The first 25-30 episodes were an absolute bore for me (think slightly more enjoyable than the 9th level of Hell), but in the latter episodes there were some decent fight scenes which made it more enjoyable. There were also two �romance stories� in the end which I also found to be enjoyable (being a fan of romance). There were some parts where certain characters� personalities got overhauled in some respects to quickly and I felt it seemed unnatural and odd (like Renton suddenly going from �Damn! Damn! Damn!� to �I�m gonna kick some ass and chew some gum. But I�m all outta gum.� There were also some episodes that were fairly entertaining but basically worthless (soccer game, anyone?). I also felt that some of the characters in those episodes *coughRentoncough* acted worthless. �Dude, I�m sweet at soccer because I leave the ball completely open to an attacker and they can�t get it due to their lacking coordination! Oh snap! Moondoggie just did! Shi-zo!� Those kinds of moments irritated me since passing a ball is pretty basic concept, and Renton couldn�t seem to grasp the concept within a matter of seconds but understood how to jump off of a teammate and perform a coordinated kick on the goal with Eureka somehow. Makes perfect sense, I know, but I digress. Most of the later episodes helped to advance the plot and provide a little bit of character development, although some of the development seemed �off� (with respect to each character) and felt unrealistic. However, because some of the characters didn�t seem to mature realistically, it allowed for some hardcore moments. Except for Maurice holding a bolt-action rifle which was assumed to be loaded (despite making zero sense since it was stored in the back of an LFO and only takes a few seconds to load one round into it. Much less that none of the characters in the Nirvash at that time probably even knew how use it). Maurice is a wuss, by the way.
--Story--
Here�s the story in a nutshell: There�s a kid named Renton who wants to be Tony Hawk except in the air. And using a mech. Then a girl crashes into part of his property and he falls in love with her. He joins a group called Gekko State and whines for lot of episodes. Then he meets a guy that likes frilly tops and a woman who cooks well. He wants to think of them as his parents and pays no attention to their being complete strangers, but has utmost trust for them from the gitgo. Then they both die. He goes back to Gekko State. He whines some more and claims that he�ll protect the girl that destroyed his property. There are some cool battles. Holland acts like a jerk and then becomes mildly hardcore later on. More sweet battles. Eureka, Renton, and some kids end up going through �the Zone� and end up a ways underground. Eureka undergoes some physical changes. A guy named Dewey comes to power, tries to wipe out all Coralians, tries to destroy the Nirvash. Then Dewey dies. Renton saves Eureka using a new version of the Nirvash (like the Nirvash 2.0). Then an old man is revealed to be a Coralian and leaves. Dominic gets it on with Anemone. The show ends.
Here's the shortened plot synopsis: A kid named Renton meets a girl named Eureka. She pilots a big mech (the first one ever). Renton falls in love with the girl. Then he joins and anti-government organization to fight "the man." He and Eureka pilot the mech (the Nirvash) together and fall in love. Stuff happens, Renton whines a lot, matures extremely quickly at some points, and almost gets killed a few times. Then the lead man of the government dies and Eureka ends up in a "state [of being]" where she needs to be saved, which only Renton can do. Renton saves her. The show ends.
--Animation�
The animation in Eureka 7 was decent. Nothing awful by any means, but also nothing particularly astounding. The characters all had their own definite �styles,� and had a distinctive look to them. But at the same time, their clothes were typically drawn with great detail and some of their other features (like Holland�s �beard�) were lacking, too. The environments also left some to be desired. Most of the backgrounds typically were fairly bland and didn�t have much attention to detail, but this wasn�t nearly as noticeable since the show rarely focused on the environments themselves. Where the animation did excel was with the LFOs (the mechs). They were reminiscent of Neon Genesis Evangelion (compare the Nirvash and the Type 01), although still had some of their own nifty features (hoverboards, anyone?). The animation was also very fluid and done well for the battles, and the effects for explosions among other things almost always looked good. The reason animation gets an eight from me is because although there was some to be desired, the animation involving LFOs was done well (as were battles in general).
--Sound�
I thought the sound was done very well. The first two openings weren�t terribly appealing, but the third one was very enjoyable and the fourth one still had some of its own merits. One of the ending themes was decent but none of them really stood out or grabbed me. The voice acting was done well for each character, and no particular one really stood out, but that can be seen as good or bad depending on your perspective. The battles or �intense� moments generally had great music accompanying. One of my personal favorites was the music that sounded like the tango played near the end of the movie �True Lies.� Then again, I�m a fan of the tango so that may be more personal preference. All in all, I thought the insert songs felt fitting for their scenes and I liked the music (Storywriter by Supercar I thought worked really well).
--Character--
Each of the characters had their own personality and attributes, although I didn�t feel most of them developed too much in ways that made great sense. For instance, like I stated earlier in the review, Renton goes from �whine whine whine� to �Get to the chopper! If you want to live, come with me,� in a Schwarzenegger tone. While I definitely liked it more when some of the characters were like that (as oppose to not), it didn�t feel �fitting� for them based off of their previous actions and emotions. It was supposed to be a sign of them developing but I never got the impression that it truly �clicked� for most of them. Eureka�s personality progressed in a way that seemed natural, but at the same time according to the story she learned basically everything from people, so how she experienced or developed different emotions was never fleshed out. Then again, she�s probably just supposed to already retain the ability for different emotions like hatred, love, etc, and it�s a given. So I didn�t dwell much on that issue when I was watching the show.
--Enjoyment--
It�s a fun show overall. Was it worth sitting through almost 30 episodes of boredom to see some exciting and uplifting parts later on? Maybe, but that�s questionable. It�s a decent show, and it has some ups and downs. If you really like mechs and action you may want to watch it, but I�d stick with something like Full Metal Panic for mechs myself. A lot of people enjoy Eureka 7, and while it�s not absolute top-notch or anything like that, a good portion of it is enjoyable and interesting enough for you to finish an episode and want to see what happens in the next.
Here are the basics for whether you might like the show or not. If you:
-like mechs
-like romance stories
-like hoverboards
-like watching stuff get blown up
-like decently cool battles
-enjoy watching characters go from being total pansies to suddenly owning everything in sight
-enjoy having a "tragic" hero who does well but has some flaw
...then you might like this show. Those are the basics.
Ratings (This is how to understand what I have it you think it doesn't match up with the numbers):
10- Astoudning, fantastic. This is the alpha-male. It wins on more levels that I can count.
9- Excellent and better than most of what you typically come across. Not the pinnacle of greatness, but still close.
8- Well done, although flaws are definitely present. It does a lot of things fairly well but you can see the errors in it. Could use some work or it's still fairly enjoyable, but not a lasting impression.
7- Decent. Doesn't execute anything to any amazing extent or anything really poorly. Very middle of the road.
6- Limited appeal. This may appeal to some but it's very on the edge between average and being poor.
5 and Below- 100% craptacular goodness. The lower the score here is, the more you realize how much you hate the material in question.
