Eden Rambling (spoilers up to chapter 31)

Aion

Aion

Time-Traveller
Just finished reading the five volumes I own in one sitting. I even re-read the first volume.

It's addictive, it's intense, it's intelligent, it's action-packed... it's a lot of things. The chapters (those in the first three volumes in particular) flowed really well. Reading Eden, you can't help but appreciate him for his talent.

...However, he continues to baffle me with some of his story choices. First he decided to jump 20 years into the future after spending 100+ pages introducing the reader to Enoah and Hannah; not taking the chance to show their relationship develop, or how Enoah managed to become a drug lord. Being a fan of romance and having taken a liking to them, I saw it as a huge waste for the story to jump right ahead, with their less interesting son taking control.

After that, the decision to kill off Kaschua(sp?) after spending time on her character, and not having her build any sort of relationship with Elijah beforehand, again struck me as a bad choice. In one sense I respect Endo for not pussying around like other mangaka do, instead opting to kill people off without hesitation, but that death could've been executed in a more emotional manner.

Then, following her death, it struck me as odd for their not to be a chapter reflecting on it. Elijah just got on with it and a lengthy flashback arc for Kenji followed. Why put a straight-forward and somewhat dull story, not connected to the two deaths that occurred, in right after a shocking moment? It took away from the horror of seeing someone who was a main character blown in half.

And, finally, right at the end of volume five, it seems ANOTHER... unusual choice has been made. WHY KILL OFF HANNAH WITHOUT SHOWING HER INTERACTING WITH HER SON!? WHY DIDN'T SHE AND ELIJAH'S DAD GET FLESHED OUT!? WHY!!!!!????

...Grrr. I seriously hope, somewhere down the line, there's going to be an epic flashback arc thrown in. I'll be pissed if there isn't. I found it intriguing how Enoah hid his darker deeds from Hannah; protecting her innocence by not showing her his 'ugly' actions early on. It didn't surprise me to discover that, 20 years on, she'd decided to leave him with her children... though it did surprise me that Enoah tried to help his wife leave him with the kids. Usually, don't powerful people do the opposite when women try to escape? He must really love her.

Elijah's quote from his father, which went something like "Show kindness to those you love. Be merciless to those you don't." summed up the differences between Enoah and his far kinder other half. I WANT TO SEE MORE OF THEM!!!!

...Anyway. The story isn't very clear at this point. The world/setting is still a little 'fuzzy' because 90% of the time has been spent on flashbacks and action. To start with, it seemed the world had gone to hell, with pretty much everyone dead or soon to be dead. But, for whatever reason, only 15% of the human race died, and people no longer catch the 'turn to stone' virus. Now it seems the virus is just a plot device being used to create zombie soldiers (how!?). And how Maya fits into this (was she the first 'creature' created ; before the zombie things? -_-;;) I have no clue...

/rambling end
 
Aion said:
It's addictive, it's intense, it's intelligent, it's action-packed... it's a lot of things. The chapters (those in the first three volumes in particular) flowed really well. Reading Eden, you can't help but appreciate him for his talent.

...However, he continues to baffle me with some of his story choices.
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I couldn't have put it better myself. He's a tremendous artist, handles both action and drama exceptionally well, and he creates some of the most raw, visceral imagery I've ever seen. But his storytelling? Based on what I've read, I'd say it's more suited to short stories. I certainly prefer Tanpenshu over Eden, and having read Beatnik's post on your MAL thread, I'm glad I cut my losses when I did.
 
Well, actually, you know how viruses can mutate? Yeah.

Also, everyone in Eden dies, learn to deal with it.
 
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It isn't the fact Endo's killing characters that bothers me - I like my stories depressing. What's bothering me is that, time and time again, Endo is killing his characters too quickly; not building up their connections with other cast members beforehand or having a moments silence afterwards.

In any other series, if the main character ****** up, missing a headshot and failing to save two people, you'd usually see Shinji Ikari make a guest appearance. Elijah recovers very quickly from what would destroy most others...


Fabio: How on earth could you drop Eden? Flawed or not, Endo is amazing. You just have to read his rambling at the end of each volume to understand how much of a deep thinker the guy is. His ability to ramble about very little, and sound like a highly intelligent life form whilst doing so, is most impressive.

What shocks me about Eden is how action packed it is. From the creator of short stories designed to make you think, you'd expect all chat and no fighting, but Endo has even shown that he's clearly a fan of professional fighting (his third manga is about fighting) and knows how to draw action sequences.
 
Aion said:
Fabio: How on earth could you drop Eden? Flawed or not, Endo is amazing. You just have to read his rambling at the end of each volume to understand how much of a deep thinker the guy is. His ability to ramble about very little, and sound like a highly intelligent life form whilst doing so, is most impressive.
Click to expand...
Endo is intelligent but that doesn't necessarily make for great entertainment (as you would say about Oshii). Not saying that Eden isn't entertaining, just wanted to point that out. As I said elsewhere, the gap between volumes (it's going to take Dark Horse years to finish a manga that's already completed) killed my interest in the story, which I already had issues with and which I feel had gone off the boil by volume 6. Then there's the storage space issue. From now on I'm sticking with shorter series.
 
It's hard not to find Eden entertaining when it's been pretty much non-stop action after the first slow volume, with the odd bit character development. So far, the only part that hasn't entertained me is the surprisingly boring back-story of Kenji. (I'm not sure if Kenji's brother killed himself, or what. I also didn't 100% get why Kenji shot the taxi driver... maybe because he ruined the illusion of a sea paradise?)

The story hasn't got started yet, so I'm not sure how it's "gone off the boil". Set-up > character development > action > character development > action. I'm still waiting for the story to get going since there's been very little up to yet.

Oshii should bore the **** out of everyone. The guy doesn't know how to entertain AND express himself. Endo's on a different level.
 
My latest thoughts on Eden.

In short, I now hate Endo and hope he has a horrible Christmas. He's ****** up badly, and I no longer want to favourite Eden. Out of disgust, I'm going to stop reading for now, midway through volume ten.

-_-

I haven't enjoyed the China arc very much. Because it's focused almost fully on new characters (all but one going bye-bye), I felt little connection to what was going on. Only when Kenji starting being his usual shounen-esque, unbeatable self did my interest levels rise.

I think I'm going to wait before top fiving it. After Elijah's coming of age (in more ways than one!), I was tempted to put it as my #2. However, with Elijah and Helena vanishing, I no longer feel that way. Give me my Micheal Corleone/Shinji hybrid and his dominant/would die happy after screwing woman back plz!

Enoah used his connections to get the slaughter of muslims/hostages live on TV. All that did was weaken the public image of an organization intent on creating a world with one race and no religion other than the worship of those in control of the world. I don't see how this master plan is going to do much good in the grand scheme of things...

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Terrible chapter. Random time-skip, a new character gets introduced, it's revealed he stole Helena from Elijah, and then Helena gets killed off. She was my favourite character and I was fond of her cute relationship with Elijah.

Down to 8/10 you go, Eden. I was full of praise for Eden after eight volumes, but these last two have been **** so far.
 
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