My Eureka Seven watch continues, now complete with a bunch of stray thoughts and idle speculations! The show is still sticking in a very consistent genre space so far, and Renton honestly isn’t feeling like the most likable protagonist at the moment, but it’s still an eminently watchable show. Clean art style, solid direction, and each episode moves things forward to some extent. I’m guessing the show will slow down a bit for more “Renton getting used to the Gekkostate” stuff before any of the ominous military issues being hinted at come to the forefront, but everyone keeps telling me it gets better, so I’m going to assume I’m not being rused. Let’s take a journey back through episodes two through four!

Episode 2

Right, this is a Dai Sato series

So if this really is a play on Eva, then Eureka is obviously the Rei stand-in. The framing and various incidental moments are already implying she’s some sort of key to something, from her appearance to her name to various shots of the OP

Director is Tomoki Kyoda. This is by far his biggest project, though he also worked on 1.0 and Rahxephon stuff

“Society used him as much as it could, then tossed him away when it got bored.” Talking about Renton’s father

“This is where all those who follow their dreams end up”

“Don’t beg for it, earn it.” Classic shounen self-motivation stuff. Reach for your dreams, don’t wait for things, etc

I like the grayscale minus eyes and hair for the flashbacks

This show is good about creating in-universe frames for its shots, from the grandpa at his desk to Renton plummeting through these cliffs

The shimmery effects look great

Still loving this music. Why don’t more shows use actual rock music? Jeez

“I can’t lose her in a place like this!” not sure about the relationship between Renton’s idol and Eureka

“Right now, I’m going to earn my victory.”

And he pulls off his Cutback Drop Turn

The show is very good about presenting a consistent sense of space in the air. Objects feel tangible and like they exist relative to each other

“I love you!!” Renton doesn’t mess around

The show knows these are classic genre beats, and so it just powers through them. I assume it’ll slow down eventually, but it’s maintaining a good clip so far

And yeah, it is the opposite of Eva. “Let’s do this! Robots, fuck yeah!”

The drive makes Eureka pass out

And then we flash to after some great power is used to save them

Holland, that’s the guy’s name

Yep, the Satori program. But “Nirvash,” the robot, “says that it was this boy’s talent.” Alrighty

“The Seven Swell Effect!”

And now we’ve got the arrogant mid-level military guy who demands victory not heeding the advice of the rookie and backing off. Textbook stuff

“He did something completely reckless.” “But who can compliment him for what he did, other than me?”

Talking about family

Holland and Gramps have baggage

Another shot creating strong boundary lines in the discussion between these two, using the refuse of Gramps’ garage

“Do you think that boy wishes for something ordinary?”

Eureka poking sleeping Renton. Moe

Good discussion between these two

“What should I do?” “That’s for you to decide.” THE CALL

More well-framed shots. Renton and Holland this time

Holland quotes his father’s words at him, saying they’re his “master’s” words

“What did you believe in when you were inside the Nirvash?” The show keeps making its thematic subtext the actual dialogue, and it feels really stilted. Half of the lines are not things people would ever say

And we return to the skipped fight. Jeez, this really is a direct structural takeoff on Unfamiliar Ceiling/THE BEAST

“The letters EUREKA were on the compac drive I saw over my sister’s shoulder”

“This is a light that destroys, that guides us to death. However… how beautiful it is…”

The Nirvash’s berserker movements are graceful and beautiful, the opposite of the Eva

“I wanted to save her.” Hm

“Come with us.” Eureka doesn’t mess around either

“I wanted to believe in this girl once more”

Episode 3

“This is no time to be leisurely thinking about what people think!” Military dude so military dude

Gekkostate forged papers to get official landing permission, but now they’re stuck

The Gekkostate crew have such a general surf-hipster dress aesthetic. It’s great

Holland seems uncomfortable about Renton’s connection with Eureka. And Renton seems to “power her up” in some way?

Eureka teaching Renton to read the waves

Eureka still seems pretty magical girlfriend, but obviously we’re right at the beginning

Renton getting all bothered by Eureka’s lips, and then she says “you’re like one of my kids.” Good timing!

Oh my god, Renton’s reading up on getting stuck in the friendzone. This is beautiful

“As a man, at times you must be like a wild beast”

“This is your machine, so you need to control it.”

The last goodbye between Renton and Gramps. “I think I’ve been running away up until now.” Another classic line

“Don’t make an old man cry!” A very cute scene

And the bird flies away. SYMBOLISM

“I never know what Holland is going to do. But that’s why I can believe in him.”

Reading the currents of the waves, which will shift over time. The waves as a metaphor for faith in what you’re doing, and for grabbing onto things before they slip away. It’s a fairly fluid and useful metaphor that I’m sure will get a workout throughout the series

“Don’t we have any backup?” “Even if we had any, they’d just get in my way.” And Eureka was questioning the power of family earlier. Yep

“There’s nothing that I can really believe in aside from Nirvash and Holland.” Arc starting point: established

Jeez, Eureka is really good at this

The Gekko is a very pretty ship

The Gekko’s maiden voyage very appropriately makes use of air flow alone to have it skate across the sky

And military guy gets his military guy ending. RIP military guy

“I was just so happy to find something to live for, and so engrossed with the clear eyes of the girl before me, that the mere thought of such things seemed wrong.” Gotta think ahead, Renton

“He’s got your blood.” “Don’t dig up stories of the past.” Aw dang, looks like Gramps was also a badass

“Even if he loses his way, Renton has his father looking over him right now!” Family again

The Gekko crew are not impressed with Renton’s style

Holland, in his underwear, tells Renton he’ll be living in a tent. Pretty great

“I want to believe in you” …so live in a tent next to my giant robot

And we meet Eureka’s kids

Episode 4

Aw dang, opening with the big science pillar and old men in fancy chairs having ominous chats. Are they going to talk about how this is all according to the plan?

THEY DID. HOLY SHIT THEY DID

The Monarch Project, which was of course designed by Renton’s dad

“You can’t be serious about summoning That Man back?!” ah, these scenes

Commander Dewey Novac, a man they sealed away, who was originally intended to continue the Monarch Project

“Why don’t we just kick back and relax?” Likely to be a getting-to-know-the-crew episode for Renton

Apparently not all that much lifting has been going on

Yeah, we’re slowing down and catching up on the story so far with Renton’s monologue

Boob camera. This is definitely a “boy’s journey” show, not that there’s anything really wrong with that

Gekkostate is broke. Renton getting a taste of reality

Renton feels like he’s suffocating. The kind of “freedom” he has right now has nothing to do with his dreams. And he’s still a spoiled kid

“The typeZERO still holds many mysteries”

Apparently the doctor and Eureka left the military

The Nirvash has two cockpits. Currently Eureka is the only one really piloting – at a guess, I’d say at some point Renton is going to prove his specialness and become the pilot, and then eventually they’ll have to learn to share the weight and pilot it together. Hurray for relationships!

“If the trapars affect our emotions, can we affect them too?”

Eureka reads the mood of the Nirvash like people ostensibly read the currents of the waves

And Eureka’s mood matches the waves. And Renton is just hanging onto her feelings

Time to earn money

Talho is the pilot woman

“I feel like all I’m doing is losing everyone’s trust”

But then Renton finally gets to see his heroes act like heroes. I’m almost surprised this episode wanted us to take Renton’s side in this situation, and gave him a reward for his grumbling

Turns out they were trafficking human organs

So they took the smuggling job over the competition because they knew there would be sweet trapars, and because they never lift for money. That is a very specific and surfer and silly kind of moral compass there. Extremely “the trapars have gotta be free, man”

“Those brats aren’t Eureka’s real kids”

“What would you have done if they really were her kids?” Family again, but in a really bizarre way

The communications officer from the first episodes is an accomplice of Dewey

“The current king of this world keeps running from his sins…”

Dewey talkin’ bout some regicide

And That’s All So Far! Renton has arrived on Gekkostate, he’s still just kind of their useless gofer, Eureka remains a blue-haired mystery, and Ominous Military Man has appeared. The show is still almost entirely in genre beats, and I feel like it’s assuming I’ll sympathize with Renton a bit more than I actually do, but it’s fun and breezy and very confident. It’s a show that would not be hard to just sit back and watch all day. This is a new style of writeup for me, so I hope these notes were somewhat informative, or at least entertaining. And I’ll see you next time!

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