Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today it seemed just about time to check back in with Eureka Seven, wherein we most recently followed up the show’s most ambiguous and portentous episode with a friggin’ buddy cop adventure. Eureka Seven is truly a show of many contrasts, and I actually loved seeing Renton and Dominic endure some forced bonding over the course of their errand. With Renton’s childlike adoration of Gekkostate having faded into a weary tolerance of Holland’s antics, the two share both an antipathy towards the organizations they represent, as well as a fierce loyalty to the mysterious women at their sides.
It is clear enough by now that both Eureka and Anemone are in some way connected to the Coralian threat, serving as points of connection between the human and Coralian worlds. The watery imagery and series of claustrophobic enclosures presented by episode twelve called to mind both adolescent transformation and the water of the womb, motifs echoed by Eureka Seven’s clearest predecessor, Evangelion. But while we’re beginning to get a clearer grasp of how Eureka Seven’s worldbuilding echoes its thematic priorities, we still know too little to meaningfully chart this story’s trajectory.
For that, we’re going to need some clarification from our good captain Holland. Holland stands at the intersection of Eureka Seven’s narrative and thematic mysteries; his past conceals the worldbuilding we have yet to learn, while his future will likely dictate what precisely Eureka Seven is trying to say. I’m eager to grill our young captain immediately, but also down for some lighter adventures in the wake of our first act climax. Either way, I’m sure there’ll be plenty to marvel at as we return to the world of Eureka Seven!
Episode 14
Aw shit, new OP! This one opens with a series of landscape shots, pans over valleys that reveal the strange coralization process happening all over the world. A key change in tone – while the first opening was fully dedicated to that “reach for your dreams!” tone of a boy first striking out into the world, this one is immediately tempered by an emphasis on the actual threat facing our heroes. A shift in priorities that feels perfectly appropriate for our movement into act two
Another shift: rather than focusing on Renton specifically, this OP emphasizes the Gekkostate crew as a unit. We’ve graduated from strict bildungsroman to a more ensemble drama
Happy to see Holland and Talho prioritized here, with a greyscale cut emphasizing their painful shared memories. So we’ll be getting the answers we seek sometime in the next… thirteen or so episodes, at least
Also a pair of unknown pilots, presumably secondary antagonists who’ll pad out our journey back towards the true threats
And then one of the most beautiful Itano Circuses I’ve ever seen. Goddamn this show is generous
The battle with the military apparently significantly limited their ship’s speed, leaving them drifting slowly over a barren landscape
Nice immediate visual illustration of both Holland the myth and Holland the man, as his gallant magazine headshot slips off his actual sleeping face
The one bit of lore that’s consistently emphasized in this summary is Eureka’s connection to the Nirvash, given it actually spelled out “EUREKA” in its drive at a moment of crisis
“You knew all along, didn’t you? You knew Eureka would end up this way if she made contact with the Coralian.” Renton’s childish adoration of Holland has been thoroughly expended by this point
But Holland himself is desperately curious about Renton’s dreams. We don’t know what drives him, but much is still clearly a mystery to him as well
Every one of Holland’s major relationships see him framed as one of those older scene guys, who loves to take younger people under his wing and be adored by them, but who is ultimately outgrown by everyone he gets close to. His ideal of freedom from consequence only appeals to the young and inexperienced – more mature people want someone you can genuinely rely on
Welp, Renton at least now has some genuine curiosity regarding Eureka’s true nature
“MEMORY BAND,” and then the subtitle “Phenomena and Mental Image”
“My name is ‘Observer.’ I stand in the middle ground between phenomena and mental images. All sorts of natural phenomena would never be recorded if someone wasn’t there to observe it as it happened. Every phenomenon leaves behind its existence to posterity only by being observed by the eyes of someone like myself, who stands in the middle ground.” Stoner clearly takes his duty as battlefield photographer very seriously. So far, the Gekkostate have largely been defined in terms of their identities as Renton understood them – a group of surfers who value freedom above all else, and who largely live according to Holland’s devil-may-care values. But now that we’re in the second act of the story, we’re able to see their identities divorced from Renton’s interpretation of them. And in Stoner’s case, it’s clear he understands his importance as a linchpin in the propaganda war against the military, demonstrating with his every photograph all the things the military wishes to cover up
As he describes, the Coralians are apparently creatures so awe-inspiring that they defy our capacity for description. “Even if we had a more complex language” we might still not be able to define them, implying they are some highly developed alien race
From what we can see, the Coralians appear to be beings of pure energy, looking much like the cell that powers the Nirvash
“In this world where we so often speak only superficially, and avoid true characteristics because we can’t get the message across, is it worth anything to play along with the superficiality, and weave words of description? If we cannot get the point across, we should try harder to do so.” Our inability to describe the Coralian is here tethered to our more general inability to accurately convey our true sentiments to others, a theme shared by Eva and Eureka
“What do they speak of? The truth. However, only the most superficial words are put to use.” Stoner’s conclusion seems much the same as Evangelion’s: regardless of the unsuitability of our imperfect instruments for attaining true understanding, it is still essential to try, and our imperfect efforts still embody our underlying truth
“To speak of a phenomenon, we must become the phenomenon itself.” Yep – anything short of fully replicating an experience is an imperfect translation, a deeply limited and inaccurate simulacrum of the original experience. No other language can convey a full truth but that truth itself
This may largely be recap visually, but Stoner’s offering some excellent guide rails for directing my thematic approach to this show! This emphasis on the dichotomy of direct experience versus imperfect description is an interesting way to frame the mystery of the Coralians, and tie that to the more intimate points of misunderstanding between Renton and Eureka
“Any phenomena leaves an effect on those who witness it. Whether that effect is injury or the potential for growth, matters not to the waves.” I like this consistent framing of the Coralians as so grand and majestic as to be unknowable, like Lovecraftian creatures that aren’t even conscious of the effects they’re having on the minds of lesser beings
Unsurprisingly, this episode was also scripted by Dai Sato himself. Any of the big philosophy-of-Eureka Seven episodes are generally tackled by our lead writer, whereas episodic adventures can be handled by a variety of competent writers
Stoner hands monologuing duties over to Dominic for our second half
Apparently, the reaction that occurred at Ground Zero wasn’t mentioned in the official report. More indications that Dominic’s loyalty is to Anemone, not to the military
“This is a light that destroys, that guides us to death.” With a season’s worth of additional information behind us, that Bell Forest “Seven Swell” effect from the show’s beginning now serves as thunderous affirmation of the link between Eureka and the Coralian invasion
“Type Zero. That was the first LFO we ever found.” Unsurprisingly, the LFOs are themselves alien technology that we only happened to discover, not invent. Clearly also artifacts of the Coralians, and capable of evoking that same sense of indescribable awe
Three scientists were responsible for its discovery, including “the man who would later become famous as the savior of the world,” Adroc Thurston (Renton’s father)
Adroc’s project would continue after his death, but was destroyed in the wake of Eureka and Holland’s rebellion. Dominic confesses he doesn’t know why a military secret as precious as Eureka was deployed in a simple strike force, and indeed, it doesn’t seem to make sense
The Gekko was also a top-of-the-line military vessel stolen by Holland
The confident mastermind Dominic describes seems a far cry from our current Holland. Also feels sadly unusual to see Talho smiling again in all these flashbacks
Having concluded that Renton is the key to the Type Zero’s evolution, Dominic decides to check out Bell Forest himself
And Done
Jesus christ, what a bizarrely dense episode! Dai Sato took the general form of a recap episode and turned it into his own narrative podium, exploring both the known history and the philosophy of our encounters with the Coralians. Getting out of Renton’s head provided a wonderful opportunity to expand our understanding of this world, with Stoner and Dominic serving as more than capable guides through the darker corners of Eureka Seven. Obviously recap episodes are far from ideal, but they’re a necessity of long-term anime production that can still be elevated in a variety of ways, with Eureka Seven here following in the footsteps of master recap-manipulators like Eva and Utena. Thanks for the info, Sato!
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