Eureka Seven is like catching that perfect wave

I haven’t written anything in a while because I’ve been watching Eureka Seven and couldn’t bring myself to post until I finished it. Which I finally did, and boy was it good. I’m just sorry I watched all 50 episodes in two weeks instead of savoring it but I couldn’t help myself, it was that addicting.

The story is about Renton, a 14 year old boy who lives with his mechanic grandfather. Renton loves “lifting” which is basically surfing in the air on waves of energy called trapars. He idolizes Gekkostate, a colorful group of anti-government lifters who pilot surfing mecha called LFOs. Renton’s life is changed forever when a cute, aloof girl named Eureka crash lands her LFO on top of his house. He falls for Eureka right away and ends up joining Gekkostate.

Now that I’ve gotten the obligatory summary out of the way let me backtrack. Did you get that the first time? Mecha. In the air. On surfboards. As somebody who both surfs and skateboards, this is pretty much the coolest thing since the holy toast bread stamp.

An accurate representation of my face when I first saw Renton jump on his board.

Eureka’s LFO, the Nirvash, is a two-seater so that she and Renton can pilot it at the same time. This is important because the backbone of the show is their relationship, so much so that it relates to the fate of the very planet. What starts out as puppy love on Renton’s part and a youthful declaration to protect Eureka eventually turns into a real bond between the two. Watching these characters develop – and they do, a huge amount by the end – is incredibly engaging. Part of the appeal is that they’re not perfect, especially Renton who makes a number of bad blunders. Luckily he never stops being likable and it’s all worth it for the times when he finally takes action and does the right thing. 

As for the Gekkostate crew, while most of them don’t have that much depth it doesn’t really matter because they’re so much fun as a group. The most important two are the leader Holland and his sometimes girlfriend Talho. They actually grow and change as much as Renton and Eureka do so if Talho’s constant nagging and perpetually pissed-off mood makes you wish somebody would hire Golgo 13 to take her out, keep watching, it gets better.

On the military side of things there’s also an unstable pilot named Anemone and Dominic, the boy assigned to protect her. I promised myself I’d get through this post without mentioning Evangelion but I couldn’t help thinking of Anemone as being another Asuka except she’s more likable and has a more concrete reason for her mood swings and fits. She and Dominic really grew on me and my only complaint is that they didn’t get more screen time.

The first 10 episodes or so of Eureka Seven are pretty light-hearted with only a few hints of a darker plot but as it progresses it begins to take on more weighty themes. In fact for a kids show that aired at 7 am on Sunday morning there’s some pretty bloody scenes and portrayals of war, ethnic cleansing and child soldiers. Writer Dai Sato has said that the story is an allegory to Tibet which makes a lot of sense considering that the Vodarac, a religious group that the military is trying to wipe out, is clearly based on Buddhism. There’s also a number of other real life comparisons that came to mind. For instance there’s one scene where victims of terrorism take their anger out on an innocent Vodarac girl because they believe that she, too, must be a terrorist. I don’t think I need to point out how that relates to current affairs. 

There’s a number of other, more lighthearted references to surfing, music and the 60s sprinkled liberally throughout the show. Almost every episode is named after a song and some of the character names come from musicians, like a couple named Ray and Charles (get it?). I also couldn’t help smiling every time they made a reference to the North Shore and then there’s the fact that one of the major events is called the Summer of Love which made for some great unintentional humor whenever one of the characters said it in a serious tone. Catching these references isn’t really a necessary part of the enjoyment but it does add a lot of flavor and ties in with the Gekkostate as a countercultural movement.

Despite the fact that it touches on some weighty issues, ultimately Eureka Seven is a fun show with an uplifting message. Fifty episodes is a lot but I can honestly say that I didn’t feel even one episode was wasted and the creators really knew how to balance the tone, going from upbeat to serious and back again. There were a lot of emotional highlights, especially episode 26 and the final episode which left me with a few unanswered questions but nicely wrapped up the most important things. There are certain anime that stick with me and I can already tell that this will be one one of them. If I had the time I’d pop it in and re-watch it all right now but with the new anime season coming up I guess I’ll just wait for the movie instead.