And so I continue my way. Life is once again settling into a comforting rhythm, though deep in my heart I sometimes wish for a beautiful girl to descend from heaven and take me to her world with her giant mecha. Maybe that is why I recently brushed the digital dust off this ancient relic from the classical era of 2005 and gave it a second spin after its premature deposition almost exactly four dozen months ago. (I think I watched the first episode then.) Whatever the reason, I’m glad I did it.
Eureka Seven, to put it in a deceptively simple metaphor that actually complicates matters, is the anime equivalent of chicken soup. It’s definitely not a masterpiece worthy of Michelin stars, but its down-to-earth warmth does so well to melt the heart. Sure, some of it is probably just artificial flavouring and monosodium glutamate, but even those in the know find it hard to resist the smell of such basic goodness.
Eureka Seven is a show that tugs at your heartstrings even as it hits you no the head with its blatant nature. Bones is quite good at this genre, I think. To continue with my awful culinary metaphor cum pun, Bones (marrow) makes good chicken soup. I promise this is the last time I use it. Let’s try something else…
If I were to describe Eureka Seven as a Frankenstein chimera assembled using the severed body parts of preceding Bones productions, I’d say that it is a composite of RahXephon, Scrapped Princess and Fullmetal Alchemist… Let’s throw some Kurau Phantom Memory in there for good measure too, if only because I think Ayako Kawasumi is awesome. I hope I’m not making things too confusing… I guess I should just stick to chicken soup.
Eureka Seven is set in a distant future where mankind inhabits a planet that is permeated with Transparence Light Particles, or Trapar waves, a mysterious energy source that shoots out of the ground unpredictably like geysers and whose existence allows thrill seekers and combat mechas to ride in the sky in a fashion similar to surfing. This is mostly just a cover story so that the mecha designer could draw cool robots with giant surfboards.
Human civilization found in Eureka Seven is a curious mix of simple 19th century socio-economic order and futuristic dystopia with a heavy undertone of WW2-style militarization. The fictional Vodarec religion in particular largely resembles the isolated feudal lifestyle of pre-Communist Tibetan Buddhism complete with a leader whose name fits the bill. And oh yeah, people drive giant rods into the ground to prevent sudden outbreaks of what can only be described as ground erections. Also, the planetary government is run by three old geezers who look like the witch from Snow White.
Set in this somewhat crazy background is a rather conventional growing-up love story. Renton Thurston is a boy living in a rather boring town. He dreams about “lifting” (surfing the Trapar waves), but the Trapar activity in his town is rather lacklustre. His idols are a ragtag group of anti-establishment thrill seekers called Gekkostate and he dreams of lifting just like them some day. His grandfather, his only relative, however intends for him to take over the family business and become a small-town mechanic. His life changes forever when a girl from Gekkostate lands her mecha, Nirvash, in front of his grandfather’s workshop and asks for repair. That girl’s name is Eureka. I still can’t figure out what the “Seven” part means.
Unlike my usual posts, I shall go all out on spoilers from this point on. Since Eureka Seven is a relatively old show that falls right into the viewing spectrum of most of my readers (all three of you left), I shall forego all the dancing about the point I always try so hard to do and get down to it.
There were a few parts in the story that left an impression on me. Surprisingly, the love story between Renton and Eureka wasn’t actually one of them. I mean, it is nice how despite the clichéd setup there is some substance in the relationship beyond “I like her, does she like me?” teenage angst that anime loves to fall back on, but ultimately I can’t shake off the feeling of artificiality that echoes each time they reaffirm their love vows. Perhaps a recent revisit to His and Her Circumstances gave me unrealistically high expectations when it comes to emo internal monologues, but Eureka Seven’s idea of romance just doesn’t cut it for me.
The first quarter of the series where Eureka and Renton first fall in love is particularly weak, to the point that when Eureka declared her love in words, I was literally shocked because I don’t see what made her feel so strongly about Renton at that time. I suppose I can be lenient and chalk this up to Eureka’s inexperience with human emotions, but that’s such a cop out.
I do love the small side stories that build up the overall background, such as the good-natured farmer who developed a strongly optimistic outlook to life after his wife fell ill to the Desperation Disease and essentially became a soulless empty shell. In some ways, he is borderline insane when he claims that his wife talks to him all the time, but somehow the show forces the audience (or at least me) to look beyond the cynicism and want to believe. It’s so sad and yet he looks so content. That’s some Kino’s Journey-grade material right there.
Another episode I loved is when Renton, Eureka and Matthieu are stranded in Controrado, a country that resembles a Cold War-era South American banana republic. There Renton meets his uncle, Yucatan Iglasias, a former military man who is a true believer of glory and honour as prescribed by state propaganda. Yucatan recognizes Matthieu from the wanted posters and assumes that Renton is being held against his will, oblivious to the fact that Renton is a member of the rebel Gekkostate on his own accord. Yucatan attempts to help Renton, resulting in Matthieus’s arrest, but Renton rejects his help and mounts a rescue mission.
Yucatan, having spent his entire life as a soldier believing in the just cause of the establishment, cannot reconcile that belief with his love for his nephew who has willingly joined the Gekkostate, a supposed terrorist organization. As a coup de grâce, he is arrested for being a suspected terrorist after Renton and the rest successfully make their getaway. The crestfallen and confused look on his face as a group of soldiers, people whom he can never imagine betraying, ransacks his house for evidence and treats him like a criminal is simply heartbreaking.
People get hurt sometimes even if one makes a right choice. Powerful stuff if you pause to think about it.
My favourite part of the whole series is probably Renton’s run-in with the Beams couple, a loving pair of freelance pilots hired by Dewey to destroy Gekkostate and kill Holand. Villain couples who suffer tragic death and parental figures who later return as antagonists are both common themes in storytelling, but I simply love how human this sub-story feels the way Eureka Seven does it. When Darth Vader dies to save Luke (omg spoiler), it’s more of a surprise than a tearjerker since it’s hard for the audience to truly empathize with him.
Charles and Ray Beams however are very lovable characters who genuinely love Renton, offering him parental love that he never had in exchange for a child they can never have. The circumstance in which they are forced by their code of honour and the realities of the world they live in to face off Renton and the Gekkostate and ultimately suffer tragic deaths is profoundly stirring. Deep down, I think we all wished that the two of them could somehow have survived.
Beyond those three examples, the general war-torn state of the world, the persecution of Vodarec and the various personal ties that revolve around the Gekkostate offer plenty more to ponder about. (i.e. I’m lazy to write more.)
And oh, for some reason the final ending theme left a really deep impression on me. It’s not so much the music, but rather its combination with the slide show of “photos” that accompanies it.
They look a lot like photos from the European theatre in WW2 and really bring added realism to the story universe. Personally I find it a pity that the series itself doesn’t venture more into the back story of what appears to be a world with a tragic contemporary history. I think those faux photos show some great potential for further storytelling.
And oh right. What’s with the lack of character development for Anemone? I thought Dominic and her deserved way better than the slip-shot treatment they received from the script. So much is hinted at the emotional tensions that exist in the two of them, but ultimately all was for naught. It feels like the writer originally intended for them to play a bigger role, like an equal but opposite version of Eureka and Renton, but then decided there wasn’t enough airtime and just randomly prescribed a generic happy end for them. Well at least it was a happy ending.
And that Eva-seque berserking scene was just totally out of place in my opinion.
This post is getting way longer than I had intended so I shall cut it short here and just say that Eureka Seven was much better than I expected… So anyway, see you next week assuming my posting momentum holds up.
Watch Xam’d next
Hm. I thought about watching Eureka Seven a few times and just never got around to it. I think I might have seen one episode a few years ago, but that’s about it. If I have time I might take another look at it.
Glad you’re back to bloggig. Eureka seven is one of my favourites after it got reccomended to friends. When you think about it , its alot better then some of the crap we’re being force fed today by anime companies.
Eureka 7 is one of my all-time favorite animes. I used to be crazy about it a few years ago when I first watched it.
BTW did you know there’s going to be an Eureka 7 movie released soon? It’s called “Pocket Full of Rainbows” I think.
Im still reading as long as you blog anime.
Though the whale meat thing was sort of interesting
Anemone was a great secondary character, or at least she generated a solid mix of emotions on my end.
E7 still stands as one of my favs, and interesting to see your take with the film release rapidly approaching :) I agree with the romance slice between Eureka and Renton. It was a little mild, didn’t need to be sappy, but possibly could have been a bit deeper.
Cheers
*counts*…I guess only a fraction of commentators read? I still haven’t gotten around to finishing RahXephon, I saw a portion of it in its English release on an anime channel when I was a kid, but I didn’t really understand it. I should go back to it.
o.O I just started watching Eureka 7 last week. I just couldn’t resist looking at the spoilers. Eureka 7 is awesome…
Hmmm, to me Eureka & Renton is one of the most genuine couples I’ve seen in anime in a long time. All the stages and ordeals they go through together and apart work to really genuinely tie the two of them together.
In fact, genuine kind of sums up what I feel about the show as a whole. Very heartfelt…something I can’t really say for many other shows being made these days. Still my favorite show of the past several years I think.
And yeah, the 4th Ending is definitely striking in its combination of art and music.
Meh now I feel like watching this.sounds a lot like ã‚ノã®æ—… wrt to how little doses of reality are infused with fantasy settings and plots.
omo: As you command, omo-sama.
Keiichi: RahXephon is still better than Eureka Seven .
Accept: Now I’ve heaped tons of praises on Eureka Seven in my post, but I can’t agree that they are particularly genuine couples…
Eureka 7 had it’s highlights but I don’t think it was very good.
The relationship between Renton and Eureka was annoying. I loved Anemone + Dominic a lot more than them, even though they are supposed to be the main characters in the show.
The show was unnecessarily long. With very little work they could’ve cut it to 37 eps (e.g. Death Note).
I hated, hated, hated the children and their annoying ability to constantly get involved in the plot.
So yeah, nice to see you back too.
Excellent review. I watched this series not too long ago too and you’re absolutely spot on with your “a show that tugs at your heartstrings” description.
I agree with Omo that you should watch Xam’d next if you have the time. Probably not so soon after you’ve just watched Eureka 7 since you will find things pretty similar in both series. Nevertheless, Xam’d was very enjoyable for me so I think you’d enjoy it too.
Now since Rahxephon is mentioned in this post, can I assume that I will like Eureka 7 under the premise that I really enjoyed Rahxephon? :p
The answer is a resounding “maybe”.
I liked Eureka Seven far more than I expected to. You called it DM, it took a loooong time to get going (agree with @RedWing, way too long and could easily have lost at least 15 episodes). But once it did, the story really had me engrossed.
Am a bit confused about the upcoming movie though — is it a summary of the series or a sequel?
The seven in Eureka 7 is with reference to this:
“Amita Drive”, which releases the immense power dormant within the typeZERO called the “Seven Swell Phenomenon”.”
Source : wikipedia.
so eureka 7 means only eureka can unleash the Seven Swell Phenomenon?
Watched it a few years back, it was pretty enjoyable but around episode 20++, I think I got a little bored =/ nevertheless, I continued watching.
Never watched Eureka Seven… but hell, maybe I will. After all, I only watched Tower of Druaga after reading your input on that series (I liked it. :o).
If you say Eureka Seven is good, and my judgement on what I’m seeing in these pictures and your descriptions of the plot (I tried to avoid the spoilers… to little success, I don’t care though) are accurate, then I’d probably enjoy this show.
Aw hell, I still have a crapload of anime shows to watch though… Anyways, thanks for the input on Eureka Seven, I probably never would have watched it if I hadn’t read this…at least now the show has a chance to be drilled into my mind (In a 12-13 hour long straight anime watching session. Fun! Oh, wait. There’s 50 episodes in this series, so I’d be at it for at least 18 hours, if I just dive in an watch it all).
Loba:
Gotta love Wikipedia.
2005 was a good year for anime.
Also, Eureka 7 is to this day one of my favorite animes. Its up there in my top five…just on a slight point lower then tengen toppa gurren lagaan.
You should check out this year’s BONES project Soul Eater. It has some leet animation and plot. Well the plot is cheezy a bit, but I guess that is where the fun is.
I also agree that Ayako Kawasumi is awesome
eureka seven is like a simple chicken soup. a chicken soup that last 50 episodes and most of them were fillers. it was just alright, nothing more.
HELOOO I’M BACK. this anime pissed me off more than anything. In all honesty It was mostly minor things but one major. The overall plot was excellent, one of the best and more (not most) creative I’ve seen. I agree with RedWing on the Anemone and Dominic thing. The children tended to make me laugh more than anything because they always made Renton suffer. But mainly, and this is the biggest thing, I hated Renton. I could’ve withstood everything else had he been a decent character. Imho he was a lamer version of Shinji from Evengelion for most of the series and when he finaly grew a pair at the end of the series he still managed to screw it up. However it did have a few good points . The combat scenes were some of the best I have ever seen and alot of the sidestories were awesome (especially the one with the Beams, i loved them). Imo it was a case of a promising anime screwed up for the most part by a bad personality design for the main character.
I loved Eureka Seven too.
I have to say that I also quite enjoyed the series. Good summary!
The Seven in Eureka Seven is a reference to the Seven Swell Effect (That part is correct), However it is not Eureka who controls the Effect its Renton. However it takes his want and need of protecting Eureka to make it activate. I hope that answers your question DarkMirage.
hey man…glad that u put up a great review on Eureka Seven…it goes down to being one of my most fave animes…very heartwarming indeed.I have to admit, I found the children and the renton-eureka relationship quite annoying at first, but they slowly grew on me….maybe that’s why it’s 50 epi long?
oh ya..not to mention the nice soundtrack! love it… nice mix of everything…i actually thought the OST is like a tribute to music itself.
“I still can’t figure out what the “Seven†part means.”
—
Seven Swell Phenomenon
i love to read and wach eureka7 the bast book and movei love dj