Asuka, Shinji and Rei on the cover of Volume 1 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I realized upon continuing my re-watch of Eureka Seven...
...today that I finished this show before I ever got around to watching Neon Genesis Evangelion. I'd forgotten just how many "Shinji Ikari"-like moments Renton Thurston experiences in the show (i.e. where he flips the f*ck out)...Renton is probably based somewhat off Shinji, only a little more likeable and innocent, and certainly more eager to "get in the f*cking robot". That and Eureka herself is sweeter & more approachable than Rei Ayanami, while Talho is like a weird fusion of Asuka Soryu Langley & Misato Katsuragi, and Holland is sort of like Gendo only even more of a violent asshole. In other words, Gendo was emotionally abusive to Shinji, while Holland is more physically abusive/bullying to Renton. Now that I have NGE firmly under my belt, I'm looking at Eureka Seven with a fresh perspective I didn't have the first time through and I'm seeing these parallels now that I could not make the first time through.
The influence of NGE upon all anime that came after it is hard to overstate. Eureka Seven is more of a Space Opera Romance that happens to feature some unique "surfing mecha", but it is not a "mecha" show, really. NGE isn't really a "mech" show either, not least because the Eva units aren't wholly robotic but are bio-mechanoid. Evangelion's its own mind-bendy thing that's hard to pigeonhole. It's the 2001 A Space Odyssey of anime. That said, Eureka Seven is pretty damn weird, too. Maybe not NGE weird, but still pretty weird. I'm watching it again in the vain hope I'll better understand it this time before I attempt to watch Eureka Seven AO. I don't think I need to watch the Eureka Seven movie again, which I loved and was fantastic and I own it on Blu-Ray.
I'd forgotten just how LONG this series is, too. Like, 50 episodes long. That's FMA sized. I'm just now reaching Episode 21, not even half-way done yet. I mainly watch it at lunch if my usual friends are busy running errands at lunch and I'm eating alone, etc. It's great to re-visit this series, and I was happy to get Stephanie Sheh to sign my Blu-Ray cover and insert at the most recent Anime Matsuri convention (2015) here in Houston. It's hard to believe this series itself is turning 10 years old this year (it came out originally in 2005).
I'm re-watching also because I originally watched it on rental DVD from Hastings Books & Records in Denton, Texas and that store was lacking one of the later volumes, so I missed out on like 4 whole episodes, and they killed off one of the Gekko State members in those because that crew member never showed up again where I picked up to finish the show.
I hear Eureka Seven AO isn't very good, but maybe it's only for dedicated Eureka Seven franchise fans and nobody else. I'm still looking forward to it regardless.
