Eden of the East / First Impressions

Summary:

To prove the power of the Selecao, Akira sets up a baseball trade for Itazu, and it goes through without a hitch. Itazu thus becomes more willing to help and leads Akira into a room filled with computer equipment. As he hacks into Kondou’s old phone, Itazu reveals that he’s interested Careless Monday and in getting revenge for the NEETs who disappeared. He’s able to pull up some leftover data, and on No. 9’s history, they’re able to see all the purchases that Akira has made, starting from the brainwashing on the day that Akira found himself in front of the White House. Further down are the transactions Akira made to send all the NEETs to Dubai, and then the transactions from Careless Monday. The latter ones are for things like propaganda trucks, bus charters, and police uniforms, and Itazu makes a connection to some of the strange events that happened in the six major Japanese cities prior to Careless Monday including the supposed discovery of a large amount of unexploded bombs and an earthquake evacuation order. Akira then has Itazu look at the transaction history of the others Selecao, and so Itazu picks No. 10. What they find is a transaction for an aerial bombardment of Japan’s major cities, which makes them thing that No. 10 was responsible for the missiles.

All of this is interrupted when Saki and Micchon return from shopping, and Akira tells Itazu to keep everything a secret. They thus make the girls think that there was nothing noteworthy on the phone, and Akira soon suggests that they go home. After the girls walk out of the room, Akira privately asks Itazu to continue working, and he gives Itazu his phone number. Saki had been outside the doorway the entire time though, and after Akira walks out, she goes back to give Itazu the jersey she bought him. She uses the chance to reveal that she knows that there’s a secret concerning the phone, but Itazu declines to talk about it and warns that it’s better for her not to know. He then returns to his computer room and continues hacking on the phone, and after a little more work, he’s able to pull up some detailed logs to go with the transaction histories. The first thing he notices it that the logs show that Akira had Juiz evacuate all the residents of the places where there’d be explosions, thus making Akira the hero. The logs also explain how the missile attacks occurred through the hacking of the Maritime Self-Defense Force’s systems, and Itazu ends up concluding that whomever created the phone is close to the power of the state.

What Itazu sees next shocks him, and he realizes that he has to tell Akira. Unfortunately, Itazu’s cell phone is out of power, and Akira didn’t leave an email address. The only choice Itazu has left is to go after Akira on foot, and he decides to put on the clothes that Saki bought him. Unfortunately, waiting outside in a car are Mononobe – who had come here after Akira – and his Kyoto Selecao accomplice Yuuki. Mononobe has figured out that Itazu is working for Akira, and after seeing that Itazu has Kondou’s old phone with him, he drives their car forward and hits the guy. This results in Itazu going flying and landing in the nearby water, and Mononobe tries to interrogate him afterward, but Itazu is barely able to speak anymore. Yuuki is concerned about the murder, but Mononobe feels that one person should be nothing for the hero who’s going to eliminate millions with missiles. With his final breaths, Itazu realizes that Mononobe and Yuuki are Selecao, and he feels that they aren’t the heroes. Before he can say who the hero is though, Itazu dies. Mononobe reacts by telling Yuuki to have Juiz dispose of the car, and he then calls Akira after breaking Kondou’s phone.

Unbeknownst to them, Itazu had started an upload of the data before he left his apartment to Micchon and East of Eden. What he had wanted to tell Akira was that No. 10 was planning another missile attack for the sake of starting post-WWII Japan all over again. Meanwhile, back in Tokyo, Oosugi has called Hirasawa and the others to the place where the NEETs were held in Akira’s shopping mall, and he shows them the writing on the wall that indicates that someone wanted to kill Akira.

Preview

This was a somewhat slow episode again until the final few minutes (when Mononobe hit Itazu with a car), though it did reveal a lot about the past. They really seem to be highlighting the mystery and conspiracy aspects of the show, which is in itself pretty interesting, but even I’ll admit that the series is not as much fun as it was back in the beginning. There was a certain spontaneity that’s just not there anymore. In any case, with only two episodes left, it looks pretty likely that Mononobe and Yuuki’s plot will be what the series ends on, and I assume their (misguided) reasoning is something along the lines of having Japan emerge stronger from the post-WWII period. The question is how Akira will try to stop them, and once again I’m reminded of him blowing up missiles in the ED with his finger. For the time being though, it looks like he’ll come face to face with Mononobe next week.

I also didn’t expect Itazu to get killed here, but it wasn’t a huge surprise either. It simply doesn’t seem to be of huge consequence since his role is over, but I will note that the irony is that he, the shut-in, got killed when he finally went outside. What I do wish though is that the society computer he developed played a bigger role since it didn’t really do much – less than I was expecting given what they were saying about it last week. On a different note, I thought it was interesting how Akira had Itazu lie to Saki about the phone, and she knew it — and yet, I’m less worried about that impacting their relationship and more worried about what Oosugi is doing at the end of the episode. Maybe he would have been better off dead after all because just looking at him now irks me.

42 Comments

  16. @Highman

    It was either the Chicago Bears or Cincinnati Reds, though I dunno why anyone would want to be a fan of them. Maybe they are good in the future? Haha.

    Anyway, a great episode. A little slow, yeah.. but the ending was really interesting.

    Akiyama
    Reply

  17. this eps was one of the most intense eps i watched.
    there were so much information packed into it
    basically takizawa akira stopped all those missiles and went against other supporter’s actions.
    But what was more interesting was the part where the fatty reveals some of the mystery/truth behind juiz. Apparently the outsideman/juiz or the ones who made the phone are people whose jurisdiction and power are at least at the national level..Too bad we’ll have to wait till the next eps to find out what the fatty wanted to tell Akira so badly

    hm
    Reply

  19. Interesting.

    Maybe Selecao No.10 is thinking of doing that because back in WWII, people were really into the idea of building a new and improved Japan. Everyone did their part in building a stronger country.

    Gosh.

    Eri
    Reply

  22. This anime started out great, the first few episodes were full of what was attracting me to it: suspense; even if the suspense built up slowly, it was great. But now it’s too cheesy and too simple. Not a lot of suspense happening anymore; the hook of the anime is slowly disappearing. I’m still watching it, and hoping it gets better, although by the ways things are moving I won’t hold my breath.

    Vizard_CA
    Reply

  24. It’s obvious that number 10 is just being used by number 1; seeing as how he didn’t know how to deal with a death it seems as though he is oblivious to what occurred.

    It was interesting to see Pantsu fit into that tiny pair of pants. I feel bad that he died, but left in a heroic way. But I think the preview pics on the site sorta spoiled it for me since you can tell he died.

    Ohsugi needs to lay off what he is trying to portray, since its making him look more like desperate person.

    Hiwatari
    Reply

  26. So now everyone hates Ohsugi eh? I knew he was bad news from the start. He should have got his johnny cut off, but no, we have to live with his annoying ass till the very end. I’m telling you, someone call up Juiz and have him get run over as well.

    GP
    Reply

  27. Some thing just keeps bugging me. His phone was out of power, so why didn’t he just connect it to whatever he uses to charge it up, and use it? I know they needed him to go outside, but it really doesn’t make much sense that he didn’t just connect it up and use it…

    Corodix
    Reply

  30. Getting good! All the conspiracy stuff is better than potential romance… but with seemingly a lot to cover and hopefully answer, I wouldn’t mind another season or a few OVA episodes… something like that…

    Shin
    Reply

  35. Well I think at this point it’s plenty clear that the story will not come to a conclusion by the ending of the tv show, and we will have to wait for the movie to see how it goes.

    steelman
    Reply

  36. So I suppose Daiju and Yuuki (Who looks like Nagato from Naruto minus the disgustingly bright red hair) are going to be the final bosses of the TV series. Well, I hope that the final two episodes give us some hints or answers as to the nature of Mr. Outside, Juiz, or any of the other six unseen Selecao before the movie premires. I’m just worried that we’ll be left with more questions than answers, and it’ll be a bit irritating since we non-Japanese won’t be able to see the movie for quite a while. It is a bit annoying when the story’s spread out across different formats like this.

    Yuuki is probably going to die too, as his number is the last Selecao emblem to vanish in the opening.

    Crossword
    Reply

  38. So what’s up with the really tiny pants? https://randomc.net/image/Eden%20of%20the%20East/Eden%20of%20the%20East%20-%2009%20-%20Large%2025.jpg

    Turning into a tight fit pants? https://randomc.net/image/Eden%20of%20the%20East/Eden%20of%20the%20East%20-%2009%20-%20Large%2026.jpg

    This anime is weird. Was it all just in Itazu’s mind just like the wild imagination of Akira and his ‘Johnnies’? https://randomc.net/image/Eden%20of%20the%20East/Eden%20of%20the%20East%20-%2004%20-%20Large%2010.jpg

    panaghoy88
    Reply

  39. 1) That was one of the worst ways to die I can imagine. Getting his fat ass run over and wedging into a canal(?) on the side of the street must’ve really sucked.

    2) How did he fit into those pants? The mysteries pile on…

    kadian1364
    Reply

  41. @Vizard_CA

    My thoughts exactly. After watching the first few eps, I thought this series was going to be one of my favorite series ever… I don’t know so much anymore. Things seem to be getting more technical/slow than exciting. Hope things start to pick up…like NEXT episode. I’m just not looking forward to new episodes like I used to.

    Noelle
    Reply

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