanese and by Newton Pittman in English.

In the first movie, Eden of the East becomes a small business and the club members try to support Saki and Akira while tracking the Seleção activities.

Seleção and related characters

The Seleção (Portuguese: "Selection") are the participants of the game. Each carries a special "Noblesse oblige" cell phone that is credited with 10 billion yen which they must use to "save Japan". They can spend the money in whatever manner they wish, using a concierge named Juiz (Portuguese: "Judge", the soccer referee) to accomplish the goal, however, any Seleção who uses up their money before they can complete their mission, who acts purely for self-interest, or does nothing with the phone for an extended period of time will be eliminated by a person (one of the twelve) called "The Supporter". Similarly, if someone breaks the rules they will be eliminated. When someone is declared the winner of the game, the other eleven are eliminated. The person who created the game is named "Mr. Outside."

Daiju Mononobe (物部 大樹, Mononobe Daiju)

Voiced by: Atsushi Miyauchi (Japanese); John Gremillion (English)Seleção No. 1.Mononobe is one of the main antagonists in the series. A former bureaucrat, he has connections to many of the political leaders in Japan. He maneuvers to become an executive (CEO in the TV series English dub) of the ATO Institution. He brings Akira to the ATO headquarters and reveals more information about his past with the hopes of recruiting him to his side. His ambition is not only to win the game, but to replace Mr. Outside himself as he assumes Mr. Outside is dead. According to him, Japan is in a state of apathy caused by the economic prosperity it has obtained since the end of World War II, and the strong political influence from countries like the United States into their society, thus he plans to "save" the country by rallying the population with a wide scale terrorist attack. However, Akira and the NEETs recruited by him managed to foil his plans, first with Careless Monday, and then by countering the missiles at the end of the regular TV series. In the King of Eden movie, he uses the Japanese police Public Security Dept to investigate the Eden of the East group, which has been involved with Akira Takizawa's activities. Using his connections with the government, he intends to pass a "100% Inheritance Tax Bill" in order to combat Akira's plan with the NEETs. In Paradise Lost, he reveals that he plans to overthrow the current government and install a more powerful one at the cost of individual freedom. After his memory is wiped when Mr. Outside ends the game, Mononobe crashes his car after being shot at by a crazed Yuuki. It is unknown whether he survives or not.

Jintarō Tsuji (辻 仁太郎, Tsuji Jintarō)

Voiced by: Kōji Yusa (Japanese); Todd Haberkorn (English)Seleção No. 2.Tsuji, nicknamed "2G", is a Seleção 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. In the King of Eden movie, he begins to make his move, by making Takizawa the main figure of a major trend and idol. He is responsible for marketing Takizawa as the "Air King", with advertisements and merchandise depicting Akira's pose while averting the missile crisis. Ultimately he plans to have Takizawa sacrificed as a martyr and hero of Japan. He is technically eliminated from the game when Mononobe destroys his trailer, but later loses his money when Mononobe arranges to have him investigated by tax auditors.

Toshiko Kitabayashi (北林 敏子, Kitabayashi Toshiko)

Voiced by: Reiko Seno (Japanese); Juli Erickson (English)Seleção No. 3Seleção 3 appears to be an elderly purple-haired woman according to the Seleção listings in The King of Eden, but takes action in the second film. She makes her first call to Juiz to order some food. It is revealed at the end of the film that she is in fact hospitalised, and graciously thanks Mr. Outside for the game.

Yūsei Kondō (近藤 勇誠, Kondō Yūsei)

Voiced by: Hiroshi Shirokuma (Japanese); Christopher Sabat (English)Seleção 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 thwarted when he is informed by Juiz that a Seleção's money can only be used by its rightful owner. He is stabbed by his wife while attempting to return the phone to Akira, but manages to warn him of how dangerous the game is before dying.

Hajime Hiura (火浦 元, Hiura Hajime)

Voiced by: Shinji Ogawa (Japanese); Kent Williams (English)Seleção 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 he resigns. Based on his former thought that the number of patients a doctor can help is 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, and although he failed to save Japan, he tells Akira that he succeeded in his own mission. In The King of Eden movie, it's revealed that the Supporter didn't kill him; instead he erased his memories.

Taishi Naomoto (直元 大志, Naomoto Taishi)

Voiced by: Hiroyuki Yoshino (Japanese); Josh Grelle (English)Seleção No. 6.Naomoto appears in The King of Eden movie as one of the major antagonists. He intends to film the "ideal movie," with Akira and Saki as the main characters, and to ultimately kill them in a way that has never before been seen in film. For that reason, he causes the protagonists a lot of problems, especially Saki, because he figures that the prince will come to save 'the damsel in distress'. His ill-conceived plot is foiled thanks to Shiratori's successful extraction of Takizawa and Saki in her Porsche Cayenne. He is last seen in police custody in America.

Akira Takizawa

Seleção No. 9.The male protagonist of the series. Takizawa's position as Seleção No. 9 is revealed early on, although at first he does not understand what it means because he is suffering from amnesia.

Ryō Yūki (結城 亮, Yūki Ryō)

Voiced by: Masakazu Morita (Japanese); Jerry Jewell (English)Seleção 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 allies with Mononobe, as they have similar goals. Yuuki's motivation for Careless Monday was to take revenge against the society he hated. He was forced to work to support his ill parents and felt cheated by the system. In The King of Eden movie, he appears to be inactive, but he reveals to Tsuji that he has broken his phone in a bid to evade Mononobe, who is tracking him, resulting in his elimination from the game. He soon becomes obsessed with getting revenge against Takizawa. Since Yūki broke his phone and does not receive Mr. Outside's final message, Yūki's memories are not erased when the game ends. However, he is run over by Mononobe's car when he attempts to murder Takizawa. It is unclear whether he survives or not.

Kuroha Diana Shiratori (白鳥・D・黒羽, Shiratori Daiana Kuroha)

Voiced by: Rei Igarashi (Japanese); Christine Auten (English)Seleção No. 11.Shiratori is president of a model agency by day; however, by night she is a serial killer. She uses the Noblesse Oblige cellphone to clean up evidence of her murders and cover up her crimes. She kills men by severing their penises ("Johnnies") with a cigar cutter. However, she only targets men who have victimized women, such as rapists, inspiring her current actions as a Seleção. In The King of Eden movie, she allies with Akira, saving him from various problems. She is eliminated from the game when she shields Akira's Juiz trailer from a missile launched by Mononobe with her own trailer. Her memories presumably are erased along with those of the other Seleção when the game ends.

Saizō Atō (亜東 才蔵, Atō Saizō)

Voiced by: Hiroshi Arikawa (Japanese); Grant James (English)Seleçao No. 12A powerful businessman who helped build postwar Japan. He is later hinted to be Mr. Outside (ミスター・アウトサイド, Misutā Autosaido). An unseen and mysterious character, he chooses eleven Japanese citizens as Seleção and gives them the phones with their mission to bring stability to Japan in whatever manner they wish. However, he warns that he will send a "Supporter" to eliminate any Seleção who use up their money before they can complete their mission, acts selfishly, idles for an extended period of time, or breaks his rules.Akira Takizawa later realizes that "Ato Saizo" is a pun for the Japanese pronunciation of "Outside." A football enthusiast, Saizo's inspiration for the Seleção name came from the Portuguese word for selection and the common nickname of Brazil's national team. His true identity is not revealed until Paradise Lost, where he is an elderly man who has posed as a simple cab driver. Saizo also has four female helpers who call him "grandpa" and assist him with the game. All of the Seleção were passengers in his cab at some point, where he asked them how they would spend 10 billion yen, with the exception of Takizawa, who had met Atō Saizō when he stopped beside the taxi on a bicycle. After the events of the Paradise Lost film, Saizo declares all of the Seleção winners and has their memories erased to free them from the game. Takizawa manages to keep his memories and tracks down Saizo so that they can work together to improve Japan.

Juiz (ジュイス, Juisu)

Voiced by: Sakiko Tamagawa (Japanese); Stephanie Young (English)A mysterious female voice who acts as a concierge for the Seleção. She gives them information and provides for their requests to be answered, from executing large scale purchases to bribing authorities and conducting assassinations. In episode 10, it is revealed that Juiz isn't human but is an advanced artificial intelligence. In the King of Eden Movie, it is further revealed that there are twelve copies of Juiz, each housed in a device disguised as a cargo trailer. (The Juiz devices originally were stored in a facility that Mononobe found, but they were relocated to mobile platforms, leaving behind large holes at the facility). When a Seleção is removed from the game, their trailer is scrapped, or alternately, a Seleção is removed if their trailer is destroyed. Judging by the differing reactions of the various Juizes, the AIs appear to be independent entities, but initialized from the same generative code base. In episode 10, a woman appears at ATO headquarters with the same voice and manner of speech as Juiz; this serves to cast doubt on whether she is actually Juiz or whether her voice and personality (if not her memories) simply were used as the model for developing Juiz. In the Paradise Lost movie, the woman is revealed to be one of Mr. Outside's four quadruplet granddaughters: women who facilitate the requests that are given to the Juiz units.

Seleção No. 7 is never seen in the series or films, but Seleção No. 8, a middle-aged man, makes a cameo at the conclusion of the second film during Mr. Outside's closing statement.

Production

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 March 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. On September 26, 2009, the studio released Eden of the East Compilation: Air Communication, a film retelling of the events of the series. The studio originally planned for a second season but decided instead that a pair of movies would be a better means of continuing the story; the films were released on November 28, 2009 and January 9, 2010 respectively.

In North America, the series was released on Blu-ray and DVD in 2010. The movies were released in 2011.

Staff

Original concept, script, director: Kenji Kamiyama

Original character designs: Chika Umino

Character design: Satoko Morikawa

Music: Kenji Kawai

Chief animation director: Satoru Nakamura

Art director: Yusuke Takeda

Animation production: Production I.G

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 for the week of July 27 - August 2, 2009. The first volume of the Blu-ray Disc release was also released on that day, and debuted in 7th place on the SoundScan Japan Blu-ray Disc charts. The series has won numerous awards since its release, including the TV Feature Award at the 2009 Animation Kobe festival and the best television series of the year award at the ninth annual Tokyo International Anime Fair.

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." 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".

Writing for the Los Angeles Times, Charles Solomon ranked the series the fourth best anime on his "Top 10".