(L) Eureka Seven: Astral Ocean

[Guardian Enzo]

Amazed to see so many people tossing Naru over the side so easily. We don't even know if things happened in reality as they did in Ao's mind - and if they did, we don't know whether she was in control of her mind at the time. She and Ao will be reunited, it's a mortal lock. It's a fundamental tenet of E7, even if it weren't plastered all over the OP and ED.

There's no such thing as an invalid opinion, but these complaints about AO feel so generic to me - and indeed, many of them are quite literally the same complaints people lodged in dismissing the series before it started. In my opinion this is a very different series than the original because Aikawa Shou is a very different writer than Satou Dai. This is like E7 through his lens - much more political, with anti-war and generational betrayal themes, and his particular affection for playing with altered perceptions. For me the combination is totally working - it's still E7 but darker and edgier, and I think a very interesting and complex plot is being slowly laid out. And the connections to the original show are slowly starting to reveal themselves.

For my money this is a better show than the original (which I loved despite its flaws) - so far. As always we'll have to see how they steward the story to the finish but the seeds are there - terrific MC, intriguing plot, excellent cast, great BGM. If other people see it differently that saddens me but it won't change my view. For now, it looks as if the BD/DVD sales have a chance to be pretty good.

[Destined_Fate]

Well they had a picture of Naru being taken by Truth and she's missing now. So he may not have been there physically but it apparently did happen regardless of his presence.

[Guardian Enzo]

Originally Posted by Destined_Fate

Well they had a picture of Naru being taken by Truth and she's missing now. So he may not have been there physically but it apparently did happen regardless of his presence.

Yes - bid it happen in the same way? In other words - did she go willingly and with a smile as Ao saw it - or was that a reflection of his subconscious fear? And - was The Truth controlling her at the time?

[Kaioshin Sama]

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

Amazed to see so many people tossing Naru over the side so easily. We don't even know if things happened in reality as they did in Ao's mind - and if they did, we don't know whether she was in control of her mind at the time. She and Ao will be reunited, it's a mortal lock. It's a fundamental tenet of E7, even if it weren't plastered all over the OP and ED.

Lol if there's one thing I do actually no about shipping fandom it's that a little thing like the imagery in the opening isn't going to get in the way of whatever fantasy pairings a person can come up with. I've often warned about the dangers of placing shipping desires ahead other things such as character interactions and relationships as they are, but it always seems to fall on deaf ears. I'll never grasp how shipping desires can seem like the be all end all barometer for enjoyment/appreciation of a series for so many when there's so much else to so many shows like this, both for better and for worse.

[morbosfist]

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

Yes - bid it happen in the same way? In other words - did she go willingly and with a smile as Ao saw it - or was that a reflection of his subconscious fear? And - was The Truth controlling her at the time?

Though it's not concrete, note that the flashback scene and the final scene in the pillar of light don't use the same muted colors as the rest of Ao's dream/nightmare/whatever. Those parts were probably real, at least in the sense that they were actual conversations/memories.

[FlareKnight]

There really was a whole lot of "the fuck?" in this episode. Of course didn't really like how the episode was handled through the half-way point. Pretty much any of the information gained through it was pointless since it was Ao's dream. All we know is that Naru went with that guy. Whatever the reasons, whether the flashback of a dream person is accurate, whether it was willing or not, we have no idea.

Does seem like they've got the purified TheEnd down there which makes little sense. Did some big explosion blast a few things into some alternate reality? Too much stuff that doesn't make any sense. Do wonder how the series is going to pull everything together coherently.

At least this episode got Naru off the island and thus more into the plot. That Truth guy was pretty nuts and unstoppable. Doesn't even seem like overkill to have mechs trying to crush him.

[ookamigirl]

Those new shape shifting guy is really strong and lethal.
It's one intruder that could do serious damage.
Truth... just what is that guy up to?
He sure is interesting, but why would Naru be interesting to him..
Looks like there is more to that girl that meets the eye.

[Sinestra]

I was disappointed that this episode was all for not in the end considering everything was a dream. Its like training for years for the Olympics only to have it cancelled the day before. The amount of information gained in the episode was pretty null and void with the exception of things with Naru. I could have not watched this episode and really not have missed a thing. Im not going to be butt hurt over one episode i happen to not enjoy. Im still enjoying the series a lot

[ars89]

When that guy told Rebecca to take out that thing and the HQ was he possibly talking about the END? Lol at Naru going with Truth if that's what really happened. If Naru's vision about the past is true than Truth was there when Eureka disappeared right? Even though the second half felt all over the place this is getting exciting.

[Flawfinder]

I didn't have a good grasp of what was going on in this episode. It was like Paranoia Agent if it was less triply, but still made no sense.

[RiderLeangle]

Originally Posted by Flawnalyst

I didn't have a good grasp of what was going on in this episode. It was like Paranoia Agent if it was less triply, but still made no sense.

To be fair the original Eureka seveN was full of stuff that didn't make sense until later on... Hell... I mean this ep is probably AO's equivalent to going inside the Zone (A term that them explaining what "ZOA" is in AO makes me wonder about...) of a Coralian...

Originally Posted by FlareKnight

Does seem like they've got the purified TheEnd down there which makes little sense. Did some big explosion blast a few things into some alternate reality? Too much stuff that doesn't make any sense. Do wonder how the series is going to pull everything together coherently.

Well we are speculating AO may be an alternate timeline version of the series... It could be within the realm of possibility that TheEND got turned into an IFO in this timeline...

[morbosfist]

I'd bet TheEND is the reason why Gen Bleu IFOs need to be piloted by children. TheEND could only be run by Anemone or someone like her. If they used TheEND to fill in the gaps they couldn't figure out with the Nirvash, that might explain why they're so selective.

[kk2extreme]

Truth is Peter Pan and he is taking Wendy Naru to Netherland

[SQA]

Originally Posted by morbosfist

I'd bet TheEND is the reason why Gen Bleu IFOs need to be piloted by children. TheEND could only be run by Anemone or someone like her. If they used TheEND to fill in the gaps they couldn't figure out with the Nirvash, that might explain why they're so selective.

The IFOs are also based off the Nirvash, but the GenBleu IFOs are larger and require child pilots. We all probably should have realized theEND was going to show up. They needed a "Eureka-like" pilot for theEND in the first place, which also lead to one of the most emotionally moving moments of the E7 TV series. (Dominic in Warsaw)

One thing that should be pointed out: ep 7 was pretty much an inversion of the entire Ray & Charles arc. They were hitting the references really, really hard. The really noticeable references: 1) invasion of the "base" of operations, 2) Special Girl flying through the sky and 3) closing the eyes of a dead man. All of those are very specific to the Ray & Charles arc, but they inverted most of them. Renton & Eureka are never really apart after that arc, but in AO, Ao & Naru are now very separated.

It should be pointed out, by now, that Truth appears to actually be a Mecha not anything terribly humanoid. Considering the Nirvash & theEND both had their own personalities, this isn't a stretch for a E7 sequel. Where this goes is anyone's guess, but I do have a few.

Naru probably has this world's version of Desperation Disease. Those who were stuck between being part of the Coralians and still being in their body. It would also further fit into the Ray & Charles arc theme they had going this episode. (Ep 25 E7 reference, specifically) Though I guess we now know why she was flying in the OP. I was expecting it to be slightly more metaphorical than realistic, but it was an interesting surprise.

I think the way to take Ao's dream sequence is that his part in it didn't happen. But Naru was taken by Truth, probably in the same way we saw. The later sequences was as much Ao's interpretation of what happened as his own fears. Naru wouldn't ever cut Ao like that. That was a big clue this wasn't quite real. Though I think we now get a solid idea why Naru shows up with Ao and GenBleu in the OP. Though that'll probably be a bit before she's "flying"(?) with them.

One thing to watch out for, as we approach the actual World Story, is something E7 did quite a lot: no one is going to have more than a few answers. There is going to be interests all over the place and each will have a bit of information, a lot of it likely wrong. Though we won't have to wait until next year to actually find out about those, this time.

[Bombo]

I'm thinking for this

Spoiler for 7:

Naru "TheEnd"Vs Ao "Nirvash" and That scene naru remembered same the scene when TheEnd protecting dominic .

[Dark Wing]

I don't even know why people are crying NTR when this whole thing was obviously a kidnapping while everything before that was AO dreaming.

[webkid94]

I liked this episode, especially the dream sequences. They reminded me of UN-GO's two-parter episode with the jail/dead director. Both UN-GO and E7 AO are written by Shou Aikawa, who I think is a much much better writer than Dai Sato: mainly because the political commentary is very spot-on.
'm guessing what happened w/ Truth, Naru and AO was a dream but I'm curious as to what role Naru will really serve in the coming episodes.

Some guesses:
--Return of theEND? Getting rid of 'that' could mean theEND or Nirvash, especially since we saw a fuzzy pic of type-0 before the ED.
--Truth must be a humanized coralian or a humanized secret or even a hybrid of the two. I'm leaning towards Coralian as he knows about Eureka.
--I'm starting to believe there's more than one Eureka, and the whole "sequel vs. alternate story" debate has some merits.

TL;DR: Sho Aikawa > Dai Sato

[DragoonKain3]

Originally Posted by Kaioshin Sama

I'll never grasp how shipping desires can seem like the be all end all barometer for enjoyment/appreciation of a series for so many when there's so much else to so many shows like this, both for better and for worse.

Like what else is there in anime? Artistry? Depth? Characterization?

I'd rather look for these qualities in anime's cousins (manga, light novels, heck even eroges), thank you very much. Even adaptations (barring few exceptions, like the rare 1:1 adaptation) of these are hardly worth the effort breaking down to. As someone who studied critiquing, anime would be the very last place I'd look for 'something else' other than as a means to entertain.

Of course there are rare exceptions (Miyazaki off the top of my head), but quite frankly, anime more or less is made to make more money by pleasing the core audience (may it be DVD sales, increase in source material sales, or merchandise like figurines/plastic models). I guess that's one of the major reasons why I didn't get bothered by others calling a certain anime 'pandering', when now I know I subconsciously have always felt that almost all anime isn't really much more than that.

[creb]

I'm willing to bet a lot of money that none of this is real at all. The entire existence in AO is just a 'dream'.

As for whether it's better than the original? Well, to be honest, there are some things about the original I loathe, even if I cherished the show in its entirety, so I'm open to the idea that by the time AO is over, I'll view it as being better.

That said, I loved Charles and Ray so much that it's going to take something very special for that to happen.

[ChocoBar9]

Am I the only one that noticed Nirvashes cockpit was different in the dream world?

Spoiler:

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