I try to take out a DVD now and again at the 15th Ave video store close to my house .. while it is still there. It’s probably only a matter of time before it closes its doors due to all the streaming movies that are now available on line and on Netflix. Still, this store rents out movies that you would have to buy on Amazon to see. My latest pick was ‘Eden of the East’, a Japanese anime television series. This is not Disney fare, and don’t be misled by the ‘innocent’ wide-eyed faces on the cover of the Blu-ray box! There is violence, nudity, risqué humor, alcohol and tobacco use on display. The movie has an interesting plot : a mysterious Mr ‘Outside’ gives twelve young people almost unlimited power via a cell phone concierge, and the resources of a Power ball lottery winner (¥8 billion, some $US 100 million) to compete with each other and to try to address the general economic and social challenges Japan. (Exactly what constitutes a problem and what does not, is of course wide open to interpretation and political points of view. Here in the USA some Republicans now want to shut down the government because 30 million people can now get affordable health care. It is ‘ immoral’ and unacceptable that the government ‘meddled’ in the private health insurance industry with new laws). The movie also features 20,000 NEETs (young men with No Employment, Education or Training) and a hikikomori. This is a person, usually a young man, that refuses to leave the house and interact with society, preferring to play video games or program computers instead. Anyway : the plot thickens, stuff explodes, people die but then towards the end the plot falls apart a somewhat, and the conclusion of the whole complicated set-up was a little unsatisfying and a little too ‘easy’ and ‘simple’. But I really liked the art, the animation, and the issues that the movie raised as part of the plot.
