Comments on: Eden of the East – Ehhhh – [Eps 1 - 7]

By: Epic Win Blog » The Good, The Bad, and the Moe: Spring 2009 Anime Rankings - Part 1

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 20:31:13 +0000

[...] Add in the amazing animation quality and great soundtrack that Higashi no Eden brings to the table, along with lots of facepalm inducing randomness and a bit of romance on the side, and this series is really is a complete package that has something to appeal to everyone. Or almost anyone, at least. For some reason that I can’t fathom this series has been met with a fair amount of criticism and meh from people I would’ve expected to enjoy it. [...]

By: Hige

Hige — Sun, 31 May 2009 12:00:08 +0000

@Martin:
The comparisons to H&C are much subtler than the character design or voice acting. For me it feels like Kamiyama is chasing after the ‘vibe’ H&C had, aping (poorly) its sense of fun and trying to tap into the way it dealt with romance (again quite poorly). The similarities aren’t glaring but when it seems so obvious that the director is taking H&C as a point of reference (even their EDs is stylistically similar) it makes folk inclined to compare. And I’m on their side: the comparisons may seem difficult to make because Kamiyama just isn’t doing a very good job at capturing H&C’s magic. :/ It’s not the be-all-end-all of the series but it’s distracting when people try to imitate things and miss the mark.

By: Martin

Martin — Sun, 31 May 2009 11:43:53 +0000

I’ve been getting mixed feelings on this show recently too. I have to say it improves a little with the eighth episode – as in, there’s a character introduced who’s more interesting than any we’ve met so far and Saki starts to finally act her age – but there are one or two aspects that detract from the numerous things the show gets right. Kinda like the way Xam’d fell short of ‘excellent’ and landed in ‘very good’ territory because of some incidentals like under-used supporting characters and so forth. In this case I’m finding the humour to work well in some scenes but misplaced in others, for instance.

I have to say I’ve no idea where the H&C comparisons are coming from though, beyond the Chika Umino-derived character designs. Honestly, I utterly fail to see why so many people have made an issue out of it if the link is as tenuous as that: Micchon’s VA worked on both but that’s all I’ve managed to glean from ANN’s staff listings.

Things are improving with ep #8 but I’m having trouble deciding on whether to approach this from the POV of a political thriller or a lighthearted romance story – my guess is that it’s trying to do both (a tall order for any director, it has to be said) but falling into the vast no-mans-land between the two.

By: Hige

Hige — Sat, 30 May 2009 17:51:06 +0000

@omo:
I understand that it’s not a character driven show and I’m down with that entirely. It just doesn’t seem to be all that plot driven, either. Like I say, the pacing is terrible and it can’t seem to decide on what it wants to be in terms of theme or tone. When it does actually focus then it becomes really promising. It just can’t seem to concentrate on anything particular to be a satisfying experience.

I admit criticising characterisation in a plot-driven show is misguided, but I’m failing to see what exactly drives Eden of the East at the moment.

By: omo

omo — Sat, 30 May 2009 17:40:32 +0000

I think that might be you problem right there–Eden is not a character driven show. The relationships between the characters are not going to change besides the one between Takizawa and Saki. In that sense, there’s nothing “middle ground” about it. On the other hand, something like H&C is 100% about the characters and their relationships.

And likewise, I’m not sure how the characters will change besides their token, turning-over-a-new-leaf way that’s typical in most shorter stories. I think your attitude towards the show is justified but ultimately misguided.

By: Hige

Hige — Sat, 30 May 2009 17:26:32 +0000

@gaguri:
I think Eden of the East will benefit from a marathon. The film may also help flesh things out (assuming it’s not a shitty summary film as is the fashion with anime), I dunno. If we were at this stage in a 26 episode series I wouldn’t be so pessimistic – there’d be plenty more time for character development etc – but we’re already two thirds in and it feels like it’s going nowhere.

@hashi:
It’s definitely the best show of the season, and I don’t mean that in a sarcastic ‘best of a bad bunch’ way, either. It just deserves to be criticised properly rather than blindly praised. People are getting carried away with its contemporary, filmic style that’s quite unique for an anime. If the hype brigade had a lot of experience with the pop culture the show itself constantly references they’d see that it’s got a fair few problems tied up in with its successes.

@omo:
No, Eden is distinctly middle-ground when it comes to its characterisation. It gives clear indications of the type of relationships between its characters and leaves their development in a bland, lazy stasis. I don’t have a problem with subtly or melodrama – either extreme is great when done well – but Eden just seems so disinterested that it’s bizarre to suggest either apply to it. If the plot actually moved at a decent pace I wouldn’t mind so much, but as it stands the pacing is a bit of a mess, too. It might fit together well after it finishes and we can marathon it. As a weekly piece of entertainment, not so much.

@coburn:
Yeah, exactly. It’s difficult to even grasp the tone of the show. It has moments of reality but then goes off on total flights of fancy that seem contrived and hokey. Honey & Clover did exactly the same thing but nailed it every single time because it was consistent and imaginative. Eden just fumbles around in territory its producers obviously have little flare for.

@Baka-Raptor:
Oh man, if only you knew.

By: Baka-Raptor

Baka-Raptor — Sat, 30 May 2009 00:08:50 +0000

Sounds like you’ve never been loved by a Johnny :(

By: coburn

coburn — Fri, 29 May 2009 19:50:57 +0000

I think I was first attracted to the show by that slickness (or classiness) which keeps you watching, but personally I didn’t find it to be enough to overcome the sense that it had peaked with episode 1’s silliness. I suppose it’s not possible to figure out whether a show which raises the odd mildly interesting idea is actually going to go anywhere with them by the end, but the subsequent episodes I watched didn’t really convince me that there was any sort of progression of ideas – at the same time as being unsatisfactory as character drama and as mystery. So, yeah, I’d agree that the writer seems to have reached for something broad and come up short. I dunno if you watched Rideback, but to me this felt somewhat like Rideback in sensible shoes.

By: omo

omo — Fri, 29 May 2009 15:06:29 +0000

Different people have different buttons, or weaknesses, whatever–shows like Cross Game and Ristorante, for example, are very heavy handed and it comes off way too sentimental for some. The whole nonchalant, Teflon prince Johnny thing on the other hand might seem hard to relate to for others. Maybe there’s some middle ground, but at the same time I think there’s so much going for Eden that they don’t need to go to the middle. I rather like that they didn’t!

I don’t really think characterization is a weak point to the show; they’ve gone out of their way to make the focus of the show on what is happening and in that sense it is very unlike Honey and Clover; I’m not sure just how much they have taken from H&C, contrary to the post’s claim.

And what’s up with the inappropriate feelings? I think that adds to the realism actually.

If I had to fault anything, though, it would be in the planning and direction. The show doesn’t do a great job keeping you engrossed in the mystery because it tries to give depth to all of its characters, it tries to tell a story about the lives of NEET-freeters-peopleabouttograduate-goodfornothings-etc. It’s a part of the theme of the show, but they definitely could have done better.

By: hashi

hashi — Fri, 29 May 2009 13:51:52 +0000

Although to me, this is the best show of the season, and a great watch every week, I know what you mean. To me, Kamiyama is always a little distant to his characters in some way. However, the chemistry between the leads may be hard to grasp because it is not boringly normal. Each of them has their own direction to travel, and the romantic development is very much in the background. Like most couples, they are using each other in some way, as well as just wanting to be together. And the Death Note-like complex situation is a shounen element that makes a difficult fit with shoujo romantic emotions. Of course, that is also what makes the show interesting.