Koukyoushihen Eureka Seven: Pocket ga Niji de Ippai

Despite what everyone is saying that this is another universe, a revamped story and whatever it needs to be said in order to separate the original story with this movie... well, I got news for you, it's not.

It still involves the universe of Eureka Seven, however, it seems that not many people are paying attention to the date of the events.

This movie tells the story of how everything came to be before the events of the anime series. This movie is set in the 21st century while the anime series takes place many, many years later.

Instead of introducing new characters just for just one ... movie, BONES used the original cast to tell the story before Psalms of the Planets. That's why we see old characters filling weird roles like Renton's sensei Dominic.

The story itself its very interesting because not only shows how the coralians came in contact with humanity but also alters the personalities of some of the characters, like Eureka for example, where she is not as shy and soul-less as she was portrayed at the beginning of the anime series. She is more friendly and caring towards Renton and at some points, scared of everything that's going on around her. Overall, she feels more open-hearted.

In my opinion, they could have easily extended the whole thing into a 12 episode series, but I can see that having two time settings in the same universe with the same characters would create even more confusion than what it already is going on.

There is not much to review about the art since it's everything you come to expect from BONES, high quality animation and special effects.

The sound is not as good compared to the anime series mainly because its always too serious (even for the battle scenes) for a plot that involves the romantic encounter of a human and a 'robot.' It makes it feel more melancholic and almost sad. At the very end of the movie, we heard a familiar tune courtesy of the original series, what you expected to hear when the Nirvash is battling another mecha unit.

The characters, as already explained, have been given different roles so reviewing their looks at this point is utterly pointless. However, their personalities have changed greatly. Perhaps the one who changed the most is Anemone and you'll see why if you have already seen the anime series. One thing that really bothered me is the fact that they did not included Charles and his wife (sorry forgot her name) as part of the cast since you can see almost everyone from the original series make a kameo appearance every now and then.

The movie is fully enjoyable if you understand the fact that the time period is the one that was changed and not the universe of Eureka Seven.

As a closing comment, it was nice and refreshing to see Renton and Eureka express their feelings towards each other more openly.

I'd like to start by saying... whoever wrote the fanfiction that this was based on, I'm so sorry. /sarcasm

I have never seen a more pathetic excuse for an anime movie in my entire life. Eureka Seven is one of the greatest series to ever be created. It's animation and soundtrack is unusually top notch as well as it's character development and well balanced plot. This sorry excuse for a movie under the same name of that epic animation should be beat down with a stick like a bad cosplayer.

True fans of the Eureka Seven series, spare yourself the two hour torture. If you want cute ... fan pictures or stories of Eureka and Renton, just browse the internet. I'm sure you'd find more things that would probably even satisfy you better.

Moving on, let's get down to each of the categories.

The storyline: 5. Why? I'm sorry but taking the plot of the actual anime, condensing it into two hours and renaming every major plot point is NOT creative. It's not even original. It's silly. Okay, sure, you made some of the characters evil and it was a little different. Hell, Eureka knowing Renton since they were little could even be called adorable! Not to mention Dominic the vampire teacher, let's not forget him in all his awesome Adrock-like glory! However, the small plot that was thought out seemed like an interesting backstory to the 'Desperation Disease' at first and then moved onto being something akin to some kind of backwards fountain of youth that related to the Image (*coughCoraliancough*). If it had been explained a little more, I could have given it more respect, but as it was, it was difficult to follow, not properly thought out and pretty much just vomited into animated form. Nice try guys!

The art: 2. Taking scenes from the completed anime and editing them to be put into a movie is not artistic. I was so distracted by the blatant use of actual anime images that I could not properly concentrate on the movie (I actually would stop and try and think which episode it was from and I got them all nearly correct with a three episode margin of error, whoo!). Unlike Mamma Mia... taking already made things and trying to mesh them into a movie does not work here! Just because it can work with ABBA songs does not mean it should be tried with a perfectly awesome mecha anime. For goodness sakes, make something original!

Sound: 7. I liked the sound. I liked the ending song. I really didn't pay attention to much else. I can be satisfied by the fact that, although strange, mini-fairy!Nirvash was cute and made nice noises. (Yes that really was one of my favorite things.)

Character: 7. Thinking of this as a separate entity from the actual ES series and using this thought to understand the characters better, I was at first intrigued by how everyone had changed. The Sages became very important military figures. Holland and the Gekko State became evil misguided souls. Dominic and Anemone were main people and highly important to the overall status of the movie. To be honest, I could really appreciate this change. Though I disliked some of it, there was development here I could respect. Still, what happened with some of the Gekko State members annoyed me. Evil and misguided is okay. But vicious paranoid rapists? Sorry. I don't approve.

Enjoyment is self explanatory. It's obvious I didn't like it nor did I amuse myself by watching it. However, I gave that category a four. There were parts with Eureka and Renton that sometimes made it worth sitting through every painful scene edit. I guess I just love those two that much, but next time I want cute stuff like that, I'm just gonna google it.

I suggest you all do the same.

"If it aint broke, don't try to fix it."

Of course you've read how this movie completely distorts, if not entirely rapes, the beauty and subtle complexity of the series. I too feel betrayed to some degree. I'm writing this review to suggest a reason why this was done. If you are new to the story you'll find it CONFUSING BEYOND COMPREHENSION. But if you liked the series, you probably aren't going to enjoy this beyond the animation.

The producers' changes, I believe are an effort to "condense" the symbolism and themes of the series for a new audience. Taking the central themes and characters and turning ... them into abstractions.

Watching the movie you quickly understand that what is taking place is in a parallel universe. The plot goes onto define sub coral as a the 'image', and the Summer of Love is replaced by the Agony of Doha. There are more reconfigurations/disfigurations of the series characters and events, but I think its interesting to focus on these two, because we can come to some conclusions of what these changes mean overall.

In redefining the Summer of Love as the Agony of Doha, I believe the producers are obviously presenting a world that is even more brutal and relentless than the series. Innocence lost seems to be the condensation of the series thematic core. This becomes clearer as Eureka's character comes into view, the Gekkostate's backstory is revealed, and Eureka and Renton's relationship culminates to fatalistic dry-humping instead of self-sacrificing romance.

If anything, in redefining the Sub-coral as the image, fans can learn more of what these creatures were all about...assuming you didn't draw enough conclusion from the series. My only question now is: why recapitulate this award winning series, trying to condense it into approximately two hours by reshuffling; when it would have been more interesting to see a sequel or a prequel?

Again..."If it aint broke, don't try to fix it."