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Eureka Seven

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Eureka Seven
File:Eureka7.jpg
Eureka and Renton in front of the Nirvash.
GenreAdventure, Bildungsroman, Drama, Mecha, Romance, Science Fiction
Anime
Directed byTomoki Kyoda
StudioBones
Manga
Written byJinsei Kataoka, Kazuma Kondou
Published byJapan Kadokawa Shoten
Manga
Gravity Boys and Lifting Girl
Written byMiki Kizuki
Published byKadokawa Shoten
Video game
New Wave
DeveloperBandai
GenreAction
PlatformPlaystation 2
Video game
Psalms of Planets
DeveloperBandai
GenreAction
PlatformPlaystation Portable
Video game
New Vision
DeveloperBandai
GenreAction
PlatformPlaystation 2

Eureka Seven, known in Japan as Psalms of Planets Eureka seveN (交響詩篇エウレカセブン, Kōkyōshihen Eureka Sebun), is a mecha anime TV series by Bones. Eureka Seven tells the story of Renton Thurston and the outlaw group Gekkostate, his relationship with the enigmatic mecha pilot Eureka, and the mystery of the Coralians.

Bandai produced three video games based on Eureka Seven; two of them are based on events prior to the show, while the third is based on the first half of the show. Both the original concept of the anime and the video game Eureka Seven vol.1: New Wave have been adapted into manga series, as well.

Eureka Seven won awards at the 2006 Tokyo Anime Fair for Best Television Series, Screenplay, and Character Design.[1] Anime Insider voted it "Best DVD Series of the Year" in 2006.[2]

Development

The series' origins can be traced to a concept of a mecha anime series Bandai proposed to studio BONES. At first, the studio rejected it, but later 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.[3] The series was Kyoda's first as chief director for a TV series; earlier, he had directed RahXephon's movie adaption, also for Bones. RahXephon creator and director Yutaka Izubuchi provided additional design works for Eureka Seven, as well.

Synopsis

Eureka Seven centers around Renton Thurston, 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, a sport similar to surfing but with air as the medium. He dreams of joining the renegade group Gekkostate, led by his idol Holland, a legendary lifter.

An opportunity to do so literally falls into his lap when a large mechanical robot, called the Nirvash typeZERO, and Eureka, a member of Gekkostate, crash into Renton's room. Renton's grandfather orders him to deliver a special part to the Nirvash, which reveals the immense power dormant within the typeZERO. Afterwards, Renton is invited to join Gekkostate, where he quickly discovers that the behind-the-scenes life of Gekkostate is hardly as glamorous or as interesting as printed in the glossy pages of their magazine, ray=out. Only one thing makes it all worthwhile for him: the presence of Eureka, the mysterious pilot of the Nirvash.

The series contains allegories to the Second World War, the subculture and its music, the environmental movement, surfing, and the distrust of the government.

Setting

Scub Coral

In Eureka Seven, Earth is covered by a sentient, rock-like entity called the Scub Coral. According to Diane Thurston in episode 47, it is unknown whether it was a natural phenomenon or man-made. Flashbacks to its arrival on Earth imply that the Scub Coral was originally a space-borne entity that collided with a rocket, causing the vessel to crash into the ocean. It was there that the Coral became self-aware and began merging with sea life; merging with life was its only known method of communication. As it grew in size, it began to encroach upon human territory. Unable to stop the expanding Coral, which at the time simply did not understand the harm it was causing, humanity left Earth in a mass exodus. The Coral eventually consumed the entire planet.

Humans returned 10,000 years after the Coral gained sentience. Now mature and having learned from its experiences, the Coral became quiescent in order to avoid scaring humanity away again. The Coral's desire to communicate, though, led it to create human-form Coralians. Eureka and Sakuya are two such beings.

The existence of such a large mass of life also poses problems for existence itself. In the series, only so much sentient life can exist within a specific space, known as the "Limit of Questions" (件の限界, Kudan no Genkai). By itself, the Scub Coral is already fairly close to that point. Should too much life exist within a given space, reality would tear itself apart, causing an effect similar to a black hole. The Scub partially triggers this event at some undefined point before the beginning of the series, thus creating the Great Wall, and puts most of itself to sleep in order to prevent it from fully occurring. The Coral's "Command Cluster," something like its primary mind, maintains this sleep.

Trapar waves and lifting

In Eureka Seven, as a result of the Scub Coral covering the planet, the atmosphere is permeated by an enigmatic substance known as Transparence Light Particles, dubbed trapar waves for short. Norb, the Vodarek leader, describes these particles as the planet's thoughts made into energy.

Creatures known as skyfish have adapted to float upon these waves. As they are attracted to the emotions of people enjoying themselves near a Compac Drive, these creatures can easily be harvested to create a substance known as reflection film. This film is what permits the mecha of Eureka Seven to fly.

Though trapar-propelled airships are relatively common, using trapar waves for "lifting" (or "reffing" according to some fan translations [note: this term is used in the American dub, albeit in a specific instance; that is, in the term "refboarding"]) is their predominant use. Lifting uses surfboard-like devices called reflection boards to ride trapar waves in a manner similar to surfing or snowboarding, and is a popular sport in the series. The most grandiose use of trapar — the massive humanoid LFO and KLF fightercraft — are a recent development, made possible by the discovery of bizarre alien lifeforms within the Scub Coral.

LFOs and Compac Drives

Main article: Light Finding Operation

The mecha of Eureka Seven are called Light Finding Operation, commonly abbreviated to LFO. LFOs are humanoid alien skeletons excavated from the Scub Coral that have been fitted with armor and control systems. Military LFOs are known as KLFs (for Kraft Light Fighter). LFOs are able to fly by exploiting the same principles of lifting — trapar particles. An LFO is composed of a giant organic base, called the Archetype; armor; a ref board; and a Compac Drive, a device that allows humans to interface with the Archetype, as well as other machinery.

Characters

Main article: List of Eureka Seven characters

Most of the characters of Eureka Seven are part of either Gekkostate or the U.F. Force.

Gekkostate is an anti-government militia and counterculture collective led by Holland, who also pilots the LFO Terminus typeR909. Eureka, an aloof, pale girl, pilots an LFO called the Nirvash typeZERO. After joining Gekkostate early in the series, Renton co-pilots the Nirvash with Eureka. Stoner is a photographer who writes Gekkostate's illegal magazine, ray=out. Talho is the head pilot of Gekkostate's airplane, the Gekko (月光号, Gekkō-gō, lit. moonlight; Moonlight in the English manga). Hap is Holland's childhood friend and the second-in-command of the Gekko. Ken-Goh is the weapons specialist and owner of the Gekko. Jobs and Woz are the ship's engineers. Mischa is the resident doctor. Moondoggie is a secondary pilot and operator of the launch catapult. Hilda and Matthieu are the pilots of the Gekkostate LFOs Terminus typeR808 and Terminus typeR606, respectively. Gidget is the communications operator. Gonzy is a fortuneteller.

The U.F. Force is a military under the command of the Sage Council (or The Council of the Wise), the main authority of the United Federation of Predgio Towers. Serving under the Sage Council is Lieutenant Colonel (promoted to Colonel early in the series) Dewey Novak, who directed a special operations force called the SOF prior to his imprisonment at the beginning of the series. Dominic Sorel is an intelligence officer under Novak and the chief handler of Anemone, who pilots the LFO Nirvash typeTheEND.

Anime

Episodes

Main article: List of Eureka Seven episodes

Eureka Seven consists of fifty episodes which aired from April 17, 2005 to April 4, 2006 on the Mainichi Broadcasting System and Tokyo Broadcasting System. Almost all of the show's episodes are named after real songs, composed by Japanese or foreign artists.[4][5]

Licensing

Distribution of the English version of Eureka Seven is handled by Bandai Entertainment and its affiliates. The U.S. and Canadian distribution of the show is handled by the main branch while Beez Entertainment, Bandai's European branch, handles the show's release in the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe. Madman Entertainment handles its release in Australia and New Zealand. The first translated DVD volume of the series was released on April 25, 2006 in the US, while the European version will be released in the summer of the same year, according to Neo Magazine. The English version is produced by Bang Zoom! Entertainment in Burbank, California.

Since the Friday before its premiere on Adult Swim, Eureka Seven has been available for online viewing on the Adult Swim Fix, Adult Swim's online video service. Episodes are shown weekly each Friday, one day before their premiere on Adult Swim proper. The series made its televised debut on Adult Swim on April 15, 2006 and ended April 28, 2007. Beginning with episode 26, Adult Swim began airing an additional parental advisory warning for extreme violence before each episode. In keeping with Adult Swim's practice of making jokes in such warnings, the warnings claim that they would rather air the episodes uncut since they are "American Cowboys."

In Canada, it premiered on YTV's Bionix block on September 8, 2006 at 9:30 p.m.; on March 9 2007 it was moved to 11:00 p.m. On March 23 2007, instead of airing episode 27, YTV's Bionix began airing reruns starting with episode one; YTV did not begin airing the rest of the series until June 1 2007.

The pronunciation of Eureka's name in the English dub of the series is based on the Japanese pronunciation /eɯɺ̠eka/ listenⓘ, which is an approximation of the Greek pronunciation of the word "eureka" (Koine: ˈheʷreːka; Modern: ˈevrika), rather than the conventional English pronunciation /juːˈɹiːkə/. The dub pronunciation has variously been described as "ey-ooh-reh-ka," "ay-oo-re-ka," or "el-rekka." However, while the Japanese voice actors pronounce 'Anemone' as it is normally pronounced in Japanese, 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 thirteen episodes he was replaced by Johnny Yong Bosch because the director of the English dub felt that his voice was too low for the character. All of Renton's lines were subsequently redone for consistency, though Bosch himself admits it took him a while to nail down the voice.[6]

Staff

Music

The music of Eureka Seven is available on three different compilations composed by Naoki Sato and a variety of other artists who composed insert songs used in the series. The third soundtrack, Complete Best, includes the full-length versions of the opening and ending themes for both the series and game, as well as the insert song for the final episode.

Theme songs

Opening themes
  • "Days", by Flow (episodes 1-13)
  • "Shōnen Heart" ("A Young Boy's Heart"), by Home Made Kazoku (episodes 14-26)
  • "Taiyō no Mannaka e" ("To The Center Of the Sun"), by Bivattchee (episodes 27-32, 34-39)
  • "Sakura" ("Cherry Blossom"), by Nirgilis (episodes 40-49)
Ending themes
  • "Himitsu Kichi" ("Secret Base"), by Kozue Takada (episodes 1-13, 26)
  • "Fly Away", by Izawa Asami (episodes 14-25)
  • "Tip Taps Tip", by Halcali (episodes 27-39)
  • "Canvas", by Coolon (episodes 40-49)
Insert songs
Video game theme

Manga

A manga adaptation based on the same basic concept and character designs from the anime series began running in Kadokawa Shoten's Monthly Shōnen Ace, starting from the March 2005 issue and continuing until the January 2007 issue, covering a total of 23 chapters. These chapters were later compiled into six volumes.

Another manga adaptation, called Gravity Boys and Lifting Girl and featuring the protagonists of the video games New Wave and New Vision, ran in Comptiq, another Kadokawa Shoten publication. It is shorter than the main series; collected, it spans only two volumes.

Video games

Eureka Seven has had a total of three video games. With the exception of Eureka Seven V.2: Psalms of Planets, all were released for the PlayStation 2.

Eureka Seven vol.1: New Wave was released in Japan on October 27, 2005. It is set four years before the anime and features a different cast of characters. The theme song, Realize, is sung by FLOW. It was released in North America on October 24, 2006.

Eureka Seven: New Vision is the sequel to New Wave and takes place two years later. It was released in Japan on May 11, 2006, and is set to be released in North America on April 19, 2007.[7]

Eureka Seven V.2: Psalms of Planets, created for the PlayStation Portable, was released on April 6, 2006, in Japan. This game is based on the events from the first half of the show.

Eureka Seven is set to be featured in the third installment of the popular Playstation 2 game series Another Century's Episode. The series is published by Banpresto and developed by From Software and features fast paced action with robots from popular mecha anime in storylines that intertwine the various series. Another Century's Episode 3 will be available in September in Japan, with likely no release in the United States due to complicated licencing issues.

References

  1. ^ "Tokyo Anime Fair: Award Winners". Anime News Network. 2006. Retrieved 2007-02-15.
  2. ^ "Anime Insider Best of the Best". Tokyopop blog entry. 2006. Retrieved 2007-04-07.
  3. ^ Shida, Hidekuni (2006). "Eureka Seven: Catch the wave". Newtype USA. 5 (3): 46. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  4. ^ "Interview with Dai Sato" (PDF). Japan Society. 2005. Retrieved 2006-03-20.
  5. ^ "Eureka seveN "alternative soundtrack"". Retrieved 2006-03-20.
  6. ^ "Post by Johnny Yong Bosch" (HTML). 2006. Retrieved 2006-05-18.
  7. ^ "Namco Bandai Announces Eureka Seven Vol 2 for PS2". 2006-12-14. Retrieved 2007-01-02.

Dai Sato, the screenwriter, speaks about Eureka Seven http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPtFfaqfIBM

Wikiquote has quotations related to Eureka Seven.
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