Higashi no Eden (Eden of the East) + Production I.G Love
I fell madly and desperately in love with Production I.G's work after finishing "Seirei no Moribito" not too long ago. Even now, when I load up Moribito's website, I can't help but have my breath taken away by the amazing detail and beauty of the scenery there.
So, unsurprisingly, I've been hunting for more I.G work to follow. I'm still keeping up with "Kemono no Souja Erin," but I get the feeling that I.G intends that to be a kiddie anime, or at least not one they want to promote overseas, given that their site work list only mentions it under the Japanese and not the English version.
One project of theirs that looks good is the Musashi movie, which might get released in the US since there's an English trailer available here. Still, looks like it'll be a while before it gets here since even the Japanese premiere isn't fixed yet (sometime this summer).
Eden of the East
The promising thing is that Production I.G is pimping out "Higashi no Eden," or "Eden of the East," (kickass site, btw) like there's no tomorrow. With a team of Seirei veterans (the director and the composer), along with Umino Chika's distinctive character designs (Honey and Clover), you can't go wrong, and they have seriously delivered.
Word on the street (or at least the anime blogosphere) is that this is seriously the best new series of the season. Google hasn't turned up a negative review so far. My own initial impression of "a little too weird and postmodern for me" has been completely knocked aside by the fact that I'm strangely captivated by it too.
There's a lot going for this series - a stunning opening sequence to an Oasis song, a creative paper-animation ending, perfect Production I.G realism in cityscapes and skylines, good spoken and written English, appealing characters and character designs, and a world-spanning conspiracy plot that's (so far) grounded enough to be realistic (9/11 allusions!) but fantastical enough to be intriguing (Bourne allusions!).
I worry a little bit that the plot might be too vague to wrap up neatly (it's 11 episodes only, after all, though there's going to be a follow-up movie this summer too), but so far so good - we're getting fed both answers and mysteries, humor and suspense, and it's not in mindf*ck territory (yet?).
And in the end, even if we're going to get mindf*cked anyway, I can't complain when the view is so beautiful. (No one beats Production I.G at stunning skies!) :)
So, unsurprisingly, I've been hunting for more I.G work to follow. I'm still keeping up with "Kemono no Souja Erin," but I get the feeling that I.G intends that to be a kiddie anime, or at least not one they want to promote overseas, given that their site work list only mentions it under the Japanese and not the English version.
One project of theirs that looks good is the Musashi movie, which might get released in the US since there's an English trailer available here. Still, looks like it'll be a while before it gets here since even the Japanese premiere isn't fixed yet (sometime this summer).
Eden of the East
The promising thing is that Production I.G is pimping out "Higashi no Eden," or "Eden of the East," (kickass site, btw) like there's no tomorrow. With a team of Seirei veterans (the director and the composer), along with Umino Chika's distinctive character designs (Honey and Clover), you can't go wrong, and they have seriously delivered.
Word on the street (or at least the anime blogosphere) is that this is seriously the best new series of the season. Google hasn't turned up a negative review so far. My own initial impression of "a little too weird and postmodern for me" has been completely knocked aside by the fact that I'm strangely captivated by it too.
There's a lot going for this series - a stunning opening sequence to an Oasis song, a creative paper-animation ending, perfect Production I.G realism in cityscapes and skylines, good spoken and written English, appealing characters and character designs, and a world-spanning conspiracy plot that's (so far) grounded enough to be realistic (9/11 allusions!) but fantastical enough to be intriguing (Bourne allusions!).
I worry a little bit that the plot might be too vague to wrap up neatly (it's 11 episodes only, after all, though there's going to be a follow-up movie this summer too), but so far so good - we're getting fed both answers and mysteries, humor and suspense, and it's not in mindf*ck territory (yet?).
And in the end, even if we're going to get mindf*cked anyway, I can't complain when the view is so beautiful. (No one beats Production I.G at stunning skies!) :)