Pop quiz you suddenly wake up standing in front of the White House holding a phone to your ear and a gun in the other hand, what do you do? What do you do man?! Hurry lives are on the line! Well obviously the first thing you do is go help the girl across the street, who seems to be having a dispute with the local police. I mean come on people the answer was right in front of you.

At least this was the case for the protagonist, Akira Takizawa, when he first awoke to find himself stark naked in front of the White House, with no memory of who he was and nothing to his name but a hand gun and an odd cellphone. Oh and a balance of 8.2 billion yen in digital cash stored on his phone; did I forget to mention that?

That being said, I would like to welcome you to my first anime breakdown. Here’s how I plan to do things, I will be going over the first episode of the series for each breakdown; which includes the opening plot, first impression characterizations and then lastly my opinion on the overall originality of the show in its entirety. This week I will be going over the series Eden of the East. Here is a small trailer I have made detailing the major plot of the series:

Story:

So you have a mysterious benefactor, Mr. Outside, who suddenly decided one day that he was fed up with the chaotic disarray Japan was spiraling towards. Therefore he devised a master plan to assemble a err… crack team of specialists to tackle the national interest of restoring the country to glory. By crack team I mean he must of actually been on crack when developing this roster. But Mr. Outside insists that every person chosen is fully capable of achieving his goals.

But lets just skip this whole mystery thriller theme I’ve been building you all up on for now. Instead we’re joining Saki Morimi who has recently arrived in America for her graduation trip to New York City. Before returning home to Tokyo, Saki wanted to make a final detour to Washington DC, as she has always pictured this place as the center of the world (I’m willing to bet an American taught her this). Eventually Saki arrives in front of the gates of the White House, now thinking about this next part very thoroughly I’m sure, she attempts to make a wish in the fountain located in the front lawn of the White House. So she tosses her coin with all her strength and… doesn’t even get half way, to add insult to injury two police officers notice the suspicious foreign girl throwing things at the White House. Obviously shes in a lot of trouble. But no worries because moments later Akira Takizawa comes strolling in to save the day. Still completely naked and swinging a gun around like a madman. The cops now obviously decide to deal with this larger threat, taking the heat off Saki and after some nimble maneuvers to out run the police our hero comes in to check on the damsel in distress; yes still naked. Out of gratitude for rescuing her (pretty sure there was some fear in there too) she gives Takizawa some clothes to cover up, starting with… a hat then… a scarf and finally oh okay a long coat there that actually helps. Takizawa thanks her for her kindness and before leaving wipes his finger prints off the gun and throws it into the White House lawn, smart. But wait a minute, this naive girl has no idea how to travel as she has given him her passport which was inside her coat pocket.

Flash to Takizawa’s POV, while running off in his ridiculous attire he pretty much just now realizes he has no idea what is going on. In attempt to search for answers Takizawa searches for clues on the mysterious cell phone. He finds an odd button and when pushed is immediately greeted by a woman named Juiz, claiming to be his personal concierge. Takizawa desperately pressures Juiz for answers but she only explains that he has wiped his memory of his own free will and does not have any answers on why. Juiz then gives him directions to the address he is currently living at and signs off by saying to him “I pray for your continuing service as a savior.” With his goal in mind Takizawa makes a break for his apartment, while trying to remain as inconspicuous as man dressed in nothing but a girl’s hat, scarf and coat can. Once he arrives at his apartment he notices that something is a little off, in that it looks like terrorist lives here. Finding loads of guns, ammunition and fake passports. Fearing that he actually might be a terrorist he frantically starts to get dressed in order to flee again, but suddenly there’s a knock at the door. Approaching carefully with gun in hand he peers through to see who it is. And it’s none other than Saki Morimi who has been desperately tailing him this entire time in order to get her passport back. However she is not alone, further police forces begin to arrive with the idea in mind that the foreign girl and naked man are in cahoots.

Takizawa decides it’s time to leave America now, telling Saki he’ll gladly give her passport after he gets dressed. Inside Takizawa compares Saki’s passport to find a believable identity for Tokyo and ends up using, you guessed it, the one with the name Akira Takizawa. He then disposes of all the other passports by burning them in the toaster and joins Saki explaining that hes coming with her to Tokyo. Once getting to the airport the two start to connect a little more and Saki asks the one question I’m sure you’re all asking, why was he naked? But like he knows his memories been wiped remember? So he jokes about him being a terrorist because you know maybe he is maybe he isn’t, so might as well have fun with it and being in an airport seems like the perfect place to break out that brand of humor. Saki however just takes the whole thing to being a practical joke. Before leaving Saki mentions that she came to America for some stability in her life, as she feels Japan has been chaotic lately. This statement becomes more evident when an emergency news bulletin announces that Japan has been attacked by 2 missiles. End of episode 1.

Characters:

Originality:

Well the plot of a mysterious protagonist with no memories of his past life is hardly original, but every idea has been done to death already anyways. I do like the idea of how would you make this country better if given the resources and power to do so though. This show emphasizes a look at problems from the common man, not some big political icon. I don’t really have much to say negatively about this show. It has a great plot that keeps you on the edge of your seat, but doesn’t try to be too serious and has some very funny moments. With that said I welcome any comments from people who may of seen this series or have questions on it and for those of you who haven’t seen it I strongly recommend it.

My resources for this article were obviously:

• The series of Eden of the East
• ambient sounds 13.mp3 by burning-mir
• Futuristic Imagination by School food punishment