Eden of the East: The King of Eden

Genre: Mystery/Romance/Drama
Format: 1 Movie
Allegiance: Production I.G
Director: Kenji Kamiyama
Vintage: 2009
Intelligence Agency Report by: Drake
Six months after the events of Eden of the East, Morimi Saki finds herself back in America to hunt for Takizawa Akira, who has been missing ever since. However, the other Selecao have not been sleeping, but instead making their moves to take center stage. Some of these bids by different Selecao to win the game could be deadly for Takizawa, whilst others strive to paint a better image of Japan in their liking. One thing is for sure: the game hasn’t ended yet.

Field Agent Report by: Drake
Plot
Characters
Impact
Visual
Audio
5.00
7.00
6.00
10.00
9.00
Overall 5.75
(not an average)

I have to say, I entered The King of Eden feeling really excited and ready to see how the story of Eden of the East unfolds. However, around the halfway mark, I began feeling a sense of disappointment at the lack of plot progression. By the end of the movie I was so disappointed that even now I haven’t had the heart to really watch the concluding movie. I might go back at a later time and watch it, just to say that I finished the story, but I won’t have the same enthusiasm that I had entering this movie.

To start off, The King of Eden movie is for all intents and purposes the middle of an ongoing story. Eden of the East is part one, The King of Eden, part two, and the conclusion is Paradise Lost. I knew this entering the series, and I was prepared for more of the same suspenseful, captivating, and mysterious feel. However, I was not prepared for the weak and redundant plot given in the stead of what could have been just as amazing as the series. The repeated use of Takizawa Akira’s amnesia and help from Saki was all very familiar from the TV show, and it added nothing to enrich the story. The characters all stayed pretty much unchanged; Saki is still not as engaging as she could be, while Takizawa loses a large portion of the mystery that shrouded him in the show. This is largely due to the atmosphere of the movie losing a sense of urgency, while everything builds up for the next movie in the series.

There is some good in this predicament, however. The King of Eden keeps the same high quality animation from the series. The renderings of scenery and background are simply beautiful, especially the New York City locations. The music, I’m happy to report, is also still on par with that of the show, meaning superb!

Unfortunately, The King of Eden leaves me in an awkward position. On one hand, I can’t really recommend the movie to those who have never seen its predecessor, which I again urge everyone to watch. On the other hand, I know fans of the show will probably not like this movie as much; however, I’m hopeful that Paradise Lost will come out swinging hard. So my recommendation, fans of the series, is to watch the movie and bear through it in hopes of a better sequel.