Eureka Seven AO - Episode 4

Given the failure of his attempts to lay low failed in pretty short order, I suppose it's only sensible that Ao's next plan is to go all out and attack the massive Secret threatening the island using his Mark I IFO - and by sensible, I mean the perfect excuse for a little kick-ass mecha action.

Although the US military have their own, ultimately futile, idea for dealing with the G-Monster, it is of course Generation Bleu who have far more success in tackling the "beast" and its minions - that is, until their attack is called off in deference to a spot of "babysitting" Ao, who is of course completely clueless as to how his unit works.  Inexperienced he might be, but it seems that the lad has rather a keen eye for strategy, as it's his plan which is ultimately put into action to defeat the Secret.  Cue a massive explosion of which Michael Bay would be proud.

In the aftermath of this chaos, the island is thrown into a cloud of... well, "stuff"... from the debris of the Secret, while Ao finds himself rescued and shipped off to Okinawa while the Mark I is hidden away (in surprisingly plain sight) while both the Japanese and American forces seek to hunt him and the powers he holds down.  It's to Generation Bleu that our protagonist ultimately turns however, amusingly choosing to take Noel with him rather than Naru as he makes good his escape before other forces close in on him.

Ultimately, it feels as this will be the last of Eureka Seven AO's setup episodes, now that he's ensconced with Generation Bleu, the important stuff about his mother has been revealed and the lines have been drawn for what is to come.  This is certainly for the best, as the second half of this episode was rather tepid and short of anything particularly eye-catching to say or do - then again, this can probably be forgiven somewhat when offset against a great, action-packed first half that bodes well for the future if it can keep up that kind of quality and "wow" factor while still mixing it in with more grounded moments such as Ao dropping one of his rifles; a nice touch that adds another layer to this series when mixed in with its equally measured comic turns which also continue to do the job.  Regardless, my feelings for Eureka Seven AO remain almost entirely positive at this point in the series.