The unfinished symphony...

SO.
I’m determined not to let this Blog die… Kind of… Well, you can probably tell that determination isn’t really my thing. Perhaps what I actually mean is that I’m too stubborn to let it sink into the depths of Internet obscurity. Well, anyway, I doubt M will ever feel compelled to make a post here of his own accord… and well, I think C would probably take a bit of pushing too, even if he did have something he wanted to share with the world… then again, our readership probably does only consist of about eight people at maximum, so he could likely find a better audience elsewhere… Hmmmmmm… ‘Kay, well now I’m starting to wonder whether this post is worth making. Huh… well… I guess I’m going to resolve to create my own blog sometime soon, and make it a genuine project with, like, regular and frequent updates… yeah…

BUT THERE IS ONE THING I’D LIKE TO COMPEL YOU ALL TO DO.
WATCH EDEN OF THE EAST.
NOW.



To be honest, my feelings towards the franchise as a whole are very similar to the sentiments in the above paragraph… it starts off all BANG, and really wins your heart. Then, well, it goes towards something, sort of determined, for the remainder of the series, which, whilst still really good – really, really good - leaves you with a fair bit of uncertainty at the end. Then, there are the movies… If you take the first one by itself, then it could be said to be quite good, well rounded and seemingly setting up the last part quite… But then… Well, the second film…
It’s not quite so good as a film, rather slow with too much dialogue and not enough action or development… And everything goes rather limp. The baddies aren’t really baddies, the goody’s still pretending to be the baddy and the girl’s still chasing after his tailcoats…
Most things are resolved, but the build up and the dynamics and the development weren’t quite realised as you’d have hoped given the pacing and the direction at the beginning of the series…
AND THEN… ARGH… DAMN YOU AKIRA, WHY MUST YOU ALWAYS RUN OFF!?
*ahem*
(Oh, and one thing that particularly annoyed me about the films was that they didn’t use the OP and opening music (‘Falling Down’ from ‘Dig Out Your Soul’ by Oasis) from the series that, together, really complimented the anime perfectly… seriously, the OP of the episodes can be just as interesting to watch as the episodes themselves until you’ve taken note of every little detail…)

Thus, I’d give the series 10/10… the final resolution, however, drags the whole thing down to about… 7.8? (sort of like Pirates of the Caribbean, but nowhere near as bad XD).

In spite of this, I’m pretty sure it’s the anime that’s had the most profound effect on me. It just… seemed (for the majority of it at least) the most perfect balance of beauty, melancholy, cuteness, action, awkwardness, mystery, developing romance, and – something which I very rarely find in anime – meaning. Not like big philosophical malarkey about the nature of justice or absolute power, or the sublime and immense power of the universe and its beauty, and how mankind and its technological expansionism is some kind of blight and blah blah blah, but real, relevant meaning. It really felt like there was little pretension… like they were trying to say something about the generational gap, about the nature of youth these days… commenting on the degree to which we can really make a difference… what constitutes a healthy culture… about how we can save ourselves? In the end they have to rush the conclusions to these things like everything else… but the initial ideas really got through and hit home.

I really wish they’d decided to make a second series as opposed to the two movies… I think that would have served to develop everything, from the characters to the story through to the themes… But alas it was not so. But still.

So yeah, I’ll remember this series fondly, as the masterpiece that was not to be. I may even take to writing my first fan-fiction about it… Perhaps a few songs, a poem or two… But seriously, it has helped affirm within me the ideas and ideals by which I hope to live my life… for the time being…

So my little malchickiwicks, my dear droogs, I think I’m going to head off to my beddy-wed, rest me gulliver, and put on some of the old Ludwig Van, proper horrorshow like.
Till the next time… perhaps…

J