Anime / Eureka Seven AO

aka: Eureka Seven Astral Ocean

Spoilers regarding returning characters from Eureka Seven and Good Night, Sleep Tight, Young Lovers will be left unmarked.

Eureka Seven AO is an anime and manga series that is a Sequel to Eureka Seven. The animated series began airing in April 2012. The manga began in January 2012.

The series follows a boy named Ao living on the islands of Okinawa, which has recently declared independence from Japan. Ao is the orphaned son of a foreigner who moved to the island, which causes him to be subjected to less than Fantastic Racism. Despite this he's still close friends with Naru, a girl who comes from an influential family on the island.

Earth is plagued by attacks from the Secrets (called G-monsters by the Okinawans), which seem to be attracted to Scub Coral (a strange material that appears out of nowhere). When one of these beasts attacks the Okinawan island of Iwato Jima, not only does Ao find himself Falling into the Cockpit, he also learns of his strange lineage related to the main characters of the previous series. Saving the island also pulls him into the middle of many political issues, including Okinawa's struggle for independence.

The series has been licensed by Funimation. Subtitled episodes were released weekly on their website, one week behind the then-current episode in Japan. The series is also being dubbed into English.

Official Japanese website

A video game for the series was released in September 2012 by Bandai Namco Entertainment. It includes a bonus episode (taking place between episodes eight and nine) and also includes Crossover elements.

This series is also immensely notorious for originally coming to an end on a completely abrupt note after two seasons. Fans were far from pleased and scalded the developers and writers of the series, branding that lapse in judgement a transgression similar to the first ending provided from another popular mecha anime that preceded the Eureka Seven franchise, Neon Genesis Evangelion^note (notorious for ending on two surreal and bizarre psychologically-driven episodes in its initial run that did not bring the series to a true close, which led to the coining of the trope "Gainax Ending"). Fortunately, just like the Evangelion series received its proper and intended conclusion with the eventual release of End Of Evangelion, Bones took into account the negative backlash. When the time was right to regather the cast and break away from other projects, they produced and eventually released a series of five minisodes from January 10 to March 2, 2017 that all compile into Episode FINAL: "Lord Don't Slow Me Down", or One More Time, a meticulously written patch-up episode that tacks on a proper ending to the series, giving it the caboose fans wanted.

There are two Spin-Off manga. The first is entitled Eureka Seven AO ~Save A Prayer~. It follows Yuna Marta, a girl who accidentally qualifies as a giant mecha pilot when she mistakes a military organization for a theater troupe. Characters from the anime appear as part of the supporting cast. The second is a comedic Yonkoma series entitled Eureka Seven nAnO.

All character tropes should go to the Eureka Seven AO character page.

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Tropes:

• Abnormal Ammo: The Nirvash's Wave-Motion Gun eats Quartz (as in literally eats it, using the barrel as a mouth) for a power source.
• Accidental Hero: Elena, in an attempt to stop Eureka from leaving, tries to ram the Nirvash with her own IFO. Her timing is such that she hits Truth instead. To her annoyance, Ao and Fleur congratulate her for her help.
• Airborne Aircraft Carrier:
  • The second Secret is a massive floating carrier which launches swarms of smaller Secrets that resemble the first one (albeit scaled down to fighter size).
  • Génération Bleu's assault landers like the Triton are small versions, being able to carry up to three IFOs.
  • The Gekko when it appears in episode 13-14, even if it is derelict and empty.
  • America's Fortress-class IFOs introduced in episode 18, which can carry four standard American IFOs.
• Alien Geometries: The Secrets come in various shapes and sizes. The weirdest one is in episode 6, being essentially a giant, weaponized swing carousel. Ao comments on this in episode 12, comparing the Secret to a jack-in-the-box. It's somewhat unusual that they start appearing uniform and humanoid past episode 14.
• Aliens in Cardiff: Génération Bleu's main base is in the tall and scenic, but otherwise pretty unremarkable Mt. Eiger in the Swiss Alps, above the town of Grindelwald in the canton of Bern. Well, if you discount an enormous Scub-related structure the base is built in, which sticks out of the mountain's northern face like a dragon's neck.
• All There in the Manual: Kanon, the strange machine known to the cast as IFO-0, is labeled as an LFO by the show's website.
• Alternate History: Due to the appearances of Scub Coral and Secrets throughout human history, Ao's timeline has been changed radically compared to the real world. The world population is about half that of the real world. Nuclear power was invented but never developed due to the catastrophic destruction a Scub Burst would cause were it to catch a power plant in the blast. The Soviet Union and China suffered heavily from Scub Bursts. It can thus be assumed that the Cold War never came about, since the Soviet Union would not be a threat in that state, hence why it has not collapsed in Ao's timeline. Finally, a Scub Burst in Tokyo crippled Japan just after WWII, leaving it behind-the-curve. The Okinawa Islands have also (re)gained independence from Japan as a result of a Scub Burst during a war between Japan and China.
• Alternate Timeline/Alternate Universe: It quickly becomes apparent that the history of Eureka Seven AO is different from the one presented in Eureka Seven, but what isn't known at first is why. Several characters refer to the events of the original series as happening in "another world", but then the Gekko is stated to come from 10,000 years in the future. The final episodes confirm that the AO and original E7 worlds are in fact completely different universes. This is made abundantly clear not only in the dialogue, but we get to actually see this as Ao fires the final shot of the Quartz Gun, blasting a hole right into the original E7 universe that we can actually look through.
• Anti-Villain: The Secrets, surprisingly. Eureka goes so far as to say they aren't humanity's enemies. The one that actually talks is polite and quite forthcoming, in a robotic sort of way. That said, their mission is to eliminate the Scub, and they aren't going to negotiate on that, regardless of the collateral damage.
• Area 51: Shows up in episode 18. It's used as a staging ground to launch aircraft which look suspiciously similar to the military airships in the previous series.
• The Ark: The Poseidon Space Station is this. In addition to serving as a storage facility for quartz, it's meant as a sanctuary for key personnel (IFO pilots and their equipment, support personnel for the same, and probably the higher-ups) in case disaster befalls Earth.
• Arm Cannon: The Nirvash gets one of the Kryie's spare cannons to replace its missing arm in episode 4.
  • The Wave-Motion Gun in episode 16 is a giant, self-propelled cannon that attaches to the Nirvash's arm.
• Armor-Piercing Question: In episode 5, Fleur asks Ao, "Why are you here [at Génération Bleu]?" He doesn't get it the first time, but when she repeats it with more emphasis, he finally understands.
• Artificial Stupidity: The drones launched by the Secret in episode 10 are programmed to kill humans, which they accomplish by identifying things shaped like a human. This makes them target store mannequins, and makes them completely incapable of figuring out that humans don't just disappear when they hop inside a tent. The Secret itself also seems incapable of distinguishing between human and human-shaped IFO.
• Artistic License – Military: Maybe in-universe, maybe not. Ao refers to Niki Tanaka as a Colonel, but the markings on his uniform identify him as a Major. For his part, Tanaka doesn't bother correcting Ao, merely asking him to go by a First-Name Basis.
• Art Shift: Near the end of the OVA, the news report shifts from regular animation to real-life photos of people for a few seconds.
• Attack Drone: Two Secrets have used drone fighters, the first for anti-air and the second for anti-infantry.
  • Renton's Nirvash has a bunch of small funnel-like weapons that possess surprising destructive power for their size. The Movie!Nirvash it's based on had them, too, but these appear even more powerful.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Most of the Secrets are massive, with some, like the humanoid Secrets, being as tall as a skyscraper.
• Awesome, but Impractical: The Quartz Gun. It's incredibly powerful and can one-shot several Secrets at once, but it has an unfortunate tendency to change the timeline in unpredictable ways. Which, equally unfortunately, makes Ao unwilling to risk using it on Truth.
• Back from the Dead:
  • In episode 17, a protest against the presence of the Scub at Okinawa turns deadly when they launch a smoke bomb at some of the workers. In the confusion, the plant worker that showed Ao around in episode 4 trips and falls to his death. The Scub then absorbs him, only for Naru to emerge moments later with the man alive and well.
  • There's an aversion: The Quartz Gun's Cosmic Retcons don't seem to bring back deceased individuals. That said, Truth does come back, but as the Nirvash's Archetype.
• Bad Future: The end of Episode 22. Civilization appears to have collapsed, there are auroras everywhere, and Renton's become a Fallout-esque nomad waiting for a chance to travel back in time. It's later explained that the Secrets went to town on humanity due to their connection with the Scub.
• Balkanize Me: As a result of a Scub Burst occuring during a war between Japan and China, Okinawa Prefecture managed to declare independence from Japan to become the United Okinawan Archipelago (officially the United Okinawa and Ryukyu Islands). There are still tensions over this agreement; China maintains fishing rights to the entire archipelago and Japan still performs military operations in their waters with the US Navy. On top of all this, Ao and Naru's home island of Iwato is disputed territory between all three powers. Hence the Okinawans' mistrust of foreigners (which includes people from Japan).
  • Saudi Arabia has split up into several countries, including the Republic of Faisal Arabia.
• Barbie Doll Anatomy: Naru gets this briefly during episode 14, as part of some sort of vision.
• BFG: The Quartz Gun. It's so large that the Nirvash needs both arms to carry it, and it has its own propulsion system.
• Big Damn Heroes: Gazelle rescues Ao when the men of the island have kidnapped him.
  • Eureka, piloting the Nirvash, and the Gekko saves Ao from a fiery death by reentry in episode 12.
  • Major Tanaka shows up with a coalition IFO squadron to back Ao up when the Chinese forces (based on the red with yellow stars flag) refuse to let Pied Piper extract the Quartz. He got there a couple minutes late to stop the first salvo, but backs him up from there.
  • Elena and Fleur rescue Ao from the Americans in episode 18.
• Bilingual Bonus: For Japanese viewers. Many of the things visible by Freeze-Frame Bonus are written in English.
• Bishōnen Line: The Humanoid Secrets seem to be more powerful than the non-humanoid variants.
• Bittersweet Ending: Ao eventually rescues his mother and reunites her with his father. However, his nature as a Half-Human Hybrid prevents him from going to the Eureka Seven universe with them, as it would cause a Taken for Granite effect due to the high trapar. With his final use of the Quartz Gun, Ao is then sent wandering in time. He eventually returns to 2027, two years later in his own timeline, but it's quite probable that his interference has changed the world so radically his friends may no longer remember him. Nirvash is gone, as well, meaning he's all alone - although Ao is optimistic about seeing Nirvash again.
  • Subverted into Earn Your Happy Ending with the release of One More Time ONA. After being trapped in between time, Ao is finally reunited with his friends.
• Black Box: The Third Engine. No one knows how it works. When active it can absorb trapar directly from the atmosphere for fuel, giving the IFO theoretically limitless flight time, and the Nirvash has increased speed and maneuverability while using it, but there's clearly more going on. They can duplicate the technology, since other IFOs possess them, but attempting to activate it does nothing. Elena and Fleur do eventually manage to get theirs working, but it only lasts as long as it needs to for them to rescue Ao, then shuts off almost immediately once he's free. Elena credits The Power of Love, which, given the previous series, is most likely the exact reason it worked. It activates a second time for Fleur in the finale, but nothing comes of that.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: After it's revealed that the Secrets are intelligent, they make it clear that they could care less about what happens to humanity. Their primary purpose to destroy the Scub Coral, which is foreign to this universe, and will take any measure necessary, even if it means wiping out all life on Earth in the process.
• Blush Sticker: Elena in episode 21. Funnier still, her helmet also has them.
• Body Horror:
  • Ao has a nightmare in episode 15 where his arms crumble away like they're made of rock.
  • The Coral Carriers in episode 22, after being exposed to the high trapar output of the Kanon. To put it simply: the Scub is eating them.
• Bound and Gagged:
  • Ao gets this treatment when he's caught in episode 3.
  • Japanese soldiers tape up Hannah in order to incapacitate her while they capture Eureka.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Happens to pretty much all the pilots in episode 11, due to some Mind Control sand.
• Brick Joke: In episode 4, Ao mentions that he plans to give his father a good punch if he ever meets him. Twenty episodes later, he tries to do exactly that, but Ivica holds him back.
• Bring Him to Me: Both the Japanese government and those vying for Okinawa's independence resolve to bring Ao into their custody after word gets out that he has blue hair and managed to make the Nirvash work. The former because they could never get the titular Humongous Mecha to work, the latter to sell him to the former in exchange for independence. The Americans are also after him, apparently to test their mettle against the Nirvash and the boy piloting it.
  • A similar situation occurs in episode 13 when Eureka, the Gekko and a different Nirvash appear, with American and Japanese forces approaching from opposite sides and Génération Bleu already at the ship. Everyone comments on their reasons being related to what happened 10 years ago, but they don't realize that due to Time Travel this is the first encounter, not the second.
• Broken Aesop: The original Eureka Seven series spends a good deal of time exploring the idea that humans and the Scub can coexist peacefully without trying to destroy each other, the idea being represented by the Interspecies Romance between Renton and Eureka. At the end of Eureka Seven AO, however, it's revealed that Renton and Eureka can't have children in a world filled with trapars (which are created by Scub) because they react negatively with the biology of a human/coralian hybrid, resulting in a stillborn baby. So humans and Scub can live together, but not mingle with each other.
• Broken Masquerade: Faced with a Secret army bearing down on the world's active Scub Coral facilities, Christophe Blanc spills the beans about the Quartz to the world. His superiors are none too pleased, as they wanted the Quartz for themselves. This also has repercussions later on, as other countries are quite reluctant to let Génération Bleu keep hoarding the stuff.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Rebecka is the only member of Team Pied Piper that isn't eccentric in some way. This is to be expected of the children, of course, but even Ivica has his moments of daffiness.
  • The head of the maintenance crew also seems pretty normal.
• Call-Back:
  • The last scene of the first opening of AO is exactly the same as the one of the first opening of Eureka Seven.
  • The opening sequences that include Eureka show her wearing the exact same flower hairpin Renton gave her in the final episode of the first series. She's also wearing the same outfit as Renton's sister Diane in the original series.
  • Ao also appears to use the Cut-Back Drop Turn in combat in the second episode.
  • There's a picture with shot by shot comparisons of scenes and symbols from the original series to Ao, seen here◊.
  • The logo behind the singer during the protest rally looks identical to the Gekkostate logo, and even has "GS" written on it.
  • A Mind Screw sequence in episode 11 shows the Deface of the Moon from the end of the original series.
  • Ao wears the goofy tracksuit Renton wore in the original series during his stay on the Gekko in episode 13.
  • The Mind Screw sequence in episode 14 contains a visual reference to a sequence in episode 47 of the original series.
  • The new opening has a musical one in the middle part, not a surprise since it's by Flow (the ones who did the first opening of Eureka Seven).
  • Ao also pulls Eureka into the Nirvash in the same fashion as Renton did for Eureka in the original series, though for obvious reasons it goes smoother when the other party doesn't have an arm in a sling.
  • Episode 17 gives us "Konpaku Drive Is Activated" when Ao levels the Quartz Gun at Truth.
  • In episode 22, Renton scavenges from the wreck of the dove-shaped ship seen at the end of the movie.
    • In the derelict ship, you can see the little toy-LFO Renton had in the original series.
  • Renton wears basically the same Federation uniform that Dominic wore in the original.
  • Renton's Nirvash is a more mechanical version of the Spec-V from the movie.
  • The thing Truth fuses with after being blown up in a fusion explosion looks like a distorted Nirvash Type The END. He even calls it "Archetype" several times.
  • In the final episode, the scene where Renton is holding a crying Eureka mirrors Ray and Charles when they see Renton off. Coincidentally both happen at episode 24 in their respective series.
  • During the finale, in the last half, the background music is LAMA's "Seven Swell -based on 'NIJI'-", a song that samples Denki Groove's "Niji" (Rainbow) which was featured in the finale of the original series.
• Calling the Old Man Out:
  • Gazelle calls his father out on treating Ao like crap, and by extension teaching the next generation to do the same.
  • Ao and Fleur plan to do this to Christophe Blanc in episode 8, only to discover that what looks like callousness on his part was actually a Batman Gambit to save the day while keeping the Americans from interfering.
  • Fleur tries to call out her father in episode 12 when he tells them to not try to rescue Ao, who is on course to burn up in reentry, calmly accusing him of allowing it because Ao was an alien. However, there really was nothing anyone could do without falling to the same fate, and he apologized for that reality.
  • Ao plans on doing this to his father if he ever meets him. He gets to. Nirvash to Nirvash.
• Casting Gag: The casting of Micah Solusod as Johnny Yong Bosch's son, especially given the mistaken identity between the two when Soul Eater first came about.
• Chekhov's Gunman: The Okinawan man Ao helps in episode 4 reappears in episode 17. Episode 4 also name drops "Johansson", whose importance is revealed in future episodes - he's Truth's adoptive father, and wrote a book saying that history is being altered.
  • At one point, Eureka tells Ao that the Nirvash Mark One looks like the Nirvash Renton is building. In the final scene in episode 22, we see Renton and his finished Nirvash, which resembles the Spec-V from the movie.
• Children Are Innocent: It's being shown that the next generation of children are finally subverting the "blame everything on the blue-haired people" trend, with Naru's little sister and a young boy (in the manga) who ignored his mother's warnings to stay away from Ao.
• Child Soldiers: Génération Bleu's IFOs can only be run by children, and the Nirvash responds to Ao alone. Averted by the American IFOs, which are flown by adults. Episode 11 explains that this is due to a phenomenon similar to Desperation Disease in the original series, but with far happier consequences; children exposed to high concentrations of trapar have brain abnormalities that make them excellent pilots. Adults, by comparison, aren't nearly as capable as pilots, barring the "Coral Carrier" squadron introduced in episode 21, which can see trapar like Ao can.
  • Given a nod in episode 18, where Pippo, browsing a search engine, passes by an article which calls attention to Génération Bleu using child labor.
• Cleavage Window: Elena and Fleur have to wear Fanservicey, cowgirl-esque outfits that prominently feature these in episode 17, as part of a photo shoot. Fleur is less than amused by this; Elena, however, is clearly having fun with it... and Fleur's discomfort.
• Clock Roaches: The Secrets describe themselves as this. When communication is established with the head of one Japan recovered, it claims that its creation is part of nature and that its sole mission is to eradicate the foreign Scub Coral. However, they are more intelligent than most Clock Roaches, being willing to negotiate on the point as long as it meets their goals. Christophe Blanc makes a contract with them to eliminate the Quartz using the Quartz Gun as a proxy, since the Secrets know it's capable of beating them. This way both parties win: no Scub Bursts and no Quartz.
• Continuity Nod:
  • "Welcome Home, Eureka" reappears in the first two episodes. The message changes to "Welcome, Ao," in the third episode.
  • In episode 6, Chloe wakes up in the hospital to find Ao there. In episode 15, they switch places, as Chloe notes when Ao wakes up.
  • Ao dreams of every Secret he's ever fought in episode 16.
• Continuity Snarl: This series seems to have trouble differentiating between original!E7 and movie!E7 LFOs, and for that matter has trouble with the original series' timeline. Eureka is clearly from the original, yet the spec2 she pilots is the movie iteration (the original never had shoulder-mounted lasers). She's also piloting the spec2 well after it should have evolved and subsequently vanished, and there's no explanation as to where she got this one. Further to this, the Nirvash that Renton shows up in seems to be an armored version of the evolved Nirvash, despite the previously mentioned vanishing. TheEnd is in Génération Bleu's basement, intact and in its white color scheme, although shortly after being freed from said basement it gets vaporized. None of this is ever sufficiently explained.
• Cooldown Hug: Ao gives a metaphorical one to Elena during her nervous breakdown in episode 21.
• Cosmic Retcon: The Quartz Gun can do this by erasing the appearance of the Scub from the timeline. The Scub have also been doing this throughout human history, traveling back from the future after initially traveling from the Eureka Seven universe to various points in the past and radically altering history.
• Cranial Processing Unit: Surprisingly averted with the Nirvash. Truth tears its head off in episode 13, yet this has no effect on Ao's ability to pilot the machine other than briefly stunning him.
• Crossdresser: Ao spends most of the OVA dressed as a woman, forced upon him by Fleur and Elena, and more than half of it dressed like his mother.
• Cutting the Electronic Leash: Rebecka does this in episode 20 to symbolize that she's finally done trying to work with Big Blue World when they have already shown they won't support Génération Bleu any further.
• Death from Above: The Secret in episode 8 shapeshifts into a giant missile to take out the Scub Coral.
• Defcon 5: There's no progression demonstrated, but the show nevertheless gets this right when Génération Bleu goes to Defcon 1 in the face of an imminent and unavoidable attack.
• Determinator: Secrets chasing after the Scub Coral no matter where they escape to in order to destroy them. Think of it as a cat and mouse chase.
• Diabolus ex Machina: The revelation that the Eureka Seven universe is fatal to hybrids, which took Ao's sister and keeps Ao from ever returning home.
• Diabolus ex Nihilo: Kanon.
• Digging Yourself Deeper: Ao does this with Naru in episode 22.
• Distressed Dude: Ao is briefly abducted by some of the men of the island because they hope to offer him to the Japanese military in exchange for their independence.
  • Or Chinese, because Okinawa apparently seceded with Chinese assistance and is now their dependency or protectorate. Or whoever, really — it's pretty clear that for the most part they did it simply because they need someone close at hand to blame.
• Dream Sequence: Subtly hinted at in episode 7 with regards to Ao. His scenes on Iwato Jima feature slight color desaturation, while all the island scenes before that point are colored normally.
  • Dreaming of Things to Come/Dreaming of Times Gone By: Something like this occurred in episode 7, given that Truth really did take Naru, but did so at the plant coral facility, presumably at the exact moment Ao showed up in the dream. Naru later explains that Ao's consciousness was there, even though his body wasn't.
• Dull Surprise: Affects Ao and Naru to various degrees.
• Dynamic Entry: The above-mentioned Big Damn Heroes is accomplished by Gazelle and his friends driving their FP through the wall of his father's house.
• Elaborate Underground Base: Génération Bleu's HQ is built within an excavated structure in the Scub Coral which looks suspiciously similar to the Tower Cities from the first series.
• 11th-Hour Superpower: Ao's Cosmic Retcon in Episode 23 changes the Nirvash's appearance. Episode 24 then reveals it has gained an Archetype in Truth. Notably, Renton calls it the Nirvash Neo - which was presumably its name to begin with.
• Empathic Weapon: The Nirvash's Wave-Motion Gun can act of its own volition. The Nirvash itself can do this (as in the original series) but only when Eureka is around. But when it gets its 11th-Hour Superpower...
• Empathy Doll Shot: In episode 22. Being a (very old) mechanical toy, it falls apart when picked up.
• End-of-Series Awareness: Parodied by Elena in episode 16, who thinks the events are like the end of an anime.
• Enemy Mine:
  • Major Tanaka aids Han and Pippo in connecting the disembodied Secret to Georg in episode 15.
  • Episode 20 reveals that Christophe Blanc made a backdoor deal with the Secrets, pledging to help them get rid of the Scub Coral in return for the Secrets not interfering in human affairs. The Secrets accept the proposal and Japan agrees to shelter and sponsor the remnants of Génération Bleu.
• Energy Weapon: Preferred weapon of the Secrets. The humans are shown to use them in a limited capacity, too. The Nirvash Spec-2 is equipped with Homing Laser Cannons.
• Epic Fail: When Ao launches the Nirvash for the second time, he disengages two pistols built into its side. Since it's missing an arm, one predictably falls into the sea.
• E.T. Gave Us Wi-Fi: It's implied the technological boost of this world compared to the real world (even accounting for the setting being 13 years in the future) is due in part to reverse-engineering technology found in the Scub. Also inverted; see Alternate History above.
• Even Evil Has Standards: The Okinawan SDF is willing to sell out Ao and Naru to avoid trouble with the Japanese. Nakamura's attempt to shoot Ao, however, is universally met with disgust.
• Evil Is Not a Toy:
  • Didn't really think that whole "use a Secret as a weapon against our enemies" plan through, did you, Lt. Nakamura? Much destruction ensues. Rubbing salt in the wound, Christophe Blanc manages to successfully ally with the Secrets and enlist them as military aid.
  • On the other side, the (implied to be artificial) Coral Carriers used as IFO pilots by America unexpectedly begin growing large masses of Scub from their bodies after being exposed to high trapar levels, which is essentially the Scub converting their bodies into more Scub. That's what happens when you try to exploit an organism that instinctively assimilates things.
• Evolving Credits:
  • For the first opening:
    • Episode 2: Ao's hair color is brown in the opening (it doesn't change until Ao starts the Nirvash later on in the episode). It's blue-green◊ in subsequent episodes to reflect current events.
    • Episode 3: There's an added shot of Eureka in the opening, facing away from the camera, when Ao is chasing the bracelet.
    • Episode 4: Eureka turns to face the camera◊ in this episode, revealing the jewel on her forehead which she had in the final episode of the previous series (up until this point, every flashback shot of Eureka takes care to obscure her forehead, either by having her bangs block it or using camera angles to avoid it). She's also transparent instead of solid. Following episodes use the same shot.
    • Episode 5: The Nirvash gets repainted in this episode, which is reflected in the ending credits. The opening isn't changed.
    • Episode 6: The opening credits use the Nirvash's new color scheme◊, as with the ending credits in the previous episode.
    • Episode 8: The HUD in the opening shows a systems overlay◊ of the Nirvash on top of the targeting reticule. Naru's image in Ao's helmet glows◊.
    • Episode 11: Eureka glows◊.
  • For the second opening:
    • Episode 15: The title card changes, glowing yellow◊ instead of clear as in episode 14.
    • Episode 17: Team Goldilocks is replaced◊ by Team Harlequin in the opening, and their IFOs are replaced◊ with an unidentified IFO (which turns out to be Truth in episode 20). Their removal is due to the team itself being erased from history, though the girls are fine.
    • Episode 23: Renton turns to face the camera.
• Exotic Eye Designs:
  • Ao has the purple-with-red-ring eyes of a Coralian. Unlike the previous series, this is actually explored beyond simply marking him as part-alien. The design of his eyes allows him to perceive trapar.
  • Truth has vertically halved pupils.
• Explosive Overclocking: Of a sort. Until the finale, Ao never fires the Quartz Gun at full power, yet it is still absurdly destructive. In the finale, when he finally gets it to 100%, the resulting blast is strong enough to destroy an army of Secrets larger than the first one he blew up, the Scub formation below him, punch a hole between universes, and finally completely destroy the gun and total his mech in the process.
• Eye Beams: Used by the humanoid Secrets in episode 21. It could also apply to the Secret in the pilot, since it fires from a visor-like eye.
• Face–Heel Turn: Both Elena and Team Harlequin defect to the Allied Forces during the events of episode 20, though Ao seems to talk some sense into the former by the end of the next episode.
  • Sort of happened earlier to Maggie Kwan, though this was due to a Cosmic Retcon.
  • Possibly Naru, though it's unclear who's side she's really on.
• Failed a Spot Check: In episode 13, Truth takes the form of Eureka to trick Ao. Ao would not have fallen for this if he had stopped to consider some obvious problems with the disguise, namely that "she" obviously isn't pregnant and isn't wearing the same clothes (Truth has taken her form as she dressed in the previous series, minus the gold collar). Ao does eventually notice that she isn't pregnant, but far later than he should have. Truth even lampshades this.
• Falling into the Cockpit: Literally; Ao is launched from Gazelle's FP and lands on the Nirvash. Ao does at least rationalize that the controls are similar to a normal FP, but he didn't know the Nirvash was an IFO at the time. It's lampshaded later on, when Ao can't figure out any of the subsystems and comments that it's not as easy as it looks in anime.
• False Flag Operation: Truth does this in episode 19. He destroys a bunch of Allied Forces and American satellites, for which Génération Bleu is blamed, while the debris is used to destroy the Poseidon, which Génération Bleu blames on the Americans.
• Fantastic Racism: Ao and Eureka get a lot of flak for being foreigners. The fact that they seem to attract monsters certainly doesn't help. The worst part is that Gazelle's dad pretty much outright admits that Ao had no control over the circumstances that lead the adults to hate him, but he won't forgive him anyway.
• Fauxshadowing: There were a lot of hints that Elena wasn't quite a normal human. Besides the obvious ones, such as her visions of the original series, there were also more subtle moments, such as the the camera lingering on Elena in episode 5 when there was discussion about Ao's unique eyes, or her Non-Answer to Fleur about whether she could see trapar in episode 12. As episode 21 revealed, this ultimately amounted to nothing: Elena is just a human Time Traveller from the 1980s who was made aware of the Eureka Seven world as a consequence of her trip through time.
• Feed It a Bomb: The Secret in episode 10 is essentially a giant clam which releases Attack Drones from its mouth. Since its armor is too tough to penetrate, it's defeated by tricking it into releasing another wave of drones, at which point Fleur and Elena fill it full of ordinance.
• Finger Gun: In episode 6, Truth does this at Génération Bleu's entrance checkpoint, complete with "BANG!" The checkpoint explodes.
• Five-Token Band: The pilots of Hannah's Team Harlequin are black, Indian, and Chinese respectively.
• Flying Car: Trapar allows modified cars, called FPs ("Flying Platform"), to hover off the ground. Okinawa has the largest concentration, but trapar mining allows them to be used in other places.
• Forbidden Chekhov's Gun: Albeit a self-imposed one. Ao's new Wave-Motion Gun will rewrite history each time it's used. Ao's not willing to risk it after the first use makes it so Team Goldilocks is never formed.
• Foreshadowing: One of the few segments of the story that didn't end up Left Hanging was in episode 13, when Eureka says that exposure to Scub Coral would be dangerous for her baby. We see how dangerous it is in what has to be the most upsetting moment in the Eureka Seven franchise in the finale. See Taken for Granite for details.
• Forgotten Phlebotinum: After Ao gets his Mid-Season Upgrade, he fails to remember to use it until episode 22 (where it fails horribly), even though there is at least one instance where it would have defeated his opponent with ease.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: Several episodes have fairly detailed reports, messages, and other things which pass by fairly quickly. Most are written in English.
• Freudian Trio: Génération Bleu rapid response teams seem to operate on this principle. Pied Piper was short one prior to Ao joining.
  • For the record, Ao is the Ego, Fleur is the Superego, and Elena is the Id.
• Friendly Enemy: The Secret casually chats with Ao in episode 17, without a hint of animosity.
• Funny Background Event: While Ao argues with his teammates at the pool, Noah clambers awkwardly onto a table in the background and knocks everything off it.
• Gainax Ending: The last episode suddenly introduces a major plot point - the fact that Ao can't survive in the Earth of the original series. It's not quite out of nowhere but still seems out of left field. Then there's the Timey-Wimey Ball that somehow includes a Stable Time Loop. And then see No Ending.
• Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: In episode 18. Fleur slaps Elena when she starts ranting about having killed Miller Joe. Elena slaps her back and storms off, leaving Fleur to fall to her knees. It technically worked, in that Elena focused her energies on an equally irrational but at least more productive task. Fleur, herself conflicted for other reasons, needed an extra push from Gazelle.
• Godwin's Law: Comes up in episode 21. When Nakamura goes on about making Japan the greatest nation on Earth, the Secret points out that others have made that claim before. To its credit, the Secret cites Napoleon and Alexander in addition to Hilter.
• Godwin's Law of Time Travel: Joked about in episode 17.
  Gazelle: I hope you aren't going to tell me that Germany and Japan won World War II!
• The Good, the Bad, and the Evil: Although there a number of factions with shifting alliances, by the last few episodes of the series we have the alliance between Pied Piper, the Japanese, and the Secrets as the Good, the Allied Forces as the Bad, and Truth as the Evil.
• Grandfather Paradox: Ao ponders this when he's hanging out with his still-pregnant mother.
• Grand Theft Prototype:
  • Ao, with the help of Gazelle and his friends, steals the Nirvash from the Japanese at the start of the series.
  • In episode 14, Naru steals the Nirvash spec2 after it leaves Eureka to hold off Truth (a fight it loses).
  • Elena steals the unused Credo in episode 20, since at the time her own IFO wasn't operational. Truth also steals the Kanon, which was kept isolated under Génération Bleu HQ, by merging with it.
• Gratuitous English: All over the place, though it's pretty good English most of the time. Episode 6 has a notable instance of an entire report written in English, and not very well at that.
  • In episode 16, there's a screen that says "QUAETZ", despite the accepted (and most likely official) translation is "Quartz".
• Green Rocks: Quartz. Especially in episode 16 where a big clump of it suddenly turns into a Wave-Motion Gun. Episode 17 reveals it enables time travel and Cosmic Retcons. Ultimately turns out to be an alternate form of the Scub.
• Grievous Harm with a Body: Ao beats the first Secret by impaling it with the Nirvash's severed arm.
• Groin Attack: Gazelle learns the hard way that Rebecka is not to be trifled with when he rolls out of the rear compartment of the Triton and right onto her chest.
• Happy Ending Override: While Eureka Seven ended on a happy note, AO dumps a bucket of cold water on that ending when it is' revealed that Renton and Eureka's first child died due to trapar exposure. They only way they could save Ao was effectively banishing him to an alternate universe. This has caused no small amount of emotional turmoil for them, resulting in Renton becoming a bitter, cynical man who has come to despise the Scub Coral he once protected.
• He Knows Too Much: Rebecka is prepared to eliminate Gazelle and his friends after they learn the secret of how Génération Bleu neutralizes the Scub Bursts. Fortunately for them, Christophe Blanc decides to give them a job instead.
• Heroic Sacrifice:
  • Chief Bruno does this early on.
  • Christophe Blanc against Truth.
  • In the final episode Ao, maybe. He doesn't die, but he's sent wandering through time and he might have negated his history.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: Génération Bleu's revelation about the Quartz seriously damages their worldwide reputation, since they kept it secret. That Ao made a giant cannon out of it probably isn't helping. Then Elena and Fleur, in rescuing Ao after he went with the Americans, got the entire organization labeled as a terrorist group.
• Homing Lasers: Most Secrets' weapon of choice.
• Human Aliens: Eureka, as in the previous series, and Ao since he's her son. Truth is also a Secret in human form.
• Humongous Mecha
  • Real Robot/Super Robot: Despite the fact that they can only be piloted by children, the IFOs are Real Robots - and their weapons are mostly bullets and missiles. The Nirvash Mark I hasn't even moved on its own (except for Eureka) and the reason it can only be piloted by Eureka and Ao probably has more to do with genetics than destiny. On the other hand, the Secrets are extremely and inexplicably alien, while Truth is from a different genre of show entirely.
• Hybrids Are a Crapshoot: Ao, the son of Renton, a human, and Eureka, a Coralian, was effectively banished to an alternate universe due to the high amount of trapar in the first series. It was the only way they could save Ao since it proved fatal to human-Coralian hybrids, which is how Renton and Eureka's first child died. This is one of the reasons it's the Contested Sequel and a frequent Fanon Discontinuity.
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Like the first series, the Japanese episode names are direct Shout Outs to existing songs. The English names have no particular trend, however.
• Jerkass:
  • Gazelle's dad, whose half-assed apology to Ao for behavior he acknowledges but refuses to change only makes him that much worse.
  • The sister of the guy who helps out Ao in episode 4. The guy took Ao by her shop so he could get something to eat, and she wastes no time ratting Ao out to the Allied forces because she thought she'd get a good finder's fee.
• Incredibly Obvious Tail: Invoked in episode 8. After Ao tries to take the Nirvash to look for Naru, Christophe Blanc lets him off with a warning, only to have Gazelle and his friends spy on him with all the subtlety of a brick to the head. Fleur quickly figures out that he ordered them to behave that way on purpose; the purpose wasn't to spy on Ao, but to make it clear that he was being watched.
• Ironic Echo: In episode 9, Fleur jokes that she won't rescue Ao when he drowns. Later on, the Nirvash runs out fuel and begins sinking. Elena and Fleur pull it and Ao up. Elena then calls Fleur out on this.
• In Spite of a Nail: The erasure of an entire Plant Coral facility from history seems to have no large-scale effects on the timeline, just minor ones for certain individuals.
  • A similar thing happens when Truth is erased. Most notable is the fact that Naru is almost completely unchanged, despite Truth being the defining factor in her transformation previously.
  • The fact that this world's history is quite different from ours didn't change the fact that Nimitz-class nuclear carriers were developed, or that Ronald Reagan was elected President of the United States.
• It's the Only Way to Be Sure: This is the Secret's reasoning behind Scub Bursts. They detonate upon contact with the Quartz to make absolutely sure nothing is left behind.
• Keystone Army: The Airborne Aircraft Carrier's fighters explode when it does.
• Kick the Dog: The adults living on Okinawa encouraged their children to practice Fantastic Racism against Ao and Eureka and to harass them, simply because they blamed Eureka for the first Scub Burst.
  • Burning down Fukai's house, even though the culprit is never shown. This is after they covered the fences in graffiti and broke all the windows with rocks.
• Kinetic Weapons Are Just Better: In contrast with the previous series, where beam weapons were fairly common, humans seem to primarily use conventional firearms in this setting.
• Lampshade Hanging: Compared to the original this series has very few example of homing lasers. When they do pop up in Episode 15 the pilots are extremely surprised and Elena asks how they could be homing despite not being missiles. It is played for drama rather than laughs as Ao doesn't do a good job avoiding them.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Nakamura thinks this is the case when Okinawa gets attacked because it has Scub Coral, which they only have control of because they ceded from Japan with help from the Allied Forces.
• Latex Perfection: In the Wounded Gazelle Gambit broadcast mentioned below, Pippo wears a face mask that makes him look completely different. A somewhat more realistic example than most, since the mask does not have to pass most types of inspection. Pippo's scene is short and non-speaking, so the mask isn't upset by facial movements and the viewer doesn't get a very good look at it.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Elena often provides musings about what's going on as if they were in an anime, followed by denial from Fleur.
• Legacy Character: The Nirvash isn't the original. Initially it's stated that it was owned by the Japanese and built with parts from various nations, but it is ultimately revealed it was originally constructed by Renton.
• Licensed Game: By Bandai Namco Entertainment. It will include a bonus episode of the anime and will have Crossover elements with the original series and its movie adaptation.
• Like Cannot Cut Like: As Truth discovers, one Secret cannot harm another. This apparently only applies to those of similar make, though, since one type of Secret is shown to be capable of harming another in episode 21.
• Losing Your Head: A Secret in episode 14 is destroyed by Ao, but the Japanese are able to retrieve its still-active head. The head can even communicate, albeit in radio waves that require a translation medium so humans can understand.
• Lotus Position: Naru does this in episode 19.
• Love Bubbles: Elena tries to invoke this in the OVA.
• Love Triangle: Episode 22 cements it for Ao/Fleur/Naru, then episode 23 literally shot down Naru.
• Male Gaze: Ao is treated to a nice view of Fleur's ass when she bends over his console in episode 4. The best he can manage is to shrink back in his chair without commenting on it.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Ao is a Japanese word meaning blue or green. Ao's hair eventually becomes blue-green.
  • Ao and Naru's full names are "Fukai Ao" (Deep Blue) and "Arata Naru" (New).
  • Team Pied Piper tries to lure the Secrets away from the Scub Coral, like the actual Piper leads kids from their homes.
    • Episode 10 is actually subtitled "the pied piper of Hamelin". The episode itself explains why the name was chosen for the team.
  • The "Secrets". Episode 6 introduces a character that calls himself "Truth".
  • Episode 9 mentions a group of hackers called the "Fire Crackers". Also, an pun.
  • The rock singer Miller. Her name sounds like "mirror", and she has similar looks to Elena which causes the latter distress about her own true identity.
• Mid-Season Upgrade: Eureka unlocks a new weapon system for the Mark I in Episode 14, giving it Macross Missile Masacre capabilities.
  • Both episode 16 and 23 give Ao some upgrades too. First the Quartz Gun, a very powerful weapon capable of wiping anything from history and, in the finale, a slight re-design to the Neo Nirvash (formerly only known as the Mark-One), including an Archetype.
• Mind Screw: The dream sequence in episode 7 where Ao tries in vain to stop Truth from kidnapping a willing Naru, only to wake up in a hospital bed and learn that the dream was more or less real.
  • Episode 11 and Elena's hallucinations.
  • Naru's visions in episode 14.
  • Ao's dreams in episode 16, as well as the ending of the episode.
  • The final episode, due to Timey-Wimey Ball.
• Multi National Team: Pied Piper and Génération Bleu in general.
  • Ivica is Croatian or Serbian (possibly former, as Ivica is a much rarer name in Serbia)
  • Rebecka seems to be Swedish
  • Fleur is Swiss
  • Elena is American, but still looks like a Mukokuseki (which turns out to be for good reason)
  • Cristophe Blanc, the head of the Génération Bleu and Fleur's father, is also Swiss
  • Maev and Chloe McCaffrey are Scottish
• Mushroom Samba: Episode 11 has Génération Bleu's IFO pilots being driven mad through a combination of airborne trapar and a sentient dust that clings to them. Team Goldilocks takes their IFOs for a joyride to chase down a giant teddy bear they believe to be their former chief, Fleur obsessively tries to save her mother, Ao believes he's back on Iwato island, and Elena is followed around by a dust clone of Miller, a singer and spy (whom she's been impersonating) and tries to take Ao to the "real world" — the Eureka Seven universe.
• Mysterious Past:
  • Eureka dropped out of the sky one day (specifically, the Nirvash appeared from the same pillar of light that Scub Coral emerges from, and Eureka fell out of it), gave birth to Ao not long after, then disappeared during a Scub Burst when Ao was three. Episode 13 sheds light on how this occurred.
  • The blurry yet unmistakable form of Anemone's TheEND in its final form from the previous series is apparently being held by Génération Bleu. This is never explained.
  • Elena Peoples has serious identity and identity theft issues, and believes herself to have come from Ao's world. In reality, Eureka pulled her into the future when she was about to be caught in a Scub Burst in the Caribbean, depositing her at a Scub Burst in the same location about forty years ahead. Her real name is Ellen Brooks, and she just assumed the identity of the Elena Peoples killed in the latter Scub Burst. It's hinted Elena herself knows this, but saw images of of the future Earth and wanted to be part of it.
• Mythology Gag:
  • A very subtle one. In Episode 21 it's revealed Elena Peoples saw the world of Eureka Seven while Time Travelling and became obsessed with finding it again. This is basically what happened to the members of Gekkostate in the Alternate Universe Compilation Movie Eureka Seven Good Night Sleep Tight Young Lovers.
  • In the last episode Archetype Truth's screen image resembles the Nirvash's larval form from the same movie.
  • In episode 23, Truth's stomach light blinks in the same fashion as Renton and Eureka's heads did in the final episode of the original series.
  • In one of the first episodes, Ao fights a Secret that looks a lot like an enlarged version of the two-man Lift Board Eureka and Renton borrowed from Holland in the original anime.
• Negative Space Wedgie: When the Quartz Gun is fired in episode 16, it retroactively left behind the "North Pole Light", a giant beam of light that arbitrarily stops in the upper atmosphere. Despite being weird, it's not indicated to be dangerous. The Bad Future is full of them, which suggests some major disturbance happened.
• New-Age Retro Hippie: While the independence protesters in episode 4 are a fairly diverse crowd, several of those featured in prominent shots fit this trope.
• N.G.O. Superpower: Apparently, Génération Bleu wields such a clout that it can pressure the Swiss government into issuing passports to its agents on a moment's notice.
  • A backdated passport with the fake visas and entry stamps of previous countries (Gazelle's new one is dated 2022 and has a US entry stamp) is something that even real life spies don't get all that often.
  • Its parent company, Big Blue World, is nearly on the same level. Their ability to influence the media is apparently so great that Rebecka believes (perhaps not unjustifiably) they can influence world opinion by themselves.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
  • The Secret in episode 15 implies that Eureka taking the unusually large piece of Quartz from the Scub near Okinawa ten years ago is responsible for the current unexplained reawakening of the dormant Scub. Episode 17 suggests that the missing Quartz simply came back, since it can time travel.
  • Elena and Fleur take it upon themselves to rescue Ao in episode 18. Though they succeed, they just got the whole of Génération Bleu branded terrorists.
  • The last episode reveals the whole mess was caused when the Scub left the Eureka Seven universe. Renton is trying to fix it by destroying the Scub.
  • Had Ao not hesitated to shoot Truth with the Quartz cannon in episode 17, it would have saved everyone lots of trouble and prevented Fleur's father from being killed.
• No Communities Were Harmed: There's several significant differences between the political makeup of their world and ours, but the originals aren't hard to decipher.
  • Faisal Arabia in Ep. 8 is an anti-American Arab republic explicitly shown on the map in the place of a modern Saudi Arabia, which is an absolute monarchy. Apparently, The Arab Spring continued in their world; however, why the population elected to rename their nation after one of their former kings just after overthrowing the current one is an open question.
  • Ivica's unnamed home country is probably Srpska Kraijina or Yugoslavia as a whole judging by the hints in Ep. 10, being a loose federation of notoriously hard to make to get along South Slavic nations, torn by ethnic and religious differences.
• No Ending: The series ends with nothing really getting resolved, besides Eureka and Renton returning to their home universe and Ao erasing the Okinawa Scub Coral from existence. Other than than that, every other plot point was either ignored, turned out to be a Red Herring, wasted, or left too open ended to be conclusive in any way. This is slightly remedied by the 2017 release of ONE MORE TIME in response to heavy backlash.
  • Given the final episodes, this was probably done to hammer home the 'You can't control everything/live with life's tensions' theme of the series.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Ao saved the world in episode 16, but wiped Team Goldilocks (as a team, not the individuals) from history by doing so. And Ao is the only one who knows things have changed.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: In the manga, Ao simply beats the first Secret to death (with one fist since it shot off the other arm).
• No MacGuffin, No Winner:
  • In the event that the HQ is compromised and the item in the basement can potentially be stolen, Stanley, Génération Bleu's overseer, is ready to destroy the entire HQ and the item with it.
  • Génération Bleu scuttles the Gekko rather than let the Japanese have it.
• No Romantic Resolution: Ironic, given the original series was a romance story.
• Nothing Is the Same Anymore: Episode 20, which is the culmination of three episodes of tension. Team Pied Piper is now working with Japan and the Secrets while the rest of the world is set against them.
• "Not So Different" Remark: When the Japanese carrier is sunk in the second episode, the Okinawan navy moves in to rescue the survivors, with one of the captains yelling that they all have Japanese blood in them.
• Oh, Crap!: Everybody starts crapping their pants when the Nirvash, which hasn't been operational for over 10 years, suddenly starts moving again.
  • Episode 15 has every inactive Scub worldwide come back to life, and an army of Secrets to match.
• Only the Chosen May Wield: The Nirvash only responds to Ao, and Eureka before him. This also applies to the Third Engine. Every IFO has one, but only Ao can make it work consistently.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Euerka and Renton are trying to destroy the Scubs? That's a clue that things are really bad.
• Out-of-Character Alert: Truth blows his cover as Christophe Blanc when he asks Fleur to abandon her friends. Her father is not so out of touch that he would think she'd go along with such a suggestion.
• Outside-Context Problem: No one knows what the Secrets are, just that they show up when the Scub does and attempt to destroy it. Then there's Truth, who can't even be scratched by any conventional means.
• Painfully Slow Projectile: In episode 2, Gazelle's FP is fired upon by what is very clearly a Phalanx CIWS. Even though it's supposed by be a warning shot, and thus it's understandable that they weren't hit, the rate of fire is ridiculously slow, like it's just a regular machine gun. Here is what the Phalanx being fired actually looks like. Averted later on; a military FP with a roof-mounted heavy machine gun tears through a drug farm so fast the people being shot at barely get to react.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: After being Locked into Strangeness, Ao tries to hide his turquoise hair with a cap. It doesn't really work. He gets a hooded sweatshirt later which does a somewhat better job, but he had to pull the hood down eventually.
• Patient Zero: Once Scub infections start becoming more common, Naru becomes this. Technically, though, she's just the first case, not the one transmitting it (directly, anyway).
• Pet the Dog: Gazelle gets Ao some sleeping pills when he's being kept up by bad dreams, and doesn't charge him since they're from the same island.
• Plot Armor: Truth slaughters Red Shirts by the dozens, but leaves the named characters conveniently alive. Particularly noticeable with Rebecka, who ends up knocked out by the same attack that was instant death to everyone else.
• Phlebotinum Overdose:
  • Damaged Quartz, the byproduct of a Scub Burst, can attract a Secret or another Scub Coral is sufficient amounts are gathered in one place.
  • High amounts of trapar cause brain mutations in children which makes them good pilots. This is most common around Scub mining facilities. The Kanon emits even larger amounts of trapar, which reacts badly with Coral Carriers. Finally, a Half-Human Hybrid really gets the short end of the stick.
• The Power of Love: Elena jokes about this when she and Fleur manage to get the Third Engine running, only for it to shut off later. Taking the previous series into account, this is probably accurate, a fact which the finale seems to confirm.
• Private Military Contractors: Génération Bleu
  • They're more of a United Nations Is a Superpower, in that they aren't completely on their own, though they offer their services for a price.
• Ramming Always Works: The Secret fighters in episode four simply smash through their targets to attack. The one in episode 8 takes the novel approach of just dropping on the Scub like a missile from the upper atmosphere.
  • In episode 14, Elena rams into Truth by accident. The reactions of both parties make it almost comical. It didn't actually work (he got knocked out of the fight for a couple minutes, but that's it), but it was the single most effective attack anyone ever managed.
• Recursive Ammo: The Nirvash's new weapon in episode 14 fires missiles which in turn fire beams or smaller missiles after reaching their targets. It instantly shreds a skyscraper-sized Secret.
• Red Herring:
  • Egregiously, Nirvash type TheEND. After briefly appearing in episode 7, it reappears in episode 20 to be unceremoniously blown away by the other hidden thing under Génération Bleu's base, Kanon.
  • Even more egregiously, Elena Peoples. Despite having visions of the Eureka Seven timeline, episode 21 reveals she is in fact from the 1980s, having been brought to the future by Eureka to save her from a Scub Burst. She just saw visions of Eureka's timeline on the way.
  • There were some implications that Ao's sister might be an existing member of the cast. Nope, she died as a baby. She wasn't Elena at all.
• Refusal of the Call: Ao tries to give up piloting the Nirvash after the first incident because of all the trouble it brought him. Unfortunately, The Call Knows Where He Lives, and burns his house down.
• Ret-Gone: In episode 16, the Norwegian Plant Coral is erased from history. As a consequence, Team Goldilocks is never formed, though its members are fine. Episode 17 later shows this to be a direct consequence of using the Nirvash's new Wave-Motion Gun, and that the gun is actually fixing history.
  • In Episode 23 Truth erases himself. In the final episode it turns out Truth wasn't entirely erased, but Ao erases the Okinawan Scub Coral and possibly his own history. (Ao himself still exists, however).
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Noah the sloth. He barely ever moves, which somehow makes him that much cuter.
• Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: When history is changed in episode 16, only Ao remembers how things originally were. Elena may also remember, though it's not clear; she does know that the Quartz Gun changes history by erasing Scub Coral, but doesn't reveal that she knows what changed.
• Roboteching: The Nirvash spec2 has homing lasers, as do the humanoid Secrets which start showing up in episode 14. Elena actually comments upon the impossibility of the latter's version in episode 15.
  "You're kidding! Those aren't even missiles!"
  • When faced with it again in episode 16, now as a target instead of a spectator, she complains that they're cheating.
• The Scapegoat: In episode 14, Ao is blamed for the murder of Colonel Endo in the previous episode (Truth was actually responsible), as an excuse for the Japanese to take both him and the Nirvash. On a larger scale, Nakamura does this to the Scub Coral itself, deeming it an infection which the Secrets are trying to contain. That part is actually true.
• Scenery Gorn: Génération Bleu HQ going up in flames then collapsing wholesale in episode 20.
• Scenery Porn: Naturally, seeing as how this is a Studio Bones anime.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!:
  • When the military tries to kick Génération Bleu out (generally regardless of which military it is), Rebecka usually orders Elena and Fleur to deploy anyway, so when the military inevitably finds themselves out of their depth, Génération Bleu can swoop in and save them from their own ignorance.
  • Rebecka pulls a gun on the Governor of Arizona to make him issue an official assistance request in episode 10.
  • Elena and Fleur mount a rescue mission for Ao of their own accord in episode 18. This was not good press for Génération Bleu, but Christophe Blanc thought it was pretty funny.
  • In episode 20, Rebecka finally decides to quit taking orders from Big Blue World and throw her lot in with Génération Bleu.
• Sense Loss Sadness: A subdued version in episode 12. Ao, who can see trapar, has a minor freak out when he goes into space, where there's almost no trapar. He's quick to adapt, though.
• Shock and Awe:
  • The Nirvash can turn its fists into tasers.
  • The Secret in episode 8 dumps ionized particles into the air, apparently as part of its propulsion method, resulting in lightning strikes all around it.
• Shoot the Dog: As part of their contract, the Secrets kill off one of their own which appears in response to a new Scub Coral.
• Shout-Out:
  • The episode titles are song titles:
  1. Born Slippy (Underworld)
  2. Call it What you Want (New Kids on the Block)
  3. Still Fighting (Sabres Of Paradise)
  4. Walk This Way (Aerosmith and Run–D.M.C.)
  5. Tighten Up (The Black Keys)
  6. Light My Fire (The Doors)
  7. No One Is Innocent (Sex Pistols)
  8. One Nation Under a Groove (George Clinton)
  9. In the Dark We Live (Aphrohead)
  10. Release Yourself (Graham Central Station)
  11. Plateaux of Mirror (Harold Budd and Brian Eno)
  12. Step into a World (KRS-One)
  13. She's a Rainbow (The Rolling Stones)
  14. Starfire (Jørn Lande)
  15. Warhead (U.K. Subs)
  16. Guardian's Hammer (Kagami)
  17. La Vie en Rose (D'erlanger)
  18. Don't Look Down (Go West or David Bowie)
  19. Maybe Tomorrow (Stereophonics or the Jackson Five)
  20. Better Days Ahead (Norman Brown)
  21. World 2 World (Underground Resistance)
  22. Galaxy 2 Galaxy (Mike Banks)
  23. The Final Frontier (Iron Maiden)
  24. Gates of Summer (?)
  25. ONE MORE TIME / Lord Don't Slow Me Down
  • Elena frequently makes references to anime and related material.
    • Ep 3: While in Okinawan custody she's seen wearing a wig and striking a pose with leek that mimics Hatsune Miku. She also excitedly discovers a new music video, which appears to feature a girl with twintails and a leek.
    • Ep 4: She references the Musou gauge before her Macross Missile Massacre (as a joke) and when asked if she's ready, claims "I can easily be replaced." In the latter case, she even says she's quoting anime.
    • Ep. 5: She offers Ao a contract while hiding her face behind the tablet so that only her cute helmet is shown. She also says "Fanservice, Fanservice" while taking a shower.
    • Ep. 8: A rather obscure one when Elena shouts "A hot day in little Russia", she also mentions that Ao and Fleur should Gattai.
    • Ep. 9: She asks Ao if he can't swim because he ate a strange fruit.
    • Ep. 12: The "Seven Days of Fire" are a reference to Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.
    • Ep. 13: "Ten thousand years and two thousand more..." This one is a bit more than a Shout Out.
    • Ep. 15: "That's classified information."
    • The fourth DVD case displays Elena doing a Gunbuster pose.
    • Ep. 19: Elena comments that companies like Génération Bleu always store some secret dangerous things in their basements, while doing this pose◊.
    • Ep. 22: Angry at the extensive modifications made to Kyrie, Elena asks the crew whether they're going to make it combine with Allelujah or put a lion on its head or chest next.
    • OVA: With Ao pretending to be a girl, Elena makes "her" wear a Chinese-style outfit: "Splash cold water on him and he becomes a girl, splash hot water on her and she becomes a boy!"
  • In a flash back during episode 13, Eureka is shown fighting a G-monster shaped like an Evangelion with the helmet design of the titular mecha from another Studio Gainax series, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.
  • Episode 16 shows a random bystander wearing a Suda51 shirt (which happened in another Bones series, Heroman), and the dream sequence where Ao is surrounded by the Secrets he defeated is an exact homage to the final scene of Neon Genesis Evangelion.
    • Heck, there are a lot of scenes that reference Evangelion, such as the red sea in episode 11.
    • Then there's the Secret that tried to divebomb the scub coral. It's reminiscent of an Angel who tried doing the same thing to Tokyo-3.
  • The secondary parts on Secrets (drones, regenerating battering rams) are referred to as Options.
  • Episode 17: The TV show that Elena and Fleur are mentioned as having is finally revealed, and the art style looks JUST like Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt. Unsurprisingly, Elena is responsible for the story.
  • Episode 22: Renton bears a striking resemblance to fellow BONES mecha protagonist Takuto from Star Driver.
    • Ao's early promise of punching his dad upon meeting him is exactly what Takuto said he'd do to his own father. In contrast to Takuto, however, Ao gets prevented from going through with his promise.
  • Eureka Seven AO: Jungfrau no Hanabanatachi, the OVA version, features not only good ol' Elena doing her usual blatantly obvious reference, but you'll only spot that if you can get over the fact that AO COSPLAYS HIS MOTHER!!! And he pulls it off, too, which is Lampshaded later on.
    • Special mention to Elena cosplaying as Maka
  • One of the DVD covers shows Elena clearly doing the Gunbuster Pose.
  • The ending of the last episode is also very similar to the ending of Gunbuster.
• Shown Their Work:
  • Trapar density is measured in millimoles/liter, which is an actual measurement standard used in the real world.
  • Also, during his first battle, Ao briefly blacks out from the severe G-forces he's experiencing. The Génération Bleu pilots wear uniforms with helmet straps to prevent whiplash from the same source.
  • The scub coral are also much more accurate to actual coral in this series, exhibiting phenomena such as coral bleaching and possessing sweeper tentacles.
• Sideways Smile: In later episodes, Lt. Nakamura starts smiling like this as a consequence of working for Truth. It really isn't good for one's peace of mind.
• Sky Surfing: The IFOs do it, though we've yet to see if humans do like they did in Eureka Seven.
• Smug Snake: A lot of various high-placed idiots around the world, but the cake as of now goes to the Arizonian Governor in episode 10.
• Snow Means Death: Eureka and Renton bury their baby daughter in the middle of a winter's night in Episode 24.
• Soft Water: In a flashback, Eureka drops out of the sky from a significant height, hitting the water head-first. She was already unconscious on arrival, and nearly drowning seems to be the only concern when she's pulled out.
• Sorting Algorithm of Evil: The Secrets seem to get progressively stronger, culminating in the extremely tough humanoid Secrets that appear in episode 14 and beyond. Just to demonstrate the difference, three humanoid Secrets effortlessly kill the same type of Secret fought by Ao in episode 2.
• Spectacular Spinning:
  • The swing carousel Secret in episode 6 spins, as befitting the carnival ride it is based on. This allows it to attack with its flails (the cars on the ride) and kicks up seawater into a hurricane that shields it from attacks.
  • The Kanon can create a trapar storm by spinning in a circle.
• Spin-Offspring: When the series was revealed, the initial announcement didn't mention the name of Ao's parents. They didn't need to - it's pretty obvious just from looking at him that his parents are Renton and Eureka.
• Spoiler Opening:
  • The opening spoils the fact that Ao will join Team Pied Piper, which doesn't happen until episode 4. His hair color change wasn't spoiled, oddly enough, even though every other bit of media gladly gives that away.
  • To a lesser extent, there's Team Goldilocks. The girls appear in the opening, but their leader does not, foreshadowing that he doesn't walk away from their first appearance.
  • The second opening gives away the fact that the spec2 Nirvash will be an enemy, and that the final form of the movie Nirvash will appear (though it is obscured by shadow, anyone familiar with the movie will recognize it instantly). It's not the actual movie Nirvash, though, just one that happens to look the same. The Wave-Motion Gun in episode 16 also appears, but that's only for a few frames and the Nirvash is just carrying it, disguising its actual purpose. A similar thing occurs with Kanon, which replaces Team Goldilocks's mecha in the opening after episode 17.
• Stable Time Loop:
  • A rather simple two-iteration one. Eureka's appearance in 2012 was the second time in her experience that she went to AO's Earth; the first occurs during the plot.
  • The last episode reveals that Ao was piloting the dilapidated Nirvash that Eureka returned to during her first appearance. The catch is that this occurs after Ao causes a Temporal Paradox by rescuing his mother from her being Unstuck in Time, and then doing a Cosmic Retcon that may have erased his own history.
• Starfish Aliens: The Scub, as in the previous series, with the added bonus that they now have the ability to manipulate time as well as space. The Secrets have hints of this, too, in that they are lifeforms that appear in the form of inanimate objects.
• The Stinger: The end of episode 6, where Truth begins his attack on Génération Bleu. The same scene with no alterations opens episode 7.
• Taken for Granite: The lethal effects of a high trapar environment on a Coralian/human hybrid, as Renton and Eureka found out when Eureka gave birth to Ao's sister. This is why Eureka went to another world - so that Ao could be born in a place where he would survive.
• Team Pet: Noah becomes this to Génération Bleu after he takes a liking to Ivica.
• Theme Naming:
  • Génération Bleu rapid response teams are named after fairy tale characters, including "Pied Piper" and "Goldilocks."
  • Similarly, all of the IFOs (besides Nirvash) seemed to be named after Orthodox and Catholic hymns: there's Kyrie(os), Allelujah, Credo, Requiem, Gloria, and Kanon.
  • Each episode is named after various rock songs.
• There Are No Therapists: Ao really needs to sit down and talk to someone after he comes into possession of a weapon that can change spacetime and 'fix' the universe, but at the cost of altering events and people without their knowing it.
  • Elena is a bundle of frayed nerves and beserk buttons since this universe isn't her home and she's pretended to be at least two people, screwing up her own sense of identity.
• There Is Another: In episode 14, it's revealed that the Eureka from before Ao was born is pregnant with a girl - which suggests Ao may have an older biological sister somewhere. Then it turns out she died at birth due to high trapar exposure reacting badly with hybrids.
• Time Skip: Early materials made a point of saying the show took place in the year 2025. Some viewers noticed that Freeze Frame Bonuses from the original Eureka Seven said the year was 2005 (even though the series turned out to be in the far future.) So there must be a twenty year gap between both series, right? Wrong, AO is in a separate universe. It is also unclear exactly how much time has passed for Eureka and Renton between both series.
• Time Travel: Pretty much responsible for everything.
  • Timey-Wimey Ball: Things get confusing in the last episode. The Cosmic Retcon does not help.
• The Tokyo Fireball: Tokyo no longer exists, having been pretty much vaporized by a Scub Burst 70 years ago. Nagoya is now the capital of Japan.
• Too Dumb to Live: The Okinawan government tries to kick Génération Blue out of the country after the first Secret is defeated, reasoning that they can handle the Scub and refusing to believe it's still active even though Génération Bleu are the experts on such things (and possess the only weapons capable of harming it). Predictably, they end up needing help when things fall apart.
  • The entire population of the island the action takes place, really. After the first episodes they, with a few notable exceptions, come off as dumb, greedy, inefficient racist bullies who just vented their frustration on Eureka and Ao and tried to exploit them however they can, instead of figuring them out and, maybe, finding a solution. And then they wonder why they get their asses whupped by Secrets. One high-ranking member of the Okinawa military at least had the good sense to apologize to Génération Bleu when it becomes clear that their arrogance created another window for a Secret to appear.
  • Génération Bleu also expresses frustration at how they constantly have to remind their clients that conventional weapons are ineffective against Secrets.
  • Japan's Ministry of Defense hatches an absolutely bonkers plan to capture a Secret and use it as a weapon. Predictably, this fails horribly.
  • The US Army (or, probably, National Guard, as they seem to be under the orders of the Governor at the time) is hardly better, trying to protect Phoenix from the Secret by conventional military attacks.
  • The Chinese gets on Génération Bleu's case for extracting the Quartz. When questioned on what they plan to do about any Secrets that appear, they arrogantly state that the Secrets are assumed to be dead. Nothing comes of this, though; Ao extracted the Quartz anyway.
• Touched by Vorlons: Those infected by Scub Coral are formally referred to as "Coral Carriers" in episode 21. It grants them the ability to see trapar like Ao can, at least in certain cases. It's noted that Okinawa seems to have the highest concentration, and they flock to Naru (the most developed case). As discovered in episode 22, getting infected with a lifeform that assimilates living tissue into itself predictably goes awry, though it's isolated to a few cases so far.
• Transforming Mecha: As in the previous series. The Nirvash can go from jet to humanoid, as can Fleur's Alleluia. Notably, the transformations of everything except the Nirvash are much more limited. Alleluia is the most humanoid of them all, and it still has massive fold out scanners attached to its arms. Elena's Kyrie does little more than fold out legs and a head. Finally, the American IFOs switch from jet to something resembling a one-legged bird.
• Translation Convention: Everyone speaks Japanese. Everyone.
• Trapped in the Past: This was the case for Eureka (then she got Unstuck in Time), and technically is the case for Ao (since Eureka was pregnant with him). Initially it seems Elena was this too, but then it turns out she had just Gone to the Future.
  • And then it turns out Ao and Eureka were really in an Alternate Universe all along.
• The Trope without a Title: The mysterious thing at the bottom of Génération Bleu HQ is referred to only as "that".
• Try Not to Die: Toshio Fukai has Ivica pass this message on to Ao.
• The Tunguska Event: Although not stated directly, it's mentioned there was a continuous series of Scub Bursts around Siberia in 1908, referencing the real-world event.
  • It's later revealed that it was actually caused by Kanon.
• Ungrateful Bastard: The residents of Iwato Jima blame Eureka and her son for their troubles, even though the alternative would have been the complete destruction of their island. It's implied that they're just being used as scapegoats since Okinawa's independence suffered in the ensuing struggle for control over trapar mining in the region.
• The Unreveal: We don't learn what the Governor of Arizona wanted with Génération Bleu because Rebecka pulls a gun on him to get him to stop screwing around and request assistance.
  • Whatever Hannah and Eureka discussed, which seems to be having an effect on the minds of a lot of people.
  • The Secret tried to explain why the Scub Coral around the world was suddenly reactivating, but Ivica interrupted. This gets an explanation in episode 17.
• Unwanted Rescue: Ao willingly goes with the Americans in episode 18, due to being conflicted over the use of the Quartz Gun. Elena and Fleur show up to rescue him, which he is initially resistant to. They win him over pretty quickly by convincing him to due what he wants, rather than what he thinks is best for everyone else.
• Video Will: Christophe Blanc leaves one.
• The Virus: The Scub acts like this when it gets inside a human. Naru is the first (and most developed) case, and a rash of infections pops up after the worldwide reactivation of the Scub in episode 15.
• Wave-Motion Gun:
  • The Triton (and presumably others of its class) has two.
  • The Nirvash uses one in episode 16. It's made from pure Quartz, shaped by the Nirvash, and kills an entire army of Secrets with a bunch of roboteching giant lasers that leave a giant pillar of light in their wake. It also erases Scub Coral from history when fired. The first shot makes it so Team Goldilocks is never formed.
• We Win Because You Didn't: In episode 16, in order to prevent the Secret army from causing worldwide devastation, Génération Bleu plans to sacrifice its stocks of Quartz to destroy them at the north pole all at once, where the Scub Burst will do no harm. The disembodied Secret, still linked to Georg, knows about the plan but doesn't care. Whether the world over or just in one spot, they've succeeded in their objective (destroy the Quartz), while Génération Bleu has to give up the Quartz either way. Unfortunately for them, Ao found a way that screwed them entirely.
• Wham Episode: Episode 7, also a Mid-Season Twist. Coming on the heels of a Mind Screw Dream Sequence experience for Ao, it's revealed that Truth has kidnapped Naru. The aforementioned Dream Sequence suggests that she may have gone with him willingly because she believes he's the giant that protected her as a child. There's also evidence that she has supernatural powers, and that a certain LFO from the original series is under Génération Bleu Headquarters.
  • As of episode 11, the show feels like it's almost addicted to Wham, since it had four Wham Episodes in a row!
    • Episode 11 shows that Elena is not who she says she is, and even she may not be clear on who she really is. Her name isn't her actual name, and she also took the identity of a pop singer/spy for America. She may also be from the original universe.
    • Episode 12 has Ao saved by the Gekko and a pregnant Eureka in the Nirvash type ZERO spec2.
    • Episode 13: The origins of Eureka are revealed, and it is explained where she came from and why she disappeared ten years ago. Truth is hinted to be a Secret Eureka faced before vanishing. Finally, Ao receives a message from what is apparently future!Eureka, saying that the Secrets are not their enemies.
    • Episode 14: Though there's plenty to go around, but a couple points stand out. Eureka's baby is actually a girl, at least according to the doctors she consulted. Also, when she goes back into a pillar of light, she's picked up by the blasted to hell and back wrecked but alive torso of a Nirvash. Episode 14 starts off answering questions and ends by doubling the number of them.
    • Episode 16: Ao manages to defeat the Secrets by turning all of the collected Quartz into a Wave-Motion Gun. However, in doing so he's apparently altered the timeline, preventing the formation of Team Goldilocks by erasing the Scub Coral facility where their parents were employed.
    • Episode 17: The Scub Coral and the Secrets have been altering history. Also, Eureka is not anchored in time.
    • Episode 20: Génération Bleu (as an organization) is destroyed, and Team Pied Piper joins up with Japan to do the Secrets' work for them, since they can do it without causing Scub Bursts. Elena has also defected and Truth merged with a Ax-Crazy LFO that wreaked havoc across Russia before it was subdued.
    • Episode 22: The Eureka Seven universe is a Bad Future now, but Renton has another Nirvash and looks set to travel back and set things right.
• Wham Line:
  • Two in Episode 14:
    • The first one by Nakamura:
      "The Secrets aren't here for the Scub Coral. It was never the case!"
    • And the second:
      Ao: Please give birth to a healthy boy!
      Eureka: *giggles* My baby's a girl!
  • Episode 16:
    Ivica: What is this Team Goldilocks you're talking about?
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Want to know what happened to everyone except Nakamura and Gazelle's group? Too bad!
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • Génération Bleu catches a lot of flak for hiding the existence of the Quartz.
  • Elena does this to Fleur in episode 18, calling Fleur on never asking about any of the suspicious things she's done, namely the grave she made for the Miller wig. Fleur explains that while she was curious, she didn't ask because she thought Elena didn't want her to.
• The Worf Effect: Team Goldilocks is deployed and quickly defeated in episode 5, which means Team Pied Piper is called in as backup.
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit: In episode 8, America tries to cancel Pied Piper's mission in Faisal Arabia, as a Scub Burst there would potentially cripple the country, which supports various terrorist groups. In response, Christophe Blanc has Gazelle and his friends portray victims of the Secret on television, garnering international support for their rescue and thus forcing America to concede to public pressure.
• You Can't Go Home Again: After defeating the first Secret, all the various factions (of ambiguous motives and morality) are trying to find Ao and the Nirvash, forcing him to go into hiding. Then his home actually burns down. This convinces him to join Génération Bleu and leave the island entirely (well, this and the fact that doing so might allow him to find his mother). The trope doesn't stick, though. Once Ao joins Génération Bleu, he's able to go back whenever he wants, though the one time he tried (two if you count the dream) didn't go so well.
  • Even though he's never been there, it turns out Ao can never enter the original Eureka Seven universe his parents come from - the trapar there is lethal to him.
• You Didn't Ask: Fukai reveals that he had at least some idea of why Ao's father was never around, but since Ao emphatically thought of him as a deadbeat and never wanted to hear about him, Fukai never mentioned it. Ao has to concede the point.
• You Wouldn't Shoot Me: In episode 17, Truth correctly bets that Ao won't use his shiny new Wave-Motion Gun on him, because he's not willing to risk another Ret-Gone. In fact, Truth actually wants him to use it, so he would have got what he wanted either way.

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