Eureka Seven: Good Night, Sleep Tight, Young Lovers

Posted by Timothy • Topics: Anime Wednesday, March 10, 2010 09:11 PM

Eureka Seven: Good Night, Sleep Tight, Young Lovers is a fast-paced action-packed love story. It has a very different plot from the original Eureka Seven series, so don't expect a sequel!

That said, the plot does parallel the series in several ways. The basic premise of aliens attacking the Earth and humans fighting back remains. Where the series portrayed the aliens as basically misunderstood and unintentionally damaging, the movie portrays them as more generically malicious, even though they did shoehorn some more 'innocent misguided intentions' stuff later in the plot.

Eureka has changed a lot. She's more of a fusion of Eureka and Anenome in the series, including frequently yelling "idiot" at Renton. That took a lot of getting used to for me. Interestingly, Novak and Anenome basically replaced Norb and Sakuya's roles in the story. It will raise a few eyebrows at first, but it worked.

For the first 45 minutes, I was a bit disappointed. Character development seemed forced (probably due to trying to fit a series worth of plot into a two hour movie). However, it won me over at the point when Holland was explaining the Gekko crews' motives to Renton. This was one of my favorite moments because it actually gave a nod to the series! I'm not going to give it away, but it was really cool how they did it. After that, the story seemed much less rushed. It was still confusing at times, but a few characters were also confused by what was happening. So I figure confusion was intentional.

Trapar waves were completely unexplained in the film. So there is no clue what it is or how it works in this universe, but vehicles do use it for lifting, so it's there. Eureka has a sensitivity to light, but that is also never explained. You'll find "unexplained" being a bit of a recurring theme. lol.

And the ending, ahh the ending! It was truly unique to the movie and it worked! Just like the series, it showed love, sacrifice, maturity, and made up for the more confusing parts.

I love the original series. It is actually not just my favorite Anime, but my favorite story in any form. I love it! On a scale of zero to five, I give it 5/5 easy! However, I can't rate the movie that high. Don't get me wrong, it was a great story. I would give it a solid 4/5 star rating. If you liked the series, you will like the movie, even if just to get a little more of a Eureka and Renton fix. If you are not familiar with the series, you will still like it, but be prepared for a confusing ride.

And now some random notes:

They actually give a reason for the "seven" this time!
Very few references to the electronica scene this time (disappointing).
Moon Doggie can apparently be in a KLF the Gekko at the same time! Plot holes resulting from reused animation cells can be funny. ;-)
Baby archetypes can say one word and they tend to say it in an incredibly annoying voice.
The final version of Nirvash in the movie kicks even more butt than in the series.
The literal translation of the Japanese subtitle is "Pocket Full of Rainbows." I'm not really sure why they changed it to "Good Night, Sleep Tight, Young Lovers" as there were ample references to rainbows throughout the series. Sometimes subtitles are changed because something is lost in translation. Here, I don't know.

Anyway, I really hope Bones returns some day to the original series' universe. I still long for more!! :-)

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Comments (3)

3 comments on article "Eureka Seven: Good Night, Sleep Tight, Young Lovers"

Christopher

2/25/2012 3:36 PM

i have to agree Eureka Seven is one of my favorite animes. Yes the series was confusing but the ending was "cute" it left at a cliff hanger leaving the audience to reflect upon it. the movie is way different from the series but you just have to remember that both stories are not meant to be similar. I love both endings, the series ends where Renton and Eureka are in a forest probably trying to get back home and then continue their life with there family. The movie ends where Renton and Eureka kiss and then stops, yes this is a huge cliff hanger but its nice because they have their whole lives ahead of them to do whatever they want. they should've explained in more details upon the ending but you know what sometimes its better like this so the audience can imagine these characters 40 years later.

I m excited that they are continueing the story with Ao Renton and Eureka's son, it will be cool. Also great anime has to be on my top 3 with FullMetal Alchemist Brotherhood and Gurren Lagann.

I got to thank bones for making such a unique anime (although the endings would've better if they showed more information of their futures) Maybe make an OVA episode of 5 years later where all the characters have a party together.

Christopher

2/25/2012 3:42 PM

Also I cant believe that Eureka swapped out her memories to save Renton. This was cool and now they can start fresh both as humans because Eureka is no longer an alien or a robot she can live together.

Her memory is gone but their love is still there.

It's kind of weird that she doesn't talk at the end but i'm sure it will work out or watever.
Anyways the new series hopefully will explain more about the old series.

Timothy

3/4/2012 10:33 PM

The ending of the series was actually fairly complete, but due to the translators not translating what was written on the paper that Grandpa Thurston was holding, it was missed unless you searched online for an explanation! The paper was essentially the marraige announcement of Renton and Eureka, as it was a log of the generations of the Thurston family. It's been a while, but I beleive it read something like "Renton and Eureka Thurston and kids..." and listed the adopted kids names (been a while, forgot all their names). So that scene was happening a little while after the previous scene. I've heard the image of them in the forest when the credits are rolling as their "honeymoon."

I can't wait for the sequel. I felt there were a ton of stories left in the Eureka Seven continuity. I'm glad it's showing Eureka and Renton's child, rather than, say, several generations in the future, as it leaves open the possibility that quite a few characters from the original anime will be able to show up.

FMA, FMA:B, and Gurren Lagaan are all amazing anime. I have to say, Bones is freaking good at what they do. They are as solid with anime series with long story arcs as Miyazaki (and his studio) is with cute, touching, and visually gorgeous anime movies.

I just recently finished watching Trigun and Elfen Lied. Trigun started a little too goofy but ended up getting really good about a third of the way through. Elfen Lied, well, that one was an experience to behold. I'm going to blog about it since I haven't updated this blog in a while.