Cage of Eden

Cage of Eden (エデンの檻 Eden no Ori) is a Japanese anime television series produced by Madhouse. It is based on the manga series of the same title written and illustrated by Yoshinobu Yamada.

Plot
Middle schooler Akira Sengoku and his class are flying back to Japan from their school trip to Guam, along with other classes from their school and various passengers. But their trip takes an unexpected turn when their plane hits turbulence and crashes on a Pacific island. After recovering from being unconscious, Akira learns from his friends that they are on a mysterious island filled with extinct prehistoric creatures and plants. With nowhere to go, Akira leads a small group of survivors to find others like them. They search for a way to get home, fighting off the island's savage creatures and encountering other survivors who have gone mad. Along the way, they will discover the mysteries of the island. Was their crash really an accident? What secrets lie buried underground... and will they survive long enough to find out?

Main Characters

 * Akira Sengoku (仙石 アキラ Sengoku Akira) - The main protagonist of the story. In the beginning of the story Akira self-deprecates himself, feeling worthless compared to his closest friends, Rion the school idol and Kouhei the star of the volleyball team. He is the class clown, having caused much trouble on his school trip to Guam. His antics and perverted actions make him unpopular with the girls, and despite having many friends, many of his classmates look down on him. However, the teachers admit that he has the talent to draw people to him. After the plane crashes Akira is shown to be brave and selfless, willing to risk his life for people he does not know without a second thought. He has high morals, but is not above peeking at girls when they bathe. Due to his kind, brave and selfless nature, he is chosen to be his group's leader. His actions are able to inspire courage in others and he acts as a pillar of strength for his friends. Despite not being very book smart, Akira is able to quickly formulate plans to beat the animals and save his friends. Early on, Akira is shown to be in love with his childhood friend Rion, but he is very unwilling to take the initiative, as he thinks he is not worthy of her yet. Despite many girls falling in love with him in the series, he remains faithful to Rion.
 * Rion Akagami (赤神 りおん Akagami Rion) - Akira's childhood friend, although at 15 she has very large breasts. Rion is the school's "idol" and the star of the gymnastics team. She has feelings for Akira since childhood, but does not want to admit it. She would take care of him, drag him to school, help him with homework and look out for him. After the crash, she went into hiding from the chaos that came over the survivors. She was later found by Akira and has followed him since. She is quick witted, a good actor, self-sacrificing and very flexible, allowing her to attack in angles that no one thought possible. Whenever a smaller group is formed for recon, she is always a member. She is frequently jealous when some other girl shows affection for Akira.
 * Shirou Mariya (真理谷 四郎 Mariya Shirou) - A teenage prodigy who carries a laptop which contain facts about prehistoric fauna and flora. He was ranked first in his class for nine years running. He is very stoic, usually attempting to kill his emotions, to make the logical decisions. Thanks to his encyclopedias, intelligence and wit, he is the group's strategist when he helps Sengoku in his plans and acts as his second command. He carries around a portable charger for his laptop. His stoicism is because he has lost his mother, and attempted to hide his pain by wearing an unfeeling mask. But as a result he had little friends before the crash, and slightly wished to like Sengoku to have many friends. After a fight with Zaji, he realizes that he should stop wearing the mask and start thinking of his friends as well. He is later announced as Sengoku's second in command.
 * Kouhei Arita (有田 幸平 Arita Kōhei) - Akira's best friend. He was at first bullied by everyone until Sengoku stood up for him, and he became popular by the end of the year. the star of the volleyball team, and very popular with girls, he tried to keep up the mood of the survivors, but after learning they could not go home, he snapped and killed the pilot in his rage. Kouhei originally led a large group of survivors, but was haunted by his sin and wished for Sengoku for help, despite thinking that he was dead. He slowly sinks into murderous paranoia after suffering a serious head injury and starts killing the survivors and make the remaining 4 insane murders like him. After conflicting with Sengoku, he regrets his actions, by helping Sengoku's group escape a flash flood inside a cave and is presumed to have died when he stayed behind. In truth, he went away to find out on how to pay for his murders. Only one other person aside from Hades is aware that he is still alive, Yuki.
 * Kanako Oomori (大森 夏奈子 Oomori Kanako) - An air stewardess who joins Akira's group. She is very knowledgeable in first aid, although she is also quite clumsy. She has low self-confidence, but only has pride in her large bust. While at first she was easily scared, even from the harmless Ptilodus (who are revealed to actually like her), eventually she becomes courageous, going as far as taking a stab from Kouhei. She grew to be rather close to Zaji and took her some time to overcome his death.
 * Kouichi Yarai (矢頼 光一 Yarai Kouichi) - A loner student well-known for violence. He is very powerful, the best fighter of the series, and at the same time very intelligent. He has advanced knowledge of science. He is focused on understanding the island's mystery, and sees Sengoku as his first friend. It is hinted that he is in love with Kurusu. Since his father had many lovers and wasn't interested in him, he was raised by his mother alone until she died when he was six. His aunt, his mom's younger sister took care of him, until she died in a car accident, turning him into the lonely and violent person that everyone knows. His concern for Kurusu was so great that he was even willing on murder Akira under Nishikori's orders in order to save her, until he realized he couldn't kill his friend. He overcame his depression thanks to Mami. After Kurusu recovered, he began to carry her around all the time.
 * Kazuma Zaji (左治 一馬 Zaji Kazuma) - A tanned teenager. He comes from a broken family, where everyone ignores him. He does not do well in school, and has no friends his age. While perverted, Kazuma has a strong loyalty to his friends whom he considers like his own family. During the series, he begins to fall for Oomori, but is rejected when he finally confesses. Soon after, he gets injured during a fight with some of the island's animals. Realizing he is dying, he chooses to fall off a cliff in order to not make Oomori suffer emotionally, nor to become a burden to the rest of the group, making the entire group depressed over his death.

Sengoku's Group

 * Yuki Sakuma (佐久間 雪 Sakuma Yuki) - Class President of Sengoku's class and a member of his group. She was originally a part of Kouhei Arita's group and is the only remaining survivor of the group, besides himself. She is very intelligent and is known for giving out various historic facts. She likes bears and has an interest in premonitions. She has a crush on Sengoku, but decides not to tell him since she knows he likes Rion.
 * Miina Isurugi (Fake) (石動 ミイナ Isurugi Miina) - A mischievous, crossdressing boy who disguises himself as Miina Isurugi, the granddaughter of billionaire Yoshimi Isurugi and heir to the Isurugi Conglomerate. Despite being a boy, everyone mostly refers to him as a "she". Akira and his group first meet "her" after being brought to "her" camp where she rules a group of defenseless men with three Yakuza gangsters as her bodyguards and enforcers. In truth, Miina is using the Yakuza not to rule the camp but to protect "herself" as Miina had witness the men in "her" camp raped and accidentally killed a woman named Towa, an air stewardess and colleague of Kanako. Although small, Miina is smart and strong, able to use "her" natural abilities as a lolita to manipulate others. His real name is Heijirou (平治郎, Heijirou).
 * Miina Isurugi (Real) (石動 ミイナ Isurugi Miina) - A mysterious girl, the real granddaughter and heir of the billionaire Isurugi. She claims to have amnesia, carries around a sketchbook with extremely accurate depictions of the island's wildlife, and knows the details of their physiology. The fake Miina's appearance is very similar to hers, although her hair color is dark. Her name is carved onto a tower in the center of the island. It is possible she developed feelings for Heijirou, her body double, since "she" saved her on more than one occasion.
 * Takashi Yamaguchi (山口 崇 Yamaguchi Takashi) - An intellectual individual who was also the student school council president for two years in a row. He was the leader of his own group before meeting Sengoku Akira and had effectively created a small base before meeting with Sengoku's Group. Yamaguchi has a lot of charisma considering he easily got a large group to follow his plan to create a school within their situation. He seems to have feelings for Yuki.
 * Maya Miyauchi (宮内 真夜 Miyauchi Maya) - One of the girls originally part of Yamaguchi's Group. She is a tough girl who has shown exceptional skill in her abilities to fight. She is also the childhood friend of Zaji Kazuma and is very upset after his death. Miyauchi grew up in a dojo, and trained vigorously in karate, eventually becoming a second dan. She is a skilled and confident warrior, able to smash various targets to pieces with her kicks, and has such control she could lash out a leg toward's someone's head and stop abruptly before making contact. Miyauchi's fighting skills make her a valuable member of her group, as she is not afraid to fight even ferocious beasts. Despite her skills, she does have a hard time against animals, especially when they can shrug off her attacks, and she's terrified of insects.
 * Rei Ooguro (大黒 レイ Ooguro Rei) - A 20-year-old college student who was traveling with her friends Kotomi and Tooru. She's a tomboy with tanned skin who's always wearing only a bikini top, a jacket and mini shorts. She has an upbeat and caring personality, but she's also highly perverted and prone to giving fake advice to the other girls. She has a younger brother whom she's very close too, hence why she worried about Miina(Fake)'s attempts of being alone, since her brother had gone through a similar thing. She also went to the same high school as most of the main cast.
 * Tooru Rinzai (林西 トオル Rinzai Tooru) - A 20 year-old college student and Rei's childhood friend. While sometimes weary, he's rather open and friendly, always looking out for the group's well-being and speaking frankly about problems. He's always looking out for Rei. His face was scarred by an Arctodus and hid his face underneath bandages until Kotomi died.
 * Mami Kagura (神楽 真実 Kagura Mami) - A high-schooler who has clairvoyant abilities, being able to predict the events in the near future. She has a shy personality and is one of the few passengers that didn't attend the same school as the rest of the main cast. Her group was originally led by her manager and a gym instructor, who killed some members of Akira's group in order to make them believe her predictions. She later had an actual premonition but no one in her group believed her, and they were eaten by pristichampsus, and she would have been killed herself if Akira hadn't saved her in time. She now occasionally has premonitions that involve the survivors, but she can't be sure if it will come true or not.
 * Kairi Narumi (成海 カイリ Narumi Kairi) - The younger twin brother of Airi, whom he has a very deep connection. He has a lot of knowledge about dark stories. He accompanies Sengoku in his mission to the pyramid.
 * Airi Narumi (成海 アイリ Narumi Airi) - The older twin sister of Kairi, whom she has a very deep connection, to the point of knowing where is each other.
 * Ryouichi Suzuki (鈴木 綾一 Suzuki Ryouichi) - A perverted and lecherous student who attempts to manipulate others and possesses an incredible luck, hence why he always ends up as part of some dangerous mission, attacked by animals, as decoy or as bait. The girls dislike him for his perversion and Akira doesn't fully trust him ever since the time he tried to rape Rion.
 * Shizuka Hatsuse (初瀬 静 Hatsuse Shizuka) - Originally a member of Yamaguchi's group, she's the former vice president of the school student council and has eidetic memory, giving her near perfect memorization. She accompanies Akira in the mission to the pyramid, and notices several things that allow the group to eventually solve the island's mysteries.
 * Shuu Hikime (引目 修 Hikime Shuu) - A former member of the Kendo club and Momoka Kirino's childhood friend. Despite his proficiency at kendo, he has an inferiority complex. He tries to leave Akira to be killed by the Gigantopithecus, but when Akira and the others escape safely, Sengoku forgives him, although he punches him in the face. He's killed by a smilodon while trying to protect Asuka Takahashi.
 * Momoka Kirino (桐野 桃香 Kirino Momoka) - A former member of the Kendo club and Shuu's childhood friend, who was also kidnapped by the Gigantopithecus and watched one of her friends die at the hands of the giant ape. She comes to resent Asuka for surviving instead of Shuu, but she eventually forgives her.
 * Asuka Takahashi (高橋 あすか Takahashi Asuka) - A member of the group whose only notorious ability is singing, although she's hardworking. She accompanies Shuu to gather water for the group after the animals' attack, but they're attacked by a smilodon and he sacrifices himself to save her. She manages to lift everyone's spirit with her song.

Morita's Group

 * Makoto Morita (森田 真 Morita Makoto) - Known as Eiken, he's one of Akira Sengoku's closest classmates and aspires to be a photographer. He survived on the island thanks to the help of the people around him. He's a short boy whose bangs always cover his eyes.
 * Aya Tokiwa (常磐 あや Tokiwa Aya) - A strong, independent and stoic female, she's the first person that began to travel with Makoto. She's extremely athletic and used to be part of the track and field club during school. She doesn't talk much, but she's able to fight effectively without remorse and hates to lose. Her weak point is her lower back, and threatened to kill Ryouichi if he touched her there again.
 * Seigou Komiyama (小見山 正剛 Komiyama Seigou) - A perverted lolicon who was forced by his parents to take the ways of a monk because of a scandal when he worked at the City Council. Despite his pervertedness, he has useful skills and can give a good advice.
 * Hideo Igarashi (五十嵐 英夫 Igarashi Hideo) - The oldest person in Makoto's group, who's rather slothful and unhelpful to the group, since he was a rather successful business man and had a lot of workers working under him.

Yarai's Group

 * Motoko Kurusu (操栖 モトコ Kurusu Motoko) - One of the teachers going on the trip, she knows about Yarai's past and acts as a mother figure towards, hinting she has feelings for him. Despite being rather clumsy and naive, she cares deeply for her students. During an attack from a chalicotherium, she got injured and began to bleed internally, which led Yarai into asking Nishikori's help, who would only operate her if he killed Akira. When Nishikori was defeated and revealed he wasn't a doctor, everyone lost hope and Yarai was even willing to operate her himself, until they managed to convince Junichi Mutou, the real doctor, to successfully operate her.
 * Saki Segawa (瀬川 咲 Segawa Saki) - A strong-willed girl with pink hair who's part of a refined, rich family. She's the number 2 idol in school after Rion. While at first she hated Yarai for rejecting her love letter back at school, it turned out it was just a big misunderstanding, eventually falling in love with him, seeing Kurusu as her rival. While trying to be useful for the group, she caught an anomalochelys with the intention of eating it, only to later take it as a pet, calling it Mr. Lucky.
 * Michika Matsumoto (松本 美智香 Matsumoto Michika) - A girl with glasses.
 * Makiko Shigeno (茂野 真妃子 Shigeno Makiko) - A girl with a ponytail.

Other Survivors

 * Hades (ハデス) - A mysterious student who wears a mask he bought in Guam. His true goals and identity are a mystery and tends to appear out of nowhere. He manipulated Kouhei into starting killing for no reason, and later saved him from drowning on a whim. It is implied that he discovered that the students have been sent into the future and went mad, resulting in him giving into any whim that crosses his mind as there are no more consequences. His fate at the end of the series is unknown.
 * Daigo Yashiro (社 大吾 Yashiro Daigo) - A man who looks like a Yakuza, but it turns out he's an adventure novelist. He first appears alongside Junichi escaping from Nishikori's tyranny, and later guides the students to the pyramid, but refuses to go back. His researches for his books prove to be useful to the survivors.
 * Junichi Mutou (武藤 順一 Mutou Jun'ichi) - A man accompanying Yashiro, who at first only seemed to be a physical therapist, until the group found out that he is a surgeon. Five years ago, his 10-year-old son suffered a car accident and he had to operate him, but because of exhaustion, he committed a mistake and his son died, making him unable to hold a scalpel. He recovers the will to be a doctor thanks to some rough motivation from Yashiro and the support of everyone in the group, successfully operating Motoko, saving the teacher's life.
 * Takashi Nishikori (錦織 隆 Nishikiori Takashi) - The leader of the pyramid group, who pretended to be a doctor, since he knows about pressure points, diseases and drugs, in order to make the other survivors his slaves. Manipulative, misogynistic and with a complete lack of empathy, he controls people with psychological tricks and by taking advantage of the men's lust. He rose to power when the rest of the group fell ill and he claimed to have the only cure, leaving to die the former leader and his daughter, laughing the entire time. He wanted to kill Akira for scratching his face and manipulated Yarai into trying kill Akira in exchange for saving Motoko's life. When he was finally defeated, he revealed he isn't even a doctor, he simply worked at a pharmaceutical company. He's allowed to live, but loses a leg in the Paraceratherium's attack.
 * Ugen Kokonoe (九重 右弦 Kokonoe Ugen) - Another teacher at the trip, who seems to dislike troublemakers. He's a perverted chemistry teacher who has blown up his classroom on more than one occasion, and for some reason, none of the students wonder why he wasn't fired.

Island's Creatures

 * Arctodus
 * Chalicotherium
 * Gigantopithecus
 * Paraceratherium
 * Ptilodus
 * Pristichampsus
 * Smilodon

English Cast

 * Josh Grelle as Akira Sengoku

Soundtrack
The score for the series is influenced by the score of the American drama television series Lost.

Poll
Do you like Cage of Eden? Yes No Maybe