Eureka Seven

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Eureka Seven
Kōkyōshihen Eureka Sebun - 交響詩篇エウレカセブン - (Psalms of Planets Eureka seveN)
Genre	Adventure, Bildungsroman, Drama, Mecha, Romance, Science Fiction, Shonen
TV anime
Directed by	Tomoki Kyoda
Studio	Bones
Network	Animax, MBS, TBS Adult Swim YTV
Original run	17 April 2005 – 2 April 2006
No. of episodes	50[1]
Manga
Authored by	Jinsei Kataoka, Kazuma Kondou
Publisher	Kadokawa Shoten Haksan publish Bandai Entertainment Kadokawa Media (Taiwan)
Serialized in	Shonen Ace
Original run	26 July 2005 – 26 September 2006
No. of volumes	6
Manga: Gravity Boys and Lifting Girl
Authored by	Miki Kizuki
Publisher	Kadokawa Shoten
Serialized in	Comptiq
Original run	May 2005 – 26 September 2006
No. of volumes	2

Eureka Seven, known as Psalms of Planets Eureka seveN (交響詩篇エウレカセブン, Kōkyōshihen Eureka Sebun^?) in Japan, is a mecha anime by Bones. Eureka Seven tells the story of Renton Thurston and the outlaw group Gekkostate, his relationship with the enigmatic mecha pilot Eureka, and the mystery of the Coralians.

Three video games (all produced by Bandai) based on the anime have also been made, as well as a manga adaptation based on both the anime and the video game TR1: New Wave.

Eureka Seven won awards at the 2006 Tokyo Anime Fair for Best Television Series, Screenplay, and Character Design.^[2] Anime Insider voted it "Best DVD Series of the Year" in 2006.^{[citation needed]}

Contents 1 Plot 2 Setting 2.1 Trapar waves and lifting 2.2 LFOs and compac drives 2.3 Scub Coral 3 Characters 4 Anime 4.1 Development 4.2 Episodes 4.3 Licensing 5 Staff 6 Music 6.1 Opening and ending themes 7 Manga 8 Video games 9 References 10 External links

[edit] Plot

Main article: Plot Summary of Eureka Seven (anime)

Renton Thurston is the fourteen-year-old son of Adrock Thurston, a military researcher who died saving the world. He lives what he considers a boring life with his mechanic grandfather in a boring town. He loves lifting, the sport of riding atmospheric trapar particles with a board, and dreams of joining the crew of the renegade Gekkostate and its leader, the legendary lifter Holland.

Such an opportunity literally falls into his lap when a special LFO, called Nirvash typeZERO, and a member of Gekkostate crash into Renton's room, which is right next to his grandpa's garage. Thanks in part to his use of his father's Amita Drive to power up the Nirvash in a crucial fight, Renton is invited to join Gekkostate, where he quickly discovers that the behind-the-scenes life of Gekkostate is hardly as glamorous or as interesting as printed in the glossy pages of their magazine, ray=out. Only one thing makes it all worthwhile for him: the presence of Eureka, the mysterious and attractive pilot of the Nirvash.

The story revolves around Renton's budding relationship with Eureka, the female pilot of the Nirvash, and the mystery of the Coralians.

[edit] Setting

[edit] Trapar waves and lifting

In Eureka Seven, the atmosphere is permeated by Transparence Light Particles, dubbed trapar waves for short. Norb, the Vodarek leader, describes these particles as the planet's thoughts made into energy. Through use of special films, it is possible to use these particles to enable flight through various methods. Though trapar-propelled airships are relatively common, using trapar waves for "lifting" (or "reffing" according to some fan translations [note: this term is used in the American dub, albeit in a specific instance; that is, in the term "refboarding"]) is their predominant use. Lifting uses surfboard-like devices called reflection boards to ride trapar waves in a manner similar to surfing or snowboarding, and is a popular sport in the series.

[edit] LFOs and compac drives

Main article: Light Finding Operation

The mecha of Eureka Seven are called LFOs, which stands for Light Finding Operation. LFOs are humanoid alien skeletons excavated from the Scub Coral that are installed with armor and control systems by humans. Military LFOs are known as KLFs (for Kraft Light Fighter). LFOs are able to fly by exploiting the same principles of lifting — trapar particles. An LFO is composed of a giant organic base (the Archetype), armor, a ref board, and a Compac Drive.

[edit] Scub Coral

The Scub Coral is a sentient, rock-like entity that covers the entire planet. According to Diane Thurston, in episode 47, it is unknown whether it was a natural phenomenon or man-made. Flashbacks to its arrival on Earth imply that the Scub Coral was originally a space-borne entity that collided with a rocket, causing the vessel to crash into the ocean. It was there that the Coral became self-aware and began merging with sea life, its only known method of communication. As it grew in size, it began encroaching on human territory. Unable to stop the expanding Coral, which at the time simply did not understand the harm it was causing, humanity left Earth in a mass exodus. The Coral eventually consumed the entire planet.

Humans returned 7,000 years after the Coral gained sentience. Now mature and having learned from its experiences, the Coral became quiescent in order to avoid scaring humanity away again. The Coral's desire to communicate, though, convinced it to send out messengers: human-form Coralians. Eureka and Sakuya are two such beings.

The existence of such a large mass of life also poses problems for existence itself. In the series, only so much sentient life can exist within a specific space, known as the "Limit of Questions" (件の限界, Kudan no Genkai^?). By itself, the Scub Coral is already fairly close to that point. Should too much life exist within a given space, reality would tear itself apart, causing an effect similar to a black hole. The Scub partially triggers this event at some undefined point before the beginning of the series, thus creating the Great Wall, and puts most of itself to sleep in order to prevent it from fully occurring. The Coral's "Command Cluster," something akin to its primary mind, maintains this sleep.

[edit] Characters

Main article: List of Eureka Seven characters

Most of the characters of Eureka Seven are part of either Gekkostate or the U.F. Force.

Gekkostate is an anti-government militia and counterculture collective led by Holland, who also pilots the LFO Terminus typeR909. Eureka, an aloof, pale girl, pilots the Nirvash typeZERO. Renton co-pilots the Nirvash with Eureka. Stoner is a photographer who writes Gekkostate's magazine, ray=out, which has been banned by the government. Talho is the head pilot of Gekkostate's ship, the Gekko (月光号, Gekkō-gō^?, lit. moonlight; Moonlight in the English manga). Hap is Holland's childhood friend and the second-in-command of the Gekko. Ken-Goh is the weapons specialist and owner of the Gekko. Jobs and Woz are the ship's engineers. Mischa is the resident doctor. Moondoggie is a secondary pilot and operator of the launch catapult. Hilda and Matthieu are the pilots of the Gekkostate LFOs Terminus typeR808 and Terminus typeR606, respectively. Gidget is the communications operator. Gonzy is a fortuneteller.

The U.F. Force is the military force under the command of the Sage Council (or The Council of the Wise), the main authority of the United Federation of Predgio Towers. Serving under the Sage Council is Lieutenant Colonel (promoted to Colonel early in the series) Dewey Novak, who directed the SOF prior to his imprisonment. Dominic Sorel is an intelligence officer under Novak and the chief handler of Anemone, who pilots the LFO TheEND.

[edit] Anime

[edit] Development

The series' origins can be traced to a concept of a mecha anime series Bandai proposed to studio BONES. At first, the studio rejected it, but later reversed its position because it had already planned to create an anime using mecha designs by Shoji Kawamori. With the appointment of director Tomoki Kyoda and writer Dai Sato, Bandai's proposal was more or less scrapped and the current incarnation of Eureka Seven was brought to life.^[3] The series was Kyoda's first as chief director for a TV series; earlier, he had directed RahXephon's movie adaption, also for Bones. RahXephon creator and director Yutaka Izubuchi provided additional design works for Eureka Seven, as well.

[edit] Episodes

Main article: List of Eureka Seven episodes

Eureka Seven consists of fifty episodes which aired from April 17, 2005, to April 4, 2006, on the Mainichi Broadcasting System and Tokyo Broadcasting System. Almost all of the show's episodes are named after real songs, composed by Japanese or foreign artists.^[4][5] The same holds true for the manga.

[edit] Licensing

Distribution of the English version of Eureka Seven is handled by Bandai Entertainment and its affiliates. The US distribution of the show is handled by the main branch while Beez Entertainment, Bandai's European branch, will handle the show's release in the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe. Madman Entertainment will handle its release in Australia. The first translated DVD volume of the series will be on April 25, 2006, in the US, while the European version will be released in the summer of the same year, according to Neo Magazine. The English version is produced by Bang Zoom! Entertainment in Burbank, California.

Since the Friday before its premiere on Adult Swim, Eureka Seven has been available for online viewing on the Adult Swim Fix, Adult Swim's online video service. Episodes are shown weekly each Friday, one day before their premiere on Adult Swim proper. The series made its televised debut on Adult Swim on April 15, 2006. In Canada, it debuted on YTV's Bionix block on September 8, 2006 at 9:30pm, and it now airs at 11:00pm. Beginning with episode 26, Adult Swim began airing an additional parental advisory warning for extreme violence before each episode. In keeping with Adult Swim's practice of making jokes in such warnings, the warnings claim that they would rather air the episodes uncut since they are "American Cowboys."

The pronunciation of Eureka's name in the English dub of the series is based on the Japanese pronunciation /eɯɺ̠eka/ listen (help·info), which is an approximation of the Greek pronunciation of the word "eureka" (Koine: ˈheʷreːka; Modern: ˈevrika), rather than the conventional English pronunciation /juːˈɹiːkə/. The dub pronunciation has variously been described as "ey-ooh-reh-ka," "ay-oo-re-ka," or "el-rekka." Ironically, while the Japanese voice actors "mispronounce" (that is, to pronounce as in Japanese) 'Anemone', the English cast say her name as it would be pronounced in English.

Yuri Lowenthal had at one point been contracted by Bandai to provide the English voice for Renton, but after recording thirteen episodes he was replaced by Johnny Yong Bosch because the director of the English dub felt that his voice was too low for the character. All of Renton's lines were subsequently redone for consistency, though Bosch himself admits it took him a while to nail down the voice.^[6]

[edit] Staff

• Planning: Seiji Takeda, Shin Unozawa, Masahiko Minami, Kazumi Kawashiro, Kenichi Iyadomi, Takuo Minegeshi
• Original concept: Bones
• Director: Tomoki Kyoda
• Series composition: Dai Sato
• Script: Dai Sato, Yuichi Nomura, Hiroshi Ohnogi, Shotaro Suga, Ichiro Okouchi, Chiaki J. Konaka, Megumi Shimizu
• Character designs: Kenichi Yoshida
• Main animators: Kenichi Yoshida, Eiji Nakata
• Main mechanical designs: Shoji Kawamori
• Conceptual designs: Kazutaka Miyatake
• Design works: Shingo Takeba, Shigeto Koyama, Takayuki Yanase, Yutaka Izubuchi, Eiji Nakata
• Director of photography: Toshiya Kimura (T2 Studio)
• Music: Naoki Sato
• Music production: Victor Entertainment
• Sound director: Kazuhiro Wakabayashi
• Sound effects: Shizuo Kurahashi
• Sound production: Fonishia
• Art director: Kazuo Nagai
• Assistant art director: Atsushi Morikawa
• Color designs: Nobuko Mizuta
• Scientific advisor: Shinya Ogura
• Special effects director: Yasushi Muraki
• Producers: Hiroshi Morotomi, Hiroo Maruyama, Hirofumi Inagaki, Atsushi Yukawa, Kotaro Nakayama
• Assistant producers: Chikako Fujii, Daiki Hasebe, Yasuyo Ogisu
• Production: Mainichi Broadcasting System, Project EUREKA (Bandai, Bandai Visual, Bandai Entertainment, Hakuhodo DY Media Partners), Bones

[edit] Music

The music of Eureka Seven is available on three different compilations composed by Naoki Sato and a variety of other artists who composed insert songs used in the series. The third soundtrack, Complete Best, includes the full-length versions of the opening and ending themes for both the series and game, as well as the insert song for the final episode.

[edit] Opening and ending themes

Opening themes

• "Days", by Flow (episodes 1-13)
• "Shōnen Heart" ("A Young Boy's Heart"), by Home Made Kazoku (episodes 14-26)
• "Taiyō no Mannaka e" ("To The Center Of the Sun"), by Bivattchee (episodes 27-32, 34-39)
• "Sakura" ("Cherry Blossom"), by Nirgilis (episodes 40-49)

Ending themes

• "Himitsu Kichi" ("Secret Base"), by Kozue Takada (episodes 1-13, 26)
• "Fly Away", by Izawa Asami (episodes 14-25)
• "Tip Taps Tip", by Halcali (episodes 27-39)
• "Canvas", by Coolon (episodes 40-49)

Insert songs

• "Storywriter", by Supercar
• "Trance Ruined", by Newdeal
• "Draft Any Funk", by Newdeal
• "Get It By Your Hands", by Watanabe Hiroshi a.k.a. Quadra
• "Niji" ("Rainbow"), by Denki Groove (episode 50)

Video game theme

• "Realize", by Flow (Eureka Seven vol.1: New Wave & Eureka Seven: New Vision)

[edit] Manga

Further information: Differences between the anime and manga

A manga adaptation based on the same basic concept and character designs began running in Monthly Shounen Ace, starting from the March 2005 issue and continuing until the January 2007 issue, covering a total of 23 chapters. These chapters have been compiled into six volumes. Overall, the plot of the manga varies greatly from the anime, though the beginning is somewhat more faithful to the original work.

[edit] Video games

Eureka Seven has had a total of three video game adaptations. With the exception of Eureka 7 V.1: New Wave, all were released for the PlayStation 2.

Eureka Seven vol.1: New Wave was released in Japan on October 27, 2005. It is set four years before the anime and features a different cast of characters. The theme song, Realize, is sung by FLOW. It was released in North America on October 24, 2006.

Eureka Seven: New Vision is the sequel to TR1: New Wave and takes place two years later. It was released in Japan on May 11, 2006, and is set to be released in North America on April 19, 2007.^[7]

Eureka 7 V.1: New Wave, created for the PlayStation Portable, was released on April 6, 2006, in Japan. This game is based on the events from the first half of the show.

[edit] References

• 交響詩篇エウレカセブンまとめ＠2chアニメ板. Retrieved November 9, 2006. (Japanese)

Dai Sato, the screenwriter, speaks about Eureka Seven http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPtFfaqfIBM

[edit] External links

• Official Eureka Seven website (Japanese)
• Bandai Entertainment's official Eureka Seven website
• Adult Swim Eureka Seven page
• YTV's Eureka Seven page
• Eureka Seven at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
• Eureka Seven (manga) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
• Eureka Seven at the Internet Movie Database
• Eureka Seven at AniDB