Note: This post contains spoilers on Eureka Seven AO and Eureka Seven. If you have not seen both of them, avoid this post.
It is okay if a sequel wants to be different from the original series.
It can have a different story, different characters or different themes.
But it should not go against everything the original series stood for, completely disregarding its message, unless there is a good reason for it.
This was the final straw for Eureka Seven AO.
In every other post I have pointed out what Eureka Seven AO did wrong on its own.
Now let me tell how you it completely ruined the ending Eureka Seven.
All Posts
Why Eureka Seven AO is Bad #01 – When Shallow Characters Dominate
Why Eureka Seven AO is Bad #02 – A Story That Never Really Matters, Identity Crisis and Other Things
Why Eureka Seven AO is Bad #03 (End) – It Goes Against Everything Eureka Seven Stood For
“Don’t just say “bye-bye” like that! Eureka, don’t try to go by yourself!”
“You came… You really came!”
“I promised you, right? That I’d protect you, no matter what. That’s we’d always be together.”
“But I can’t go back now.”
“If you’re going to choose to no longer be a Coralian in order to save this planet, then I choose to no longer be a human. I cherish this planet where I was able to find you, and everyone who lives on this planet is dear to me. But I don’t want to lose you for their sake.”
“From here on, with you in this universe and us in a separate one, we shall seek a way for scub coral and humans to coexist. There’s no reason that there cannot be more than one path of evolution.”
“Thank you. Your emotions have all been engraved into my Compac. At last, I will be able to attain enlightenment.
Now, live. On this planet. Live together, and show the way to all who live on this planet. With the light called “hope”.
Not all beings can remain in this land. Half of them will depart with us. But, Renton… Eureka… If this world evolves for the better and two are able to become one, we will show ourselves before you once more. I will believe that such a day will someday come.”
Eureka Seven was a love story that told the tale of the young human Renton who fell in love with a Humanoid Coralian named Eureka, whose goal was to observe and communicate with mankind in hope of creating peace between the two life forms.
After 50 episodes of struggles, hardships and tears, we finally saw them come together. We saw the Scub Coral finally being able to settle down and be understood. But his did not last long because half of them had to leave due to endangering the whole universe.
Exactly where they went is unclear. Eureka Seven AO takes their leave literally, as if they travelled to a parallel universe. My, slightly magical, take on this is that they went to another plane of existence. They stopped being, if we put it easily, physical beings as you and I.
It was a happy ending, telling us that co-existence is possible even if you are different and that love conquers all. Not only is this a beautiful message in itself, but it is also something our world needs more of.
Instead Eureka Seven AO decides to continue this, by suddenly making the Scub Coral merciless enemies, making Renton and Eureka suffer the loss of their children and making everything the characters fought for in Eureka Seven a lie.
You cannot co-exist. Love does not conquer all.
Only conflict is possible.
This is where it all goes wrong, by completely going against the message of Eureka Seven. The worst part is that it is not even executed well.
I can only speculate what went through the minds of Bones when they decided to do this, killing their own franchise.
But right now, I do not want to.
I just wish to spread the message of Eureka Seven to you all.
Co-existence is possible and love does indeed conquer all.
Such a message is what our world needs right now.
Spread it.
“Don’t beg for things, do it yourself or else you won’t get anything.”
You really should have noted in this post Renton tried to erase Eureka from existence. He was gunning to eliminate the Scub Coral from existence, which would have resulted in her never being born.
I mentioned that in my first post on the series
I think you have managed to articulate why I feel this show is a betrayal of fans of the first series quite well. Being a fan of a few franchises with less than stellar track records in the “don’t troll your franchise’s fans” department, I can honestly say that this is worse than what I have encountered with those other franchises, by a long shot, for all of the reasons you have put forth in these posts and more.
What I think this writing team was attempting to do was inject reality into the franchise by attributing consequences to the resolution of the first story. This, as you highlighted, is disrespectful to the spirit of the original story. Psalms of Planets was a fairytale. Was it realistic? No. Does anything ever end up like that in the cauldron of the real? Not likely! This, however, was never really the point. The viewer is getting something a little different when they watch PoP in that 50 episodes of character exploration, conflict, development, and interaction are rewarded in the end with a spectacular and poignant resolution that validated all 50 episodes. There are other anime (Evangelion comes to mind for some reason) that take the real and caricaturize it for our entertainment using cause-effect relationships, personality/character flaws, and mental or physical trauma to frame a story that we can relate to because it could possibly mirror what could be going in the viewer’s mind or world. The thing is, the Evangelion series was also validated by its ending (I’m referring to EoE, not the final two episodes) which, in finality, reemphasized the concepts and meaning of the series while bringing resolution. It was a story of pain, loss, regret, and the fact that you can (and will) still experiences the worst even if you make choices that you feel are correct.
You’re on point when you say that this is NOT what Eureka SeveN was all about. The thing that is, perhaps, most impressive about the original is that the struggles associated with relationships of all types were on display through the series. Character interactions of varying types and outcomes occurred, lapses in communication lead to conflict and often unnecessary alienation, real world events separated characters both physically and emotionally, and so on. Unlike works like Evangelion that wish to delve into the seedy backstreets within your mind and soul and turn the streetlight on, Eureka SeveN is, in a way, the opposite in that it could serve as a social blueprint of sorts… “This is not the way you treat people… here is why… this is more acceptable… here is your positive outcome”.
Your conclusion is correct. AO did not merely serve as an epic failure by Bones as a series unto itself, but also soiled the franchise and disrespected the very spirit of the original story.
I have no words. Perfectly written. I fully agree. *claps hands*
But, man, that football episode…
Your post(s) have really done a great job in explaining your disdain for AO. I tried to like the first Eureka Seven but the main romance was just unbearable to watch, particularly Renton who drove me up a wall everytime he open his mouth and I dropped AO right before he came back. Now, this post says the main point of E7 was the romance but I have to disagree. I felt the characters in E7 were very realistic, even if I plain hated them (Renton), and to finish all 50 episodes even when I hated the Renton/Eureka romance says a lot about the great characterization the first E7 had (and the music too), and how shallow AO’s character including Ao himself were. There was no Holland Novak, no Charles and Ray Beams, no Anemone, just no one I could care about in AO because they just felt too one-dimensional. I know what you’re thinking: how could I still watch E7 if I didn’t like the main driving point of the show? Because it had great characters, along with great music.
What did AO have? Truth and his many bizarre-o faces. That’s it. Oh and Noah I guess.
TL;DR – I had issues with E7 (the romance aspect), but the characterization was solid along with the awesome music. AO could not even muster “decent” on any level.
I can definitely see why you would dislike the romance, because it reaches certain annoying parts (it goes from emo to lovey-dovey (it kinda annoyed me (but it was natural character growth)). Renton can also be annoying, but at the same time, very well-written and, for the most part, realistic!
Just as you said, the characters are damn well-written, even if they don’t have a big part in the series.
Personally, Eureka Seven will always be a love story about co-existence, though.
Perfect. This is exactly what made me so angry with this show. I understand sequels need to tell their own story but to go against everything Eureka Seven had stood for is just not right. While I wasn’t the biggest fan of the original E7 I regard it very highly simply because it knew how to develop characters (one of the best in my opinion). After all, E7′s characters were just as important, if not more, than the world itself. It was about people coming to understand each other while learning about themselves at the same time. Not having that in the sequel (I’m looking at you Ao and Naru and no it’s not all romance related) is just blasphemy. I don’t even understand why some of these characters even existed. What a waste.
“I don’t even understand why some of these characters even existed.”
I don’t think Bones does either
[...] All Posts Why Eureka Seven AO is Bad #01 – When Shallow Characters Dominate Why Eureka Seven AO is Bad #02 – A Story That Never Really Matters, Identity Crisis and Other Things Why Eureka Seven AO is Bad #03 (End) – It Goes Against Everything Eureka Seven Stood For [...]
[...] All Posts Why Eureka Seven AO is Bad #01 – When Shallow Characters Dominate Why Eureka Seven AO is Bad #02 – A Story That Never Really Matters, Identity Crisis and Other Things Why Eureka Seven AO is Bad #03 (End) – It Goes Against Everything Eureka Seven Stood For [...]