First order of business resolves around Jace's debut in the often confusing, almost incessantly perplexing and generally incomprehensible world of entertainment, particularly the unholy realm that is reality television. Jace, buddy, I know you needed the money, that it was an easy wad of cash for very little work, but what in the world were you doing showing up on Doctor Steve-O? Sorry, but it was.... well, the show's embarrassing to watch, even by oneself in private. I can't imagine what appearing on it must have been like. I visibly and noticeably cringed several times throughout, not because of the events, which were really juvenile, but because I felt guilty giving them ratings, guilty to give whatever Nu-Metal band that was playing in the background even the slightest bit of room to spread, upset with myself for not smashing the cable outlet, tossing the set from the window and joining it shortly thereafter. All right, so there's a good deal of hyperbole in my statements, but still, was a piece of your dignity really worth that? Even Paul was upset that he watched it, and Paul enjoys Waterworld, claims it is a legitimately good movie. Have you ever watched that vision of our future wherein a cyclopean Denis Hopper leads a ragtag band of no-good-nicks against mutant fish people for a map of no practical or readable value? I don't think I need to speak any further. Not that I expected it to be good, but watchable, that's what I was hoping for; watchable was not my reward. Oh well; here's hoping your actual debut in the entertainment world is something I can watch joyfully, something I can discuss with a new friend or coworker the next day, wearing a knowing smile as he raves about such and such a character, the grubby one, how well acted he was. Not here; I smiled, sure, mainly at fond memories and excitement about getting to see all of you guys in the near future.
This shit, though, this is inexcusable. What in the world is going on here, Eureka 7? Don't tell me Matt and Ryan were right about you, don't tell me you've been lying this entire time, you deceitful mistress! The last two volumes were stellar additions to the series, hell, to the much maligned and declining world of anime in general. Hell, I rewatched volume 8 three days after finishing it because it was simply that good, there was absolutely nothing wrong with it. The pacing was lightning quick, there was no stalling to be done as so often happens when these shows pick up. The plot was finally GOING somewhere and had the momentum to insist that it wasn't stopping anytime soon; we were actually learning things about the overall goals of everyone involved, damn it! Then..... then.... then this thing shows up and throws the brakes. That invasion of the capitol that broadcast as if something truly monumental? Boring. That's right: BORING. Brief, quick, and really, pointless. So Norb is rescued and we find out he knows a thing or two about scub coral, a revelation that changes.... nothing. The team's motivation remains what it was, the goal is no different and neither are the methods, it just confirms a hypothesis that was all they had to go on to begin with. And Dewey is Holland's brother. That's it. It's not even addressed afterwards, no one seems to care; it's thrown in there to provide a hint of development for Holland and just as quickly dropped and ignored.
There's the first episode, already bringing with it crushing disappointment. And the disc is over. Don't tell me there were three more episodes after this, that's nonsense. What's left on the disc is a smattering of random flashbacks, the much dreaded pseudo-philosophy about the "7th dimension of human dreams" and the "10th dimension of the scub corral" which must have been written by a fifth grader in one of his notebooks that he dug out sometime in college and decided was really something special, some representation of unrestricted and unbiased childhood genius, and some sex jokes about the relationship between two fourteen year olds. What is this? Really, what in the world IS this disc? I can't tell you, I don't know. It's a mishmash of emotions, plot threads, stunted pacing, bizarre plot development and.... good lord, I don't know what. It's jarring, the contrast between volume 9 and the two preceding releases. 7 and 8, as I've said, felt as though they came from an entirely different series, almost an entirely different world; they were everything I've wanted anime to be that it hasn't been in so long. Raw, powerfully emotional stories that could have operated just fine as stand alone volumes, paced as such. What you had in those volumes was real drama, almost operatic at times. Tragedy, man. Someone at BONES had a stroke of inspiration, the sort anyone with an imagination gets at times, spurred on by nothing in particular, and decided that it was time to, you know, actually write, not to throw darts at a wall composed of the same twenty five cliches, not like all of the other writers out there, not like the Kubo Tites and Go Nagais and the CLAPMS and all of their ilk. Those eight episodes resonated energy and thought, energy and thought that rubbed off from the man in charge, the script writer, and flowed into the minds of everyone involved in the project. Everything worked, and the result was something powerful, something worth buying, something almost real.
Then the head man at BONES missed a beat. Either his coffee was decaf one evening and he hit the sack before the time he wanted, he missed a train, any number of things. It's not important to consider what knocked his mood out of step, what stole his spark, just to know that something did. Something sabotaged this man's mentality, and it shows. The ninth volume is nothing less than sabotage. Hell, it shows up all throughout the events in this volume, and its really infuriating. It even manifests itself in the plot, in one particularly frustrating scene, a scene that may have possibly hinted at a return to form. For the first time in a while, the action being slowed down as it is, we finally get to visit the normally contemplative, almost implacable Stoner, get to listen to one of those rare monologues of his that, until now, have been gone. They probably went unnoticed, those brief periods of musing that Stoner was so rarely allowed to express, until this scene. The audience remembers now just how important these times have been though, these smoke breaks that he's allowed throughout the series, giving the viewer a break from the action, and it shows especially well here because it's a drastic shift from the break-neck speed up until now. He's musing, as he's been wont to do, about the nature of his business on the ship, his role in the world as a journalist, especially now that those in power have demonstrated they're more than capable of quashing, that even should he get his thoughts out uncensored and at their most eloquent the military can prove him unbelievable in an instant. To boot, he's now just dead weight on the ship, having no merit other than his reporting and editing.
So, he's watching the coverage of national events while Eureka gets into a bit of a fight with Renton, mainly because she reveals a tidbit of information about her relationship with his father. It's an interesting point because it's fundamentally unimportant, for us and for Renton, just a tidbit of her life that could almost have been overlooked, but it adds a bit more depth to their connection. Renton has no real reason to lash out, really he doesn't, but it's also understandable that he does, despite the insignificance of it all, because it sorta makes her yet another sister, a surrogate, which brings up a number of problems, really, Renton having a bit of a family complex. Anyhow, one thing leads to another and, seeking guidance, Eureka stumbles into Stoner. What comes out is a very awkward, almost uncomfortable meeting for the two; there's a palpable sense of unsease and discomfort as we find out just the barest bit of Stoner's history and he tries, really and genuinely, to comfort Eureka without being a sentimental sap, without resorting to the histrionics that their comrades find necessary. It is a simple moment, punctuated by a very slight and sharp piano number, the sort that's so subtle as to be ignored more often than noticed, and just a bit unnerving. It's what I would call nice, the same feeling that's attached to Christmas morning after the hubbub centering around presents is over and done with, when the family hasn't returned to its normal routine and simply sits around, drinking hot chocolate milk, petting the dog and cats, and simply sitting there, quietly, everyone a tad melancholy but also really just happy to be.
For reasons inexplicable Hilda and Gidget show up right then and there, start ranting about Eureka having sex with Renton, accuse Stoner of trying to convince her of doing so, and drag Eureka off. Stoner sighs, wonders what that was all about, and turns back to the news. I stare at the screen, eyes wide with shock, and pause it... what the fuck was that? Was that comic relief? No, that wasn't comic relief, comic relief never carries with it a declaration of war, knowing full well that it's ruined something delicate and beautiful . Imagine the aforementioned Christmas scene; in that circumstance, the dog is your comic relief, the one that does something slightly silly and gets you to notice that you're being slightly silly to, restores self-conscious without shattering the delicacy of the moment. That's comic relief, a misplaced bark, silly yawn, or an attempt to carry away a CD as some sort of dog-frisbee or prize. This shit is the equivalent of a trucker in full trucker regalia walking through the center of events to the bathroom then kindly excusing himself with a flush and a shit eating grin. Unexpected, unfunny, unsettling, no more subtle than a semi-truck. I'm being honest when I say I raged at the screen for about five minutes, I couldn't grasp my head around that. Sabotage, clear and simple, like the creator just hated himself and everyone on the staff and was convinced that they wouldn't be accomplishing anything worthwhile without it streaming from him.
The volume ends shortly thereafter with a spray of gunfire, bloodshed, sound and fury, yada yada yada. It doesn't make any sense, it doesn't mean anything, and I hate it. I feel betrayed to a sickening degree. It's.... ugh, god, I don't know what it is aside from a deliberate attempt to simply confuse and frustrate viewers. It's because of writing like this that anime has the stigma it has, because it seems to just devolve, as it were. Please, please, please, pick up Eureka 7; you've too much talent for this sort of apathetic, self-pitying suicide. Please, Mushi-shi, Le Chevalier d'Eon, don't take this path, stay the course, prove that anime isn't complete tripe like Naruto, Bleach, Angel Sanctuary and all of the other crap want people to believe it is; don't lower yourself to the ranks of Fate/Stay Night and whatever it is the denizens at Gamefaqs are creaming themselves over these days.
So, this is dragging on a bit, I'm hungry, and I have a tad bit of research to do for that FYE nonsense, you know, the mandatory class that most colleges never even had because it's an awful idea. I'll update later on disappointments concerning.... well, I'm not sure what. Maybe I'll actually just go write something meaningful instead.
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