Oh boy, why is Saki so gloomy and depressed throughout this episode? I found her likable in the first few episodes but over the last two episodes, I find her overly sensitive and emotional. Her sister and Ryousuke are nice to her and yet she's still so gloomy. Does she prefer them to ill-treat her?Poor Oosugi! I really feel sympathetic towards him. He tries his best to be nice to Saki and get her attention, but in the end, he still gets forgotten and ignored. To make things worse, he appears to be the next target of the Selecao woman. I guess he might be killed in the next episode, though I certainly hope it doesn't happen!Anyway, it's great to know that Akira did not kill all those NEETs, but instead sent them to Dubai for rehabilitation. I feel that Akira should have asked that NEET more about his past. That NEET seems to know something since he appears not surprised to know that Akira has his memories erased.Mini SummaryIn a hotel, a woman wakes up and realizes that there’s a dead body. Since she is a Selecao, she calls Juiz and asks her to take care of it. On the other hand, Akira is pondering over the game and is frustrated at Mr Outside. Then, by chance, a guy who he doesn't recognize, recognized him. The guy yells at Akira for leaving him and others in a desert, causing them to go through a lot of hardships. However, when he realizes that Akira doesn’t have his memories anymore, he lets it all go. He then reveals that he’s getting married next month, and although he doesn’t understand why Akira sent them to Dubai, he attributes his social rehabilitation to it.Over at the bakery, Saki is helping out before she sets off for her interview. Ryousuke has baked cookies that look like her. He tells her that she doesn’t have to push herself and that they’ll take care of her until she finds what she really wants to do. However, Saki doesn’t want to trouble them, and his kindness is painful for her. On the train, Saki bumps into Oosugi. He asks Saki out for a meal after her interview, and Saki agrees.Meanwhile, Akira is on the phone with Juiz and she misinterprets one of Akira’s examples and makes the Japanese Prime Minister say 'gyafun' in front of the legislature on live television. Akira then realizes he hasn't read the message from Saki. He writes Saki a mail apologizing and asking to see her, but she doesn’t reply as she's going for her interview. Akira is worried that she's angry and so he decides that he should go apologize to her personally. To do that, he asks Juiz for her location.As for Saki's interview, it's a failure. The interviewer is not impressed with her 'safe' opinion on the missile attack and ends the interview early. He asks her to have lunch in the company cafeteria and Saki thinks of it as an invitation. She waits for an hour but no one shows up. Eventually, someone walks to her and 'accidentally' spills beef don on her. Saki goes to the restroom to clean up and when she's in one of the cubicles, she overhears two office ladies talking about her being dense and how the beef don was intentional.Saki leaves the interview place, feeling depressed. To her surprise, Akira is waiting outside. Forgetting about her promise with Oosugi, she leaves with Akira on his motorcycle. Just as Oosugi is walking towards the interview place to meet Saki, Akira's motorcycle goes past him. Akira stops by a boardwalk, and Saki starts sharing with him about her vexation, disappointment and pain. She feels that she can’t go home anymore even though she loves her sister, her niece, and Ryousuke. In response, Akira surprises Saki by kissing her and he offers to take on all her burdens. Now, he feels that he understands what he has to do to save Japan.Meanwhile, a heartbroken Oosugi is eating and drinking in a high class restaurant with his underclassman. After dinner, feeling drunk and frustrated, he clumsily walks around in the rain, unaware that the Selecao woman is approaching him.PicturesThis woman is a Selecao. She uses her money to take care of the men she kills. (=.=)||One of the NEETsSaki bread!Saki bumps into Oosugi on the train.The Prime Minister utters 'gyafun'. What the hell is 'gyafun'?Saki's interview turns out to be a failure.Poor Oosugi!Saki confides in Akira.Chuu~~After listening to Saki, Akira seems to have an idea what to do to save Japan.Poor Oosugi seems to be the next target of the Selecao woman.
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

After the revelations about the Seleção system came thick and fast in episode four, this week's instalment of Eden of the East switches much of its focus to Saki, although not before introducing us to another Seleção as well as giving us another clue as to what Akira did with all of those NEETs.The new Seleção in question is a female who appears to be somewhat mentally unbalanced, waking up with
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

Every Saki scene: My reaction: If I have to see Saki’s pathetic, hang-dog, self-defeating, high-school crush angst, perma-depressed face again I’m going to claw my eyes out. She’s the biggest waste of digital ink since Taiga Aisaka. Oh and for standing up Ohsugi, may a thousand beef bowls descend upon a thousand of her dresses. In other news, I don’t like killer-model Kuroha’s voice. It doesn’t strike me as very… pretty.
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

Eden of the East - noitaminA, Ur Doing It Right I’ve been thinking about this post by Danny Choo (shudder) lately and this subsequent analysis too. If all that business is tl;dr for you, effectively the gist is that the Japanese public is recognizing the fact that the anime industry is in a state of decline and that poor quality - specifically the proliferation of crap moe and eroge titles - is to blame. I think this is an issue that’s been on a lot of people’s minds lately. Maybe I’ve always taken it for granted, assuming that the majority of anime is not being produced for my demographic (24 years old and female) and being grateful for whatever gem I can dig up each season. I don’t have expectations of finding more than a handful of shows each year that satisfy my particular tastes (although my recent expansion into shounen sports anime has provided me with a bit more fodder, like the brilliant Cross Game and Hajime no Ippo). Like most women my age, I lean toward josei titles that treat love and relationships as well as issues of identity and career through a more mature lens. This doesn’t mean I don’t still enjoy great shows like ToraDora! that happen in a high school setting, but I do prefer watching characters closer to my own age in shows like Nodame, Honey and Clover, Hataraki Man, NANA and now Eden of the East. 4 out of 5 of the above shows aired in Fuji TV’s noitaminA block, which appears to have a mandate of appealing to audiences beyond the Danny Choo’s of this world. Along with Paradise Kiss, Genji and Moyashimon which I’ve been meaning to watch, I was slightly shocked to realize I’ve seen a disproportionate chunk of shows from this timeslot. I guess that means its format is really working. Although I felt Eden of the East, noitaminA’s current offering, was getting off to a bit of a slow start I have to admit by episode 5 that I’m completely hooked. It’s so rare to find a show with quality production vals (really loving the animation and soundtrack) that caters to my demographic and I really appreciate it. This episode had a compelling mixture of political intrigue and career/relationship dramas that I found utterly riveting. I really feel for Saki in her struggle to find a meaningful place for herself despite her unrequited love for her brother-in-law and her youth which puts her at a disadvantage in society. Her personal crises, Akira’s singular situation of arbitrary empowerment and the plight of all the NEETs marginalized by society resonate together in the question: with all odds against them, how can the young adults of Japan negotiate their place in a corrupt and rotting society that disenfranchises them and somehow save their own dieing world? The industry may be in decline, but I’m still grateful that through the decaying heaps of filler anime comes a thought-provoking show like this one.
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

Not much action this time round but plenty of emoing certainly. Action takes a back seat as we return our focus to the Saki and Akira dynamic.
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

Episode 3 What’s happening: Akira and Saki visit the mall that he bought before his memories were erased. There, while she watches a movie, the detective mugs Akira for his special phone. He later finds that he cannot use it and ends up returning it. The dichotomy of  Akira in the past and present is very interesting. [...]
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

This episode was a typical building-up episode, but it definitely added some extra intrigue to this series. Most of the episode was about Saki’s first interview, but we also get to see two more of the Selecao: Number One and a strange woman whose number we don’t get to see and who seems to be [...]
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

Summary: Saki returns home, avoids helping her sister Asako at Sangetsu Breads, and wishes she could poach her brother-in-law, Ryousuke. Oosugi Satoshi has calling like crazy, and he finally reaches Saki and volunteers to accompany her to her interview tomorrow. After hanging up on the poor guy, Saki then sends a pathetic text to [...]
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

rape time
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

I can think of about a dozen different reasons to give that could explain why I haven’t posted anything in so long once again, but I presume that would probably be pretty boring. Surprisingly, one of the reasons is not school oriented (even if that does take one of the spots for main reasons), but [...]
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

The Seleção logo/emblems are really neat. I wonder how long until someone recreates one as a Halo 3 emblem. Dang, I just depressed myself. So are you watching Eden of the East yet? Because you should be. I know it’s really easy now a days to pick out a couple of Shakespeare quotes and drop terms like [...]
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

What a surprise! I never thought that the Supporter is one of the Selecao. After last week's episode, I thought that Kondo's wife may be a Supporter and each Selecao had their own Supporter. So, the fact is Kondo was suspecting Akira to be the Supporter. Well... my guesses were way off. (xOx)The whole Selecao system set up by Mr Outside seems interesting and exciting. However, I think that it's also a cruel system as only one of the twelve can survive. It seems more like a 'Survivor' game than a 'Save Japan' game. I was feeling a little sad to know that Hiura would be killed by the Supporter. I think to use the money for the good of the elderly is a real good thing.Since the whole Selecao system has been explained, the only questions left are why Akira erased his own memories and what was he doing before he erased his memories?Mini SummarySaki returns home and the first person she sees is her sister’s husband Ryousuke and he expresses how glad he is that she’s home safely.Meanwhile, Akira calls Juiz to ask her about the 20,000 NEETs, however, she does not know much. All she can confirm is that he's the one who gathered them. When Akira asks her about the Supporter, she explains that the Supporter is one of the 12 Selecao who is assigned with the responsibility of removing those who are unfit to be a Selecao. Akira then remembers what Kondou had said to him and decides to look at the purchase history of one of the Selecao. With Juiz’s help, he's able to find out that this Selecao is located in a hospital.When Akira is riding on his motorcycle, he passes by an area where one of the missiles hit. He then looks down from the edge of the highway and jumps into the hole. As he jumps, he sees himself landing unscathed and a group of white figures emerging from the electronic screens, which are in a pile of rubble. The white figures jump towards him and Akira recognizes them as Johnny. Akira is initially happy to see them but when they start hurting him, he scolds and scares them off. Then, he regains his senses and realizes that he did not jump into the hole at all.Back at Saki’s room, she's lying on the bed and thinking of Akira. After a little hesitation, she decides to send him a message expressing her concern.Akira has arrived at Hiura General Hospital, and he asks the receptionist about the purchase of an MRI machine. The receptionist thinks that the person who bought the machine might be Chief Physician. Since Akira doesn’t have an appointment, he decides to leave his phone number and a message identifying him as a Selecao. While waiting, Akira picks up a magazine to read. An old man walks past, throws the magazine away and comments that Hiura is their savior. Akira then receives a message from Saki, but before he can read it, he gets a phone call from Selecao No. V, who thinks that Akira is the Supporter. He says that he does not mind being killed, but he's unwilling to die when he's still got some money left. Selecao No. V does not know about Akira's past, but he's willing to help Akira by telling him how he came to posses the phone. Selecao No. V then asks his nurse to bring Akira some medicine. The medicine causes Akira to lose consciousness, and when he wakes up again, he finds himself in an empty room. Near him, there's a small robot which presents Akira with his phone. The phone rings and the caller is someone who introduces himself as Mr Outside. He explains that he chose twelve people to save this country and they are called Selecao. One of them is the Supporter who comes into action when one of the other Selecao does not fulfill the expectation of being a Selecao. Only Mr Outside knows who the Supporter is, and he won’t say if Akira is the Supporter or not. Mr Outside also reveals that the Selecao are not allowed to refuse their mission and they all each have 10 billion yen credited into their mobile phones and they are allowed to use it in any way they think can help to save the country. He also goes on and talk about penalties. In this 'game', death is a guaranteed for those who abandon their mission and try to escape, those who don’t use the mobile phone for a long period of time and don’t achieve any results, those who use the money for their own desires rather than for national interests, and finally, those who run out of money before having the country saved. In the end, only the Selecao who accomplishes the mission gets to live.After the explanation by Mr Outside, Hiura appears in the room. He explains that he put Akira to sleep because he had to go through a prefectural assembly, and he was afraid that Akira's the Supporter. As a Selecao and a doctor, Hiura has done many things to help the senior citizens in the country. However, Hiura knows that all that he had done is only his personal ideal and does not meet Mr Outside's expectations. Unfortunately for Akira, Hiura does not know anything about Akira's past, but he does know that Akira had purchased a shopping mall in a ghost town as well as 500 freight containers and entertainment expenses for the Foreign Ministry. He comments that since Akira had intentionally erased his own past and bet on his new self, he believes that Akira is fine the way he is now.Before Akira leaves the hospital, Hiura comments on how glad he is to have met him before he dies. Hiura then calls Juiz to thank her for all she did, and moments later, a man who Hiura identifies as the Supporter enters his office. As Akira is getting ready to ride off, his mobile phone beeps, and he notices the No. V symbol fading out. Instantly, Akira knows that the Supporter is cause of it. Akira is frustrated and feels that he won’t be satisfied until he hits the guy who set all this up.PicturesSaki's sisterSaki's sister's husband (Hmm... isn't that the diver and dolphin movie poster in the background? Does that mean Saki like her sister's husband?)Akira is at the edge of the highway and...he jumps.Johnny! (Eek! Blue tongue?!)Is Saki lovesick? ♥Akira is on the phone with Selecao No. V.After taking the medication given by Selecao No. V, Akira loses his consciousness.Akira is listening to Mr Outside.While listening to Mr Outside, Akira recalls a little about his past.Selecao No. V - HiuraThe Supporter?!
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

Sorry, no promotional material I thought about doing today ;__; This scene sure is weird. It can be a symbolism for sure, since they would put it in here for the first place, we can cancel now the fact that Akira reminded the two guys about a certain movie when he drifted the motorcycle at the [...]
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

Eden of the East is a great anime for both guys and girls, we all know that. Juiz has a sexy voice yeah? Akira is naked yeah? Saki is bimbo and retarded yeah? We know there are 12 Selecao who have been selected to be modern day Jesuses, each equipped with 10 billion yen to [...]
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

Minnie: Eden of the East is updated and I’m ready here to talk about it to you! I must say, thanks to that awesome Akira/Saki couple, I really enjoy this anime. Granted, I like the other aspects of it too from the mysteries to the storytelling, but come on, Akira/Saki are really the ones that [...]
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

Oh dear, I think I’m also smitten by Juiz. She’s like your very own personal 24 hour cybersex hotline where you can just dial and go “Emm, talk dirtaay to meeh, Juiz….”, where she’ll then proceed to oblige your noblesse if you know what I mean…. I think I just pre-leaked. That’s right, even for [...]
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

She sounds so sexy/flirtatious in episode 4. I know that it’s possible to fall in love with someone’s voice… but man, we’ve not even seen Juiz yet! I do hope she is as pretty/sexy/cool in person as she sounds. And yes, Eden of the East is now on top of my Must-Watch list of this [...]
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

Wow, with this episode I no longer care that I picked up a series when I’m behind on another 4. I can really say I love this series so much, this episode took it a turn for the awesome and I really enjoyed this episode. Though I will agree, it could have used more Saki, [...]
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

Thus far, Eden of the East is one of those rare series where I've actually enjoyed reading the writings of others over 'Blogging about episodes myself - It's been fascinating to watch the musings, predictions and eagle-eyed discoveries of others away from my own attempts at balancing conjecture, synopsis and relatively spoiler-free discussion.In essence, episode four of Eden of the East finally
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta