I have not watched the first Aquarion, but I want to test whether it’s possible to watch this series without having watched the prequel. The reason for that is that this season of Aquarion has a very different staff from the first. And really: there are a lot of great people working on this thing.
I have my issues with Shoji Kawamori, but I consider him to be a very good director. He’s at his best though, when working together with other talent. I got really annoyed with Macross Frontier, but in the end the writers for that show, along with the other director, weren’t really that impressive(as a frame of reference, the writer of Macross Frontier is currently writing Guilty Crown…). This series though? The director under him is the guy who directed NHK ni Youkoso and B Gata H Kei. The series composition? None other than Mari Okada. And amongst the other scriptwriters for the episodes are the guy who wrote Senkou no Night Raid and adapted The Third and the guy who wrote Argento Soma, Betterman and Yukikaze. There really is a lot of talent involved in this series, not to mention Yoko Kanno behind the music.
In any case, this is by far the best looking series of the season. In particular the architecture is impressive here, with the kind of grandeur that’s very typical for Satelight (for example Macross Frontier, Guin Saga and Basquash). This definitely aims to be the epic of the season. And heck, I have no idea why Satelight picked the winter season of all things to go all out, but heck, it’s definitely an interesting twist.
As for the plot in this episode… it was weird. We have a main character who starts to fly whenever he’s turned on, and we’ve got a lead female who is turned on by failure. I like the themes of males versus females, although there are still a few things I’m a bit iffy about, like the forced fanservice of tihs show. I don’t mean those transformation scenes; I’m more referring to that one scene where the male lead and his companion were trying to tunnel under this show’s version of the Berlin Wall and picked the exact spot to surface that allowed them to look up the lead female’s panties. That’s just bad; but ah well, at the very least I hope that we won’t get an episode like in Macross Frontier, which was entirely dedicated to getting Sheryl’s panties back…
In any case though, this was solid build-up, meant to get to know the characters. We got a good feel for them here, and this includes the side-characters. And at the very least, the creators realize that the two leads are useless idiots. This allows the rest of the cast to stand out, compared to Guilty Crown, where the entire universe revolves around that darned male lead…
Obviously the show isn’t there yet, but I see potential for growth here. Comparing this to the other of the big three sci-fi action shows (Mouretsu Pirates and Rinne no Lagrange), it only stands out with its better graphics, but with the right script it can get quite interesting.
Rating: * (Good)
It is possible to watch Evol without watching the original Aquarion (no wonder – it must be, if they want anyone watch the show), but IMO this way you’re missing out on many fun tidbits. Plus, Aquarion was a very good show, in its own way. (Basically, it was Gurren Lagann a la Kawamori, before Gurren Lagann was even conceived.)
Btw, I’m not too hot on slapping the “useless idiot” label on Amata and Mikono. What is it with people calling characters useless and idiots just because they don’t kick ass and take names from the first minute? :/ Mikono clearly has huge self-esteem issues that she’ll need to overcome, and Amata has the whole power issue that he will obviously overcome as the main character. Maybe it’s just me, but I’d rather watch these characters struggling to get over their issues than Macho Kickass Guy/Gal #1252354… (Not that I don’t like say, Zessica, but to me she’s less interesting than Mikono.)
I was hyped up about EVOL without knowing anything about the original Aquarion. All it takes is a bit of reading to learn that this series is all about the orgasmic gattai’s, giant robots, epic music and stupid english final smash names, which IMO makes this series unique from other mechas.
I must really say…it is not really good to watch only the second series (also dont know why so many want this because the first is really good..).
You can see..that they made many thinks faster in the beginning than in the first series and dont say how really some things is…so this is why the think you know the things from before. (How this is written say also the same..you dont know why all thinks from the super powers and so on)
Also it is much funnyer and interessting when you think and wounder which character from last series is in which character reborn. (This is a really myterios and puzzle-thing.)
Also it is clear in this version the old main characters are a know lengend. (So it will be possible the spoil something for the live from the first naturally)-in the other it was there first live.
Und the most interessting and best thing was every time the series the reincarnation thing. (You cant see it so good if you dont know really the first complete-this is what I think)
/And so by the way it looks like this time the old heero get two bodys…Amata and the guy on the other site Kagura…and this poind is really interessting if you posibiltiy fiting your self soul-person originaly*g*….and so on…/
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Also its clear to say, that long the working title for this show was ‘Aquarion 2’ and dann later they change it to Evol…so think this also should many made clear.
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@spinark
I must really say this orgasmic gattai’s thing is not so often and so on must people say and thinking…more often they say other thinks…the picture is more ecchi and so. (think this must be the reason why you later think it was more than it really is…)
Also it was from beginning clear that in the new series it will be more….because ecchi is more in all you can see (xd)
The ‘gattai’ was also much longer (and more to see) in the 1+2 than in die first series.
Hated the first Aquarion series. People seem to like the ED ; I didn’t
@Alec
I know what you mean also dont like how it has end. (but this is often for me normal by the most animes) -But this didnt make the complete series bad.
Ich really hope this time the end is better.
But think this look linke how they this time reborn. (And this looks not so promising for this thing….)
Well seeing from this episode, I don’t think the plot or characters will ever be anything more than average, just like the original series. I do hope that they will make interesting attacks for the fights, as that was what kept me going in the original. And good luck getting use to the orgasms 😉
The thing with the first Aquarion anime was… The first episode really raised the bar so high that the episodes after that episode couldnt surpass it
That upskirt scene seemed more like a (bad) gag than fanservice, since we, the audience, couldn’t see anything.
And having seen the first season, the impression these three episodes give… heh, if the sequel is anything like the original you’re in for a surprise. I can’t wait for the guy in the ice to awaken.
Note: I’ve never seen the first Aquarion series, only the Aquarion Evol, 45-minute special, which I count as episodes 1 and 2.
I thought Rinne no Lagrange and Moretsu Pirates were good-looking (and they are), but this one blows them out of the water. Architecture, ID, characters…they all look fantastic, taking full advantage of HD.
Of course eye candy isn’t enough to make a show watchable, but there’s plenty more I like about this to keep watching – The gender concepts in play here are particularly strange and novel – and while there were a lot of concepts to take in, I was never totally lost.
I only hope they can come close to upholding this level of production values. Macross Frontier also started huge, but the quality diminished in some later episodes.