Customer Reviews

Eden Of The East Movie 2 - Paradise Lost [DVD]

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(18)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It's worth noting that 'Paradise Lost' is the sequel to 'King of Eden' and a series, 'Eden of the East',came before that, so viewing this as a stand alone film might be a little confusing, and is not recommended.

However, as a fan of the original series and first film, this is a decent conclusion. The quality and attention to detail of the animation is fantastic, the characters as well developed as they were in the series, and my attention was gripped from start to finish.

Its certainly a fitting conclusion to the Eden of the East franchise, however it does have a few loose ends not fully explored, but for the most part, it reaches a satisfying conclusion.

Okay, right off the bat it's probably a no-brainer to tell you that there is no point in watching this movie if you haven't already seen the previous movie AND the preceding television series because Eden of the East, because believe me, the story here is DENSE to the point where it can very easily make no sense whatsoever if you haven't been playing close attention from the start of the entire thing... and even then, it isn't exactly the easiest story to follow.

The story primarily revolves around Japanese college student Saki being unwittingly thrown together with manic amnesiac Akira Takizawa once again and their continuing attempts to unravel the mysteries of his past following his memories being erased on at least two occasions. Central to this mystery is the group known as the Selacao, of which Takizawa is apparently a member. The Selacao are a small group of people who have each been handed a vast fortune, with a Star Trek looking mobile phone connected to an AI called "Juiz" being how they manage all their transactions, and told to basically "fix Japan" with it however they see fit... and as it turns out, all of these people are seriously insane in some form or other, with one of them being a supermodel who is a serial killer with a penchant for castration (Earning her the nickname "Johnny Taker"). It's pretty weird stuff. This movie follows on from the prior movie, which saw a once again mind wiped (At his own request) Takizawa believing he is the illegitimate son of the recently deceased Japanese Prime Minister... putting him in a position to begin a political ascent with the intention of satisfying his wish of becoming leader of the country... for whatever reasons. However, with the remaining Selacao still determined to get in his way with grand plans of their own it seems Saki, Takizawa and their allies only chance of bringing this whole situation to a head is to finally find and confront the man responsible for the creation of the Selacao conspiracy, Mister 'Outside'.

Now... I consider myself a man of some intelligence, but after watching through a TV series and two movies, Eden of the East remains a truly baffling piece of work to me. Oh, it provides explanations(Of a sort) for everything going on eventually, but the reasoning WHY certain characters take the actions they do at some points is just a mystery to me. The story has been a fairly dense one from the off, but there was always the promise of answers and pay off by the time it concluded... but apparently there wasn't the promise of satisfaction at this conclusion at the same time because that's exactly what there is not. There isn't enough in the way of a real payoff for everything that has gone on up until this point. I got to the end and the only thing going through my head was "That's it? All of that just for this?" and the feeling was not helped by the glacial pacing and dry, talk heavy focus of the two movies... I wasn't expecting a massive gunfight to finish things off or anything but a little tension... a little genuine excitement... are these too much to ask for?

It looks very nice and the voice acting is good, the soundtrack is excellent and there is a lot to like here... but I found too much of the experience as a whole to be dull and unengaging. Not an anime to remember as a classic in ten years I think.

This is the 2nd film of the seminal manga series Eden of The East, if like me you loved the original series and film then this is for you, all competently put together . I wouldn't watch this without previous knowledge of what came before though.

An anime with a real social conscience? Sounds like an enticing prospect to me. And that's what Paradise Lost offers - a slick, thoroughly modern thriller that manages to include everything from politically charged drama to hi-tech tension within its spectrum. Yes, the narrative might be pretty complex and takes a while to get to grips too, but everything is so well paced and sleekly executed that it's not long before you're lured into the shadowy intrigue of unfolding events. With an excellent voice cast and beautiful visuals, Paradise Lost not only feels like a bit of real eye candy, but it packs the meaningful agenda to back it up to. Toting messages about the position of young people within society and the ungainly tightrope those in power stride, you leave wanting to immerse yourself ever further into this world of magic cell phones and socio-terrorists. At its best, Paradise Lost makes you look at our own world and question its values, and your own place in society - and from an hour and a half of anime-thriller, that isn't bad going.

Maybe its because I hadn't seen the previous series before the movies but I still found everything very confusing and it doesn't work as a stand alone film. You must know the anthology behind it. I managed to get the first movie and then rewatched this and it made a bit more sense and was thus more enjoyable but this is really one for the fans and everyone else can just appreciate the visuals.

My cousin and I thoroughly enjoyed this movie we were very excited during the whole movie just like the others

A nice continuation of Eden of the East, not as good as the preceding series but still delivers where it counts.

I very much appreciated a further sequel to the East of Eden serie and to the East of Eden Movie 1. Drawings, colours and characters are still beautiful.

I wasn't aware that a TV series and a previous film set the stage for this one, but having said that it is ok as a stand-alone. Best summed up as "bunch of goodie geeky kids outwit nasty adults and overcome their wish for domination of society in the end." There is plenty of technological freakery. A sort of "Doctor Who" meets "The Bourne Identity" in animation.
It has the expected soppy happy ending.
This is more of a child to early teen's DVD, can't really see many adults sticking with it.
The fact it is a Japanese original lends interest in that the graphics are eastern in flavour, the animation is subtly different from most western films.
If you have Japanese guests you can always switch to Japanese language with English subtitles (but my last Japanese guest was 24 years ago!)
The main English soundtrack has a quaintly eastern flavour in the use of its English, any Japanese songs are left as original with English subtitles.
The colour intensity is low, more along the lines of pastel shades, and the sound level is annoyingly low, at least it is on my copy.
There are a few English swear words, the action does become tense, but even though it has a 12 designation most parents would be happy for younger children to watch it. Harmless and bog-standard overall. Steve Riches, Northampton, UK.

First of all before watching this movie I strongly recommend you watch the TV series and the first movie. This movie directly follow on from where the first movie left off.

If you watched the series so far and liked it then you must watch this conclusion.

This second movie brings Eden of the East to a close and unlike the first movie doesn't end in suspense. The only downer to this movie is knowing that there is no Eden of East to come.

The art is actually a bit of a bug bear to me on Eden of the East as a whole. The backdrops are really well animated as are the characters with one exception, they have no nose. It's a minor irritation but one that I've never got used too. Ignoring that though the Blu-Ray release looks stunning.

The story and plot in this movie as in all the series are really good though and easily makes up for the lack of noses on the characters.

This release also features various trailers and movie spots as well as US cast commentary and Visual commentary as extras. It's always good to see extras.

Overall if you have watched and enjoyed the series so far then this is for you.