Aquarian Age: Sign for Evolution

I really enjoyed watching Aquarian Age. It provided a clever spin on the entertainment industry in Japan as well as the mysterious feeling that something else is going on under it all. Even though this anime series is tagged mainly as an action, there are very few times that actual physical fighting occurs,well...let me restate that. There are very few times that physical fighting occurs that you can SEE. Most of the fights take place in the blink of an eye...literally, or maybe the flash of a light. However the fighting did not draw me in, it was the struggle between Kyota and Yoko, and ... their love that could not be. The plot is filled with several twists and remains mysterious throughout.

Story: 9/10 Lots of romantic twists.
Art: 7/10 The art is pretty good, but doesn't really set itself apart from any other anime.

Sound: 6/10 If you're into Japanese love songs, you'll love this.
Character: 8/10 Each character had their own likable traits as well as problems.
Enjoyment: 9/10 I just couldn't stop watching after the 3rd episode.
Overall: 8/10 I recommend watching this!

Aquarian Age is quite the mixed bag of an anime title where in spite of its high points in regards to the main character relationship, it suffers quite heavily with the supernatural elements of its plot. Based on a trading card game released during the time of the anime's run, the series is focused on childhood friends Kyouta and Yoriko getting caught up in the middle of a supernatural conflict between several factions competing for influence over humanity.

On the plus side, the anime offers a good deal of development on the characters of series leads Kyouta and Yoriko. Both undergo their own varying developments as ... Kyouta tries to get his start in the entertainment industry performing with his band while Yoriko finds herself at odds with her supernatural roots that come to light from her family as she gradually develops feelings for Kyouta. As the two become entangled in the conflict between factions, both find themselves facing their own varying conflicts as Yoriko is manipulated into becoming part of an enemy faction and Kyouta becomes doubtful of himself when he sees the sudden change in Yoriko's personality due to the manipulations she gets entangled in. The events lead their bond to be tested and it comes across as a legitimately convincing one to see develop and escalate throughout the series. The rock band aspect to Aquarian Age's storyline creates an engaging soundtrack that mixes rock ballads and dramatic musical pieces to compliment the show's developments.

On the negative side, the major shortcoming of Aquarian Age comes from the show's rather packed supernatural story elements. With several factions focused on throughout the series, there is little time to delve into their motives and the major characters that make up each faction due to the anime's rather limited 13-episode run time. Matter of fact, there is little revealed about what drives each faction beyond a passing narration provided from one character during a later episode in the series. Plus beyond our two lead characters, the remainder of the cast get little in the way of fleshing out and are mostly left as character archetypes that exist only to represent their faction or fulfill specific roles that advance major points in the anime's plot.

Overall, Aquarian Age is quite the mixed bag. While having a solid soundtrack with engaging developments involving its lead characters, the remainder of the cast lack the fleshing out afforded to our two leads and the supernatural aspect of the series is too crowded with the several factions that make up the so-called major conflict taking place. The series is worth a look for the developing storyline with Kyouta and Yoriko, though I would find it hard to recommend rewatching it often.

Personally, I found Aquarian Age to be extremely boring and confusing, although the 'boring' part can be accredited almost entirely to the 'confusing'. There's way too much going on in the background to make a cohesive story line. The descriptions I'd read of the anime always made it sound like this epic, earth shattering story, when really not much happens in the end. If they'd taken out all the weird supernatural aspects, I think you'd end up with a pretty average romance/drama anime. And to top it off, they never even fully explain WHY there's a bunch of weirdos with super powers going around, nor ... is the main character all that disturbed by this revelation.

The art is okay, but certainly nothing special or memorable. Honestly, there's not really much to say one way or another about it.

The characters are probably the worst part of the show. There are just plainly too many to keep track of, and because of this a majority of the characters end up feeling flat and underdeveloped. To make matters worse, the characters that do stick around long enough to gain development end up making me wish they hadn't. The two main characters ended up being incredibly annoying and (Kyouta especially) fairly typical.

Aquarian Age's one and only saving grace is the music, and even then it isn't all that great.