Eureka (left) and Renton (right) in front of the Nirvash.STORY
(Anime News Network story summary) Renton Thurston is a 14-year-old boy who lived with his mechanic grandfather in a backwater town. Every day he dreamed of being with the mercenary "Light Finding Operation (LFO)" aircraft pilot group "Gekkostate" and riding "Trapar" particle waves-- a sport called "reffing"-- with their charismatic leader Holland, especially when faced with his father's acclaimed past or his grandfather's desire to protect him. When a young girl named Eureka riding the original LFO, the "Nirvash typeZERO", asks his grandfather for a tune-up, she inadvertently brings the attention of the military to the garage; as a result, the garage is destroyed and Renton is forced to deliver a new type of interface-- the "Amita Drive"-- to the Nirvash. After a heated fight in which the Nirvash destroys the military LFOs by unleashing an immense amount of power, Renton is invited into Gekkostate. However, he quickly realizes that behind the facade of a traveling group of mercenaries is a very bitter reality.
Even after watching the entirety of this series I STILL don't know how I feel about it. I'm going to try to be as unequivocal as possible in explaining what I think about the story. The rest should be easy. Thank God for ANN's story summary, because I don't think I could adequately explain what this show is about without spoiling anything. This series puts us in a setting we don't know anything about and often times drops important information on us that, on one hand, makes the characters in the show react strongly, but on the other hand, we don't know how to react or what to think because we know nothing about it. What is this world? Why do the mechs ride boards? What are the scubs? Who is Eureka? Of course, the characters react the way they do because they KNOW what's going on in many cases, but not us. This show puts things in front of our faces and doesn't explain them until some indefinite time in the future. Many shows do this but this feels like too much. I almost feel like I keep on watching this series not because I want to, but because I'm being suckered into it because my curiosity will kill me if I don't. It's an exasperating way of telling a story, but I guess there's a hidden genius in the writers way of telling it. Despite the vexation, it DID keep me watching, and it DOES all pay off in the end. I guess since we're mostly following Renton's life, the show wanted to keep us about as ignorant and naive as he is, only finding out things about the mystery of the planet and the scubs, and some of the characters when he himself finds out. Those who keep watching till the end will get rewarded with a satisfying ending. Being a mecha show, there is action, but it's mostly plot and character driven. The show has a huge cast of characters so it's good that it has 50 episodes to develop them. Unfortunately not all characters get any development. We don't learn anything about Ken-Goh, Jobs, or Woz for example. The greatest amount of character time is spent with Renton and Eureka, along with Holland, Talho, the kids, and even some characters on the enemy side like Anemone, Dominic, and Dewey. It's interesting to see the changes that these characters go through as they mature, but my GOODNESS there's so much crying! Despite the light-hearted and fun feel of the first dozen or so episodes, this show gets pretty dramatic and even violent later on. The amount of drama can grate on the nerves sometimes as it possibly reminds the viewer of how emo other mecha shows are like Evangelion and Gundam. Despite this, the show never falls into despair like Evangelion seems to, and the characters do grow from all the hard times. Since Renton and Eureka are the main focus, this is the most important aspect of the series. I usually prefer romantic relationships between two characters to be a subplot, but in Eureka Seven it's a big part of the main plot. I imagine it must be difficult to keep a developing relationship between two characters interesting when so much time is spent on it, but I think the writers did well. It probably helps that they're both young and experiencing these things for the first time, so watching how things go can be pretty priceless. There's positive and negative aspects though. On the good side, the naivety and innocence of the two characters as their relationship grows has a certain charm and purity to it. I feel like in most shows, especially here in America, attraction and relational development is mostly physical. In this show there's a deep emotional connection being built up that goes beyond simply the physical. On the negative side, the dialogue between these two characters past the half-way point is friggin' priceless. Many times I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs "NO ONE TALKS LIKE THAT! ESPECIALLY NOT 14 YEAR OLDS!" And yes, Renton, we know that you want to protect Eureka and be together with her forever and blah blah blah. You soliloquize and narrate it to us just about every episode. But there can even be a charm in those too. There's also pleeeenty of awkward moments to be had with those two characters. Has anyone noticed how the terribly awkward moments between new couples in T.V. shows are always the most vicarious? What a feeling. Actually I have a pretty strong feeling some people will find Renton and Eureka to be completely annoying. Thankfully I have a high tolerance for such things and I will leave the viewer to decide on that. There's a lot of things I appreciate about the character Eureka. In the beginning she looks like she'll be another Rei clone (Evangelion), but you'll notice the difference between them when you see that Eureka actually has a personality. I'll get into other things about her later. Fanservice is also kept pretty minimal in this series. Rarely does the series feel the need to flaunt fanservice gratuitously in our faces just for the heck of it. Talho is pretty scantily clad, but it's not flaunted at us, it's just there. If some people want to gawk, they can, but it's not forced down our throats. This series also has a unique feel to it that makes it its own thing and not just a copy of other mecha shows. It's not really like Evangelion or Rahxephon, and it's not really like Gundam, though it's obviously influenced by all of them. It's got its own style and spunk, and that's kind of refreshing. So despite all this I still don't know what to think about it, but I would put this in the category of a good show and I recommend you try it out to see for yourself.
(Anime News Network story summary) Renton Thurston is a 14-year-old boy who lived with his mechanic grandfather in a backwater town. Every day he dreamed of being with the mercenary "Light Finding Operation (LFO)" aircraft pilot group "Gekkostate" and riding "Trapar" particle waves-- a sport called "reffing"-- with their charismatic leader Holland, especially when faced with his father's acclaimed past or his grandfather's desire to protect him. When a young girl named Eureka riding the original LFO, the "Nirvash typeZERO", asks his grandfather for a tune-up, she inadvertently brings the attention of the military to the garage; as a result, the garage is destroyed and Renton is forced to deliver a new type of interface-- the "Amita Drive"-- to the Nirvash. After a heated fight in which the Nirvash destroys the military LFOs by unleashing an immense amount of power, Renton is invited into Gekkostate. However, he quickly realizes that behind the facade of a traveling group of mercenaries is a very bitter reality.
Even after watching the entirety of this series I STILL don't know how I feel about it. I'm going to try to be as unequivocal as possible in explaining what I think about the story. The rest should be easy. Thank God for ANN's story summary, because I don't think I could adequately explain what this show is about without spoiling anything. This series puts us in a setting we don't know anything about and often times drops important information on us that, on one hand, makes the characters in the show react strongly, but on the other hand, we don't know how to react or what to think because we know nothing about it. What is this world? Why do the mechs ride boards? What are the scubs? Who is Eureka? Of course, the characters react the way they do because they KNOW what's going on in many cases, but not us. This show puts things in front of our faces and doesn't explain them until some indefinite time in the future. Many shows do this but this feels like too much. I almost feel like I keep on watching this series not because I want to, but because I'm being suckered into it because my curiosity will kill me if I don't. It's an exasperating way of telling a story, but I guess there's a hidden genius in the writers way of telling it. Despite the vexation, it DID keep me watching, and it DOES all pay off in the end. I guess since we're mostly following Renton's life, the show wanted to keep us about as ignorant and naive as he is, only finding out things about the mystery of the planet and the scubs, and some of the characters when he himself finds out. Those who keep watching till the end will get rewarded with a satisfying ending. Being a mecha show, there is action, but it's mostly plot and character driven. The show has a huge cast of characters so it's good that it has 50 episodes to develop them. Unfortunately not all characters get any development. We don't learn anything about Ken-Goh, Jobs, or Woz for example. The greatest amount of character time is spent with Renton and Eureka, along with Holland, Talho, the kids, and even some characters on the enemy side like Anemone, Dominic, and Dewey. It's interesting to see the changes that these characters go through as they mature, but my GOODNESS there's so much crying! Despite the light-hearted and fun feel of the first dozen or so episodes, this show gets pretty dramatic and even violent later on. The amount of drama can grate on the nerves sometimes as it possibly reminds the viewer of how emo other mecha shows are like Evangelion and Gundam. Despite this, the show never falls into despair like Evangelion seems to, and the characters do grow from all the hard times. Since Renton and Eureka are the main focus, this is the most important aspect of the series. I usually prefer romantic relationships between two characters to be a subplot, but in Eureka Seven it's a big part of the main plot. I imagine it must be difficult to keep a developing relationship between two characters interesting when so much time is spent on it, but I think the writers did well. It probably helps that they're both young and experiencing these things for the first time, so watching how things go can be pretty priceless. There's positive and negative aspects though. On the good side, the naivety and innocence of the two characters as their relationship grows has a certain charm and purity to it. I feel like in most shows, especially here in America, attraction and relational development is mostly physical. In this show there's a deep emotional connection being built up that goes beyond simply the physical. On the negative side, the dialogue between these two characters past the half-way point is friggin' priceless. Many times I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs "NO ONE TALKS LIKE THAT! ESPECIALLY NOT 14 YEAR OLDS!" And yes, Renton, we know that you want to protect Eureka and be together with her forever and blah blah blah. You soliloquize and narrate it to us just about every episode. But there can even be a charm in those too. There's also pleeeenty of awkward moments to be had with those two characters. Has anyone noticed how the terribly awkward moments between new couples in T.V. shows are always the most vicarious? What a feeling. Actually I have a pretty strong feeling some people will find Renton and Eureka to be completely annoying. Thankfully I have a high tolerance for such things and I will leave the viewer to decide on that. There's a lot of things I appreciate about the character Eureka. In the beginning she looks like she'll be another Rei clone (Evangelion), but you'll notice the difference between them when you see that Eureka actually has a personality. I'll get into other things about her later. Fanservice is also kept pretty minimal in this series. Rarely does the series feel the need to flaunt fanservice gratuitously in our faces just for the heck of it. Talho is pretty scantily clad, but it's not flaunted at us, it's just there. If some people want to gawk, they can, but it's not forced down our throats. This series also has a unique feel to it that makes it its own thing and not just a copy of other mecha shows. It's not really like Evangelion or Rahxephon, and it's not really like Gundam, though it's obviously influenced by all of them. It's got its own style and spunk, and that's kind of refreshing. So despite all this I still don't know what to think about it, but I would put this in the category of a good show and I recommend you try it out to see for yourself.
The crew of the Gekkostate.... Except Eureka it seemsANIMATION and SOUND
The animation was produced by Studio BONES, which shows for the most part. Animation is fluid, action scenes are fast paced and make use of some pretty cool camera angles, and the mechs don't seem to lose any detail during all the animation that is taking place. It's not always perfect, as stillness can set in at some points. After the half-way point, the adult character designs can show signs of slightly sloppy drawing and the animation takes a lot of shortcuts during certain scenes (usually unimportant ones), but overall it's pretty high quality for a 50 episode series from Japan. Character designs have a rounder, more American look than the more angular, skinny, unnaturally colored hair look of most anime. They also seem to sport more detail in the faces, men consistently LOOK like men, characters all look very distinct, and it's an overall refreshing departure from the generic look we're use to. One character design I had issue with was Anemone, mostly because of that stupid dress she wore, but this is a minor gripe. The only characters that have unnatural hair colors are Eureka and Anemone. I like this because it emphasizes that they're special (but I can't get into that without spoilers). Another thing I admire about Eureka's character design is that she's not made with a super-sexy supermodel body with large breasts that we must be reminded of every episode. She does have that short skirt-thing, but she's modestly dressed and has realistic proportions. At some point in the series she even gets pretty beat up, which messes with her hair and face so she doesn't look like a picture perfect mannequin. I think this also helps with the relationship between her and Renton. Attraction is more than just how someone looks. The mechs in the series have pretty cool designs. The military mechs are more blocky and bulky, while the specially made mechs, including the original ones like the Nirvash, have pretty sleek designs. Despite the weirdness of the surf boards they fly on and the question of why they need those (which is kinda explained at some point), I do think it's pretty awesome. The music used in the series is a mixture of orchestra, soft piano, j-pop, j-rock, and techno. Techno seems to fit the show best, but is usually used as the music playing on characters stereos. The orchestral music isn't masterpiece material or anything, but it can be quite beautiful and they always enhance the scenes well. The opening and ending themes are j-pop and j-rock songs. The first opening is catchy and one of my favorites along with the fourth opening. I'm not sure why the fourth opening has John Newton's Amazing Grace in the beginning, but it sounds great! I've only heard the dub of this series so I'll only comment on that. Purists will probably not be satisfied with it, but for those who like dubs it might all come down to how much you can tolerate Johnny Yong Bosch's performance as Renton and Stephanie Sheh as Eureka. As Renton, Johnny has to speak in a high pitch that can sometimes sound unnatural or just plain friggin' annoying. Fortunately he does get better and the acting itself isn't a problem. Sheh's Eureka has the same problem of an adult actress trying to sound like a young girl when she really sounds like an adult actress trying to heighten her voice pitch so she sounds like a young girl. Still, it's not grating, the acting itself is fine, and she does get better as the series progresses. Other actors like Crispin Freeman as Holland, Kate Higgins as Talho, Kari Wahlgren as Anemone, and Peter Doyle as Dominic all perform their roles well and I have no problem with them. Overall there was good visual production behind this series that has some good music and acting to back it up.
The animation was produced by Studio BONES, which shows for the most part. Animation is fluid, action scenes are fast paced and make use of some pretty cool camera angles, and the mechs don't seem to lose any detail during all the animation that is taking place. It's not always perfect, as stillness can set in at some points. After the half-way point, the adult character designs can show signs of slightly sloppy drawing and the animation takes a lot of shortcuts during certain scenes (usually unimportant ones), but overall it's pretty high quality for a 50 episode series from Japan. Character designs have a rounder, more American look than the more angular, skinny, unnaturally colored hair look of most anime. They also seem to sport more detail in the faces, men consistently LOOK like men, characters all look very distinct, and it's an overall refreshing departure from the generic look we're use to. One character design I had issue with was Anemone, mostly because of that stupid dress she wore, but this is a minor gripe. The only characters that have unnatural hair colors are Eureka and Anemone. I like this because it emphasizes that they're special (but I can't get into that without spoilers). Another thing I admire about Eureka's character design is that she's not made with a super-sexy supermodel body with large breasts that we must be reminded of every episode. She does have that short skirt-thing, but she's modestly dressed and has realistic proportions. At some point in the series she even gets pretty beat up, which messes with her hair and face so she doesn't look like a picture perfect mannequin. I think this also helps with the relationship between her and Renton. Attraction is more than just how someone looks. The mechs in the series have pretty cool designs. The military mechs are more blocky and bulky, while the specially made mechs, including the original ones like the Nirvash, have pretty sleek designs. Despite the weirdness of the surf boards they fly on and the question of why they need those (which is kinda explained at some point), I do think it's pretty awesome. The music used in the series is a mixture of orchestra, soft piano, j-pop, j-rock, and techno. Techno seems to fit the show best, but is usually used as the music playing on characters stereos. The orchestral music isn't masterpiece material or anything, but it can be quite beautiful and they always enhance the scenes well. The opening and ending themes are j-pop and j-rock songs. The first opening is catchy and one of my favorites along with the fourth opening. I'm not sure why the fourth opening has John Newton's Amazing Grace in the beginning, but it sounds great! I've only heard the dub of this series so I'll only comment on that. Purists will probably not be satisfied with it, but for those who like dubs it might all come down to how much you can tolerate Johnny Yong Bosch's performance as Renton and Stephanie Sheh as Eureka. As Renton, Johnny has to speak in a high pitch that can sometimes sound unnatural or just plain friggin' annoying. Fortunately he does get better and the acting itself isn't a problem. Sheh's Eureka has the same problem of an adult actress trying to sound like a young girl when she really sounds like an adult actress trying to heighten her voice pitch so she sounds like a young girl. Still, it's not grating, the acting itself is fine, and she does get better as the series progresses. Other actors like Crispin Freeman as Holland, Kate Higgins as Talho, Kari Wahlgren as Anemone, and Peter Doyle as Dominic all perform their roles well and I have no problem with them. Overall there was good visual production behind this series that has some good music and acting to back it up.
The mechs ride surf boards! OVERALL
They seem to whimsically fall to their impending doom a lot.PROS
-Good production values and English dub
-Has it's own style and flavor despite its inspiration from other mech shows
-Ends well
-Character designs
-Renton's and Eureka's relationship
-Good production values and English dub
-Has it's own style and flavor despite its inspiration from other mech shows
-Ends well
-Character designs
-Renton's and Eureka's relationship
CONS
-The dialogue between Renton and Eureka can get pretty cheesy and repetitive
-Likes to dangle plot mysteries in our faces like someone dangling a piece of yarn in front of a cat
-Renton's and Eureka's dub voices take getting use to
Aha! First to post,
ReplyDeletei havent watched Eureka Seven but i must say, i love your discussions and reviews as always!
i wasn't gonna read it ALL, but then i realised i finished reading it anyways before i could place a stopping point.
:D i miiight watch it, though i have university starting officially for me soon, so it may take a while, i've dealt with annoying voices and shows that annoy me though i watch it for the curiosity so i might watch it after reading this :P
you know what i love about your writting?
its half formal and half normal..
like as formal as it sounds there are parts where you interrupt that with just normal thoughts and i love it!!! ahahah
i miss these reviews, i can't wait for more on other shows...
are there any on Love Hina, cause i wanted to watch that and i'd love to read a Kyle review on it! :))))
GO KYLE!!! =D and p.s i miss talkin to you!