Publisher: Bandai Entertainment (USA)Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English dub and English Subtitles
Length: 50 Episodes x 24 minutes
Production Date: 2005 – 2006
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes
This is yet another series I acquired for really cheap from the infamous Right Stuf bargain bin a couple of years back. I read an interview a while back that the producers felt that some Japanese fans didn’t want to watch the show because they thought it was an “Evangelion” knock off. While it does have a female lead that looks and acts a bit like Rei (the pale skinned, green haired Eureka), if that’s true I’m not sure where the hell fans got that idea from. The set up of the alternate future world with its trapars (sort of like a rideable ether) and LFOs (i.e. robots) and Compac Drives (fuel sources) is really intriguing and the designs are just fantastic (with Shoji Kawamori and Kazutaka Miyatake, how could it not be?). For the most part, the story is pretty damn good. There are plenty of twists and turns along the way.
While the show looks fantastic, there are a number of problems with the way it’s structured. First it has that structure to the story that is similar to many modern day anime series; first nine or so episodes are introductory, the next set has the big reveal, the final arc resolves everything. It’s lazy series structure planning in my book. In terms of the peaks and troughs of the climaxes, the show doesn’t fare that well. I thought it was rather ill structured in that regard, especially towards the end. The series was a bit too long as well. After a cracking and very exciting start, the crew of the outlaw ship Gekkostate, end up abusing and humiliating the lead character, 14 year old Renton Thurston, though hazing and just general abuse. This set of five or so episodes when on for way too long and ends portraying the main cast as a bunch of no hoper surfer bums. Yeah I know that this was probably the intent, but I think the writers fail to convince that these slackers are a competent anti-government force for the rest of the show. Another episode is complete filler (the soccer one), which was odd seeing as the story was nearing the climax, and we also have a recap episode. I think at least seven or more episodes could have been cut from the show without any consequences.
There’s also the rather dubious way Gekkostate’s magazine “ray=out” is compiled, edited, published, printed and distributed. How the crap does it happen? We see proofs of one magazine cover, but other than taking lot of photos, the aptly named Stoner is never actually seen working on the magazine. You also have the rather silly premise that “ray=out” is a cover to get information out about what the army is really doing. I though the character Anemone was rather wasted in the show. It always seemed her character was meant to play a larger role, especially in terms of combat and screen time, but in the end we only see a small part of her world. I would have liked to see her role expanded a lot more. Her pet, whatever the hell it is, was rather annoying and just seem to spit out pellet like crap all the time.
While the story is pretty good (if daft and nonsensical at times), the action sequences are dead drop gorgeous. The inclusion of musical artist names as well as songs as character and episode titles names, was for the most part amusing and well done. However two characters called Ray and Charles, and the city of Warsaw apparently also known as Joy Division in this series, was a bit too obvious and stupid. There are a lot of dance music references such as band names like KLF and LFO, as well as dance equipment such the Roland 303, 808 and 909 rhythm/drum machines and the Technics SL-1200 being used for mecha names. I also noticed a couple of classic late 1980’s early 1990’s tracks being used titles for episodes such as “Pacific State” by 808 State. Overall it’s not a bad show. There was certainly a lot of potential there, but I think it squandered a lot of that, mostly due to poor planning. I’ll still give it 7 out of 10 though.
"Eureka Seven: Good Night, Sleep Tight, Young Lovers (Pocket Full of Rainbows)"
Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English dub and English SubtitlesLength: 115 minutes
Production Date: 2009
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes
Quite an interesting reboot of the series. Somehow they’ve managed to keep the vital parts of the story and eject the parts which are irrelevant. I suspect it would have been pretty hard to cram a 50 episode series into a film that runs for a bit less than two hours. I’m kind of impressed. Essentially the same story is being told as the TV series, but there a lot of differences. Such as Renton joining the army and being assigned to the Gekkostate who are still a military unit, Renton knowing Eureka since they were children etc. Surprisingly a lot of the cast’s back stories are changed quite substantially, and the case of the crew of the Gekkostate, stretching believability to the utmost extreme. Amusing a number of the secondary cast are dead or have aged substantially before the start of the film. The series original protagonist fares the worst. Not only is he dead, but a paedophile too!
The other key change is the LFO’s, in particular the key one in the series, the Nirvash. It was understood that in the series the Nirvash was a being of some kind. In this movie version he is a cute little creature with annoying catchphrase (noise really) who seems to live inside the larger Nirvash. I think. It doesn’t quite make any sense, especially since you see him get out of the Nirvash in the movie, but it seems he is the actual Nirvash at the end of the film (and yes I am aware his name is Nirvash). Like the TV series, the movie is quite confused and murky at various points in the plot. Things just happen for no apparent or explained reason. Other minor things made little sense, like why Gekkostate crew were dressed in civilian gear even though they were military. The thing which impressed me though is how they took footage from the TV series, actual animation, and quite a number of scenes at that, and created new footage and a brand new story around those scenes.
When all is said and done, it isn’t a bad movie at all. I’ve read a couple reviews saying the animation is subpar, but that’s nonsense . It’s much better than some of the rather dodgy animation in the TV series and is equal to or a slightly better than many recent anime films. Like the TV series I think some the reasoning behind certain plot points is rather murky at best, but overall it’s fun movie and condenses all the good stuff from the series. Some of the new concepts where a little bit iffy, but the good stuff outweighs that. 7 out of 10.
Remaining Backlog: 26 months (it's much easier this way than listing the number of discs).
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