That reading was wild, Eden isn't just a manga you read for fun, it opens your mind, makes you think about what's wrong with the world, denounces every problem of our current society with a big load of science-fiction and a surprising answer to life, filled with both hope and despair...
The first thing that surprised me is how it depicts serious conflicts (though we can't even simply talk about "conflicts" here). I might be new to the genre but I mean an early 2000 manga, not just talking about the Uyghur and Congo genocides, but also showing them explicitly with the feelings of various victims while giving to the latters a serious development and a place in the story wasn't something I was expecting to read at all, and I gladly welcome it. I can only thank the author for giving a voice to these people. Palestine was missing though but it was at least mentioned
The second thing that surprised me is how freely the manga depicts lgbtq+ character and man I enjoyed it, it might the wokest manga I've ever read for the greater good
But besides these two shocks what really made me stay is the quality of the character development, and how the author seriously have no pity for them. The only problem I had is that sometimes I felt like I wanted to spend more time with some particular characters (not that they necessarily die !). Don't get me wrong, they had their timescreen and their purpose in the story was fulfilled but sometimes I felt like I wanted to spend more time with them to develop a bigger emotional attachment I think, but in terms of pure writing I have nothing to say
As I was saying, the author has no pity, at least I can only admit it's a great depiction of life, with a bit of hope and a lot of despair and disappointment. Everyone is struggling, everyone is giving their best... but sometimes it's just not enough. I gotta thank the author for giving us jokes time to time because that could've been way harder to read (besides one that made me twitch but it's the only mistake I've seen, and I guess it was to make us dislike this particular character). I particularly loved the development of Elijah, though starting pretty young and innocent even him won't stay pure really long in this world, and damn he's going to suffer
Now let's talk about the big picture of the second half of the manga. When Endo decided he was going to go wild with the science-fiction part he wasn't kidding at all lmao, he started to play with some serious physics theories to give a development I think no one would've expected. I was always wondering where he wanted to go with the virus but I was FAR to imagine all of that, and hell I love physics. Mäyä already started as a pretty surprising character but he went beyond all my expectations
I'm starting to run out of things to stay without spoiling too much, but at least I gotta say Eden is a must read and a cornerstone of the SF genre. If you're looking for a work that'll make you think and enjoy morally ambiguous characters, go ahead. You might want to take your time to read it though
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