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 Eureka Seven

Eureka Seven is a Bildungsroman story that follows a young boy whose fate becomes intertwined with a group of anti-war rebels when a young girl in a massive robot crashes into his shed. He joins up with the mercenary group Gekkostate and becomes the co-pilot of the robot Nirvash, a machine capable of surfing trapar (transparent light) waves and fighting against similar machines utilized by the fascist military. The sprawling epic philosophizes on the nature of love, family, nation, religion, war, and culture. I could not even begin to explain the story because of the way it webs across all of these substantial topics. The backdrop for this story is futuristic yet the culture of Gekkostate is firmly rooted in the Second Summer of love, a massive movement in the U.K. in which house music and raves swept across the country. The spirit of rebellion during this period is reflected in the mixture of surfer culture and house music raver culture that Gekkostate depicts in its zine, called Ray=Out, an underground, independent publication distributed against government restrictions to rouse the spirits of rebels and outcasts seeking personal freedom and peace for all. The government labels the Vodarac, a group of peaceful monks seeking peace through connection to the land, as a terrorist group and depicts the genocide of this religious, indigenous group. These powerful events are based on many modern genocides. The show is a constant critic of many of the awful things that remain facets of international life.

While this show has an epic scope and incredibly unique cultural influences, the hero's journey it shows is very similar to many of the stories for young Japanese men dating back to the 70s and 80s with the origin of "Mecha" anime with "chosen one" protagonists. The show subverts many of the tropes of these shonen stories and analyzes them in its subtext and meta-text.