Ranked #2201

Sousei no Aquarion

«Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep. »
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This is my very first review so understand that it may not be as rational and objective as it presumptively should, but for me anime is a form of art, and art isn’t supposed to be rational. With this statement made, let the show begin.
First of all, Sousei no Aquarion was an anime that draw my attention from its presentation poster. I know it sounds stupid or a little ignorant from me judging a book for its cover, but I admit that most animes that I watch are normally chose that way, and I rarely go wrong with the choices I make within my own anime taste.
Aquarion wasn’t different. Despite of being a mecha, and I’m not quite fond of mecha animes, it managed to surprise me in a different yet good way. For fans of the genre, I truly recommend it, not only because you’ll like it, but because it’s an anime worth watching.

Story: 8
I found the plot, unlike other opinions I saw around here, good or I would dare and say that it was a very good one. It has a beautiful love story behind it, and it deserves some credit for being able to mix mecha with prophecies, reincarnations and angels – also known as Da Tenshi in Aquarion’s world – with some originality. The flaw is precisely in not being capable of taking that plot and doing a different well done thing out of it. There were so many aspects that could be well explored and they weren’t, aspects which I consider that were quite interesting and a pity that producers couldn’t know how to seize them.
Instead of seizing it, the potential of the anime, which was high, fell down for a more normal baseline. So, they decided to create those so famous main-stream episodes, pretending they were exploring the main characters with parallel stories that had a not-very-consistent script. These episodes run away from the original route of the story, sometimes not making sense at all.
Once again I repeat myself, it’s a shame that they couldn’t take the amazing plot and came out with something different and well done.

Art: 7
As regards to the art of Aquarion I found it, how to put it, approachable. There some animation parts that are very decent. The battles are well animated and the “vectors” are regularly well animated too. The general effects are as good too although there were some minimal flaws, nothing to much important. The characters are well draw, so the final balance is a good one concerning the art/style. And if we count with the art that appears in the ending, that was even better.
But then we have episode 19… which was a total disgrace. The episode begins, and we start to notice that something is different, like very different. The art changed radically and the animation is a disaster. The guys that run this business should be sleeping at the time when they finished this episode. I mean, it’s really, really terrible.
People look like they are inflatable dolls. It’s true that the episode plot itself it’s supposed to happen in a world where things get that semi-abstract form, but the scenes which weren’t supposed to happen in that world have the same art and measuring the two arts the original was way better. It’s not a consistent matter, and I think producers should have been more aware of this serious flaws that give away some of the beauty of the series.

Sound: 9
As they say, every dog has his day. The sound is the ‘ex libris’ of this anime, is as good as it gets. We have some beautiful music playing during some big moments. Each one of the two openings are very good, and for me, the ending is the highlight of this show. The music is ‘Omna Magni’ from Yui Makino, and it’s simply a piece of art. It reminds me of an ancient story, lost in the course of time, and all this together with the art presented, it’s phenomenal, no doubt about it.

Character: 5
While the sound is extraordinary, the characters leave much to be desired. The evolution of each character is poor in content. As they come to be presented to the viewer, we get the sensation that we already have seen them before, somewhere in other anime. They bring nothing new to us, they are the type of characters that we are used to, and it’s definitely a major flaw when they have nothing new to bring. To me, the big highlight was Toma, a Da Tenshi. I really loved the main antagonist of the story, in fact, I loved both Toma and Otoha, the main ‘antagonists’. They were a sort of a breath of fresh air in the whole story, because they were different from everyone else. They had purpose, they had personality, thing that didn’t happen with the others. They weren’t immediately recognizable characters, which was a very enjoyable thing to watch.
But don’t get me wrong, I didn’t dislike any of the characters. I cared about all of them, I laugh with some and I pitied others. I think that they should get each one of them with a real personality and not set a ‘chip’ with some of the most usual ‘codes’ in them. They should had evolve trough the series which didn’t happen too.

Enjoyment: 7
In accordance of entertainment, I was amused. There were some parts that disappointed me, but other that could conquer me by the positive side because it was a mecha anime with a real good and catchy plot.
Some parts were a disillusion, parts that were already mentioned, and some parallel stories seemed to me that they were there just to fill some space and make the anime have 26 episodes, instead of being in the few twenties.
However, it keep me stuck to the screen in some good episodes, which I wasn’t expecting at all. There were some amazing humor moments that made me laugh hard.

Overall: 7
In general, it was good. With some serious flaws, but with some important qualities that make up for the flaws.
Because in the end, what counts in anime is the capacity to entertain. The capacity to make us let our emotions flow, to have a catharsis. If I cared, if I laughed, and if I cried… mission accomplished and nothing else matters.

Sousei no Aquarion entertained… and for that the job is done.




read more

Aquarion is an homage to older mecha series, and that is easily seen when you watch it. Personally, I haven't watched a lot of older mecha series, so I can't exactly spout out examples of it copying them. But I've talked with people who are experienced with them, and the one mecha from the 90s which I've watched (NGE) is enough to prove my example of how similar it is.

The setting is - not surprisingly - a futuristic world, where a form of higher beings - in this case Shadow Angels - show themselves for the first time in thousands of years. There is only one organization - in this case DEAVA - who can fight against them, due to their possession of mecha robots - in this case the Vectors/Aquarions.

The male protagonist (Apollo) is a reincarnation of a fallen Shadow Angel, Apollonius, who betrayed the other Shadow Angels a long time ago. Also known as the Wings of the Sun, he is very important to the Shadow Angels, so they go after him. The female (Silvia) protagonist is the reincarnation of Apollonius' lover. That's it for the setting. Maybe you've now decided on whether to watch it or not?

Anyway, the story isn't that really great. It's episodic, and stays that way until the last couple of episodes. Those episodes are actually so independent of each other that, aside the first episode, you could probably watch them in any order. The development in Silvia and Apollo's relationship is all but prominent, and whil I could nearly imagine them kissing after one episode, that didn't seem so likely after the next. Still, that development is pretty much the only thing that ties the episodes together. The inconsistency of other characters' development also helps to drag a bit down.

The animation quality is actually one of the stronger parts of the show - not that it is a very positive statement. And that is if you count out all the CGI. The character designs and backgrounds are all decent, but there's just something dull about the coloring, and good lighting effects are rare, but good when there. Special effects are okay, but not something outstanding.

And then there's the CGI... I'm not a big fan of CGI in anime series, and especially not when it's so blatantly executed as the CGI in Aquarion. It just ruined the quality and my viewing experience. If you like or don't mind lots of CGI, you'll have no trouybles with this, but if you're not a fan of CGI like me, it can ruin your enjoyment of the series. However, the series deserve a plus for the best-looking male villain ever (Toma).

The soundtrack is the strongest part of the show. This time around it []is a positive statement. AKINO did an outstanding job on the OP and ED themes, and most of them are in the upper tier of my favorite OP/ED theme list. The BGM is okay too; it does the job it's supposed to do, but it stops there. VAs are good; I like the characters' voices and they're played pretty good. Sound effects are okay too, and they do their job like they should.

The characters are not that good. They're mostly unoriginal (at least from my experiences). I mean, Apollo is the stupid, rash character you've seen a lot of times, Silvia is the female protagonist who doesn't like the male protagonist at first, but warms up to him. Sirius is the arrogant-kinda type (he actually reminds me of Byakuya from Bleach), Pierre is the guy who's always going after the ladies, and so on. There's low amounts of character development, which also drags a bit down. You get a little on Apollo and Silvia as we gradually explore their past lives and they warm up to each other, but that's about it. A plus is Gen, though. I love most of his lines.

All in all, Aquarion is what you'd expect of an homage of older series - unoriginal. But they still executed it poorly; it had potential to be great, but it never became that. It's not an anime I'm gonna remember.

To 'Not Helpful' voters (and you 'Helpful' voters too): Feedback greatly appreciated =) read more

Shoji Kawamori is known for his ability to sculpt thoroughly engrossing plots that often both rely upon and subvert the standard genre clichés. His writing often incorporates Zen concepts and themes into the plots in ways that aren’t always expected, but he manages to make them fit regardless. And on top of this, Kawamori is almost always able to bring a visual spectacle to the table that usually impresses even the harshest of critics. As he again pairs up with Yoko Kanno and her musical talents, Aquarion not only fulfills the somewhat high-expectations many fans have come to expect out of his work on narrative and visual levels, but musically as well.

As stories go, Aquarion plays close to the somewhat contrived post-apocalyptic plot of fighting off invaders or oppressors of another world, and it does this through emphasizing the development of character relationships and exploiting many of the standard tropes most viewers will be familiar with—including, in a mutated form, the love triangle that seems to pop up in many Kawamori-penned works. It combines this with ultra-unrealistic (and stunningly gorgeous) battle scenes that should leave most viewers’ hearts pumping in anticipation and gripped with adrenaline, and these fights happen often enough to leave any action junkie’s thirst fully quenched.

Many of the homages to older works are in a form that comes off as simultaneously lampooning and glorifying the super-robot method of anime series storytelling. This being said, the ultra-unrealism and disregard for physics or reality shouldn’t come as a surprise, and staying true to its super robot roots, this series dives into the seemingly absurd and never looks back. Coupled with its bizarre fights scenes, the series also remains a highly episodic narrative structure that also owes itself to its super robot roots, as it maintains a minimal overarching plot structure up until the final episodes.

However, it is the world-building aspect of Aquarion that leaves its mark upon the audience more so than any of its explicit narrative development. The post-apocalyptic landscape and atmosphere presented is utterly unlike most other mecha series that have come before or since it, as it uses concepts such as reincarnation and multiple dimensions on a level that seriously impacts character interactions. The viewer is thrown into this bizarre and initially unfathomable fictional universe from the onset of the first episode very abruptly, so it takes several episodes before the audience will be adjusted to its ambiance. Some viewers will enjoy the setting after this adjustment takes place, but others will understandably be turned off by it.

The visuals are probably Aquarion’s best feature. The digitally-assisted animation sequences are on par with any series from the mid-00’s, and the integration of the CG elements for the fight sequences are certainly top-notch. Many audiences may be turned away by such a reliance upon the CGI, but considering how convincingly the staff was able to present the explosive, heart-pounding struggles, there’s little doubt of its effectiveness.

Yoko Kanno again shows her versatility with her compositions, but as with another one of Kawamori’s lesser-known series, Earth Maiden Arjuna, her contribution falls flat compared to a great deal of the rest of her catalogue. Within the context of Aquarion, the music suits the action on screen, though—just as with the episodic nature of the whole series—be prepared for plenty of repetition. Fortunately, each cut is well crafted and memorable, particularly the climactic orchestral pieces used during the climactic episodes.

Overall, Aquarion is a solid series for anyone looking for a recent, episodic, super robot show with decent plot & character development and an extraordinary setting, or for anyone just looking for something weird and light-hearted. read more

Story: 7/10
Ugh, your usual staple of post-apocalyptic kind of world setting + a handful of young (duh? does it have to be young?) ones who can ONLY save the planet + a gigantic ton of metal that the young ones can only pilot + a race of nearly alien (or not) beings that can destroy shi* everywhere in the world = Sousei no Aquarion. Sounds familiar right? We all have our share of EVA, Raxhephon, Zeorymer, TTGL, etc. experiences and yet they are still popular despite mecha fanatics' swooning over GARness and teamwork blah blah.

Art:8/10
Sunrise did a pretty good job in animating this with artistic European backdrops, beautiful setting sun effects and dazzling flashes of light on transformation scenes and others. Character art ain't too bad too but it did get a bit confusing (I think the graphic change was part of the story) on one episode with that of stick art doodles. :D

Sound:9/10
Beautiful orchestral score in their BGM throughout the series. OP themes are a bit catchy and the ED is hauntingly good to listen at.

Character:7/10
As most super and real robot series, characters must be unique in every way to distinguish their different traits. Aquarion has that but has some elements borrowed from other robot series. What kind of amuses me is Apollonius' character with that of a wild beast and Reika, with her negative and emo way of thinking. The siblings are also good in their character as well as the Shadow Angels especially Toma. ^_^

Enjoyment:8/10
Most mecha fans would come to conclusion that the series itself is just chunks or bits and pieces of other mecha series that are put together. I could agree more but Aquarion has some aspects that are exclusive by itself and is almost a bit above-average than your regular mech anime series. I enjoy the love-hate relationship of the main characters, the personalities of the other crews and even the good mecha artwork of the Aquarion.

Overall: 8/10
This is a good mecha series to start with if you are not much of a mecha fan. Hot-blooded finishing blow shout-outs and the out of this world kind of feeling when combining are some of the *ooohs-aaahs* I have felt after watching this.

Recommend? - To non-mecha fans...yes; probably not much to hardcore fanatics...

Replay Value (Once) - Yeah, just for the heck of the understanding the confusing storyline on their past lives...
(Twice) - Errrr...do replay it if you are bored or haven't watched it for a long time....
(Thrice) - WTF! Too much might get ya...GATTAI SYNDROME! (watch it to find out what it is) :P read more

Sousei no Aquarion is a mecha anime that is similar to Evagelion and RahXephon. Just another anime about humans fighting against a form of higher being, in this case, the Shadow Angels.

Story: The plot is pretty slow. It may seem the plot throws you right into action, which it does, but it does not move the plot much until the last few episodes. It follows a pretty generic line with very few twists here and there. The whole show seems pretty episodic save the finale.

Art: The art is unique in its own way. The characters have unique designs to them and the mecha are pretty unique as well. The backgrounds are nice but sometimes feel as if they were sloppily painted on. The character designs and mecha are pretty much the saving grace of the artwork.

Sound: The musical score is pretty much the highlight of the show. The music produced by Yoko Kanno, known for her works in Ghost in the Shell and Macross. The musical score makes good use of orchestrated works and the insert songs found throughout several episodes are good.

Characters: The characters have their own interesting personalities. You have Apollo, the homeless turned Daeva pilot who is short tempered to Silvia, who has a serious case of a brother complex. The characters have their own distinct way of doing things in the anime and it shows in their battles against the enemy.

Enjoyment/Overall: I was expecting more out of this anime but it reduces its plot to a drag. The battles are decent and the music is good. Other than though, it just seems like another Evagelion ripoff. read more

Can something be better than the sum of its parts?

That’s the question that I had to ask myself as I finished watching Sousei no Aquarion, because at its core, this is a show that is fundamentally flawed in a number of areas, but at the same time, I found myself enjoying it throughout. Thus I have to wonder if it’s a good show, even if I don’t think the individual parts are good.

The story of Aquarion isn’t that much different from most of the other giant robot shows you may have seen over the years. Humans are being harvested by a race of beings called the Shadow Angels, and the only method they have to fight back are three ships called Vectors, which have to be piloted by Elementals, and can join together to create the giant robot Aquarion. The show doesn’t stray far from convention at this point, as it’s very similar to other shows like Voltron and the likes, where you have individual fighters who join to create one giant robot. Outside of the giant robot portion, you have the character interactions, which focus on the elementals and their personal baggage, as well as a 12,000 year old love story due to reincarnation. The story isn’t terrible, but it misses a few steps along the way. The reincarnation angle could have worked great, if more than 2 characters had memories from their past lives. But since only the 2 seem important, the rest of the characters simply make up side-story elements, and thus never have the weight behind them that the main characters do. Beyond that, the Shadow Angels, while interesting for villains, don’t really hit the cord to make you despise them, and thus the show lacks a lot of punch. In the end, the story is sound for creating a giant robot show, but it’s certainly not a selling point, and truly falls short of better shows in the genre such as RahXephon and NGE.

When it comes to the characters themselves in Aquarion, I find myself rather torn. One the one hand, the interaction between them is generally fun, and adds a lot to the show. The problem is that the characters themselves are often entirely unlikable. The main character, Apollo, is shown throughout the entire show being bestial and nasty, due to the fact that he had to live a hard life as a child. That’s all well and good, but you’d like the character to evolve beyond that at some point, and become better all around. You see hints that such evolution is happening, but then they throw that all away by having him pick his nose, or do something else childish and disgusting at every opportunity. Sadly, he’s still more likable than the female protagonist Silvia, who spends most of the show having to get past her brother issues and the fact that she’s a spoiled princess. Other side characters range from the strangely out of place soccer player (who still wears his uniform) to the rather cliché mopey, I have only bad luck but everyone loves me, to the I’m cute but helpless moe type character. Despite all the flaws of the characters, their interactions are still fun and enjoyable, and they do make the show better. I think despite their flaws, these are rather charming characters that I just couldn’t make myself dislike.

The animation of Aquarion is pretty much all over the place. Generally, the animation is pretty good, nothing spectacular, but it’s fairly sharp. There are a handful of episodes that just aren’t as good, but they normally don’t stray too far into the terrible territory, unless they do it on purpose. My problem is again with the implementation of the CG, such as the robots. I just never enjoyed the CG aspect, and I didn’t particularly care for the design of the Aquarion, which left all of the giant robot fight scenes particularly displeasing from an aesthetic reason. When it comes to the artistic design, I found the humans to be relatively bland. They look like any other gathering of humans that you’d find in any other giant robot show. Where the show ventures off and becomes creative is the Shadow Angels, and I found their artistic design to be quite enjoyable. The character Otoha, with wing like arms and multiple eyes was truly interesting from an artistic perspective. The end result is a mishmash of animation, that is sometimes striking and fascinating, other time conventional and fine, mixed with bad CG that drains away a lot of that credibility.

If there’s one area that Aquarion caught me completely by surprise, it’s the music of the show. This is a truly hidden little gem of a sound track, but in retrospect, that comes as no surprise. I didn’t know the composer when I was watching the show, but I found myself enjoying a lot of the rather catchy lyrical songs, as well as truly loving the classical pieces, particularly when the piano was used. It came as no surprise to me when I learned that this was another soundtrack composed by Yoko Kanno, so my natural love for the music made immediate sense. Truly, this is the high point of the show, and I always found that the use of music here made things have more emotional impact than they should have, but that’s a power that Ms. Kanno has always had.

Beyond all the parts of Aquarion, the show is quirky and that both works for it and detracts from it. I don’t understand the reasoning behind the women experiencing orgasmic feelings when they powered up the Aquarion. That always felt weird and out of place in this show. Also, this is a truly “Rinse and Repeat” show if I’ve ever seen one. About 80% of the episodes of this show can be broken down into the following steps:

1. The show starts with a little character interaction, usually setting up which character will have the breakthrough moment in the fight this episode.
2. The enemy will attack, and three elementals will be sent out to fight them.
3. The good guys will get overconfident and have to confront some new enemy attack that they don’t know how to beat; 1-2 of the elementals will likely get knocked out at this point.
4. The character from the earlier interaction will realize they have some special talent or insight into this particularly enemy.
5. Cue catchy Yoko Kanno victory music
6. The good guys beat said enemy
7. There might be a little post fight character interaction, and then the episode ends.

That’s pretty much the way almost every single episode goes, with the exception of the first and last couple of episodes where they move things along quicker for storyline purposes. Beyond that, some of the episodes are incredibly random for a giant robot type of show. There are episodes about dreams, vampires, dieting and awful animation (I swear they were on serious drugs for episode 17).

When you look at any particular area of Aquarion, with the exception of the music, each aspect of the show seems horribly flawed, and one would think it’s a terrible show. But somehow when you pull together all these flawed parts, this show has a great amount of charm and I couldn’t help myself, I found that I liked the show. It’s not great, and it doesn’t stand up against the better shows in the genre, but if you have the time and you can overlook those flaws, Aquarion might just be able to win you over with its charm as well. read more

Sousei no Aquarion is..unique. Unique in how it surpasses anything else I've seen at being uninspired, generic, and boring. I am truly proud that I finished this show because it was one of the more difficult things I've done involving anime.

Story - 1:
Extremely generic. Sousei no Aquarion is about a young male who is unknowingly the reincarnation of some great hero. He must rise up and prove his naysayers wrong by defeat the arrogant enemy while proving that humanity is not inferior.

Now, being generic isn't a bad thing. There are plenty of shows that take a generic plot and refine it or expand upon it. Not Sousei no Aquarion. It will stick to this proven formula. Although this isn't the making of a great show, it would be passable if other aspects of the show were much more impressive.

Art - 4
Sound - 7:
Commenting on art and sound are not my strong points. I am very lenient when it comes to animation and I don't unusually notice music unless it is extremely impressive or totally absent. That being said, I do feel that art and sound were the shows strong points.

I never felt anything overly negative toward the art. Given what was being drawn, I don't see what else could have been done with it. Keep in mind however, while the show's art has no glaring problems in my mind, it also has nothing outstanding. Nearly every show I have watched has something that catches my eye - Sousei no Aquarion's most impressive visual is probably its generic mecha.

The only place that I give this show good marks is on sound. I generally enjoyed the music throughout the show, but my rating is primarily based on loving the first intro. I don't know that I could have finished the show without it.

Character - 1:
With few exceptions, my opinion of a show depends on the balance of the characters and the plot. Generic characters can work if the plot has something going for it, and a basic plot can suffice if the characters are endearing. Sadly, Sousei no Aquarion's characters fared even worse than the story did.

Ignoring that the majority of the cast is entirely one dimensional, the main characters are terribly unrounded and develop as quickly and drastically as an eroding rock. One is the rebel, the other is the arrogant jerk, the last is obsessive incestuous fangirl. During the course of the show, these develop into the rebel hero, the guy who still manages to be an arrogant jerk despite losing, and the obsessive incestuous fangirl who is remotely considering a legal life partner.

I could go into more detail, but any detailing of Silvia could provoke me to murder.

Enjoyment - 2:
When things are wrapped up, the value given to Sousei no Aquarion is directly valued to how valuable you consider your time to be. If you are as bored as I was when I watched this show, the quick episodic pace will, at the very least, keep you distracted. If you are like most people and you have limited time to devote to twenty six episode shows, steer clear.

There are plenty of shows that have similar plots and characters done well - there is no good reason to watch these standards executed so poorly. read more

The only reason i watched this anime was b/c it was always on the Funimation Channel.

I'll cut right to the point: Horrible story, No character development....so why watch it? I found it to be hilarious...even when not intentioned. (I wouldve given this show a 3 but the humor gave it a bump up.) This really should be filed under comedy only. Its such a bad mash up of cliched scenarios and stereotypical characters under the mecha genre umbrella, how can you not laugh? In addition, the intentioned humor was amusing to almost compensate for its shortcomings...almost. But all in all, it was a waste of time...if u need a good laugh there are a few episodes that had me rofling ( eps 3 and 18)

Story:

Unoriginal and flat premise of a post apocalyptic world destroyed by Shadow Angles ( humanity's biggest enemies) So the logical solution calls for mecha fighting machines and teenage pilots to save the world right? Of course! The strangest thing about this show is....well when the 3 mechs merge into one mega mech...the pilots experience euphoria/ orgasm-ish experiences together... seriously...im not making this up lol....its a lame attempt to be taboo...and i think its meant to be comical....it could be funny but is very disturbing.....Anyway, the series starts out with pilot training and then full circle to real combat...so predictable. But the real problems arise when there are no explanations regarding the enemies....in fact the whole show is about defeating these aliens when in fact they tell us nothing about them. There is no alien leader, or real motives for attacks....They also attempt at a lame love story but its not even worth going into that... and everything falls apart more so with the "reincarnation" story line involving the characters and some prophecy which makes the ending horrible. The ending is so bad, it makes the rest of the series look genius.

Art:

Pretty decent, with an array of bright colors and typical cgi-ish mechs for action scenes

Sound:

I cant remember anything remarkable but it was pleasant

Character:

So you have your typical characters with no development at all

Apollo:
the main character who is an unsophisticated tarzan with so much talent he doesnt even realize it yet....and all he needs to do is follow directions to focus...yawn...they tried having a back story for him but the writers failed in so many ways

Silvia de Alisia:
The typical miss goody two shoes and know-it-all....the foil of Apollo however, ironically she is subconsciously drawn to him...hence lame love story of opposites attract...blah blah

Sirius de Alisia:
Silivia's older brother who is the model student and fighter...mr sophisticated with all the right answers yet he lacks the passion Apollo has, which causes frustration....and side note, his relationship with his sister was somewhat creepy...apparently the awful ending was supposed to make sense of this but failed....

Pierre Vieira:
They should've called him the Latin Lover. He is the typical soccer loving, sexually frustrated foreigner who brought tons of humor to the show!

Enjoyment:

Surprisingly i kept on watching this train wreck mainly b/c it was funny. The lame story lines did make me roll my eyes at times but i did not take this show seriously to begin with. Just let the sillyness wash over you...the ending however was so awful, the laugh factor was not compensating anymore.....

Overall:

Im not sure if anyone took this show seriously....im not sure the creators even did...in conclusion, if its on tv and u have nothing else going on and want to be mildly amused and chuckle, watch it...if not, dont waste ur time! I hope this was helpful :) read more

Aquarion is a 2000-era giant fighting robot series that may seem appealing, but fails to deliver in absolutely every aspect. This might be quite a broad judgment to make, but here’s to hoping that you read this review before consuming 26 episodes, which, like fast-food, may seem appealing but ultimately is both unsatisfying and terrible for you. If you’ve already forced yourself through the ordeal that is Aquarion, I can only hope that you take solace in the fact that there are other people who aren’t afraid to express how truly mediocre it is.


STORY: Aquarion’s story is overwrought with unnecessary narrative structure. Old shows that followed a similar formula (Mazinger, GoGaiGar, Gundam) simply opened a world to their audiences which the combat is justified and there’s an overarching goal to the conflict. In Aquarion, things like exposition are simply not included for the sake of more episodic shenanigans. The first episode establishes group called Shadow Angels harvesting humans for some nefarious reason, but it’s okay because there’s one oversized mech called Aquarion that was used 12,000 years ago to battle the Shadow Angels and now people that have supernatural powers can get into the various ships that fuse into the Aquarion and Apollo is one of the people who, despite being a savage, of course, is destined to pilot this ship because he’s (maybe) the reincarnation of a Shadow Angel named Apollonius who rebelled 12,000 years ago due to loving a human, who is reincarnated as a tsundere with a brother complex. If this doesn’t seem like an absolutely hamfisted and convoluted plot to introduce the show with, don’t worry. They don’t ever explain why. For most of the series, the audience is disregarded as the writers perform a rhetorical masturbation, only compounding the already absurd and senseless narrative with every character having an unrequited love for another character, a powerful wizard who’s only purpose is to deliver laughably cliché motivational lines, and other equally non-sequitur plot lines. This is a show that will introduce a 12,000 year old villain, establish that, despite his age, he’s still a kid, have him do nothing but murder and toy with humanity for his own amusement, kill him off 3 episodes later, and have everyone sulk about how significant his death is. The show is a culmination of nuanced single-episode arcs that introduce a conflict and have it resolved at the end of the episode so that the character who was experiencing said crisis can pilot the multi-colored super-mech and destroy the monster of the week. There’s never a sense of urgency, as Aquarion pretty much always beats up the bad guys and the bad guys always have more humans to harvest. Logic seems to be lost on this show, and rather than being an absolute embrace of the inane in order to make it into a narrative a la Gainax, Aquarion stagnates and never delivers. Sure, it’s cool when the Aquarion does the infinite punch. Then it does it every other episode, until it becomes just another boring move. That’s right, Aquarion is a show in which a giant mech infinitely expanding his fist to punch an enemy off the planet becomes boring.


ART: The animation quality here is laughably bad for a series animated in 2005. Characters just float around the scene, lips flapping. Story is told to you via men floating around upside down rather than shown visually, and it only ever comes off as pretentious. Where the series really becomes terrible, however, is the 3-D mecha. The majority of the enemy designs are so reused that you hardly ever even care about who they are fighting. Every attack seems to be ‘shoot energy at Aquarion’. Aquarion itself is a particularly laughable robot as well, as its mismatched color scheme is reminiscent of a Power Rangers fusion. The ‘unique’ fusions of the Aquarion boil down to palette-swaps and a different head, and, of course, a different weapon. However, this usually just comes down to if Aquarion’s going to shoot an arrow or if it’ll punch a guy, or maybe have a sword. The different forms really don’t evoke that much of a difference in the mech. Perhaps you could say that I’m expecting too much and that this is a mecha anime. Certainly, it is, and the story only exists to facilitate endless mecha fights. However, these fights are often in the same boring terrain and usually boil down to disgustingly rendered 3-D mechs flailing around until the intro theme plays and they shoot their ultimate attack at the enemy. The show isn’t afraid to re-use frame and it often does, although the animators can’t seem to agree on how some characters faces should even look most of the time. There’s one episode that toys with the notion of the animation in an interesting way, so you’ve got to give Aquarion that, at the very least.


SOUND: Where all else fails, Aquarion does manage to have an enjoyable soundtrack. Loud overtures will ring out in mecha fights and it’s pretty enjoyable to, at the least, listen to. The usual music that plays during social scenes isn’t that noteworthy or scene-setting, and, often, there is no track to accompany the dialogue. The series has an incredibly ill-placed ending theme considering the content of the series, but the introduction is just about as much of an ear-worm as you can find anywhere else. However, it seems like Aquarion is aware of this, and, of course, plays the intro theme every time the main characters are about to win a fight. The voice acting is done well enough, and, so, overall, the sound is solid, with a few memorable tracks.


CHARACTER: If you didn’t catch this from my diatribe on the narrative of the show, then I should say it now. All of the characters are terribly written. This isn’t to say they aren’t enjoyable. While every single character seems to only have one level of depth to them (Sirius is obsessed with being elegant, Pierre plays soccer and like women, Silvia has a brother complex, Apollo is a savage who has to fight the Shadow Angels because BARON, Rena is blind and just says cryptic lines, Reika is misfortunate) and a love interest that will go nowhere (trust me, this is worse than mainstay shonen), they can be fun and enjoyable from time to time. Sure, it’s poorly written, and don’t you expect any character development whatsoever, but you’ve got to enjoy Pierre fantasizing about women and kicking soccer balls or Commander Fudou shaking his fist and saying something about how the main characters have to be like three separate unbreakable arrows in order to defeat all foes. The show understands how inane the cast is, and there is even an episode where the character types are called into question and made fun of. If anything, Aquarion is aware of how one-dimensional of a cast it has, but it just doesn’t care. It’s literally that kid who fails every test he takes and laughs about the consequences, saying it doesn’t matter to him. Ultimately, the characters and their conflicts are laughable, and even Aquarion knows it.


ENJOYMENT: Despite the narrative pitfalls of Aquarion and its poorly choreographed battles, there is a charm to how pathetic and absurd it is. While you’ve got to wonder why the Shadow Angels even want to prolong their 12,000 years of sitting around in nebulous space, or how they didn’t just kill all the humans with their endless, unbeatable army of mecha and microscopic food-eating demons, these questions usually take a back seat when you come to understand that Aquarion just doesn’t care. The show constantly comes up with new gimmicks for the titular mech to perform, or more absurd episodic plot lines that are dropped and forgotten just as quickly as they become relevant. If you can’t enjoy characters performing a giant-mecha flaming soccer kick, or obviously pretentious characters spouting nonsensical rhetoric, then you just won’t enjoy the show. However, there’s fun to be found in the madness, even if there isn’t any significance to it all.


OVERALL: Aquarion is terrible. It knows it is terrible. It has in-show commentary on how terrible it is. As a Mecha, it falls flat on its face due to too many similar, boring fights. As a story, it bumbles along with an episodic pace, poorly written characters, and an absurd premise that doesn’t care to explain itself to the audience. As an anime, it brings nothing new to the medium. It is like a steamy fart—absolutely disgusting—but, perhaps, there’s something immature within you that’ll have you giggling at the act. It can be enjoyed, but you shouldn’t forget how much of it is absolute filth.
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I am going to try and sum this anime up in as few words as humanly possible, okay here goes: "Go! orgasm powered robot of DOOM!" There I did it, I could end this review right now and proudly say that I left nothing out but id rather keep going.

Story: This is about a bunch of teens/young adults piloting robots as they fight the shadow angels of atlantia. Heres the thing, the robots have to "merge" and at the end of the "merging" process the three (yeah it just became a 3-way) pilots all seem to end up having simoltanius orgasms. Just whatever happenned to waiting to merge until marriage!? Back to buisness and all jokes aside. They fight the shadow angels because the shadow angels are basically farming the humans to maintain their own lives, and humanity aint having it so how better to fight back then by building some robots and making a mecha series about your struggles.

To be completely honest, I was expecting nothing out of the mecha side of this show, which is to say that as a mecha series I wasnt expecting much out of the show period. I was surprised though, the story was pretty good and kept me interested all the way through. There was also a fun bit of comedy, granted the funniest bits to me were just what the characters said as they were, uh, well, merging...

Art: Holy crap, I was blown away by the art, the fight scenes were depicted soooo well. They were so cleanly done I was impressed.

Characters: This show has a character for everyone: the wild one, the snotty high-society duo, the geeky kids, sports jock, emo chick; it has it all!
As such, as is always the case with such a vast group of characters there are sometimes problems getting so we as viewers know their back grounds but I feel like they did a good job explaining them to us.

Enjoyment: Like I said, I didnt expect anything out of this show, but It frickin rocked. A few viewers might have been turned off by the sugistivness of the merges but its okay, just so long as you know whats coming (ha ha anybody catch that, thats punny) but yeah I liked it, and I hope that you will too. read more

Let me start by saying that I only watched this season because I was interested after getting caught up with EVOL (Aquarion season 2). I thoroughly enjoyed this season for the most part. The music was great, scenes were touching, the whole shabang. But like every show, it had it's cons.

In this case I couldn't stand the fact that it took 24 episodes for Apollo + Silvia to embrace each other and show any sort of outward feelings for each other. We are talking 7/8 of the series deep into the story and now they start saying how much the other means to them (and not even deep stuff either, this is like a 10 sec thing). The fact that they were forbidden lovers in the past and the fact that they both acknowledged the fact that they were lovers in their former lives AND they both have the memories of their former lives really irked me. They are destined to fall in love over and over again yet nothing of the sort actually transpired throughout the series.

Not only did the lack of "romance" when everything has been laid out on the table for them BUT this chick has the nerve to reject her brothers invite to join him in his quest for a better world saying how she wants to protect those dearest to her... don't get me wrong, I thought this moment was the moment when the panties were coming off and apollo + silvia were gonna get all lovey dovey... no... of course things dont work out that way for me... ever... literally 3 min later this chick is depressed in a corner smelling her brothers picture frame saying oniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiisamaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.... do you know how annoying that was? for 26 episodes 90% of what came out of her mouth was "onisamaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa" over and over... and over again...

oh well enough ranting.

Story: I felt like it was a great story. Forbidden lovers in the past reunited 12000 years later destined to love each other again. A gay dude that wants his gay partner back... mechas... good shit right? well no... please if you didnt read the rant above go read it. Pretty much sums up why story isn't a 10/10.

Art: This was like 2004-2005 when this show was out so it's not as good as EVOL (it's successor) but I still enjoyed the artwork. It was nice. Kinda reminded me of Macross Frontier. Also the episode where they get trapped in some fantasy world or whatever scared me shitless. Since that episode had a new OP I thought the artwork had changed and I was like "fuck this show... this artwork blows", but I was wrong thank goodness.

Sound: Pretty good.Dunno bout the OP ED but the melodies they play for the "important" important scenes were powerful. Really brought out the flavor of the moment.

Characters: I liked Apollo. He had a good personality. Strong Brave Doesn't give a fuck... etc etc. I couldn't stand Tsugumi (especially during her 20 min cry session... yes she literally spends 20 of the 23 min of the episode crying like a bitch when everyone is going to perish because she feels like a little bitch) and uhhh the brother. Clearly he is no Taiyou No Tsubasa, not even a hint of it but he has to be big shot sexy rich boy and pretend like hes hot shit.

Enjoyment: good show. I personally prefer the sequel since Zessica Wong is da shiet but they're bother strong pieces.

Hope you enjoyed my review. It's a bit late so my review is a little juvenile if you couldn't tell but it's all my personal beliefs. I just hope my colorful language doesn't offend any 10 year old readers who have journeyed onto MAL looking for hentai reviews.

:3 good day read more

Aquarion is about a group of younger warriors who fight in mechs against an alien race called Shadow Angels. Two of the warriors Silvia and Apollo were lovers two thousand years ago that are supposed to bring victory to their cause.

Story 7/10: It's decent. I like the fact that two characters (Apollo & Silvia) get a second chance to bring their love about and win against the winged race. There is a fair amount of plot development as well, which is nice. Basically the winged race (Shadow Angels) harvest human souls to give life to their tree so that they can rule once again. Apollo meeting Silvia (Apollonius and Siren in their past life) has a change of heart and leaves the winged one's race by ripping his wings off and joining in Siren's cause. As it turns out though, Silvia is a winged one as well.

Art 6/10: I would have given the artwork a better rating, but for some reason at times it was obvious they switched to a computer based animation (not just during the fight scenes but at times when I think it wasn't necessary) and every series that switches mid-way through, the difference is just too great.

Sound 9/10: The music was awesome! I really loved the ending music and when the Aquarion was forming.

Character 7/10: This series did a nice job of bringing to light the characters past and still developing them throughout the series. All the characters had strong wills that most of which were likable.

Enjoyment 7/10: It was a good, enjoyable series. Something to have a little laughter but not feel like its too heady or complex. read more

A decent show, but nothing to set it apart.

Aquarion takes place 11 years after a great disaster destroys most of Earth. Along with the destruction came beings called Shadow Angels who have been asleep for thousands of years, and begin to harvest humans and extract their life force. Ordinary human weapons are ineffective against the Shadow Angels, that's where the organization called Deava comes in creating machines to fight against the Dark Angels called Vectors. The Vectors can also combine to form a giant robot. The story takes off years later and follows Apollo who might be a reborn hero from thousands of years ago.

I'm going to begin with the things I didn't like about the show than to the things I did like.

1. This show just seemed to blend RahXephon, Eureka Seven and Evangelion together and this is what came out. I know the creators of this series were trying to tell a story, it just didn't work, it just didn't make much sense. This was the part that brought down the series for me, maybe if I hadn't seen the shows above I might have enjoyed it more.

2. The other thing that I didn't like was the soundtrack which didn't add anything to the series.

Onto the good.

1. The best part of the series were the characters. I'll focus mainly on Apollo who was a great main character. He was enjoyable to watch and you will just plain like him. You will like him more as the series goes on and watch him develop. There were other good characters in Silvia, Hong Lihua who I found very interesting, Pierre, and the rest. Each brought something to the series.

2. The other thing that I liked was the animation done by I think Satelight, I could be wrong. Anyway I thought it was very good, and added to the series.

Overall a decent series that recycles themes from other disaster anime. I think it's worth checking out I'd imagine most people would give it between a 5-8. I don't think it merits anything lower or higher. read more

Here is my abbreviated review for this series using it's three major components: the Look factor, the Sound factor and it's Story factor. By looking at things this way, it's more apparent that Genesis Aquarion is not really all that great of an anime.

-The Look gets a mediocre score due to its promisings of beautiful character and set designs that gets wiped out and overshadowed by overuse of CGI and excessive scene looping.
-The Sound is excellent and worth 5 stars all on it's own merit.
-The Story,which is scattered, illogical and incomplete is the shows weakest link and receives the lowest score.


*Story*
I don't think there's any real plot or point to this anime except maybe for marketing purposes, kinda like the Hasbro cartoons of the 80's like G.I. Joe, He-Man or Jem which were basically created as a marketing tool to promote and sell their toys. Aquarion being a mecha-anime, I'm sure has a bunch of toys or at least a couple of model kits on the market but whether or not the anime was created exclusively for that purpose...I don't know for sure, I just get the feeling that there may be some connection there and the reason I feel this way, is because the show focuses squarely on the battle mecha, Aquarion and gives little attention given to anything else.

I also think they did a poor job on character development not enough history is given as to their backgrounds, how they got enlisted and WHY they are fighting...not to mention, what's the story with the Captain??? Overall the story just doesn't seem properly formed or focused except to vanquish the bad guys by the end of each episode.

In all actuality, I could have stopped watching this series in the middle and not miss much because the show fails to move forwards or even give us a reason to watch the next episode....the only reason I did finish it was because I have a compulsion to finish things I start.


*Art*
Honestly speaking, I wasn't impressed since I'm not a fan of CG art....and this show contains a lot of it. I don't like CG art because even though it offers more 3-D realism to images as well as a greater and much smoother range of movement....even though it offers that I don't like it because it's unable to create the illusion of flexibility, elasticity nor can it successfully bring an impression of warmth to an object which is why when they do any type of CG animation of people, those characters appear “cold” or just look like a computerized version of the animated dead with bodies [and sometime even their hair] that move as if they are connected by metal hinges....no flexibility, no suppleness and no warmth [the only exception to this rule is if they sink an obscene amount of money into specific CGI development projects such as the bigger video game franchises or big budget films like Final Fantasy: Advent Children or Beowulf].

Anyway fortunately when it comes to animes, along with this series Genesis Aquarion, the CGI is more or less relegated to just the mecha which is fine except that when they do stuff like that....when they do introduce CG elements into an anime, then the anime seems to become all about the CG element and all attention is then allotted to only this aspect divesting all the creative energy away from the rest of the project's art and animation. And sometimes such as with this series, you can see plainly where the art and animation has faltered by having these moments of substandard drawings along with excessive looping the same scenes.

Another flaw I see with the art for this anime is the missed opportunity of taking advantage of it's Ancient Mythology themes and really get in there to create some wonderful scenic art for the various settings. The potential was there to truly bring out the beauty and splendor in the artwork by focusing more on the details...but they chose to prioritize on the CG work and let the opportunity lapse. Which is a shame because I know that there were some really good artists on the project and so they could have done a better job with the art if they wanted to—just look how beautiful the illustrations were for the “Omnia Magni” closing credits.

Anywho..., what I'm trying to say is that the art is really nice and pretty in some parts but they failed to maximize their potential.


*Sound*
The musical score for this show gets a ten...hands down! If the visual arts people were lost in the water, at least the musical arts people stepped up their game to make up for it. Genesis Aquarion offers one of the more unique collections of some really great and original sounding music out there on the anime market.
The first OP theme song "Sousei no Aquarion" was actually pretty good, it carried a very upbeat and positive vibe with it's light yet contemporary melodies and since it was the main title song it made sense from them play it [kind of a lot] during the mecha battle scenes of show as well.
Now...the 1st ED theme song “Omnia Magni” was nothing short a masterpiece! I haven't heard such wondrous and imaginative music come from an anime in quite a while. Most animes will just stick with either J-POP, J-ROCK or a nice contemporary ballad leaving only a handful of animes that will go above and beyond to play something different, original or experimental. While not they're not the first anime to play lullaby type music or songs sung in latin, Aquarion still gets points for including this hauntingly beautiful and cryptic lullaby to their soundtrack.
My second favorite song is for the 2nd OP "go Tight!" which is like J-POP fused with an up tempo jazz beat.


*Character*
As I said earlier, a great majority of the characters had no development and no real history. One curious thing of note about the characters I'd like to mention was the weird pan-sexual I was getting from everyone....it was like everyone kinda had this “thing” or a crush or flirted with everyone else, the pairings didn't matter since there was a bit of every combination thrown in there: girl/boy, boy/boy, girl/girl and even a brother/sister complex!


*Enjoyment Value*
Very little. Not worth buying, just watch thru broadcast or YouTube or fan-sub......actually, if you should buy anything, buy the soundtrack. read more

Here is a tip for all you scriptwriter wannabes out there: IT’S NOT THAT EASY!
Aquarion was basically trying to be a more light Neon Genesis, with a lot less seriousness and a lot more fan service.

Story: 4 (The world is at stake so let’s go for beers)

Its core story is quite the typical mecha one, albeit full of anime-only terminologies that they never seem to be directly explained to you. This element could work as a plus, since you are supposed to pay attention and slowly learn what is going on with the world and those weird sounding names. The problem is presentation. IT SUCKS! You are never told what is going on in-series to the most part. So ok, Neon Genesis did the same. Only there, the answers would leave you amazed, while here they will only make you think “What? That was all of it? Big deal!”

The plot is done in media res fashion, that is starting not from the beginning but from a point later, where you are supposed to find out what happened in the past. That could also work as a great plus. But presentation once again ruins all the fun, as most of the episodes are random fillers that only manage to confuse you with irrelevant happenings and character self-realization that by the next episode has totally been forgotten. So here you are keeping notes for a hundred things, only to realize in the end that most were just smokescreen and that the actual plot could easily fit in 6 episodes.

The idea behind the story is actually very good on paper. It is about a destroyed world that awaits rebirth through unearthly means, blurring reality with dreams, and Greek mythology with fringe science. And adding to the lot, battles with giant mecha, past lives, and orgasmic fusions between characters … yeah; it’s weird. I jive a thumbs up to all that and even a small boost in the story for being completely wacky. Under different directing all that could make another Neon Genesis indeed. Too bad they didn’t because of LAME PRESENTATION!

How could all this work out? Well, less filler would definitely work to its advantage. By the time the finale kicked in, you have lost interest. And less humor too. Most fillers aim at comedy and when we are back into the core story, it is supposed to be dramatic as heck. The feeling of the fillers was so alienating; it was severing you from the feeling of the meaningful parts.

Too bad I wasn’t in the writing team; I could save this from disaster with my oh-so-basic-literature-skills-you-suckers-at-the-drawing-boards-lack.

Characters: 3 (Ooooh, stick that big, hard mind of yours deep inside my wet dream)

The cast is the usual bunch we find in all classic mecha stories (Don’t make me mention them; it’s a waste of time if you don’t know what I mean just from that). The story tried to spice them up by throwing a super hot spice to the soup of mediocrity by giving them past lives, ties with mythology, and the need to realize stuff through dreams in order to save the day. That leaves room for a lot of character development and could create a heck of a cast, just like it did in Neon Genesis. Only thing, this is no Ne… (and sorry to keep mentioning that anime but it is the best way to explain the faults).

Most of the supposed development the characters get does not matter. It happens in one episode, helps to materialize some weird special attack and it is forgotten by the next episode. This reset button ruins most of the actual liking you could have with them.

Then it’s the idea of merging. In order to summon the mecha and fight, the characters need to merge their mind, a procedure that feels like they are having an orgasm. Yeah, gives the term “mindfuck” a whole new meaning. Now, I’m not against the idea itself; I actually liked the hentai possibilities to this idea. The thing is, it is used so many times in almost the exact way all the time that as the episodes go by you only see it as a running joke. The characters lose their seriousness and are seen just as sex material or comic relief, blasting away the tragedy of their past lives and their final battle at the end. And may I remind you, this is not purely a comedy to begin with, so overdoing the funny part destroys the sad part. Thus, presentation once more ruins the anime, just like the Gods ruined the world of the series.

Art & Music: 7 (I will punish you in the name of Apollo)

Um, yeah, the above meta-joke refers to the repeating clips used during special attacks and intercourse … er, I mean merging. It is a cheap way to waste airing time and eventually gets to your nerves (lol, NERV, another reference to Neon Genesis). But other than that the rest of the quality in artwork and character design is actually quite nice. The way the destroyed world is depicted and the psychedelic situations the characters are thrown in show some hints of brilliance. But not too much to deserve more than that. Also, the music is just nice, no dialogues or songs are that good despite their mystical overtones.

Overall & Enjoyment: 3 (Was it as good for you as it was for me? … What? You had better???)

Sorry fellas, this doesn’t work in the longrun. The initial feeling of mystery and epicness fades away after the second repeating merging clip, while the smokescreened info and the dead time just killing your interest with a pickaxe. The only thing worth remembering is the orgasmic merging, which is not a good note on its resume. Just stick to that other anime I mentioned a dozen times already. It has no orgasms while merging but instead has a guy masturbating over a comatose girl. Priceless!

There are some things money can’t buy. For all the rest, there is Mindfucard.
And sorry for all these deprived jokes but this series is so asking for it. read more

I've been waiting a long time to give this anime a terrible review somewhere.

If you have ever watched any other mecha anime you have already seen every single thing that happens in this anime. The art is pretty good, sometimes even really cool, the music I didn't notice which generally means there was nothing wrong with it.

Really, from an artistic point of view this anime is fine. There's nothing wrong with the visuals. I'd even go so far as to say they're great! The trouble starts when we move on to the writing side of things. The story just sort of plods along for episode after episode, with not nearly as much plot development as one would have hoped for. The villains just sort of mope about, sending out generic mecha monster after generic mecha monster.

Maybe I could have looked past all these other problems if it weren't for the orgasmic high that all three of the pilots get whenever their mecha link up with eachother. The whole thing is handled in such a juvenile, silly way that it becomes impossible to take the show seriously after a while. The fact that all the characters are like lobotomized versions of Escaflowne characters just makes it worse.

So yeah, if you want to watch a Frankenstein's monster of evangelion and gundam wing, populated with many characters who are vaugly reminicent of much, much cooler characters from other shows, have fun watching Sousei no Aquarion. I admit, it is amuzing to watch just to sort of chuckle at, but it really offers nothing new or special.

Also, it was directed by Shoji Kawamori, who should really freaking know better. For those who don't know who he is, imagine if Hayao Miyazaki made a movie about a group of schoolgirls who all had a crush on some really skeezy older dude, and there were tons of upskirt shots. Picture that in your mind, and you'll understand my disappointment. read more

The science fiction series is an homage to the Super Robot shows of the 1970s and 1980s, executed with modern animation techniques and aesthetics.

Set in the future, a giant fighting machine called Aquarion is humanity's only weapon in the fight against the technologically advanced species called the Shadow Angels.
I watch mostly mecha anime and this is good but not top of the line. Graphics are good 2D+3D but the story is not one of best i have seen forom mecha. I recommend this if you run out of Macross Frontier,Gundam,Herioc Age and other top mecha series.

plot more detailed:
Eleven years before the start of the series, a disaster only referred to as the "Great Catastrophe" destroyed significant parts of the world and killed off many of its inhabitants. Along with the disaster came the appearance of the Shadow Angels, winged-beings who have been in slumber for twelve thousand years in their city of Atlandia. The Shadow Angels harvest humans on Earth, dubbed the "wingless ones", like cattle, extracting their prana (life force) from them, serving as energy and nutrition to the Shadow Angels, but also to feed the legendary Tree of Life. The Shadow Angels facilitate their harvesting via giant, floating harvesting machines guarded by giant golem-like creatures called Cherubim Soldiers. How these are normally piloted is unknown, yet there are times when they are piloted by Shadow Angels.

Ordinary weapons prove ineffective against the Cherubim, but a human expedition under the leadership of Gen Fudou eventually excavates three very technologically advanced fighter planes. Gen Fudou disappears, but an organization called Deava takes over the research of these machines, called Vectors, trying to find out how to use them. The three Vectors are the Vector Luna, the Vector Mars and the Vector Sol. Deava discovers only people who are Element users can control the Vectors and, ultimately, unite the three to form the giant fighting machine Aquarion.

During the first sortie to fight a Cherubim, Deava encounters 15 year-old Apollo, who seems to be the reincarnation of the hero Apollonius, also known as the "Solar Wing", who betrayed his Shadow Angel bretheren for his love of the human warrior Celiane. read more

As a casual fan of mecha series, I was looking forward to watching Sousei no Aquarion. While I found it enjoyable, at times, I couldn't help myself from being relatively bored throughout the series.

Story:
The story is laid out in the first few minutes of the series as the narrator describes the legendary war between the Shadow Angels and humans as well as the tragic love story between Apollonius and Seliane. 12,000 years later, history is about to repeat itself as the Shadow Angels have re-emerged and the humans at DEAVA must use the power of Aquarion, a three part mecha in three different forms, to repel their advances. The reincarnated souls of the heroes and villains from 12,000 years ago must first realize who they are, and what they must do to save the world from total destruction.

The story is very compelling and lays the groundwork for an exciting plot. However, that plot tends to show up and then casually leave without fully understanding what is really going on. Most episodes share very little in common with one another and revolve around some aspect of Gen Fudou's training and team building exercises. It seems as though there is a set formula where they receive some unconventional training, initially struggle with the concept, alarm sounds as a Cherubim soldier shows up, beats up Aquarion a tad, characters switch out, characters learn basis for training, beat Cheribim with a corny, aptly named attack, rejoice. It becomes quite trite and predictable, and its really not all that fun to watch. Within these episodes there tends to be character development: back-stories, tragic events, etc. That being said, where the plot does show up again, the show is at its best. As you advance, you gain a little more insight to the truth of the events from 12,000 years ago complete with quite a few juicy plot twists. The last 7 episodes are very, very plot -heavy and very, very good.

Art:
It's tough to rate this show's art in 2013 knowing what we have available now as compared to 2005 when this show aired. That being said, I wasn't a big fan of the animation in the show. The basic animation was sketchy and inconsistent. This led to a bunch of clipping issues and some very unintentionally interesting, and unflattering faces made by the characters. Character designs are very basic and nothing special. They aren't ugly by any measure, but no one is particularly beautiful either. The CGI during fight scenes and the merge sequences is very good and is probably the saving grace for this show's animation. Something changes in episode 19; however, where the animation is downright poor. I'm aware that the animation change is pivotal to the plot-line of the episode, but the areas of "normalcy" should not have changed. It almost seems like the illustrators said screw it, which is upsetting. Additionally, while the show uses a lot of sexual imagery, there is practically zero fan-service aside from silhouettes and goo-covered bodies. Take that for whatever it's worth. It is not necessary a dig at the show, but it is something I find inconsistent.

Sound:
The Openings, Endings, and OSTs in this anime are by my opinion the strongest facets of the show. When you have someone as well known as Yoko Kanno taking care of your music, it is normally a good sign. Most notably, the opening Sousei no Aquarion by Akino is a beautifully sung and arranged song. It's invigorating and gets you excited to watch. It's English counterpart, Genesis of Aquarion--an inset song introduced in the series--is an a capella arrangement in English, in which English speaking viewers can understand the powerful lyrics through a very soulful performance.* The voice acting is solid, but nothing spectacular. One facet of the voice acting that you'll either love or hate is the excessive sexual innuendo during the merge sequences. Each episode contains copious amounts of orgasmic moans and screams where you can draw the conclusion that merging=sex, which may or may not be the case. Supposedly the feeling of merging with someone is pure bliss equitable to sex. This is a bold approach that could alienate some viewers.

*I have an English version of Genesis of Aquarion on my iPod, but the actual track in the anime is in Japanese. My mistake.

Character:
One thing I always look for in any anime I watch is characters that I am drawn to, not necessarily attracted to, but a character who I can relate to or is very likable. I found no such character in Sousei no Aquarion. For the most part, I found most characters annoying aside from Gen Fudou and Toma. Whether it was Apollo's animalistic behavior, Silvia's brother complex, Sirius's arrogance, or Reika's constant negativity, the main characters just bugged me. There were some likable major/minor characters such as Rena and Sophia Belin, but their likability was overwhelmed by the major characters.

Despite its flaws, Sousei no Aquarion is an an enjoyable anime. I can honestly say that while I did not love it, I by no stretch hated it either. I admire Sousei no Aquarion for what it is, a solid mecha with an exceptional story and good action scenes. As a casual mecha fan, that is all I can ask for. I'm not entirely sure it needed it be 26 episodes as well. However, it is not easy to put aside its flaws. The characters and animation are bland and uninspiring. Sticking through the overly mundane middle episodes and reaching the final episodes is very rewarding, and well worth the wait. Also, if you plan on watching Aquarion Evol, I highly recommend watching this series to lay the foundation for what is to come. read more

I should start this off by clearing up a few things. First, anything Shoji Kawamori, I take a look into. Second, anything with Yoko Kanno doing the soundtrack deserves to be atleast looked into, if not watched with the eyes closed. Third, with their powers combined, I got excited (Escaflowne for eff's sake).

So after mentioning the above, I had VERY high expectations for this show. Escaflowne still stands as one of my favorites, but we're not reviewing that. The premise of the show isn't anything all that original, with all of the Kawamori usuals, Mecha, Wings, Feathers, underlying romance, tortured souls, etc. The first episode showed promise of a fluid story line progression, cliff hangers, action, and suspense. Sadly, the suspense is only there as a tease, the fluid filler free progression was not there, and the cliff hangers were next to non existant. MOST of the "revelations" were predictable, but not all of them. Instead, you spend the next 20 episodes learning a "little bit" about everyone and their relationships with eachother, usually by the almost direct verbal guidance of the "Commander". You would think with the slow progression of the story that everything would have been explained, but it seems to save the day or end the episode things are discovered or revealed with no explanation or progression. They figure out how to defeat the enemy with the mutterance of the commander, repeating the words in their head, and then CLICK! it's all solved. Seconds, literally. It picks up again around the last 6 episodes or so with a very progressive pace, plenty of action and story, and a bit of a rushed romance developement that "changes the world" . The idea wasn't all the original, but enough differences and variants I think this could have been done way better. The animation is top notch for a TV series, the soundtrack is superb, and the comedy was just light enough I wasn't annoyed. ( I like comedy, but not in abundance with a serious plot.) I would say this would have probably been a better series had it been scaled down to 13 or 14 episodes, cut the filler, And left it open. Now if you're looking for a show that is mildly entertaining, and you can start and stop and pick up 2 weeks later, this isn't a bad casual watch. I've seen worse by all means. If I hadn't had all the episodes to watch together, I may not have finished it in nearly the same amount of time. I would reccomend Escaflowne as a better choice, but if you're determined to watch Aquarion, watch it first then pick up Escaflowne. read more

I came upon this anime while i was browsing thru itunes ^^ and i was like oooooo giant robots XD i mean who doesnt like giant robots fighting other giant stuff.

The first few episodes were really good because they actually had some good material to put in. the visuals were quite nice but after a couple episodes they all became more or less the same :P. the only parts i liked about this anime was the beginning and the ending because those episodes had most of the plot.

If i were u i wouldnt really spend my time on this there r a lot better anime than this but if u like giant robots a lot i guess it wouldnt be that bad read more