Anime Review: Eureka Seven
Well, I've finished another one! This may be my last anime for this summer's binge. I'm feeling ready for a break now, and I'm not sure if I'll want to watch more before classes start in a little bit. We'll see, I guess. The series I just finished is Eureka Seven, which I've been wanting to see for a while.
I liked the art style of this series; I just found it pretty to look at. The music was decent. A little hit and miss, but that's all up to personal taste. I liked the first two openings best, I think. The others were okay, but not as good, in my opinion. And I usually skipped the endings, so I don't have an opinion on those, yet!
Now, for the characters. I liked Renton. He was kind of dorky, but he was a good kid. Less obnoxious than I'd figure a 14 year old boy to be, for sure. And I liked Eureka, too. Watching her grow as a person, from being kind of blank and naive in the beginning, to her growing into her humanity by the end, was nice. I'd say those two were my favorite characters. And yes, I totally ship them. <3 Though, I liked Renton's grandfather, Axel, too. He's an onery old cuss, but a good guy deep down. I was glad to see him again, later on in the series.
As for the other characters...it took most of them a longer time to grow on me. For the Gekkostate members, none of them were really very nice to Renton early on. Holland was an abusive ass, and Talho was bitchy enough toward him that I had trouble liking either of them very much. Although, I could sympathize with Talho a bit; a lot of her complaining was that Holland was acting like a bratty child. Which he was! I honestly hated Holland for a while. I didn't hate Talho, but I wasn't super attached, either.
The other members...I dunno. Them screwing with Renton in the beginning felt a little abusive to me, honestly. They didn't do it out of meanness, I suppose, but still. That kind of hazing just doesn't sit well with me. Though, they stopped that fairly early, which was good. But even after that...none of them really seemed to care much about Renton. At one point, he thinks to himself that they never really had a kind word for him, and it's true. They just kind of ignored him after a while; no one helped, or offered comfort or advice. It felt a little cold to me. So, while I didn't hate them, I really didn't care about them, either.
And the kids...well, I don't like kids. And these three honestly acted like normal kids would. Perfectly understandable, but it was pretty annoying to watch, sometimes.
Then, Dominic and Anemone. I actually did like Dominic from early on, it's just that we saw so little of him! And, plus, he was on the bad guy's side at first. So, there's that. And Anemone...she was not was I'd expected at all. The promotional art and reviews and such all paint her as Eureka's counterpart, but she's so damaged that it's hard to think of her that way. She barely acts human for a large part of the series. (And like Dominic, we actually don't see much of her for a long time.) And it's not until toward the end that we get any idea of why she is that way. (And even then, it's more implied than outright stated.) Honestly, I would have liked for her to get more development. More explanation of her background, and why she suddenly started acting more sane in the end. My guess was that the medications they kept pumping into her were making her crazy, and somehow, she got to stop taking them toward the end. But that's just a guess. They never actually say.
Although, I will say this. All those characters that I said I didn't like much in the beginning? I liked them all by the end. So, I guess that's character growth. XD As time went on, the Gekkostate members started being nicer to Renton. And Holland apparently grew up, and stopped being an abusive ass. Once Holland stopped acting like a dick, Talho got a lot less bitchy. Dominic came around and defected to side with Gekkostate, and Anemone got her head on straight, and they finally got together. (It was obvious from pretty early on that Dominic was sweet on her, but again, she was so messed up that she was in no position to reciprocate.) Yeah, I ship them, too. <3
As for the story...I had some issues. Not so much with what the story was, but with how they told it. For example. The major conflict in the series centers around the Scub Coral and humanity, whether they can coexist, or whether they'll attack one another, etc. But we don't even hear anything about any of this until over half way through the series. Well, they encounter a Coralian earlier on, but when Renton asks, no one will explain what it is or what it means. So, like Renton, the audience is kept in the dark for a long time. And then, when they finally do start talking about it? They just kind of drop it in our laps, like it's no big deal. The method of giving the information felt all wrong. If they're going with the idea that the general population of this series is ignorant of these facts (and that's why Renton, and thus the audience, are in the dark), then they need to take special care to explain things. Lay it all out, explain it simply; you know you're talking to someone who doesn't know anything, so treat it like that. But, no. They just kind of nonchalantly tossed it out. 'Oh, Eureka's a Coralian. And Scub Corals exist and blah de blah.' =/ If they want to do that, then they should have been telling us about Scub Corals and Coralians from the beginning. It made things more confusing than they needed to be. (Not to mention, Talho just outing Eureka to not only Renton, but the entire crew? Was a really shitty thing to do.)
I felt like I had a lot of questions for most of the series...we don't get most of the answers until the very end. (Like literally, the last disk.) I have a feeling that I'll get more out of this series on the second time through, simply because I'll understand more of what's going on during the first part of the story.
Like the whole Earth thing. For quite a while, I wasn't clear what planet this story was taking place on! I'd assumed Earth at first, then they start talking about humans leaving Earth, so I figured they were somewhere else. Then Renton and Eureka go to the 'promised land' which...is Earth. And since we see these tall towers hazy in the distance, I can only assume that the world they were in before was somehow above the actual surface of Earth. They do say later that humanity had in fact been living on Earth for a long time, unbeknownst to the general public. So that's the only thing that makes sense. Somehow, there formed a surface above the surface? I guess maybe the Scub Corals did it, by fusing with everything in sight. But still...the explanation could have been better!
And then, some things they just never really explained at all. Like the LFOs...they talk about 'finding' or 'discovering' them, but then sometimes talk about them as if they were man-made. Well, which is it? It might be that the originals were 'found' through excavation, and then humans copied the design. But they could have been more clear on that. Also, if the prototypes like Nirvash were 'found'...where did they come from? The Scub Corals? Eureka's connection to Nirvash kind of implies that, but again, it's never explicitly explained.
Another thing I wish they'd explained a bit better was what happened with Renton and Eureka at the end. Nirvash tells them to go back and live on their planet, and we see them speeding off. But then, they skip ahead a year, and we see the kids with Axel. He said that Renton had come back, but then later, the kids wish on a star for Renton and Eureka to come home. So...what gives? Did they come back, and then leave again? Or had they not made it home yet? There's also the issue of the paperwork Axel was carrying. Something about residency...it listed the whole family. Besides Renton, it listed Eureka and the kids, all with a last name of 'Thurston'. So, are Renton and Eureka actually married? Or did they just put that down as a way of listing them all as family? Because, in all likelihood, Renton and Eureka would marry eventually, and adopt the kids.
One last thing, and this is probably just personal preference. But the whole 'Limit of Questions' thing, where they basically said that the universe would rip itself apart if too many sentient life forms existed in the same place? That just sounds completely absurd. For one, they never explained why. What about having such a huge concentration of intelligent life in one area would be harmful? Maybe if they'd come up with a reason, I could have swallowed it. Although, even still...it just sounds like a silly idea. Not to mention...they said that humans left Earth once before. If they're that worried about it, why not send a big chunk of the population out to colonize some other planet? That'd fix things without going to war. They said there were too many humans to fit on the old ships, but they could have sent some people away.
Another thing I noticed...not a bad thing, just slightly uncomfortable. There were a couple of themes, like blind persecution of an entire religion and the tendency of the masses to believe whatever lies charismatic people feed them, hit a little too close to home. We're seeing that kind of thing happening in the real world, today. (And in the past, of course.) Hearing how the government declared the Vodarac to be a dangerous terrorist group, when in reality only a few of them were actually terrorists...how so many hated all of them, even the visibly innocent...it was disturbing. That episode where Renton tries to get medical care for a dying Vodarac girl, seeing the people trying to attack her, blaming her for a terrorist attack...It was sickening. I mean...hate the ideology if you want. But this was a visibly sick kid. She couldn't have been older than Renton; maybe a teenager, but not an adult. Anyone with eyes would see that she had nothing to do with the attack. What kind of monster attacks an innocent kid like that? But there really are people like that. And that's why it's so sad.
And the part where Dewey gives this big speech, lying to the public about what's happening with the Scub Corals. His people had been going around attacking them, knowing that it would cause a response that would cost many human lives. He then shows footage of the Coralians responding to the attack, and claims that these are monsters who want to destroy humanity. That whole speech...how he acted, the way people just blindly believed everything he said...it made my blood run cold. You could see it on the faces of the Gekkostate folks, too. They knew that the general population would eat it up. Every word out of Dewey's mouth was a lie, but everyone believed him. And again...that's disturbingly true to life.
So, final verdict? I liked it. I did have some issues with how long the audience was kept in the dark, and how some things were explained. But I did like it, and I think that I'll like it a lot more the second time around. This series is praised for its love story, and I agree. Renton and Eureka are the best part of the series, and it's absolutely worth watching if you like romance at all. (Or action, or sci-fi, or coming of age...Just watch it!)
I liked the art style of this series; I just found it pretty to look at. The music was decent. A little hit and miss, but that's all up to personal taste. I liked the first two openings best, I think. The others were okay, but not as good, in my opinion. And I usually skipped the endings, so I don't have an opinion on those, yet!
Now, for the characters. I liked Renton. He was kind of dorky, but he was a good kid. Less obnoxious than I'd figure a 14 year old boy to be, for sure. And I liked Eureka, too. Watching her grow as a person, from being kind of blank and naive in the beginning, to her growing into her humanity by the end, was nice. I'd say those two were my favorite characters. And yes, I totally ship them. <3 Though, I liked Renton's grandfather, Axel, too. He's an onery old cuss, but a good guy deep down. I was glad to see him again, later on in the series.
As for the other characters...it took most of them a longer time to grow on me. For the Gekkostate members, none of them were really very nice to Renton early on. Holland was an abusive ass, and Talho was bitchy enough toward him that I had trouble liking either of them very much. Although, I could sympathize with Talho a bit; a lot of her complaining was that Holland was acting like a bratty child. Which he was! I honestly hated Holland for a while. I didn't hate Talho, but I wasn't super attached, either.
The other members...I dunno. Them screwing with Renton in the beginning felt a little abusive to me, honestly. They didn't do it out of meanness, I suppose, but still. That kind of hazing just doesn't sit well with me. Though, they stopped that fairly early, which was good. But even after that...none of them really seemed to care much about Renton. At one point, he thinks to himself that they never really had a kind word for him, and it's true. They just kind of ignored him after a while; no one helped, or offered comfort or advice. It felt a little cold to me. So, while I didn't hate them, I really didn't care about them, either.
And the kids...well, I don't like kids. And these three honestly acted like normal kids would. Perfectly understandable, but it was pretty annoying to watch, sometimes.
Then, Dominic and Anemone. I actually did like Dominic from early on, it's just that we saw so little of him! And, plus, he was on the bad guy's side at first. So, there's that. And Anemone...she was not was I'd expected at all. The promotional art and reviews and such all paint her as Eureka's counterpart, but she's so damaged that it's hard to think of her that way. She barely acts human for a large part of the series. (And like Dominic, we actually don't see much of her for a long time.) And it's not until toward the end that we get any idea of why she is that way. (And even then, it's more implied than outright stated.) Honestly, I would have liked for her to get more development. More explanation of her background, and why she suddenly started acting more sane in the end. My guess was that the medications they kept pumping into her were making her crazy, and somehow, she got to stop taking them toward the end. But that's just a guess. They never actually say.
Although, I will say this. All those characters that I said I didn't like much in the beginning? I liked them all by the end. So, I guess that's character growth. XD As time went on, the Gekkostate members started being nicer to Renton. And Holland apparently grew up, and stopped being an abusive ass. Once Holland stopped acting like a dick, Talho got a lot less bitchy. Dominic came around and defected to side with Gekkostate, and Anemone got her head on straight, and they finally got together. (It was obvious from pretty early on that Dominic was sweet on her, but again, she was so messed up that she was in no position to reciprocate.) Yeah, I ship them, too. <3
As for the story...I had some issues. Not so much with what the story was, but with how they told it. For example. The major conflict in the series centers around the Scub Coral and humanity, whether they can coexist, or whether they'll attack one another, etc. But we don't even hear anything about any of this until over half way through the series. Well, they encounter a Coralian earlier on, but when Renton asks, no one will explain what it is or what it means. So, like Renton, the audience is kept in the dark for a long time. And then, when they finally do start talking about it? They just kind of drop it in our laps, like it's no big deal. The method of giving the information felt all wrong. If they're going with the idea that the general population of this series is ignorant of these facts (and that's why Renton, and thus the audience, are in the dark), then they need to take special care to explain things. Lay it all out, explain it simply; you know you're talking to someone who doesn't know anything, so treat it like that. But, no. They just kind of nonchalantly tossed it out. 'Oh, Eureka's a Coralian. And Scub Corals exist and blah de blah.' =/ If they want to do that, then they should have been telling us about Scub Corals and Coralians from the beginning. It made things more confusing than they needed to be. (Not to mention, Talho just outing Eureka to not only Renton, but the entire crew? Was a really shitty thing to do.)
I felt like I had a lot of questions for most of the series...we don't get most of the answers until the very end. (Like literally, the last disk.) I have a feeling that I'll get more out of this series on the second time through, simply because I'll understand more of what's going on during the first part of the story.
Like the whole Earth thing. For quite a while, I wasn't clear what planet this story was taking place on! I'd assumed Earth at first, then they start talking about humans leaving Earth, so I figured they were somewhere else. Then Renton and Eureka go to the 'promised land' which...is Earth. And since we see these tall towers hazy in the distance, I can only assume that the world they were in before was somehow above the actual surface of Earth. They do say later that humanity had in fact been living on Earth for a long time, unbeknownst to the general public. So that's the only thing that makes sense. Somehow, there formed a surface above the surface? I guess maybe the Scub Corals did it, by fusing with everything in sight. But still...the explanation could have been better!
And then, some things they just never really explained at all. Like the LFOs...they talk about 'finding' or 'discovering' them, but then sometimes talk about them as if they were man-made. Well, which is it? It might be that the originals were 'found' through excavation, and then humans copied the design. But they could have been more clear on that. Also, if the prototypes like Nirvash were 'found'...where did they come from? The Scub Corals? Eureka's connection to Nirvash kind of implies that, but again, it's never explicitly explained.
Another thing I wish they'd explained a bit better was what happened with Renton and Eureka at the end. Nirvash tells them to go back and live on their planet, and we see them speeding off. But then, they skip ahead a year, and we see the kids with Axel. He said that Renton had come back, but then later, the kids wish on a star for Renton and Eureka to come home. So...what gives? Did they come back, and then leave again? Or had they not made it home yet? There's also the issue of the paperwork Axel was carrying. Something about residency...it listed the whole family. Besides Renton, it listed Eureka and the kids, all with a last name of 'Thurston'. So, are Renton and Eureka actually married? Or did they just put that down as a way of listing them all as family? Because, in all likelihood, Renton and Eureka would marry eventually, and adopt the kids.
One last thing, and this is probably just personal preference. But the whole 'Limit of Questions' thing, where they basically said that the universe would rip itself apart if too many sentient life forms existed in the same place? That just sounds completely absurd. For one, they never explained why. What about having such a huge concentration of intelligent life in one area would be harmful? Maybe if they'd come up with a reason, I could have swallowed it. Although, even still...it just sounds like a silly idea. Not to mention...they said that humans left Earth once before. If they're that worried about it, why not send a big chunk of the population out to colonize some other planet? That'd fix things without going to war. They said there were too many humans to fit on the old ships, but they could have sent some people away.
Another thing I noticed...not a bad thing, just slightly uncomfortable. There were a couple of themes, like blind persecution of an entire religion and the tendency of the masses to believe whatever lies charismatic people feed them, hit a little too close to home. We're seeing that kind of thing happening in the real world, today. (And in the past, of course.) Hearing how the government declared the Vodarac to be a dangerous terrorist group, when in reality only a few of them were actually terrorists...how so many hated all of them, even the visibly innocent...it was disturbing. That episode where Renton tries to get medical care for a dying Vodarac girl, seeing the people trying to attack her, blaming her for a terrorist attack...It was sickening. I mean...hate the ideology if you want. But this was a visibly sick kid. She couldn't have been older than Renton; maybe a teenager, but not an adult. Anyone with eyes would see that she had nothing to do with the attack. What kind of monster attacks an innocent kid like that? But there really are people like that. And that's why it's so sad.
And the part where Dewey gives this big speech, lying to the public about what's happening with the Scub Corals. His people had been going around attacking them, knowing that it would cause a response that would cost many human lives. He then shows footage of the Coralians responding to the attack, and claims that these are monsters who want to destroy humanity. That whole speech...how he acted, the way people just blindly believed everything he said...it made my blood run cold. You could see it on the faces of the Gekkostate folks, too. They knew that the general population would eat it up. Every word out of Dewey's mouth was a lie, but everyone believed him. And again...that's disturbingly true to life.
So, final verdict? I liked it. I did have some issues with how long the audience was kept in the dark, and how some things were explained. But I did like it, and I think that I'll like it a lot more the second time around. This series is praised for its love story, and I agree. Renton and Eureka are the best part of the series, and it's absolutely worth watching if you like romance at all. (Or action, or sci-fi, or coming of age...Just watch it!)