Why Eureka seveN AO is Terrible (No Spoilers)

This is the review I posted to My Anime List. I will potentially be creating a review with spoilers in the future.

Story

What It Should Have Been

A lot of viewers will tell you that a sequel to Eureka seveN was near impossible. However, I completely disagree with this notion. Eureka seveN AO could have gone in two very plausible directions.

I. A sequel based on the artwork from DVD Vol. 12

http://www.amazon.com/Eureka-Seven-Vol-Episodes-47-50/dp/B00114UUKY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1439064718&sr=8-1&keywords=eureka+seven+dvd+12

In this picture, there are essentially two worlds: the above-ground and below-ground, as I've taken to calling them. The plethora of questions posed by this image (since the image is canon to the end of Eureka seveN) could easily make for a new series:

1. Is there political turmoil between above-grounders and below-grounders?
2. If this takes place far in the future, are Coralian-Human hybrid descendants common and do they face discrimination like the Vodarac?
3. How different are the cultures of lifters (above-grounders) and surfers (below-grounders), since below ground there is no trapar?

The Eureka seveN universe is so detailed, there should have been no problem creating a chronological sequel to it.

II. A *prequel* based on the events detailed in episode 47 of Eureka seveN.

10,000 years before Eureka seveN, humans were attacking the Scub Coral. We used jets to try bombing it, and I wouldn't doubt it if we used nukes.

In this context, the Scub Coral as the true enemy would have made perfect sense, especially when fighting these creepy things: http://eurekaseven.wikia.com/wiki/Antibody_Coralians Get rid of the Secrets and Quartz, and we would have had an amazingly good anime that built on the canon. There are more than enough questions to sustain a prequel, such as:

1. What, in graphic detail, happened to humans as they fought the Scub?
2. How did the humans build the ships that took them off the planet, and how did they survive out in space for 10,000 years?
3. How many humans were left behind to be killed/absorbed by the Scub?

Sadly, I've reached my Limit of Questions for this section, but as you can see, there was obviously a lot of missed potential with this series.

What It Actually Was

The plot was incredible sporadic. Never is there any consistency in the characters who make random choices that are not explained, or that really even matter. I can't really elaborate without *many* spoilers.

Art

Art was nothing impressive. It just took from the same Eureka seveN art style, tried to change things up in a special way, and failed.

Sound

If you look up Eureka seveN AO OST on Amazon, you get the OST for Eureka Seven, 'nuff said:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=eureka+seven+ao+ost

The music was so terrible in this anime; not in that the music was bad, but because it didn't evoke the raw emotions that music in Eureka seveN did. The only good music was the bit of Niji that they put in.

Character

Do I have to?

No really, do I have to go over this?

There was absolutely no depth to the characters whatsoever, and no character development either. When does a character actually change in the inside, as opposed to the outside? Sure, some characters get different outfits, but the same underlying characters don't change. And then you have a character that has a different outfit, and did not use to be the same character, but it is very poorly explained. You have explained but unexplained romances in the series. There are times when it pretends to be a harem... and then ignores any relationships between the characters.

Enjoyment

Did I enjoy one of my favorite animes of all time being butchered a SECOND time after it was previously butchered by a terrible movie? No.

Overall

Save yourself the 9 or so hours spent watching this series, and re-watch the original Eureka seveN. There is no reason to watch this travesty of an anime.