Higashi no Eden Movie I: The King of Eden

After preventing Japan's destruction, Akira Takizawa made one final request to become the "King of Japan," before he erased his memories once again and disappeared. Leaving Saki Morimi with his cellphone, the only clue she has in regards to Akira's whereabouts is the message, "I'll be waiting where our journey started."

Six months later, rumors have spread about Akira, and Saki's search leads her to New York City. However, Saki is not the only person who goes to investigate—with several billion yen burning a hole in their pockets and a challenge to "save Japan," the remaining Seleção are not far behind. Some are willing to help Akira achieve his goals, but a few are making dangerous moves in order to eliminate him and achieve their own picture of a better Japan. With rising stakes and new revelations, the game is still on.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Takizawa, Akira Main

Kimura, Ryouhei Japanese

Morimi, Saki Main

Hayami, Saori Japanese

Shiratori, Kuroha Supporting

Igarashi, Rei Japanese

Mameshiba Supporting

Katsuhara, Mikuru Supporting

Saitou, Ayaka Japanese

Juiz Supporting

Tamagawa, Sakiko Japanese

Itazu, Yutaka Supporting

Hiyama, Nobuyuki Japanese

Hirasawa, Kazuomi Supporting

Kawahara, Motoyuki Japanese

Ohsugi, Satoshi Supporting

Eguchi, Takuya Japanese

O-nee Supporting

Saitou, Kimiko Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Yamamoto, Kouji Producer

Ishii, Tomohiko Producer

Kawaguchi, Tooru Producer

Reviews

Apr 25, 2010

Ian-sama

Recommended

After hearing mixed reviews I wasn't sure what to expect from The King of Eden. I'm a huge fan of the first season and was really eager to see the continuation of the storyline.

Story
The story essentially picks up from where the first season left off. Takizawa has gone missing and the Eden members are trying to locate him.

There are a few storylines intertwined as well as new Selecao revealed and old favourites returning. I found it was steadily paced, developing the characters further and setting up what I would expect to be an action packed finale.

One of the ... storylines involving a new selecao felt a little out of place, offering comic relief at times when the movie had been trying to build suspense and intrigue.

Other people have criticised the lack of action in the King of Eden. I don't really have any problems with it though. The first season had action packed episodes as well as slower plot building episodes. The movie is perhaps more of the latter, however I'm eagerly looking forward to Paradise Lost!

Art
The art is great. It's crisp, vibrant and very detailed. Exactly what you'd expect from Production IG. Theres alot of cool details and found myself pausing from time to time to read the selecao cell phone logs and take in a lot of the subtle details (cult movie posters etc).

Sound
Once again the sound it great, the voice work is top notch and the soundtrack complements the story without being too overpowering. I still find it amusing when an American character speaks English and Japanese character responds in Japanese, yet the seem to understand each other perfectly.

As far as the opening and ending goes, the new LEAH opening is enjoyable enough but didnt have the same kind of resonance that Falling Down had. I was glad to see School Food Punishment performing the ending theme once again though.

Overall
An enjoyable expansion to the Eden of the East universe. It feels as though the movie is more of a setup for the third movie, lacking a little in action but a must watch for Eden of the East fans.

8/10

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Jun 20, 2011

Jonnieh

Mixed Feelings

I know I gave the movie low mark, but please read the review instead of immediately voting down with fanboy rage. I am writing the review for people who haven't seen the King of Eden yet, but who've watched Eden of the East/

I begin by stating I loved the original Eden of the East. The story was fresh and the main characters were loveable. The art style was modern and realistic and the show didn't take itself too seriously, even with a political plot.

This isn't always the case with the movie.

---Story--- score: 5
As always with a movie, time is a limit, a story ... can't always be carved out with the depth afforded by a season. The King of Eden is a direct continuation of the original Eden of the East. That means it doesn't try to stand alone as a movie. It requires a lot of prior knowledge - if you haven't watched Eden of the East, stop reading now!

This need for prior knowledge is the first problem: with such a diverse cast from the first season, the movie tries to give everyone some screen time for the sake of it. Characters flit in and out for no apparent reason, all the time detracting from the dynamic between the central couple. In this respect there is very little development, if fact, I would argue that the entire movie is a zero sum game, as Takizawa has lost his memory and most rebuild a relationship again - in preparation for the movie's sequel.

The second problem is that the story feels stretched. The plot, the bits which have any meaning to the story, is quite simple, and it feels like it was one episode fleshed out in order to make money as a feature film. The movie has moments of long stills and pauses after speech. Long monologues are what's to be expected here. Don't make excuses for the movie as other reviewers did by saying things like "it's not afraid to be slow in order to develop the characters". It is clearly being slow for the sake of stretching this meandering conclusion over 3 hours.

The characters are forced to give long monologues as exposition to the plot. One particular discussion of the inheritance tax system really destroys any pacing or credibility that the film has as a non-money grabbing venture.

The third problem is partly covered above. There are unnecessary plot points popping up for no reason, much of which goes unresolved, such as a random object wielded at a playground. In addition, the story introduce another Seleção that apparently provides comic relief, but fails. The person also doesn't add any value to the plot. After watching the movie I feel empty inside as nothing of importance actually happens.

--Art-- score: 8
Not much to mention here. It is still the high standard set by the television show, with the addition of more obvious cgi that looks out of place. You can decide for yourself whether it's a sticking point that it hasn't changed from the TV series, but this is a movie base on a TV show, I liked it then and I like it now.

--Sound-- score: 5
The movie has an OP just like a regular episode, but the new opening lacks the same impact and catchiness as Oasis' Falling Down.
ED was standard.

I really enjoyed some of the background music, but why a 5? Well, the sound is great, when it's there. The music was totally and notably absent for much of the first hour of the running time. No music that would make those long awkward pauses, unnecessary cutscenes and wrist-slittingly long monologues more bearable. When it is there, for the climax, the suspenseful music is so dominating it was like watching Wagner. Bombastic music coupled with the poor dialogue about nothing in particular made certain scenes more unintentionally hilarious than gripping.

--Character-- score: 7
The cast is the same as the one we all got to know and apprecaite in the prequel. However, while it takes on the guise of an extended episode, The King of Eden is still a movie. A movie that falls into the classic trap, where other characters are paper cutouts apart from the leads. Having scenes of other characters "interacting" by talking at each other or repeating behaviour traits from the first season in a vain bid at humour does not constitute character development. What makes up for are the main characters, while there is also very little development, Takazawa and Saki are both loveable and believable, and their (re-)budding relationship is the only redeeming feature of the movie. However, their screen time is encroached on by pointless dialogue from other characters. If you were to watch this for the characters you will not be disappointed by inconsistency but rather the shallowness.

-- Enjoyment -- score:5

I've watched this twice, once by myself and again with my friends. I can tell you my friends laughed 3 times in this film. The biggest laugh came from the unintentional Engrish. It's not a bad film, it's just that after you finished you wished that you had spent your time better.

--Conclusion--

As a fan of Eden of the East, the King of Eden is a requirement for concluding the story, however, it's not necessarily enjoyable. Nonetheless, just because the movie isn't great, you should not treat watching it as a chore. The artwork is intricate and incredibly realised, and some backgrounds are worth seeing. Unfortunately, the other parts are very bad and really bring down what could have been a shorter, tighter and more focussed sequel.



I'm just starting to write reviews so any feedback would be kindly appreciated! =D, agree of disagree, just write me a comment and I'll be happy to discuss it (or any series I watched) with you.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Jul 10, 2012

aboose

Not Recommended

Higashi no Eden, the series, was original, fun, and even interesting. The series really started to gain momentum as time passed on, and by the end I was very interested in what would happen next. Sadly, this movie was a let down.

The original series definitely had some issues -- poorly done CGI effects, awful English (and I'm not even talking about the dub), and strange art decisions (Saki's eyes, for instance). All those things remain, but now they have taken away what made the original good. Higashi no Eden redeemed itself in it's interesting characterization and a plot that was pretty captivating, when it was ... comprehensible.

The movie drops all of that. Instead it focuses on the Eden of the East employees watching Saki run around trying to deal with memory-erased Takizawa all over again. As if we didn't have enough of that. Most of Takizawa's charm is lost when he loses his memory and he just doesn't act quite the same anymore. Plus, the nagging fact that he doesn't even remember anything that went on during the series (from the selecao plot to Saki to, well, anything) makes the whole thing feel like you're playing catch up. And that leads to the next point.

The plot. It's quite bad. Which is impressive because it's almost nonexistent. For some reason the writers thought it would be a good idea to introduce a time skip since the series ended, but then go ahead and do flashbacks/summary of what went on in those 6 months. So... what was the point of doing a time skip at all? Finally, once you get past all the re-cap stuff, the plot basically amounts to Takizawa remembering a little bit of his life, going on a wild goose chase, and then realizing the dire situation they are in. Then the movie ends. Yep, they finally set up the plot to move forward and then the movie ends. Oh dear, oh wow. I have to click the little rating buttons above to score "plot", and the score of "2" is "dreadful." I'd have to say that's pretty accurate.

Overall, this movie was not enjoyable. The series definitely had some interesting aspects, but the movie did not capture any of them. Standing alone it may be the most pointless thing in the Higashi no Eden universe that ever happened. 90% of it could have not been shown, and we wouldn't have missed much. The other 10% was just setup for the next movie which is pretty ridiculous.

I can only hope the next movie is better.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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Apr 4, 2010 8:47 AM by dtshyk | Discuss (40 comments)

	detail summary eden of the east arsh231 - Mar 29, 2010	5 replies	by O_OAfnaaanO_O »» Aug 29, 2:39 PM
	Poll: Higashi no Eden - Movie I: The King of Eden Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) Faust721 - Nov 30, 2009	189 replies	by sharosharo »» Jan 19, 11:34 PM
	Memory DrakensbergMist - May 1, 2014	1 replies	by xytech »» Jul 16, 2014 9:51 AM
	What is "Vintage"? SKDoesMAL - May 18, 2010	5 replies	by 5layer »» Jan 14, 2011 3:12 AM
	LEAH? Waw - Apr 22, 2010	2 replies	by XzaR »» Apr 27, 2010 12:03 PM