Having seen and loved the original Eureka Seven Anime series, I decided to check out the newly released feature film as well, with the rather wordy full title of:
Psalms of Planets Eureka seveN: good night, sleep tight, young lovers (交響詩篇エウレカセブン ポケットが虹でいっぱい Kōkyōshihen Eureka Sebun: Poketto ga Niji de Ippai?, subtitle literally "Pocket Full of Rainbows"), which was a limited release in America but is now available for rental via Netflix, which is how I watched it. It is distributed by Bandai Entertainment and also available for sale.
In some ways, it is a very odd "re-boot" of the franchise, but in other odd ways, it shares continuity with the original series through the revival of the characters Dominic and Anemonie, who are shown in much later life.
The original crew of the Gekkostate returns, but again, they are an odd reboot of their original personas...they seem to be clones of their originals, with a much shorter lifespan...they are far more bitter, cruel, and aggressive. They have all of their negative qualities amplified and almost none of their redeeming qualities that made them endearing in the original show.
The ending is marginally happier than the original series.
*SPOILERS*
Renton and Eureka do survive and are able to stay together, though not without Eureka paying a tragic price to do so....think Tsubasa: Resevoir Chronicles for a hint. But at least she doesn't die or get obliterated or whatever it was that happened to her in the original show. It is rather gratifying to see these star crossed lovers able to stay together and stay in love.
It reminds me a little of the Negima reboot, the way time is compressed of necessity for a feature film versus a half or full season Anime.
There is plenty of action, plenty of sci-fi weirdness, etc. It does help to have watched the original series, because the feature film makes repeated references back to it. If you aren't already familiar with the Eureka Seven universe, this film may be confusing to a first time viewer new to the series.
Near as I can tell, the two main characters are also clones of their original iterations from the original show, but they are fatebound together.
Also, if you only watch this feature film, you'll have a very warped view of the Gekkostate crew, who were the nominal heroes of the original series, Renton's friends and original crewmates, and Eureka was a key member of the original Gekkostate crew. It's very jarring to see them act this way in the feature film, but you have to keep reminding yourself these are clones of the originals, not the originals themselves. Although it's a little less jarring for Holland to be a total jerk. The only difference is he's never NOT one in this short film, whereas the series gave enough room and time for him to mellow out, show remorse, etc.
Anemonie is voiced yet again by Kari Walhgren, though she is a much older woman by the end of this movie, borderline elderly. She loses Dominic early on in the film. Dominic, we are shown, has been the guardian of Renton 2.0 and Eureka 2.0, their teacher and mentor, all still voiced by the original voice talents from the series.
Eureka is drawn slightly differently, as show above. In the original series she always wore her hair fairly closely cropped for a girl. In this feature film, she lets it grow out more. She looks goregous either way. By the end of the film, her hair is shoulder length and full.
I'm afraid the confusing/silly technobabble from the series is still just as confusing and silly in the feature film as well.
The feature film is very good and it is nice to be able to re-visit these characters again after finishing the original series, and to give them a happier ending together than they originally had.
If you haven't watched the original series, do that first before renting or buying this title. You can thank me later for this advice.
