Need a Lift? Try Eureka Seven

Anime Review: Eureka Seven

    The Eureka Seven film series Hi-Evolution: Part 1 was just released September 16 2017, with Parts 2 & 3 to follow in 2018 and 2019. From what we understand it is supposed to take place before and during the events shown in the 2005-2006 TV series Eureka Seven. For anyone who was a fan of the original series this is exciting news. Perhaps we will finally get to learn more about our favourite characters and their backstories, and the major historical events that were only hinted at or glossed over. That would be great. Hopefully these new movies will finally give the fans what they’ve been waiting 11 years for.       

    And for anyone who might be new to anime or just hasn’t heard of Eureka Seven before this, here’s hoping we can change that, because this anime definitely deserves to be on people’s radars. So here we go! 

    The first thing we have to talk about before even getting into the story, is the studio and production team behind Eureka Seven, which is Bones. Now if you didn’t already know, the co-founders of Bones, Hiroshi Ōsaka, Masahiko Minami, and Toshihiro Kawamoto, were all previously working at the huge anime studio Sunrise before they decided to leave and start their own studio. One of their first projects as a new studio was the animated feature film Cowboy Bebop: Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door in which they worked together in collaboration with Sunrise to release. Since then they’ve created series such as Soul Eater, Darker than Black, Fullmetal Alchemist, and one of our favourite animated films Sword of the Stranger.

    The story goes that Bones was approached by Bandai Entertainment about creating a mecha anime series, but after hiring the director Tomoki Kyoda and writer Dai Satō, their story took off in a totally different direction and so they decided to create their own series, though they still kept the title, Eureka Seven, that Bandai had given them. Tomoki Kyoda said he wanted to create “something that reflected the music and subculture of his generation – and a love story”, and who better to write that story then Dai Satō who had also previously worked at Sunrise on projects such as Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo. If we’re talking about anime that reflected music and the subculture of a generation, you can’t look anywhere better. One of the greatest successes for this series in our opinion was the soundtrack for Eureka Seven. Each song, either opening or ending, just added to the essence of the series and made it so much more, so great work by Naoki Satō there. Another success which we just had to mention was the character design by Kenichi Yoshida. The style was different from anything else we had seen at that time, which was fresh and exciting. It seems other people thought so as well because he won an award for best character design in 2006 for the Eureka Seven series. They even got the mecha designer of the popular anime series The Vision of Escaflowne, Shōji Kawamori, to design their mechas. All this to say, they acquired the perfect dream team to make this a success.

    Now before getting to the plot of the series we need to give you some history. About 10,000 years ago from when our story takes place, a sentient life-form known as Scub Coral invaded Earth. To gain a better understanding of its surroundings the Scub Coral would absorb everything in its path until eventually it completely covered all of Earth’s surface in a rock-like substance. This led to a mass exodus by humanity into space. Ironically unbeknownst to them, many years later in their search for a new planet they somehow find their way back to planet Earth, but due to the vast changes that the surface underwent they  don’t recognize it and call it the Land of Kanan. 

    Cut to the year 12005 , in the small town of Bellforest, a place where nothing seems to ever really happen; well that is at least according to a young 14-year-old boy named Renton Thurston. He just can’t wait to leave this town and chase his dream of becoming a pro lifter like his idol Holland Novak of the outlaw group Gekkostate. Quick note: Lifting is like the equivalent of surfing, but instead of surfing on waves of water they lift on waves made of Trapar which behaves similarly to wind and water currents. Trapar, also known as Transparence Light Particles, is a type of energy created by the atmosphere’s interaction with the Scub Coral. People who are good at reading the Trapar waves are generally good lifters. All Renton can think about is lifting and mastering the cool cut-back drop-turn move. Unfortunately, there aren’t really any Trapar waves in Bellforest, which means his goal is pretty much a no go, or is it?

    When we first meet Renton he seems to be experiencing the worst day of his life. First, the board shop he goes to is moving to another city, then he gets into a fight at school, then gets called creepy by a group of girls, then gets called into his teacher’s office with his grandfather, Axel Thurston, to learn that he’s failing, and then worst of all his favourite lift spot gets blown up by the military.

    Things only get more hectic when later that same day a LFO mecha known as the Nirvash TypeZERO, that’s being piloted by a mysterious girl called Eureka, literally comes crashing into his life.

    Eureka asks Renton and his Grandfather to help her fix the Nirvash. While speaking with her Renton finds out that she’s a member of the notorious group Gekkostate, the same group that Holland Novak is the leader of. When she has to make a hasty escape after the military lock onto her location, Renton’s grandfather hands him what he calls the Amita Drive and tasks him with delivering it to Eureka. He also tells him that Renton’s father, Adroc Thurston, a famous military scientist and hero, was the one who created the Amita Drive, and that it is the key to awakening the Nirvash’s true potential.

    Renton feels responsible for the Amita Drive and has a strong desire to protect Eureka, due to the danger she faces while piloting the Nirvash. This leads him to joining up with Gekkostate. He’ll soon learn that there’s a lot more to this group of renegades he admires so much, and that under all that rebellious bravado they have a deeper goal, and it might just be saving the world. Perhaps Renton’s more like his father after all, there’s only one way to find out.  

    When watching Eureka Seven it’s clear that there’s an environmental theme throughout the series. While interviewing surfers, Dai Satō realized that while explaining their craft they all seemed to have a deep connection with nature. We can see the influence of this in Eureka Seven when lifters talk about the Trapar waves and their ability to read them. Renton is told in the very first episode that the reason he can’t complete the cut-back drop-turn move is because he doesn’t believe in the waves, and until he does he will continue to fail.

    The largest conflict we see in the series is between the Scub Coral and the Humans. The Scub Coral may have invaded Earth, but it was never their intention to displace humans. Their wish is to actually understand humanity and to co-exist peacefully. The problem is that this sentiment was not relayed back to the humans properly, and so the humans don’t understand what their motives are and only see a foreign entity taking over their planet. And so in predictable human fashion, that in which we don’t understand we come to fear and hate.

    When in truth, if we’re to believe Ed and Al from Fullmetal Alchemist [another Bones’ series], is that we’re all connected or as they put it “All is One and One is All”

    We liked the series so much we bought it on BluRay, so it’s a definite watch! Word of caution for your own peace of mind just trust us and skip the sequel Eureka Seven: AO and the Eureka Seven animated film Pocket Full of Rainbows, also known as Good Night, Sleep Tight, Young Lovers. If you liked Eureka Seven these will do nothing to enhance the series, if anything you’ll probably be pretty disappointed and puzzled as to why they made them in the first place. We know we were. The stories seem to contradict what the original series was all about, losing all of its soul and feeling.

    It was like the Escaflowne film all over again…why do they insist on making alternate universes/timeline versions of their hit anime series?! It’s guaranteed to drive fans mad and leave them feeling dissatisfied. And now to end it on a positive note… Watch Eureka Seven it’s AMAZING!  

Stay Obsessed ~