Well Well, Someone’s Showing a Bit of Character!: Stoner

A part of this post series. The rules of the game are as follows: no posting about main characters or ones you will obviously like. For me, the later qualifies as most female characters, haha. Eureka Seven is certainly my all time favorite anime, but Stoner is a pretty minor character and, uh, male. Many might blast through this show and never give him a second thought. However, in spite of his really silly name, I loved Stoner, and from the beginning of my recent E7 rewatch I knew I had to do a post on him.

Counter-Cultured

Stoner’s role as a member of the counter-culture rebel group Gekkostate is that of the author to the magazine Ray=Out. Ray=Out was created as an alternative, anti-government media. The first issues of Ray=Out revealed hidden government secrets that the Gekkostate crew, former military personnel, had learned, causing them to start a personal war with the military.

Gekkostate is perhaps most known around the world because it’s leader, Holland, is a celebrity of the sport called Reffing; a fantasy take on surfing which uses air currents called Trapar to fly through the sky. Ray=Out is the heart of reffing culture and the magazine talks a lot about the sport as well as detailing the lives of Gekkostate members. Reffing could be considered the proponent of the Ray=Out counter-cultural movement.

The Perfect Shot

Most of Stoner’s screentime throughout the series has him trying to capture every moment on film, either for comedic or plot-oriented effect. Stoner is known to ask the ship’s pilots to fly more steadily so his shots will turn out right. He doesn’t pilot a mech, but he rides with the pilot Matthieu into battle, putting his life on the line for his work.

Later in the series, when Stoner wants to create a new kind of Ray=Out, he bases the changes on a single beautiful picture that will be symbolic of the magazine’s message. I find this to be a great portrayal of how an image can have a lot of meaning, sort of like in the anime FLAG.

Philosopher and Dude

Stoner is known to say some deep and meaningful shit, regardless of whose listening or whether or not they understand. He seems to be driven by his philosophical beliefs. That said, he also loves some good comedy and is always along for the ride on some of the classic, wide-scale pranks that the team pulls on Renton (one of which becomes a symbolic Ray=Out cover itself.)

The Search For Truth

Even though Stoner is the father of a massive counter-culture movement, he does not have any informational bias. His goal is only to find the truth and let it be known. After he makes the new Ray=Out, he states that “I’ll be happy as long as at least one person reads this and is effected by it.”

Stoner’s crowning moment of cool comes when he sets up one of my favorite plot exposition scenes in anime. Aboard the Gekko-go at one point we have the world’s leading scientific genius, Dr. Bear, as well as the head priest of the Vodarek religion (which is considered third-world and dangerous by the government because of some radical terrorist factions), Norbu. These two minds hold different keys to the truth of what the government is doing and how it will effect the world.

Stoner sets up the stage and films an interview with the two as they puzzle out everything that’s going on. Stoner sends out the Science vs. Religion video to every underground source possible to spread truth around the world. This too leads to an awesome scenes of ref boarders world-wide doing whatever they can to get their hands on the illegal footage and Ray=Out issue.

Conclusion

Stoner is ultimately a dude I’d love to hang out with and have as a friend. He’s smart but cool and fun and when it’s time to chill, he can chill, but he takes his work seriously and wants to spread the word of truth. For that, he has my mad respect.