Reviews

Something to remember when Shoji Kawamori is involved: Plot is not his forte-- in fact I daresay it's his biggest weakness as a content creator-- and Aquarion is no exception to this rule. Whenever he didn't write the script or screenplay, like Macross Plus, that story was tight. Not so here. Like Escaflowne that preceded it and Basquash that followed it, the show tends to be episodic, with sort of a direction towards the end, but with very loose cohesion from subplot to subplot. As a result, characters that learn something new one episode are often reset to their "default" behaviors the next (especially Sirius)-- but they had some fun with that in the "cosplay" episode. Honestly, I'd much rather watch a music video with his mechanical designs and Yoko Kanno's music, but this is the next best thing.

The "reincarnation" subplot is one of the better things about this show. While I sometimes wished that we saw more of Apollonius and Celiane, this connection to Apollo and Silvia is a great driver of their relationship. The other characters, as I've mentioned, tend to be rather static until the major turning point at around episode 20.

The art and character design in the show are stunning. So much so, that when they decided to have some fun with other animators, it was jarring (and hilarious... though I didn't really see the point other than that line shouted at the end). I seem to remember a slight disconnect between the drawn animation and the CG-- the CG lines are very "clean" and smooth, whereas the drawn lines are less so, especially in close-ups. Usually I don't notice it unless I've paused the video and really pick the frame apart.

The soundtrack, well... Yoko Kanno. 'Nuff said? You may have previously heard her work in shows like Cowboy Bebop, Macross Plus, and Turn-A Gundam. Well, since this is a show about kids piloting the mechs rather than soldiers, in addition to the "trinity" motif of the mecha, there are a lot of "threes" in the battle themes rather than marches. One starts with a piano and violin riff descending into a wild waltz, another starts with the violins playing a repeating triplet-beat above a live choir. One of the best tracks is a long build-up with orchestra and choir to an epic piece that backdrops significant battle scenes, also in a meter of "threes".

Speaking of music, this show introduced me to one of my favorite bilingual singers, Akino from bless4. Now, her theme songs are probably a bit overused in the show, but that's okay by me because they are fantastic. The ending, Omna Magni, was... interesting. Initially I thought it was in an artificial language like Esperanto, but nope, this language was evidently original.

To wrap up, take one episode at a time, sit back and enjoy the soundtrack, the giant robots, and the big booms.