←[103] In a nutshell: interesting characters, terribly utilized music, and a confusing exposition.

As Impz put it before, this is a character-driven show. And as such, I was thoroughly confused by the exposition – a whole lot of stuff happens but not in an order that makes a lot of sense at first glance. That indicates that either (1) it’s deeper and I’m stupid or (2) they’re not doing a good job of making the story flow and are bad at producing the most crucial [promotional] episode. Seems like they’re trying to cram everything in one episode but it backfires.

There are four main characters, I think.

Two sub-main characters.

And a shitload of secondary characters [hopefully unimportant] that I won’t picturize. (composer, manager, Fujii’s father, etc.)

Akira and Fujii I thought were slightly interesting because, insofar as Fuuji is the lead, he isn’t that pathetic. He seems like a blubbering idiot, but he’s not a typical harem pathetic lead in that he has a modicum of confidence. Akira, on the other hand, as I take him to complete the male lead binary, is the resentful, depressed guy. [They remind me of Okazaki/Sunohara, sorta.]

Yuki and Rin are idols, though it’s interesting because, even as an idol, Yuki is incredibly submissive and relies on Rin to act as her guardian. I think all idols are part of the Sakura-dan which is incredibly reminiscent of (1) Dewey’s loli army and (2) Ribbons’ Genderbent Legion Of Death. The other girls tease Yuki and Rin tries to get her to defend herself, so they’re the underdogs and separate themselves from the group. Fujii notes how scary Rin is.

[I know I misspelled "Fujii" in the first picture but I'm too lazy to change it]

The sub-main characters were confusing because I didn’t know if they were really main characters. Misaki seems to be Yuki’s old friend, and knows how much she’s changing. This is why she tells Fujii to “hold her” (or something), which, for all intensive purposes here, is no different than typical mamoru-ism.

Haruka is the silent girl tomboy: think of a cross between Suzume and Aiko. Seems like someone in her nuclear family died a while ago, probably in highschool, and she’s still pickling in the depressive juices during college. Fujii and Akira talk about this for a bit “behind the viewer’s back” so that automatically sets up character revealing and lots of mamoru-ism.

In short, the music was all very inappropriately used.

Predictions: Haruka’s past is slowly revealed, she falls in love with Fujii, and Akira has to get him in place. However, Akira doesn’t really love Haruka, for he attempts to court Misaki. Misaki rejects him, conforming to the aphorism chicks over dicks. This is because Yuki’s mental condition deteriorates due to Fujii’s incessant relationship disasters, taking an indecisive Makoto-route considering Yuki or Rin, thus making Yuki dependant not on Rin but on Misaki, her old friend. And that is because Rin gets caught up in her idolatry (and Fujii) and only at the end realizes what a terrible friend she is.

I hope there’s plenty of OH SHI- drama, including but not limited to, probable suicide, first-degree murder, drug addictions, unprotected sex and back-alley abortions.

Related posts:

• Eden of the East – 05 – Annotations
• Eden of the East – 10 – This show just shat on me
• Eden of the East – 03 – Annotations
• Eden of the East – 04 – Annotations
• Nagato Yuki-chan no Shoushitsu – Disgracing Yuki

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