Eureka Seven AO Episode 19: “Maybe Tomorrow”/ The Day

“Adults can’t correct their own mistakes so easily…” -Christophe Blanc

({insert minaical laughter here} I’ve finally caught up! It goes without saying that this is NOT going to be spoiler free. Get ready, ’cause this one’s a doozy.)

Summary: Uh…so…a lot of stuff happened this episode. Generation Bleu is sinking and it’s financial backers and parent company Big Blue World are all jumping ship like rats. Truth finds out that he is indeed a Secret, and that Naru has tricked him, making him lash out with heartbreaking consequences. Generation Bleu uninstalls Georg, who has been afflicted by the virus/Secret for a couple of episodes now, leaving them completely helpless until they can reinstall him. The Allied Forces choose this moment to come and collect the Quartz that Generation Bleu has been hiding (which is just a nice way of saying, they’ve come to attack the headquarters). Christophe offers Fleur a chance to run away together and make it out alive. Fleur notices something is off and takes Ao down with her to the basement where a shocking series of events unfolds.

Impression:…I…….I……..I don’t……um…..What can I say? HOLY SHIT doesn’t really seem to do it justice.

Let’s start with Truth. Oh Truth, you poor, sad, foolish man/Secret. That’s right, this episode confirms what we, the viewers, have long since suspected or known and that is that Truth is a Secret in human form. The twist is that he himself did not know what he was. I’m not really sure if I should laugh at that or cry. It’s just so absurd that he wouldn’t know. If he didn’t know that he was a Secret, what did he think he was? Human? Because I’m pretty sure the ability to change into different people at will (which is just one of a host of other powers) is not an inherently human one. Even Naru, who these days hardly resembles a human at all, doesn’t have the abilities that Truth does. The fact that he, who made all these grandiose claims that everyone else couldn’t see the truth of their world, couldn’t even see the truth about himself is, in a word, ironic.

Truth reminds me of a character type that you can find a lot in fiction (especially in Fantasy or Science Fiction): he’s the type that has been raised all his life thinking he’s special, or wanting to be special, believing so strongly in that fact that when it comes out that he’s not “the chosen one” he becomes so angry and despairs so much that he tries to grab power in a different way, if not by downright destroying whatever it was in a “if I can’t have it then no one will” move. Truth was (probably) an only child, and his foster father was probably so in awe of this being that had come from the other world (the one that up until then, he’d been the only one who believed in) that he raised him to think that one day, he’d be the one to fix everything and get back to the “real” world. But now, with the power to change the world squarely in the hands of Ao, and Truth learning that he’s not some special all-powerful being, he’s just a Secret that lost it’s purpose, he’s got his heart set on destroying everything, come hell or high water.

It’s more than a little heartbreaking to see his face when he realizes that basically his whole life has been a lie, and that he’s been betrayed by the one person he though was on his side. The scene were he flies off into space with tears in his eyes was fine and all, but I also get the distinct feeling that I’m being manipulated into caring about Truth. “AWwww, look the poor guy didn’t even know what he was and now he’s crying…FEEL SORRY FOR HIM” is something that I do not like. I’m all for bad guys turning into good guys or bad guys that you sympathize with (or maybe even like) but I don’t like it when they push me into it. It needs to have a more organic development than this. It also doesn’t help that he immediately goes off and takes out the whole Gen. Bleu space station and everyone inside it.

Beside all the stuff with Truth, this seemed to be episode where they decided “Hey, some of these guys need to go.” While I wasn’t the biggest fan of Team Harlequin, I don’t think their deaths were really done justice to. None of the Team members seemed upset that they were going to die, at a matter of fact they seemed very calm about it (it reminded me of the safety brochures on airplanes. No one would be that calm if the plane were going down, everyone would be screaming their heads off and running around like headless chickens). You see the space station explode and then cut to Generation Bleu where no one really seems sad or upset about what just happened. No ones crying, no emotions are shown, no nothing. Just some vows for revenge, which seemed like an afterthought. It was more than a little disturbing to me. I always find that if your going to off a character at least have that death have some meaning and weight to it. Don’t just do it because you can. A good example of this is what happens in the basement.

First off, Question: Where the hell did Fleur get that gun from? and where was she keeping it that Ao didn’t see it before they got to the elevator? Because that suit she has on seems a little too skin tight to have pockets. Secondly, for a very brief moment, I actually thought that Fleur was going to turn out to be the bad guy. But just for a second. How does Truth survive being shot? We’ve all seen that Secrets can be destroyed, so why wouldn’t he have died from two to three shots at almost point blank range? Sometimes this show asks me to suspend disbelief a little bit too much. Christophe’s death (I hate to put it like this but) was well done. I was genuinely sad to see him go (if it turns out he’s not dead then I will scream, because I hate bullshit like that. There is NO WAY he could have survived that explosion. Just let him be dead and be done with it. The same goes for Truth but I doubt that they’re going to let him go that easy). The last little bit with Fleur, and then the photo on his cell phone screen of baby Fleur and her mother…it broke my heart.

There were literally a million other things that happened as well and for your sake I’m going to make a list of them because otherwise this is going to get too long.

• The big Secret head tells Truth that the reason they haven’t been showing up to all the reactivated Scub Coral is because they’re holding back on a newer, bigger attack. That does not sound like good news.
• Elena decides to not hide who she really is anymore and tells Fleur and Ao straight out that she’s from the other world and that Eureka was the one that brought her to this one (Burning Question #1,854: Why would Eureka do that?)
• Christophe mentioning that the focus of Generation Bleu was going to shift from collecting the Quartz to stopping the Scub from spreading.
• Is anyone else picking up on the weird crush that Fleur seems to have on Gazelle or is that just all in my head?
• Elena talking about how basements like the one and Gen. Bleu always have secrets inside them (and then there’s yet another reference to Neon Genesis Evangelion).
• Maggie Kwan, formerly of Team Goldilocks, seems to have ended up on the path to piloting an IFO even with the changes brought about by the Quartz Gun. Except she’s a pilot for the Allied Forces now.
• Naru implies that if it hadn’t been for Truth, and all the obstacles he created, Ao would never have gotten the “power that rest in his hands.” By which I think she means the Quartz Gun. Since Naru was leading Truth around, does that mean she manipulated him in order to help Ao? Is she actually a good guy?

Phew, that’s a lot. If you made it this far, pat yourself on the back.

Here’s my Current Theory on How This Show Will End: Ao is somehow the cause of all this time weirdness. He’ll end up erasing himself from time, the E7AO world will ceases to exist and everything will go back to the original E7 universe. That’s why Eureka is pregnant with a girl, because Ao doesn’t actually exist. I’m doing a really poor job of explaining that, but maybe you’ll understand the gist of it. Either that or Truth is really Ao sister, but since she’s totally forgotten who she is, she thinks she’s a Secret disguised as a human man. All the world jumping Eureka did while she was pregnant with her changed her so much that she has all these whack abilities, like being able to change her shape.

I’d love to hear all your theories so feel free to leave them in the comments!