Eden of The East the Movie II: Paradise Lost

As a Higashi no Eden fan, I believe fans deserve a much better ending from writer Kenji Kamiyama. Paradise Lost went against the entire suspenseful plot of the Eden franchise in general. The mystery of the game is inexplicable. There’s no romance between the two main characters. It disappointingly concludes the Higashi no Eden series with illogical conclusions, no clarifications, and even more questions leading to cliffhangers. *The rest of the review includes minor spoilers.* This is no longer a dangerous game as it was portrayed to be. Mr. Outside makes an appearance, and he doesn’t fit the script of a criminal mastermind or an evil villain.There are last minute changes to the game in the last few minutes of the movie, and it eliminates all of the seriousness that occurred throughout the series thus far. Apart from that, the game ends without revealing the Supporter and explaining anything about how Juiz operates. As in the anime series, Takizawa ends everything with a bizarre move, and everyone wonders “What is he doing” and “Why is he doing this.” No one knows what Takizawa is thinking, and he never explains himself. Also, it ends in a goofy fashion when the series appeared to be serious. There is no happily ever after between the two main characters. Nothing changes with Takizawa and Saki, and they spend no alone time together. While Takizawa is dealing with the drama of being the successor to the throne, Saki sets off to search for his long-lost mother. After everything’s over, Takizawa and Saki basically go their separate ways again. At times like these, I would turn over to the adaptations for an alternative ending. Sadly, there is no manga in relation to Higashi no Eden, and the novels written by Kenji Kamiyama are the same as the TV series. My advice is to read reviews on Higashi no Eden II: Paradise Lost before beginning the Higashi no Eden series altogether. The series starts on a good note, but the final ending is mediocre and twists the entire plot. If you already watched the series, then you may feel the need to complete it. However, don’t get your hopes up, because the dedication that you put towards the entire series will probably result in a heartbreak.

A disappointing end to what started off as a very intriguing series. I'm sure Eden loyalists will disagree with me. After the rather uneventful first movie I expected movie 2's plot to skyrocket and reach a memorable climax, Instead we have a silly plot, personally I think the plot lost all it's credibility when the selecao began to be granted rather extreme requests e.g. "make me the king of this country" it made me wonder why on earth nobody tried to ask juiz to make them king earlier on. Takizawa seems to love wiping his memory and regaining it for no good reason other than"he doesn't want to bear the guilt of using himself as a scapegoat". At long last the elusive Mr.Outside makes his appearance except he's extremely unimpressive, he doesn't live up to his hype at all. The possibility of Takizawa being the prime-minister's illegitimate son is explored but I won't drag on about the weak plot, I'll let you guys judge it for yourselves. One thing I will mention is that the ending is left open, that's right OPEN! After the ordeal of having to wait for 2 very stagnant movies I believe that as viewers we deserved a decisive ending. To me the ending felt like more of a make-shift conclusion to a plot that had spiraled out of control, they had to wrap it up in this movie so they ended it abruptly. Nothing gets me more worked up than when good shows are given bad endings. It's almost as bad as the disappointment I felt when playing Lost Planet 2 (a game that i still pretend doesn't exist). The only thing I enjoyed about this movie was the very atmospheric soundtrack. The only reason this movie is getting a 7 from me is because it's riding on the success of the anime series, Part of me still wants to give it a 6! If you've seen the series there's no way you're not going to watch this so the only advice I can offer is not to go into it with very high expectations because they will be quashed. GOOD RIDDANCE EDEN !

Eden of the East : Paradise Lost JAP title : Higashi no Eden : Gekijouban II Paradise Lost “It’s time to draw the curtains on this game…” [ 3 MINUTE REVIEW ] With this second movie, Paradise Lost, the Eden of the East franchise comes to a close. And what a ride it has been! This movie picks up from the exact moment where the first movie finished. Akira and Saki are on a plane that’s on its way to Japan. There, they meet with the late Prime Minister’s wife and get things sorted out. Meanwhile, the other Selecao start plotting their way to victory. That’s about all I cansay without revealing any spoilers. Right, this movie is more action packed than the previous one, in a way more different than you think, because when I say action packed, I don’t mean car chases and gun fights, I mean political action. The show FINALLY realizes the magnitude of the situation and the non-existent police come to life, which speeds things up a little. The mundane and boring side characters finally have a role to play and the quick transition from the activities of Akira and his Eden buddies are really smooth. The pacing is improved, but still inconsistent. The plot is, by no means, unpredictable. You can see what’s coming from a mile away, but it’s still fun. The movie is exciting and the reason for this is because the viewer knows that after this 1 hour and 42 minutes, there will be no more Eden of the East. A lot of the questions left unanswered are finally dealt with. Although, the answers aren’t satisfactory, it was a relief to see that the producers had at least tried to tie up most of the loose ends. The ending may appear ridiculous, abrupt and stupid at first glance, but after a re-watch, things become much clearer. I repeat - If you are left confused by the ending, then you MUST re-watch this movie and even bits of the first one. That being said, the ending is still not up to the mark. The producers tried to be smart by providing a classy and sophisticated ending, but they just fail pretty miserably. The side characters themselves are as tiresome as ever, but at least this time, they have important roles to play, so they’ll keep you engaged. Saki finally shows some new emotions, but still not enough to compensate her disastrously monotonous role thus far. Akira is as eccentric as ever. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m gonna miss that crazy dude. The animation is as gorgeous as ever. Nothing more to be said here, as fans of the original series and the prequel must be aware of the stellar animation quality. Both, the OP and the ED, are done by SchoolFoodPunishment, which is really cool. The BGM for this movie is far better than the original series and the first movie and the music finally stands out. Overall, a great concept, an eccentric main character, brilliant animation and a super background score are this anime’s strongholds, but poor pacing, boring side characters and an overambitious ending pull it down. But, Paradise Lost did have a more movie feel to it than its predecessor King of Eden. The Bottom-line: This movie gets a 9 purely because it marks the end of such an innovative show (and also because I feel slightly guilty for giving the show and the first movie an 8). It goes without saying that this is a must-watch for fans of Eden of the East. This movie might not be epic and isn’t a good ending to the franchise, but it’s still watchable.

This is the end of Eden of the East, and am I happy about it? Truthfully, I am. While the series was a fairly entertaining ride the first movie was pretty pointless. Paradise Lost is the conclusion of the series, yet…doesn’t really feel concluding at all. It just felt like more nothing. It’s strange really. This series is supposed to be focused on far reaching consequences and the results that these twelve people have on the well-being of Japan, yet you don’t see much of anything really change. There’s the missiles, which changed some things, but after that it feels like all of the things thesecharacters do have no really worthwhile consequence. At the end of Paradise Lost you feel like you’ve watched nothing because of how incomplete it feels. And that’s not because the ending is lame (which it is, it is not exciting and doesn’t really make a ton of sense), but because this movie cuts off, just like the series and the last movie, without a clear ending. It’s like this is meant to be continued, but somebody realized that was not a good idea and canned the project. Like maybe there was supposed to be a third movie but the first two were so repulsive that nobody wanted a third. The hour and a half this movie takes up does have more plot progression than the previous film, but, as I said, nothing feels substantial and everything seems inconsequential. Things are happening, but none of it makes a ton of sense. There are bad guys, but none of them are any good (just as I’ve said with the past two reviews). Nothing is changed here. It’s just a bunch of nothing. And I’m sorry to hurt anyone’s feelings, but this series isn’t that smart and isn’t that good because of the fact it does nothing. Takizawa and Saki are back in Japan to end the game. They learn a bit about Takizawa’s past (Takizawa has magically regained a lot of his memories too). And then there’s a long stretch of nothing. There’s all this set up to a nice final confrontation, but there’s no finale that wraps everything up. Takizawa ends it rather boringly and that’s that. A series and two movies to lead up to a conclusion about as thrilling as watching paint dry. And even then, it’s not a conclusion. So what is good about this? The animation and sound. There you go. Otherwise the story is dull, uninteresting, unexciting, and pointless. The characters are all pretty much the same. Nothing about the plot stands out. Nothing about it is particularly good. Nothing about it is exciting. It’s all arbitrary feeling. As if whoever wrote this was forced into writing it and didn’t really care. It has no heart behind it. Taken as a whole, the series starts off good but degrades over time. And that’s sad, because as I’ve said before, I love the premise. But if this is all you get for an ending, if this is all the series leads to, then I feel like I’ve wasted my time. Paradise Lost is an apt name. At first this series seemed like something I could really love. Turns out, it loses any hope of that halfway through the main series and goes downhill from there.