Sunday 24 May 2009

Eden of the East - Episode 7

Just when you think you've got your head around Eden of the East, what it's doing and where it's headed, along comes another episodes to blow most of your expectations our of the water again. So it goes with episode seven of this constantly surprising series.

After doing a deal with Akira last episode, the "Eden" development team now have more important fish to fry, namely locating the whereabouts of the missing Ohsugi who is continuing to enigmatically post for help from his current plight via an online bulletin board. The Eden of the East search engine does a fine job of pulling some more information for them to work with from the clues left by Ohsuhi itself, but of course Akira has an even more powerful tool at his disposal...

Thus we're left with the rather awesome scenario of Seleção fighting against Seleção, as Akira uses his status to track down Ohsugi and attempts to stop Roppongi Hanako from getting to him first. This results in an almost comical series of more grandiose requests from both parties, much like those kid's cartoons where two characters pull out bigger and bigger weapons against one another ad infinitum.


What Akira doesn't seem to have realised however (or has he?), is that he's left his phone on through much of what follows this battle of wits from a prior conversation with Saki, so as Akira meets and talks with the "Johnny Hunter" after tracking her down she hears everything. Who knows what this will mean for how this series develops down the line, but all I will say is that the climax to the episode is a literal mindfuck that really defies explaining or discussing at this point in time. Akira is turning out to be one very cunning guy though, that's for sure.

Yet again I know I'm going to risk sounding like an Eden of the East fanboy, but it continues to defy expectations at every turn - Indeed, this particular episode defies many things, not least the thought of only watching it once... I almost get the feeling that I have to watch this episode again just to get a complete and entire grasp on its ending. I suppose you could suggest that such a state of affairs is a sign of sloppy story-writing or plot development, but I'm not buying that - Instead I'd suggest that the story and the way it's presented is just so damn clever that you may need a second viewing to pick up on everything that you've missed before.

Once again then, Eden of the East is working well in so many ways, from its mysterious overtones right down to that ever-intriguing relationship between Akira and Saki, the latter of whom really nails her feelings to the wall in this episode in her reactions to events. Really, if you only watch one new series this year, I'm seriously starting to believe that Eden of the East should be it.

10 comments:

Necromancer said...

didn't you notice the "Super Illusion Material, three varieties rental use fee" on Akira's phone at the end? that explains how the "Johnny Hunter" was able to do what she did.

Markimark said...

Wow - dont really know how to put it in words.

Although this episode (is it just me, or did it really feel like was 10 minutes shorter than usual?) is rather strange i am not REALLY dissatified with the ending.
It felt like EotE would turn into some fantasy series for a (looong) moment.
And exactly why did he have to buy the hotel?

Ah, and by the way: What exactly is going on? Ohsugi got...kind of...replaced? Or was he never there in the first place? How can you forget to hang up your phone? And wtf is up with that flashy exit of hers?

Well, anyway - i dont know what it is, but this series has that certain "something" that seams to never stop amazing me.
Its just...aah...cant wait for the next Episode. ^^

Well, i give up...im so tired, i cant even make a single clear thought.

Hanners said...

Necromancer: Yes, I did notice that, and it only explains it at a very base level. I'm more interested in working out exactly what happened "behind the scenes", and how Akira planned it all out so perfectly. Maybe I'm over-thinking the situation, but I'm still trying to fathom exactly how we pulled it all off with such aplomb.

Necromancer said...

Akira planned it? doesn't the phone show all transactions by all selecao's to the other selacao's? I'm sure it was paid for by the "Johnny Hunter" (I know she has a name but can't be bothered to check it) and not Akira (his phone says "cause tanker truck accident on the Metro Expway" I don't think he planned to slow his own progress to the hotel)

Filament Fern said...

Yeah, the phone shows the transaction done by other members.

on the phone, it shows 'Selecao no. 11' on the top area of the transaction, so the johnny 'cutter' did indeed purchase 3 illusion pack.

I'd guess 1 for the wings, 1 for the floating stuff, and the other one for the 'face change'.

Hanners said...

Good point, I hadn't really thought of it that way round. I think I was too busy considering how cheap that stuff got bought for. :p

Mep Ahoo said...

I think that Ohsugi's briefcase and phone were stolen by the victim of the Johnny hunter. That could also explain why he did not call his friends directly.

Markimark said...

@Mep Ahoo:

Now that you mention it - wasnt there a second guy standing by Ohsugis side, when Johnny Hunter appeared in that street (back when Ohsugi was lying there drunk.).
Was that the same person? Could try to compare their faces, but with my bandwith loading both episodes again will nedd hours ;-/

...still bugs me, that he bought the hotel...why??

Mep Ahoo said...

I guess he bought the hotel to have authority there. I think the first thing he did was to stop the johnny hunter from entering her room. (The manager tells her that due to recent changes in management, she is not allowed into her room). Of course it did not work :) But I guess that also allowed him to bust down the door.

Paul said...

I agree with you that Eden of the East is one of the few series that I know that 'makes' you want to sit through a 2nd and 3rd viewing - just to make sure you caught everything.

I find it funny that when Diana's victim was portrayed as wearing a tie that was different from Ohsugi, people assumed that the production team screwed up.

From all that we have seen so far, I was convinced that there was no way that the tie was just a 'continuity problem'.

There have been many scenes that has carried over from previous episodes to the current one. eg. the phone number he wrote on his arm, the change Akira used on the public phone etc. All these are deliberate attempts by the production team to create continuity. I seriously doubt they will screw up on a tie.

As for the 3 illusions:

#1 Floating the victim towards her
#2 Levitating and sprouting black wings
#3 Fly away

There goes the 'Face changing' illusion theory.

Why did Akira buy the hotel?? To stall Diana. Since he is the new owner, he can stopped her from entering the room. So she has to buy the hotel back herself to get back into the room.

How did Akira forget the hang up the phone? Well he was caught up in the tanker accident as he was talking to Saki so its possible he din realise the phone was still connected. But its interesting that the line with Saki remains connected while he continue to talk to Juiz . So doesn't that means Saki heard all his conversation with Juiz??