Monthly Archive for September, 2005

Holland has a rather disturbing dream of being in the midst of a war zone where civilians have been mutilated by the military’s gunfire as well as little children crying over their parents’ dead bodies, and he finally gets to wake up after getting shot by a clone of himself in a military uniform. He tries to shake off his nightmare by turning on the radio and hears a surprising announcement that an earthquake of Alpha 75-30 had occurred Southeast of Nagarest Island, South Arito at point 60. It’s a cause for celebration because a new (and big) wave has been formed in the southern hemisphere, so with Talho’s excellent piloting skills they immediately take off on their way toward the big waves by taking the quickest route possible above the Earth’s atmosphere.

They’ve finally reached the Monarki base, an air force facility that was abandoned after the earthquakes six months ago, but everyone is disappointed that the base has no waves whatsoever. Instead of having a fun time, Holland, Talho, and Eureka are reminded of their shameful pasts as they look back on the crumbling buildings that once housed the military. Although they’ve all changed for the better and have left the military for good, they’re still haunted by the atrocities they’ve committed and the mess they’ve made of people’s lives. Holland is especially bothered by his past and tries his best to act like he doesn’t need anybody in his life, but Talho knows him better than anyone and understands that his rejection of her is purely a defense mechanism since he’s afraid to show any sign of weakness. However, she’s also not one to beg for his affection and grants him his independence, but he decides on his own that he does need her in his life and embraces her tightly with all his heart. (Such a touching scene… :)). Meanwhile, Renton’s busy trying to make his moves on Eureka by kissing her, but he’s still in that childish puppy-love stage where any sign of affection in front of others is an embarrassment and decides to make her laugh instead when a bird lands on his head. If anything, at least she finds him funny, which is a good thing.

Another great episode to satisfy this Eureka Seven fan! It looks like it’ll take Holland a longer time than the others to cope with his past since he’s still ashamed of his role in ruining the lives of innocent civilians, but he’s fortunate that he at least has someone like Talho to lean on for comfort. It also looks like another cast member will be joining Eureka Seven – a pink-haired, cross-eyed girl named Anemone. She already looks like she’ll be trouble.

While shopping with Eureka and the kids, Renton notices people staring at him and thinks it’s because of his new “celebrity” status due to being on the cover of “ray=out,” but it’s actually because he’s the only one carrying all the heavy bags. The kids are annoying to Renton as usual, but Maeter decides to go off on her own after insulting him, leaving everyone (especially Eureka) to worry about her. When she’s finally found in an old lady’s house, Eureka appropriately slaps her hard on the face for running off on her own and making everyone worry. The lady invites them to stay for some tea as an apology for taking Maeter in, and everything seems to be extraordinarily normal again until they notice that someone has thrown a crummy smoke bomb in the house that fails to work properly, followed by Holland’s abrupt break in to the house with his gun pointed at them. He’s obviously just as surprised to see Renton and the others as they are to see him, but he quickly regains his composure and informs them that the old lady is wanted as an important member of the anti-Federation organization, Vodarek, and that they will get paid if they hand her over to the military. Even though Gekkostate is also against the Federation, Holland admits to Renton that he’ll do anything if it involves getting paid. The old lady manages to escape and leads them on a wild goose chase on her scooter while they try to catch her with their oversized LFOs on the narrow city streets, but with strategic planning they’re able to trap her in a large shipping crate.

Renton is upset that they’re eating up all her food even though she’s done nothing to warrant her arrest (as far as he’s concerned), so he refuses to eat and watches over her while she’s in the kitchen cooking a feast for everyone else. She explains to him that the people of Vodarek are not against the Federation and that the military is just jumping to conclusions, but Holland bluntly tells her that he was informed by the military that she was a dangerous terrorist and proceeds with his plan to turn her in. The military later arrives to receive their “terrorist” in exchange for a large sum of money, but the exchange is abruptly stopped when Eureka and Renton successfully lift her to safety in the Nirvash while Talho manages to destroy one of the main military vessels, leaving the foot soldiers on the ground dumbfounded since they’ve just realized that they’ve been duped.

Holland later apologizes to the old lady for having to put her through such a traumatic ordeal and makes a promise to take her to her original home in Ciudades del Cielo, but this makes him uneasy because of certain past encounters that we’ll learn in the next episode. I’m glad that the show’s finally starting to get more interesting again, and I can’t wait to watch the next episode.

Renton has had to deal with The Three Stooges since he came onboard the Gekko-Go, but the shit finally hits the fan when they decide to graffiti his face while he’s asleep. He attempts to teach them a lesson with his fist, but Eureka saves them from getting the punishment they deserve. Despite his frustration with their constant bullying and malicious pranks, he wants to try to get along with them because they are Eureka’s children, and he really likes her. However, their continual pranks are just so upsetting that it makes me upset when he fails to tell her the truth about her bratty kids. He does finally get to spend some time alone with her, though they only talk about her concerns of being a proper mother. She later asks him about his upbringing, and he confides in her that his sister had raised him since both his parents had died as far as he could remember. For some reason, Eureka has sad eyes when she hears this, but we’re not given any explanation on why this makes her sad.

The Three Stooges are busy plotting yet another malicious prank on Renton when one of them accidentally trips on a wire, causing something to activate within the ship. Neither of them can stop it until it finally shuts off on its own. All three of them seem to be named Linck, and they finally reveal their purpose for tormenting Renton – they’re trying their best to drive Renton off the ship in order to protect their Mama. Renton’s listening to all of this from the hallway, and he suddenly realizes that he used to do exactly the same thing to Diane as a child every time she wanted to go out with her boyfriend. Instead of reacting angrily to the kids’ bratty behavior, he decides to help them from getting into trouble for deactivating the Compac Interference Unit and takes them on a ride in the Nirvash over the military base. They’re obviously impressed that he knows how to pilot the LFO, but he really impresses them by demonstrating his skills as the Master Prankster and uses the Ref wax to disable the military’s radar-guided weaponry as well as reducing their interception capability by 40%. The military strikes back with a string of bullets, but Renton’s piloting skills easily evade their attacks and even manages to use the last of the Ref wax to draw a face with the tongue sticking out on the roof of the base. He gets into a bit of a jam when the military LFO’s return to the base and immediately surround him, but Eureka comes to his rescue and saves him from yet another emergency crisis.

Unfortunately, Renton gets thrown in the Brig for unauthorized use of the Nirvash as well as other offenses because Holland believes that he needs to be punished by an adult since he has never been disciplined before, and he also feels that it’s about time that Renton learn about the dire consequences of breaking rules. Meanwhile, Renton’s sitting in the dark by himself when the trap door opens and he sees Eureka and the kids staring down at him. I was expecting them to laugh and make fun of him for getting in trouble, but they surprisingly join him because they feel that they need to be punished as well. To his surprise, Eureka joins them as well, and this of course makes him a happy camper.

This episode was definitely another filler, but it wasn’t as horrendous as I originally thought it would be. I really wanted to kill those kids at the beginning of the episode, though. The torment they put Renton through was just unforgivable, and I wouldn’t have as much restraint as he had toward them. I didn’t like the fact that nobody disciplined those kids for being so delinquent while Renton faced the consequences for every little mistake he made, but the children finally redeemed themselves at the end by apologizing to him. That at least made them more likeable. Now, onto the next episode!