Eureka 7

Eureka Seven is an anime series that was directed by Tomoki Kyoda, written by Dai Sato, musically composed by Naoki Sato, and produced by Studio Bones.

Plot
In the backwater town of Bellforest lives a 14-year-old boy named Renton Thurston. He desires to leave his home behind and join the mercenary group known as Gekkostate, hoping to find some adventure to brighten up his mundane life. However, stuck between his grandfather's insistence to become a mechanic like him and the pressure of his deceased father's legacy, the only excitement Renton finds is in his pastime of riding the Trapar wave particles that are dispersed throughout the air, an activity akin to surfing. Everything changes when an unknown object crashes through Renton's garage, discovered to be a Light Finding Operation—a robot capable of riding the Trapar waves—specifically known as the Nirvash typeZERO. Its pilot is a young girl named Eureka, a member of the Gekkostate, who requests a tune-up for the Nirvash. Their meeting sparks the beginning of Renton's involvement with the Gekkostate as he takes off alongside Eureka as the co-pilot of the Nirvash.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) Incredible animation, especially during fight scenes, dramatic scenes, or scenes where the mechs are flying through the air on the surf boards.
 * 2) Good art style and character designs. The highlight in this regard is that of the mechs, which look phenomenal.
 * 3) Good voice acting in both sub and dub.
 * 4) Amazing music and soundtrack.
 * 5) Excellent cast of characters, all of them are unique from each other, interesting, entertaining, flawed, and likable.
 * 6) The growing romance between Eureka and Renton Thurston.  It's incredibly engaging and has a satisfying conclusion.
 * 7) Eureka 7 has one of the best coming of age stories in all of anime.  It's able to tell it's messages without hammering it into the viewer's heads, it's very subtle like that in most instances.
 * 8) Phenomenal ending that wrapped everything up.
 * 9) Neither side in the war is depicted as being completely right and compelely wrong.  Both sides have likable and unlikable characters as well as clearly defined, understandable reasons for fighting.  War in real life isn't completely black and white, and this is one of the few anime that understands this.
 * 10) Stunning mecha action scenes.
 * 11) Great comedy.
 * 12) Eureka 7 was important for raising the bar in terms of what you can show in an anime aimed towards kids and teenagers.  While it's not the most mature anime of all time, it still has a lot more maturity and realism than a typical anime Shonen anime of that time.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) While the comedy and coming-of-age aspects of this series are superb, a lot of the scenes where Renton is being made fun of and humiliated seem rather mean spirited and might turn off a lot of viewers.
 * 2) The sequel, Eureka Seven: AO, isn't as good as the original.
 * 3) Relating to BQ #1, most of the Gekkostate members were unlikable during the first half.