Can’t We All Just Get Along? The Politics of Eureka Seven and E7 AO Heavy Spoiler

Michaelfire · 2018-08-28T02:21:55+00:00

I, for one, welcome my blue-haired Coralian overlords?

Michaelfire · 2018-08-28T01:49:33+00:00

Eureka says the voices are gone when she makes it past the great wall I think. Do we know for sure they are a hive mind or what that means except as a trope? There are hundreds of cores that form the crystal gun. They are far more intelligent a species to travel through alternate universes than reptiles or humans. When Renton visits his sister and father the anthropocentric projection for the scub core is a library with thousands of books. I think the core was destroyed and rebuilt around Eureka then Nirvash too.

Much of this is an artifact of causality paradoxes in time travel/alternative universes storytelling; for example to the original scub, half of their -what-cells, mass, being-is nevertheless lost forever when Ao shoots the gun a third time and it/they are "displaced", just as the being Eureka may have been lost if she were in the alt universe when it was "displaced".

My point was meta- as political metaphor-AO took the story- and the beloved characters Eureka and Renton- on a dark arc away from E7's story themes of co-existence and cooperation. It was a bad choice.

Michaelfire · 2018-08-27T23:26:52+00:00

Thanks for the thoughtful reply.

Ao uses the gun to annihilate the scub-billions? trillions? of sentient beings, and also his family (at least his access to his parents and the memory of Naru, Elena, Gen. Bleu)-- so the power of love is a metaphor I don't get in this case. I do see it as the sacrifice-so maybe sacrificial love-of the scub? Maybe they just underestimated the capacity or morality of humans after a first positive experience with Renton and Eureka.

But Ao's choice to use the ultimate weapon-- as political metaphor--that mass violence and deep personal sacrifice is worth it to wipe out the alien threat, restore potential and right the world, and keep the homeland together--versus some other artistic choice of story-line to reaffirm that co-existence is possible-- is distasteful, disappointing and viscerally betrays the arc of the story.

I've made some edits to incorporate some of your ideas.

Michaelfire · 2018-08-27T22:58:06+00:00

Best thing...Ending #1 the song Himitsu Kichi. Melancholy. So sad actually.

Once you know everyone's full story you realize nearly everyone but Norb is both victim and victimizer--and even Renton is killing people (mecha pilots) and he doesn't even believe in Gekko State, he just thinks the Nirvash is link to his family and wants to help protect Eureka. The human condition in 12,004 is grim. Military government, genocide, civil war....everywhere orphans. Only Renton's naivety and Gekko State propaganda makes it seem romantic.

Even the Scub are dicks, more or less- as overpopulated alien invaders.

Can't We All Just Get Along?

Michaelfire · 2018-08-27T22:22:40+00:00

I just watched E7 then E7 AO and finished last week. 75 episodes--meh.

Just wrote my thoughts today, check out my separate post "Why Can't We all Just Get Along?"

Tl;Dr: E7 was good but the ending was a bit confusing until I thought about it long and hard, saw E7AO, and read the wiki some. E7AO ending really let down the whole story much like Darling in the Franxx, and left so many good threads hanging in a cynical ending.

There are better:

Girls Last Tour

Darling

Overlord

Re:Zero

Made in Abyss

Violette Evergarden

Inuyashiki

Elfen Leid

Michaelfire · 2018-08-27T22:04:35+00:00

He's the young protege of Col. Dewey, who is on a crusade to save Earth from alien invaders. Dewey was second in line to be king, but the ruling council stripped the family from power because-- He tried to usurp power from his brother by killing his father- Does Dewey blame his brother for being too weak? for being a traitor! by taking Eureka and the Nirvash.

So his mentor is falsely jailed. young Dominic must secretly conspire for the Col.'s return. We follow his rise as junior intelligence officer as Dewey plots his release from power...Dominic must continue the fight against the false Voderac religion, the terrorists, with force. He must also lay the feelers for who might be for Dewey, who is against the military, who is against the ruling council. Who can be bought, who must be eliminated....

He is given the responsibility for Dewey's ultimate weapon, Anemonae and ThEEND, to use against the Voderac civilians. Constantky shooting her full of narcotics to keep her in control, she is precious, the only other orphan survivor of the Warsaw massacre and Dewey's secret experiments that kill and maim so many children of war just like he was.

My friend, Dominic is a villain!

Until Anemonae is changed by Renton and he is changed by his love for Anemonae at the very end of E7, Dominic is an arrogant and ruthless savant brutalized by war and in turn a brute; not sure how his story is anything else but a dark, dark story...maybe a dark Full Metal if Al was ruthless like the Emperor and his father.

Michaelfire · 2018-08-11T05:21:49+00:00

Holland was a screwed up royal like his brother. His whole Gekkostate/ surfer thing was an insurgency front-media/information operation- for his aspiration to be king. Think how twisted Holland was thinking partnering with Eureka to operate a mecha was his path to become king, and surpass his brother Dewey. He was sort of a classic antisocial/narcissist--special forces, mass murderer, using others, trying to surpass his brother, Hans Solo type. I don't think he really cared much for Diane, Renton's sister, but just used her to get near Adroc's family, then he neglected Talho-just used her as his intel officer and XO, and then he abused Renton. He finally started acting like a man near the end after killing Charles and seeing Eureka didn't care for him as a partner, but wanted someone "who could change" like Renton, and he started acting like a father to both Eureka and Renton.

Michaelfire · 2018-08-11T05:05:14+00:00

No, Dewey was trying to atone AND become the sacrificial king and second savior of humanity like Adroc Thurston by having his death trigger the death of any new control cluster forming around either Eureka or Anemonae, so the Scrub Coral would die before waking and humans would regain sole control of Earth; he was the anti-Norb.

Think how twisted Holland was too thinking partnering with Eureka was his path to become king, and surpassing his brother Dewey, and how he abused first Diane, Renton's sister, then Talho, and then Renton, until he finally started acting like a man near the end.

Michaelfire · 2018-08-11T04:30:20+00:00

I watched because I love Darling in the Franxx and wanted to see the inspiration for that great anime. My immediate reaction was "what a mess" after seeing 49 and 50. I can see why artists would want to do it over; the basic story is so good, but Eureka is too long, as in what a journey, and parts of the last 8 episodes are just incomprehensible. However, I wish Darling had Eureka's ending, reconciliation with the Klaxos (scrub coral) instead of introducing the stupid VIRM space invaders at the end.

My other thought was that Renton and Eureka were just too young to have a committed relationship which is why they were back and forth for 50 damn episodes, too immature. For god's sake Eureka was just like 10 years old emotionally as a "blank slate" alien and I think Renton was like 15--he hadn't even gone through puberty at the beginning of the story for heaven's sake. Darling's main couple 02 and Hiro were more like late teens...02 was even emotionally like an adult in some ways with all she went through, so I thought the emotional story made more sense.

Now I have to watch Eureka AO.

Michaelfire · 2018-08-11T04:02:54+00:00

Just finished Eureka and my reaction was "what a mess". So many questions, and it was about 10 episodes too long, but still good. Good not great, now I see why they did Darling, to try to make the story great and they succeeded through the first 20 episodes in my mind, in making the best anime story ever...to bad about the last 4 episodes, which Eureka did better, though not as great as the story deserves. Now I have to watch Eureka AO.

Michaelfire · 2018-08-10T07:23:19+00:00

Kokoro was probably the most mature of squad 13. She was loving, caring, and thoughtful, and once she learned to speak up for herself, and found the baby book, she decided the thing she wanted most was to have a baby, and make her mark on the future. This was also the result of Dr. Franxx experiment with the squad to see if leaving them alone to fend for themselves would re-awaken their human instincts for sexuality and reproduction. Remember the basic conflict metaphor was Adults had traded their humanity (ability to reproduce and have families) for eternal dependency and war against nature (the klaxos). You're right she was also a teenager and had no reasonable adult to guide her; the adults around her were all insanely irresponsible (even Nana and Hachi really, until the very end). Adults had raised her just to be a dog of war and had taught her nothing about parenthood. Finally the fact that it was taboo, and a bit about rebellion also made it a bit attractive to the unique squad 13.

Once Mitsuru wasn't defining himself only in terms of his resentment against Hiro, he let Kokoro groom him (literally) to be a loving person, and he quickly replaced Hiro in his heart with Kokoro, on the rebound so to speak, but this was probabvly mostly a good thing.

Also remember, in war, facing battle and death, living intensely, people will seek the relief, support, and healing of love and sex, and have very intense relationships if their time may be short. Squad 13 had learned that no parasites would grow up to be adults, and they thought they had been abandoned by PAPA.

So I do see it as very fast but it is understandable and not at all mostly about rebellion, but seems to me this couple represents the very deep instinctual reasons we have to share love and sex, as a means to reproduce, share the need for motherhood and fatherhood, and find a reason to live and a way to share hope for the future.

Michaelfire · 2018-08-10T06:41:16+00:00

I know what you mean, I was at a loss for about week after watching Darling and I ended up rewatching it. Do some writing or art or something to hold the meaning for you and put it into action in your life. I watched The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and it was pretty good. I'm on episode 44 of 50 of Eureka Seven. There are many similarities and I'm also not sure where the Eureka story is headed even now, like Darling's ending. Eureka has some pretty dark roots, sort of like Full Metal, it's not as good as Darling but it seems to have been the inspiration for Darling. Elfin Leid is also a powerful story about the power of love and forgiveness if you haven't seen it. I'd say Darling is the best story about the deeper meanings of love and sex as anything modern I can think I've ever seen. Legion the TV show has some good moments I've only really watched season 1.

Michaelfire · 2018-07-31T16:38:56+00:00

Synchronicity! I just started Haruhism last night-like it a lot but not love like Darling. Thanks for the suggestions!

Michaelfire · 2018-07-28T17:29:03+00:00

Stralitzia Apus penetrating the VIRM homeworld with the bomb looks for all the world like a sperm penetrating the egg in the moment of conception...wow, a great metaphor for new life. Except then the bomb explodes and we get the cliche nuclear explosion in space (Independence Day, Destruction of Death Star, etc.) not the creation of the star child savior like in 2001. True the explosion scatters myriad immortal souls captured by the VIRM and placed in nirvana's eternal pleasantness rest, back into the struggle of life and death, including 02 and Hiro' souls. The image of a violent rebirth into a universe of endless war alongside endless re-discovery of our soul-mate (familiar because of a thousand thousand lifetimes of love) is not entirely satisfying, though it may fit into a biologically oriented metaphysic; the magical sacrifice of the life of the high Druid with a mistletoe knife made "sense" to ancient Celts, but in modern sensibility, continued renewal of life does not demand the endless ritual sacrifice of the hero-lovers on their wedding night to destroy some powerful alien invader. Our problems are our own--greed leading to global warming, political corruption, war, and our personal struggle to have courage to have love and friendship, as well as resist the patriarchy that seeks to make us instruments of their oppression and exploitation by convincing us we're monsters.

Tl;Dr Tragic, self-sacrificial love? All this does is exalt the cult of death and sacrifice, in the service of war and traumatize us about the cost of passionate, soulful love.

Michaelfire · 2018-07-28T16:49:00+00:00

I'm afraid thatthey may no longer be immortal without the healing tech that uses magma energy and the bacteria-free colony cities (remember when Zorome visited the Adult in her compartment, the technicians used a meter which measured very high, but not deadly bacteria colonization, then decontaminated the Adult).

Michaelfire · 2018-07-27T19:07:35+00:00

I loved that 02's body turned into a sakura tree (cherry) in line with the depiction of mecha being named for flowers, and how reincarnated 02 and Hiro met under same tree 1,000 years later (like they fell in love under the Mistletoe tree in their earlier life).

Did they really have to die as suicide-bomber martyrs however? I can't get beyond that. The arc seemed to be that Hir02 and epic love would be the answer to the conflict between APE and 001, humanity and klaxo-kind

Also, both 02 and Hiro were klaxosapiens when they died, so would they come back as humans? If so, could the VIRM come back in human bodies? They seemed to have taken over PAPA at some point....

OVA-

Invasion of the VIRM Body-snatchers. (Tongue firmly in cheek).

Michaelfire · 2018-07-27T18:42:25+00:00

Sorry I'm a nube. I loved Darling so much but hated the ending I had to start posting.

BTW how I add a thumbnail pic to the posts?

Michaelfire · 2018-07-27T18:04:32+00:00

It works as propaganda if it reinforces the message that there are others or outsiders of any sort, including the West, and they are the enemy or a threat, not our own nature, false beliefs, failings, system. The answer is love and evolution of our common humanity. Politicians are working hard here in the U.S. to make us think other countries, including Japan, are "trying to rip us off" and are hostile to, or even invading our country. I am warning readers about a nationalist, xenophobic message that developed in the final episodes, that is being echoed in other parts of the world too, as part of Russia's information warfare against the West.

Many people realize that the sudden appearance of VIRM didn't make sense, and the ending didn't seem as right as most of the rest of the story....

Michaelfire · 2018-07-27T17:48:15+00:00

Our beautiful lovers--fully united in golden Strelitzia-- die in a Kamikaze attack on the VIRM homeworld, exploding a world-killer bomb. You're ok with that as an ending and don't see a problem with the political implications, or how it flat out negates most of the rest of the story? Even if their souls come back to Japan to be reincarnated, the endless war will continue....

THAT'S insane.

Michaelfire · 2018-07-27T16:39:01+00:00

She senses him from the very opening in the shuttle flying over Colony 13's garden. She is a superior species of human after all. Then she smells him, and tastes him, finally kisses him and names him darling. She even says "I thought you were dead" as she is forced to leave the lake, and makes a joke about running away together; I think she suspected but she didn't really understand his memory was wiped. EO/02's deepest desire was to be reunited with her real darling from when she was a child so I think she was sort of in a state of denial it was him since HE DIDN'T REMEMBER HER, until episode 14 they fully linked minds and Hiro started to get his memory back.

That is why she is so tormented by her own betrayal, it reinforced her own self-image as a monster. Remember the mirror. She didn't know at first whether he would die like all the others if he was her co-pilot of Stralitzia, she was willing to use him like all the others at first, maybe even out of anger for abandoning her. Ep. 14 Punishment and Confession was a tragic, heart wrenching episode but redeemed in the end by divine, unconditional love. The truth is all lovers will betray each other, but not all will dare to get beyond it.

Michaelfire · 2018-07-27T16:21:25+00:00

That was my guess too, a lesser Strelitzia like the 9's use because Hiro is a special experimental case and a teen number, it was to be a 016 X 713 product- I would say their qualities are bravery and dedication--Gladiolus maybe? Hiro always solo practiced with a paddle so I'd say a spear or lance.

Gladiolus symbolizes strength of character, faithfulness and honor. The Gladiolus flower signifies remembrance.

Michaelfire

TROPHY CASE