Series: Eureka Seven is one of those series that people into mech robot fighting seem to really enjoy as a unique and interesting way of combining many of the elements that seem to be clichés when tossed into a series without reason. This was a special one as I pointed out months ago, writing: "Eureka Seven V1, a science fiction anime show that focuses on one such youth of tomorrow by the name of Renton Thurston. Renton is fourteen years old, lives with his grandfather, and spends his days dreaming of lifting (a futuristic version of skateboarding that uses the planet's "trapar", or floating energy particles, as a source of energy to fly with). His father was a hero who literally saved the world and young Renton is something of a slacker whose only dreams revolve around his idol lifter, Holland and the group he leads called the Gekkostate. People live in small city states with a loose knit government that has some form of corporate oversight (unexplained by the end of the five episodes included here) and Gekkostate is a form of traveling group of lifters that have elevated the sport to an art form. They generally do as they please and seem to fit into some sort of shady operation that the authorities know about but the general public doesn't. It becomes clear that they are being hunted down by the KLF (the military arm of the government) during the first episode with Renton quickly placed in the middle of the fight.

Okay, the premise of this futuristic story is that 14 year old Renton seeks a life of glory and adventure. He finds that one day with a young blue haired girl named Eureka, crashes her LFO (a large mech-robot) into his grandfather's repair hanger. It being a military device of great power, it strikes Renton as curious that such a cute young thing would be piloting it but one thing leads to another with him falling for her (as young men tend to do). She is chased by the authorities however and after some minor repair work, she's on her way. Interestingly enough though, Renton's idol is associated with the girl and comes to pay a visit to the shop where his presence is immediately denounced by grandfather, making it clear that the man was affiliated with his son (Renton's dad). This intrigues young Renton, who ends up installing a special device onto Eureka's LFO (called the Nirvash; the prototype LFO and far more advanced than the retro-engineering of the government has been able to install in their own LFO's) called the Amiga Drive. This device greatly enhances the power of the already unstoppable robot at the hands of Eureka, leaving Renton with a choice of whether he should join the Gekkostate or not. Despite his grandfather's emotional pleas, he leaves with them in order to live his dream life, not realizing that the reality of his situation is far different from the fantasy he has built up over the years (like running away and joining the circus).

In Eureka Seven V1, Eureka Seven V2, Eureka Seven V3, and Eureka Seven V4 the premise had been set up to that the world in which lead Renton lived in was turned upside down. He left the comforts of home and the security of being with his grandfather to chase a dream that involved his idol, Holland, and a girl he became infatuated with, Eureka. Holland knew more about the boy than he let on and had some ulterior motive for bringing him on the trip but that was underplayed for the most part, with the occasional exception of Renton's ability to access the Amiga Drive on the Nirvana. Holland was far more mysterious and temperamental than originally thought and Eureka seemed to be getting ill for some reason, perhaps related to Renton's connection with the Nirvash when the team made way to a near mythical portal that was appearing in a nearby area. The portal appeared to be a tsunami of trapar but no one seemed able to explain the wonders, and dangers, to Renton before he was cast into it as co-pilot with Eureka. The down side was that the military also saw fit to access the portal, called a Coralian, with a Nirvash class ship of their own, piloted by a young girl that looked very much like Eureka, named Anemone. Her handler was a ranking officer that looked much like Renton, called Dominic, and it was clear he cared for her in a similar manner too.

The main thrust of the show in Eureka Seven V7 seemed to be tied exclusively to events that happened in the missing volumes 5 and 6 so while I was clueless as to the extent of how it all interacted, I could make out the basics with all the character exposition going on (typical for an anime release, though not usually for one I liked so much as the previous volumes of this series). The main thrust initially involved two mercenary types by the names of Ray and Charles. While I figured this was a metaphor for the blindness of their devotion to duty, it struck me as an inappropriate use of names on a couple of levels. That said, the opening half dealt with their operation to secure a strike against Gekkostate; both having mixed feelings considering events where they must have become close to Renton since they were close friends. Things did not work out for them and the result leaves Renton in a deep depression over the continuing way his life is out of his control, though Eureka seems to have undergone something positive in the interim considering her ability to enjoy life again (the last I saw of her, she was not doing so well). It was a different type of action for the most part though and I liked it a lot, except for the convenient ending of course. The next major development had to do with Dominic, a new character when I last visited the series, searching out information from Renton's grandfather and former associates, showing his growth but leaving me with a ton of questions as a result. Still, while a break from the main action, it served to show an opponent of Renton studying his own complicity in the events unraveling before him, leaving me wondering where Anemone was during his mission. The volume ended with the heavily damaged Nirvash needing repairs yet again, this time at a military base; the exact opposite of where they wanted to go but for Holland's own little dilemma. Renton saved the day in a couple of ways of course but the kudos he receives do not end there as he tries to earnestly become one of the crew in other ways as well.

I then checked out Eureka Seven: V8 with episodes 31) Animal Attack, 32) Star It Up, 33) Pacific State, and 34) Inner Plight. Having sustained significant damage in the previous encounters, the Gekkostate chanced going to a repair facility that had worked on the vessel before (back when it was under government control). The technicians go along with the idea for their own reasons, the crew settling things up as they prepared to end the crazy pursuit by the Federation once and for all. The military seems destined to employ any means necessary to finish some of the environmentally based problems the human race has encountered on the planet, the natives not altogether happy with the idea as Dewey begins a genocidal campaign that will either work or end all life as we know it on the planet. The implied threats to the ruling elite aside, he is desperate to make this all happen now rather than wait for a consensus, just as the Gekko is repaired and the Nirvash is being retrofitted (against it's will). Eureka is happy even as Renton is made aware of her place in the order of things and the rest of the players start getting ready for the final confrontation in the last volume of the series. As the Federation uses its new weapon on local cities to devastating effect, the cards are laid out on the table and the horrific results are only the tip of the iceberg as Renton's grandfather is hounded by the military as he readies a new board for the Nirvash.

So we looked at Eureka Seven: V9; the title pushing through some of the melodrama forced on it by use of a young teenager as the thematic lead. The episodes were 35 Astral Apache, 36) Fantasia, 37) Raise Your Hand, and 38) Date of Birth. The Federation is intent on wiping out the Coralians by any means necessary, using tremendously damaging weapons that invoke the desired response; allowing the government to both play up the propaganda aspects of the situation in their favor as well as get rid of dissenters. The open internal revolt against the balance of power continues as well with Holland's old mentor on a spree of destruction the scale of which had never been known. With Master Norb's life in danger, the crew set out on a desperate plan to save him by attacking the heart of the capital; perhaps the most fortified location on the entire planet. Eureka sees the matter in slightly different terms, coming to grips that she is a pawn for both sides of the struggle, only truly trusting Renton to do the right thing; Tresoir's overall plan succeeding for the most part as he becomes more of a demagogue in his rise to power. The continued use of flashbacks with Holland's past interceding with Renton's family also show some of the layers only hinted at in previous episodes, the code issue partially solved but still up to the hands of the two young lovers (the comic impact of their continued courtship dragging the crew into it very amusingly). As with much of the show to date, each revelation answers some questions but asks so many more as the layers are unveiled that you will want to watch it a few times to get all the subtleties. Heck, the discussion between Master Norb and the crew about the bigger issues in play was convoluted enough that I wanted to raise my hand a few times too (perhaps something was lost in the translation of the subtitles since the dub track did no better) but it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience for me.

That brings us to Volume 10 in the series, containing episodes 39) Join The Future, 40) Cosmic Trigger, 41) Acperience 3 and 42) Star Dancer. The plans are all laid out to breach the Great Wall as the crew makes a stop on the edge of a religious temple hailed far and wide as a place of major significance on the eve of a big holy day. Master Norb gets a crazy idea (actually, all of his ideas strike me as such) that a game of soccer will help them in some fashion (be it working as a team, improving their skills, or some deeper idea) so they take a break to do so before the local authorities try to catch them. The plan to reunite Master Orb and his long lost lover, a holy gal named Sakuya that appears to be directly tied to Eureka in more than a few ways, as a means to assist the younger couple in their mission. Anemone and the authorities go all out to stop them too; unleashing another wave of Scub Coral and the female going ballistic in attacking the Gekkostate crews (battling against Holland himself in a visually fantastic fight). As all eyes watch, the kids make their run wile the rest of the team is caught in a hail of gunfire from all directions; making the next volume of the show all that more interesting. As part of the series, this was a really important volume and thanks in part to the extras of the Collector Set, I bumped up the rating to Highly Recommended.

Picture: Eureka Seven: V10 was presented in the original 1.33:1 ratio full frame color it was produced in for airing on television in Japan starting in the last year or so (yes, it's that new). It looked very appealing as eye candy with no obvious flaws to speak of and a lot of care taken to insure that the motion during the battle and flying sequences was handled to minimize the flaws so many older shows have displayed in recent years. There didn't appear to be a lot of corner cutting in general and the closer I looked at it, the better it looked to me.

Sound: The audio was presented with the usual choice of the 2.0 tracks: both the original Japanese track and the English language dub most of us have come to expect from anime. The two tracks seemed worlds apart in terms of the vocals, with the original track sounding somewhat more fluid and the dub having lots of liberties taken with the translation (I believe this was done to more accurately convey the sense of the material without devolving into the need for lots of explanations on cultural differences). In that sense, each offers up a different experience; both worth checking out. The special effects and music tracks seemed slightly louder and more pronounced on the dub, though the dynamic range was indistinguishable to my ears without a side by side comparison. None of the characters were immediately noticed as being wrong for their roles though, a step up from many contemporary releases (both original tracks and dubs alike).

Extras: The Collector Edition's of most series have been few and far between for us here but this time, the larger box to hold several volumes was cool and the included t-shirt fit me nicely. Still, the best extra was the graphic novel called Gravity Boys & Lifting Girl as it provided another look at the characters in action, making me want to pick up more of them. This kind of win/win extra is what separates the better shows from the weaker ones, also providing another reason for folks to buy rather than steal the show via downloading. The other best extra was the audio commentary on Join The Future (episode 39) by the Japanese voice actors for Renton (Yuko Sanpei), Eureka (Kaori Nazuka), Yasundri Matsumoto (Stoner), and Taro Yamaguchi (Kap) as the group is specially placed to know more about the show than almost anyone else. The addition of some trailers to other shows and the latest version of the Japanese interviews were kind of cool too. It is always fun and rewarding to see quality companies offer up a balance in the extras, though few seem to be willing to provide such extras on a regular basis. This time, the voice actors providing some decent interview footage, with English subtitles to help those of us that are not fluent in the language, was the best extra for my purposes.

Final Thoughts: Eureka Seven: V10 shows the characters finally taking the steps needed in order to confront the past and future at the same time; knowing full well the odds being against them. That the basis of the mission is for the young Renton and Eureka to do what no one before has ever accomplished speaks volumes as to the beliefs of the jaded members of the Gekkostate and with limited volumes to come, made substantial inroads to closing up the story. In short, if you've followed the series to this point, you're going to like Eureka Seven: V10: Collector's Edition a whole lot as the end is just around the corner where most of the riddles will be solved. Give it a look and you'll see what I mean but if you're new to the show, by all means pick up the previous volumes first since this was no stand alone anime title in my opinion.

If you enjoy anime, take a look at some of the recommendations by DVD Talk's twisted cast of reviewers in their Best Of Anime 2003, Best Of Anime 2004, Best of Anime 2005, and Best of Anime 2006 articles or their regular column Anime Talk.