Aquarion Evol

I was drug, practically kicking and screaming, into watching Aquarion.
My friend insisted the first 45-minute episode was worth watching, based on pure ridiculousness. I was, to say the least, incredulous.
Finishing episode one, I wasn't exactly impressed, but the art was so well done that I decided I'd stick with it.

Boy, am I glad I did.
On top of being a visually stunning show (I mean, seriously, exactly what kind of budget did these guys get?) Aquarion just has a completely off-the-wall, what-the-fuck-are-they-thinking kind of plot that I can easily get a laugh out of.
I won't try to give you the illusion that it isn't completely ... and utterly retarded, because, oh, it is. But I'm the kind of person who can take a ridiculous plot and find alot of enjoyment in it, and the fact the animation is consistently and extremely well done, Aquarion is a great choice for some good old mindless fun.

Once upon a time, many years ago, I was going to watch Aquarion, but I've stopped it, and focused on other anime.

I watched Aquarion Evol, right after The first Aquarion, and I was confused, I didn's understand the plot, at least, not completely, because it's labirynth for most of the time.

After watching all episodes, I can say, that there is too much love and "pervert overtones", and not enough focus on story, that is throwed into blender and mixed with absurd, and more or less explained at the end, so its like someone play Dark Souls game, finish it, and after that, enter websites and ... realise, what is really going on in this world.

I don't recomend that anime to anyone, who "pukes" after too much amount of love on screen, and to people, who have problems (like me, hue hue) to connect all threads in stories, where are many plot twists.

Only two things, that can be counted as a pros, is better animation quality, comparing to first Aquarion, and the original soundtrack from first season, that appeard few times.

First Aquarion, compared to Aquarion Evol, is a masterpiece, that should recieve an Oscar. The story in Evol is too complicated, and it destroyed the whole fun of watching it. Its became something like crossover of Dark Souls games and Sword Art Online. Too much love, too much hidden stories to reveal, and never ending cycle.

And now, there will be spoilers, of course, theres no way to tell about that in other way.

So there's a planet, where people have problem with their lineage (Female part of society died, because of resons?), so to solve this problem, they was going to kidnap some of the women from other planet, to find cure for their illnes.

They kidnapped a woman, that was an actress, playing an ancestor from the 12.000 years ago (Silvia), showing more or less the story of first Aquarion anime. Unfortunately, Alicia, the actress, get to coma, right afret leaving the planet, so using her as a cure is imposibble, and they have to find another lady, good enough for "experiments", but all of them, if survive, will change into male. "Magic curse".

And there is a first problem. Who are the "aliens", and why there is an Shadow Angel with them? Mykage looks almost same, as Toma looked like, but it's for sure not him (Am I sure?), because he ended his life peacfully, conecting with Apollo (theoretically Apollonius reincarnation), at first Aquarion.

Of course, Altair planet is a creation of disballance in the world, created after end of last cycle. So it is artificial problem, created by unknown powers, to cause even more problems to other people.

According to everything, that I read, Mykage, 24.000 years ago, had a "boyfriend" Shadow Angel, but he fell in love in human girl, this made him angry, and he promised, the world will be destroyed, and stuff.

That means, this story was going simultaneously, with story of Apollonius and Toma, but Atlantis was destroyed and sent to other realm.

But no. After few episodes, it turned out, Kagura, and Amata, are not raincarnations of Apollonius, but Pollo dog-like angel being, and Mikono is reincarnation/descendant of Silvia, and Celiana from 24.000 years apart, so that means, Shadow "Gay" Angel, was teoretically Apollonius, and Pollo was dog, who fell in love i Celiana, who was fiance of Apollonius. Nice triangle.

I was lost. Is that means, Apollonius had a friend in Toma, other Shadow Angel, and had a "Gay boyfriend" Mykage, they want to destroy humankind, but Apollonius fell in love, his friend dog-like being fell in love in same person, as Apollonius, and because of that, Toma wanted, after 12.000 years, after his awakening, to destroy humankind, and after another 12,000 years, Mykage woke up and said "Well. I need some slaves, to use them to destroy people. Maybe that planet with problems will be perfect for that?".

So I dont see any connection between "alien planet", and Mykage, dont see conection between Mykage and Apollonius, or at least I didn's saw it, maybe I'm blind.

But suprise! Mykage and Toma are the same person. It's just happen, that when Toma was sitting with Apollo in Aquarion, he realised, Apollo is not Apollonius reincarnation, got angry, change name, and after 12.000 years, he decided to destroy world, again.

And on the top of that, there is "Mister General" Fudou, who appeard frome nowhere, with lots of donuts, and started everything from begining, but wrongly, hiding from everyone, who truly is he.

4/10 then, no more, no less, because its total mess, and I'm dissapearing in endless abyss of internet.

I'm writing this review because I'm quite disappointed that everyone is saying that this is a terrible series and an insult to the original. I'll tell you that I actually liked this one a lot better than the original. (>:C Don't judge. )

- STORY - 9 - Ok, so the story doesn't stand out that much, but it is still pretty good. You can read the synopsis for that.

- ART - 10 - Even if you hate this anime, no one can argue that the art wasn't AMAZING. In fact, I think it's the best in any anime I've ever watched. ( again, no judging. ... >:C)

- SOUND - 10 - The sound was quite amazing, and the first ending theme was probably the best ending theme of any ending theme ever in any anime. It was simply incredible, as was the rest of the music. I really connected with it.

- CHARACTER - 9 - The characters are pretty good, though, some lf them aren't very strong personality- wise. O_o

- ENJOYMENT - 10 - I enjoyed this anime a lot, and thought it ended amazingly, and I don't usually like mecha anime.

- OVERALL - 10 - Again, I am very disappointed most people didn't like it, but I thought it was amazing, though, there are some unneeded ecchi parts (every time they merged mecha (gatai? O_o) that I thought were very unnecassary, I loved it.

Aquarion Evol is not just a plain mecha anime. Aquarion Evol is a mecha and an over-the-top cheesy romance anime. This series is a sequel of "Genesis of Aquarion" but you need not watch the first series to understand the plot since both were set on different eras.(about 12,000 years apart). When i first started watching it i expected a serious mecha (I haven't watched the original series) i had no idea it would be an exaggerated love story.
Every episode they would focus on love and romance, heck even the mecha's powers are triggered by love. Faith and destiny are also things that are consistently ... mentioned in this series. Characters are overly melodramatic, they always shout and their emotions are always exaggerated. The plot is about a young male named Sora Amata. Sora Amata is a fanatic of a movie called "Skies of Aquaria" and always spends time alone in an old theater watching it. (There is a reason behind this fanaticism which i won't spoil).One day, after finishing the movie again and was about to clean the theater, he was taken by surprise when he saw that he wasn't alone. There he met a girl named Mikono Suzuhiro and it was Love at first sight!! Now Sora Amata has the special power to "fly" or levitate. Funny thing is he levitates whenever he gets excited or scared. To cut the story short, Abductors came and tried to abduct Mikono. The earth defenders who flying ships called "vectors" came and tried to defeat the Abductors but failed. Somehow, Sora with his levitation power, accidentally boarded an aquarion (with Mikono). Sora's vector, by pure chance, combined with two other vectors piloted by Zessica Wong and Cayenne Suzuhiro which then formed Aquarion Evol, which then proceeded to beat the abductors. The two joined NEO-DEAVA an academy for teenagers with Elemental Powers (Sora's Levitation is an Elemental Power). NEO-DEAVA's purpose is to defend the world from the abductors. Students of the academy are also the ones who pilots the vectors. Now the story revolves around love and the battle between the academy and the abductors.

There are a ton of characters here, and i'm happy to say that most of them aren't flat or one dimensional, a bunch of eccentric ones. Each student has their own weird and unique elemental power, from Sora's Levitation, Cayenne's Prophecy to Andy Hole's dig or hole creating power. The good stuff about aquarion is that nobody is left out, each had their own time to shine, each have their own romance problem, whether it was a love triangle ,unrequited love, forbidden love, love between abductor and earthling, and even destined love reborn through reincarnation. This makes the series entertaining to watch, watching the interaction between each characters.

The Art is definitely good, the animation of the characters is consistently good and I love the colorful style. The 3D for the mecha is quite awesome too, it's colorful and vivid, and the way they presented those over-the-top fighting scenes and special moves are a thing of beauty, really an eye candy. The special attacks of the aquarion (born from the different trio combinations of element users) are fun to watch.

Now the plot is thick, not complex but a lot of things are going on, from the characters (tons of them) and even the enemies. The enemies aren't your one dimensional bad guys, there's a reason they're doing the abductions, and the show really did a good of job of showing the viewers the "other" side or the issues of the Alteans/Abuctors. (Abductors are some form of aliens from a planet called Altea "Altair" who comes to earth and abducts females). Now the acting may be cheesy and exaggerated but it never became annoying, it was quite entertaining to watch, it's like your typical heroes in RPG games who would be over melodramatic. The soundtrack is amazing too! just like the over dramatic lines the soundtracks are over the top and are one of the best that i have ever heard in an anime. Good vocals and a lot of beautiful instruments, not your typical anime pop or rock song. The sound effects works quite well with the grand visuals too. You can tell that Aquarion Evol isn't trying to be some serious mecha, but stands firmly with it's unique style, which was effective and was genuinely really entertaining. I seriously recommend this to anyone, except those not interested in love stories It has a lot of quality mecha battles to offer too and you'll never get bored with this one.

My Personal Rating: 9/10

To watch Aquarion Evol. Make sure to watch Genesis of Aquarion first. I didn't watch GoA first, which made it more difficult to put parts together from the show, but in all it still made it pretty clear.

Action is phenomenal. Also once you begin to watch the show and get into it, you'll probably pick a favorite character. If you get into shows like ALOT, be ready for an emotional roller coaster. All in all, I enjoyed this show and recommend it to anyone that likes Eureka Seven or in general robot fighting.

Aquarion Evol is the sequel, set after 12.000 years, of Sousei no Aquarion.

I'd like to start with a direct quote from the very first episode (which actually is a double episode of 40 minutes).
(The quote is roughly translated inro english from an italian translation of the anime)

"The movie (referencing to Aquaria no Mau Sora) was not well recieved by the general public (meaning it was not that good), but the soundtrack was found good and became well known."

This is Aquarion. Not only Aquarion Evol, but Sousei as well. This quote is describing the entire show better than I ever could.

The plot of ... Evol is directly related to its prequel: every 12.000 years, a cast of characters get reincarnated and their destiny is to be reunited again, in a sort of battle that has been going on since 24.000 years.

For those who are coming to this anime AFTER watching Sousei: the plot was not completely changed, but there are some parts that don't connect. The main plot of Apollonius, Celian and Toma doesn't come in until the last 10 episodes or so, and, before this part, it's extremely boring (maybe ONLY the last two episodes are somewhat interesting and entertaining, if you liked the story of the prequel).

The characters.
They are the worst part of this anime. The protagonists are simply stupid. The main male character is Amata, a timid, insecure teen. He's annoying, stupid and is completely and blindly in love with the female lead, Mikono. Oh boy Mikono. She's the worst character of the entire anime. She's the most annoying in the cast, constantly says she's useless and dimish herself... but she doesn't do anything to change that and what's worst is that the other characters see her as committed, intelligent and kind, while she's the exact opposite. I won't go into details, but she mistreats the male lead constantly, in what I could only describe as an act of narcissism and egocentrism. She's spoiled, and always talks about herself. Maybe only ONCE she did something useful for someone else. Her power is completely useless, just like herself, actually. Mikono is truly annoying. I found it funny, at first, to mock her because of her stupidity and awuful behaviour, but, after the first half of the anime, she became the very first reason why I started to dislike it.

The other part of the cast is forgettable. Mykage, the villain of the story, is the only interesting character (and he was right all along, imo).

Design.
Character design, I think, is not as good as Sousei, but it's nice. I liked the "glow-up" and redesing of some characters, and I think this is one of the most positive things about the anime. Mykage has probably the most appealing looks.

Music.
As the quote from before said, the OST is the most memorable thing from this anime. The main theme is popular in Japan and if you've watched Sousei, you know it was the first opening. The soundtrack is cool, especially the parts with the choir. To me, they give a sense of mystery and "holiness". They are the best part of this anime.

Aquarion Evol is a mix of Action, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Mecha, Romance and Sci-Fi. For you guys that don´t like long reviews I summit up here in the beginning about what I liked and disliked with show.

Liked: Great art, character designs, and animation - the best thing about Aquarion Evol. Some good characters and character development. The story the first 2/3 of show. Kagura. Quite entertaining to watch.

Disliked: The story the last 1/3 of the show. Mikono´s and some other characters development (or lack of it). The lack of deeper explanations of some elements within the story.

For you guys that like to really get ... to know a show before watching it, here follows a more detailed version about how I experienced Aquarion Evol.

Story: 6/10
Its really a shame because the first 2/3 of the show are actually really good, but falls a part and spacing out towards the end.
Aquarion Evol is the independent sequel to Genesis of Aquarion, so you dont have to watch the first show to understand or enjoy this one. The story takes place 12000 years after the first show. New cast and so on. The story takes up speed already in the first episode, the main characters are meeting for the first time and we are introduced to the world they live in. After that we get introduced to side characters (they are more then sides, many of them have own chapters and good development) and the main plot. The main plot is basically that men in mecha suites from another dimension attacks their world, and kidnap women back to their dimension. Why you may ask? If you watch the show you will know, cant spoil it here - its one of the plots pillars. The world that most of our main cast is living in has an organization that countermeasure these attacks in their own mecha suits (the mecha fights is often quite entertaining). The story builds up nice and steady and becomes quite intresting... Until we are getting to the last 1/3 of the show.. There I feel like the plot was smeared all over the place, and lost it direction to throw in lot of random lines and events. Much of the build ups mostly ran out in the sand, or changed direction. Always sad to see lost potential, but I will still state that it was worth watching.

Art: 9/10
As mentioned before, Aquarion Evols best trade. Great art and animation. Beautiful scenery`s and detailed backgrounds. How the light fell in throw a window or sparkling sunset - it was all gorgeous. Great and beautiful character designs (more Kaguras to the people). The mechas didnt feel out of place in the backgrounds, which they often can do. Overall very pleasing for the eyes.

Sound: 7/10
OST was overall ok, some songs better then others. It did its job to highlight the atmosphere in the scenes, but wasnt breathtaking. OPs was also little catchy, but nothing spectacular for me. I watched the dubbed version, and voice acting was above average and put life and feelings in the characters. Backgrounds sounds was also pretty good.

Character: 7/10
The main thing about the characters in A.E. is that the main cast has very little development. They start out with the tools to be much greater but never really goes there. Some of the "sides" the other hand has a lot of development. A.E., would I state, is equally character and plot driven. I like that in a show, but then it has to pull throw to the end with both, and A.E. fails some in both departments. Now its sound like im bashing the show, but I actually liked a lot of it. So let´s go down to way I liked and disliked some of the characters.

Mikono - Our main girl. The very cute and shy kind of girl. She doesn't believe in herself and think she´s useless, which is a result of her past. Nothing usual to begin with but she kind of stays that way the whole show. Mikono had the potential to be something great but stays in "damsel in distress" state pretty much the whole 26 episodes. She has some moments of developing but are soon back on square one.

Amata: Pretty standard shounen MC male character. Is very cute but dont know it, and girls falling in live with him and he dont now how to deal with it. Amata has a special gift that give him gravity related powers. Unlike Mikono he train his power and become stronger and stronger to protect his comrades and Mikono. Even do he actually had some development, it was to little and bleak to be that memorable.

Was it any good characters in A.E. at all? you may ask now. And yes, there was some great characters.

Andy, Shrade, Mix, Yunoha and Jin where all interesting and made the most development in their characters. I enjoyed the relationship development between Andy & Mix and Jin & Yunoha much more then that between Amata and Mikono. All mentioned did a very touching personal development as well, and was the cast i mostly enjoyed to watch.

Kagura is his own special case. I loved the character Kagura. He is the shows antagonist, but I ended up shearing for him. Why? Because is a sexy sad lonely badass. What I didnt like was how little time they had put in to his character development, he had so much potential but didnt come throw in the end (or more like a non-logical 180).

Enjoyment: 8/10
For you poor souls that stayed with me for this long, I keep it short here. Maybe its sounds like I didnt enjoyed the show, but many times I really enjoyed it. Then it was good, it was really good! A combination of beautiful art and animation, with some interesting characters and mostly a good plot let A.E. in to may heart. 2/3 of the show is really worth more like 9.

Overall: 7/10
I really wanted to give this show a higher score, but the last episodes wont allow it. If for nothing this show should be watched for the amazing art and character designs, that it self is worth the time. But I really enjoyed many parts of the show, I think i cried a couple of times and had some laughs to, so I was moved by the show anyway. I definitely would recommend this show if you want to see something beautiful with some great characters and romance.

Aquarion Evol is a show that never needed to be as good as it was. Aquarion, its predecessor 7 years prior, seemed largely to be a tech demo for Shoji Kawamori’s next project Macross Frontier, with as many random plot elements thrown in to see what stuck. But while Aquarion felt messy and uninteresting, Aquarion Evol skims away the fat and refines the hidden qualities of the world. Evol allows a pretty solid reset, taking 12,000 years after original Aquarion. The previous series is both history and a religion in Evol, as well as an in-universe movie that sarcastically references its real world failures (but ... hey, at least the soundtrack won awards). Evol is much lighter and more engaging, and also manages to put much more effort into establishing its world, including having the religion and history of the previous series get names, locations, and events wrong just as stories change when passed down generations. Evol uses this to play fast and loose with its ever-changing plot and character dynamics, and ultimately becomes one of the most entertaining mecha shows in the 2010’s. Some of the messy or under-explained pieces of Aquarion are still in Evol, but you’ll be having too much fun to notice them.

Evol also is surprisingly progressive for a show with a main character that gets golden wing boners when aroused and a gender divided school that pilots orgasm robots. Aquarion Evol teaches that true love has no boundaries by time, gender, or ideology, as long as an effort to understand them is made. Everyone will hurt those around them, especially those they love. But while you should not simply accept wrongdoings, it also does not make the person a monster if they’re willing to keep trying. Evol moves well beyond fanservice and anime X-men piloting an orgasm robot, into a story about understanding, healing, self-love, and learning to enjoy life and change what you can. It's beautiful to watch, lovely to listen to, and shouldn't be judged simply on the fact it likes to have some silly, dirty fun once in a while. We need more shows like Aquarion Evol.

it is an anime of mecha is a sequel of Aquarion that has as following two boys that meet by chance the two are reincarnations of the characters of Aquarion.
Among legends, incredible powers and feelings, the "Aquarion" saga was a huge surprise in the panorama of robotic souls, thanks to a very apt characterization of characters and an amazing mecha design, combined with a solid narrative that managed to combine fantasy elements, mecha and sentimental (some even not conventioned).
And now, with "Aquarion Evol", the legend of the mechanical angel and of the sacred genesis is ready to start again.
 "Evol" takes up the elements that characterized ... the previous series: a plot full of twists, where romantic feelings will be the basis of the story, with lots of links to the events that occurred in the first series; a strong characterization of the characters, each with their own characters and with episodes dedicated to them so as not to make them elements to make numbers, where friendships and deeper feelings are born for someone, and also the enemies of Altair show a strong humanity in the scenes to dedicated to them; and obviously fights in the name of surprise and absurdity, where the configurations of the Aquarions (here Evol, Gepard and Spada) will show ever more absurd and spectacular and effective powers according to the pilots (here too with the name of the attack first execution).
 In the graphic field, the series abandons the picture style of the previous one, in favor of a more realistic and colorful graphic, especially in the CGI scenes depicting the Aquarion and the various Altair mecha, thanks to the appearance of a guest from the past (there the surprise was enormous).
Also in the field of sound, the quality of the previous one is repeated, with very orchestrated music, complete with insert songs and excellent opening and ending, but, if you miss those of the previous series, you can rest assured that you will be able to hear them.

"Aquarion Evol" manages to convey the same emotions as the previous series, of course, the beginning is not one of the nicest, but over time the atmosphere will be able to recover. It is also true that some rather particular themes are dealt with, not in an extreme way, but fortunately they will be solved.
For the rest, it remains a very beautiful series to look at, where once again the feeling of love will be the winning card. Finally I do not recommend the vision of this anime for those like me who love Aquarion deeply, or at least don't start with the assumption that it can reach the levels of Aquarion.
Although EVOL's graphics are far better, the story is decidedly commercial. 12,000 years have passed since the final battle against the angels of darkness, culminating then with the sacrifice of the Aquarion and its pilots, who remained inside to prevent the destruction of the planet, and this battle has become legendary among books, religious cults and even cinematographic films, with the foundation of the Sacred Angel Institute, dedicated to the legend of the Aquarion and frequented by young people endowed with Element powers.

you want to know why i gave this anime a 10 for everything? because i loved it. it made me love it. i was attached to the characters as soon as i "met" them. i was mesmerized by the art, and i found myself singing out "AQUARION!!!!" at random points during the day (lol, youll get that as soon as you watch it.) the story was so unique and the weirdest part is, im not sure why this anime is so great! by all logic this should be just another mediocre anime. the art is a bit on the kiddie animation side, the characters can ... be a little cliche, and the story is supposedly some kind of knock off of the first one. (which btw i did not see so i am very sorry if that makes my review inconclusive). but somehow, when everything comes together it makes a gorgeous picture and this became one of my all time favorite anime. this anime may not be for you, but for me---it was love!!

People may think I'm Dumb for rating this anime so High, but I have my reasons. First, the first time I watched this I was still a kid and I was missing episodes. Now I rewatched it, I still felt the same excitement and thrill.

This Anime is a rare breed. It gives you the "I wanna love this character" feels in most of the pairings. I really adored all the main characters and the way the story was played I felt the emotion that was being portrayed. I hated Mikage when the story wanted him to be hated, I hated Kagura when the story ... wanted him to be hated, I felt sorry for them when the story tells their side and showed that they can be forgiven and what they did made sense.

I say this is rare because it showed a lot of mini genres in it. a pure love story between Amata and Mikono, A romcom yet so real pairing of Andy and Mix. Mikono's attraction to Kagura that gives that bitter taste. Shrade's relationship with everyone that suites him. And to be honest even tho I hate BL, Shrade and Cayenne portrayed a beautiful relationship. There's Yunoha and Jin too. It showed a lot of comedy too. The Action mecha part doesn't make complete sense because of the power of love and friendship tho, but that sets it apart from other mecha anime. Watching this anime can put you in the edge of your sit or bed whatever, specially when Kagura comes to Vega and look for Mikono, you can really feel the thrill and connect to the characters and just shout how dumb and weak Amata is whenever Mikono will get taken away.

The story about the two planets was portrayed well too and specially Alicia and Izumo's love story too. And the story about Kagura, Amata and his parents was really expressed in a lot of ways. The way they told the legend was really cool, and really makes you feel like you wanna watch the other Aquarion series too.

-In short this Anime is not like the Anime this days that are One sided. The art may be outdated but id say in its prime it was one of the best. Story wise not everyone will like it, but if you like and understand deep and meaningful story about love and relationship and destiny then you can relate because in that genre this Anime is #1 for me -

Animated by Satelight studios, which has made several anime, yet only Noein amongst them is worthwhile for me. Directed by Kawamori Shouji, who is famous for making several Macross related shows but in all, his roster doesn’t look so good. Thus we have nothing much to expect on first sight.

The first Aquarion series was based on an interesting concept that was trashed by the lack of an interesting plot and by lots of retarded fan service. It remained known as nothing more than a train-wreck called roborgasm for trying to sound serious and dramatic when it had over the top erotic humour and silly robot ... action. So after some years they decided to make a sequel to it; something normally ludicrous for a title so loathed by most. The good part is that they flavoured the main idea to look more interesting. The bad part is that it’s still the same retarded presentation.

The story takes place 12.000 years after the previous battle AGAIN and has the same cast AGAIN although in slightly different roles because they are reincarnations of the original characters. In this setting, the world is now revived and humanity is flourishing, so you are presented with much more than a wasteland. There is a whole city full of buildings, nicely detailed, colourful and definitely more bright and cheery than that gloomy dark world of the prequel. At the same time there still is a second dystopian world, so you are offered a nice antithesis as the two planets clash. The action scenes are also more complicating and have more interesting choreography than before. In all, there is a lot more for the eye to keep busy even when the plot is not going anywhere. And to the most part it doesn’t, at least not significantly.

Speaking of the plot, it is not serious at all AGAIN as most things happen for the sake of comedy or really stupid internal logic. If you try to see this in a reasonable manner then you will be greatly disappointed, as it is just a patchwork of silly clichés from various mecha titles of the past. Individually none are that great to deserve their own show (especially when they already have one) but putting them all together in the same show leads to an interesting chemistry. Here is what I mean.

1) Just like in the prequel, the main idea is present. We have people mentally bonding in order to fight in a mecha, which leads to a condition akin to orgasm (thus roborgasm). They also try to expand on the idea by including how using divine weapons through this union is very dangerous and thus they install special seals to prevent that. Those seals are called… chastity stones! Taking the whole ludicrous idea on the next level is rewarding on its own. They even make a villain to be the reincarnation the hero of the first series, thus making you think that something went wrong along the way and what was good back then, is now evil. Thus trying to reverse the roles is an easy way to hook you into a premise you already have experienced and would probably find boring.

2) Since the union is considered unholy, boys and girls who pilot the robots are not allowed to be together, much less have relationships. So the school they are in has this huge wall to keep them apart called Berlin (just like than wall in Germany). This separation is a very interesting scenario generator to see how they will cope now that they need to cooperate (and boy do they seem like they are not getting any smexy love all their lives). I remember seeing something similar in the mecha show called Vandread, which was very good for its time. It fondles nicely with taboos by considering heterosexuality to be wrong, while homosexuality being granted as normal.

3) The alien invaders of the show (humans from a different planet actually) kidnap people in order to harvest something out of them. This is also interesting as a concept and reminded me of Dimensional Cavalry Southern Cross.

4) The events of the previous show have been turned into a movie, which reminded me of Macross Frontier. It is also a nice opening to see how the characters try to find the truth out of the myth and later on you even see clip scenes from the first show. So they are trying to blend in the two series instead of considering them separate. They even flavour it further by revealing how some things were not as they told you in the first show.

5) The villain being able to teleport or use escape pods after he loses? This is so kitsch, it fits like a glove in this show.

6) Gender bending curse on top of a split personality that went amnesiac. Further details are unnecessary; you will be watching this for the sake of watching this.

Of course all these good ideas can only help you to have positive first impressions. They still need to develop them if they intend to keep you interested and, guess what, everything is completely chaotic. You quickly find the same huge asspulls that ruined the first season by making everything possible if the scriptwriter felt like making it so. It ruins all sort of strategy, as well as the emotional conflicts if you can accomplice anything with some magic gizmo. I mean they have a huge selection of superpowers to use in each possible situation so nothing seems impossible to them. Thus although the premise is constant and attractive, it is never taken seriously. All issues the characters have are always resolved in the same episode they begin in. Heck, they even form teams of three, based on antithesis instead of uniformity. Then they are thrown to fight invading robots while still hating each other, with wise guy Fudo expecting them to solve all their problems in the most improbable moment: During a battle for the salvation of the world. And you know what, after awhile saving the world is less important than getting their silly teen issues resolved. Thus here is what you get in pretty much every episode:
Enemy pilot: I will destroy this place because it has horny hot girls and my place doesn’t.
Girl pilot: You only like me for my boobs.
Boy pilot: That’s not true, I love your ass too.
Nun general: Will you please cut that out and just fight the robot that is trying to destroy our world?
Wise guy Fudo: (plays with cards, says some weird stuff about passion and life and shit).
Girl pilot: Oh, I get it now.
Boy pilot: Me too. Let’s teleport in the person we need, get into an orgasm, and beat the robot in a most improbable way.
Enemy pilot: That’s not fair! They use any special attack they like and gang up on me!
And despite their defeat once again, the evil Gaylord leader Mykage will play with some rose petals, say some weird stuff about love and duty and shit, and makes anything he likes to happen with hax powers, thus rendering the previous battle completely pointless.
Just like before it was interesting at first before the lack of doing something with its premise and the retarded roborgasms full of asspulls made it too stupid to care about it after a few episodes.

Although many viewers can claim that this is a super robot show and realism is the least you should be expecting, it still doesn’t work out in the longrun. Even guilty pleasure shows like this one need to have some sort of internal logic in order to work and this one in particular doesn’t even try. The proof of which are the motives of the villains for attacking the world of the good guys. After they reveal the reason, you will be scratching your head without the faintest idea of why this war happened in the first place. They could have just asked them for some humanitarian aid, or permission to relocate. We could assume they were denied all that, or they are too proud and prefer to fight than beg, or that their leaders are insane megalomaniacs, or whatever else generic villains do in fiction. The problem is, we don’t see any of all that; the villains act like normal people and thus you will feel like the whole war was not only pointless but could also have been avoided altogether. And sure, avoiding the war in a super robots show is the same as saying we won’t “have” a super robot show in the first place. But the excuses for it are just retarded.

Going further than that, Fudo clearly knows everything about what has happened in the past and is even the leader of the whole robot organization, yet he doesn’t explain the enemy’s motivation up until the final episodes. It would make sense if he had enemies that would abuse the hidden information. But clearly nobody can stand against him so revealing the truth from the start could have helped his team in knowing for why the devil they are fighting for. But instead, you get this stupid plot where they are fending off the attacks and don’t even know why they do it but are otherwise too preoccupied with their unimportant sexual frustration. So what’s the point of telling them at all in the end if they don’t care? There is another scene where a heroine is possessed by an evil spirit and although she had full control of her body for several episodes didn’t even attempted to tell the others about it for no given reason. I mean sure, the show would feel a lot less mysterious if everything was clear right away but there was no reason to withhold information. It runs on mysteries that have no reason to be mysteries in the first place.

And skip that, even the explanations that are offered towards the end make no sense. They are closer to trolling as the scriptwriter is constantly rewriting the events of the prequel every time he feels like it. It makes the story even dumber than it already is.

But let’s try to see past all that. Pure dumb fun comes first and thus all the attention is given to over-the-top situations and extreme doses of action. The mecha battles are great, there are cool transformation sequences, energy beams that fill the screen and special attacks that have all sort of improbable results. Even the music themes are very good in uplifting emotion, despite being just silly j-pop nonsense. Plus we have characters who are all hormone-crazy teenagers who are never allowed to have some fun with the other gender, so imagine their sexual tension as they board the same ship and with their burning passion reach to a state of orgasm and rain havoc upon the poor aliens. Crazy stuff. Who cares if nothing makes sense in the plot?

As long as you see it as nothing but guilty pleasure and don’t think about how pointless everything feels, chances are you will enjoy it. Even so, it may feel tiresome and stupid after awhile, as it still tries to be serious and dramatic even when it makes no sense, plus it lasts too much and has too many secondary characters that don’t seem to matter much in the longrun. In all it is quite weaker next to other similarly action packed titles, such as Tengen Toppa’s constant escalated action or Red Line’s short and tight duration. So although it tries a lot, in the end it is just random nonsense and it won’t appeal to an audience who prefers some elaborate plot and seriousness.

And now for some excused scorings.
ART SECTION: 9/10
General Artwork 2/2 (good looking)
Character Figures 2/2 (generic but cool/sexy)
Backgrounds 2/2 (wonderful)
Animation 1/2 (basic)
Visual Effects 2/2 (lots of pretty colours)

SOUND SECTION: 8/10
Voice Acting 2/3 (silly but fitting with the feeling of the series)
Music Themes 4/4 (great)
Sound Effects 2/3 (ok I guess)

STORY SECTION: 5/10
Premise 2/2 (interesting)
Pacing 0/2 (loose and random)
Complexity 2/2 (rich context)
Plausibility 0/2 (none)
Conclusion 1/2 (cheesy)

CHARACTER SECTION: 6/10
Presence 2/2 (funny/sexy)
Personality 2/2 (cheesy but well founded)
Backdrop 1/2 (simplistic but it’s there)
Development 0/2 (it’s there but it’s completely random)
Catharsis 1/2 (cheesy)

VALUE SECTION: 3/10
Historical Value 0/3 (none)
Rewatchability 1/3 (low because it gets too stupid after awhile)
Memorability 2/4 (the roborgasms are a very memorable trait but other than that there ain’t much to remember it about)

ENJOYMENT SECTION: 5/10
Art 1/1 (looks great)
Sound 1/2 (the dialogues are stupid but the music is great)
Story 1/3 (nice ideas but presented too silly)
Characters 2/4 (cool and sexy but eventually hollow)

VERDICT: 6/10
Funny and sexy but loses steam fast.

You have robots that form co-ed "unions." You have a hero that's kind of boring, plain and just wishy-washy. You have the girl that every one likes for whatever reason who happens to be completely useless and you have the girl that actually does something but is rejected. You have a confusing story with more plot holes than Mix can fill (you'll get it if you watch) and you have a generic and boring ending.

Amata is an idiot as generic a hero as you could possibly find. Kagura (Amata's what...darker half? I don't even know) is a weirdo who spends an entire 26 episodes ... obsessing over the same girl and then gives up on her when he sees the power of "love." Well, ok. Mikono, Mikano, whatever her name is... there isn't anything special about her and she's not useful in any way- even in her final attempt to do something she fails. Zessica, who is head over heels in love with Amata, gets no love despite at least being useful and capable and having an actual personality with emotions and opinions.

There were far more interesting couples in the show, such as Andy and Mix, and I wouldn't have minded if the main characters had fallen into obscurity while these guys, as well as a few other characters, took the main stage. All in all, yes, there are "orgasmic" power-ups. If that's your cup of tea, which it probably is, then watch. But don't expect a lot of things to make sense apart from that. Though to be honest... that doesn't make much sense either. But I didn't watch the first anime this one is based on/sequel of, so maybe I missed something.

This anime is not meant to be taken seriously. This isn't because it's terribly written or paced, in fact, when the story wraps up, it leaves no holes or misunderstandings! This is not meant to be taken seriously because the writers spoon-feed everything to the viewer. They take the viewers along on a journey, or a story - you are not meant to try to figure out the subtleties or the underlying issues simply because they outright tell you about it later anyway. It is cheesy, with plenty of face-palming moments but ultimately it makes you smile. It reminds the viewer of the strength of ... love and even explores the different types! Definitely worth the watch, especially since you don't need to watch the prequel to understand it.

Aquarion Evol, what a ride it was. Legendary battles that took place more than 12,000 years ago, separated lovers, futuristic world, high-school, vehicle pilots possessing supernatural abilities, giant robots powered by orgasms...

Wait what? But alas, that's exactly what it is. First time you'll see it, you'll be like wtf; second time you'll see it you'll be face-desked and probably crying tears of laughter. That in a nutshell, is what Aquarion Evol is about. It's a bit of every genre (musics included) and it manages to make them work together at that.

Aquarion Evol is not meant to be taken too seriously though. It has unimaginable ... amounts of cheesy-corny moments (take that orgasm-driven mechas for instance) and quite a bit of melodramatic high-school scenes, but it's all perfectly bearable if you'd grin and laugh at it. If you seek military or action driven mecha anime, you'll probably be bitterly disappointed.

Story.
The main story is simple. One futuristic world experiences systematic human abductions due to unknown entities called "abductors", and the students of futuristic academy being the mecha pilots they are have to fight this unknowable unknown. With time, the intentions of abductors become clear and our heroes will be faced with tough choices. Meanwhile the main hero, a freshly enrolled student of aquaria academy, discovers mysterious competitor for the love of his life which is revealed to be tied to a sinister prophecy and a legend. The story per se, is not bad. Apart from main protagonists the series explores a bunch of secondary characters and gives some insight into the events of previous series, so you won't be left in the dark. The issue with this kind of story is that any side-story episodes do feel like fillers and the series would have been better without few of them. Otherwise this anime loses some of its event-driven focus. Unfortunately, this lack of focus and coherence becomes even stronger towards the end of the series, some events prior the ending come off as baffling and illogical.

Art.
The art is gorgeous. You'll want to stare and stare at beautifully rendered backgrounds inspired by Shanghai and Venezia. The light and sfx are also quite on par. The anime boasts memorable character designs. Animation is smooth and lively, particularly during the battle scenes.

Sound.
The soundtrack is filled with loveable ambient music, consisting from instrumental pieces, most notably crisp and dreamy piano arrangements. It also has quite a few songs in it, Aquaria Mau Sora probably being most beautiful out of all. The OP has classical epic feel to it, and it basically carves itself in your memory.

Characters.
Overall characters are a likeable bunch. It's shame though that Aquarion Evol suffers same disease as most shounen anime: the protagonists are much less appealing than secondary characters. Hell, even antagonists look better against main duo. By main duo I mean Amata and Mikono by the way. Amata no thanks to his way too meek demeanour comes off as spineless, and Mikono pretty much embodies that I-am-useless-but-I-try-to-be-better girl stereotype. Naturally these two would engage in all sorts of silly melodrama, but hey something gotta sustain romantic suspense, no? Having said that, I very much prefer secondary characters including minor antagonists. They offer much more badassery and humor. In the end of the day, even villains of Aquarion Evol are not that villainous. Misunderstood, driven to despair, having no other choice, but not inherently evil evil.

Overall.
Pretty enjoyable anime spiced with cheesy moments and humor, with both action and mystery involved. Well, minus the fillerish melodrama. A little awkward considering it's both high-school AND mecha, but still watchable. Me, I personally loved the music most. And Kagura's manner of speech :D

24,000 Years later the story of Aquarion comes full circle. This review will often elude to Sousei no Aquarion and at times compare the two. The aim of this practice is to show how the span of 7 years allowed the creators to expand on the foundation and improve greatly on Sousei no Aquarion’s flaws. As it is part of one gigantic story, I feel as though it futile to speak of Aquarion Evol as a standalone series.

Aquarion Evol takes place 12,000 years after the events of Sousei no Aquarion. The world has changed a lot and no longer is there a struggle over Earth, ... but a clash between the "Abductors" of the planet Altea (Altair in some translations) and the humans of planet Vega. Altea is a dying planet struggling for survival while Vega is a prosperous, Earth-like planet. As the conflict continues, the world hurdles toward disaster and history is set to repeat itself once more.

Story:
While Aquarion Evol still references the legendary battle of old between the Shadow Angels and humans (often referenced by an in-series film titled Skies of Aquaria), that conflict has been laid to rest. DEAVA has given way to a new organization named neo-DEAVA under new leadership while operating as an academy for young pilots, or Elements. Men and women are separated and there are two "Aquaria," one for each gender, meaning merging is strictly unisex. The Aquaria are similar to the Aquarion of old as it is also a three form, three component mecha composed of Vectors. During the first encounter with the “Abductors,” Sora Amata and Mikono Suzushiro, two civilian teenagers who both claim to have no special talents, take control of a Vector and form AQUARION with students of neo-DEAVA, much to neo-DEAVA’s surprise and dismay.

Unlike Sousei no Aquarion, the story in Evol progresses much cleaner and each episode builds on the episode prior. Additionally, the plot does not seem to disappear compared to its predecessor. An explanation may be due to the fact that the plot is only slowly revealed episode by episode, not totally laid out for you as Sousei no Aquarion had. Additionally, gone is the formula Sousei no Aquarion used to mold their episodes that revolved around some special training that were just simple team-building exercises that added nothing to the plot. While there are some training aspects in Evol, they do not consume the entire episode. What may be the biggest departure from Sousei no Aquarion is that it also is no longer predictable in that not every episode leads up to some grand merging of Aquarion to combat an enemy. In Evol, characters also rely on hand-to-hand combat in some instances, while other instances show the characters in their daily lives outside of neo-DEAVA. Ultimately, what makes Evol’s story so compelling is that it keeps you guessing. If you had watched Sousei no Aquarion, you often wonder when what you already know about the story comes into play. It makes going from episode to episode much more enjoyable than watching meaningless battle after meaningless battle waiting for the plot to return. However, Aquarion Evol does tend to fall into the same corny traps as Sousei no Aquarion—mostly from attack names—and also does get a little too “cute.”

Art:
What a difference 7 years makes. The animation is much more vibrant and consistent. The clipping and quality issues that led to unflattering appearances are no longer there. The animation is very crisp with a wider array of colors. I recommend watching Aquarion Evol in HD to fully appreciate how beautiful this series is drawn. The scenery, the cities, the character designs, everything is leaps and bounds beyond what was presented in Sousei no Aquarion. The CGI is on par with what was presented in Sousei no Aquarion and the fight and merge scenes are very good. One welcome change is the introduction of Aquarion Gepard which features projectile weapons, signs of evolution and adaptation to the changing world. The character designs are a little more “fan-servicy” as most all the females have enormous breasts and some wear highly revealing clothing.

Sound:
Much like its predecessor, Aquarion Evol earns high marks for music. Akino returns with two very loud, vigorous, and exciting tracks for both its openings. The endings are dialed back into somber ballads; the second performed by voice-cast member, Yui Ogura. As you learn more of her character, Yunoha, it becomes a very touching track. Many OSTs from Sousei no Aquarion return, namely Genesis of Aquarion. The consistency of OSTs and opening artist is much appreciated and lends to the idea that it is indeed one big story spanning many generations. There is a heavy reliance on the track “Aquaria Mau Sora” which appears in the in-series film, Skies of Aquaria. The voice cast in Aquarion Evol is stacked with tremendous talent and is executed brilliantly. Aquarion Evol also scales back the orgasmic moans and grunts that were far too prevalent in Sousei no Aquarion. While merging still seems intense and full of bliss and passion, it no longer seems to equate to sex, though it still is inferred by character interaction.

Character:
In my opinion, this is where the biggest upgrade Aquarion Evol has over its predecessor. Where Sousei no Aquarion had no overly spectacular characters where they all seemed somewhat annoying, Aquarion Evol has more characters, and most of them are thoroughly appealing and likable. There are two areas of character that Aquarion Evol far outdoes its predecessor. First, the characters receive a lot of development throughout the series apart from their own character-centric episodes. This makes characters a lot more likable as you see their development episode by episode. This makes the characters highly relatable and sympathetic. Second, the formation of character relationships is far more prevalent in Aquarion Evol than Sousei no Aquarion. Sousei no Aquarion focused much on the relationship between Apollonius and Celiane. While other characters often intimate at love, nothing ever develops. In Aquarion Evol, deep friendships are forged, romance is found, loss is experienced, and heartbreak appears. This also leads to characters being relatable and sympathetic. Aquarion Evol also has a clear evil that needs to be defeated.

I highly recommend that Sousei no Aquarion be watched before watching this series, though it not be entirely necessary. However, it alludes to the story quite frequently and may seem confusing to those who are unfamiliar with the events of Sousei no Aquarion. While Sousei no Aquarion seems, at times, boring, Aquarion Evol takes the story to a whole new level. For 7 years, the creators were sitting on this thrilling conclusion to a highly captivating story. In watching the story in whole, the plot twists are much more twisted and you may even start to question what you truly even know. As a standalone series, it still is very strong. It carries its own rendition of the legend that sets it apart from Sousei no Aquarion (even though both renditions come into one plot-line in the latter part of the series). A story of love and betrayal, a story of vengeance, a story of survival, a story that spans 24,000 years, Aquarion Evol is a must see.

I think I'm one of those rare people who actually enjoyed the original Aquarion. Don't get me wrong, there were some things about it that bugged me (the orgasmic power-up ended up making me laugh by the end of the series), but overall I thought it was actually a pretty unique storyline.

Like any lover of an original, I was scared when I heard they were doing a sequel, because, as a in general, sequels have usually sucked. I know, huge over-generalization, but it felt like that to me. I will admit, sequels do seem to be getting better and better, so if ... this trend keeps up, I'll be willing to change my opinion. I hope I get to.

I'm not very far into the series yet, so this will of course need to be changed when I finish the series, or even get more into it, but I wanted to start with how much I'm actually excited to watch it. I thought I was going to hate it, but I was completely wrong.

The visuals of this anime have blown me away, absolutely breath-taking, and the characters are unique and have depth. I'm confused by some of them, but I know it'll all make sense in the end. I won't give spoilers away (darn!), but I'm excited to see how the characters will end up relating to their counter-parts in the original series, and for some of them, how they will relate to the characters from 24,000 years ago.

For now, I'll just have to watch and see. Expect a revision when the series is done!

A true masterpiece. This was both breathtaking to see and was an absolute joyride to watch. Kept me on the edge of my seat, only wanting to watch more. A beautiful balance of romance and action that could make it enjoyable for essentially anyone to watch. It is an absolute must see. I am the type of person who wouldn't cry at a goddamn funeral and I cried during specific moments in this, both tears of sadness and joy. It has many deeper meanings inside and can truly make you think differently. I was changed by this anime.
PS - This was ... my first review, I really do recommend this anime for all to watch. Its great once you can get past the super corny moments of the yelling "GOOO AQUARIONNNNN!"

Actually I started to watch this Anime last year and dropped it midway, because I didn't like some things which happened...but some days ago I decided to try this anime again and I don't regret it!

Story:
- The story is quite interesting and there are some new things which you don't see in other anime.
- Although you can sometimes guess what will happen in the next few episodes it's still exciting and I didn't care even though I knew what was going to happen.

Art:
- I love anime which have a nice drawing style and Aquarion Evol was definitely one of them. Although there were little mistakes ... (which happens in nearly every anime) it was nice to watch. Also it's quite colourful which makes the anime even better.

Sound:
- I love the soundtrack of Aquarion Evol, there were some songs from the prequel but also new ones and this was definitely an anime where you noticed that there was music but it also matched the scenes perfectly.

Characters:
- Well, there are good ones, bad ones and if I had to say which I didn't like I couldn't really name one. Although I liked some of the characters better than others, all in all, all of them were quite funny and interesting.

Enjoyment:
I watched Aquarion Evol in 2 days! I really enjoyed watching it, becaue it has a nice feeling and is perfect for a little break between some other anime.

Overall: I don't think Aquarion Evol is a Must-Watch Anime if it is about all genres but if we speak about the mecha/romance genre I think it's quite interesting and I recommend watching it...I think I also liked the anime because it has so many different elements (genres) in it.

This show... my lord. How do I put this?
Whilst looking like a really enjoyable show from the outside, soon reveals to be so mediocre and clichée in every way, that its simply gross. You cannot say this is a good show and be serious.

Story:
The Story revolves around a society after the great catastrophy 12000 years before, that uses the magical powers of certain people (elementalpowers) to power something called "Aquaria"s. Except for our maincharacter, that - obviousely, why tf now - somehow summons "AquariON". This is supposedly a hidden, secretive aquaria evolution - hence the name. But somehow half of the cast knows about it ... anyways. Good job.
Fights? Stunning on first glance, yet so predictable, clichée and cringe you can't really take them serious. Latest when they break their own rules of their own internal storytelling and pull stuff like "bowing in the middle of a fight to tell someone you love them" (which in all seriousness looks just so ridiculous, especially when they show that supposedly epic logo thingy for it that you know from every 90's japanese show like powerrangers, where they name their special ultimative forms), despite knowing them for like 2 days time total (yes, they were seperated).
Feels like a mess already right? Cause thats literarely all it is.

Art:
Well, what a shame. The animation is fluid, virbant and very nice. The CGI elements fit well and seem well grounded. What a waste on such a terrible show.

Sound:
Both the Opening and the Ending are gorgeous. They are really energetic and powerful, uplifting and set a good mood. But that the op is played literarely twice every episode at least (because it plays every god damn time they transform) is just annoying. The OST is good, some of the tracks are outstanding, some of them really just repetitive and most of them are just good. Nothing more, nothing less.

Characters:
We have

- Dramatic main bitch with hidden background story and secretive mystic power for no fucking reason #1 (male)
- Dramatic main bitch with onii-chan complex and no apparent reason for her behaviour besides a trauma cause she was that one useless kid in her family (oh boi...). Oh and she's really really flat - both in appearance and in character depth. And she's a tsundere. What could possibly go wrong, right?

- A bunch of super stereotypical, unrealistic and useless cast members that really dont fulfill any other purpose but to set the scene for embarrasing moments in fights and fillers during the episodes.

Enjoyment:
If you want to decrease your cognitive abilities, give it a try, It works wonders.

Overall:
Well, it really is just bad. A completely wasted opportunity, considering they certainly had enough budget to make it a good show.