Aquarian Age: Sign for Evolution

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.

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!

Ok I would first like to say that this anime is NOT for everyone. If you are the type to analyze the plot, logically find the character development and connect the pieces you will not enjoy this. Parts of the story and background dont make any sense, and have no explanation. On that note...

To start this anime is very slow paced. Nothing altogether plot related even happens until halfway through it, and there are constant flashes of background plot that are altogether confusing. This is the first 6 episodes in a nutshell.

The next portion is spent with actual development, things are explained and you ... finally begin to understand the scope of the story (if you are not still caught up in the confusion from before that is) it actually takes some piecing together before things finally start to make sense plot-wise, and several of the scenes are not explained until the last episode, which i had completely forgotten about by then, which made it more awesome.

This makes it seem bad so far, as its mostly confusing, but from here is where it picks up. Episode 9 exploded for me, I was so absolutely hooked i watched the rest at 6am when i had to work soon, no sleep. Everything finally made sense, all of the past episodes finally clicked as a buildup for the finale, and the character development comes crashing down.

By this point most everyone has negative views on this show, and lack the interest to actually follow through with the close. The ending is not logical, absolutely not at all. Its not the battle of massive powers fighting for dominance, which I feel left a lot of people disappointed because of the synopsis. Instead its an emotional conflict with the characters acceptance of themselves. In a quick comparison think Soul Eater's ending, but on a personal level with the characters.

The art was amazingly perfect for the series, but people are getting to used to CG now to enjoy the previous art style. If you like tradition its for you. The music was amazing, but it got kind of repetitive towards the end, just in time for it to match the tone of the climax. Characters started off boring, as it was mostly a non-comedic slice of life to introduce everyone, which they did very well, you are forced to watch them on their average lives so much that its sickening before it gets good. I fully enjoyed the ending, but again the first few episodes were slow. I find it totally worth the wait though.

Overall, a 9/10. They could have added a bit more flare to the beginning to get the viewer hyped up, but it fits with the overall flow of the story.

Boring, convoluted, cliche, uninspired are all words that immediately come to mind when thinking of this show. What even is this show a magical girl anime? a musical anime? a slice of life? I don't know and either did the writers apparently because it's all of the above while also being none of the above.

Do you like characters? well hopefully quantity over quality because this show just has characters out the butt for seemingly no reason because none of them get to develop past their one note flat nature. not going to waste time going one by one because there is no reason to i'd ... just be explaining archetypes you've seen 100 times before think of a cliche character it's in here somewhere.

The music i guess works but there is one sad theme that is incredibly close to "The Lonely Man" from the Hulk TV show. that's about most interesting thing i can say about the music, which is sad considering this show puts such an emphasis on music.

Art is fine nothing great nothing terrible.

the story makes no sense there are 6? factions of magical girls fighting each other for really no reason they really just say that and random people who can control them for no reason which makes me believe this is based on some garbage game of some sort. It tries to split it's attention between like 30 characters each seemingly living in their own world and plot that are only vaguely linked through the boring main character. i swear they had like 3 or 4 teams of writers making their own stories then tried to combine them all into a 13 ep series nothing was focused on long enough for you to care about it hence the boring nature of the show in general.

Overall just pass this up, when there are so many good shows out there this isn't even worth the few hours it takes to complete. the only reason i gave it a 3 is because it didn't physically make me upset/angry with it's incompetence like other series have. it's literally just boring garbage.

Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the twisted circus.Here we have everything your every day masochist wants.

Do you want anime straight from the dark circles of hell?We got it.

Do you want entertainment similar to the Nazi's gas chambers?Hell yeah we got this too.

But what if you're mad?What if you go past a pet shop,see cute little puppies and feel an uncontrolable urge to lick their paws?

... Well as it so happens we have the perfect solution for ya..It's called Aquarian Age and let's not fuck around it's rubbish.

It's one of those anime that has the story,has the potential to be something good but the ones in charge are too soaked in bourbon they make a complete hass of it.I cannot think of another explanation for this anime's existence.

Ok,so the story is about a group of youngsters that decide to form a band..Thankfully this band isn't like Backstreet Boys or anything but they share a similar audience.Namely crazy as fuck chicks that throw their knickers on stage when the band appears.

And in the midst of all the screaming and bra throwing madness we also get some supernatural chicks fighting for the singer's dic.....Sorry for the singer's power....Why you ask?That's obvious dummy..His voice triggers some future apocalyptic events of course..I should know about this cause every time i try to sing while taking a shower an angry mob gathers round my house and throws rotten fish.

Gone a bit off topic there...So next to ride the supernatural wagon is his "girlfriend' who also has some major powers..Yoriko,we're told,is the leader of an ancient race of Ahusimbi something or rather-i don't gave 2 fucks anyway-and has two identities,yes two identities..One is the Leader who will save the earth and the other is the Medusa who will destroy the world.

So far this sounds nice..This sounds like it could be a masterpiece...Well kinda no..You see i liked the thought behind the story and i liked the fact that for once there are no hints of girl bands...Yeah yeah i know it sounds strange but come on,we are literally drowned with girl idols anime..

What i didn't like was the end result..For starters the opening song which doesn't fit the tone of the anime one bit.Try to imagine Batman with Britney Spears singing the opening sequence..I didn't like the animation,it was mediocre all around and inconsistent.I also didn't like that harem vibe,it's nice and all to have girls swooning over the bandmates but this is borderline stalkerism.Honestly most of these girls should be in the most wanted police list not left in their own devices.

And i would understand if the MC was in any way interesting or even Elvis Presley..But this guy is your basic male in every possible way..It's not like he has the voice of Rob Halford either so i cannot understand why every time he opens his mouth pussies in a 5 km radius are being drenched..Maybe it's the fact that he plays hard to get when we all know he wants to eat that pussy.

But most of all i didn't like the fights..This is supposed to be a supernatural war but all the fights are just some lights on the screen clashing with each other...SOME FUCKING LIGHTS..Need i say more?

Even the voice actors weren't into it that much..You can feel their need to go to the pub and get drunk as fast as possible.And who can blame them?This anime is atrocious.

Once again we have a missed opportunity here..Nice story but no will to tranfer it onto the screen.And it's a pity cause i'm sure it would be epic...But as it stands i'd rather watch Big Bang Theory or something equally unfunny.

I'll start this review with a brief summary. Five supernatural factions have been fighting against each other for who knows how many centuries, with the beginning of Aquarian Age always in mind. Kyouta, soon begins to see visions of mystical girls fighting, except they do exist. Soon he and his girlfriend Yoriko become involved and the battle for Earth and Aquarian Age lies in their hands.

That's the synopsis of the show, and that's really all you'll ever want to know about the show. I recommend you to stay away from checking it out any further. It's basically a rip off of 1984, The Tempest, and ... a board game very similar to Yu-Gi-Oh.

Story: 4
So, there are these 5 supernatural factions, right? Well the thing is, there are actually 6. The anime got it all wrong, according to the synopsis there are supposed to be 5. Like, were they even paying attention? But that's just a trifling concern, sorry for digressing so far from the subject.

The story isn't half bad. It's almost half good, but just a little less. About 4/10ths of it was bad. I marked the story category a "4" as a result, I think that's pretty appropriate. The bad parts primarily revolve around Yoriko. She's a horrible character and not fit to love Kyouta. I can see how some people think they are a cute couple, but Yoriko belongs with Junichi. The chemistry between them is so good. Kyouta is more like a Jack Bauer kind of character, and every woman Jack Bauer ever gets with dies on the show 24. That is a spoiler for both 24 and this series, so please take it as such.

In conclusion, the story deserves a 4 because 4/10ths of it was enjoyable but the other 6/10ths left a lot to be desired.

Art: 6.
The art is not half bad. It's almost half bad; approximately 4 out of 10 drawings in this show are shoddy and leave me with a bad taste in my mouth.Madhouse did a good job with the art. The backgrounds are especially good, like when Kyouta sees his visions at the beginning of the series. It looks like a true LSD trip, I kid you not. I have never taken the drug, but I am an expert in this particular field as a result of taking a psychology course.

I asked my friend who is studying art in college what he thinks of the art. He didn't particularly care for it. I'd chock that up to him being biased against anime. I constantly try to get him to watch shows with me but he refuses. This particular show I actually did convince him to watch. I've personally never seen the show, but he told me a couple important things about it that I'm trying to convey in this review for you guys.

Sound: 3.
I didn't like the OST. This is kinda a personal preference thing. Objectively, there's nothing wrong with it. But this is a review. It's all about subjectivity. If I were to be objective, all I could write is facts like "This show primarily uses an orange color scheme" under art, or "The music generally tends to be at around 140 BPM, tempo-wise" in sound. That's why I have to draw the line somewhere and put out my personal opinions rather than just facts.

Characters: 9
In an effort to remain objective I consulted with 4chan's /a/ to get a good idea of what they thought of the characters. I am really biased because I hate Yoriko. I would have given the "Characters" section a 1, but the average of all the votes from /a/ was about 8, so I added 8+1 to get 9. I hope that will suffice. The characters are quite good, very fleshed out. At least that's what a 9 tends to imply.

Enjoyment: 2
My friend in art school didn't enjoy this show. He hates anime with a burning passion. I wanted him to remain open minded so I could get an unbiased report to write this review, but all he had to say was "The animation was trash" and "I would have rather watched Adventure Time", so I figure it must have been pretty biased. He did write an essay about the show for his Animation class, which I am plagiarizing a lot from to write this review.

Overall: 1
This show is a mess. Please do what I did and avoid watching it entirely.

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.