Eden of the East Part 4-Paradise Lost

(Originally written April 20, 2014)

 

Takizawa and Saki return to Japan only to find forces moving against them and their allies quickly.  Selecao’s Number One and Two set in motion their final plans to effectively remove Taki from the game for good.  Now the race is on to see who reaches the finish line and ends the game once and for all.  Meanwhile, Saki and the Eden of the East team, hunted by Mononobe’s people, delve into the origins of both Takizawa and the elusive Mr. Outside himself.  Can this game really be won and if so what is the grand solution…and who will be the one to come up with it?

 If a stranger handed you 10 billion Yen then said “Improve this country?” What would you do?  How would you answer him?

And with that one scenario, a spinning yarn of intrigue, deception, violence, misdirection and plenty of confusion was set in motion.  And now we’ve come to the end.  After four weeks we finally reach the conclusion of my Eden of the East coverage with Eden of the East: Paradise Lost.  I have to admit right off the bat, it took me three separate viewings of this film to finally understand much of what it was trying to say.  The films second half is more dialogue heavy in it’s execution than the rest of the series before it but it lacks the explosive, high stakes interest that drove the original series and The King of Eden to great cliffhangers.  No explosions here, it’s time to get down to some explanations.

I will say that the first half of Paradise Lost makes up for the slower paced first half of The King of Eden, mostly.  Takizawa hits the ground running, almost literally.  Eluding Mononobe and the pissed off family of the former Prime Minister whose son he claims to be, Taki hurries along with the Eden Team to secure his Juiz before Mononobe detonates it like he did with the other Selecao too close to stopping him at the end of the previous film.  There’s an energy in this chase that is up there with the conclusion of the TV series.  You can feel that the build up to the end is well in swing and we might be headed in the direction of something good.  The same, however, cannot be said for Saki, who is sent on a quest to find Takizawa’s long lost mother.  While I understand Taki’s urge to finally get some answers about his past, a quest frontloaded into The King of Eden, this story is a story element exactly like Saki, truly and utterly boring.  All she does is cry and plea for this woman to admit what she and we already know but will stay totally cryptic about.  Jumping from Takizawa hijacking his Juiz truck to Saki’s exposition heavy scenes occasionally kills the momentum, which is not what we need right now this close to the end. 

And then there is the final showdown between the great minds of Takizawa and Mononobe.  It’s fair to say that these two could have been friends and good collaborators in this confusing game.  But as Takizawa notes, Mononobe is a bit too ruthless for his tastes.  But that’s not the only confrontation we get.  We also get to meet the elusive man himself, Mr. Outside, and finally discover how Takizawa was pulled into the game.  It’s always been fascinating the players involved in this affair: from former government men, to lazy minds, to a manic filmmaker, to a gorgeous serial killer.  Takizawa has always stood out for somehow thinking outside the box and being clever with his plans, offering a rare insight no one would expect from such a young man.  It makes sense now why he was recruited and why he could be the one to win the game.  But why the urgentness?  Why the need for such extreme measures in not only facilitating the players requests but their sometimes bloody outcomes?  Why make this all more dramatic than it needed to be?  I guess it depends on the player but for a guy who started this game to make sure Japan was well taken care of after he was gone, Mr. Outside’s execution of it all does seem a bit extraneous…especially when it becomes pretty clear that players could work together to a common end without consequences to their lives…so long as they don’t want to nuke the country.

As for the game’s final move?  Like I said, I was confused through previous viewings but understand it a little better.  But for sake of spoiling anything else I’ll say that Taki does come through and a solution is found, one that will not only affect him and Japan but the other Selecao as well.  That doesn’t mean, however, that all questions are answered, especially regarding the evolving, emotional Juiz we saw in the previous film and the identities of the remaining Selecao.  I will detract points for that and say once again that another 13 episodes would have done the trick on exploring these questions rather than two feature films (though those films could have come later possibly if they still wanted to have them).

And what about Taki and Saki?  Do they get their happily ever after?  Ehhhhh…..I won’t say but given my general distaste for the boring as all Saki, if it were up to me that would be a no.

All in all, this was a fun series and in the past I’ve dreaded going back to this film after being confused by it upon first viewing.  But I find Paradise Lost to be a fitting conclusion to a great series.  It gives a good sense of finality to the long running conflict and will give fans more to discuss in later years and will warrant more viewings of the series as a whole. 

Speaking of as a whole, I’m going to give my scores now for the series, the films, then the overall venture.

Eden of the East-8.5/10

Eden of the East: The King of Eden-7/10

Eden of the East: Paradise Lost-7.5/10

The story gets you from the get go and never lets go.  The series runs at a breakneck pace for 11 episodes but slows terribly at various points in the films with needless subplots and unexplored new aspects of the characters and The Game.  Plus the show could do better with a stronger heroine who is constantly overshadowed not just by the way more interesting male lead but her other more go getter supporting cast members as well.  Saki, I may not be able to stand.  But Akira Takizawa, The Game and Eden of the East (even Ms. Kuroha hehe) well this will definitely not be my last encounter with them and maybe in a few months time, I’ll start it all over again.  Til then, this was a great series to start for this new feature on my page.