Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m delighted to be returning to Eureka Seven after far too long away, picking up after one of the show’s most impressive episodes to date. The combination of Sayo Yamamoto on direction and Chiaki J. Konaka on script made for a uniquely cinematic and psychedelic experience, with intimate, carefully boarded sequences like Renton overhearing Gidget and Moondoggie’s liaison bumping shoulders with tense, bewildering sequences of Eureka’s fraying mental state.
The episode was a perfect fit for both its key talents. Yamamoto is one of the few directors in anime who can evoke comfortable sexual intimacy, not just adolescent sexual preoccupation, making her the ideal choice for conveying Renton’s realization that he’s perhaps not quite prepared for what “joining the world of adults” really means. And Konaka has spent most of his career obsessing over fraying minds (most recently his own), making him an excellent choice for articulating Eureka’s mental disarray.
Ultimately, Renton was sufficiently chastened by his experiences to offer Eureka a genuine apology, and admit he’s still in over his head. Perpetual manchild Holland has made for an awkward role model, but Renton is fundamentally a good kid, more driven by his urge to connect than his need to impress. Admission of misunderstanding is the first step to true understanding; there is still much we don’t know about the Coralians, but if Renton can follow through on his pledge to earnestly engage with Eureka’s world, these two might just make it work. Let’s get to it!
Episode 17
Man, the early ‘00s were a pretty fertile era for anime. Sure, the crossover to digipaint was rough, but it was also an era far more amenable to ambitious original anime, and original anime tend to more frequently be good anime. It often feels like you have to circumvent the standard desires of anime’s core audience in order to make something interesting, but most adaptations are going to be of things that successfully satisfied those standard desires, rather than pushing for something ambitious or original. For something truly great to happen, you generally need writers and directors who are committed to a new, unique vision from the start (plus, the greatest adaptations are generally works of reinvention as well, like Devilman Crybaby or The Heike Story). Otherwise, you end up with a photocopy of a work that generally wasn’t very good in the first place
Holland checks in with his crew about the state of the repairs, thus informing us as well that they need a new plan, as the repairs would currently take over a year
“Let’s negotiate with a film artisan.” By reframing aerial travel and robots around this marine/surfing theme, Eureka Seven ensures that the world is full of fun, inventive twists on giant robot staples. It doesn’t take much to make a fantasy world your own – taking an existing template and giving it a distinct, cohesive paint job like this can easily accomplish it
Holland and Handlebars consult with Hap, who is not happy about this new expenditure. I appreciate all the incidental ways this show illustrates the mundane realities of life aboard the Gekkostate, like Hap demanding the crew cut down on cosmetics during this time of financial crisis. Reminiscent of Cowboy Bebop’s keen articulation of the less glamorous aspects of bounty hunting
“Sky Rock Gate”
Renton calls to Eureka, but she turns to Holland, saying her head hurts. The relationship between Holland and Eureka seems like a crutch for both of them, a way of hiding away from difficult adult realities
Hap begins to needle Renton about what’s going on with Eureka as the pair drive into town, resulting in some great Renton faces as he admits he doesn’t understand the problem
“Autumn? What’s that?” “Dunno, it’s just an old saying.” Another graceful offhand indicator of what the Coralian emergence has done to the world
“Oh, for the days of adolescence!” It’s nice to get this extended time with Hap, as well. He’s definitely one of the most mature members of the crew, viewing Renton’s relationships with amusement rather than Holland’s bizarre jealousy
The boys conclude that women are simply unknowable, leading into Eureka grappling with the impossible contradictions of her Coralian nature and growing human emotions. Yeah sure boys, just assume it’s a lost cause
Once again, these scenes of mundane chores like folding the laundry really bring life aboard the Gekkostate to life. Also nice to see the mannerisms and specialties of secondary characters like Hilda outside of the overall group context
“Nirvash is in a bad mood. Without Renton on board, I’m not good enough.” Renton’s pride in being able to pilot the Nirvash so well only twisted the knife in deeper for Eureka
Hilda is fortunately here to explain to Eureka that this is simply a natural sense of jealousy, an emotion she previously had no experience with
“You better think about where that jealousy is aimed – at the Nirvash or Renton.” God, it’s so good for Eureka to find a confidant like this, someone without the emotional baggage of Renton or Holland. Both of them treat her as “special” to the extent that it likely just heightens her sense of being abnormal, but Hilda is perfectly happy to talk to her like a normal human being
“It’s not that I’m running away from it.” Holland, all you do is run away
It’s oddly refreshing to follow a crew whose captain sucks, and not like in a “he is abominably evil” way, just in the way many of us are weak and cowardly and incapable of rising above our base instincts
Distant and high-angle layouts evoke a sense of being watched as the supply party arrives at their destination
Handlebars’ contact Edmond is apparently dead
Wonderfully energetic animation for this new character Neal sobering up. I’d forgotten how much great character animation there is in every episode of this show
Neal is actually Edmond’s son. Watching his father work hard all of his life with nothing to show for it except Desperation Disease, he’s disillusioned with the workshop altogether. Another indicator of how swiftly this world is falling into ruin, with both systems and human bodies failing as the Coralian threat advances
“Are you afraid?” Neal’s conflict echoes Holland’s – both of them retreating from a hostile world and potential failure into a comfortable stasis. To Eureka Seven’s credit, the problems they face are genuinely overwhelming; seeing your father commit to the glory of a craft pursuit only to waste away in poverty would put doubt in the heart of anyone
“The truth is, I thought, ‘can we rely on a drunk like this?’” The adolescent Renton can only see people as they currently appear, not their possibilities or the path that brought them to their current point. The same naivety that made him idolize Holland makes him doubt Neal
The group let out a hook for skyfish and then commence with the true essence of fishing: sitting around drinking while waiting for something to bite
Moondoggie gets drunk on Oolong Tea, affirming his place as the Buster Bluth of the family
Neal claims the skyfish are actually attracted to people having fun near certain key spots. This seems to imply some sort of inherent relationship between the Coralians and human emotions – though I suppose we’ve already seen plenty of evidence for that, given how the Nirvash synchronizes with Renton’s confidence. So this is just a playful extension of the standard “piloting skills are tethered to emotional growth” conceit
Gidget’s the next to mentor Eureka, offering the simple “no one wants to be around someone who’s not having any fun”
Renton’s connection with the Coralians seems to be growing – he freaks out when locking eyes with this skyfish, and Eureka immediately realizes when he’s falling, calling him back into consciousness from miles away. Whatever happened in that cave has clearly tuned him in to Eureka and Anemone’s wavelength
“He reminds me a bit of my grandfather. Neal is as Neal is; an artisan.” And so Renton comes to appreciate Neal’s complexity. We are not always our best selves, and a hostile world can make it hard for any of us to shine brilliantly
Over on the military side, Dominic and his colonel associate are plotting an unveiling of the truth of the world, a “Second Summer of Love”
And a last dash of melancholy ambiguity for Neal’s story: in spite of completing this last job, he still has to close up shop, simply because he’s not receiving any more orders. Renton seems shocked by this; after all, hadn’t Neal just regained his prior glory? But the world rarely makes accommodations for our passions or talents; we’re all just eking by, hoping to find avenues of self-expression in the margins of life’s demands
As the group returns, Eureka puts her lessons into practice, and reconnects with Renton just a little
And Done
Ah, what a delight it is to return to Eureka Seven. It’s simply a gorgeous production on the whole, with fantastic art direction and copious character animation, while also offering a vividly realized world and rich array of multifaceted characters. Every step of this episode’s story was imbued with a touch of added nuance; I particularly loved the troubling specifics of Neal’s story, which in their bleak finality served to complicate Renton’s desire for a clear moral takeaway. Renton is coming to understand that achieving freedom and glory are not simply active choices you make; the world is more complicated than that, and the weight of experience is an anchor he is only just beginning to recognize. Though he wished to race forward into the world of adults through his skill as a pilot, Renton is now learning that adulthood is both a frame of reference and an active practice. Our boy is starting to truly grow up.
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