Category: Eureka Seven Ao

Eureka Seven Ao – 05

by psgels, posted in Eureka Seven Ao

Now this is where this series set itself apart for me. There was no action in this episode, but instead it focused on Ao making himself at home at the base of the Pied Piper. Usually it’s the kind of build-up episode where nothing much of importance happens and instead a bunch of characters are introduced. This episode really impressed me though.

And there is one reason for that: Ao’s portrayal. The way in which he feels so awkward and out of place, not knowing what to do here. It’s just showing the consequence of his decision, and how not everything is going to go smooth for him. My favorite parts were where he stood so helplessly, not knowing what to do. There is a huge difference between the teenagers and the adults in this series. The adults really sympathize with having to make children fight. The kids though: are completely different. They are not going to guide newcomers along every step of the way. They offer their support here and there at crucial points, but everything inbetween will be for Ao himself to solve.

Meanwhile this episode kept the nice ideas coming. The whole base being built out of things gathered from the Scab Coral is a very interesting idea, and I also like the idea of having Ao be able to see light frequencies beyond what normal humans can see (again this isn’t revealed to him)I do wonder though: why is every pilot there aside from Ao a girl?
Rating: **+ (Excellent+)

Eureka Seven Ao – 04

by psgels, posted in Eureka Seven Ao

So… I had typed up this entire entry for this episode. I was taking screenshots… and then my laptop crashed. So apologies for this brief entry.

Basically, I’m warming up to Ao. One big similarity between this series and the first Eureka7 is that everyone treats the lead character for who he is: a kid. Renton was a brat, so people treated him as such, while Ao is more sympathetic and a victim instead, and I can see why the adults in this series want to look over him.

Naru meanwhile: what is her purpose beyond a romantic interest? I was surprised that she didn’t join along with the Pied Piper crew, but that will probably come later. In the meantime, this series has very solid build-up and a great and emotional soundtrack. Now let’s hope that net week my laptop doesn’t crash.
Rating: *+ (Great)

Eureka Seven Ao – 03

by psgels, posted in Eureka Seven Ao

The setting of Eureka7 Ao is completely different now that Eureka somehow traveled through time, but I like that: it shows that the creators really attempt to go for something different here, rather than to dwell on what worked. The big challenge with this approach will be: what can they do in order to make up for it?

In any case, I like how not nationalistic this series is. After so many series that are about Japan being in danger,this series actually split up the country and made Okinawa declare independence. Of course having this set in a country beside Japan would have been even better, but at least this is a step into the right direction.

This episode also dedicated a lot of time to the islanders and i must say that I like how this series already has many different parties with their different interests. what’s more, the way they are portrayed makes them all feel alive. The best example of this was the scene where Ao arrives back at his grandfather’s house, and saw his grandfather busy salvaging his stuff from his burning house: it shows that even when the camera isn’t focused on them, they’re busy with their own agenda. It’s been a while since I watched a show that had this done well.
Rating: *+ (Great)

Eureka Seven Ao – 02

by psgels, posted in Eureka Seven Ao

The three big mecha/sci-fi shows last Winter Season have gotten an addition: Eureka 7. If you don’t include Uchuu Kyoudai among them (which is a completely different show anyway), then these are the four best series of the genre in 2012. Where Rinne was fun and witty, Aquarion was over the top and weird, Mouretsu Pirates was creative and down to earth, Eureka Seven puts the focus on its drama, and does it really well. This second episode, I’d probably rank it above the second episodes of Aquarion and Mouretsu Pirates and below Rinne no Lagrange, but in terms of potential, it could possibly eclipse all of them if it keeps on going like this.

This show also looks gorgeous. It’s a bit different from Aquarion, which spams eye-candy through its CG department. Here the CG and 2D animation mesh much better, and it’s the 2D animation that steals the show by being really expressive. That’s really going to work in the show’s favor later on.

For this series, the creators really used Ao’s innocence as a central point. It’s no excuse that he immediately knew how to pilot the Nirvash as soon as he stepped into it, but beyond that: it cares about continuity, it plays around with different parties who are all after him, and he realy is forced in the middel of this giant war, just because he refuses to let go of this bracelet of his.

I’m also very surprised at how the creators used Eureka in this series. If that really is the same Eureka as in Eureka Seven, she really changed.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Some Quick First Impressions: Shining Hearts – Shiawase no Pan, Eureka Seven Ao and Tsuritama

by psgels, posted in Eureka Seven Ao, Some Quick First Impressions, Tsuritama

Shining Hearts – Shiawase no Pan

Short Synopsis: Our lead character lives together with three cute girls.
This episode threw me off. With a title like “Shiawase no Pan”, I thought that there was a character named “Pan” or something. Not that the main characters would actually be bakers. Beyond that, this episode… it felt like playing an actual RPG: the characters went from one place to the other, talked to a few people and then went home again. That is not the way you should adapt something like this. RPG adaptations are meant to take liberties in order to weave their storylines because RPGs have things that just cannot be translated to anime format, more than any other kind of source material. So yeah, this was a bit of a boring way to close off such a streak of excellent first episodes. All the characters do is walk around and sell bread. Now, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. There were some intriguing parts that will probably be explored later, the characters were all moeblobs with really bad character designs, but they weren’t forced into stereotypes, and this show had a relaxing atmosphere that would have worked… if it wasn’t for one thing: throughout this episode I really got the impression that the creators have no idea what they’re talking about. I’m referring to the bread: it just assumes that the characters can make great bread, but it doesn’t even put an ounce of thought into why this bread is great, or how it’s made, or where they get their ingredients from. It’s just “Okay, we have bread! Let’s give it to people and make everyone happy!” I mean, if you’re going to bother making a show about bread, you should at least do your homework, right?
OP: Granted, this does have that RPG-feel, despite the annoying vocals.
ED: I… just… what did I just watch? Who found this a good idea?
Potential: 30%

Eureka Seven Ao

Short Synopsis: Our lead character will supposedly pilot the strongest mecha in existence.
With Eureka Seven it is of course a bit difficult to really judge its first episode. I remember how I actually dropped it for a while, until I saw how good it got after a while. This epiode of Eureka Seven Ao definitely made a better first impression than the first episode of Eureka Seven did. For starters its lead character isn’t as annoying as Renton, and the creators immediately start by showing some good drama around him, and his feelings towards his parents. His girlfriend still fits the bill of “female lead”, but there are small parts where she sets herself apart from her counterparts. The action and soundtrack also sound very promising based on the small tastes they gave us here. I do have to say though, that this episode also had a lot of parallels with Bounen no Xamdou’s opening episode, and compared to that series’ opening episode, this unfortunately lost out, especially in its characterization. Still, the potential is definitely there for this series to both deliver engaging action and characters. It’s now up to the rest of this series to develop the rest, and it definitely has some good papers for that. It’s a shame that this couldn’t get 50 episodes, but 25 works too.
ED: Not the most memorable ED, but also definitely not the worst. Also who’s the kid?
Potential: 85%

Tsuritama

Short Synopsis: Our lead character gets to live together with a cute boy.
Above all, this was really refreshing. In a world in which most of the teenaged series try to see who can rip each other off the most, here we have a show who really makes a point in being original. It’s not just the theme of fishing, but the characters and their antics are all delightfully fresh and the cliches that are there are executed different from usual. For example: for as many transfer students that we see in anime, we actually rarely see people move. the lead characters’ grandmother also feels refreshing in her light-heartedness: she was old, yet not the same kind helpless old woman you see everywhere. And yeah, in a season with Shinichiro Watanabe and Sayo Yamamoto, you’d almost forget that Kenji Nakamura also is an incredibly good director. This episode was fun and whimsical, and A-1 at the helm combined with a number of very interesting animation techniques. The end of this episode also hinted that there will be much more than meets the eye at first sight, and I feel like this time, Kenji Nakamura went with a series that DOES fit perfectly in just 11 episodes. After sitting though Guilty Crown, I am really glad to see that Noitamina is back again.
OP: Some actually decent J-Rock. Finally.
ED: Dreamy song, and surprisingly catchy.
Potential: 90%