Archive for January, 2008

Eureka Seven

Thursday, January 3rd, 2008

I have watched a lot of animé and Eureka Seven is the greatest work I’ve seen. From the captivating world to the picture perfect characters and the cool reffing LFOs, this animé series transcends its medium.

I thought it was just another mecha animé that will just entertain me when I first saw it in ABS-CBN 2, but I got hooked with it. Thus, I watched the series over at YouTube during the Christmas break. Afterward, Eureka Seven became the opiate of my mind until now.

I would like to quote one of the fans who posted his comment in IMDb. He said “Eureka Seven has a beautiful art style, an entrancing world, absolutely phenomenal high speed fight scenes and an excellent story that is absolutely full of twists and turns, shocking moments and profound surprises. Nothing, however, compares to the masterpiece that is the character cast. Renton is the main character who is at the beginning of the series a bored and whiny kid who is oblivious to the nuances of adult life. After he meets the mysterious Eureka in the first episode (and immediately falls in love with her), his character sets off on a true adventure and by the end of the series Renton truly becomes a man. The fantastic romance between Renton and Eureka is the center of the storyline and will undoubtedly cause at least half of Eureka Seven’s audience to burst into tears at multiple points of the story… The other characters in the story are no less interesting and many go through extreme changes just as Renton did. The cold, hard and reluctant leader Holland morphs into a compassionate and strong hero by the end of the story and many people who watch this series start out hating Holland but absolutely love him by the end.”

It also got several awards in Japan. I never thought that there are award giving bodies in Japan for animé.

Anyway, quoting an entry in Wikipedia, “Towards the end of its original Japanese run, Eureka Seven won multiple awards at the 2006 Tokyo International Anime Fair, including Best Television Series, Best Screenplay for Dai Satō, and Best Character Designs for Ken’ichi Yoshida. Ken’ichi Yoshida, the series’ main animator and character designer, also received an individual award at the 10th Animation Kobe Awards in September 2005. The series also won an award at the 20th Digital Content Grand Prix in Japan in January 2006. At the Anime Expo 2006 SPJA Awards, Eureka Seven won the award for Best Television Series, and Best Female Character for Eureka. Anime Insider voted it “Best DVD Series of the Year” in 2006.”

I guess I would just like to say to others, “Go watch it!!!”

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Animé Addict

Tuesday, January 1st, 2008

Yeah, I
admit it. I’m one of those fascinated with Japanese pop culture, particularly
animé. There are few Japanese dramas that I like, like Gokusen and those that
were done by Takuya Kimura.

 
I love to watch animé, especially those with mahō shōjo and mecha themes and those that where
adopted from manga series. Of course, part of liking an animé
is how the soundtrack was rendered and how the voice actors nailed their voices
to the characters. I grew up watching Voltes V, Voltron, Daimos, Macross and Astro Boy.
All of which are mecha animé or animation about robots.
 
Then there
came Dragonball Z, a shōnen animé. It was initially aired in RPN 9 then it was
terminated in the climax of the battle between Son Goku and Vegeta.
 
Then there
were other mecha animé that came, like Neon Genesis Evangelion and Gundam.
There’s also Zoid, a battle story about mechanical living beings that resemble
dinosaurs.
 
When I
graduated from college, while waiting to get into a job, I watched several game
based animé. To those who were able to watch Slumdunk, who
will ever forget
Hanamichi Sakuragi? I like the thought of learning to be team player watching
this animation and becoming the best in what you are doing. I remember how the
story affected me because I was quite involved with our basketball team back in
college. It’s funny watching this animé but there are moments
that I really felt crying in some episodes.
 
There’s
also Knock Out about the boxing career of Ippo Makunochi… Prince of Tennis
about the high school freshman tennis genius Ryoma Echizen… Hikaru No Go…
 
 Add to the
list are Flame of Recca (the seven dragon flames of Recca =D) and Ghost Fighter
(the ray gun of Eugene =D).I remember that I
often think that Alfred of Ghost Fighter and Hanamichi Sakuragi have the same
character or attitude. I think they also have the same Filipino voice actor.
 
There’s a mahō
shōjo animé that I like because the girl is so cute that I even sketched her.
It’s Card Captor Sakura.
 
Another cute moé animé is A Little Snow Fairy Sugar. The fairy characters are
named after spices and they have musical instruments that if played well will
control the weather condition.
 
Then one my
favorites, Elemental Gerad were shown in QTV 11. It’s a story about a powerful
shichikou-houju Reverie Metherlence, better known as Ren, and a sky pirate Coud
Van Giruet. I like the story because of their adventure and love for each other
that changed the lives of so many people and Edel Raids around them.
 
There are
several “makukulit” animé that have shōjo theme or a combination
of several themes, like Galaxy Angels that have weird plots and all that will
just make you laugh. Then there’s Love Hina, Fruits Basket and School Rumble.
 
Of course,
I like Hunter X Hunter and Naruto also. In one of the episodes of Naruto, I was
reminded of the value of giving your all in discipling someone and training
yourself to become better. I also like the value given to friendship in these
series.
 
My latest
favorite and I think the best animé so far that I have watched and I really got
hooked with is Psalms of Planet Eureka Seven. I actually downloaded Eureka
Seven wallpapers for my computer and cell phone, also the soundtracks and its
lyrics, even though I hardly understand Nihonggo.
 
“Eureka
Seven works in a wide variety of themes throughout its story. One of the most
prevalent themes in the series is racial and religious tolerance and harmony,
which is carried through the characters’ relationships as well the series’
conflicts. Some of the other more global themes that the series covers consist
of issues such as allegories of real world conflicts and wars, current
political climates from Japan and abroad, depictions of various subcultures and
related musical movements that span several generations, and ties to environmental
movements. The series also covers other more personal themes such as parenting
and family, along with a very innocent view of puppy love or love at first
sight from  Renton and  Eureka. The series works these
themes, as well as the theme of growing up and change, into the journey of
Renton Thurston” (from Wikipedia).
 
Why do I
like this mecha animé so much? Well it’s not much of the robots, though the
Nirvash typeZero is really cool, but I really like the growing love and
affection between the main characters – Eureka and Renton. Eureka is a Coralian in human
form who knows nothing about being a mother, about family, about being cool,
about love and almost anything about human being. Renton is stubborn brat who
hates school and loves reffing. He fell in love with Eureka the moment he first saw
her. 
 
They grew
more mature over time. Eureka learned to become more
human by her interaction with her adopted kids and Renton and the rest of the Gekko State members. At the age of 16
they become parents to their adopted kids Maurice, Maeter and Linck.

 
I like how
a promise made by Renton to protect Eureka and to be with her all
the time could change the world and how their decision to love each other could
change their destiny. Renton really expressed
unconditional love to Eureka, especially when she
became unattractive because her skin was somehow damaged by the Scab Coral and
when wings grew on her back. They also showed unending love for each other. Eureka was about to become the
Command Center Coralian when Renton came to her with the
Nirvash. Eureka was willing to give up her human form body to
become the Command Center just to protect the kids
and Renton and everyone else on Earth. Renton also was willing to give
up his humanity just to be with Eureka forever. If they will
become one as the Command Center then they will be
together forever. But the Scab Coral, moved by their love for each other,
decided to release them to live a normal life. And for other people to have
hope in love, the Scab etched their love for each other in the moon’s surface
for others to see.

 

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