Read more
The Eureka Seven feature brings back the characters from the 2005 broadcast series but gives them new origins, relationships, and challenges. Renton Thurston and Eureka were raised together as children with the "larva" of the mecha Nirvash. (It looks like a cross between Mokona from Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle and one of the cuter Pokémon, but its cry of "Mukyu" may grate on English-speaking viewers.) The trio is inevitably drawn into the ongoing battle between the people of Earth and the aliens known as the EIZO. The dashing antihero Holland and the irreverent crew of the Gekkostat have been recast as the former victims of medical experiments. The Coralians, the Zone, the trio of obnoxious orphans Eureka looked after, Renton's heroic father, and the Amita Drive are curiously absent. The convoluted plot lurches erratically from crisis to crisis, and it's never quite clear what`s going on or what's at stake, despite the long-winded expository speeches. The filmmakers borrow elements from Evangelion, Escaflowne, and Key the Metal Idol but fail to blend them into a coherent story. Who are the EIZO and what do they want? Are Eureka and Anemone really spy-robots? Tomoki Kyoda, who directed the television program, handles the aerial battles with his usual panache, but there are so many airborne conflicts, they become repetitious. In the original Eureka Seven, 14-year-old Renton embodied the enthusiasm and insecurity of a rookie trying to join the team he admired; in Good Night, Sleep Tight, Young Lovers, he`s a standard-issue anime hero, determined to protect the girl (or robot) he loves against all odds.
Tomoki Kyoda