blog好き

Oct 27 2010

Categories: eden of the east
Tagged: eden of the east

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“May you continue to be a beloved king, instilling hope and fear in your subjects.”

So I joked on Twitter recently that for me there’s two types of posts I write. There’s the GIRI posts that I feel like I should write. These are probably most of this blog. As a writer, you know when you have that special inspiration. Most of the time… you don’t, so you just plug on through and rave about meido, traps, and OH GEASS NO moments. Other times, you get inspired. You know when something special is afoot, and the typing just won’t stop. These are the HONMEI posts. But there’s a third kind. The post you don’t know if you should write. Is there a class of chocolates for “I probably shouldn’t give her these chocolate truffles, but I am anyway”?

I feel like Paradise Lost fits that third category. It is a stark reminder of good times we once had. Maybe that’s what’s wrong with it. The good times? They’re no longer here. It’s also something that is written about a bit already, so unless I felt I could bring something new and fresh to the table, why bother writing a post? I could be rooting through the cobwebs of the internet for more K-On! sidetail images instead.

Looking back on Eden of the East, it was mostly a talking series. Gunshots, car chases, and Johnnies being cut off were the exception to the rule. I felt the ending to the TV series was perfect (well, I would have had Taki kiss Saki at the end, but that’s just my bent… I’m also the same guy who wanted Lulu to kiss Suzaku after he penetrates him) since it incorporated all the major aspects of the series: the bookend missile attacks that start and end the series (circular plot 4tw!), the Eden program used in conjunction with Juiz to counter the vile plot, and Taki becoming a hero of heroes with Saki’s help. All important points. And they’re all tragically missing from Paradise Lost.

The series is named Eden of the East after the sci-fi augmented reality smartphone app. It was genius! You take technology in its infancy today and ask how could you tell a story about it… well, the original TV show was about that. You had this program that seemingly did nothing but look for lower prices or to stalk some girl you like, but you end up using it to save the world via cloud sourcing. Brilliant! Not only that, the power of many defeated the power of one (the ones who launched the missile). Excellent! Only, there was no such thing in Paradise Lost. Eden was never used. In its place is a Skype-ish program (whut?) that… well… doesn’t really tickle my imagination. VOIP is something new in 2025? But good job by Pants for whipping up a VOIP program that runs across all app phone platforms and installs itself a la a virus. (Okay, okay… they used the program once on Taki’s dog. But they used the namesake program on the dog before. How do I know it’s not a cached image?) That to me is a letdown.

(The thing is… the original TV series left way too unexplained. Yes, a lot of cool stuff were being done, but we felt like there’s a whole backstory. And now? We got the backstory. We got Juiz explained. We got Mr. Outside. We got the conspirators. We saw the Wizard of Oz. It’s not the movie is terrible, it’s Production IG being terrible in not making this a twenty-six episode series with the exposition of the movie sprinkled within the TV series and ending with the Eden vs. missile clash. But that’s just me. In other news, I believe the following studios need to hire me as a common sense czar: Kyoto Animation, Production IG, Shaft, JC Staff, and Manglobe. Sunrise, you’re not on the list because common sense will only doom you.)

I relentlessly attacked Saki for being frumpy, but I never questioned her usefulness a la Marina Ismail. She’s the ultimate buff for Taki. There’s always a great woman behind a great man, since she’s the one nagging him to become better. That’s Saki in a nutshell. (Okay, okay, she doesn’t nag, she supports, but, hey, nag works better as a joke.) Only, she’s completely marginalized in this movie performing a fetch quest and spending very little time with Taki. In fact, I think Hirasawa was more useful than her which is just outrageous. Instead, the movie becomes Taki’s quest to save Japan and Saki’s quest to kiss Taki. Ugh. I also didn’t like her admission that Taki never spoke to her again after the kiss… we’re supposed to believe Taki’s this dependable savior of Japan, yet he completely abandons the person who cares for him most? He keeps his promise to beat-up Mr. Outside, but doesn’t keep his promise to see Saki? At least Kamina died so he couldn’t keep his!

(I believe Taki stayed away from Saki for her own good. He is a full-on criminal now, and he doesn’t want to drag her down with him. Noble. I can see that. Still makes it bittersweet. You know who’s happiest with this development? Osugi.)

(I also think he sent Saki on the useless fetch quest as a way to keep her out of harm. That’s how I read it instead of “the writers couldn’t come up with anything better for her to do than stand around and look frumpy.”)

Though part of me wonders if they’re setting this up for a sequel. Or as a prequel to Ghost in the Shell. I don’t know. But I enjoyed the story. I enjoyed an anime that properly uses app phones properly. I enjoyed the political intrigue. I just didn’t enjoy how I get this feeling the story could have been presented better. The other Seleção were too mysterious in motives, and Mononobe’s checkmate of Taki was never revealed.

Nonetheless, I don’t care. The thing about this movie… I wasn’t bored. I wanted to see what happened next. I didn’t check my own app phone for tweets, e-mails, or texts. I didn’t start browsing for funny cat pictures. I wanted to watch the movie. Was I disappointed that it wasn’t better? Yes. But did I feel it wasn’t a satisfying conclusion. No. In the end, we got what we wanted. We got Taki coming out the victor. (He said it himself. Only the winner gets to meet Mr. Outside.) We got Saki finally kissing Taki. (Corny, cheesy, but, hey, we wanted it.) We got most of the problematic Seleção taken care of. (Even if Mononobe’s death reminded me of a scene from High School of the Dead). And we got Taki being Taki. (Loved how he won by guessing? that he needed to wipe his memory to win. Remember, when asked before why he’d wipe his memory, he said that he needed to do it to win. I think this shows the writing staff at least had everything planned out.)

But I think we’re disappointed that there weren’t more Johnnies cut off or more missiles or more swordfights. Come on! It’s Eden of the East. It’s never been about that. It’s always been about how one man can change a society… and Taki proved there’s already a lot of momentum in society, but missiles, giant robots, and other flashiness aren’t the way to solve the problems. That’s the heart of the series. How one man can’t change the world. But many can.

(But you know what? I’m disappointed. Not because of how it ended, but because it ended. I say that about all enjoyable anime I watch. I just hope we could get a harem remake… Juiz could fulfill Ikaros’ or Belldandy’s role in any romantic fanservice harem series with Taki as the lead. Production IG, at least mull this over. Call me when you’re ready to go ahead on this idea. I’ll be waiting for your text.)

When I become an eighty year old taxi cab driver, I want my own army of “Ball Girls”.

What a great view. Of One World Trade Center I mean. I like how the NYC skyline is restored in this series… judging by progression of work thus far on One World Trade Center, I project Eden of the East to occur sometime between 2025 and 2035. There’s no way the site would be done by 2020 at this pace.

(Judging from the sunset, Kuroha must be residing in Brooklyn. This is the type of insightful, new, and fresh analysis you’ve come to expect from blog好き.)

I’m going to rename my iPhone “Johnny”… “jason’s iphone” is just too boring.

Disappointing movie? Yes. But the movie is a fitting end to the series, even if it feels like the series doesn’t want to end. We’re not satisfied with how the resolution came to be (i.e. Taki did not save Japan) nor are we satisfied that anything great happened. But it filled in the missing blanks. The movie almost felt like the writers just ran out of steam. They had checkboxes to check at the end like Mononobe dead, dog returned, Saki and Taki bid each other goodbye, and Mr. Outside outed as a character straight out of Crazy Taxi.

But more disappointing this is the end of this franchise. It was a great ride. I enjoyed it. I didn’t want it to end. I wanted them to add in ridiculous filler a la Lost and go into the details of the other 11 Seleção much like how I wanted more backstory in Angel Beats. But we’re done. No more Johnnies. No more Juiz. No more awesome Production IG animation. No more frumpy outfits. Noblesse oblige.