Eureka Seven 1-43
This show is a god damn mess. Low lows and the few fantastic moments don't really feel deserved (with some exceptions). The story material, designs, music, VA-- everything, is the marking of a great series but the execution fails. It feels like whoever planned the series really had no idea where they were taking it, possibly hinging on whether they would be renewed past each cour or something.
The first cour was relatively inoffensive and towards the end pretty good setup that got me excited for the rest of the series. Slice of life moments prove to be much better than the actual action and plot, with the cast's day to day being the only thing that really separates it from being any other old boring mecha clone. We then dive into must-be-Evangelion-inspired moments at the end to cement its uniqueness and amp up the intrigue to 11. Unfortunately it also marks the beginning of the series' obsession with using its technobabble to obfuscate plot from the main character and viewer for absolutely no reason with the introduction of a "Coralion" -- there is even a gag about this where Renton repeatedly asks what the hell it is, which was funny at the time but not so much in retrospect.
On to the second cour, the first batch of episodes (up to and including 20) were incredibly disappointing. Renton and Eureka have their respective post-Zone breakdowns, which is fine -- what really kills it is Holland and Talho. We suffer through 7 episodes of the same rote, repetitive interactions (and inaction) with these two, which honestly made me hate their characters. Particularly tragic for Talho who had some semblance of personality before despite my thinking her purpose was mainly to be some sort of proto-Yoko fan service machine. The rest of the characters aren't particularly better, really only serving as relief from the shitstorm or displaying their own inaction. Luckily, we eventually get to episode 21 where Renton finally runs away from the shit hole that is the Gekko -- I should mention that the scene that causes this was really well done, props to the animators. From here things get back on track: with Renton gone everyone gets some actual character development and we get introduced to Charles and Ray who breath life back into the cast. The way they handle the eventual reveal to the main character is much more human than whatever the fuck they were doing with the folks aboard the Gekko beforehand and the ensuing conflict is much more painful (in a good way) thanks to it. 26 closes off with one of the best sequences in any series, and then they ruin it by killing Charles instead of Holland in 27.
After dealing with the aftermath of Charles/Ray the third cour decides to take a trip to the land of infodumps. Not that I'm particularly complaining at this point -- we've gone far too long without vital information, but I would have preferred somewhat more of a slow drip. They "fix" the Holland/Talho issue by practically just nuking their characters without any regard for development into more tolerable ones -- again, not complaining but. This also makes what would have been a really sweet moment (the rings in 34) feel undeserved. For the most part this cour is just generic: Dewey is a laughable villain, new technobabble is relatively uninteresting after the infodumps on what was set up from earlier, stakes feel low. 36 and 38 are nice returns to SoL shenanigans. 39 was just bad.
So far the last stretch is proving to be much better. Hopefully the ending proves worth my time, as it stands its been fun and good in spots but I'm not sure I could recommend it to anyone due to inconsistency.
