I watched the first two episodes of the anime and i have to say, OMG i can't believe i haven't watched this before. It has everything that i want in anime. Not to mention the music is outstanding. Very inspirational music playing in the fight scenes. The relationship starts to form right at the beginning. And with 50 episodes total it shows some good promise for some closure on that account.
It picks up after about episode 24 (and never lets you go).
I know a lot of people on an Anime forum I frequent that didn't like E7 because of the first arc, but if you get through those first episodes I think most people will agree it is a superb Anime. Personally it's one of my all time favorites, and I even enjoyed the first 24 episodes, just not nearly as much as the "pure win" of the last 26.
I haven't read the manga, didn't even know there was one! Guess I'll have to look into it.
Maybe the story is "predictable" to some, but there are still a lot of things supplementary to their relationship that you don't find out for a long time, and some unexpected parts. Obviously they meet up and are good friends very quickly, stories like that aren't so much about the "what's going to happen to them?" but more "how will they develop together?" kind of thing.
Anyway, I enjoyed it, here's a nice little bump for Eureka 7.

I hadn't thought about it in a long time myself, maybe I'll rewatch some episodes.