Eureka Seven AO 17

The Nirvash's newly acquired Quartz Cannon causes strange events.

Uh... corals are good for you?

Summary:
The people at Generation Bleu investigate the strange light at the North Pole which is located at the exact same spot as where Ao fired the Quartz Cannon. The North Pole Light supposedly existed through history, but Generation Bleu is starting suspect Ao firing the cannon may have changed history. Ao learns of this and thinks he erased the Trapar plant in Norway and thus Team Goldilocks no longer exists. Ao goes to hang out with Gazelle and friends, and Hans makes mention of Johansson's book which he obtained from Nakamura. In his book, Johansson claims that he came from a different Earth with no Trapar and Scub Coral. That Earth had double the population of the Earth Ao and company exist in and nuclear power is a prevalent power source.

Random fan service that has little to do with the plot.

After hearing this, Ao runs off and requests a day off to visit Norway. Ao is accompanied by Fleur and Elena, and Elena seems to have an idea of what's going on. Using Georg, Ao locates Chloe and Maeve who are now ordinary girls helping in their parents' bakery. Ao isn't sure if history changed for the better or worse and leaves without going into the bakery.

Back in the Okinawa, Ao's friend falls to his death at the trapar plant during a commotion from a protest, but Naru appears and revives him and reactivates the dormant coral.

Sometime later, Team Pied Piper is dispatched to a Scub Coral emerging from the sea, but they are confronted by Chinese attack helicopters. The world now knows about Generation Bleu's mission of retrieving quartz from the coral and the Chinese military would have none of it. Team Pied Piper decide to stand down, but suddenly the Quartz Cannon starts shaking and the Triton crew are forced to release it. The cannon joins up with the Nirvash and sucks up the quartz from the coral. This action prompts the attack helicopters to open fire. Ao and the Nirvash escape further into the sea, but then Truth appears, takes the Quartz Cannon and sends the Nirvash into the waters. As the Nirvash is sinking, Ao is met by an apparition of Eureka who explains she is stuck in some other dimension when she left with the quartz 10 years ago. Ao vows to get to Eureka by using the Quartz Cannon, but Eureka thinks the cannon is incomplete and not sure if it'll work. Eureka also mentions that Renton is looking for the Quartz Cannon.

Sometimes even a destined hero needs some encouragement from mommy.

It's really tempting to blast the grin off of Truth's face.

After Eureka disappears, Ao flies back to the surface and takes back the Quartz Cannon from Truth. Truth dares Ao to shoot him with the Quartz Cannon, but Ao ultimately declines because he's afraid of changing history for the worse. Allied Forces LFOs led by Tanaka appear on the scene to take Ao into their protection. Fleur and Elena fly by to rescue Ao, but Ao tells them to stand down.

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I guess you could say that this episode answered some questions, although the whole situation is still convoluted and probably will remain this way for the entirety of the series. So firing the Quartz Cannon changes the past, and the girls from Team Goldilocks still exist, but they just never became IFO pilots for Generation Bleu. Thanks to the history shifting and dimension jumping capability of the coral and quartz, Eureka is at some other dimension. She appears as an apparition to explain her circumstances, but the problem is she doesn't have any clear instructions for Ao, and Ao is going to have to decide on his own how he is going to deal with all of the problems he has. Thanks to the events of the previous episode, all of the other countries know about the quartz and aren't so keen on letting Generation Bleu take the stuff anymore. The dynamics of the game has changed for Generation Bleu, and we'll see what that'll mean down the line.

By the look of things at this moment, Johnansson's book will probably turn out to be the truth, and Ao will have to complete the cannon to be able to meet Eureka again. We still don't know what the different parties are up to though. Christopher, Stanley, Truth and Naru all of their agendas. The Secret seems to have taken over Georg as well and is also up to something. At this point, it might be just better to hope that the show delivers enough dazzling action and not play too much into the plot. Thinking about it makes my head spin.