As an American living a (relative) stone’s throw away from the Capital, it was kinda fun to see the story commence in a familiar setting for once. From tiny details like the Dulles Air & Space Museum ad at the airport to the real American voice actors, I greatly appreciated all the visual intricacy.

I think the inclusion of any kind of religiomythical symbolism in anything is supposed to set a mythical/spiritual mood for the viewer and augment (or provide a structure for) more general themes, if one chooses to read it in that light. It might help to think of such things as intellectual fanservice, which tends to be what it is.

I don’t debunk the political thriller elements (those are just as good), but whoever’s running Selecao clearly has a Messiah complex.

@coburn: there’s not much info concerning the film, but given the length of the TV show I’m really happy about it too!

@Kabitzin: rewatching is great for little details like that. I think I’ll go back and look into those more closely…they could be important perhaps. *shrugs*

@Hanners: there’s a lot brewing away in this story but I can remember how tightly plotted the GitS SAC was so yeah, my hopes are still high. Coolest op and end sequences I’ve seen in a while, too.

@hashi: the chemistry between the two leads is the biggest draw for me until the backstory becomes clearer. Akira’s entertaining because you never know what he’s going to do next but I still think Saki’s adorable! ^_^

@vendredi: yeah, the character designs are great. A lot of people are likening them to Honey and Clover, but I still haven’t watched much of that yet, to my shame.

@OGT: the problem I found with NGE (this is going back a number of years now) is that the religious symbolism and jargon was intended to look and sound exotic and cool, but it distracted so many Western viewers that many missed the main messages of the show (principally the psychology and character study). There’s plenty familiar-sounding terminology here too, which is why I was reluctant to attach too much meaning to it, in case I got carried away and put two and two together to make five. Of course, the Ludlum references may be just as important or, conversely, a red herring, but I felt more comfortable analysing the political side rather than the religious one. ETERNAL made a wonderful job of the latter anyway, so I don’t feel the need now anyway!

@Peter S: there were a few WTF? moments but I found the humour and dialogue was just enough to carry it into the second episode; the dialogue of which was, as you say, worth the wait.

I’m working on my own crazy Judeochristognostico theories (possibly to be reported when I can actually confirm/deny the theories), but I tend to have a ball with such things because I spent semesters of school mired in the Scriptures in at least one class (canonical and non) so such thought comes easy to me. You mentioned over at ETERNAL’s post that you’re “skeptical” of “religious references” in anime post-Evangelion–is there a particular reason for that? I’ve not seen Eva in years and I need to rewatch it, and I know that the religious symbolism in it is hotly contested (and has been for years), but I’ve never heard anyone give a rational argument for either the “religious symbolism in anime lol” or the “philosophy references in anime lol” arguments.

Eden of the East certainly looks like it intends on serving up an eclectic and heady mix – Can a single show really put together romance, intrigue, action and conspiracy into one show without screwing it up? Normally I wouldn’t have said no, but these opening episodes look set to prove me wrong.

There aren’t many series that I’ll sit and watch the OP and ED of every single time either, but I think this show is going to be one of them.