Ep 2. Melancholy Monday

On "Melancholy Monday," the second episode of the anime series "Eden of the East," viewers are reunited with protagonist Akira Takizawa, who has been introduced as a man with no memories, but a significant amount of money and a strange phone. The episode begins with Takizawa and his newfound companion Saki Morimi wandering around Tokyo, looking for a way to get Takizawa back to his apartment since he's not exactly sure where it is. Along the way, they witness a woman attempting to jump off a building and manage to save her. To their surprise, she knows who Takizawa is but isn't able to give them any information before she jumps off the building to her death.

This moment is fairly representative of the larger themes of the show: people with uncertain pasts, moments of hopelessness and despair, and mysterious happenings around every corner. It's clear from the beginning that "Eden of the East" is a cerebral and complex series that is going to keep viewers on their toes.

The episode continues with Takizawa and Saki finding themselves at a shopping mall where they encounter the mysterious AI assistant Juiz, who is able to provide Takizawa with information about his "game," explained as a sort of survival game where players must spend as much of their considerable starting funds as possible within a certain time limit.

As Takizawa becomes more integrated into the game and begins to engage with other players, he ends up meeting a group of NEETs (Not in Education, Employment, or Training) who refer to themselves as "The Seleção." Despite their unmotivated lifestyles, Seleção members are actually tasked with creating “social betterment” initiatives in order to make the world a better place. Of course, these initiatives are facilitated with the help of the game's funds.

This episode does a great job of balancing multiple storylines while still being able to keep the audience on the same page. The themes of "Eden of the East" are heavy, but the show doesn't feel bogged down by them. Instead, it feels like a fascinating, mysterious world that is just beginning to be explored. There's so much information that viewers are given, and yet so much that is still to be uncovered.

One particularly interesting moment of the episode comes when Takizawa makes use of the game's funds to purchase a building in Tokyo. Rather than using it for his own benefit, he winds up donating it to one of his NEET friends in The Seleção, who uses it to create a music school. This is just one of the many ways that the series explores the idea of social good, and it's clear that the writers are interested in more than just creating an action-packed thriller.

The episode concludes with Saki getting into a bit of trouble when she's caught up in a misunderstanding involving a pair of stolen underwear. The scene is played for laughs, providing a nice counterpoint to the heavier themes of the episode. Overall, "Melancholy Monday" is a terrific exploration of the world of "Eden of the East." It's an intriguing look at the mysteries that are waiting to be uncovered within the series, and it does a great job of setting the tone for what's to come.