kpurdy - 2014-01-09 06:54:38

I'm writing this review solely from the perspective of someone who never saw Genesis of Aquarion. I heard the horrendous reviews and stayed far away.

^ That above statement was applicable at the time I wrote this review, since then I have dabbled in Genesis. I have edited this review accordingly, as well updated it based on my fairer thoughts today, as compared to the endless praise I used to give it. Anyway, sorry for the interruption, the review continues from here.

At some point I was convinced to try Aquarion Evol as I at least heard it was "better" than Genesis. Having seen Genesis now, I can guarantee Evol is the superior product, but Genesis still might be worth a watch if you view it from the perspective of something more along the lines of Greek mythology or a fairytale.

Aquarion Evol oddly enough opens this way, accusing "Skies of Aquaria" (an in canon movie referencing Genesis) as being rather dull, but a legend nonetheless.

It's a humorous self parody as the creators show they have a rather positive outlook and sense of humor. This aspect of respect is only something I can imagine the original never had. For a series in the vain of Evangelion and RahXephon, Genesis, with evidence even from Evol itself, had taken the term symbolism far too literally; and at several instances was trying far too hard. This includes the "'unholy union between genders," which should be expressed only as a symbol, and not a plot device.

This serves to prove how much better Aquarion Evol is from the start. And I personally think starting here, without Genesis, like I did, makes for a better viewing experience. You have no bitter taste of the original, moments you'd see coming because of the first can come across as brilliant twists to keep you intrigued, and the world feels like it's rich with lore and explorable material.

Evol is full of mystery as to why things are the way they are and why people act the way they do. You aren't just left in a constant wait however, some things do get explained early, or better yet... Shown to you.

It's an old meme, I know and I'm sorry, but seriously, the now foreign concept of "show don't tell" is everything this series is about. In a world of anime where light and visual novel adaptions overpopulate, Evol never feels like you were meant to read something. Within the first five minutes of the first episode, it's noticeable just how much this anime compliments your intelligence and embraces this medium. And that's the one thing Evol does brilliantly, it progresses the story the only way a motion visual medium could.

It's here a lot of the series' symbolism gets used. And holy crap, it's actual symbolism with a point to it! I won't say the series doesn't get pretentious, oh it does, but it uses its symbolism to communicate its own share of the story. Its philosophy and morals are hardly ever spoken out loud, but can be seen nearly everywhere. The series doesn't ask many questions, and is pretty grounded in what it believes, hence why I call it pretentious, but I never found myself arguing with a single statement this anime made... Or how it made it. The symbolism ranges from all sorts of tones. It can be fun one second and horrifying the next, but never feels jarring by any means.

Probably because it's an actual good story amongst all things. There is a cheesy moral to it all, but Evol acknowledges that several strengths can come from darker aspects of life as well. What most anime will discourage about humanity and preach that you should overcome, Evol actually embraces; encouraging to turn those darker aspects of life into strengths as well as what we already understand as good.

Have fun picking things out.

But of course you should always have a good cast that compliments the emotions your anime is trying to portray. Now I do find a fatal flaw in some characters getting the short end of the stick in the final third, even to the point that one is just straight up ignored like they never existed (which is why I'm decking a point off "story"), but at least there wasn't one character I disliked (while they were around).

Every character does fit a trope, but no one's an over exaggeration of their trope at any point. Every character faces issues that they clearly grieve with, and no one approaches them in a way that is in the least bit disrespectful to the audience or to the character itself. I don't even like romance, but I found every bit of it enjoyable here thanks to these characters. Plus, just look at those designs: amazing and full of creativity.

The art is something else I draw an issue with. Not the characters (sort of), or the world, or the gradient color palette (love it), but the damn CG mechs.

Sure, it's not the worst CG by any means (ever seen Blassreiter?), but it clashes with the 2D animation far too much for my liking. But I've had several people in person tell me they like it, so maybe it's just me.

One other thing relating to art though is Zessica Wong. She goes from this...

to this.

And characters compliment her for this change in clothing. It is somehow in context a more conservative outfit, which is supposed to a show a change in her character for the better, but that dress is easily far far worse. Her change in clothing simply traded out midriff for 90% boobs. Don't even ask where her nipples are, no females in either Aquarion series have nipples; this is a visual fact. Ignoring the boob window, I respect the change in context, but it is actually impossible to ignore the misogyny of that dress.

Staying on the technicalities, the soundtrack is amazing. It's rather clear what new tone Evol was going for as compared to Genesis. A lot of the epic pieces are just reused Genesis tracks, while the actual new music composed for Evol is primarily slow, being either soothing or haunting. It fits considering Evol is trying to go with a partially more mystery-style tone, as compared to Genesis, which dropped everything on you up front.

Something else impressive, is the use of insert songs. Much like the visuals, the music is also directed wonderfully too. Neither the music or the insert songs ever overshadow the other, and it's wonderful to see them compliment each other so well and be able to appreciate both for what they are. And if you haven't heard the first ED to this series, you are missing out.

Leave it to Yoko Kanno to compose this beautiful music.

As much as I have praised this series, it all still does boil down to whether or not this is your type of story. Love triangles, mecha action, two tonal extremes, and a ton of symbolism about the advancement of life is what makes up this series; and it's okay if that's not your cup of tea, but it certainly was mine.

blaze.lemke - 2013-09-06 17:41:07

Here comes the phraise ''i will wait for you even if takes me 12,000 years'' the undying word of Sylvia for Apollo which is being continued by Amata (reincarnation of Apollo) and Mikono (reincarnation of Sylvia).

The first few episode is quite normal boy meets girl but then an enemy will show up and then the robot will appear but the enemy will beat'em but Amatta will show his hidden power and decided to protect mikono and he will control aquarion to defeat Kagura (also reincarnation of Apollo).

And then afterward Kagura will be longing for Mikono and try to steal her away

but of course Amata will no let that happen