Eureka Seven ends on Adult Swim
Starts again tonight
I think this particular run of Eureka Seven was the first time I so faithfully kept up with a run of a show that long on Adult Swim. Probably a combination of the fact that I have a DVR now so I don’t have to stay up so freaking late, and the fact it’s just a great series. I don’t see the purpose of keeping up with something like Bleach (or worse yet, InuYasha, a painfully slow-moving shallow action series that constantly bumps up against its own threshold of translated episodes and thus resets itself), it just doesn’t entertain me much, but Eureka Seven is its own unique beast.
Almost to cool for its own good
It’s got mechs that surf, a coming-of-age story that cleverly mirrors in multiple characters, and an overall positive vibe that betrays the writers’ surfer/raver inspirations. Those inspirations are also famously on display in the constant name checks: Episode titles are song names by the likes of New Order, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and 808 State; character names reference counterculture, hip-hop, and geek icons from the Beastie Boys’ Ad Rock to Apple’s Steve Jobs, and even the mechs are named 808, 909, etc. after vintage Roland drum machines. The first OP, which goes for most of the series, actually sounds like a Japanese take on “Rapper’s Delight.”
The constant little references to pop culture and to vintage mech anime like Macross (no smoking on the bridge, captain!) give the whole show a thicker layer of style than usual — which is not to say there isn’t a core of substance. At the heart, like I said, it’s a coming-of-age story and a love story that is epic enough in scope to tell the stories of quite a few major characters with a lot of heart. And while I couldn’t give away the end even if I wanted to (not without an awful lot of explanation), suffice to say the last 3-4 episodes comprise it more than just the final, and those are a straight blast.
Anyway, if you’re interested in a nontraditional mech show with killer character design and great Bones animation that won’t beat your spirit down, program your own DVR for it — it restarts tonight at 1:30 on Adult Swim.
- otou-san out!
