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「リアル・ミー」 (Riaru Mii)
“Real Me”
Marshall may have been a respectable wingman this episode. But I don’t know how to feel about the romantic tensions between Echo and Mu. I appreciate how these feelings drive both characters – giving Echo the impetus to break free of the hopeless situation he was born into, while spurring Mu into performing in the play despite not really caring because she’s aware of how much Echo would love to meet Jimi. The tragedy of the situation she finds herself in is that she does everything to Echo’s sake. Neither are able to convey these feelings to one another – which creates a beautiful impasse harking back to awkward, youthful love.
That said, it feels like the series is trying to say she’s obligated to have feelings for Echo because he found her, and rescued her. Yet to my mind that’s not how love is owed, meaning the romantic progression feels clunky and less organic to me. That’s probably my biggest gripe with the series, in how Listeners has struggled to make Echo compelling. He’s been a wet rug this entire time. Which might be a limitation of the one cour format. If Eureka Seven only had 13 episodes to work with, I’m fairly certain I wouldn’t have come around on Renton Thurston as a character. We’ve only got four more episodes to go, and I’ll give them a chance to turn it around. But I’m not feeling too optimistic.
In terms of references, I might be a total plebeian when it comes to British music. But even I know that Tommy and Sally are a reference to The Who. These two become the villain of our set piece – complicit in a plan to hijack Mu’s powers for their own purpose. It would explain why Mu killed Ritchie and Lyde last week. While it absolves her of culpability in my eyes, unfortunately the simple fact is that she has blood on her hands. So it will be interesting to see how that plays out with Nir in the future – whether she’ll ever discover the truth of the matter and if she’d forgive Mu even knowing that truth.
If it wasn’t apparent how Listeners is the lovechild of Dai Satou, based on the awkward but earnest romance blossoming between Echo and Mu, we become privy to the big reveal: Jimi Stonefree and Mu were both originally earless, chosen to go to the world of humans for reasons which remain unexplained. Eerily similar to a certain plot progression in Eureka Seven regarding the scub corals – arguably Dai Satou’s most famous work. So I would expect a deeper social commentary on human nature as we hurtle towards the end. Going along that trajectory, I have a pretty educated guess as to where Listeners will wind up. Power of love will end up saving the day – and with the Beatles coming up next week, my guess on the musical inspiration will be ‘All We Need is Love’.
Anyway, that’s about everything I wanted to discuss. As always, thanks for reading my post and see you next week to find out whether love prevails!
ED8 Sequence
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ED8: 「Dilemma」 () by ()
Preview
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I actually felt more chemistry between Echo and Nir than him and Mu. Even though they only saw each other that one episode and Echo didn’t even realize Nir was a girl they had an instant connection with their passion for Jimi Stonefree that felt genuine and was something they could have built on.
I hope they at least stay friends in the end.
That “Tommy” reference early-on noted and indicated a lot of eerie foreboding, especially when added unto the obvious “The Who” references, and oh how they horseshoed in that reference into the plot.
If you haven’t listened to the album “Tommy” or seen the movie, I suggest you do so.
Mu’s story from eipsode 7
My eyes lit up when “All Along the Watchtower” was referenced but was bummed when it was just a passing reference. I actually liked how they split the 2 intertwined episodes-ep 7 and 8 in this way rather than switching back and forth between the 2 points of views. It makes a for a more compelling watch though I do agree Echo is NOT a compelling character at all, in fact I find him annoying and lacking any sort of character development for the past 8 episodes. I’m interested with how they will wrap up this story though and I feel it might be inadequate, but I love to be proven wrong.
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The characters in this story just feel so flat & unlikeable; especially Mu & Echo. Which is a pretty serious problem given they are the main characters & therefore the lens we experience most of the story through. Last week’s episode was honestly the only one I liked because it barely had the MCs in it.