I think I have the time travel figured out pretty well (it's long, but I'll PM it to you if you ask), and I figured the scub were different because they were smaller (and without the critical mass that the original had to be sentient), and in an different universe, under siege from the Secrets.
I have to say though, who is this [[((Discontinuity}} Truth guy]]? I never saw him. Nope.
I rarely visit the forums to avoid the cynicism ooze.
While I'm not going to disagree that it turned into a massive mess by the end, you're overstating a lot of things
With the exception of Ao and Fleur's respective Daddy Issues, nothing really changes about the characters from beginning to end, in stark contrast to the original.
The adults don't really change, but most all of the major kids do. Elena's issues get worked out. Truth goes increasingly crazy. Naru... Naru's character arc makes no damn sense, but she's definitely not the same girl at the end of the series as she was at the start
A special note must be made for the primary villain of the series, Truth, has little or no comprehensible motivation, and what he has is not elaborated on.
Truth's motives are fairly well explained. It's his methods that make no sense
Numerous interesting points (the appearance of theEND and Elena's memories of the original 'verse being the most egregious) are hinted at and unceremoniously dropped.
The first one I'll give you, but Elena's memories are explained. Then never brought up again as they turned out to be entirely irrelevant
The last two episodes are a hasty attempt to tie it all together by pulling an inordinate amount of material from the writers' asses.
Personally, it felt more like the writer came up with a cool finale that'd tie the show into the original about two thirds of the way through, and ended up throwing out most of the existing plot threads to make room
I really never saw Truth as an antagonist or any character as a antagonist. I personally saw that the antagonist was the set of problems caused by the scub trying to enter in different worlds leading to a conflict in which started the story of Eureka Seven AO.
"Any problem can be solved with a giant robot."
The show definitely feels as though it was written on an almost episode-by-episode basis. Save for the first two episodes (which according to rumour, were the only two the original writer stayed on for before he jumped ship), the show spent a good dozen episodes trying to figure out what the fuck it wants to do with itself, and once it does, it spends basically the rest of the show not doing anything with it.
I'm most disappointed with Naru's character arc, in which she's essentially shunted, re-introduced and implied to be The Rival to Ao, but instead decides to become some kind of civil union activist who's original extremist measures were just kinda pushed under the rug. Then they pulled a half-hearted Heel Face Turn on her with an extremely flimsy explanation, only to undo it literally within minutes of the very next episode.
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Hoo boy.
I will admit I went into AO feeling skeptical. I love the original Eureka Seven to death and my inner optimist hoped that the sequel would be as good, but my outer cynic had to be dragged along kicking and screaming. The first few episodes did little to convince me, seeming more like generic mecha action than anything else. I gave the series a bit of leeway, as E7 did not start with its best foot forward either, and hoped it would turn around halfway.
Alas, for it was not to be. (Spoilers may follow.)
The polish:
The music is as good as one would expect, the animation is generally smooth (though the last episodes seem to go a bit Off Model), and there are a few genuinely good scenes; Renton's first appearance and young!Eureka's entrance on the Gekko come to mind. Note, however, that both of those scenes rely on my fanboyism of the original series to appeal to me, which is perhaps not a point in the sequel's favour.
The turd:
None of the characters are developed as well as they should be, and some of Eureka and Renton's actions seem hard to justify given their personalities in the original series. With the exception of Ao and Fleur's respective Daddy Issues, nothing really changes about the characters from beginning to end, in stark contrast to the original.
A special note must be made for the primary villain of the series, Truth, has little or no comprehensible motivation, and what he has is not elaborated on. Almost every scene he is in drips with narm. Compared to the suave Magnificent Bastard Dewey, Truth's over-the-top narcissism does not make for a compelling antagonist.
Lastly, the plot. Oh, the plot. Numerous interesting points (the appearance of theEND and Elena's memories of the original 'verse being the most egregious) are hinted at and unceremoniously dropped. The Time Travel elements leave open more questions than they answer. The complete reversal in the nature and role of the Scub from the original series is given only the slightest justification. The last two episodes are a hasty attempt to tie it all together by pulling an inordinate amount of material from the writers' asses.
In the end, I must personally file this under Fanon Discontinuity. The ending of the original series was excellent, and that is where it sits.