No spoilers past episode 1 No matter how good a director is, they will never be able to save weak characters in a weak story with awkward animation. This 4 episode anime was marketed as “the same director as FMAB.” However, in both cases, the director is not responsible for the story, the characters, or the script. Having a good director can greatly benefit a production, but does not translate to being able to enjoy Eden because one enjoyed FMAB. Everything is rushed which should be expected when everything is condensed into 4 episodes, 21-22 minutes in length, yet somehow, the beginning manages tofeel painfully drawn out. There is very little time spent on any characterization, let alone character development. Similarly, the plot does not develop much and is very simply laid out as “this is the conflict, this is how they try to deal with it, this is the solution,” However, more problematic than the pacing, the viewer is not provided the richness in characters or plot to motivate any emotional investment in either.
The characters, there is zero development and very little characterization: only enough details necessary to demonstrate the characters have different personalities. The main character is a slight exception to this, as she gets a large portion of the screen time. However, even she feels underdeveloped, simplistic. and undeserving of any emotional investment from the viewer.
The story is essentially about two robots who find a human child in a robot dominated world where belief in the existence of humans is outlawed. Naturally, there are more humans than this single child, and there is a group of robots living as exiles for having such beliefs. Although this has potential, it doesn’t go anywhere interesting from there. There seems to be attempts at comedy, albeit aimed at the <10 year old demographic. Example: a robot spins around making a weird sound in reaction to something unexpected or referring to a baby pooping as being ‘[wasteful of their recharging.]” The story attempts a message but nothing novel, just the traditional, “hubris of humans not taking care of the planet” and presented with none of the subtlety which makes Ghibli films so powerful. It appears more as though the writers were just trying to check-off a box on their list of things they wanted to incorporate.
Finally, the art is pretty horrific. Although this can be subjective, vibrant, colors, high resolution and a high frame rate are not the formula for a good anime if everything else is bad. This is a perfect example of bad CGI. A mix of 2D and 3D background textures can make the entire environment feel awkward. The characters are three dimensional, but the shadows have very sharp cut offs which make things feel more of a traditional 2d cel-shaded design. The awkwardness of the animation of the faces of the characters convey little emotion and often undermine any emotion attempting to be created in a scene. Fortunately, the large number of faceless robots minimizes the impact this could have otherwise caused. Putting everything together creates a very jarring mashup of visuals similar to ex-arm or the 2016-17 Berserk adaptation.
As for the positive aspects of the show: the soundtrack was above average, it had a somewhat interesting premise, the background art was intermittently normal if you are able to ignore it clashing with the foreground.
Not Recommended
With just 4 episodes, Eden never got off to a start. The story didn't develop, the animation was below average and it was not intriguing at all. Another Netflix original anime that unsurprisingly was poorly made, without much development of the story or the character whatsoever. The only thing that excited me to watch Eden is that it is made by the director of FMAB. The story could have been made better, the animation was way off and nothing felt structured, rather was a mess. It would have been a possibility that it might have been a good show, given that it's pacing was considered along withit's number of episodes.
Recommended
I liked the plot. During the anime it felt really wholesome, and it leaves a bittersweet taste for a few days after you finish the anime. The only thing I don't like is the art style. The story was unique, and the end was predictable at the last 2 episodes, but before that it was hard to guess. I didn't really like the art style. Something about it looked weird. Though, it didn't bother me from the overall show. I liked the main character as she had flaws and strengths. Although, I do think that if she really was raised in a world of robots, she would've actedmore differently.
I also think that the main character is a bit too brave. And was quite unrealistic in that sense.
I think others will like it. Despite the art style, it's a very wholesome short sweet anime that you can watch in less than 2 hours. :)
8/10
Not Recommended
When will Netflix stop producing shitty CGI anime with jam-pack story in 3-6 episodes, their latest anime just doesn't seem to improve. I really expected Eden to be good. After all, it carries the name Eden, that's the promised neverland, that's Vinland. It should tell an intriguing story about finding the promised land, right? Unfortunately, this show is just the most clique anime ever, like a 80s novel that's lost in the space of time. Eden follows the story of the time 1000 year after human's extinction. Why they're extincted, we don't know. Wars? Nature's Wrath? Pollution? What we do know is that now earthis the inhabited by robots, somehow with human emotions. One day, a pair of 'farmer robot' find a little girl in a steel cocoon, instead of handing her over to their boss as human is determined as harmful by them, they hides and grows her up like real parents. There our story begins.
The main problem with these kinds of story is that, they're mopped down to only six episodes. Imagining the beautiful and interesting after-apocalypse world we never get to explored because the story is too focus on its main plot and the time to build other things is just simply non-existent. And even so, the story is too large to tell in just the span of half a season. What's the solutions? They 'briliantly' overused tropes to help the story move forward. Annoying kids that don't ever listen to their parents? Check. The comical villain who is bad for the sake of being bad? Check. And so many more... it will be spoilers if i mentioned more so I'll leave it at that.
Every characters in this anime are flat cookie-cutter board and unmemorable. Their logics of action is flawed. They make this anime so boring to watch.
And don't get me started about the CGI, well to be honest, this looks better than most of what they're putting out but still look very unnatural. In some frames, if you pauses, you will find the model of our main character is kinda mopped. The music is just average.
Overall, another flop by Netflix. They should concentrate more on the story of what they're putting out and stop doing so much CGI unless it's tremendously improved. 6eps/season only works with drama format on television. Don't do it here. That's all I can review about this show.
