This post may contain spoilers. You have been warned :)

Haven’t done this in a while. Thought I may start metareviewing again, so here’s Eden of the East 01.

From Minimum Tempo…

I have to admit, I really, really liked this episode. From the OP to the actual English used by the American characters, this show is full of little surprises. The animation and art are fluid and well-done, and the story seems to be moving along at a good pace (although it’s the first episode). There’s some kind of magic involved here that enchants the viewer, but we’ll see if it holds up.

From Tenka Seiha…

The writing in general was a bit painful all around. There’s a naked guy waving a gun outside of the White House, a girl throwing things at it, and abandoning her luggage in front of it. … Your opinion on the production will largely depend on how immune you are to seeing an endless parade of prerendered buildings, cars, doors, walls, people, etc. I was rather underimpressed. Like I said, I’ve seen much better writing as well. Seriously… a cop deciding to identify a suspect by their penis? And the ID failing because of shrinkage? Are you kidding me? … So, in short, there was absolutely nothing that interested me here. I don’t really know what they’re building this as.

From 見ないで! ひとり言…

Eden of the East was the most amazing show I’ve seen all season. … There was just something amazingly captivating about it without all the annoyances of the other shows that I dropped. … I think the most exciting thing for me was the fact that the whole episode took place in America. I mean this is what Japanese must feel like when they watch an anime. They go “oh this is in my hometown” or “oh I’ve been here once!” … Overall this was a great start to the show. No other anime this season has hooked me so quickly to make me want to watch more of the series. I’m definitely looking forward to watching and possibly blogging the rest of it.

From Random Curiosity…

As for the episode, it was very impressive, exceeding even my high expectations. Eden of the East is a ton of fun to watch, has some great characters, and it even manages to be hilarious a few times (the whole penis shrinkage thing and Saki’s reactions). … The story is also intriguing, though it’s harder to comment on that since this is only the first episode. They did a good job setting things up though. … Even if that is what ends up happening, this first episode makes me want to watch more, and I’m going to keep blogging this as well.

From Psychedelic SoulJam…

Eden of the East really was on a level of its own from everything else this season. Even the next best show I saw this season, Phantom, really couldn’t compare. The first episode did almost everything right. It was engaging, interesting, and most critically, it made me want more… a whole lot more. … There’s one thing that I’m praising Eden of the East on, and it’s something that I normally reserve for movies, not TV Shows… the direction. Looking back, the first episode was a collision of contrasts that managed to fit soo well together. … The episode does a masterful job of setting up the mystery.

From Subculture Anime Blog…

I would complain that things feel as if they are being forced, especially with so many ridiculously unrealistic situations happening at once, but we have to keep in mind that a movie will be following this 11 episode run. I certainly felt that this episode had the pacing of a film, and with that in mind, I put my minor complaints to the side. … I do love the attention to detail in that aspect as well, though it was awkward to see the Americans respond so readily to the Japanese being spoken to them. … I am liking the chemistry between Saki and Akira. I’m already expecting this to be one of the stronger series of 2009, so I can’t wait to see more.

From Sea Slugs! Anime Blog…

This show feels like Phantom sans Bee Train, and that is a very good thing. Saki and Akira have a really nice chemistry, and Akira’s past has already been infused with some heavy mystery. The fact that the show starts in media res makes it sound like Akira eventually had to sacrifice himself, but I bet he will pop up unharmed later as Saki cries happy tears. … The OP was alright, but I felt like I was watching the Zune software on my desktop more than anything. The paper ED was very clever, and I liked the stop motion idea a lot, even if I was afraid that a creepy paper shrimp hand could bust out at any moment. The series also had surprisingly good English, although I was confounded when Akira was speaking Japanese and various Americans could understand him. Also, did he use all of Saki’s money to buy the pants off that happy man in front of the CVS?

From Atarashii Prelude…

There is that resemblance, but I’m going to stop short of comparing this anime to Robert Ludlum’s masterpiece as it is unfair to Eden of the East, which has proved to be quite the surprise hit for me this Spring. The whole mysterious person with amnesia theme has been done ad nauseam, and it stays rather true here. However, Akira’s a pretty happy-go-lucky dude for someone whom I assume is an agent cum test subject for a clandestine organization; Flaunting his compact, yet efficient Asian penis and all. The fact it has Honey & Clover character designs(why? ?(????)) makes it somewhat harder for me to take this show seriously. … I also wish to see more of Akira’s penis which been literally cockblocked by censors. I expect this to change in the DVD release, yes?

From Hanners’ Anime Blog…

So goes the first episode of Eden of the East, and I have to admit that it seems quite strangely compelling from this opener. Production values of the series seem high from this first glimpse (well, it is a Production I.G. show) from the use of Oasis on the opening theme through to the employment of proper American voice actors to portray the Americans within this episode. That aside, the story itself has plenty of room to be intriguing thanks to our mystery man, as we’re already thick with questions surrounding who he is and who he was working for. Despite all the questions, this episode doesn’t lose its light-hearted touch either though, with some nice little set pieces to give you a laugh away from the pure, simple absurdity of it all.

From GAR GAR Stegosaurus…

Eden of the East stands out from any other show this season simply by dint of being completely different from anything both this season and any season I’ve seen before, something which certainly owes a quite a bit to the bizarre premise – Japanese girl meets Japanese guy in Washington, D.C…. and he’s naked. And carrying a gun. And has amnesia. And at least four passports. … I was impressed by the faithfulness they took with the set designs … One of the things I find interesting about the set-up, though, is the premise of nuclear threats – missiles land on Tokyo at the end of the episode. Currently, there’s quite a bit of fear in Japan about nuclear missiles, given the recent North Korean missile tests and posturing on the issue. … I’d say Eden of the East has some potential for some intriguing commentary, and I look forward to seeing how it plays out.

From Anime Diet…

It wasn’t just a surprisingly hilarious and entertaining espionage thriller, with likable characters immediately reminiscent of Morita and Ayumi and Hagu. It was a show that cared enough to pay attention to little details so that its depiction of Washington DC was, by far, the most accurate I’ve ever seen in anime. … Actually, the story seems rather flimsy at this point. Both Saki and Akira, the Morita-like character, get away with doing really outrageous things that clashes with the backdrop’s utter realism. … What was much more interesting and effective were the character interactions. Both Saki and Akira are pretty winsome characters, especially Akira, whose playfulness and whimsy really is reminiscent of Morita’s best moments.

More blogs about Eden of the East 01:

Kurogane’s Anime Blog – Eden of the East is…
Cardcaptor’s Blog – Eden of the East #01
Kita ze Inbou! – Eden of the East ep. 1
The Scrumptious Anime Blog – First Taste of Spring Anime 2009
Asperger’s Anime Blog – Eden of the East – 01: Important Member of Society
wat u say – Tayutama & Eden of the East – 01
METANORN – Eden of the East: 01 – Johnny Exposed.
Hey, Say, Anime! -  Eden of the East Ep1: Naked Guys in Washington D.C.
Hikari to Hotaru – First Impressions: Eden of the East
Calamitous Intent – First Impressions: Eden of the East, Shangri-La, Basquash
Kritik der Animationskraft – Eden of the East, Valkyria Chronicles (It’s not You)
Crazyanimegyrl – Higashi no Eden
Rabbit Poets: Blogging about Anime – Spring 2009 First Impressions: Eden of the East
Undercover – Anime Preview: Spring 2009 First Impressions – Batch 2
Chan-Chan’s Anime Blog – Eden of the East Episode 1
Bokutachi no BLOG – First Impressions: Ristorante Paradiso, Eden of the East, Hatsukoi Limited + Final Roundup
Open Your Mind – Eden of the East – The Ladies Love Johnny
notdotq – I Endorse Eden of the East
The Banzai Effect – Eden of the East- Where indecent exposure is fine too
Wolf Hurricane – So, about my previous thoughts regarding Eden of the East…
Anime Princess – Eden of the East and 07-Ghost ~First Impressions~
Can you Moe? – Eden of the East ep01: Let me check your “Johnny”

You know, I don’t think I’ll link to every blog post I see about a show anymore. It takes way too long…

This post is tagged eden of the east, metareview