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I attended the one night event screening of the Eureka Seven movie and while it appeared most of the audience disliked the film, I enjoyed it very much. There was also a ‘making of’ bit after the credits, which was a half hour about the transition of the movie from Japanese to English, problems encountered and Q&As with the original director, Tomoki Kyoda and the ADR director for the English version, Tony Oliver.
The animation in the film was absolutely gorgeous, featured interesting and beautiful mech designs and impressive battles taking place in the sky. The movie also had a battle soundtrack that fit quite well with the overall tone and speed. The English voice acting was also one of the better dubs I’ve heard throughout my anime fandom, as Tony Oliver is a very good director who understands the need to keep the characters as close to their original Japanese counterparts as possible to appease the audience, but also creates a bit of room for the actors to experiment and grow as professionals, a tricky road to walk which I think he did very well. The movie also featured veteran anime voice actor, Crispin Freeman (Slayers, Revolutionary Girl Utena: The Movie, Hellsing, and Cowboy Bebop: The Movie) who has a wide range of vocal abilities and takes the time to understand his characters and shows. I am usually very against watching anime in English, as the dubbing is often absolutely horrendous, but every show that has Freeman as a cast member, I find I don’t mind and actually enjoy, a testament to his talent and respect for anime. In comparison to the awful Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone dubbing, this movie was genius.
What director, Kyoda wanted with this film was a retelling of Eureka Seven, featuring the same characters but set in an alternate time, different situations arising and causing characters to have to react and grow in different ways from the series. Kyoda said in his interview he hoped fans would appreciate his choice to make a movie that you didn’t need prior knowledge of the show to watch and enjoy and that they would realize, walking into the screening, this wasn’t going to be Eureka the series packed into two hours. It was Kyoda’s ability to change the story, again, unlike Evangelion: 1.0, that made me enjoy the movie and respect it. The audience seemed simply unable to accept the differences and many walked out frustrated or indifferent.
The only real weak aspect was that some of the translations were a bit strange, so when lines in a serious moment were said, we laughed, not because it was poorly acted, but because it was such an odd thing to say. For example, a very emotional and heavy moment featured a doctor saying, “I’m not a real medical doctor, but it is in my opinion…” The actors in the special after the movie even made fun of the translation, because of the English-speaking gag, “I’m not a real medical doctor, but I play one on tv.”
Overall, I think this is a film you should watch. If you didn’t enjoy the series, I say give it a chance and if you are worried about the movie ruining the show for you, remember, it’s simply a different telling of Eureka Seven, not some sort of continuation.
I also found this and felt it was important to let people know about! What do you guys think about it?
The animation in the film was absolutely gorgeous, featured interesting and beautiful mech designs and impressive battles taking place in the sky. The movie also had a battle soundtrack that fit quite well with the overall tone and speed. The English voice acting was also one of the better dubs I’ve heard throughout my anime fandom, as Tony Oliver is a very good director who understands the need to keep the characters as close to their original Japanese counterparts as possible to appease the audience, but also creates a bit of room for the actors to experiment and grow as professionals, a tricky road to walk which I think he did very well. The movie also featured veteran anime voice actor, Crispin Freeman (Slayers, Revolutionary Girl Utena: The Movie, Hellsing, and Cowboy Bebop: The Movie) who has a wide range of vocal abilities and takes the time to understand his characters and shows. I am usually very against watching anime in English, as the dubbing is often absolutely horrendous, but every show that has Freeman as a cast member, I find I don’t mind and actually enjoy, a testament to his talent and respect for anime. In comparison to the awful Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone dubbing, this movie was genius.
What director, Kyoda wanted with this film was a retelling of Eureka Seven, featuring the same characters but set in an alternate time, different situations arising and causing characters to have to react and grow in different ways from the series. Kyoda said in his interview he hoped fans would appreciate his choice to make a movie that you didn’t need prior knowledge of the show to watch and enjoy and that they would realize, walking into the screening, this wasn’t going to be Eureka the series packed into two hours. It was Kyoda’s ability to change the story, again, unlike Evangelion: 1.0, that made me enjoy the movie and respect it. The audience seemed simply unable to accept the differences and many walked out frustrated or indifferent.
The only real weak aspect was that some of the translations were a bit strange, so when lines in a serious moment were said, we laughed, not because it was poorly acted, but because it was such an odd thing to say. For example, a very emotional and heavy moment featured a doctor saying, “I’m not a real medical doctor, but it is in my opinion…” The actors in the special after the movie even made fun of the translation, because of the English-speaking gag, “I’m not a real medical doctor, but I play one on tv.”
Overall, I think this is a film you should watch. If you didn’t enjoy the series, I say give it a chance and if you are worried about the movie ruining the show for you, remember, it’s simply a different telling of Eureka Seven, not some sort of continuation.
I also found this and felt it was important to let people know about! What do you guys think about it?
