Anime Review - Higashi no Eden Series [Spoilers] - Morals and Dilemmas of Saving a Country with 10 Billion Yen

"If you had 10 billion Yen, what would you do with it?"

Recently I finished watching the Higashi no Eden Series, which consists of a TV series of 11 episodes, and 2 movies which are sequels to the TV series. Chika Umino is responsible for the original character creation and Kenji Kamiyama is responsible for the original story. To summarise, the story involves multiple members of society who are given a mobile phone, in which contains 10 billion Yen, that is used to "save Japan". The story primarily focuses on Number 9 - Akira Takizawa, and a Japanese (Saki Morimi) who happen to encounter the former, with no memory of why he was there and why he has a phone loaded with 10 billion Yen. As the story progresses, we learn more about the game and also other characters who too are forced into the game.

Story (8/10):

The story was somewhat captivating, and takes a slight deviation from your typical "game". In this story, the characters are given complete freedom of what they do with the money and how they can "save" Japan. As the story progresses, viewers understand the facets of the reality, the vast difference between the characters, and each player's idea of "serving justice and cleansing society". I have been reading some of the reviews on MAL, and I was somewhat confused by people's comments about how "open-ended" the story was. For me, the story ended on a good note (maybe people were kinda sad that Saki and Akira didn't meet up again). 

However, I must agree that there were several flaws in the storyline.  Like many other viewers and the characters themselves, I too asked the question - "Can individuals really save a country 'full of NEETS'  with 10 billion yen?", and why did Mr Outside just randomly choose people because it was pretty obvious that some of the players had no interest in saying Japan and wanted to further benefit themselves. The idea of the "game" is cool but it holds no ground in reality (or even in anime terms). If Mr Outside really wanted to save Japan, he would have chose specific people like Takizawa, Number One and the doctor. But perhaps I am too judgemental and should focus on what is defined as "saving Japan". One can conclude that the doctor has already saved Japan, and I agree with that, and that's why the early end of his involvement in the game signifies how he has already saved Japan. If one looks from this perspective, perhaps we can further understand that each of the Selecaos may have saved Japan - e.g. Number 11 (killing rapists/pedos), Number 4 (he tries to saves Japan as cop but realises how naive it is to save a country with just 10 billion yen). And from there, we can  somewhat "sympathesize" (not really to be honest -pretty scummy) with some of the characters who are benefiting themselves. However the lack of development and introduction about the characters is what made viewers unhappy. There were even two players were not even revealed to us (the fk???)

One main flaw was how Takizawa regains his memories after he asks Juiz to make him the king of Japan and disappears under a new identity. Another flaw was that not all Selecaos were not shown, and a lot of them had little to no back story about them, other than Number 1. Also, there was a slight flaw near the end of the second movie where "Mr Outside" declares a winner and ends the game, resulting in memory wipes of all players who were with their phones. If so, how did Takizawa retain his memory? The story just informs the reader that he retains his memory because he was exposed to the memory wipes before. That is a plausible statement, and can suggest why he regains his memory of him being Takizawa after the events in the TV series, in the first movie. Nevertheless that is why a score of 8 was given, there were notable flaws that viewers identified. Even though it didn't make the anime a worse experience, some may found it distasteful.

Characters (8/10):

All the characters were likable, and I really liked the characters in the group "Eden of the East" (lol *roll credits). The two main characters Saki and Akira were not the amazing and interesting characters, but one can say that Akira has really made an impression on me. Akira can be described as a selfless realist, as shown during throughout the movie and explicitly discussed during his encounter with Mr Outside before the game. As revealed later in the movie, it was implied that he was the only one in the game who did not ride in a taxi with Mr Outside. 

Another character who I found interesting was Number 1, and his tactics to save Japan. It is obvious that he is a very patriotic individual, who just wants to save the country, which is a major distinction from most of the other Selecaos (The Doctor is the only other characters who "saved" Japan before the game ended). For me, it was a really disappointing development of his character - he was basically seen as a bad guy even though there were signs that imply that he was a villain. However there was evidence of such that he was a good character - he rarely spent the money from his phone until later when he truly wants to win the game, he reveals to Takizawa about the "game" and his past.

Sound (7/10):

The OP and ED were not amazing, but they weren't bad either. Nothing much to comment other than it's a decent/good production.

Art (8/10):

I like it when artists distinguish themselves from others and the art is uniquely beautiful. Chika Umino certainly does that in this anime and with her other works (Honey and Clover, Sangatsu no Lion). However, I must say that the art in this probably fully coordinated by her because there is a big contrast between the art of this work and her other works. However, the art of this anime is not bad for its time, so kudos.

Enjoyment (8/10):

The series as a whole was generally captivating and while some parts of the series had little progression (e.g. the first movie), there were times where the revelation and progression of the story was handled well. 

Overall (8/10):

Higashi no Eden may not be evaluated higher compared to Chika Umino's other works, but a different venture with another author to produce Higashi no Eden proved to be somewhat fruitful. The story was generally handled well and there were not many moments where I was dumbfounded (perhaps being critical of how some complications were resolved).  Would I recommend this anime? Yes, because it is definitely not disappointing and it's better than your average psychological "game" anime.