Pachi's Anime Review - Eureka 7 AO

The year is 2055. Ao Fukai has lived on the island of Iwato Jima in Okinawa ever since he was brought there by his mother Eureka, whose whereabouts are currently unknown. When several mysterious parties converge on the island and a massive eruption occurs from the local Scub Coral, Ao stumbles across a mecha called the Nirvash, which was apparently left for him by Eureka. Ao discovers there may be more to his existence, and he ends up joining Generation Bleu, a private militant organization which travels to contain the damage caused by Scub Coral, in order to discover his true origins and to find his mother.

In that synopsis, you'll notice I threw about the term "Scub Coral" as if you're supposed to know what it means. Let's get one thing straight - this show is the sequel to another anime from 2005 simply called Eureka 7, and if you've never seen that series.......you might as well skip this review. Although E7AO has completely new characters and an original story, the viewer is still expected to have a general understanding of how an E7-style world works. Otherwise you're probably going to be confused, and prior knowledge of the previous series makes this one more entertaining anyway.

So, now I'm only left with fans of the original E7 reading this, am I right? I'll pretend that's the case! What's the first question on your mind? "Is this sequel better than the original?" My answer? "No." Second question. "Is this sequel worth our time, then?" My answer? "Yyyyyyyes?" Let's explore.

Eureka 7 was mostly a coming of age tale surrounded by political wartime admonishments and robots. The focus was on Renton Thurston and Eureka, the entire series showcasing the culmination of their relationship and their part in the fight for the survival of humanity against the Scub Coral. Besides that, it's a classic "boy saves the world" shounen series with high-stake theatrics and a wide variety of intrigue and mind-fuckery clearly influenced by Evangelion. I sat through the entire 50 episode run on Adult Swim, and while it's not one of my favorites, it's an overall above average entry in the mecha genre that I'd recommend to fans of that genre - I'd also call it a solid gateway series to the mecha genre if you're uneducated. Not to mention it has beautiful animation courtesy of Studio Bones, and quality acting from both the English adaptation and original Japanese track.

So what about Eureka 7 AO? Well, it's kiiiiiiind of the same type of show, with differing amounts of the aforementioned elements. Renton's story is one that aims for the future, while Ao's is one that seeks the past. The focus is not on what he does as he comes of age, but rather him coming to terms with his past so that he CAN come of age. I of course am using the term 'past' comparatively to.......well, the main reason I said this show is best if you've seen the original is because the sequel creates a rather complex, paradoxical mystery surrounding Ao through his mother, the same Eureka of Eureka 7. In truth, we can only call E7AO a sequel in the terms of our world, because the stories of the two shows aren't exactly connected the way you think they'd be. I won't dare spoil that connection here, but remember all of the mind-fuck episodes with Anemone in the first show? I guess the fans made it clear they liked those, because there's a LOT more of it in the sequel, and this is how the 'connection' between the two series is depicted.

I've been rather bleak on any other plot specifics here, but they honestly aren't important enough to go over. The overall focus of the show is Ao's journey as he and the audience explore the mystery of his origin which defines the connection to the original show. There is a whole cast of characters unique to this one; the members of Generation Bleu's Pied Piper team, Ivica, Rebecka, Fleur and Elena (sadly, not as endearing or interesting as the Gekko's crew from the first show), a team of bumbling smugglers who tag along on Ao's adventures (they never really become that important other than acting as vessels for later plot points), Ao's childhood friend Naru, and the enigmatic terrorist known as 'Truth' who seems to be human but is equipped with an arsenal of otherworldly powers. These characters all have arcs and development of their own, but honestly, by the end of the series, although their involvement moved things forward, their fates aren't touched on or even concerned with. Everything is built up to Ao solving the mystery of his past. What this all culminates to, from what I can tell; what the show is meant to be, is interestingly enough, a deconstruction. Not of a particular genre, but of its origins altogether: Eureka 7 AO is a deconstruction of Eureka 7. Strange, I know. It's rather hard to explain without giving spoilers, so you'll just have to watch it to see what I mean. And it still kind of baffles me, because I can't figure out WHY this is a deconstruction of the original series.

Don't get me wrong - I enjoyed what they did here. The series-twisting subterfuge was gripping and the mind-fucks were intriguing and you wanted to know what the hell the truth (no pun intended) was! By the end of it all, the answer to all the questions IS interesting and it makes sense for the most part, though I feel it was a bit underwhelming of an answer. All in all, I just don't get what the point of this was. Why a deconstruction? Was it an experiment? Maybe I'm reading too far into it - maybe the director just wanted to be creative and do a non-conventional type of sequel. If so, I commend him! It was a unique approach! However, I feel like the result wasn't particularly stellar. It's not bad, but it could have been more. Eureka 7 was a sweeping story that could appeal to a wide audience, aided by the long yet manageable episode count. The sequel is only 24 episodes long, so it's more of an encapsulated story. I'm not sure that's the kind of story that best utilizes the world of Eureka 7. Eureka 7 was one of those shows where the world the characters lived in felt alive - it didn't feel like just a colored backdrop for them to walk and act in front of. You could get sucked into it. For E7AO, not so much. The world is still depicted as the kind you could get sucked into, but the shorter episode count and focus on deconstruction doesn't utilize that quality. Again, I enjoyed what was done, however I just don't think it's a story that utilizes Eureka 7's universe properly. If a proper balance between the deconstruction and the characters native to the sequel were made, I would rate it higher, maybe even on par with the original for its ambitions. As it is, Eureka 7 AO is a fun experiment of how a sequel can take advantage of its source material; however the end result, while enjoyable, is not entirely fitting for its own franchise and alienates newcomers. I give it a generous recommendation for fans of the original show. You'll get something good; just don't expect something outstanding.

You can currently find all subbed episodes of Eureka 7 AO online courtesy of FUNimation. An English home video release has been announced, but no official dates are currently available.