Eden of the East

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Eden of the East

Cover art of the first Japanese DVD volume featuring protagonists Saki Morimi and
Akira Takizawa
東のエデン
(Higashi no Eden)
Genre Psychological, Romance, Mystery
TV anime
Directed by Kenji Kamiyama
Written by Kenji Kamiyama
Studio Production I.G
Funimation Entertainment
Licensed by
Manga Entertainment
Network Fuji TV (Noitamina)
Original run April 9, 2009 – June 18, 2009
Episodes 11 (List of episodes)
Novel
Written by Kenji Kamiyama
Illustrated by Umino Chika (cover only)
Published by Media Factory
Imprint Da Vinci
Published September 16, 2009
Novel
Eden of The East Theater version: The King of Eden Paradise
 Lost
Written by Kenji Kamiyama
Illustrated by Umino Chika (cover only)
Published by Media Factory
Imprint Da Vinci
Published April 23, 2010
Anime film
Eden of The East Compilation: Air Communication
Directed by Kenji Kamiyama
Music by Kenji Kawai
Studio Production I.G
Licensed by Funimation Entertainment
Released September 26, 2009
Anime film
Eden of the East the Movie I: The King of Eden
Directed by Kenji Kamiyama
Music by Kenji Kawai
Studio Production I.G
Licensed by Funimation Entertainment
Released November 28, 2009
Runtime 82
Anime film
Eden of the East the Movie II: Paradise Lost
Directed by Kenji Kamiyama
Music by Kenji Kawai
Studio Production I.G
Licensed by Funimation Entertainment
Released March 13, 2010
Runtime 92
Anime and Manga Portal

Eden of the East (東のエデン Higashi no Eden?) 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.[1][2]

A compilation of the TV series, Eden of The East Compilation: Air Communication, had
a limited theatrical release on September 26, 2009.[3] Two other theatrical films have also
been released. Eden of the East Movie I: The King of Eden was released in Japan on
November 28, 2009 and the second movie, Eden of the East the Movie II: Paradise Lost,
was released on March 13, 2010.[4][5][6] The TV series and all three films have been
licensed for release in North America by Funimation Entertainment.[7][8]

Contents
[hide]

• 1 Plot
• 2 Characters
o 2.1 Seleção
• 3 Production
o 3.1 Staff
• 4 Reception
• 5 References

• 6 External links

[edit] Plot
See also: List of Eden of the East episodes

On November 22, 2010, ten 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.[1] While they are coming back to Japan, they learn that a new missile has hit their
country.

Akira discovers that his phone is part of a game and that he himself is one of the
participants. The game consists of twelve individuals, dubbed Seleção, who are given 10
billion yen to save Japan. The Seleção are able to use the phone operator, Juiz, to fulfill
any kind of order for a price. However if the money is used up completely or for selfish
purposes, the individual will be eliminated. As the series progresses, Akira discovers that
one of the Seleção was the one who ordered missiles to be fired in Japan and the reason
he erased his own memories was linked to Careless Monday. The same Seleção member
decides to launch missiles towards Japan again but is intercepted by Akira who orders
missiles to intercept the incoming missiles. Akira decides that the only way to save Japan
is to lead it and uses his money to crown himself as the King of Japan and erase his own
memory.

[edit] Characters
Saki Morimi (森美 咲 Morimi Saki?)
Voiced by: Saori Hayami (Japanese), Leah Clark (English)
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 that her brother-in-law used to work for, 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.
Akira Takizawa (滝沢 朗 Takizawa Akira?)
Voiced by: Ryōhei Kimura (Japanese), Jason Liebrecht (English)
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 notable members of the Eden of
the East project are:

• Satoshi Ōsugi (大杉 智 Ōsugi Satoshi?), a friend of Saki who holds

unrequited love for Saki. 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. His ultimate goal is to create a paradise for
NEETs. He is voiced by Motoyuki Kawahara in Japanese and by J.
Michael Tatum in English;
• Micchon ( みっちょん?), a shy and frank girl who is a very
talented programmer and is the one who programmed the Eden of the
East's image recognition system. She is voiced by Ayaka Saitō in Japanese
and by Stephanie Sheh in English;
• Yutaka Itazu (板津 豊 Itazu Yutaka?), a prodigious yet reclusive
hacker that the Eden club nicknamed "Pants" based on an alternate reading
 of the Kanji in his name. He is voiced by Nobuyuki Hiyama in Japanese
and by Newton Pittman in English.

[edit] Seleção

Pictures of known Selecaos

Daiju Mononobe (物部 大樹 Mononobe Daiju?)
Voiced by: Atsushi Miyauchi (Japanese), John Gremillion (English)
Seleção No. 1.
The main antagonist. 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
ambition is not only to win the game, but to replace Mr. Outside himself.
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 twice. In the
King of Eden movie, he is assigned by the Japanese police Public Security Dept to
begin an internal investigation of 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 the "100% Inheritance Tax Bill" in order to
combat Akira's plan with the NEETs.
Jintarō Tsuji (辻 仁太郎 Tsuji Jintarō?)
Voiced by: Kōji Yusa
Seleção 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. 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 eliminated from the game when Mononobe
destroys his trailer.
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 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
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 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, 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
Seleção No. 6.
Naomoto appears in The King of Eden movie. He intends to film the "ideal
movie" with Akira and Saki as the main characters, and to ultimately kill them in
such a way that has never before been seen in film. For that reason, he causes
them a lot of problems, especially for 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 intervention.
Ryō Yūki (結城 亮 Yūki Ryō?)
Voiced by: Masakazu Morita
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 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. In The King of Eden movie, he breaks his phone, in a bid to evade
Mononobe who is tracking him, resulting in his elimination from the game.
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 actually
a serial killer. She uses the 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, like
rapists, and it is implied that she had been a victim herself, inspiring her current
actions as a Selecao. 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
trailer from a missile launched by Mononobe with her trailer.
Seleçao No. 12
 The identity of this Seleçao isn't known. He was the responsible of frustating
Mononobe's plans to become Mr.Outside spending his first money deposit on
changing Juiz's location. Mononobe says No.12 is The Supporter, even possibly
Mr.Outside too. He's eliminated from the game in The King of Eden movie when
Mononobe destroys his trailer.
Juiz (ジュイス Juisu?)
Voiced by: Sakiko Tamagawa (Japanese), Stephanie Young (English)
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
"Judge". It should be noted that the cellphones used to contact Juiz have a sword
and a scales, which are symbols (normally used in courts) for justice and law. In
episode 10, it is revealed that Juiz isn't an actual person, but an advanced artificial
intelligence. In the king of Eden Movie, it is further revealed that Juiz is not one,
but twelve artificial intelligences, each housed in a device disguised as a cargo
trailer (originally these devices were stored in the facility Mononobe found, but
they were removed, leaving behind large holes). When a selecao is removed from
the game, their trailer is scrapped, or alternately, a selacao 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.
Mr. Outside (ミスター・アウトサイド Misutā Autosaido?)
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 Saizō Atō (亜東 才 蔵 Atō Saizō?), 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 soccer enthusiast, Saizo's inspiration for the Selecao name came from
"Seleção", the portuguese word for selection and a common nickname of Brazil's
national team.

[edit] 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.[1][2] 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.[4] In March 2009,
it was also announced that the series would premiere on noitaminA on April 9, 2009.[9]
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.[10]

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.
[11]
The studio originally planned for a second season but decided instead that a pair of
movies would be better.[12]

[edit] 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

[edit] 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.[13] 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.[14] 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.[15][16][17]

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,[18][19][20] while Carl Kimlinger rated it a 5 out
of 5.[21] 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."[18] 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."[19] 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."[20]
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."[21]