You know, taking Renton out of this series completely would solve a lot of things.  Just think! What if Holland really was Eureka’s “chosen one” and he had to either risk the world or break Talho’s heart? He seemed like he was capable of being in love with multiple people at the same time anyway, right? And even if he was only in love with Talho, if Eureka was in love with him and needed him to love her to save the world, then that would be one hell of an interesting and dramatic love triangle — much more interesting than the sappy, idealistic romance that Renton and Eureka had where all of their problems stemmed from Renton being a dumbass (“Of course I’d want to know about my father! What’s wrong with you?“). The Holland/Talho/Eureka drama might have actually already happened in the events leading up to the start of the series, but Eureka not reciprocating Holland’s theoretical feelings kind of nullifies its relevance completely. (And to make Holland less of a pedophile, just age up Eureka; she’s not human anyway. Besides, her personality would be less typical if she were older.)

Taking out Renton and starting the story back earlier would also take out much of the need for explanations and flashbacks. If we follow Holland as the main protagonist, then the audience should know what his goals are much, much sooner as well, so we actually have a clear goal and obstacles rather than running around with little apparent purpose for forty episodes before cramming everything into the end. And while we’re condensing things, we could take out Dominic and Anemone as well because they were kind of like the Saji and Louise of this series and therefore completely pointless. Anemone ended up being useless to Dewey in the end, so what does it really matter? The fact that she was made to be a pseudo-Coralian was also so poorly explained that I wasn’t sure what the hell she was until I looked it up on Wikipedia afterwards. (Was it any clearer in the sub?)

Geez, I keep looking at Renton’s face in the picture up there and even his face pisses me off. He looks like such a smug asshole there, looking down at the viewer. There are so many things that bother me about the guy’s logic and how he handles things. You didn’t realize you’d been killing people all this time? Really? Really? His relationship with Charles and Ray was pretty disturbing too, mostly because he seemed so overly eager to be adopted into their family. Even if he is that desperate for a family, shouldn’t he be a little more cautious about assimilating into a family of strangers? His reaction to their request to call them “Papa” and “Mama” (I’m assuming it was “Otou-san” and “Okaa-san” in Japanese) was ridiculously childlike considering the awkwardness of the request in the first place. It was creepy as hell, especially considering his age. (Yes, I wrote about the age thing already, but it still really, really bothers me that he acts so much like a ten-year old, and sometimes maybe even eight.) Besides, if Renton’s grandfather and sister replaced his parents as parental figures, then I don’t see why he would be so desperate for a family, or even a place to belong — he could have gone back to (or tried to go back to) Bellforest, but he didn’t.

There was just zero reason for me to sympathize with this kid. Charles and Ray could stand to be purged from the series too, though they do have history with Holland and Eureka, and they were crazy enough to be entertaining. It’s just a matter of whether the slow-down of plot progression that results with their existence is worth it since they don’t really contribute much on the plot front.

I really thought the Limit of Questions was an aptly named and interesting concept, but it was pretty poorly explained, along with most of the relevant information concerning the past, the Scub Corals, and Dewey’s plan and motivation. There were also a lot of things that I wasn’t convinced of logically, like the fact that humans apparently had no idea that they had returned to the Earth. How the hell would you be able to keep secret your entire species’ return to its home planet? Did the entire population just immediately forget when they landed or had it, for some reason, been brainwashed out of the populace’s head? Dewey’s belated flashback was also confusing in explaining the Novak family’s role in the world, as well as the concept of the “sacrificial king.” Anemone’s apparent apathy towards his rambling exposition further made me disinclined to care. For revelations so long in the coming, they certainly were terribly done, especially since we never, ever find out why Dewey has such a one-sided hatred of the Scub Coral. That might be important, considering destroying them was his entire scheme. And in the spirit of getting rid of pointless characters: the Sages could go too. Dewey can be the Charles zi Britannia of this world.

Oh, those goddamn kids can go too. All they did was rub in more of the persistent family themes and inject “character development” very late in the game. Seriously, did we need those two or three episodes of Renton, Eureka, and the kids chillin’ on the beach being emo? Aside from the fact that Eureka’s transformation is never explicitly explained (an explanation can be inferred, but it sucks to not get assurance either way), the kids go through the “omg! You killed our real parents!” thing so late in the series that it’s ridiculous. Traumatized or not, you’d think that would be something they confront far, far earlier, like maybe as soon as they realize that their parents are gone for good. I also think it disturbs me on some level that Renton (and Eureka) actually comes to accept the kids as his kids rather than younger siblings of some sort. If we get rid of Renton though, then it isn’t as bad since the family concept is much more appropriate for Holland and an aged up Eureka, not to mention Talho. Still, I’m sure that Eureka can feel plenty of belonging without the acceptance of those war orphans.

Ahaha, I am tired of rambling now.

Last thing though: the ending was lame as hell and made no sense whatsoever. How does Eureka’s refusal to become a Command Cluster stop the end of the world? If the existence of the Command Cluster was what kept the Scub Coral dormat for all those years, then a lack of one means they’re all forced to awaken, thus pushing the world over the Limit of Questions, right? That was why they were trying to stop Dewey from blowing up the original Command Cluster. Then shouldn’t Eureka’s refusal to replace to Cluster just make things worse? And if her collar is going to have her self-destruct anyway, then it doesn’t really matter either way, right? How the hell does Eureka and Renton gattai-ing help anything? Even if it stops the self-destruction, something still needs to be the Command Cluster. Or even if that combination is what allowed the Scub Coral to reach “enlightenment,” unless they all simultaneously combined with something else on the planet to produce a shit ton of human/Coralian hybrids, wouldn’t they still breach the Limit of Questions? The brief epilogue really shows no hint of human/Coralian coexistence either. Furthermore, what do Eureka and Renton actually become after combining? A rainbow?? Maybe my accumulated frustration and apathy had me not pay attention at all for that last episode, but then maybe they shouldn’t save a bunch of last minute twists and revelations for the last goddamn episode.