[Review] Eden, a light anime that feels more suitable as an animated film!

Netflix’s increasingly active role as a production house for original series that also includes anime series has put them on the threshold of new success. With so many original series being produced each year, there are a variety of series that have slipped off the radar of many people and have appeared on Netflix as a new offering. This is especially what we feel for anime series titled Eden, which to be honest we only found out about two weeks ago before finally getting the exclusive opportunity to watch it first.

Offering the premise of being a short CG anime with an art style to a charming storyline, from the outside, Eden already looks like it will be a light spectacle which is perfect to fill our spare time. Taking advantage of the exclusive access provided by Netflix, we take this moment to summarize the impressions obtained in the review of the new anime on Gamerwk. Curious what the quality is like? Just take a look at our review below!

Solid Storyline in a Short Episode Sequence

The storyline offered by Eden is arguably very easy to digest, like watching a short animated film, so we will summarize it below. Please note that there will be SPOILERS, so for those of you who don’t want to read it, you can skip to the next point.

Ok, so the story in Eden takes place on earth which is on the verge of collapse, at least until there is a figure named Dr. Fields who found a way to save humanity, namely by putting them to sleep for years in a “cryosleep” position and letting his robot restore the broken condition of the earth. But because of the struggle for influence from capitalist humans, only certain people are allowed to do so. into a special pod for the cryosleep process. Dr. Fields, who wants to save his daughter first because of her illness, must suffer the unfortunate fate, because the evil capitalists thwart Dr. Fields until his daughter died.

The story then moves to the distant future, and from here we are shown a character named Sara who is still asleep in a cryosleep pod before being found by two robot figures. Driven by fear because the leader of Oberlord Zero who hates humans, the two robots then secure Sara who is still sleeping in a pod to a secret place. From here the story will progress back to the moment where Sara has grown into a child and is faced with a major event that involves her on a mission to save the rest of humanity.

She takes on this mission after Sara finds Project Eden, which then involves herself in an attempt to find the secret password to stop the cryosleep process before the time limit, otherwise the remaining humanity only has a 3% chance of survival. AI Zurich then told Sara that Dr. Fields has the secret password, which then leads him and his robotic parents to Dr. Fields. Their plan was unfortunately caught by Zero’s forces, which even put Sara on the verge of being killed because she lost control after Zero reprogrammed her robotic parents.

After Sara was rescued by a robot named Uncle John, she then learned the surprising fact that Dr. The actual field is Zero. From here the story finally enters the climax which is described by an epic battle between robots, as well as a touching moment when Zero aka Dr. Fields heard his dead daughter’s voice over the recording that was playing by Sara. Even though the cryosleep time limit has passed by eight hours, it turns out that humanity is not dead and can still be saved again. Sara along with her robotic parents who are still affected by Zero’s reprogramming then live the rest of their lives happily, although for us the ending is quite touching too.

At least that’s a rough summary of Eden’s story, which surprisingly is only summarized in the format of four episodes, each of which is about 20 minutes long. We were quite surprised how this anime was able to summarize a fairly dense story in just a series of short episodes, but if combined into one spectacle this is actually equivalent to a single animated film, so at the same time maybe this is something normal?

Fortunately, this short format does not affect the character development aspects throughout the anime. We can sympathize with the fate that Dr. Fields, who had tried so hard to save humanity before being betrayed by them too, causing him to lose a loved one. Meanwhile, for Sara, we are presented with the development of her character from the beginning while still in the pod until she grows up to be a brave figure, even though her character’s character changes quite drastically in just a short time.

One more most importantly, the storyline has a clear ending and does not leave a cliffhanger. The biggest conflict has been resolved and Sara is back to living happily with her robot family as before, yes this is an ending that we think will make anyone who watches it feel satisfied.

Getting to Know the Main Character

Here we have summarized the details of some of the main characters that are the focus of the anime:

Sarah Grace: An ordinary little boy who has no relationship whatsoever with Dr. Fields. Her biological parents left Sara in the pod for no apparent reason, before she was met by two robots who became her new parent figures. The character development aspect moves linearly, where we see it starting from the figure of a baby, small child to growing up and saving humanity from extinction.

E92 & A37: They are two robot pairs who find and raise Sara, where E92 is a male robot while A37 is a female. As can be predicted from a parent’s figure, E92 as “father” has a more violent nature, while A37 as “mother” has a gentle and friendly demeanor.

Western Fields: You could say he is one of the most important driving characters of the story. As the person who created Project Eden to save mankind, but in the end had to swallow the bitter pill and feel the most unfortunate nabis compared to any other character. At least Sara has been adopted by her robot parents who loved her so much that she grew up, but Fields, who has worked hard for everyone’s safety, lost everything and was only accompanied by the AI he created.

Zeros: The main antagonist who is described as an evil robot who hates humanity. Whenever he encounters robots that believe in humans, he won’t hesitate to reprogram them like the E92 & A37 did.

Visual and Musical Presentation

Eden presents CG-based visuals that are very charming and look natural with a distinctive 2D style that is still firmly attached to each character. Including the natural scenery to the animation that is successfully displayed smoothly. It’s very different compared to most Japanese anime, which makes us feel that the style on offer makes it more like cards or western animated films.

The music in Eden was composed by composer Kevin Penkin, who apparently also handled the music for the popular anime Made in Abyss. We happen to really like the music in Made in Abyss which feels calming and has a strain that fits perfectly with the fantasy theme, and this is still offered in Eden. We don’t think the quality is that much different, but what is clear for the music part of this anime is that it doesn’t disappoint at all and always fits the various moments.

So, how is the quality of the anime?

As we mentioned several times above, Eden as a whole is more like an animated film than an anime. We don’t only mention the visual style, but also the pacing of the linear story which is quite dense and can be summarized well in the format of only four episodes. So it would be much more effective if Eden was made into an animated film-based spectacle that might be added with extra scenes in several places.

The quality of the story is also not so bad and has a satisfying ending, moreover, you won’t be dizzy until you leave questions unanswered. So, in terms of pacing, Eden is a spectacle that is perfectly summarized, although yes, we have to admit that the experience is not much different from watching an ordinary animated film. You will indeed be presented with an exciting story plot and animated spectacle, but after that the impression it leaves doesn’t leave a strong impression.

The plot is neatly summarized and closed with a satisfying conclusion, but all of this is linear and provides predictable signals. It would be much more interesting, of course, if Eden could present surprising moments that fans didn’t expect, such as the appearance of a secret villain, the death or resurrection of an important character, or so on.

For those of you who are curious about the anime, Eden will soon be aired exclusively on Netflix on May 27. Later there will be a choice of dangerous English and Japanese audio and subtitles in several additional languages such as Chinese to Malaysian as well.

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