Six months following the successful derailing of another
Careless Monday, Saki heads to New York to track down a missing Takizawa. With Eden backing her up from Japan, Saki
seeks to uncover the truth behind Takizawa’s mysterious final request: to
become the King of Japan. All roads lead
to Takizawa, who has once again erased his memory and is apparently being
identified as the son of the Japanese Prime Minister. But there’s also the other Selecao to worry
about, some known and others finally showing their face for the first
time. The Game is entering its most
intense phase and the stage is about to be set for a grand finale.
Back again for the beginning of the end. Eden of the East begins it questionable move
from TV Series to two part film finale with mixed results. The film does feel bigger than the series
moving it across the ocean back to the states, New York of all places but
there’s a reason for that. However one
thing I noted while watching The King of Eden is the pacing. The film doesn’t seem to carry over any of
the momentum from the final two episodes of the series, probably the high point
so far. Instead we pick up with Saki
basically mopping about while Takizawa is in the wind. Even as Eden expands and becomes a legit
business, she is the only one not happy in the slightest. I swear and I’ve probably ranted on this
before, but Saki is the weakest part of this story despite her essential
importance to Takizawa and her friends.
Even her allies who care about Taki and consider themselves in his debt
for what he did for Eden can somehow carry on in his absence. But Saki?
No she shuts down, pushes herself away from the world and mopes
about. But when Takizawa appears on the
radar, screw you guys I’m going after him no matter the risk. There’s a difference between love and Saki
and Saki is just…I think ive ranted enough, can’t stand her, nuff said.
Thankfully Takizawa’s latest mind wipe kept his charming
personality intact. When he does show up
again, you’re happy he’s back and the mystery can resume proper. While the story about Akira Takizawa’s search
for his childhood memories does slow the film down quite a bit, the deepening
mystery of The Game and the Selecao hasn’t lost any energy. In fact, as much as I liked seeing Taki
again, I was more interested in Eden’s digging into the Selecao back in
Japan. We get a full run down of the
players thus far and even learn that not only are there plenty we haven’t seen
yet but others may not have met the fate we guessed for them. We do meet one new Selecao, Number Six, who
is hellbent of creating the ultimate romance film at the cost of Taki and
Saki’s lives…unreal. But it’s his
requests and his conversations with Juiz that lead to the films strongest
point, Juiz is evolving…I think. In the
series she was calm, collective and somewhat cheerful. When talking with Number Six, she lashes out
at his outrageous requests and back talks him hilariously. When she talks with the returning Kuroha, she
sounds sad and anxious, wondering why Kuroha has given up her Johnny snipping
to help Taki from the Shadows, believing for a moment her poor service is to
blame. Why is Juiz acting like
this? Is her programming changing itself
somehow? Due to Mononobe’s game changing
move at the end of the film which I won’t fully spoil, I will say we may never
get an answer to that question or any of the others brought up. Hence another reason I would have been ok
with an 11 episode second season, to delve deeper and expand and get to know
more about the new Selecao.
However this is only part one of the big finale. In a way, The King of Eden is more of a
continuation than a beginning of the end.
But I think making the next chapter a film and not breaking down the
story into more episodes hurts the overall pacing and though I am a bit worried
that more questions need to be answered by the end of Paradise Lost, I hold
hope that Eden of the East can deliver.
The King of Eden isn’t a bad movie, it’s just not the direction I would
have gone with for this series or if so, tighten up some plot points and dump
some others for an even bigger cliffhanger.
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