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REVIEW: Eureka 7 DVD 4

Wow, what a hilarious thread.

Does Eureka Seven bear similarites to Evangelion? Yes it does, superficial ones that are subseqeuntly smashed. Did Evangelion bear similarities to other shows before it? Of course. You'll find most mecha series lift from Eva since it was created, many much worse than Eureka Seven. Not to mention the so called similarites are by now staples of the mecha genre and very few of them created by Evangelion. Just how many mecha series have you seen?

While being influenced by it, it's still very much it's own show and completely different in terms of plot, character and overall narrative.

Firstly, to say it offers no insight on character motivations and plot whatsoever until halfway is flat out wrong. Plenty of information is given out, and by the end of the first season the plot of the entire show has been hinted at, talked about and forshadowed, everything is there, and I mean everything. Dewey's motivation is majorly hinted at, Eureka's true origin massively hinted at. etc etc. They don't tell you any of these outright as the focus is on immersing the viewer into the setting and the current situation of the main character, but it's all there. The writers purposefully created the show as a purely character driven narrative and is not seperated into "character half" and "plot half." It all perfectly flows and everything is revealed completely as the main character finds out. And most of your questions are such that it seems you're begging for answer to be spoon fed to you when most if it is completely inferrable from the circumstances and dialogue, for example: Who are the sages? You really need that answered when it's so plainly obvious?

Saying Renton is a weaker character than Shinji is pretty funny as well. Shinji from the begining was a self depreciating introverted teen who shut himself away from others, could never properly socialize with others, even in the end reluctantly decided to continue living while professing how he still thinks he's a failure of a person. He was an exagerated charicature of a small fringe of people His actions ranged from pathetic to repulsive. And to make things so Ironic, the show that Hideaki Anno admitted to being a critique on modern Otaku culture, ended up being the pillar of an entirely new generation of otaku and it's characters whored out to what he despised. Sure, Anno doesn't really approve of most of the merchandising but it's funny nonetheless.

Renton was just an average teenager, highly spirited and spoke whatever was on his mind. During the show he grew up, learned lessons, faced the reality of not only the society he lived in but of the people he'd for so longtime admired. He always came away a better person, more confident and determined. Was ever brought down? Yeah, but he bounced back stronger than ever.

He faced the truth about the cultural problems in his society, he lived through what he could only think of as a dream, only to have it shattered in front of him, partly his own fault yet knowing full well he had no choice, but he got over it and accepted it.

Renton is an excellently written character, he deals with things in a realistic manner, he was naive but his eyes were opened, he understood what he had to do and he did it. He's probably one of the best written protagonists of this kind coming of age story I've ever seen, as his growth is natural, real and not forced. We see what he's learned through his actions, through his dialogue and also we see that he still remains who he is until the end despite all this and despite the massive growth he underwent, the show focused on the one thing that never changed in him, and that was his feeling for Eureka and how everything he had learned also went towards how he dealt with her.

As for your list.

- "living" mecha. - Evangelion wasn't the first, and it doesn't hold a copyright on this. What's the big deal, especially when E7 does it better and actually gives explanations for it.
- bossy crazy girl piloting one (Anemone pilots TheEnd) - Again, staple archetype in anime, character itself is completely different.
- main protagonist goes crazy when he kills - Shinji never went crazy killing, the Eva did. Renton's anger arose out of much build up and it's release was inevitable, there was consequences and there was a reason.
- main protagonist runs away - Mobile Suit Gundam much? This whole scenario was a clear reference to the original MSG, as even said by the director himself.
- quiet, detached, blue-haired girl with little personality - Little personality? Eureka? If you've only seen maybe 8 or so episodes, sure. Again massively wrong, she's full of personality, actually grows as a character and can talk in more than one tone.
- cute animal character (Pen Pen/Gulliver) - Do you have any idea how many shows out there have these? Talk about grasping at straws.

Even saying it's similar on intially superficial parts, yet what the show does with all of these is nothing like Evangelion in the least.

It is much better written

with characters that act real and feel natural

a coherent plot

that was built up from the start and not written as it went along (like Eva)

and doesn't base it's entire plot on a meaningless series of biblical references

Eureka's plot which is founded on themes, poltical, sociological and ecological. All very much relevant not just to today but to yesterday and tommorow.

None of them ever written cheesily or overwrought, but understandable and intelligently as many of them are situations and the kind of despair that is very much the truth of this world. All of it written with profound honesty and caters to a global audience.

Many people sort of acknowledge that anime has become more than just a japanese industry, but until now I haven't seen a writer like Dai Sato who not only understands that the medium is no longer catering to only Japan but actually goes out and writes a show like this that purposefully integrates different cultures and aims it at such a global audience. This isn't japanese animation, it's animation period.

First, don't make assumptions about me as a viewer, thank you - argue my points on their merit.

It does not "flow perfectly" - the first half drops the tiniest hints here and there and fails to establish the world in which the story takes place. There's no frame. And with no frame, the character development is an amorphous blob of information and emotion barely given a hint of outline. You get basics like who the main characters are and what they're doing, but not why, or what purpose it serves to anything.

Nothing is plainly obvious about the sages - they just appear. I didn't know whether they were the head of the government, some religious group, simply the head of the military, the head of a government that was different than the government chasing the Gekko State, or what. They obviously have SOME say in a military of some kind, but there's not even a connection to the same military made at first. All they needed was a couple of soldiers from the military standing next to them in the uniforms that the soldiers chasing the Gekko State are wearing and BAM. Instant character background.

Unfortunately, there's no such thing as something that's "purely character driven", especially in visual medium like an animated program. It simply doesn't work. Certain things must be established. In modern or postmodern literature you may be allowed to do such things, but that's because the form of the collection of words itself is more important than the plot. In an animated feature, a frame must be established in which the action and character development occur, or all you have is purely visual and unable to be understood accept asthetically.

I agree with ALL of this.

Howevever, there is a layer of reality that Renton fails to see. He can be appreciated for seeing the positive and for wanting to work towards his goals and fight for the people he cares. But what he seems to fail to realize are how his ideals are dumbly carried with him without an ounce of realism, leading to a lot of uncessary pain and sacrifices of other people around him.

And as well as he's written as far as development in his character, it's only DESPITE the poor writing of several other characters and the delayed plot.

It's laughable how easily people completely miss the point here - only Key seems to have understood my point in listing the similarities between Evangelion and Eureka Seven. I won't tell you what it is - reread the thread and maybe you'll pick up on it. After all, unlike me, you don't need things spoonfed to you, right?

Also a pointless group of statements. Are you saying that Evangelion is only just "Japanese animation" and not "global" in anyway? I don't see where this fits in with this discussion. If you could prove this one way or another, it would still be irrelevant. Don't confuse the subject.

Hm, I can think of a few similiarities other than a young boy piloting mecha:

- "living" mecha
- bossy crazy girl piloting one (Anemone pilots TheEnd)
- main protagonist goes crazy when he kills
- main protagonist runs away
- quiet, detached, blue-haired girl with little personality
- cute animal character (Pen Pen/Gulliver)

It's laughable how easily people completely miss the point here - only Key seems to have understood my point in listing the similarities between Evangelion and Eureka Seven. I won't tell you what it is - reread the thread and maybe you'll pick up on it. After all, unlike me, you don't need things spoonfed to you, right?

Quote:
None of them ever written cheesily or overwrought, but understandable and intelligently as many of them are situations and the kind of despair that is very much the truth of this world. All of it written with profound honesty and caters to a global audience.


This little passage of your argument is nonesensical conjecture. Predict the relevance of Eureka Seven to society somewhere else, we're supposed to be arguing on the merits of the shows themselves.