Eureka Seven
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.,/*~== EUREKA SEVEN ==~*\,.
Eureka Seven tells the story of Renton Thurston and his adventures with a renegade group, the Gekko State, as they travel across an alien world searching for trapar waves, his relationship with Eureka, the enigmatic female pilot of the LFO Nirvash typeZERO, and the mystery of the Coralians.
Bandai first conceived the idea for a new mecha anime series and proposed it to studio BONES. BONES initially rejected it, but reversed its position because it had already planned to create an anime using mecha designs by Shoji Kawamori . With the appointment of director Tomoki Kyoda and writer Dai Sato, Bandai's proposal was more or less scrapped and the current incarnation of Eureka Seven was brought to life. The series is Kyoda's first as chief director for a TV series. He was first enlisted as assistant director on the BONES (studio) BONES TV anime RahXephon , and was then given the task of directing the Television movie TV movie adaptation of the series. RahXephon creator and director Yutaka Izubuchi provided additional design works for Eureka Seven as well.
Contents |
Plot overview
Renton Thurston is the fourteen-year-old son of Adrock Thurston, a military researcher who died saving the world. He lives what he considers a boring life with his mechanic grandfather in a boring town. He loves lifting, the sport of riding atmospheric trapar particles with a board, and dreams of joining the crew of the renegade Gekko State and its leader, the legendary lifter Holland.
Such an opportunity literally falls into his lap when a special LFO, called Nirvash, and a member of Gekko State crash into Renton's room, which is right next to his grandpa's garage. Thanks in part to his use of his father's Amita Drive to power up the Nirvash in a crucial fight, Renton is invited to join Gekko State, where he quickly discovers that the behind-the-scenes life of Gekko State is hardly as glamorous or as interesting as he imagined. Only one thing makes it all worthwhile for him: the presence of Eureka, the mysterious and rather cute girl who pilots Nirvash.
The story revolves around Renton's budding relationship with Eureka, the female pilot of the LFO Nirvash typeZERO, and the mystery of the Coralians.
Major info
Trapar waves and Reffing
In Eureka Seven, the atmosphere is permeated by Transparence Light Particles, or trapar waves. Norbu, the Vodarek leader, describes these particles as the Planet's thoughts made into energy. It is possible to use these particles to create floating devices and airships. "Reffing" (or "lifting" according to the official English adaptation) is the popular sport of riding trapar waves using special boards designed for that purpose.
LFO, compac drives, and the Amita drive
main Light Finding Operation
The mecha in the anime series Eureka Seven are called LFOs, which stands for Light Finding Operation. LFOs are, in fact, humanoid alien skeletons excavated from the Scab Coral that are installed with armor and control systems by humans. Just a few years after their inception, the military began to use combat LFOs on a large scale; such LFOs are known as KLFs (for Kraft Light Fighter). LFOs fly exploiting the same principles of reffing—by using trapar particles. An LFO is composed of a giant organic base (the Archetype), armor, a ref board, and a Compac Drive.
Scab Coral
The Scab Coral is a sentient being that landed on Earth millennia ago. Its only form of communication is merging, so it merged with all the creatures of the sea. Eventually it came in contact with humans and attempted to merge with them as well, but the humans saw it as a threat. Because of this, humanity abandoned Earth 10,000 years prior to the start of the series. The Coral continued to merge with everything left on the planet until the planet became a single being. The Coral then became lonely without anyone to communicate with. Eventually the humans returned about 7,000 years after having left. The Coral knew it was thought to be a threat, so it became discreet. Because of this, the humans thought they were on an entirely different planet, not Earth. The Coral's desire to communicate, though, convinced it to send out messengers: human-form Coralians. These messengers, such as Eureka and Sakuya, were sent out to learn more about humans and find a way to communicate with them in some other way.
Limit of Life
After remaining dormant for years after the humans returned, there was a time when the Coral began to awaken suddenly. If all the Coral had awoken, the "Limit of Life" (or Limit of Matter) would have been reached. Crossing this Limit would have caused a tear in space somewhat like a black hole . All physical space would have been sucked in. Back then the Coral was able to force itself into a dormant state, but a scar was left on the Earth. Military attacks authorized by Dewey would have destroyed the Coral's "Command Cluster," which is what was among the only things keeping it in its dormant state.
Characters
Most characters in Eureka Seven can be separated into two main groups: Gekko State and the U.F. Force.
The Gekko State is a group of pirates led by a man named Holland, who also serves as the pilot of the LFO Terminus typeR909. Eureka, a mysterious and pale young girl who looks around Renton's age pilots the Nirvash. Renton is the newest addition to the Gekko State roster and co-pilots the Nirvash with Eureka. Also accompanying them are the photographer, Stoner, who writes Gekko State's magazine, ray=out; Talho, the head pilot of Gekko State's ship, the Gekko; Hap, Holland's childhood friend and second-in-command of the Gekko; Ken-Goh, the weapons specialist and owner of the Gekko; Jobs and Woz, a pair of mismatched engineers; Mischa, the resident doctor; Moondoggie, a secondary pilot and operator of the launch catapult; Hilda and Matthieu, the pilots of the Gekko State LFOs Terminus typeR808 and Terminus typeR606, respectively; Gidget, the communications operator; and a fortune-teller named Gonzy who wanders aboard their ship.
The U.F. Force is the military force under the command of the The Sage Council (or The Council of the Wise), the main authority of the United Federation of Predgio Towers. They are the unified government and the main enemy to the Gekko State in the series. Serving under the Sage Council is Lieutenant Colonel Dewey Novak, who directed the SOF prior to his imprisonment. Dewey hopes to accomplish his ideals with the help of Dominic Sorel and Anemone.
Anime licensing
Bandai Bandai Entertainment is handling the US distribution of the show whilst Bandai Entertainment's European branch, Beez Entertainment, will handle the show's release in the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe. Madman Entertainment will handle release in Australia. The first DVD's US release date is April 25 , 2006 , whilst the UK/Europe release, according to Neo (magazine) Neo Magazine , is going to be in the summer of the same year. The English version is produced by Bang Zoom! Entertainment in Burbank, California .
Recently, Adult Swim Fix has announced that Eureka Seven will become available for online viewing on the Adult Swim Fix beginning April 14 , 2006 . It began its U.S. television broadcast on Adult Swim on April 15 , 2006 at 12:00 a.m. ET and currently airs at 12:30 a.m. ET Saturday night/Sunday morning, and debuted in Canada on YTV (Canadian TV channel) YTV 's Bionix block on September 8 , 2006 at 9:30 p.m. ET/PT, and continues to air at the same time.
Episode list
- 1 Blue Monday Blue Monday (New Order song) Blue Monday by New Order TV-PG-V - 2 Blue Sky Fish Sky Fish by Color Variation TV-PG-V - 3 Motion Blue Motion Blue by Index AI TV-PG-V - 4 Watermelon Watermelon Man by Herbie Hancock TV-PG-V - 5 Vivid Bit TV-14 - 6 Childhood Childhood by Jeff Mills TV-PG-DV - 7 Absolute Defeat TV-14 - 8 Glorious Brilliance TV-PG-DLV - 9 Paper Moon Shine Paper Moon by Natalie Cole TV-14-V - 10 Higher Than The Sun Higher Than The Sun by Primal Scream TV-14-V - 11 Into the Nature Into the Nature by Hardfloor TV-PG-LV - 12 Acperience 1 Acperience 1 by Hardfloor TV-PG-V - 13 The Beginning The Beginning by Derrick May Rhythim Is Rhythim TV-PG-LV - 14 Memory Band Memory Band by Rotary Connection TV-PG-V - 15 Human Behaviour Human Behaviour by Björk TV-PG-LV - 16 Opposite View Opposite View by Del Amitri TV-PG-V - 17 Sky Rock Gate TV-PG-L - 18 Ill Communication Ill Communication by the Beastie Boys TV-PG-V - 19 Acperience 2 Acperience 2 by Hardfloor TV-PG-V - 20 Substance Abuse Substance Abuse by Richie Hawtin F.U.S.E. TV-14-LV - 21 Runaway Runaway by Masters At Work Nuyorican Soul TV-14-V - 22 Crackpot Crackpot by Richie Hawtin Plastikman TV-14 - 23 Differentia Differentia by Ryuichi Sakamoto TV-14 - 24 Paradise Lost Paradise Lost by Ryuichi Sakamoto TV-14 - 25 World's End Garden World's End Garden by Gnomusy (David Caballero) TV-14 - 26 Morning Glory (What's the Story) Morning Glory Morning Glory by Oasis (band) Oasis TV-14 - 27 Helter Skelter Helter Skelter by The Beatles TV-14-V - 28 Memento Mori Memento Mori by Kamelot / Embrace the End TV-14-V - 29 Keep on Movin' Keep on Movin' by Soul II Soul - 30 Change of Life Changes of Life by Jeff Mills - 31 Animal Attack Animal Attack by Fumiya Tanaka - 32 Start It Up The Start It Up by Joey Beltram - 33 Pacific State Pacific State by 808 State - 34 Inner Flight Inner Flight by Primal Scream - 35 Astral Apache Astral Apache by Underground Resistance Galaxy 2 Galaxy - 36 Fantasia Fantasia by Jeff Mills - 37 Raise Your Hand Raise Your Hand Together by Cornelius - 38 Date Of Birth Date Of Birth by Arsonists_(rap_group) Arsonists - 39 Join The Future Join The Future by Tuff Little Unit - 40 Cosmic Trigger Cosmic Trigger by Axiom Ambient - 41 Acperience 3 Acperience 3 by Hardfloor - 42 Star Dancer Star Dancer by Underground Resistance Red Planet - 43 The Sunshine Underground The Sunshine Underground by The Chemical Brothers - 44 It's All In The Mind It's All In The Mind by CJ Bolland - 45 Don't You Want Me? Don't You Want Me? by The Human League - 46 Planet Rock Planet Rock by Afrika Bambaataa and the Soul Sonic Force - 47 Acperience 4 Acperience 4 by Hardfloor - 48 Ballet Mechanique Ballet Mécanique by Ryuichi Sakamoto - 49 Shout To The Top! Shout To The Top! by Style Council - 50 When You Wish Upon A Star When You Wish Upon a Star by The Drummonds }
Manga vs. anime
The Eureka Seven manga was produced after the initial production of the anime. What is most notable is that the manga is not identical to the anime but instead features different events and character traits, though the plot appears to be along the same line.
Character Differences
In the manga:
- Renton is untalented at reffing, even after joining Gekko State.
- When asked by Eureka to come along onboard the Gekko-go to do maintainence on the Nirvash, Renton hesitates about it, ending up with Eureka calling him weird.
- Renton didn't swear to protect Eureka and become her strength in battle like he did in the anime.
- Renton pilots the Nirvash in the front seat almost immediately and pulls off the Cut-Back Drop Turn in it as opposed to on a ref board; Eureka also feels no animosity towards his ability.
- Holland shows none of the animosity he does towards Renton in the anime because in the manga it seems that Holland has already realized that Renton is the true heir to Adrock's legacy, even before he boarded the Gekko.
- Eureka did not have a conversation with Axel Thurston.
- Eureka did not show her first smile until she reveal to Renton about her past tragedy with the three kids and then Renton comforts her about it.
- Eureka did not want Renton to join Gekko State as badly as her anime counterpart (which is for the sake of Nirvash).
- Eureka did not get badly disfigured (massive loss of hair and eyebrow) like in the anime.
- Eureka realizes her feelings for Renton during her time in the Zone (Aerial Coralian Sphere), unlike her anime version which took Renton's abandoning ship to realize her feelings
- Eureka fell for Renton for his good-natured character in the anime while in the manga, She fell for Renton because he saved her and has been nice to her.
- Eureka never gets angry at Renton.
- Eureka does not seem to show any devotion nor loyalty towards Holland.
- Eureka acts more mature and pessimistic in the anime than her manga counterpart. (She doesn't think and view positively about the world, being anti-social and distrusts people)
- Eureka shows more care towards Renton's well-being.
- Every member of Gekko State (possibly excluding Mischa) refs, though some are poor at it.
- Holland has a love for coffee and also smokes.
- Anemone has an obsession with things that look "tasty", such as cakes. She also comments on how people look delicious and she wants to eat them (including Renton and Eureka).
- Adrock Thurston did not die in the Summer of Love incident but is stated to have been murdered by Dewey.
- Maeter is being portrayed as the leader-like figure among the three kids, and has a tendancy to physically bash Renton even in front of Eureka.
- Maurice is more introverted in the manga, usually not appearing with his siblings at all.
- Talho did not change her looks as opposed to what she did in the anime. (Cutting of her hair and a set of new clothes because she feels its better to revert back to how she used to look like.)
Plot Differences
In the manga:
- Eureka did not crash land on Renton's personal private house, thus she did not use the flamethrower to toast his house remains.
- When Axel gives Renton the Amita Drive, Renton is not told the name but simply that it is an upgrade for the Nirvash. Axel also formally gives permission for Renton to go off and try to become a hero or whatever he wants.
- There has been no mention of the Izumo, Tiptree, or Charles and Ray Beams.
- Dominic did not join in the pursuit of Gekko State to Bellforest in the beginning of the series.
- Renton successfully reach Eureka to deliver her the Amita Drive without getting knocked off by the wind generated from the Nirvash. He also tries to deny about his confession to Eureka when he first say the words "I love you!" to Eureka as he feels embarrassed about it.
- Renton did not faint after activating the Seven Swell for the first time.
- The recurring phrase in the anime "Don't ask for it. Go win it on your own. Do that and you'll succeed." which was passed down to Renton was not mentioned at all in the manga.
- The Gekko State does not locate and then engage their first Coralian but, rather, it appears in front of Renton, Dominic, Eureka, and Anemone (the last two are abducted by it) as an amorphous sphere of bio-matter. From this point, the plot deviates significantly from the anime.
- Holland frequently refers to Adrock Thurston as his "master."
- Holland did not fall for Diane, thus no jealousy from Talho and it probably explains why Holland has no objection to the relationship of Renton & Eureka.
- Holland went to the Ciudades del Cielo mission to kill the Vodarek people for personal vengeance of the murdering of his "master" Adrock (which is false info by Dewey).
- Holland personally told Renton the goal of Gekko State is to stop the Ageha plan instead of Talho telling Renton.
- Eureka was not seen reffing at all, though she carries a reffing board with her.
- The manga did not portray Eureka riding the Nirvash to kill the Vodarek people in Ciudades del Cielo, just her carrying a machinegun to shoot "targets" who are living people.
- Eureka requested to search for Pancha fruit instead of Renton and Talho is the one who accompanied Eureka for the quest instead of Renton and Matthieu.
- Axel Thurston would later board the Gekko State in order to repair the Nirvash typeZERO which was ripped apart in a confrontation with Nirvash type theEND.
- Anemone gets to try out the Amita Drive with Type TheEnd, but the experiment fails miserably.
- Though Dewey still seeks to destroy the Coralians, one of his main goals seems to be obtaining the Amita Drive.
- The Amita Drive can be removed from the Compac Drive.
- Dewey manage to stab Holland, who is badly injuried, with his sword through Holland's hand. (His sword got broke in the anime during their fight) Dewey shed tears for what he deems as having a pathetic brother.
- The Vodarek people have a minor role in the story.
- The Nirvash lost and got trashed pretty badly by type theEND, thus requiring an upgrade to Spec2.
- The Nirvash Spec2 was designed by Renton himself instead of the scientists at Tresor.
- Eureka went through physical transformation in the sickbay of Gekko-go, which freaks Renton out.
- In the anime, Renton found out about Eureka's identity as a coralian through Talho while in the manga, Renton found out by himself. (Him witnessing Eureka's gruesome mutated state)
Music
Songs
- "Storywriter" - Supercar (band) Supercar
- "Tiger Track" - KAGAMI
- "Acid Track Prototype" - RYUKYUDISKO
- "Get It By Your Hands" - Hiroshi Watanabe, also known as Quadra
- "Trance Ruined" - NEW DEAL
- "Draft Any Funk" - NEW DEAL
- "Ninety Three" - Takkyu Ishino
- "L.F.O." - Taichi Master
- "Chaotic Waltz" - Susumu Yokota
- "koitsu" - Riow Arai
- "dot" - Riow Arai
- "control" - Riow Arai
- "D.J. Choice" - Fumiya Tanaka
- "I've got It (eureka new school acid mix)" - Ko Kimura
- "Time-lines" - audio active
- "Niji" - Denki Groove
Eureka Seven original soundtracks
The music of Eureka Seven is available on three different compilations. The two original soundtracks contain the symphonic score composed by Naoki Sato along with the various insert songs of the series. The Complete Best includes the full length openings and endings for the series and game as well as the theme song to the final episode.
- Psalms of Planets Eureka seveN Original Soundtrack 1 (2 discs, released by Aniplex on November 11 , 2005 )
- Psalms of Planets Eureka seveN Original Soundtrack 2 (2 discs, released by Aniplex on April 5 , 2006 )
- Psalms of Planets Eureka seveN Complete Best (1 CD + 1 DVD, released by Music Ray'n on May 7 , 2006 )
Video games
Eureka Seven TR1: New Wave, a PlayStation 2 game, was released in Japan on October 27 , 2005 . It is set 4 years before the anime and features a different cast of characters. The theme song, Realize, is sung by Flow (band) FLOW . It was released in North America on October 24 , 2006 .
Eureka Seven: New Vision, also for the PlayStation 2, is the sequel to TR1: New Wave. It takes place 2 years after TR1: New Wave. It came out in Japan on May 11 , 2006 .
Another Eureka Seven game for the PlayStation Portable was released on April 6 , 2006 in Japan. This one is based on the events in the show.
References to pop culture
General
- The series contains references to the Summer of Love first and Second Summer of Love second "summers of love".
- The model number of the Gekko-Go, SL-1200 Mk-II, is a reference to the Technics SL-1200 direct-drive turntable.
- The concept of reffing is based on surfing .
- Compac in "Compac drive" refers to the early Chinese philosophical concept of Kon-paku (魂魄; these prononciations are in Japanese; this reference is explicitly indicated by Chinese characters in the first episode.) According to this concept, life activity is composed by two elements. "Kon" designates the soul (spiritual aspect of life), "paku" its container (physical aspect of life). So, "Compac drive (= Kon-paku drive)" probably means what ties these two elements.
- Holland and Dewey are seen at various points throughout the series reading The Golden Bough of the Social anthropologist anthropologist sir James George Frazer .
- It is possible that ray=out is a reference to David Carson (graphic designer) David Carson 's Ray Gun (magazine) ray gun , a 90's music and lifestyle magazine. David Carson is also a adept surfer and a influential designer.
- In episode 16, the house Renton enters in a dream or hallucination is based on homes designed by Frank Lloyd Wright . Elements of the architectural design are directly taken from Fallingwater , but as a whole it does not exactly match one specific Wright house. The well-kept house may foreshadow Renton's later relationship with Charles and Ray Beams.
- Later in the dream sequence in episode 16, design elements from the space station in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey can be seen, including the floor, the ceiling, the "Voiceprint Identification" stations and the signature red "Djinn" chairs.
- Episodes 16 through 19 take place in the FAC-51 mining facility in a town or region named Hacienda. This is a reference to The Haçienda , the nightclub owned by Factory Records, which was also known as FAC-51.
- In episode 20, when Renton tries to sneak in to visit the comatose Eureka in the infirmary, Talho says "I bet you were going to do something to her while she was asleep." This is a reference to the End of Evangelion#Postmodernism in the film infamous intensive care unit scene with Shinji Ikari Shinji and a comatose Asuka Langley Soryu Asuka at the beginning of End of Evangelion , the finale feature film for the groundbreaking GAINAX mecha anime Neon Genesis Evangelion .
- In Episode 26, the scene where Renton catches Eureka from the open cockpit of an LFO bears a very strong resemblance to a scene that occurs early on in Macross / Robotech where Rick Hunter / Hikaru Ichijyo rescues Minmei from the open cockpit of a Veritech .
- In episode 28, a 12" vinyl copy of "Get It By Your Hands", by Hiroshi Watanabe a.k.a Quadra, is seen on the floor of Ray's room, shortly before a scene where it plays on the radio and is mentioned in dialogue.
- In episode 30, Talho is carrying a copy of Maurice Maeterlinck's L'Oiseau Bleu .
- In episode 36, Holland douses Renton with a yellow plastic bucket with "Keriron" (ケリロン) printed inside its bottom. This is a reference to the "Kerorin" (ケロリン) buckets, common in public bathhouses throughout Japan, which originated as an advertisement for Kerorin brand pain-relief medicine in 1963. The transposition of the characters in the name is an ordinary practice in anime when referring to a real brand name or logo, for example; when Renton has a can of "Rersi" cola, and when Gidget and Eureka eat "Smickers" bars.
- In episode 39, the town in which the Gekko State members play soccer is called Liverchester. This is a reference to a combining of the Merseybeat (Liverpool, Merseyside) and Madchester (Manchester) music styles and also a reference to the soccer teams Liverpool F.C and Manchester United, who are two of the most successful teams in English football/soccer.
- In episode 42, Norbu and Sakuya used their powers to reverse the barrier of the great wall in order to open a path for Renton and Eureka. They call this phenomenon Pororoca , which is a name given by Brazilian Indians to the tidal bore that sometimes runs up the Amazon River for kilometers, making it a famous surfing spot.
- In episode 43, the book about Earth that Eureka is holding is authored by BONES.
- In episode 44, Dominic and crew visit the city of Warsaw (disambiguation) Warsaw . Later it is revealed that the town is also coincidentally known as the "Joy Division". Warsaw was the name that the seminal rock group Joy Division went by in its beginnings.
- AFX, Dewey's space ships that fire at the Coralians, are named after Aphex Twin , another British band on the same label as LFO .
General
- The epilogue of episode 50 shows Grandpa Axel Thurston looking at the family registration notice that is dated April 2, 12006, corresponding to the final episode airing in Japan on April 2, 2006.
- It is stated that Renton's journey has taken a year (12004-5). The reason the series ends in 12006, is a one year time skip for the epilogue in Episode 50.
- In episode 34, Moondoggie's pilot's license has dates of 1988 to 2005 on it, which should be in the range of 11988 to 12005.
- Despite being the protagonist, Renton never met the antagonist, Dewey, face-to-face. Renton also only met Dominic face-to-face once throughout the anime series in episode 13.
- The DVD version of the final episode went through major visual improvements over the broadcast TV version. For example, the ring surrounding the planet at the end of the episode is golden colour in the TV version, but in the DVD version, the ring is in rainbow colour.
English dub
- The pronunciation of Eureka's name in the English dub of the series is based on the Japanese pronunciation of the character's name, rather than the Greek or English pronunciation of the word "eureka". The dub pronunciation has variously been described as "ey-ooh-reh-ka", "ay-oo-re-ka", or "el-rekka". This choice by the dubbing staff is a subject of contention among fans. Tomoki Kyoda stated at Anime Expo 2006 that, while he prefers the Japanese style of pronunciation (as it sounds "more interesting"), either version is acceptable. fact Ironically, while the Japanese voice actors mispronounce 'Anemone', the English cast say her name as it would be pronounced in English.
- Yuri Lowenthal had at one point been contracted by Bandai to provide the English voice for Renton, but after recording 13 episodes he was replaced by Johnny Yong Bosch because the director of the Dubbing (filmmaking) English dub felt that his voice was too low for the character and all of the lines were subsequently rerecorded. * In episode 20, the exhausted breaths heard from Renton and Holland were actually those of the original Japanese voice actors.
References
[交響詩篇エウレカセブンまとめ＠2chアニメ板]]. Retrieved November 9, 2006. ja icon
