Renton Thurston

Renton Thurston
Eureka Seven character
First appearance	Eureka Seven episode 1
Voiced by	Yuuko Sanpei (Japanese) Keiji Fujiwara (Japanese) Johnny Yong Bosch (English)
Profile
Relatives	Eureka (Wife) Maurice (Adoptive son) Maeter (Adoptive daughter) Linck (Adoptive son) Unnamed child (Biological daughter) Ao Fukai (Biological son) Axel Thurston (Grandfather) Adrock Thurston (Father) Diane Thurston (Older sister)

Renton Thurston (レントン・サーストン, Renton Sāsuton) is a core character in the Eureka Seven universe, as he is the main protagonist of the first series and father of the second series' main protagonist Ao Fukai.

Character outline

Renton thinks his life is mundane and dreams of doing the extraordinary. At the beginning of the series, he becomes a member of Gekkostate in order to be near his idol, Holland, and his love at first sight, Eureka. In seasons one and two, the other crew members generally see Renton as Gekkostate's "busboy", doing chores such as cooking and cleaning. He occasionally rides with Eureka in the Nirvash typeZERO and is able to lift. The constant conflict with Holland makes Renton quit the Gekkostate and then bails out of the Gekko-Go (crew). He spends time on the ship of Charles and Ray Beams. He then leaves them after finding out shocking news from Charles on how their mission is to capture Eureka and the Nirvash: Type Zero. He returns to Gekkostate only to warn them that they were walking into a trap and to protect Eureka at all cost. He then rejoins Gekkostate in the third season. In the third season, Renton is shown to mature a bit. Eureka and Renton continue to pilot the typeZERO, and his relationship with Eureka deepens, though the kids (Maurice, Maeter, and Linck) still refuse to regard Renton as their "papa". In season four Renton matures even further, coming into his own as a father to the kids and willing to sacrifice his own life to be able to be with Eureka forever.

Approximately seven to ten years later, Renton and Eureka are married and have two children together; a daughter who died shortly after birth and a son named Ao. When Eureka was pregnant with their daughter, they were conducting an experiment to see why Scub Coral was vanishing (using the Gekko as part of it) and she temporarily vanished into the past, where she met Ao, who returned her to her world. Around this time, Renton was being hailed as a genius for combining his knowledge of Scub Coral and LFOs, creating the first IFO. After the death of their daughter from the high level of trapar, Renton decided to destroy the Scub Coral in order to prevent their second child from suffering the same fate. By the time Eureka was pregnant with their son, he forced her into the past to ensure Ao would survive. He later met Ao for the first time and was reunited with Eureka, and Ao saved them by helping them return to their world. In Eureka Seven: AO, he has grown mature, calm, and serious, but is a loving husband and father.

Relationships

Eureka

Eureka has been with Renton ever since the typeZERO crashed at Axel Thurston's garage. Renton falls in love with her right away, but she doesn't reciprocate his feelings until season two, due to her lack of understanding human nature and emotions. She realized her love for him when he left the Gekko and she missed him. Upon his return, they enter in a relationship and are always seen together. In episode 34, Holland says, "Eureka's partner is you, Renton." The growth of their relationship is reflected by the fact that the typeZERO requires both Eureka and Renton as pilots to maximize its capability. Their connection is similar to the one that Sakuya has with Norb and Anemone has with Dominic, but Eureka and Renton's relationship gets the most development throughout the story. Eureka never formally marries Renton, though at the end of the series Axel Thurston lists Eureka as "Eureka Thurston" in the family record book.^[1] In Eureka Seven: AO, Renton and Eureka finally married and had two biological children: a daughter, who died shortly after birth, and a son named Ao.

Maurice, Maeter, and Linck

Maurice, Maeter, and Linck are Eureka's adopted kids. In seasons one and two, the relationship between Renton and the kids is hostile, due to their belief that he is trying to take eureka, whom they think of as their mother, away from them. In seasons three and four, their relationship deepens as Renton serves as a father figure to them, although they still hesitated to refer to him as their father. Eventually, they accept him as their father; seen in episode 50, when Maurice is able to implicitly call Renton "papa". Maeter's and Linck's feelings toward Renton are not as clearly stated, but several scenes imply that they too feel that Renton is their "papa". In episode 50, the kids are listed in the family record book as Renton's adopted kids.^[1]

Ao Fukai

Ao is the son of Renton and Eureka. Ao closely resembles his father and is more upfront than Renton is. Despite being his son, Ao knew nothing about him and assumed that Renton was a deadbeat father who left him and Eureka. But as Ao searched for Eureka, he learned that Renton sent Eureka and Ao to the past in order to save them and was trying to destroy the Scub Coral in Ao's world in order to prevent Ao from suffering the same fate as Ao's older sister, who died. However, this is paradox; Eureka was born from the Scub Coral, and some of it needed to remain otherwise Renton's efforts would be pointless. Ao is happy and touched that his father loves him, and decided to repay his parents for giving him life and protecting him by having them reunited and returned to their world. It is also revealed that Renton was the one responsible for building the Nirvash that Ao pilots.

Gekkostate

In the first and second seasons, Renton was looked down upon by crew members of the Gekko, and was forced to do maid-like chores. He was dismissed or ignored by his crew mates, subjected to pranks by the children, and abused physically and emotionally by Holland. Renton is able to pilot the Nirvash with Eureka, but when Eureka was hospitalized, Renton is forbidden to pilot the Nirvash for a short time. Eventually, coming to believe he is hated by everyone, including Eureka, Renton quit the Gekko. However, after he returns, the members of Gekkostate respect Renton more and Holland acknowledges his status as Eureka's partner. He also gains the trust of Holland as he matures and his skills as a LFO pilot improve. In seasons three and four, Renton's relationship with the Gekkostate crew becomes that of a familial one. Holland's final words toward Renton are, "It's just like him to graduate without consent." when he's going after Eureka.

Charles and Ray

When Renton quits Gekkostate, he meets Charles and Ray in a town. The two of them bring him to their ship and allow him to stay with them. While Renton lives with them, they treat him as their son and Renton feels happy and accepted. Charles teaches Renton about the Trapars and how to feel them. However, when Renton discovers that they have received instructions to attack the Gekko and capture Eureka and The Type Zero, he decides to leave. Renton returns to the Gekko only to warn Holland and the others of the trap they were headed into and to protect Eureka at all cost. Charles and Ray are killed by Holland. Charles dies on the Gekko after an all out death match with Holland. Ray dies aboard the swan after taking a direct hit to the Bridge and a following explosion. Renton realizes that he must use what Charles has taught him to protect Eureka.

Thurston family

Before joining the Gekkostate, Renton lived with his grandfather, Axel, who was protective of him and tried to prevent him from joining the Gekko. His father, Adroc, is a famous military hero who saved the world from the first Summer of Love. He was later declared dead, but Renton felt no sympathy towards his father due to his belief that Adroc cared more about his research than the family. Renton was close to his older sister, Diane, and she raised him until she too disappeared after deciding to continue their father's research. It was later revealed that Adroc and Diane are not dead, but had emerged with the Scub Coral. Renton was able to met with them near the end of the series, and express his forgiveness towards his father.

Dominic Sorel

Renton's only meeting with Dominic is in the first season finale where they are forced to work together to retrieve medicine for the injured Eureka and Anemone. In spite of his knowledge that Dominic is on the opposite side, as well as taking note to his hapless quirks, Renton leaves on good terms with Dominic. Although he never personally sees Dominic again, he gains enough of an understanding of his relationship with Anemone that he helps her try to accept his feelings.

Manga

Eureka seveN's manga version differs from the anime version. Please advice that this synopsis only covers Vol. 6. Renton Thurston was seriously injured as he flew Eureka to the Zone. Anemone was able to get into the Zone first not knowingly that Nirvash "typeTHEEND" was sending a deadly virus to the Coralians. Here as seen, Eureka and Anemone (when not drugged) were not enemies, but long-time friends. Dominic attempted to help Renton with his quest to save Eureka from the zone. There he was confronted with the Coralians. Renton was first assigned to act as decoy for Dominic, however, when Dominic pilots Nirvash "TypeTHEEND" the machine's arm wasn't fixed yet. Renton went into the Zone while Dominic faces off death by the Coralians. Renton was able to meet a false Eureka that manipulated him to be eaten by the Coralians. Eureka was able to get out of the Coralian's imprisonment and prevent Renton to be eaten thus saved the world. At the end, like the anime, Renton was able to profess his love toward Eureka (although much earlier he already did), but Eureka materialized with the Coralians. The ending was two years after this incident. Renton lives with Eureka's adopted children, Maurice, Maeter, and Linck, and his grandfather, Axel Thurston, in Bellforest. He works at a windmill and anticipates the return of Eureka, as he refuses to mourn her death.^[2]

Movie

When Renton was a young boy he became friends with Eureka. He with Eureka and Larva Nirvash went with Professor Dominic to witness a rainbow flower's bloom. The army took Eureka away and Renton didn't know what to do. When Eight years pass, Renton became a soldier and serves with the Gekkostate. During a mission, Renton finds Eureka and rescues her thus evolving Nirvash in a different body. Renton learns that the Gekkostate are not really working with the army only for them to use Renton and Eureka to find Neverland so they can stay young. When Renton was injured by a gunshot, he sees Dominic's spirit and tells him to not let go of his feelings and for him to "Don't ask for it, do it forself, or you won't get nothing" which Renton rose up and evolve Nirvash again to a new form (which is not the form we saw in the TV series) and he and Eureka escapes. Holland went after them and fought them, which he activated his hard drive only to find out that Talho is pregnant with Holland's child and with that he lost the fight with Renton and Eureka. Renton pass out from his wound as Eureka told him it will be alright as Nirvash pierce the command cluster so that "The Hammer of God" can enter the Command Cluster to destroy it. When Renton woke up, he sees a naked Eureka with long hair and her voice is messed up, his wound was gone, and Larva Nirvash is big. Before Larva Nirvash disappear into fragments of light, he told Renton that he and Eureka can fly now even without wings and that their own two feet can carry them to the future. As Renton and Eureka with his jacket on her are wondering, Eureka pointed to Renton that there are two rainbows and a rescue shuttle that comes to pick them up and than Eureka kiss Renton on his left side of his face. As Renton and Eureka hold each other's hand, Renton realize that both Dominic and Nirvash were both right and that Renton smiles as he knows that he and Eureka will have a happy future together.

Reception

Anime News Network stated in its review of the series' first DVD that "Renton is a pretty normal male lead for a series like this."^[3] However, while initially describing him as immature, the site said in its review of the seventh DVD that "Renton proves that he has grown up a bit by not being thrown for a loop by learning what makes Eureka special."^[4]

References