This is a dark and hopeless but spectacular sci-fi project about a not very bright future.
Recently, the franchise Expelled from Paradise celebrated its tenth anniversary – it is a futuristic mecha anime where humanity has chosen virtual reality.
We recommend taking a closer look at this cyberpunk work, written by the legendary Gen Urobuchi and directed by Seiji Mizushima.
What Is Expelled from Paradise About?
Finding paradise on Earth has proven to be an impossible task, and humanity has moved into virtual space. DEVA is a place where neither a physical body nor unnecessary reflection is needed. People here do not need food, water, art, friendship or love.
DEVA erases all unnecessary information, whether it be works of art, historical events or even people. The inhabitants of the virtual world are accustomed to proving to the system that they are needed and important.
In this world, the agent Angela Balzac lives. She is entrusted with the most important task of all: to find a programmer on the almost deserted Earth who is hacking DEVA again and again.
Expelled from Paradise Was Made by the True Anime Masters
The people of DEVA happily left the past behind, but not director Seiji Mizushima. He did not forget, but on the contrary, he reverently transferred to the new world bit by bit from cult projects – such as Fullmetal Alchemist, Mobile Suit Gundam 00 and Evangelion.
It seems that the screenwriter of Expelled from Paradise, Gen Urobuchi, who had previously written Psycho-Pass, really wanted to compete with the latter – on a philosophical or dramatic level.
Expelled from Paradise Is a Rather Hopeless Sci-Fi Project
Balzac and her earthly partner, the charming music fan Dingo, will eventually discover the hacker. After coming into contact with him, they will experience rebirth and catharsis.
Having tasted physical life with all its imperfections and paradoxes – hunger, colds and other illnesses – Angela will no longer be able to selflessly believe in the concept of DEVA.
The main drama is that no one answered the hacker's call. Not a single person in the world of Expelled from Paradise was able to go beyond the familiar and the understandable. Time and again, people choose the system, leaving space to the mercy of dreamers and madmen.
It is difficult to say whether the creative team's goal was to inspire horror with human banality. But nothing inspires sadness in this anime as much as the denial of a dream.