July 4th, 2005
The Gekko-go heads to Corralian, a large swirling cloud formation, in order to enter the “Zone”, the ultimate wave riding experience. Eureka isn’t keen, as Nirvash somehow “bites” her and she has a constant headache, but the whole crew heads out anyway - little do they know that the military, along with the brattish Anemone, are nearby. After being drugged, Anemone turns into a rabid LFO pilot, and is sent out in the nightmarish Nirvash Zero - she slices the arm off of one of the Gekkostate LFOs and locks the Nirvash in a vice like grip before proceeding to start to blow it up.
Indeed, this was an excellent episode - fantastic animation and mecha fighting in particular. However, I have to say I’m definitely dropping Eureka 7 now, because despite all this it still feels like a chore to watch it - every time the Brats appear on screen I wince, and I don’t care enough about the cast or any of the story any more to really enjoy it. I can currently get my exciting mecha action kicks from Aquarion which, while it’s not nearly as polished and consistent, is a hell of a lot more exciting and fun, while overall I still find Eureka 7 tedious and the characters (aside from Renton and Eureka) uninspiring.
I find it curious that there’s so little hype about the series, though. I think the pre-licensing has actually hurt Eureka 7 - I’m not sure why, as that didn’t stop Elfen Lied or any other number of pre-licensed shows failing to generate interest or viewers, but for some reason I don’t get the impression that anyone really cares that much. I’m sure my opinion of the series will be in the minority once the show inevitably makes it onto Adult Swim in the US or something along those lines, but I’m a bit worried for Bandai if they expect it to be an immediate smash or anything like that - the middle stretch of these first 11 episodes was plain boring, and while it’s picked up I simply don’t have the time or energy to waste on something I don’t really want to be watching any more. As I’m normally such a Bones whore, I’m a little disappointed, to tell the truth - but hey, the FMA movie’s out soon, and I’m sure they’ve got more in the pipeline fairly soon, plus it can’t be long until Kurau’s out on DVD (I’m passing on Mars Daybreak, it was fun but I don’t really want the DVDs).
Posted in Eureka 7 | 34 Comments »
June 29th, 2005
Holland has nightmares about his past as a member of the military, and seems to want to keep Talho out of it. In the meantime, the Gekko-go flies up into space for kicks, and Renton gets a moment of weightlessness with Eureka that embarasses him for the rest of the episode. Later, the crew heads for a rest near a ruined city where Holland and Talho once lived - Talho accuses Holland of running away from his past, but he defiantly refutes this (and everybody in the audience goes “aaaaw”) while Holland tries to make a move on Eureka with little success and settles for just cheering her up. In the meantime, Dominic and Dewey continue to plot against Gekkostate, and it appears they have an annoyingly pink-haired nose-bleeding trump card called Anenome up their sleeves…
Holland and Talho = really, really good, everything else = booooring. I plain just don’t care about Renton any more, I’m afraid, especially his lame attempts at pulling Eureka (look, you’re both young, you obviously fancy each other, let it go sloooowly!). That said, the Holland plotline was very strong, and Anenome could be an interesting foe for Eureka in particular (although she veers quite close to the “onii-sama!” lolicon stereotype that Aquarion’s Silvia parodies so effectively). I hear good things about the next episode, anyway, so on we soldier…
Posted in Eureka 7 | 12 Comments »
June 22nd, 2005
The Gekko-go drops off Tiptree at a refugee settlement and she leaves them with a bottle of mysterious glowing yellow liquid as thanks. However, Renton (and to an extent Doggy, although he mysteriously escapes punishment) delays their departure (and thus gets them spotted by the military) when he wants to go wave-surfing - Holland smacks him about a bit, and he runs away to Tiptree’s. When Eureka comes looking for him, however, the townsfolk start stoning her - turns out she has a Horrible Past!
Eureka (and Holland) used to be part of a military group called the SOF. She killed people. Lots. Without much consideration. However, after she discovered the Brats hiding beneath the body of a resistance fighter she gunned down, she snapped out of her conditioning. After all this angst, of course, Renton makes her pull herself together and together they fend off the military who’ve found them - but it’s mainly Renton’s doing, as he defeats them using some kind of beam sword thing that we’ve not seen the Nirvash use before, it’s very Gundam anyway. As a reward, Renton finally gets a proper room and a little wheel to stick on his board showing he’s part of Gekkostate.
Huzzah, a properly decent episode! The moment with the Brats wailing about where Eureka was dragged it down from being as good as it should be, obviously, but Eureka’s backstory (although generic) was quite nicely done, and it’s nice to see Renton not being kicked to the ground constantly (although I sided with Holland, because I still find Renton fairly annoying…) Hopefully things might pick up a bit from here, although I can’t exactly say I care much any more - come the beginning of the July season I’m almost certainly giving up on Eureka 7, but it’s got a few episodes left to change my mind.
Posted in Eureka 7 | 7 Comments »
June 9th, 2005
Renton’s escapades from last week make it onto the front cover of a magazine - while he lets fame go to his head, he goes shopping with Eureka and The Brats, managing to lose Maeter in the process - The Brats all start crying, I try and chew my own intestines to numb the pain, and Maeter ends up to be in the house of a kindly old lady, Tiptree (thus causing the best moment of the episode when Eureka slaps Maeter - and the worst when she starts crying). However, it turns out Tiptree’s wanted by the Government - she mistakes Holland and co. for Government agents and leads them on a wild chase through town until the misunderstanding is cleared up. In a clever ruse, Holland claims the ransom money for Tiptree while helping her escape, and she ends up on board the Gekko-go - but Eureka’s not feeling very well for some reason.
I know there’s stuff here I didn’t get - probably the interesting stuff - but frankly I just can’t give a monkey’s. I WILL stick with Eureka 7, I can still see the promise in it, but frankly I’m just bored out of my skull at this point. It doesn’t help that The Brats were, once again, far too prominent - I can barely understand a single word the youngest one says - but I just don’t care about the Gekkostate doing all these little oddjobs, and Renton is really just boring the pants off me now - by this point in Fullmetal Alchemist we had backstory, we had motivation, we had a well rounded protagonist; here we’ve got a kid with overproductive mucus membranes followed around by a troupe of migraine-inducing munchkins whilst the more interesting characters get all too brief moments in the spotlight. This kind of stuff doesn’t work unless it’s funny like it was in Kenran Butoh - it’s just dumb and repetitive here, and considering Kenran aired in a similar timeslot it’s not just because it’s more “kiddie”.
I hold out hope that I will start to enjoy Eureka 7 more, but at the moment I’m quite seriously considering dropping it (much like the Japanese audiences - the ratings are pitiful). Ho hum.
Posted in Eureka 7 | 9 Comments »
June 2nd, 2005
Renton is given a very important mission - to deliver a bowl of proper ramen to a man with a tattoo of Holland on his back. The crew, of course, are taking the piss mercilessly, and send Moon Doggy after him to film him. Comedy Ensues, involving Renton “bonding” with Moon Doggy and the eventual outcome of his delivery mission, but the experience serves to bring Eureka closer to him (as usual). Meanwhile, in the vaguely interesting plot stakes, Dewey (the evil light blue haired guy) and his assistant Dominic come across a wrecked LFO, which would be key to their victory in a war…
Or something like that. If only there was more plot per episode, and not just these little snatches! I’m sorely tempted to give up watching Eureka 7 - for me, it’s pretty boring watching Renton be jerked around every week - but there is so much potential hinted at on occasion, from the ever-changing opening sequence to the all to brief moments involving the Federation in the episodes themselves, that I’m just about willing to keep going for now.
Posted in Eureka 7 | 8 Comments »
