Eden 1: It's an Endless World! (Eden: It's an Endless World)

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part, where Propatria acts, and Agnosia, which does not have the influence of the organization. By having constantly seen the struggle of revolutionary groups striving to achieve an egalitarian world against Propatria, but in the course of the manga the virus evolves into Disclosure ("revelation", "divulgation"), completely changing the focus of the manga. In fact, the very name of the virus refers to a given revelation, as if the author were telling his reader that the focus has changed. Eden was based on Gnosticism, a doctrine, as a religion. From Gnosticism I have taken much of the plot, which follows the idea of ​​a "corrupted" world, which will never be good for human life. It is as if humanity needs to search for a better world, and all this is introduced by the Closure virus, which devastated the population as a prologue to the end, followed by Disclosure, which opens the door to humanity's "salvation". As Elijah's learns that he can't just extricate himself from the complex adult world that he's joined, that sentiment should prove to be an interesting point of departure. Some create needs to go to translator Kumar Sivasubramanian. Not every translator in the field can capture either the eloquence or the meter and characterization in the dialog as well as he can. In other hands, the series probably not not be nearly as effecting. Replacement Goldfish, Lampshaded: Kahn tries to use Kenji to replace his son, as does Sophia. Kenji uses Sophia as a replacement for a mother he never actually met, and Kahn to replace his father. The Automater is an interesting take on the trope, grooming young males she finds to replace the sons she never could have.

Many stories are included of these people Elijah meets, telling of their past or following life, sometimes volumes later, furthering understanding of the characters and giving increased depth to the world of the book as a whole.

Car Fu: Elijah rams a car into a cyborg at one point, crushing it into a wall. He then lights the car on fire. Viewers Are Geniuses: What did you expect from an author who wrote that the original ending of Neon Genesis Evangelion "didn't leave [him] unsatisfied"? Volume 11 requires the reader to piece together three separate discussion of quantum physics to understand what is going on. Because Hiroki Endo's post-apocalyptic tale has got almost everything that can be considered good in manga in spades: great story, gorgeous art and near perfect characterization. Imagine a well thought-out, mature story clashing seamlessly with art that manages to be both realistic and beautiful and characters that almost seem more real than the people one encounters in their daily lives. If painting a picture in your mind of a manga with such merits proves to be too difficult for you, grab Eden and you'll know what I'm talking about. Later in the series, the story once again moves forwards in time, jumping four more years ahead. The Closure Virus, the cause of the original pandemic, mutates, this time assimilating non-organic matter as well as organic, known as "colloid" (or "Disclosure Virus"). The story rejoins Elijah, now 19 years old, as well as many other old characters, and some new, as the world begins to deal with this new threat that is swallowing many cities in the world, leaving lakes and craters, and many people. Imagery, which is, as I stated early on, simply gorgeous. Endo manages to capture that unique beauty in Japanese style of comic-writing, be that in the characters, sceneries or anything else, without drowning us in saucer-sized eyes or over-groomed scenes. Realistic beauty. Wait, is that even possible? In Eden, it is.

As you can imagine, this is a significant shift in tone. It is almost like reading a completely different series, which could prove quite problematic for those that fell in love with the first outing.When it comes to the artwork, at first glance the art style is definitely not the most appealing however the rough sketchy design suits this manga’s theme perfectly; as it goes for a gritty sci-fi look to portray this crippled future. The detail put into it is just as amazing, with everything being clearly drawn, allowing the easy-to-following action sequences to be truly engaging. Well the similarities between this series and Neon Genesis Evangelion pretty much disappear in this volume, where the action doesn’t miss a beat and things start hitting the fan. Because while there are robots and such that are fighting and all that, these are not the otherworldly incarnations of divine will that seem to appear in Evangelion, but the direct tools of man turned against man. This is a world where because of the disease that spread through humanity, the use of robotics has been expanded far into science fiction, where robots and cyborgs exist integrated into society. Robotic parts are basically a luxury for those who can afford them. And here we start seeing that humanity has lost more than just parts of itself. Or, rather, that these external signs of the inhuman are symptoms of the inhumanity that has taken hold of humanity in general. People are desperate, in a constant struggle for survival. The weak are made to suffer. Just looking at the two new characters that show up in this book, in the form of one prostitute and one girl who was basically taken as a sex slave, and we start to see what kind of a world this is. Eden is a perfect work of art that depicts the innocence and simplicity of adolescence. Problems that we all have had growing up and realizing the reality of the world. Practically all themes popular in modern literature are present in Eden. Cold-Blooded Torture: Except for those whose motivation is revenge, it has an atrociously low success rate, realistically enough. Though the manga does not adhere to Gnosticism, invoking the cosmology functions more as a provocation than a wholesale misstep. Eden reacts well to inspection. If Neon Genesis Evangelion famously deflates when you start chasing its religious symbolism, when you start looking for the parallels in Eden, you might not find Gnosticism, but you will discovers that Eden bolsters its ideas well and the whole is in fact greater than the sum of its parts. Endo produces great moments in which the perspectives of the character and the author intersect. These times of clarity accomplish more than just forwarding truisms. Evaluating them in light of the expanse of the manga reveals a rather comprehensive sense of Endo's philosophy.

Speaking of the characters, there are hundreds of them, constantly being introduced and killed off (usually with a headshot). If your memory is not that good or you don’t keep notes there is a high probability you will be lost when it comes to who did what, when, and how. Yet, it’s exactly this complexity that makes it feel so elaborate and holistic. Even if you don’t remember half of them by the end of the story you will still feel like you were immersed in a living, breathing world because of its size and scope. Two words. Dynamically rounded. The characters changed so much over the years it was hard to believe. If they changed for the better or worse will only be revealed when Eden is read. But the main character Eliah, turned from a hated character to a favored one. Even his dad changed considerably. The characters were detailed and all had a past. There was one volume where pretty much the mangaka delved a little deeper into each character’s past. Twists are abundant and with something gained, something is tragically lost. War destroys some people yet renews others. One manga I really liked with all the character developments. Eden is a post-apocalyptic manga, set in a self-contained, air-tight commune, where humanity has huddled together in its dying breaths. The story foretells mankind’s near extinction and explains how, due to our arrogance and idiocy, a simple virus could easily decimate our population to almost zero.Even Evil Has Standards: Elijah believes that even as a criminal he should have certain standards such as not killing people by beating their teeth out with a hammer, cutting their balls off and shoving them down their throat before sewing the mouth shut. He's chewed out by his father's henchmen because criminals do "rule through fear" according to them.

Single-Issue Psychology: While the Automater and Wycliffe have certain issues arising from single events, the only people with significant psychological problems achieved these through continued physical abuse or continued neglect. Sophia lived through her entire childhood without any help for her continued self-harm and multiple suicide attempts. Multinational Team: Kahn's freedom fighters: Colonel Kahn is Georgian, Wycliffe is Caribbean, Sophia is Greek and Kenji is Japanese. They're then joined by Elijah, who is descended from Americans, Helena, who is from Lima and Katchua, who is Incan-descendant Peruvian. In a later volume, Kahn says he always works with multinational teams, because it's no fun when everyone are the same. STD Immunity: Notably averted. Several character, major and minor, catch some form of [STDs over the course of the series, and Endo had footnotes, asides and entire panels explaining the need for proper protection and cleaning to avoid STDs.

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The art is beautiful, but not in the way of a well-detailed setting or characters. What really impresses about this art is the way that the fight choreographies or the action scenes are so well conducted within the work, especially when Kenji is shown starring in some of the best fights of all manga in general. Helena: "You were raised to be so big and strong thanks to the sacrifice of girls like her. Your father must be awfully proud!"