A Good Anime a Day…

Introduction

Eden is a bit of a special cookie in the anime industry, a 2021 OVA (original video animation) distributed by Netflix and directed by Yashushiro Ire, best known for his work on the Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood anime series. This little 3D anime also has some western influences backing it up, including a cast of some of Hollywood’s finest, and animated by Wang Film Productions Co., Ltd, known for their exceptional work on dozens of western animated series.

Plot and setting

Eden takes place way after the post-apocalypse, where robots have been tasked with restoring the world in mankind’s stead. Over the centuries, these machines have grown to resent humans for reasons unknown, leaving their former civilisations to crumble away in their absence.

One day two gardening robots find a capsule with a human toddler inside of it by the name of Sara and decide to ignore orders of bringing her in for termination to raise the child as their own. They flee from their working stations of Eden-three to a settlement filled with droids with similar beliefs, where they take care of the child.

Years have passed, and Sara is now a healthy teenager desiring adventure but feels trapped by her adopted parent’s overprotection. She wants to travel and explore the world and find out what happened to the rest of humanity if there are still humans left in the world.

The narrative of Eden is quite a complex one and can be quite the tear-jerker for a show rated PG. It invokes the question of whether mankind is worth saving and should the good be sacrificed if there is the possibility of a rotten egg among them. Eden to this gives us two perspectives surrounding this query.

One of them comes from Sara herself as she embodies humans overall potential for creation and love but has to live a sheltered life due to prejudice coming from most robots. However, there is an innocent naivety that comes out of it that just because one human happened to turn out fine does not mean the rest should turn that way as well.

Then there is the perspective of Dr Western Fields (Neil Patrick Harris), a scientist trying to restore the earth’s ecosystem to save the world and his family, but is slowly losing faith due to humanity’s selfishness as he watches his loved ones get sick around him.

The anime is short because of its OVA status. Original Video Animations are promotional and unique anime that tend to vary in length. For example, you can get something like Alita Battle Angel, which was just a single episode, or Hellsing Ultimate, which is basically an entire season spanning the manga’s interpretation of Alucard’s tale. In this case, Eden is four episodes in length and tends to fly by a bit too fast for my liking. Yet, it did not feel like the pacing was flying by too quickly.

Characters and Performances

Eden has a lot of star power for such a little anime, with almost everyone but the main protagonist standing out as a superstar. Yet, the young Ruby Rose does a stellar job with her delivery as Sara Grace. She personifies the impatient and youthful nature of Sara Perfectly.

Then there is the good doctor himself, David Tennant(Doctor Who, Jessica Jones), whose recognisable Scottish accent was a delight to hear from Sara’s foster father, E92. This gardening robot is probably one of the most emotional portrayals that Tennant had to date. Watching him trying to amuse his teenage daughter or searching through his databanks while reciting every good memory he has had with her is enough to make anyone cry manly tears.

Then we have Rosario Dawson (Zombieland 2: Double Tap, The Water Man), who plays the role of the motherly A37. A curious robot who wishes to understand humanity while taking care of her new foster daughter. She is much more lenient as a parent than her partner.

Finally, let us not forget about Neil Patrick Harris, who has the challenging position of making us care about the antagonist in this series. While the series is short, this Darth Vader rip off manages to tug on our heartstrings as well. Harris’s brilliant voice acting and a surprise twist towards the end of the anime sell the character.

Animation and Style

If you read any of my anime reviews, you would notice my disdain for 3D anime. While Sara’s model did take some to get used to, the robots, on the other hand, blended well with the aesthetic. The animation style is fairly similar to shows like RWBY. While the series does use similar methods for facial deformation like RWBY, it does not use them as frequently. Throughout the series runtime, I was only able to this animation characteristic once.

While the environments are not as detailed as Dorohedoro, the brush stroke-like textures and the bright colours make the series stunning to watch. That said, the Cel-shading does tend to mess around with a few of the scenes.

Conclusion

Eden’s warm and colourful cast feel like they just came out of a CGI Miyazaki movie but with much more emphasis on technology. Its biggest shortcoming comes from its limited episode run, preventing the narrative from taking any bolder steps. Yet, I can guarantee that this series will turn you into a blubbering mess of tears and snot by the time episode four’s credits roll.

If you are a fan of Eden and would like to see some more work of this director, I would have to recommend Yashushiro Ire’s masterpiece of a series, Full Metal Alchemist. However, if you want to experience anime with your children, why not try out Studio Ghibli’s anime library. As of this review’s writing, most of these shows are distributed by Netflix.