Eureka Seven AO/Characters
Main Characters
Ao Fukai
Voiced by: Yutaro Hojo
The main protagonist, he finds himself thrust into the conflict with the G-Monsters after a run in with Gazelle leads him to the Nirvash. From there he begins piloting it to save his island home. Pilots RA272 Nirvash.
- Bad Liar: His attempt at lying to Fleur was laughable.
- Childhood Friend: Of Naru's.
- Determinator
- Elemental Punch: The Nirvash's hands can retract, revealing tasers which add power to its punches.
- Exotic Eye Designs: Purple iris with a red ring, like his mother. They grant him the ability to see beyond the visual spectrum.
- Falling Into the Cockpit
- Fantastic Racism: The victim of it. Like you'd never believe.
- Half-Human Hybrid: Half-human, half Coralian. The latter seems to be the dominant side as far as physical characteristics are concerned.
- Heroic Self-Deprecation: Goes through this sometimes, particularly due to a belief that very few people care about him.
- Instant Expert: Ao learned to pilot an FP at an improbably young age (Gazelle even comments on it), and picks up IFO piloting on the fly (literally). Clearly piloting is In the Blood. Subverted later on; though Ao is a decent pilot, that represents the whole of his experience in the matter. The more technical aspects of the Nirvash elude him. It takes him a while to figure out how to deploy the weapons (other than the head-mounted machine guns), and Fleur has to teach him how to use the radio.
- Fleur won't let him live this down. When she gets stuck at his house during a lockdown, she claims he wouldn't have been able to answer the phone without her.
- In the Blood: Piloting seems to be a skill he inherited from his parents.
- Kid Hero: Ao is only 12.
- Lightning Bruiser: The Nirvash doesn't have much long-range firepower, but it is very fast and can do a lot of damage up close.
- Locked Into Strangeness: His hair is brown until he activates the Nirvash, which changes it to turquoise.
- Only Sane Man/Straight Man: At times.
- Parental Abandonment: We've no word of Renton, and Eureka disappeared when he was 3. Ao at least acknowledges his father's absence, and plans to "give him a good beating" when he meets him. It's not clear if Eureka ever actually mentioned him.
- Psychic Dreams for Everyone: Episode 7, though that was arguably a result of Truth, not any innate ability of Ao.
- Raised by Grandparents: Dr. Toshio Fukai is his honorary (and maybe even legal) grandfather, after presumably adopting Eureka.
- She Is Not My Girlfriend: Feels this way about Naru.
- Strong Family Resemblance: He looks a lot like his mother (if you made her male), with a bit of Renton thrown in (which is more apparent when he had brown hair).
- Unskilled but Strong: He hasn't been formally trained, but he's a top-notch pilot regardless.
- Wild Eyed Idealist: Which causes him to clash with the rest of Generation Bleu.
- You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Turquoise, in this case. Though it changes to this color only after he piloted the Nirvash for the first time.
Naru Arata
Voiced by: Kanoko Miyamoto
Ao's Childhood Friend, a daughter of one of the island's prominent families. She was one of the survivors of the first Scub Burst that happened soon after Eureka appeared on the island, and which killed her mother and left her an Ill Girl. All this has earned Eureka and Ao the hatred of her father.
- Bare Your Midriff: Her top is rather short.
- Childhood Friend
- Damsel in Distress: Subverted. She willingly goes with Truth.
- Flight: Well, maybe; it did occur in a dream.
- Ill Girl: The Scub Burst left her in constant need of periodic oxygen therapy, and she always carries a portable inhalator with her.
- As it turns out, she's just been breathing the wrong kind of air. Trapar-saturated air lets her breathe normally.
- I Owe You My Life: The reason she goes with Truth is because she believes he was the giant that rescued her from the Scub Burst.
- Missing Mom: Died in the Scub Burst which left Naru ill.
- Psychic Dreams for Everyone: She can see Ao's battles as they happen if she passes out or faints.
- Psychic Powers: She's a bit of a seer, and often sees Ao's battles in her dreams.
- Touched by Vorlons: It's vaguely implied that the Scub Burst gave her psychic powers. It also turns out that Truth (or something similar) was the one that rescued her, not the Nirvash as she previously believed. Truth does find her interesting, for whatever reason.
Generation Bleu
Generation Bleu is a multinational organization funded by the UN to deal with Scub Bursts and the Secrets which appear with them. Though UN subordinates on paper, they operate as mercenaries in practice, offering their services for a price.
Team Pied Piper
One of the Generation Bleu rapid response teams. They operate from the Triton.
Ivica Tanović
Voiced by: Tetsuo Goto
Triton's owner-captain and the team leader. A very tall and powerful man in his forties, he's an arguably both a Reasonable Authority Figure and a Bunny Ears Lawyer, being a skilled leader and sly negotiator, but also highly eccentric, like, actually, most of his team.
- Badass Mustache: He has a truly epic handlebar.
- The Big Guy: Generally two heads taller than most of the Iwato Jima's grown men.
- Bunny Ears Lawyer: He's a very competent leader, but he's also highly unconventional and unpredictable, and periodically has a really weird moments. Like when he refused to pick up a phone, justifying it by the fact that his coffee mug is too full.
- Large and In Charge
- Lantern Jaw of Justice
- Papa Wolf: In his own words, "I won't let children die." Letting them pilot IFOs is a necessary evil, since adults can't, but if push comes to shove he's willing to give his own life to protect them.
- Team Dad
- Scary Shiny Glasses: As a negotiation technique.
Rebecka Hallström
Voiced by: Chie Nakamura
Ivica's permanently harried second-in-command, being an Only Sane Woman in a team of Bunny Ears Lawyers. Sometimes they push her too hard.
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: She's a bit of a martinet, and prefers simpler and harsher decisions in difficult situations.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: She always gets saddled with whatever task the other team members don't want to do.
- Improbable Age: Rebecka seems to be in her late twenties or early thirties at best, which is probably too young for her job.
- Fiery Redhead: When she gets pushed too far.
- Only Sane Woman: Just to give an example -- Ivica is one of the more grounded ones in the team.
Elena Peoples
Voiced by: Chiaki Omigawa
One of the team's IFO pilots, an eccentric Otaku girl who is a pratically One of Us. Pilots the RA304 Kyrie.
- Ambiguously Brown
- Bunny Ears Lawyer: When she was temporarily arrested by the Okinawan Defense Forces, Rebecka finds her doing karaoke in the outfit described below.
- She shot a missile by Fleur just to make her squeal uncharacteristically.
- Cosplay Otaku Girl: She dresses up as a Captain Ersatz of Miku Hatsune.
- Child Soldiers: IFOs can only be piloted by teenagers for some reason.
- Dark-Skinned Redhead: Pink actually.
- Gatling Good: Kyrie has two of them.
- Macross Missile Massacre: For when Gatling Good is not good enough.
- Mighty Glacier: Kyrie is a fire support platform that can unleash a ridiculous volume of fire, but it needs to land and deploy ground anchors to do so.
- Mukokuseki
- Occidental Otaku: According to Newtype magazine, she's American.
- One of Us: She watches a Bland-Name Product of Nico Nico Douga, she dresses as a Captain Ersatz of Miku Hatsune, she references the Limit Break of Dynasty Warriors, she quotes Neon Genesis Evangelion...
- Rose-Haired Girl
- Shipper on Deck: In episode 8, she seems to ship Ao and Fleur to an exaggerated extent. When Ao takes off in anger and Fleur chases after him, she assumes they're eloping.
- Strange Girl: She's pretty weird.
- Unusual Ears: Her helmet has cat ears.
- Zettai Ryouiki
Fleur Blanc
Voiced by: Ayaka Ohashi
Pied Piper's second IFO pilot, a cheerful blonde girl, the only daughter of the Generation Bleu's head, Christophe Blanc. She sees herself as Ao's Rival. Pilots the RA164 Alleluia.
- The Ace: She's an excellent pilot and a popular idol in her own right, and knows it.
- Ace Pilot
- Child Soldiers
- Enemy Scan: Alleluia can scan the G-Monsters, determining their detection radius, weak points, etc.
- Fragile Speedster: Alleluia is very quick and agile, but its armor and armament aren't worth a damn, as it was designed primarily as a EAW/EW platform. It plays the role of spotter for Kyrie.
- Missing Mom: She died in a car accident. Specifically, both she and Fleur were in that accident, and the doctors could only save one by taking organs from the other. Fleur was the recipient, apparently on her father's suggestion.
- Mukokuseki: Averted. She's explicitly Swiss.
- The Rival: Sees herself as such to Ao.
- Friendly Rivalry: That said, she is pretty friendly to him, especially when they start to bond over their mutual dislike of their fathers.
- Survivor Guilt: She hates the fact that her mother's organs were used to save her life. She took her piloting job precisely because it's something of a slap in the face to that (she believes her father made the choice, hence she's getting back at him for it).
- Zettai Ryouiki
Team Goldilocks
Another Generation Bleu rapid response team. They operate from the Medon, a ship identical to the Triton in all but color.
Bruno Hans
Voiced by: Yu Shimaka
Team leader and captain of the Medon.
- The Big Guy: He's chubby in comparison to Ivica, but still quite big.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Flies the Medon into the G-Monster to stop it temporarily, allowing Team Pied Piper to rescue his pilots.
- Sacrificial Lion: The Medon is destroyed, and him with it, in the episode following his first appearance.
- Team Dad: He tries to encourage Ao not to join Pied Piper, reasoning that those he cares for would be saddened by it. When Ao stops by his apartment later, he's shown to be very dedicated to his work, almost obsessively so.
- We Hardly Knew Ye
- What the Hell, Hero?: A non-verbal one. When Ao is looking around Bruno's apartment as it's being cleaned out, he finds a map with reports of various Scub incidents pinned to it. The report pertaining to Iwato Jima, and thus him, is quite vocal about why it was a terrible mistake to ever let him fight in the first place, with "Never let children die!!" written on it by hand.
Maev McCaffrey
Voiced by: Nao Tōyama
Pilots the RA121 Gloria.
- Big Sister Instinct
- Child Soldiers
- More Dakka: Her IFO is an air-superiority platform, hence it has lots of machine guns.
Maggie Kwan
Voiced by: Ayumi Fujimura
Pilots the RA302 Credo.
- BFG: Her IFO is a heavy artillery frame.
- Child Soldiers
Chloe McCaffrey
Voiced by: Ayu Matsura
Pilots the RA169 Requiem.
- Big Eater: She is shown eating a ridiculously huge plate of ice cream, and had no intention of sharing it.
- Child Soldiers
- Enemy Scan: Like Fleur, her role is that of electronic warfare.
- Improbable Age: She's 11. Even with the Child Soldiers thing, that seems to be pushing it.
- Napoleon Complex: She doesn't like people drawing attention to her size.
Others
Various support staff and management.
Alexander Boyd
The lead mechanic for Generation Bleu. He and his team maintain the IFOs.
- Badass Grandpa: The man is not young by any measure, but he still dove onto the Nirvash while it was in motion (though admittedly, it wasn't moving all that fast) in order to manually shut it down before Ao could leave without authorization.
- Gadgeteer Genius: In a somewhat subdued, industrial way.
- Mr. Fixit
Christophe Blanc
Voiced by: Rokuro Naya
The head of Generation Bleu and Fleur's father.
- Benevolent Boss: Gave Gazelle and his friends a job on the grounds that they deserved a chance. The fact that they had discovered classified information about the Scub Coral at best seemed to amuse him slightly, while Rebecka treated it as a severe-enough breach to potentially silence them for. He has also shown a consistent desire to keep his pilots happy, such as sending Chloe a box of doughnuts while she was recovering.
- That said, this seems to be something of a front for more manipulative behavior. He let Ao off the hook for a major breach in protocol, only to have him tailed by Gazelle and his friends in such a way that he'd know he was being watched. Both Fleur and Elena recognize that his kindly demeanor isn't exactly on the level, but, OTOH, they are teenagers in the most difficult age. Fighting with parents is normal at that stage.
- Guile Hero: Him manipulating the world (and, mainly, Americans) into supporting (in a humanitarian sense) the Faisal Arabia is but one example.
- Scary Shiny Glasses: At times.
- Team Dad: His general disposition, however this often hides his manipulative tendencies.
- He has a rather strained relationship with his daughter, as a result of when he had to choose to save the life of either her or her mother.
Georg
Voiced by: Hidenobu Kiuchi
An AI that acts as a Mission Control and support for Generation Bleu's Rapid Response Teams. Very much a Deadpan Snarker, he loves commenting on everything that happens around.
- Artificial Intelligence
- Deadpan Snarker: He doesn't have much in the way of emotional range.
- Mr. Exposition: When he gets the chance, at least.
- Stop Helping Me!: He is often interrupted when he goes into a long-winded explanation.
- Nice Hat: His avatar is a simple face with a top hat.
- Servile Snarker: He has his moments.
Stanley Fry
Generation Bleu's overseer. Whereas Christophe runs the day to day operations, Stanley seems to be more concerned with its assets, financial and otherwise. He temporarily takes over leadership of Team Goldilocks after Bruno's demise.
- No MacGuffin, No Winner: He'd rather sacrifice the entire headquarters than let an enemy get their hands on the item in the basement.
Iwato Jima's residents
The people of the Iwato Jima, the Okinawan island where Eureka landed and given birth to Ao. Because the Scub Bursts started to happen soon after, the island's inhabitants, with a few notable exceptions, blamed it all on her and Ao. In addition, they also vented their frustration at Okinawa's half-assed independence on them. Be warned: not a lot of pleasant characters here.
Mitsuo Arata
Voiced by: Masafumi Kimura
Naru's father and one of the community leaders. His wife died in the first Scub Burst that also injured Naru, and he has since hated Ao and Eureka with a passion. There's hints that he was the one who betrayed Eureka to the Americans.
- Freudian Excuse: He at least has some flimsy excuse for his behavior.
- It's Personal
- Jerkass: There's a very slight hint of him having a heart of gold somewhere, though. Despite his clear disapproval of their friendship, he let Naru go see Ao in episode 4 with no apparent protest. The fact that Ao has saved the island twice by this point might have motivated that change in attitude.
- Think of the Children: This is how his hatred of Ao and Eureka manifests. Since the Scub Burst killed his wife and left his daughter quite ill, he believes Ao will draw the island's children into the same type of conflict that the adults had to deal with ten years ago. He even tries to use this excuse with Fukai (Fukai rightfully counters that Ao is as much a child of the island as the rest are).
Kazuyuki Kinjou
Voiced by: Naomi Kasumi
Gazelle's father, a famous folk singer and sanshin player, also one of the island's leaders. A very traditional man, he seems to be against Ao in no small part due to racism.
- Alliterative Name
- Hannibal Lecture: His "apology" to Ao basically turns into this.
- Hero with Bad Publicity: How he thinks of himself after the Scub Burst is handled. With the Allied Forces capitalizing on it as a new trapar mine and bringing prosperity to the island, he's the only one still dedicated to the cause of independence. Any attempt to act on it would be treated negatively.
- Jerkass
- Politically-Incorrect Villain
- Spell My Name with an "S": His surname, 金城, can be read both as Kinjou (as on the official site) and as Kaneshiro (like on posters).
- Taking Up the Mantle: Wants Gazelle to do this. Gazelle dismisses it; his father never felt him capable of it before, only to suddenly ask now.
Teruhiko Niigaki
Voiced by: Tetsuo Komura
Pippo's father and an officer in the Okinawan Self-Defense Forces. He's Iwato Jima's militia commander and seems to be somewhat less of a jerk and more politically motivated, as he wants to trade Ao for full Okinawan independence.
- The Big Guy: Third after his own son and Ivica.
- My Country, Right or Wrong: He apparently just wants to use Ao to achieve Okinawa's full independence, whatever the means.
- Punch Clock Villain
- Utopia Justifies the Means: If the Okinawan independence requires harassing and beating a thirteen year old boy, so be it.
Gazelle[1]
Voiced by: Takuya Kirimoto
Kazuyuki's son and the head of a small courier company (no questions asked) that he runs on Iwato Jima. He's estranged from his father and actually regrets bullying Ao earlier on his instigation. A shrewd and cunning smuggler, it's during a job for the JAF that he ends up with the key to the Nirvash, and from there brings Ao into the conflict.
- Calling the Old Man Out
- Do Not Call Me Paul: He's become so fed-up with his father that he completely rejected his birth name.
- Drives Like Crazy: "Cars are so last century!"
- Heel Face Turn: Regrets bullying Ao in the past and basically becomes his ally after Ao pilots the Nirvash.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: His first on-screen meeting with Ao has the two fighting over his recent accident, Gazelle having swerved to avoid Ao on the beach during an emergency landing. Later on, he's nothing but even-handed with Ao.
- The Kirk
- In the Name of the Moon: His speech to Kazuyuki and Teruhiko when he and his friends rescue Ao from them.
- Perma-Stubble
- Plucky Comic Relief: At times with Pippo and Han.
Pippo
Voiced by: Keiko Sakai
Teruhiko's son and Gazelle's Childhood Friend. A second biggest guy in the series, he's nevertheless very cautious, because he's been very unlucky since childhood.
- The Big Guy
- Born Unlucky
- Commander Contrarian: He often serves as a voice of reason, shooting down Gazelle's crazier schemes.
- Cool Shades
- Hotblooded Sideburns: Subverted: Pippo's anything but hotblooded.
- The McCoy: He has a very strong conviction for justice.
- Number Two: Gazelle's main assistant
- Plucky Comic Relief: At times with Gazelle and Han.
Han Juno
Voiced by: Yoshinori Fujita
The third in the Gazelle's company, he's a skilled hacker and information gatherer. Being a multinational and even multiracial, he has no stake in the political struggle around Okinawa and thus sometimes comes off as cold and indifferent.
- But Not Too Foreign: He's descendant of four nations, and is thus very cosmopolitan.
- Mukokuseki
- Not in This For Your Revolution: He has no stake in the political conflict, having only signed up for the money and because he's Gazelle's friend.
- Playful Hacker
- Plucky Comic Relief: At times with Gazelle and Pippo.
- The Spock
- The Stoic
Dr. Toshio Fukai
Voiced by: Katsunosuke Hori
Iwato Jima's physician, he was the only one of the island's elders who was against the common "let's blame everything on the blue-haired people" attitude prevalent there. He took in Eureka and hid her until she disappeared, and then adopted Ao as his grandson.
- Cool Old Guy
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's outwardly quite gruff.
- The Medic
- Token Good Teammate: One of the very few unambiguously good characters in the island's Jerkass population.
Others
Truth
Voiced by: Kazuhiko Inoue
A mysterious character who doesn't even know who he is. He goes around causing conflict in an effort to discover that fact.
- Ax Crazy: People die and things explode when he's around.
- The Cracker: Supposedly a member of the "Fire Crackers", a hacking group.
- Cryptic Conversation: More like Cryptic Soliloquies, since he often speaks aloud when no-one is there to listen.
- Desperately Looking for a Purpose In Life: And violently so, at that. Seeing the Nirvash evidently provides him with inspiration in that regard. After choosing his name, he claims to be seeking the "truth" of the world.
- Evil Counterpart: Seems to consider himself one to the pilot of the Nirvash, which he believed to be Eureka. He's rather less interested in her son when he discovers that she's no longer the pilot.
- Exotic Eye Designs: His iris forms a line through his pupil.
- Flight
- Gender Bender: One of the forms he takes is a woman. One notable aspect of this form is that it retains the exotic eyes of his default form.
- Hand Blast: He can fire bolts of energy strong enough to blow up an armored FP or a small building. He does this with a Finger Gun at one point.
- Living Shadow: His monster form looks like one.
- Manipulative Bastard: Being a shapeshifter helps in this regard, but he's shown the ability to destabilize entire countries without revealing himself.
- Nietzsche Wannabe: Believes the world is wrong and nothing can fix it.
- Oh Crap: Surprisingly, he's still capable of this even with all his power.
- One-Winged Angel: His monstrous shadow-like form.
- Outside Context Villain: He appears with no prior build-up in episode 6, sees the Nirvash in action, announces that he was waiting for something like it, and then goes to attack Generation Bleu. He is not aligned with any of the factions, nor does he seem to have an allegiance to the G-Monsters. Finally he possess superpowers in what is a Humongous Mecha series.
- Power Glows: The jewel on his belt glows. His eyes also glow occasionally.
- Psychic Powers: He's telekinetic, at the very least. He's shown levitating a car in episode 9, and it's probably how he flies. He may also be a telepath, given his ability to infiltrate almost any organization he wants. He may have put Ao through a Dream Sequence, during which he took off with Naru, which left Ao unconscious for three days (long enough for him to actually take off with Naru).
- Shapeshifter Default Form: Possibly Type B. His White-Haired Pretty Boy form seen in the opening seems to be the one he switches to when not bothering to hide his identity. He later shows off a giant, wraith-like form (in the black-with-purple-highlights color scheme of a G-Monster) which is probably his actual form.
- White-Haired Pretty Boy: His Shapeshifter Default Form, except with light blue hair.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: He can take the appearance of any human at will.
- You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Light blue in his default form.
Lt. Nakamura
Voiced by: Koichi Endo
A JSDF Military Intelligence officer hell-bent on obtaining the trapar technology for Japan. Japan, being isolated from the world community due to the whole Okinawa debacle, and lacking a Scub Coral that could be used for trapar production, lags behind the rest of the world significantly, so he is set on correcting this. Still, his junior status and over the top ways mean that he's mostly ignored even by his own side. The end of Episode 9 implies he will begin working for Truth
- Butt Monkey
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: Well, he's a junior officer, but he's frequently questioned even by his own subordinates.
- 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?
- Large Ham: For a Japanese.
- Manipulative Bastard: Given his situation, that's basically all he can do to get to his goals.
- Truth still has him wrapped around his finger.
- Patriotic Fervor
- Tempting Fate: Their soldiers will be fine! Secret only target Scub Coral.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: As he sees himself.
- ↑ Born as Jirou Kinjou