Eden Of The East 11 - End

Eden of the East is a thought provoking anime series which I mentioned before. I thoroughly enjoyed the series but with only 11 episodes I expected that there would be a few unanswered questions. There is already a movie planned but I hope that a second season is being considered as well.

While watching the series, I learned a new term "Not in Employment, Education or Training" (NEET). Many people in Japan see NEETs as a big problem for the future of the country and this is central to the story. A mysterious business man (Mr. Outside) selects 12 NEETs, gives each a special phone charged with ¥10 billion, and puts them in a game with the goal of saving Japan. But what exactly are they supposed to save Japan from? The vague objective allows the players to liberally define what the threat might be and leads to seriously rash moves like "Careless Monday."

The story reveals itself through Takizawa Akira as he rediscovers his lost memories. Even as he finds evidence that he may have done some nasty things in the game, he continues to dig deeper until he gets to the truth. You can't help but admire the character for that. Thankfully, Akira's memory loss is answered completely. Leaving that dangling would have been too much to take. The other characters didn't impress me that much but that might be because the story focused so much on Akira, which didn't leave any time to develop the other characters.

Juiz is a female voice that answers the players on the phone. But exactly who or what is Juiz? There is some evidence that Juiz is an AI but it is not conclusive. If true it adds a surprising sci-fi element since the story only takes place in early 2011 which isn't that far away. However, there is a woman who appears briefly in episode 10 that sounds exactly like the voice on the phone. Was the woman just a clerk who answers the phone or was she something more?

Despite all the unresolved mysteries, Eden of the East is still an excellent series and well worth watching. I hope that the movie fills is the missing pieces of the puzzle.