Short Synopsis: Akira and Saki arrive at Akira’s… “home”.
Episode Rating: 8/10 (Excellent)
For me, the great thing of Eden of the East is that it only gets awesome after an episode finishes. At least, I had that with this episode: most of the episode was just a collection of strange events with very pretty production values, but as I started putting all of the pieces of the puzzle together and things started to make more sense, the setting only became more and more intriguing.
So, we now know that all of the Selecao get a starting budget of 10 billion yen, or 77,7 million Euros. Akira used 13,9 million Euros of that in order to buy his own shopping mall and gather 20.000 NEET and had them killed. Since having 3 people killed costs around 11653 euros (as shown in the previous episode), the murder of the 20.000 NEET would have cost him nearly exactly 77,7 million Euros. Now that’s a nice coincidence there that I didn’t expect.
Now, my guess would be that Akira killed those NEET in person, instead of using Juiz, since otherwise he’d be broke right now. The question now remains what he did to all the bodies of those people, since it doesn’t seem like Juiz cleaned up for him.
My image of the pre-mind-wipe Akira at the moment is one of a deranged madman: somehow he got the complete wrong idea of carrying out his mission of improving the world, thought that it’d be a good idea to simply get rid of all of the NEET in Tokyo, rather than all of the bank-robbers, rapists or terrorists. He threw around with money for a while, bought his own shopping mall, killed 20000 people by hand and was happy about it. Then he started to probably regret his choice; he went crazy, did nothing but watch every possible movie in existence, made some fake passports, fled around the world and in the end he simply erased his own memory to end himself from constantly being haunted.
It’s interesting how for once, we have a show that doesn’t criticize bad society, but those naive minds who think that with the right amount of money and power this world can simply be turned into a better place. I do want to see more of the other Selecao though. Akira in this episode was labeled as a very notorious member, which means that the other members of the Celecao didn’t run off with their money in the way he did. It’s going to be interesting to see how the other ones ended up using their money: are Akira and Yuusei the two worst examples, or are the others the same and also waste the money of the Selecao?
I do think Eden really truly excels at it’s theorising. I have had some really in-depth discussions online and a ton of points and interesting mentions just adds more to the experience – it’s fun to piece together your ideas. People with sharp eyes can discover more things, such as Number I appearing in the first episode, and the detective’s trying to rig horse-races.
Even the Opening’s visuals provide alot of interesting information and theory.
So yeah, to really appreciate this show you need to be hooked by the characters and take notes of the clues given. I’m hoping it’s resolved properly, so it’s much more satisfying to see guesses proven true or false.
What would be really interesting is if that pack of gum that Akira bought in ep. 1 (or was it ep. 2?) actually made him balance out to 0 yen. And then Juiz eventually figures that out and orders for his assassination. >:O
What is NEET?
NEET stands for Not currently engaged in Employment, Education or Training. Basically bums who just spend their time doing useless things when they could be doing something more productive like actually looking for what the acronym stands as lacking with them.
Personally, I think you’re wrong about Akira. I don’t think he murdered 20k NEETs; using Juiz or by himself. As weird as he is, if someone was THAT insane, then wiping memories wouldn’t necessarily wipe a psychotic personality, just the memory of it. He’d still be crazy, but forgetful. And he hasn’t done anything blatantly violent or deranged yet. Just…weird. My guess is that we’re supposed to think he killed them when in fact he didn’t and we’ll find out later in the series. I’m loving this show. đ
I like this anime that makes me overthink and do something totally different than what I expected >_
why did my comment get cut off???
I like this anime that makes me overthink and do something totally different than what I expected.I so did not expect number 4 to end up just like that..The biggest question for me is what exactly is Saki’s role in this story?Her role would be something very big I think,cause even the anime’s title is something that is connected with her(instead of ‘The Celecao’ or something like that)..
My guess is that weâre supposed to think he killed them when in fact he didnât and weâll find out later in the series. Iâm loving this show.
Yes I agree with this
“Akira used 13,9 million Euros of that in order to buy his own shopping mall and gather 20.000 NEET and had them killed. Since having 3 people killed costs around 11653 euros (as shown in the previous episode), the murder of the 20.000 NEET would have cost him nearly exactly 77,7 million Euros. Now thatâs a nice coincidence there that I didnât expect.”
It´s unclear whatever he killed them or not.
掺ăăă¨ăă is a volitional verb conjugation and means “tried to kill” or “attempted to kill”.
also, he attempted to kill the 20.000 NEET´s by placing them at the center of a missile explosion, so the question would rather be… how much would it cost to order a missile strike? đ
It´s also unclear if he actually tried to kill all those NEET´s. He´s a smart guy, so it could all be some sort of ploy or scheme.
I like the idea that we’re only supposed to think Akira killed the NEETs. It also seems too coincidental to me that they were kept in a place so close to where one of the missiles landed (but where no one was killed, according to Saki). I have to wonder if no one being killed in the missile attacks was the result of people who lived there, worked there, etc., being held elsewhere. (Of course, it could be a cover-up and people were actually killed …)
If he indeed wasn’t the one who killed the NEETs, then I wonder about the meaning of the photograph he took. I mean, usually you wouldn’t take a picture yourself in front of 20000 naked NEETs right before they’d end up dead, would you? Those NEETs also definitely were angry at Akira, so I’m still not sure whether the guy was totally kosher when he still had his memory.
Thanks Machi. I had no idea that it was a real term. I thought that it was an acronym for the show. Thanks =)
How could you kill 20,000 NEETs by yourself without using money? Too many for one guy alone, he’s completely outnumbered. He had to have help, in some form, if he really did killed the NEETs.
I also like you to take a minute to consider what happened at the very start of episode 1.
We see “akira” walking toward the white house (in what seems to be some kind of trance or hypnosis, holding the gun pointing forward). Just moment before, one of the other Selecao is talking on the phone with Yuiz who I suppose is one of the “supporters” he´s saying “Number 9 is truly an unique man, more so than I could have imagined, but this is will be the end of him”. He´s awakened out of his trance when the cellphone rings and emits a strange sequence of sound.
This kind of makes me imagine that one of the other selecao masterminded the whole mindwipe and inserted some kind of programing in him, and the whole plan was to make go get himself killed at the white house and the police would later find the hideout with all the weapons.
However, I really don´t understand why he would be carrying the cellphone if that was the case. I could just be a plothole, or maybe i´m just way of mark here.
Weren’t all the NEET guys naked? Akira took his clothes of at the very start of the first episode…
Also. Can’t help but love Eden of the East. It has really great ideas, art and plot.
Somewhere in the opening, they show the numbers 1-12 in the same form as the numbers on the back of the cells, 4 fades away first then 5, then 10. Thought it was interesting to note.
maybe it’s nothing important, but what i found interesting was that Akira supposedly used the same identity before, as we see that NEETs wrote hate messeges for him on the walls. after first episode i thought that he just chose completelt new name.
I think you’ve look too far into it cause it’s not still clear what happened with the NEET.
Appart, the death of the detective may have been orquestrated by the supporter or another seleçao, who by what the detective says before he dies, seems to have send the message instead to the lover to the wife in order to kill him subtetly. Akira loses one important fount of info there. And just add that the cost of killing someone depends on the method that you choose or Juis makes use.
Really interesting.