RRV: Kōkyōshihen Eureka Seven 23-26

"Don't ask for things, get them yourself, else nothing will be given you."

I am always so blown away by the strength of these episodes that it's rather difficult for me to find words to describe what I feel and think when I watch them. These are powerful experiences, intellectually, emotionally, and philosophically, and the strength of the message never dulls regardless of how many times I've seen it. It can be argued that the degree of emotional manipulation is only reached because the first act of Eureka Seven closes on a happy note, but I disagree; while I do believe that this happy ending is incredibly moving, I think this is the case because it is such a difficult journey to get to this point. That joy is justified by the struggles Renton and Eureka experience, by the pain and knowledge they accumulate through life and meeting new people, and by the fact that their happiness is something they themselves achieve through their own hands. Without these experiences, this moment would never strike the chords it does because, like a symphony, there must be a crescendo to the loudest and most passionate instant.

Episode 23, "Differentia", is really one of the turning points in the structure of the narrative. At first glance, this is mostly a side-story, something that Renton experiences while under the custody of Ray and Charles and which contributes to his development. In reality, however, this is an exploration into his psyche and guilt at the emotions and problems he's tried to run away from by leaving the Gekko, and it's also where he learns, more clearly than ever, the consequences to his naivete and how much damage he himself thinks he has caused in the people he's professed to care about.

Living with Ray and Charles is like nothing Renton has ever experienced before in his life; despite having a grandfather who loves him and a sister who raised him, he's never truly known the love of a mother and father before, and he's never had the sort of kindness and empathy that they show him despite being a complete stranger. It's such a new experience, such a pleasant one, that for a while Renton is even able to put Eureka and the others from his mind, allowing himself to find refuge from his guilt, if only for a moment. However, when Ray and Charles start treating him like their real son, Renton is a bit conflicted about how to react. He's not sure if he deserves to be treated so kindly after all he's done before coming on board the Hakucho-go, but he's also upset at the fact that he's hiding the truth about his identity and past from these exceptionally kind people. However, his need for refuge overrides his misgivings, and he says nothing about it in the meantime.

Back on the Gekko, things have gotten complicated in Renton's absence. Eureka, still in the sick bay, has started inquiring about Renton's failure to visit her, and she completely shocks the crew when she shows an interest in understanding the nature of love. While Eureka doesn't yet understand the connection between what Gidget told her and her own feelings for Renton, she's started to try to piece it all together, and no one is more aware of this than Holland and Talho. Talho takes an almost savage pleasure in rubbing the truth in Holland's face, that for all his attentions and attempts to protect and dote on Eureka, she chose another man instead of him. Not only does this hurt Holland's pride, it also deepens his resentment and jealousy toward the boy and makes him further avoid the issue by neglecting to tell Eureka that Renton has run away. In his cowardice and self-loathing, he simply doesn't want to admit that Eureka has fallen in love with Renton, nor does he want to see her expression when she realizes the truth.

For Eureka herself, there is a bit of a curiosity to her new awareness. She wants to see Renton but she can't quite place why that is, though the fact that he saved her from being absorbed into the Scub Coral stays fresh in her mind. Her feelings are manifesting only in the simple desire to talk to him as soon as possible, and while she's unaware that he's gone, she decides to wait until she sees him to do so. It's not a particularly urgent wish, but rather something she's finding herself slowly engrossed in, and she's becoming even more curious as to the reasoning behind her need to speak and be with him.

There's an interesting juxtapostion between Eureka and Renton at this very moment, because as Eureka slowly finds her thoughts filled with Renton's presence, Renton himself is doing what he can to try to forget his past on the Gekko, though the world doesn't seem to be very keen on letting him get away with it. Accompanying Charles and Ray on a job as freelancers, he's faced with a very ugly reality that he's already been introduced to: discriminatory hate among people. This episode is rife with allusions to events like the American 9/11 incident in 2001, and as was the case in this tragedy, Renton is witness to the aftermath of a terrorist attack on a Tower State by an extremist faction of the Vodarac. However things are further complicated by the fact that now all Vodarac people, regardless of affiliation with the terrorists, are being blamed for the incident, with the consequences that sick and injured members of the organization are being attacked or ignored openly by citizens and medical staff. This is the case with a little dying Vodarac girl, whose parents have contracted Ray and Charles to take her to a holy place where she can die in peace. Renton, however, not only sees injustice in the fact that she could be saved if she receives medical treatment, but he also sees a little of Eureka in her, from what he last saw of her as an invalid in the hospital wing. Taking matters into his own hands, he kidnaps the unconscious girl and tries to find a place where she can be treated, but he is unsuccessful and has to come to terms with the fact that even the citizenry openly displaying hate toward the girl have intense grief and reasons for why they seek revenge. It's an intense experience for Renton, not least because the girl dies soon after she's brought back to her parents, but also because that parallel he saw between her and Eureka has come back to rip his guilt from his heart and shove it down his throat all over again. This girl never asked for his help, and he selfishly assumed that he had a right to put her through what he did because he saw himself as the only person willing to save her. Similarly, he's reminded that he did the same to Eureka, and that while she didn't die like the Vodarac girl, his guilt is only magnified by what he's done, even if he did it with good intentions.

In response to Renton's anguish, Eureka is finally told the truth about his departure, and suddenly she's found the world crashing around her ears. In one fell swoop, her newfound emotions are suddenly brought into full view, and she's devastated to hear that he left. In retrospect, she feels that everything she's ever done or said to him drove him away, because now she's realized that her actions toward him never conveyed how she really felt about his presence in her life, and she blames herself for not noticing sooner. That inner fear and pain that she's the reason for what happened drives her to depression, something she can only express with the quiet and heartwrenching words, "aitai" ("I want to see you").

On this note, we move on to episode 24, "Paradise Lost". In an attempt to fill the hole in her heart, Eureka takes it upon herself to try and replace Renton's presence on the Gekko. In donning his clothes and doing his odd jobs, she hopes to cling to the only vestiges of his identity available to her, though it only succeeds in making her hyper-aware of his absence. Renton, on the other hand, is still hurting with the pain of the Vodarac girl's death, and Ray and Charles offer to more or less formally adopt him only stings all the more in the knowledge that he was an impediment to their job. However, their insistence that he call them his parents allows some of Renton's psychological scars to begin healing, if only because he's finally found the mother and father he's always been searching for.

Unfortunately, that joy is short lived once the secrets start coming out. Not only does Renton's identity as Adroc Thurston's son and a former member of Gekkostate cause irreparable damage to the newly formed makeshift family, but Ray and Charles too have things they've been keeping from Renton. As much as Renton hoped to run away from the specter of Gekkostate, he nevertheless would never wish harm on any of the crew, and knowing that Eureka is in danger of being caught up in the military's attempt to capture the rebels only serves to horrify him all the more. Cruelest, perhaps, is that the one moment in which Renton had finally found a place to belong is destroyed completely, replaced by a turmoil of emotions and indecision. To whom does he owe his loyalty? To the adoptive parents who love him and care for him, or to the group who mistreated him and used him? Does his love for Eureka justify what he's done to her, and should he return even if she wants nothing to do with him?

In the meantime, Holland too is facing the demons of his heart. Talho has forced him to realize that his actions are all driven by jealousy toward Renton, and that his hatred for the boy stems from what he had been hoping to cultivate between himself and Eureka. In his attempt to come to terms with the unfair treatment he's given the both of them, he offers Eureka his assistance in bringing Renton back to her. It's a sign of his swallowed pride and immaturity that he would override his own feelings for the sake of the lost young girl wearing the clothes of the boy she loves; before this point, even his affection for Eureka would not have budged him in the least to find Renton.

Renton too shows his maturity in his ultimate decision to leave the comfortable life on the Hakucho-go. Instead of choosing to stay with his new family and live out his days in comfort at the cost of betraying his feelings for Eureka and the others, Renton takes the hard way out, the right way. He chooses to face his emotions and their consequences, and he decides to take responsibility for everything he did while on board the Gekko, even if that's not something he's willing to face. While he believes that everyone on the Gekko hates him, he nevertheless refuses to do nothing while they're in danger, and thus he abandons Ray and Charles for the sake of protecting Eureka and the rest of the crew.

However, things don't go quite the way he plans. Leaving the Hakucho-go is one thing, but finding the Gekko is an entirely different matter. Thus "World's End Garden" finds our protagonist wandering lost and without food as he forces himself to go on. Though seemingly another filler episode in which Renton has a life encounter with a stranger, Renton's meeting with the slightly enigmatic William B. Baxter and his wife Martha leaves quite a powerful impression on the young boy. Though Ray and Charles taught him the value of family and trust, William expands on this by showing Renton the boundlessness of love and how one's outlook on life can change everything.

Renton soon realizes that cheerful as his savior is, not all is well in this quaint little household. Martha is a victim of Despair Disease, and as such she lives as little more than a vegetable nursed by Will's kindness. The entire sequence is heartbreaking as Renton watches Will painstakingly feed Martha and talk to her as if she has the capacity to respond, and he finds himself an uncomfortable observer of this painful intimacy. However, Will never despairs about his situation (which is why he argues that Martha isn't ill with Despair), and this really helps Renton understand the depth of Will's love for Martha. Even when she's little more than dead, unable to speak with her husband or move, Will stays by her side and tends to her, never letting her condition get in the way of his feelings.

For Renton, who ran away from the Gekko because of his own doubts in himself and the fear of having to face a lack of reciprocity in his feelings for Eureka, this is something very empowering. Martha, like Eureka, has been incapacitated, and though Will might not be sure of what it is Martha wants or if she's happy the way she is, he does his best for her regardless, and that simple gesture of being at her side fulfills him more than running away ever could. However, this isn't the only piece of wisdom Will has to impart on his guest. Will also has much to say about the human desire to control nature and the world around them at large. He notes that though humans place pile bunkers upon the Scub, tectonic shifts still happen; the only reason humans have for doing this is to exert some farce of control, to feel as if by actively doing something they're affecting their fates. According to Will, though, this isn't the only way. Humans can be resilient as well as dominating, and sometimes that resiliency is just as important. When terrible things happen, such as one's wife falling ill or a tectonic shift, staying strong and forging through is often a better choice than forcing one's will upon something they have no real control over.

Of course, under Renton's circumstances everything circles back to Eureka. Though he's unsure of her feelings and scared of the realities that await him, the thing is she, and life, won't wait for him to come back. In order to take stock of his own happiness, he has to first do what he can to prove his feelings for her and be there for her, rather than continue hiding from what may or may not be true.

Though he doesn't know it, however, Eureka is missing him more than ever. "Morning Glory", the season finale, shows us that her time alone has let her mull her feelings over, and once Gidget describes the act of being in love in terms of liking someone, Eureka really starts to understand her own pain and longing. Though she wishes to do something about it, her faith in Holland and his promises keeps her from doing anything too extreme, until she finally sees him for what he is and what he cares about, and unfortunately for Eureka, that's not what she wants to hear.

Holland, upon finally catching onto Charles and Ray's plan for trapping the Gekko and taking Eureka into custody, abandons his search for Renton without a second thought. His priority, as always, has been Eureka and her safety, and the rest of the Gekko is in danger if he doesn't report back and warn his crew about the trap. Yet even so, do the lives of many justify abandoning one? Though Holland allows this to back up his actions, Talho doesn't believe so, and neither does Eureka. When they finally come face to face about the issue, Holland is stark: he tells her the truth, that he's abandoning the search for the sake of protecting her, and that's the last thing she wants to hear. For a while now it's been apparent that whatever Eureka's problems are, her opinion of herself is never all that high. She's always felt guilty about her past, and when Holland comes out and says what everyone else has always known, it bothers her immensely. For her, Renton is the first thing on her mind, and she can't comprehend how Holland could possibly put her on the same level as him. When she storms out, all Holland is left with the visual metaphor of a stuffed pig getting crushed by the door, over and over again, just as his feelings have been brutally denied.

If positive experiences have motivated Renton to return to the Gekko, then the pain of finding love and the disappointments she suffers as a result are what drive Eureka to take matters into her own hands. Finally understanding the same lesson Renton's been learning all along, she realizes she can't trust in others to do what she needs to do herself, and she leaves the Gekko with nothing but a personal communicator and a ref board. The moment in which she leaves, determined to bring Renton back with her own two hands, is as powerful an indicator of her growth as Renton's acceptance of responsibility has been for him. This isn't the passive and depressed Eureka any longer; she's a girl every bit as motivated by her emotions as Renton has always been, and her courage doesn't falter even when she finds herself caught up in the trap that wasn't yet meant to be sprung.

Of course, due to the cruelty of irony, Renton arrives on the Gekko just after Eureka's departure, declaring that he's come back solely for her sake and not because he wants to have anything to do with Holland. Holland, recently slighted as it is, is too proud to just let Renton waltz back into the crew despite the fact that he's been searching for the boy all along. Though the rest of the crew knows it, Renton isn't cowed by the harsh words in the least. He's finally developed the backbone and determination to back up his emotions and sense of justice, and he's not about to let Holland get the best of him after all he's seen and done to get back to Eureka's side.

However, this confrontation is cut abruptly short as news of the trap comes in from Eureka's communicator. Upon realizing just what it is that she's done, the crew goes into emergency mode and Renton doesn't hesitate to return to the Nirvash at last. In the meantime, Eureka is doing all she can to stay out of Charles' clutches using pure ref skill alone, but when her board breaks and she plummets to her certain death, she finally gives in to the despair that she'll never see her children, or Renton, ever again.

Renton, however, has other plans. Without any of his prior hesitation, he delves straight into battle to pull her from the air to safety in a beautiful scene; Renton reaching out of the Nirvash without any regard for piloting it, Eureka fighting against the air resistance to grasp his hand, and the two of them ending up in an embrace, it's all exactly what they've been searching for this whole time, and though they're in the middle of battle, the most important thing in that moment for the both of them is finally being next to one another. In that sense, all their suffering and misunderstandings have been worth it, if only to finally find a place to rest in each other's arms.

Though their reunion and new-found happiness powers the Nirvash and allows the Gekko to get away unscathed, the real climax here is between Eureka and Renton as individuals, as children who've been through hell to understand themselves and to come to terms with their pain and the horrible things they've done. Through their personal journeys, whether literal or figurative, each has learned to look beyond their own needs to those around them, and to reach out and take hold of that which it is they seek. Love, like everything else in the world, must be earned, but it can't be earned until one actively does something about it. In coming to love one another, they've also begun to accept themselves, and though the world is still unfair and complicated, they've earned their moment of respite.

Quick Thoughts:

-Saigo no Kibou is an absolutely perfect insert song.

-Ah the pig and the door. Eureka Seven has great door scenes.

-There's so much general emotional turmoil for me this series of episodes that I don't really know what to call out. The Vodarac girl, leaving Ray and Charles, Will and Martha, and the utterly breathtaking finale as a whole...

-One last thing, I've always loved that now, at the end, instead of Renton calling "to be continued" on his own, Eureka joins him this time.

-"Tsuzuku!"