| Eden: It's an Endless World! | |
| Ja Kanji: | エデン |
| Ja Romaji: | Eden |
| Genre: | Cyberpunk, political thriller, post-apocalyptic[1] |
| Type: | manga |
| Author: | Hiroki Endo |
| Publisher: | Kodansha |
| Demographic: | Seinen |
| Imprint: | Afternoon KC |
| Magazine: | Monthly Afternoon |
| First: | 1997 |
| Last: | 2008 |
| Volumes: | 18 |
Eden: It's an Endless World! is a science fiction manga by Japanese artist Hiroki Endo, published monthly in the Japanese magazine Monthly Afternoon. It is published in the United States by Dark Horse Comics, in the United Kingdom by Titan Books, and in Germany by Egmont Manga & Anime. Eden is set in the near future, following a pandemic called closure virus which killed 15 percent of the world's population, crippled or disfigured many more, and upset the world's political balance greatly. Eden is to some extent based on Gnostic mythology, with some characters, such as Ennoia, being named after Gnostic entities, and other Gnostic influences being seen in the themes of the ongoing story.
The series begins with a long introduction, with the characters Ennoia and Hannah living a peaceful life on a remote and isolated island called Eden, with researcher Lane Morris, who is their guardian and a victim of the pandemic, the so-called "Closure Virus", which has killed 15% of mankind. The events that led to this situation are revealed in flashbacks, leading up to the return of Ennoia's father, along with the forces of the Propater Federation.
Following this, the story moves forwards twenty years, and focuses on Ennoia's son, Elijah, the main character, and his own conflict with the powerful and monopolistic Propater federation to save his sister, Mana Ballard, kidnapped by Propater when he was very young. She is being held to threaten Ennoia Ballard, father of the two characters, who has become a powerful drug lord in South America, feared and despised by many, including, to an extent, his own family. During a terrorist attack, Elijah, aged 15, is separated from his mother and his sister is kidnapped, along with his mother Hannah and now has to handle things on his own. Eden is about his coming-of-age as a man and trying to survive both bodily and morally in world that is too complex for mere "black and white". He encounters many other characters, both allies and enemies, all sharing the same struggle to survive in a post-apocalyptic dystopian world.
Many stories are included of the people Elijah meets, telling their past or following life, sometimes volumes later, furthering understanding of the characters and giving increased depth to the world of the book as a whole.
Later in the series, the story once again moves forwards in time, jumping four more years ahead. The Closure Virus, the cause of the original pandemic, mutates, this time assimilating non-organic matter as well as organic, known as "colloid" (or "Disclosure Virus"). The story rejoins Elijah, now 19 years old, as well as many other old characters, and some new, as the world begins to deal with this new threat that is swallowing many cities in the world, leaving lakes and craters, and many people.It is later discovered that the several colloids in the world, are linked with a net of underground auto-built "cables," and that the colloid itself, stores all the memories of the people it swallows.
Eden was named Wizard magazine's best manga of 2007.[2] David F. Smith of Newtype USA has called Eden one of the best manga American money can buy.[3]