Eureka Seven: AO

Eureka Seven: AO (marked internationally as Astral Ocean) is an American-Australian animated television series by Bear Bones Productions, serving as a sequel to the original Eureka Seven series. AO tells the story of Ao Fukai, a young boy who "sets destiny in motion again when he held the power."

Contrary to its' predecessor, Eureka Seven: AO was panned by fans and critics.

Plot and Themes
Ao Thurston is a 13-year-old boy living in the year 2025 in Iwato island, Okinawa with Dr. Toshio Fukai ever since Ao's mother Eureka disappeared 10 years ago. When a mysterious organization attacks the local Scub Coral, Ao somehow gets mixed up in the battle and manages to activate a mysterious robot called the Nirvash while it is being transported by the Japanese Forces. Later, Ao finds out that the Nirvash belonged to Eureka, and by joining Team Pied Piper of Generation Bleu, he embarks on a journey to find his mother and learn the truth about his origins.

Like its' predecessor, Eureka Seven: AO works on a variety of themes. The most obvious are the themes of acceptance, love, growing up, and responsibility. Allegories of world conflicts and wars, political climates, and environmental movements are presented in the series. Racial discrimination is presented via how Ao and Eureka were ostracized for their unusual appearances. Eureka Seven ended so hopefully that it seemed Eureka and Renton had finally came to a resolution: a happy ending to the tragic lives they led up to that point. In metaphorical terms, Eureka Seven revolves around Renton learning about the beauty of idealism and sees the world full of flaws and hardships. In Eureka Seven: AO revolves around Ao who realizes that idealism can't solve everything but giving up those ideals is worse than struggling to limit in order to try and make them happen. Eureka Seven: AO shows that happy ending are not guaranteed; Renton and Eureka have lost a daughter, which causes them to lose their idealism. They also have to give up their son in order to protect him and they don't stop him from making his decision to sacrifice his own identity and connection to his loved ones to save his world and his parents. Eureka Seven: AO serves as a powerful message about life and what happens when adults forget hope, and the legacy of children. The series also covers the themes of family, parental love, and self-sacrifice between Ao, Renton, and Eureka; how Renton and Eureka are willing to risk their lives and happiness to protect their son, and Ao willing to sacrifice himself to save his parents. Personal identity plays a huge role to Ao, as he struggles with the origins of his existence and finding his place in his world.

Cast

 * Brad Swaile as Ao Fukai
 * Kelly Sheridan as Fleur Blanc
 * Lisa Ann Beley as Elena Peoples
 * Paul Dobson as Ivica Tanović
 * Maggie Blue O'Hara as Rebecka Hallström
 * Saffron Henderson as Miller
 * Ian James Corlett as Georg / Dr. Toshio Fukai
 * Scott McNeil as Bruno Hans / Stanley
 * Janyse Jaud as Chloe McCaffrey
 * Anne Cummer as Maeve McCaffrey
 * Venus Terzo as Maggie Kwan
 * Chiara Zanni as Hannah Bester
 * Moneca Stori as Liu Ing
 * Cree Summer as Lerato Food
 * Kirby Morrow as Rajkumar Nair
 * Brian Dobson as Christophe Blanc
 * David Kaye as Alexander Boyle
 * Tabitha St. Germain as Naru Arata
 * Michael Donovan as Mitsuo Arata
 * Nicole Bouma as Miyu Arata
 * Cathy Weseluck as Grandma / Noah
 * Don Brown as Kazuyuki Kaneshiro
 * Richard Newman as Teruhiko Niigaki / Endo
 * Matt Hill as Gazelle
 * Terry Klassen as Pippo
 * Richard Ian Cox as Han Juno
 * Brian Drummond as Truth
 * Samuel Vincent as Nakamura
 * Colin Murdock as Nick Tanaka

Setting
The series takes place in the year 2025 of an alternate universe, initially on the Iwato Jima and Okinawa Islands, and later on, throughout the world.

Mechanics
While the original Eureka Seven featured mechs known as "LFOs" (Light Finding Operations), Eureka Seven: AO features mechs known as "IFOs" (Intelligent Flying Objects), which were developed by reverse-engineering the RA272 Nirvash, also known as the Mark I, which was created by Renton Thurston almost 10,000 years into the future from a parallel universe via combining his knowledge of LFOs and Scub Coral. When his son, Ao, comes into contact with it, he is somehow able to activate it, even though it has been immobile for 10 years, as somehow only Eureka, Renton, and Ao are able to pilot it.

Prior to Ao joining them, Team Pied Piper had only two IFOs. The RA164 Alleluia is an IFO used by Team Pied Piper that is primarily piloted by Fleur, built for electronic warfare. It is highly mobile, but it is not heavily armed. The other IFO is the RA304 Kyrie, which is piloted by Elena and designed for long-range combat. It is heavily armed but is not very mobile.

Team Goldilocks has three IFOs at its disposal. Maeve McCaffrey pilots the RA121 Gloria, which is specialized for airborne combat. The RA302 Credo is piloted by Maggie Kwan and specializes in heavy artillery. The RA169 Requiem is piloted by Chloe McCaffrey and specializes in electronic reconnaissance.

Team Harlequin has three other IFOs at its disposal. The RA122EB Sanctus is piloted by Liu Ing; the RA121E Recordare is piloted by Lerato Food; the RA122E Benedictus is piloted by Rajkumar Nair. The American Army has its own IFO, which is the Eisenhower.

Also in possession of Generation Bleu is the LFO "Kanon", but it is never activated until it fuses itself with Truth. Other LFOs features in the series are two variations of the Nirvash; the LFO Nirvash typeZERO, one being a recreation of the spec2, which is piloted by Eureka, and the original Nirvash, further evolved into a new form called "Nirvash typeZERO specV3" which is piloted by Renton.

Politics
In the world of Eureka Seven: AO, mankind's expansion is hindered by the Scub Corals and Secrets altering history, thus the human population is around half of its original number. Okinawa Prefecture has become an independent nation from Japan, existing as the Union of the Okinawa Islands, officially the United Okinawa and Ryukyu Islands, consisting of the real world Okinawa and Sakishima Islands with its capital city being Naha, officially the Naha Metropolis special Administrative District. This nation was created after the governments of Okinawa, China, and Japan settled after a recent war against as a result of a Scub Burst. Okinawa lost fishing rights to China and the locals still believe they are not truly independent, but the nation is surrounded by a Trapar bubble that allows for the use of FPs. Iwato Jima, the island that is home to the main characters, is in territory disputed by the three parties. Still, the Japanese Armed Forces often perform operations in its former territory. Due to a Scub Burst after the end of World War II, Japan's economic recovery was delayed, leading to its evident lack of power and influence in comparison to real-life Japan. The Soviet Union, which dissolved near the end of the 20th century, still exists in this alternate realm.

Technology and Scub Coral
The IFOs are the predecessors to the LFOs from Eureka Seven. They are humanoid robots created by combining FP technology with the Scub Coral. "FP" stands for "Flying Platform", a vehicle that is a cross between an automobile and an airplane that uses Trapar waves, a clean energy source naturally produced by the Scub Coral, to fly at an altitude of 10 meters (33 ft).

The Scub Coral seen in the world of Eureka Seven: AO are fragments of the planet-sized Scub Coral from the original Eureka Seven timeline that mysteriously appears in the past as far as the end of the 18th century, drastically altering history as mankind originally had its first contact with Scub Corals in the 21st century. This turn causes the appearance of beings called "Secrets", or G-Monsters by Okinawans, that exist for the purpose of nullifying an anomaly, including the Scub Coral. Once finding a Scub Coral, a Secret initiates a phenomenon called the Scub Burst, which causes massive destruction around them. A Scub Burst of such power occurred ten years prior to the beginning of the series, until what the Okinawan locals call the "Sea Giant" saved the people of the island. The area around a Secret is called the ZOA or Zone Out of Action. Secrets cannot detect the presence of IFOs inside the ZOA.

At the center of a Scub Coral outcropping is a nucleus called the Quartz. By removing the Quartz, the Trapar waves in the surrounding area plummet and the Secret that is seeking out the Scub Coral to initiate a Scub Burst will disappear. It is one of Team Pied Piper's missions to collect the Quartz from the Scub Coral. It is possible to find a damaged Quartz, usually after a Scub Coral outcropping has been destroyed. The use of the IFOs and FPs is only possible by the use of the Plant Corals, Scub Corals that have been harvested upon their arrival in order to produce Trapar waves. The Scub Coral at the center of the Scub Burst in Okinawa ten years ago is the world's largest Plant Coral and is used to power much of the world's Trapar-based energy. Some (Japan among them) believe that the damaged Quartz may be reused as the energy source for the Plant. An object known as the Coral Relic is being kept by Generation Bleu in its basement, but the existence of the object is limited knowledge.

It is revealed that the Scub uses its Quartz to navigate through alternate universes. By destroying the Quartz, the Secrets can deny the Scub its means to escape to another universe. The Secrets even go as far as tracing the Scub's root into Renton and Eureka's world, where they attempt to exterminate the Scub once and for all, together with mankind whose bodies have been contaminated with the Scub. It is revealed that the high Trapar density environment in the Eureka Seven era is too dangerous for a Human-Coralian hybrid to live in; seen when Renton and Eureka's daughter, Amber, turned to stone and died three months after birth, which motivates them to save Ao from suffering the same fate by having him being raised in a world with less trapar that would be safe enough for him to survive.

In the final scenes, Ao decides to shoot the Quartz Gun at the Secrets, effectively erasing the Secrets existence from history and leaving behind a world where the Scub would arrive and co-exist with humanity in the near future, as according in the Eureka Seven timeline.

Episodes
The series began airing on April 12, 2002 and ended on November 20, 2002. The series has a total of 24 episodes.

Home media releases
The series was released on DVD by Lions Gate Home Entertainment, through the Family Home Entertainment label.