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Summary:
Saki returns home to her sister’s bakery in the morning and is found by her sister’s husband Ryousuke. He asks about her prospective employee interview, but since she’s not sure, he expresses how glad he is that she’s home safely. Akira meanwhile calls Juiz to ask if he killed the 20,000 NEETs, but she isn’t able to tell him. All she can confirm is that he gathered them. Juiz also doesn’t know why he was chosen as a Selecao, and when he asks about the Supporter, she explains that it’s one of the twelve Selecao who is tasked with removing those unfit to be the savior. Although frustrated that he can’t find out more about himself, Akira remembers what Kondou had said to him and decides to look at the purchase history of Selecao No. 05. With Juiz’s help, he tries to track this person down using a delivery from a medical company as a clue.
Along the way, he rides his motorcycle to the area where one of the missiles hit, and after staring down the edge of the highway into the hole, he jumps. Akira lands unscathed and sees all of the electronic screens in the pile of rubble in front of him come on. White figures then emerge from these screens and jump towards him. Akira recognizes them as Johnny and is at first happy to see all of them, but when they start hurting him, he calls them good for nothing and scares them off. He then regains his senses and realizes that he hadn’t actually jumped down into the hole. Back at Saki’s home, she takes a phone call from Oosugi and lies to him about staying at her friend Micchon’s place. Since she’s going to be attempting the interview again tomorrow, he offers to accompany her because he’s got training to go to as well. Saki’s thoughts right now are more on Akira though, and she sends him a message expressing her concern.
By now, Akira has arrived at Hiura General Hospital, and he inquires inside about the purchase of an MRI machine. The receptionist suggests the hospital director, but since Akira doesn’t have an appointment, he decides to leave his phone number and a message identifying him as a Selecao. While waiting, Akira picks up a magazine talking about a former neurosurgeon named Hiura who purchased a failed hospital with money from an unknown source. Before Akira can read much of the article though, an elderly man takes the magazine and throws it away, saying that Hiura is their savior. Akira then receives the message that Saki sent him, but before he can read it, he gets a phone call from Selecao No. 05. After Akira introduces himself, explains how he got there, and reveals that he doesn’t have his memories, he asks to talk to No. 05 face-to-face.
No. 05 thinks that Akira is the Supporter and says that he doesn’t mind being killed, but he’s unwilling to let it happen while he’s still got money left. Nevertheless, he decides to have a nurse bring Akira some medicine which he claims will allow Akira to understand how he got the cell phone. Taking the medicine causes Akira to lose consciousness, and when he wakes up again, he finds himself in an empty room. It’s now night-time, and nearby is a small robot that presents Akira with his phone. The phone immediately rings with a call from someone who introduces himself as Mr. Outside and explains that he chose 12 people to save this country. Those 12 are called Selecao, and one of them is the Supporter who comes into play if one of the others doesn’t function correctly as a Selecao. Only Mr. Outside knows who the Supporter is, and he won’t say if Akira is or is not the Supporter.
Either way, Mr. Outside asserts that the Selecao aren’t allowed to refuse their mission. He reveals that the cell phone has 10 billion yen, and how it’s used it entirely up to Akira. What he wants is the Selecao to think out of the box and lead the country in the right direction. After explaining the use of the concierge, the costs, and how the other Selecao can see purchase histories, Mr. Outside moves on to talking about penalties. Death is guaranteed for those who abandon the mission and try to escape, those who don’t use the cell phone for a long period of time and don’t achieve any results, those who continue to use the money for their own desires rather than for national interests, and finally, those who run out of money before having saved the country. What’s more, only the Selecao who accomplishes the mission gets to live in the end.
By now, Akira has figured out that all this has actually been just Hiura explaining everything to him over the phone like Hiura himself had experienced when he got his own phone. Hiura had done things this way because he had a request going through the prefectural assembly that he wanted to see passed, and he was afraid that Akira was the Supporter, so he had put him to sleep. He goes on to explain that he had realized that the number of lives he could save in his lifetime as a doctor was limited, so his goal is private hospitals where the senior citizens that the country tried to cast away are employable as human resources. Hiura will consider his work to be done if he can get the municipality to manage the system. Akira realizes that all of Hiura’s expenses have thus been bribes, and Hiura comments on how good Juiz was at convincing members of the prefectural assembly. However, Hiura knows that this is only his personal ideal and won’t suit Mr. Outside.
Unfortunately, Hiura doesn’t know anything about Akira personally, but he does know that Akira purchased a shopping mall in a ghost town as well as 500 freight containers and entertainment expenses for the Foreign Ministry. He points out though that Akira had intentionally gotten rid of his past and had bet on his new self, so Akira is fine as he is now. When it comes time for Akira to leave, Hiura comments on how he’s glad to have met him before dying. Hiura then calls up Juiz to thank her for all she did, and afterward, a man who Hiura identifies as the Supporter enters his office. Moments later, as Akira is on his bike getting ready to ride off, his cell phone beeps, and he notices the No. 05 symbol on it fade out. Realizing that the Supporter had done something, Akira is frustrated and feels that he won’t be satisfied until he hits the guy that set all this up.
Preview
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This was a weird episode because a good part of it was either dream sequence or flashback. The dream part had Akira seemingly imagining those white figures that he called Johnny, and I couldn’t make heads or tails of what it meant. The flashback made a little more sense since it appeared to show when Akira met Mr. Outside, though it’s not clear if Akira actually realized that himself. Most of the rest of the episode was explanation of the whole Selecao system as set up by Mr. Outside, confirming a lot of what we already knew or suspected. Perhaps more importantly, the appearance of the shadowy guy at the end suggests that there may not be a plot twist where we find out that Akira really is the Supporter. It also doesn’t look like Hiura will ultimately be a very important character – he’s used primarily just to explain things and to maybe draw some attention to Japan’s elderly care problems. Instead of focusing on what the other Selecao are doing, it all seems to go back to what Akira was doing before he erased his memory.
As for Saki, like last week, she didn’t play very big part this week either. They did answer the question though about who she had feelings for by showing a poster for The Cold Blue movie in her house, implying that the person is her sister’s husband. In any case, the official site suggests that next week’s episode will be more focused on Saki, and maybe we’ll finally start to find out how she fits into all this.
those white figures sure are scary..
that dream was probably symbolism of some kind of beytrayal imo,
yay more SakixAkira, why do I enjoy it when they interect?
What a weird episode… but at least there’s more Saki/Akira! I can’t wait to watch this when it’s subbed. 🙂 I love this anime~
http://heysayanime.kokidokom.net
more dog w/ angel wings please! XD
I think Saki might be the suppoter D:
It would be interesting if Saki was the Supporter.
Hm, I’m starting to suspect that Selecao agent that was watching Akira from the car in Washington DC as being the Supporter.
Those things called “Johnny” are part of a movie I’m pretty sure. Remember those 2 guys were talking about a movie but didn’t know the title? I think Akira just acted out a scene in the movie. That’s what I thought anyways. It doesn’t seem like a series that would involve “alien” like creatures.
The wiping memory process that Akira had gone through sure was incredible pinpointed. He forgot ONLY the things about himself, but didn’t forgot how to drive or how to use other things.
so then, what or why was Akira going to shoot with the gun at the White House (and had all that ammo in his apartment)? Was he after Saki for some reason?
ROFLWAFFLELAWL: They were talking about the movie Quadrophenia, which I’ve never seen, but it doesn’t sound like the kind of movie with that.
Somebody has to explain the appeal of this show, because I simply don’t get it. Sure, it has nice production values, but so far the story has been mind-numbingly inane… and is there any doubt that the Big Mystery is going to be anything other than the typical anime Big Mystery letdown?
I almost dialed 911 the other day because I believed that I was suffering from hypoxia– I was light-headed, nauseated, short of breath and inexplicably fatigued. Luckily I realized that I was simply watching another episode of Eden of the East.
recommended prescription: take 2 aspirin and never watch this show again.
dts
Saki might acctually be the supporter
who knows what her role in the story is yet.
those white skulls or whatever they were
are so creepy!!
anywayz cant wait till next week !!
@Omni idk cuz there was no reaction from the 2 guys and after everything went “back to normal” Akira said something that would have acknowledged he was done with his “act” and went on to say the movies name. So to me I though it was just a little humor part. Cuz it didn’t seem as though anything really happened. The 2 guys looked as though they saw him doing something odd alone.
Grendel you should go back to watching your Naruto before your illness spreads
Grendel can enjoy watching Black Lagoon with me ^_^ ignore this squirrel person he is just being an ass
“I almost dialed 911 the other day because I believed that I was suffering from hypoxia– I was light-headed, nauseated, short of breath and inexplicably fatigued. Luckily I realized that I was simply watching another episode of Eden of the East.”
Who’s being an ass? I’m just showing my overwhelming concern for his health.
Obviously even though he’s so sick from watching a series he loathes, he still deigned to come here to read a blog about it and post to warn us about its dangers.
Thanks.
Enjoyed this episode a ton since we do get some background on this ‘organization’ of sorts that was confirmed, and not just speculation. I’m also loving AkiraxSaki in this. I’m feeling bad for the guy in the yellow jacket. He’s getting the shaft when it comes to Saki, but sorry! You aren’t the main character.
Either way, I like the fact that the story is complicated, and isn’t your simple “Imma beat you up, get beat up, power up, beat you up, etc” storyline-plot of some of the series that’s been out lately. I can’t wait for next week. Looks interesting for sure.
Saki can’t be the supporter, because the Supporter is among the twelve Selecao, Saki doesn’t have that god damn phone so she can’t be one.
It keeps getting interesting ^^
And the most interesting character now (IMO) is Juiz, who the hell is she ?!?
the supporter might be Show Spoiler ▼
The fact that Akira wiped his memory could probably mean that he didn’t want anyone else to die knowing that all he had to do was win the game and change Japan for the better.
I think he began setting up steps so that he could eventually turn the country around to meet the objectives of the Selecao and that the wipe/amnesia is part of the process of eventually taking down the supporter and the creator of this game.
Wonder what would happen if Juiz ends up being the supporter. She does actually support them and maybe shes a Selecao herself (but doesn’t get any support with the benefit of having X more money?). Just a thought.
There’s only one reason why someone would wipe their memory, to hide something they know from someone else. It’s more than possible the Akira was being hunted down by the supporter for this information; or just to shut him up.
too many unknowns – this is starting to get interesting
@ Crossword:
“Hm, I’m starting to suspect that Selecao agent that was watching Akira from the car in Washington DC as being the Supporter.”
(don’t credit me – someone else came up with this)
There’s a sequence of all the Selecao shields with pink nodes and white trace lines. If you track them all, you get
4 to 9
2 to 9
1 to 10
7 to 3
Then 1 to everyone *except 7*
In that entire sequence, the following shields disappear in order: 4, 5, then 10. Just by the episodes so far, disappearing shields must mean “termination”. Look for 10 to die next… Just by that, I’m guessing traces must signify some kind of contact.
Crossword, if you freeze frame in ep. 1, you’ll notice that the phone has the number 1 on it (freeze frame around 4:40 on the gg sub, and you’ll see). Combine that knowledge with the OP. Start speculating away 🙂
I think the first “dream sequence” was actually him reenacting/remembering the a movie. The second one was actually the doctor recreating his experiencing of when he got his cellphone.
It would make sence if juiz was the supporter because everyone has to go to her to have things done with thier phone, so she could moniter if the other memebers were on the correct path or perhaps she just relays all the info to the supporter
Akira seems to have some 20k skeletons in the closet, he wants to forget about…
We are losing Selecao fast, 2 within 2 episodes… 9 to go! There can be only one! (Take it, head-hunting sword-maniacs)
Is anyone else getting a Holocaust vibe from the abandoned piles of shoes and cell phones left behind at the mall?
Also, I’m sensing a connection between the skeletal white “Johnnys” and the missing NEETs. Especially so, since the greeting Akira received was pretty reminiscent of the one from the episode before with the winged dog. The television sets could be linked to the cineplex, though I think more likely, they’re connected with Akira’s snazzy phone.
Speaking of which, he seems to have missed another one of Saki’s messages. Poor girl.
Another thing bothering me…which Selecao was the one to bribe the media concerning Careless Monday in reporting the death toll? I’ll be waiting to get past this section where we’re attempting to delve into Akira’s past and the purpose of the organization and really start to get to the heart of the conspiracy.
I think it’s funny that they keep calling the movie “The Cold Blue” rather than “The Big Blue”
It’s a Luc Besson film for those who are curious. I’ve seen quite a bit of Luc Besson in this anime which has been very entertaining thus far.
I hope I was able to provide something worth the read, thanks.
Awesome.
K-ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The first dream sequence wasn’t related to the movie the guys were talking about (Quadrophenia) – they’re talking about the way in which he parked the scooter just at the edge of the road, sort of like the ending of Quadrophenia where some dude rides to the edge of a cliff or something on a bike in a dangerous fashion. (At least, according to Wikipedia’s plot summary) The dream sequence wasn’t at all related.
great great episode, this show rocks!
Cool episode~ I can’t wait to see more unravelling of Akira’s past >< Judging from the clues we have attained so far, he does seem to be quite the dangerous and clever individual. I’m especially interested in his reason for wiping his memory. The dream sequences were pretty unique, perhaps the first one is connected to Akira’s past symbolically? These mysteries are keeping me watching with lots of anticipation~ XDD
Oh and I kinda lol’ed at the line: “Do doctors normally prescribe poison at hospitals?” XD
This isn’t in any way serious, but something else of Akira’s was referred to as ‘Johnny’ as well. XD
But I think they are somehow reminiscent of his past and the NEETs.
I noticed that the character designs were so much the same as to Honey and Clover. Akira looks so much like Morita. Do they have the same art animator?
Oh well never mind, I just found out that they have the same character designer, Chika Umino.
Am I the only one bothered by Akira’s increasing gullibility? At first, I thought it kinda cool that he retained enough of the instincts of his previous personality to instantly think to wipe fingerprints from the gun and to dispose of the rest of the passports in his apartment. However, he seems to be getting really careless, from letting the detective (forgot his name) in the theater without first arming himself or setting up the confrontation in his favor, to simply taking a pill from another Selecao without knowing their motives. Seriously? “This medicine will show you how you came to possess that phone.” What kind of medicine could trigger knowledge that specific? Anyone would know it was a trap (though he was lucky the doctor had good intentions).
@meh i think that it everything including his letting detective in and the other stuff is done on purpose, to portray his personality and how he is like. So far it all seems very fitting and I don’t feel like he has really done anything out of character.
Aaalso, pertaining to the pill question, since Akira remembers movies so well, perhaps a reference to the Matrix..? XD
It may be a stretch, though.
i think that akira and the supporter are helping each other. Luring people that are using the phone in a wrong way. using wiped out memories to look innocent.
This is my resoning :
-the 3rd rule, if you spend with your benefit but then akira bought a candy in the airport in the first episode yet he didnt get killed.
-The officer from the second episode said that ” He’s being careless ” after akira bought the candy from airport and was shock that he didnt get killed. leading him to think someone just pick the phone by accident and leading him to steal the phone and using the money in his phone for his benefit and starting a new life . after getting the phone he think he has already all the money in the world making him spill the text in the phone “I’ve got enough money to play with for the rest of my life.( i think he’s the idoit texting in noblesse oblige phone ). Leading him to die and saying to akira ” Wait you.. or the supporter?! so thats how it is”
– and also in this episode. the doctor was afraid that akira was the supporter drugging him. After realizing that akira was not the supporter, he told him his story about how limited he is about his job as a brain surgeon but was still happy even if he died since if the prefecture works its self it would be good.
thats all i have to say.
i’m just guessing that one of saki friend(the girl who was using the laptop in the first episode) is also in seleco. since she knew why saki phone gets disconnected
correction
i’m just guessing that one of saki friend(the girl who was using the laptop in the second episode) is also in seleco. since she knew why saki phone gets disconnected
i think that akira or the supporter had planned this very carefully. to kill all seleco
In the first episode is Akira right about to shoot someone? Like Saki…? It looks like that strange noise which comes out of his phone signals his memory loss… Since he’s seen taking off his pants in the rear view mirror in the mysterious guys car. It also appears that Juiz gives the mysterious guy a different goodbye than everyone else.
My question is how can anyone possibly hope to save Japan with only 10 Billion Yen? Thats 100,685,669 U.S. Dollars. you can’t even save a single major company with that let alone a whole nation. Should have been 10 Billion Dollars then maybe something could possibly be done.