Post
by Ishbalan » Thu Mar 25, 2010 7:20 pm
This show has one of the most memorable casts of characters I have ever seen. You can really tell how much the production crew loved the characters they've created, in how much time was spent developing the members of the Gekkostate, and spending time with them. Most magnificent is the Renton-Eureka pairing, which to me, is one of the purest romances anime has to offer. I think that this is one of BONES' top series, the only being topped for me by personal favorite Fullmetal Alchemist.
Unfortunately, like many BONES series, the plot and writing takes a backseat to the characters, often branching off in tangents where no support lay before. The characters Anemone and Dominic were largely underdeveloped and sometimes wouldn't make an appearance for 5 episodes at a time. We never really learned where TheEnd came from or why Anemone was the way she was. When Dominic announced his love for Anemone, there had been nothing prior to indicate they even liked each other, and the episode Anemone showed anything but contempt for him was the same episode they had their great emotional reunion. Similarly, when it was revealed that the unnamed planet where the story takes place was in fact a shell encompassing the Earth, there had never been anything to suggest that the planet wasn't the Earth, simply far in the future. A little history earlier on would have done much greater to make this a more profound moment. Many of Dewey's role as the villian didn't really come into play until the second half of the series. Despite being ever-present and a magnificent figurehead to be hated, he did nothing significant until around episode 30. Looking at the plot more as a whole, besides the romance, it is a pretty typical mecha anime. I've noticed a lot of parallels with Evangelion in particular, including the pilots and the semi-sentient partially bionic machines. The scene where Renton goes apeshit on an enemy KLFwhile defending Holland is a clear homage to the Eva scene involving the Unit 03. The Limit of Questions/Life is just a little way away from being the Instrumentality Project, and the Coralians are an alien presence showing many resemblences to the Angels. Speaking of such things, Eureka Seven is really obnoxious about it's terminology usage. Having watched the entire show twice, I am still confused about many things that were mentioned in passive dialogue and never properly addressed. Things like the Summer of Love, The Great Wall, The Scub Corals, and The Zone were only brought up when they started to play an important role. Some better writing could have prevented a lot of confusion in this.
Most important of all, I am still confused as to why Renton and Eureka had to take their journey in the last quarter in the series. As soon as Holland recognised Renton as "Eureka's choice," everyone was suddenly at an understanding that they had to go and save the world.
All things considered, I give a 7/10. Great cast, could have done better in the story. Good overall.
