Category: Aquarion Evol

I hate to say it, but I’m starting to lose interest in this series. This episode was the final nail in the coffin for me to admit that. This was the episode when the main plot returns again after the string of bizarrre filler lately, but what we got for it… I can’t really say that it was worth the build up.

So, Mix gets kid-napped, Zessica is doing nothing but angst and every father in this show is an asshole: Mikono and Mix’s treat their daughters as junk, while Amata’s fater left him and who knows: perhaps he’s eve that Mikage guy. The amount of angst in this episode, it didn’t work for me aside from Mix and Andy, but even that resulted in a cheesy kidnapping.

This type of angst unfortunately is something that is all over Shoji Kawamori’s series. I got tired of it in Macross Frontier and Arjuna, and even Basquash had some of it. I was hoping that Mari Okada would be able to keep him straight, and I guess that the twists here are more creative, but this angst still remains annoying.

The worst was Zessica, who just plainly dived into emo and lost herself in her angst and crush for Amata. It’s a shame that even after 18 episodes, her character still is nothing more than “I like Amato but have no chance on him because of Mikono”. It’s all just so superficial. The mecha action battle of this episode also was quite boring and also couldn’t keep my interest. Something needs to happen for this series now, and quickly.
Rating: – (Disappointing)

Okay… so this show just explored some new depths here.

Shoji Kawamori, Mari Okada, or whoever it was who came up with the idea for this episode: why? Why did you stuff everyone in swimsuits? Why was the ancient aquarion hidden in a lake? Why do people need to take a bath in milk? Why did that milk suddenly become a way to teleport people into mechas. And what on earth was up with all of the banana references? Seriously, with these past episodes this series has made all of the training arcs look completely ridiculous.

This was by far the most sexualyl charged episode so far. And despite some of the really bad twists of which I’m still not sure whether they were pulled on purpose or not, some characters emerged better out of it, while others got even worse. By far the best character in this episode was Andy, with his incredibly awkward freudian mistake. By far the worst was Zessica. This episode pulled the twist that gave her even less of a personality “I’ll love you even if you don’t love me back”. This remains a terrible twist. At least lett her attempt to move on or something. Also, what on earth was up with that new outfit of hers? Who on earth found it a good idea to give her a Queen’s Blade outfit? What on earth was that meant to symbolize?
Rating: * (Good)

Okay, so with this episode it’s clear that this show intends to screw destiny. The important part is how it’ll end up doing this. This episode had a lot of build-up for that, alongside a completely overblown love confession that was really fun to watch when taken out of context s it created an infinity punch that even traveled through time.

However, I still am a bit afraid of Kawamori trolling again. What I mean by “taken out of context” mostly refers to the aftermath, which didn’t really use the fact that Zessica confessed to Amata, and instead focused more on how Aquarion nearly went berserk (by the way: did I see this right and did they just casually wipe out an entire island? I sure as hope that they picked some sort of uninhabited island and didn’t train in the midst of school grounds, like how they’ve been fighting most of the battles). Zessica’s confession has the most terrible timing: it’s too late to really make an impact on Amata, but it’s too early to really actually do something in the grand scheme of this. Instead the creators made this a bit of a stepping stone for the later romance, reducing Zessica yet again to nothing but a mere love plot device for the male lead.

Also, a new season and a new sequel that refers the original. After Last Exile’s recap episode of its first season, this episode also continues to show old material. What really caught my attention was how seamless the images looked of Last Exile, while the transition from HD to a smaller format really is quite noticeable with thick lines of animation used back there. This is a compliment to the original Last Exile, by the way, because it’s definitely interesting to see how Satelight’s animation has changed over the past ten years.

Oh, and this episode finally showed Bianca and Dorezza in a battle, revealing what powers they have. And they are actually quite awesome. Why weren’t they used before? I mean, if Zessica didn’t confess they would have kicked ass. The only reasonable explanation for this is that Amata is special somehow, and that he can awaken special powers that others can’t. Weren’t you trying to screw destiny, Aquarion?
Rating: *+ (Great)

So, it’s finally time for the love triangle to get somewhere. This is something that can easily get really annoying when the creators have no intention whatsoever of breaking up th emain couples, but heck: Kagura and Mikono emerged as better characters out of this episode. Kagura for finally showing a different side of himself than that raging beast (it’s about time here…) and Mikono, for finalyl doing something against her part as Amata’s true love (hah! I got his name right this time!).

Amata and Zessica meanwhile still need to have their moments in which they need to grow. Zessica is nearly getting there, but her growth entirely depends on Amata here: if he doesn’t change, the she’ll remain stuck in in her current dull part forever. You’ve just entered your second half, Aquarion, so the time for delaying is over now. You’ve got the luck that you’re an original story, so you can fully make use of the 26 episode format.

The whole Silvia & Apollo is something that I, as someone who didn’t watch the first season, didn’t really get, but a quick look on the internet showed that they are the two main protgonists of the first Aquarion series. I like how they didn’t go for the predictable “Amata is Apollo route. What I still dislike about this series is how it still adheres to “true love”: the way in which love is always decided and only two people are meant for each other. Amata is the only one who so far goes against that. It’s a problem that has been all over anime, really, and 95% of the attempts to subvert this just turn into harems or psueudo-harems. Chihayafuru last season was one of the very few series who got it right for me.
Rating: *+ (Great)
ED: Entirely dedicated to Yunoha? Okay. It’s just a pity that her voice actress can’t sing, though.

I was surprised how this episode started out as a very dark aftermath. It was very different from the previous episodes of this series, and a lot of time in the first half was dedicated to making Jin’s death sink in. I’m not used to that from Shoji Kawamori, especially when it happens so early in the series. Then the second half arrived. Yup, that’s him allright. No mistake about it. And Mari Okada’s influences make it even weirder.

The moment where the headmaster suddenly announced everyone to bury themselves, this show just got surreal. I’m not sure what kind of symbolism it is to have the cast sleep right next to the dead while they’re mourning for a falen friend, but it was glorious anyway. The way in which Mikage suddenly appeared as well was an awesome cliff-hanger.

Zessica by the way is heading into a wrong direction. She’s now at the point where her entire character is “I like Amano”. The rest of the cast here is great, and this episode used Mikono’s uselessness well, but Zessica is just the same old third wheel without any chance that you see everywhere.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Now this was just entertaining as hell. Really, all of the three big sci-fi shows this season really delivered excellent episodes to close off their first halves and they really surpassed themselves with it. Mouretsu went the politics route, Rinne no Lagrange toyed with the scenario, and Aquarion was the one who just went all out with its action. This was really an episode full of adrenaline, and very entertaining to watch as it yet again made excellent use of its romances.

.. with perhaps one exception. This is something that has annoyed me about other anime as well. I mean, on average, women are physically weaker than men. Having a really physically weak girl in the cast, makes sense. However, for the love of god: quit having women faint so often. I mean, not only does this just get pulled way too often, but it also pretty much puts the girl in question out of the picture for as long as she’s unconscious.

But I digress, when she woke up, the doll girl and her romance with the spy guy definitely made up to that. Then there was that bizarre part where Mikono got.. abducted and hold like a trophy, only to be rescued again (thankfully), followed by what can only be described as an orgy as six pilots fused together. I really was entertained throughout the entire episode.

Next episode should prove to be very interesting, because it’s here where the huge difference between Mari Okada and Shoji Kawamori comes into play: deaths. On one hand I have often been trolled by Kawamori’s deaths, and I often feel that these are a bit meaningless, if the characters turn out to be dead at all, where on the other hand Mari Okada loves making her deaths meaningful, and her scripts don’t use implied deaths at all. In this episode the death of two characters was implied, so next week will be a huge rope pulling match between these two. I really hope that Mari Okada wins, because I very much prefer how she handles death in her stories, but the two of them are both so over the top that it’s got to be a lot of fun to watch.
Rating: **+ (Excellent+)

Finally, ti’s time for the developments to start hitting. This episode was full of twists to spice up this series, and it’s about time because the series was starting to stagnate a bit. Especially when Andy started this episode by organizing a slumber party. What could have been a dull filler instead really got the characters moving. In particular the invisible girl and the spy guy.

This show did stagnate a bit when trying to get these two to catch up to the rest of the cast, but having these two elope, of all people, can prove to be quite interesting. There was some good tension between the two of them in this episode, and seeing as they’re both shy, the potential for character development on the both of them looks really good.

I however, do fear the direction in which the love polygon involving Mikono and Amato is heading. I mean, this episode pulled a lot of twists on them, but these twists include the abandoned child and pulling sudden yandere hints around Zessica. I mean, this had it coming and all, but I really wish that the creators would use Zessica for something more than just a pointless love triangle. And looking for porn the minute she enters a guy’s dormitory…

Here is the thing: Mikono, you’d better not turn into a damsel in distress in the second half of this show… I know that this is a Mari Okada series, but this also is a Shoji Kawamori series…
Rating: *+ (Great)

Amano, you idiot. Don’t you know that confessing in the middle of a series is like signing your own divorce letter? These things never go well! And indeed,the bad guys picked that exact moment to unleash that wench-obsessed beast–guy again and before you know it we’re in yet another cycle of “will they won’t they?” all over again. I really hope that the creators will end up avoiding this because nowadays those kinds of plots are incredibly boring.

It’s a shame, because most of the romances of this series have been very straight “they will” right from the beginning: everyone was very straight-forwardly developing feelings for each other. I liked that. I know romance isn’t that simple, but it’s just that the alternative anime usually finds for it sucks.

Apart from that though, I liked this episode; this was some good build-up. There was more focus than ever on the bad guys, who really needed that extra bit of development. The inner conflicts of interest between their two top guys will prove to be fun later on. And once again, the action scenes were really well done.
Rating: * (Good)

I’m reviewing this episode a day late, but still: there are two shows who, on the same day, decide to air an episode that feature an alien just arriving and goofing off while trying to make sense of this new world.

The big difference between the two is that the alien in question had never met a girl in his life, and therefore was constantly dazzled by all of the girls here. The creators also waste no time in creating another couple in this series, as the frog doll girl immediately starts hitting on him (and vice versa).

With this, it really seems that this show is going for the couple root. That leaves a few oddballs: Shrade, the fangirl, Mikono’s brother, and the green haired girl. I do not feel like looking up all of their names right now. Aside from the fangirl, there strangely hasn’t been any hint that they will hit it off somehow, but I can really see this series trying. Especially Shrade seems weird in a series like this that is so focused on romance. Mikono’s brother and the green-haired girl meanwhile are just pointless love triangle bait for the main characters. They should just hook up together and everything will be solved. (Well, maybe not everything, but you get the point).

What also surprised me here was the complete lack of action in this series. This is Satelight. I’d at least have figured that the creators would stuff in a random reason to show another overblown fight, but instead this was all character-building. It wasn’t exactly the most interesting or exciting episode of this series, but this show will be 2 cours long. I’m intrigued in how the build-up will pay off.
Rating: * (Good)

With this, Mix and Andy (Andy W. Hole; seriously?) have gotten their episode as well. Because yes, this series has decided that the two of them are going to be a couple. We already knew that Andy’s power was to create holes. Now, it turns out that Mix’s power is to fill them. Truly a match made in heavens.

In any case, this episode was as fun as the rest of the show. The romantic tensions between Mix and Andy in particular were just hilarious. All of the bizarrely epic ways which the creators found to symbolize holes were also hilarious. Yes, of course donuts are like the galaxy we live in. Makes perfect sense!And why is that headmaster still upholding the “no romance”-rule?

In any case, the series progression has been pretty solid so far. The cast here is fairly large, so it’s only natural that we get a string of episodes about the different cast. There are only a few left: that fangirl still needs one, Mikono’s brother is still left and the nun will also probably get one. It’s basic build-up, but it’s tried and true for a reason: it works and this this makes sure to create an engaging cast. The most important thing right now is that while it’s doing this build-up, it’s really fun to watch.
Rating: ** (Excellent)