Eden 2
June 21, 2009
This was better than the first volume in that my least favorite part, the obvious and heavy-handed religious themes, were toned way down. Unfortunately, some of them are still there, and the messages still aren’t all that subtle or even very worthwhile. Prepare yourself for a conversation about what God’s role is in the present day and what he means to both the Muslim and Judeo-Christian religions that sits rather awkwardly when it is told. Perhaps there are layers I’m just not getting, but I’m going to give myself a little more credit than that, because… yeah, these discussions really aren’t handled well. But they are improving.
This still leans heavily on politics to drive the story, and I’m just not feeling it. We find out that Elijah’s father is a South American drug lord, or perhaps the South American drug lord, and the reason he’s wandering around with guerrillas/mercenaries is that he escaped from a kidnapping attempt by Propater when his mom and sister did not. The general consensus seems to be that his father is a monster (as you might imagine of someone who is the main South American drug lord), and the atrocities committed by/for his family do come up, but this is the type of thing that could get more interesting as the story goes on.
Much emphasis is put on each character’s personal story. The mercenaries/guerrillas wind up rescuing two prostitutes from an attack on a base at the beginning of the volume. Elijah is actually the one that spares their lives, as the rest of the mercenaries think it best to kill the two of them (and they actually mercilessly slaughter everyone at the base, including two other women that were brought in as prostitutes). One of them is a professional that enlightens us to Elijah’s family situation as well as her own (she comes from a family of prostitutes), whereas the other is a girl of Incan descent whose village was subject to an “ethnic cleansing.” This segues nicely into the background of the leader of the mercenaries, whose village in former USSR Georgia was also ethnically cleansed of Muslims, including his family. I liked these parts too, but again, it seemed a bit like the story was reaching for themes that it isn’t quite prepared to discuss.
Aside from the slaughter at the base in the beginning of the volume, there is also surprisingly little violence, something I thought was this title’s selling point. We do get to see Cherubim, the gigantic robot, unload into a crowd of people, which will never get old. I’m actually a little disappointed that Cherubim and Elijah are still hanging out with the mercenaries, because… well, it seems like if he could gain control of Cherubim, he could just leave. Elijah seems like he’s starting to like being with the mercenaries, though.
Also, there is promise in Kenji, one of the guerillas/mercenaries. He seems to be a psychopath, and that could go places. I’m not sure I’m going to continue this series after the third volume, though.
June 22, 2009 at 6:48 am
[...] on vol. 2 of Blank Slate (i heart manga) Erica Friedman on vol. 3 of Burst Angel (Okazu) Connie on vol. 2 of Eden (Slightly Biased Manga) Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 4 of Flower of Life (Comics Worth Reading) [...]
June 24, 2009 at 12:55 am
Please hang on, it’s just getting started. Like with Blade of The Immortal, the first couple of volumes are really just for the warm up. Well but if you don’t like Hiroki Endo’s style (that I love) by now, then this series really might not be for you..
June 25, 2009 at 4:14 am
The style is okay, and probably the best thing about the series. I do have one more volume, and am thinking about maybe giving it until volume 4 to hook me, because I have heard the series goes through its good and bad patches.
June 25, 2009 at 10:52 am
Well, first three volumes are more or less about guerilla fighting but then the series starts to be epic… another series that starts like this and then evolves into something amazing is……. surprise surprise…… yes…… the king of manga: BERSERK
June 26, 2009 at 1:52 am
Well, okay, that sounds good. I’ll keep going just to see if I’ll like it better once the main story gets started.