Aquarion: Season 1, Part 1 — anime review
Episodes: 1-13
Genre: Anime, Action
I really wanted to like Aquarion. The first episode was visually dazzling and confusing, and you were just thrust into this other world, an alternate post-apocalyptic future where an inexplicable threat continues to plague humanity and a small group pilots who command three jets that can merge into the legendary robot Aquarion are the last line of defense and only hope for humanity. I liked the colorful characters and the possibilities they represented; Apollo, the wild-eyed orphan with raw power and a possible past life as an ancient hero, Silvia, the stuck-up princess who admires her older brother Sirius so much that she believes him to the aforementioned ancient hero because she is believed to has a past life as the lover of the ancient hero, Pierre, the flirtatious soccer player turned fighter pilot, Reika, the unlucky pilot with the ability to head Aquarion but a tortured past that prevents her from being able to do so successfully, the enigmatic and seemingly god-like Commander, and Rena, the bizarre gothic lolita wheelchair bound girl. The idea that Aquarion would be have different strengths and capabilities based upon which three pilots merged to create it I was really impressed by the integration of flashy computer animation with a more traditional anime look and the robot scenes generally look really cool.
The show follows the pilots that can merge to form Aquarion and the organization, Deava, that is in charge of training them and giving them orders. They spend many episodes going through various training exercises while we get to know the characters and their relationships. What really keeps Aquarion from becoming addicting and ultimately necessary viewing, is the lack of a cohesive and developing story which causes the formula of the episodes to become a bit stale and at times even tedious. After the initial episode, you are left wondering, so what’s next? What is their objective? What really are they doing? It seems like souls are being harvested and the people at Deava are still trying to figure out how to successfully merge and have enough power just to stave off these attacks, but there is such a lack of urgency to these encounters that they feel like playtime, like training. Their enemies are mysterious, but so little is understood by them and what they are trying to achieve that they fail to become interesting. There are however, good episodes that really hinted at the potential of the series, like episode 8 which deals with just what it’s like to go through the merging process and episode 11 where there seems to be some actual character development.
One of the nicest things about this set, is that the same level of thought that was put into the show’s visuals was put into the box. All four of the special features are worth checking out and in fact the interview with Director Shoji Kawamori and the Tokyo International Anime Fair 2005 Talk Show on the fourth disc would be a good place to start before actually viewing the series as it explains the background of the show better than starting with the first episode.
Unfortunately it seems that with all of the attention that was spent on designing the cool robots and crafting the amazing visuals, an engaging plot was left behind. I would recommend this for anyone who likes cool robot battles and impressive animation, but who is okay with not having too much of a story. Hopefully the series picks up after episode 13, but I don’t think I’ll be around to check it out.
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