>>11965669Again, I see your point, but I'm fairly certain that the show was initially intended to maintain a serious tone throughout the series.
>Coming in with the premise of 'We're going to sail the seven skies and commit to lifting and peace!'I think what you're picking up on is Renton's initial interpretation of what the group is all about. He learns very quickly after joining the crew that their purpose is not "to commit lifting and peace"
Renton even says in one of the earlier episodes "Grandpa always told me that reality is always different from my ideals. That was something I thought I was willing to accept"
Not to mention, almost halfway through the series Renton has issues with fighting against military KLFs. When he confront Matthieu about this. Matthieu flatout tells him "What did you think happens every time we defeat an enemy? Did you really think we were a bunch of carefree guys just out looking for waves... if you'd say what we're doing is fighting, then I guess we are fighting a war. You did know that when you came to this ship, didn't you?"
E7 never really establishes itself as a happy-go-lucky, nothing-can-go-wrong kind of show. It just lets you adjust to the characters and their environment before it introduces anything that's super heavy hitting (ie: the scene where Renton brutally destroys the KLF squadron)
>For example, the photographer, Stoner, was practically told to stop producing ray=out, which did practically tell the viewer that "we're no longer going in the original direction."This, again, I disagree with because I never recall Stoner being told NOT to produce ray=out. I was more under the impression that he decided to end production because he considered Pacific State to be his "greatest artistic work"
Not to mention, he had to focus on getting the information that they had gathered from Norb and Bear to the public.
It seemed, if anything, that Stoner just had his hands full at the time.
