CoulterRail

<div>Don't get me wrong: Eden of the East is good anime. It's from the writer/director of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, so the storyline is intelligent and solid. The characters are charming and don't stink of cliché anime archetypes. The concept is interesting and I was driven to see the conclusion. So why couldn't this climb to four or five stars? Let's get to it:

***PROS***

ANIMATION
Smooth, no shortcuts or gimmicks. The backgrounds are a high point and stand out from standard anime. The battle animation and choreography look great, although battles are almost nonexistent.

CHARACTERS
The main character is funny, confident, and completely at home in his confusion. His self-assurance gives the series a lighthearted attitude that helps to keep it entertaining but also causes a problem down the road, which I'll get to. There's a hacker called "Panties" who'll come into play in the second half, and he is fantastic. The rest of the players are mildly interesting and not annoying, which seems to be hard to achieve nowadays in anime.

STORY
It's hard to touch on the story without throwing up *SPOILERS* because the whole point of the show is that the main character (Akira) has amnesia--and thus the audience should be amnesiacs, as well. We learn of this world as we go along. Akira wakes up naked outside the Capitol in Washington, DC. He has a gun, a cellphone, and no memory. The token female lead appears, and it's time to figure out what's going on. His cellphone has a ton of yen on it and an operator on call that can make pretty much anything happen. It's intriguing and enjoyable to unravel the facts of this unique world.

***CONS***

PACING
Eden of the East suffers from some pacing issues that begin around episode five. The story slows to service a romance and some curious side characters, and the casual attitude that makes Akira so likable begins to erode the seriousness that the plot is trying to form. The lag isn't terrible, but I felt myself getting bored. Worry set in that this show was going to lose its narrative or that the creators didn't have a conclusion planned at all (which anime is famous for). This story DOES HAVE A CONCLUSION, but it drifts between epic and disappointing--an odd feeling. While I can say I liked the resolution, I also felt the show deserved more.

MUSIC
The soundtrack is light, funky, and has some jazzy vocals. This quirkiness works during cute moments or when Akira is being slick, but during the intense scenes the lightness of the music undermines the gravity of the content. The missile attack finale is ruled by this music, dampening a great scene and making the end of the show feel like every other episode: charming and mildly entertaining.

Don't let my gripes dissuade you from watching this series; it's a good story and worth your time. I just expected more from the team behind this, because I knew they had the potential to create something fantastic. They created an interesting world and characters, and then moved them forward mildly. I will watch the movies and hope that they include the much-needed drama and intensity that the series is missing. Please enjoy, but don't expect action or anything more than what you start with. The story is interesting and well-conceived, but that is all.</div> <div> </div>