No-one was more excited than me to see the return of FMP after so long. The first warning sign was seeing studio Xebec, not exactly known for high-quality animation, attached to the project. And the fact that there were not only 2 intermission episodes but also the last 2 episodes being delayed suggests they may have struggled to deliver on this one.
That's not to say it was all bad, hell I can think of several studios who would probably have done an even worse job, but it's still a shame to see it not fully live up to its potential. Scheduling issues aside, there are definitely significant drops in animation quality noticeable throughout the series (more so in the last few eps).
The plot itself was compelling enough and it was just great to see the characters back after all this time. However the ending is going to suck if there isn't any more material planned after this. Overall I'm glad I watched it, and I'll still take this over no more FMP, it's just a shame as it could have been better.
Whilst Season 2 (or Eureka Seven AO) is technically a sequel, I really wouldn't recommend watching it. It's well animated which should be a given from studio Bones, but the story is just all over the place and nigh-on incomprehensible. None of the new cast hold a candle to the previous series and by the end you'll just be left scratching your head as to exactly what happened, and what the point of it was.
