DVD Higashi no Eden Gekijôban II: Paradise Lost

This film follows on from the events seen in 'Eden of the East: King of Eden' and to enjoy this you really need to have watched that film and the series which preceded it as no time is wasted in explaining things to the viewer.

The film opens with Akira and Saki's return to Japan where not surprisingly his planned assassination does not take place. The two of them are soon separated; Akira sets about finding Juiz; the artificial intelligence that has been facilitating his requests and Saki goes to find somebody who may be Akira's mother in order to establish whether or not he really is the illegitimate son of the late Prime Minister. As the story progresses Akira meets Seleção No 1 who tries to make a deal to end the game; we also finally get to meet the mysterious 'Mr Outsider' and learn how he picked the twelve Seleção.

Having enjoyed previous parts of 'Eden of the East' I obviously wanted to watch this to find out how it ended and by and large I was pretty happy with it although I can't help feeling that it would have been better to have a second series rather than two films. By the end the story was nicely wrapped up and the game was over. Those expecting lots of action may be a little disappointed as this didn't feature as much as earlier parts… not that it was ever an action driven story. The animation and designs were up to the high standards set in the previous instalments. Overall I'd say this was a fine conclusion to the story; definitely a must-see if you watched the earlier parts… and keep watching after the end credits as there is a two minute epilogue.

These comments are based on watching the series in Japanese with English subtitles.