Reviews for Sousei no Aquarion (6.72) 4j2e2f

<<PLEASE RATE THIS REVIEW>>

For those looking for for the simple, easy way around reading the entire review without reading it, here you go: Aquarion is pretty much a post-apocalytic mecha/angel series; average in its development; average in its conclusion. That about sums it up. Now, on to the real review.

Animation:
Top notch. Very crisp a delightful to see characters that were well defined, had shadows across their faces, and even had their facial features detailed when they were undergoing major changes. (No spoilers here) Mech and fight scenes seemed well put-together and enemies seemed to have their own essense to them.
EXCEPTION: I must say that there was one exception that I found particularily dreadful, was episode 19. Episode 18 was hilarious and I laughed so much even though I was in a sour mood before watching it. 19 disgusted me. Not only was it confusing, I thought it was borderline insulting. Why, you ask? It almost appeared as if they ran out of money or sent their normal animators on holiday for a week and brought in a amateur sketch-pad artists. It wouldn't have been so bad if the beginning part of the episode was done normal and the "alternative reality" was done that was, but they let the animators do the entire episode so that even when they were in "normal reality" it was blocky. It was dreadful. Anyways, aside from that hiccup that animation rocked.

Sound:
Disappointing. The first opening theme didn't seem to fit too well initially until it got into the meat of the song and then it still felt off. The second opening just was plain annoying. The lack of addition score to accompany various parts of the show seemed a bit out of place, what with their great animation. But during the climax of a battle you'd hear the opening theme playing in the background. Which, again, wasn't bad till the second opening came around in which case it didn't fit at all. Aside from that there weren't many notable pieces of ear candy (ie. environmental sounds, etc). The voice actors were dead-on for their characters though, kudos there.

Story:
Story... I do believe there was a story, although I can see how some people get lost during the fray of it all. The series starts out like a number of others and just jumps right in and throws a zillion things and termonology at you before you even get to the end of the first episode. Many questions are answered throughout the course of the show but many more questions are asked. I believe that to truly understand Aquarion you have to read between the lines in some places. A few things aren't spelled out for you along the way and a few things aren't explained at all. Which, sometimes is a good thing and works for most movies, but leaves loose ends other times. Aquarion DOES however answer a few of these in a subtle way, but you have to pay attention to it or else you'll miss it entirely. Unfortunately the series' greatest downfall is its over-zealous ingenuity. Creativity is a good thing, but not when you re-design or re-invent something EVERY episode. Because just when you finish an ep and thing you know something new, it doesn't count or you have to wait for the series to give you another crazy explaination for how their next struggle will be solved. Etc. Etc. Etc. There's more to go into but that would involve a lot of spoilers so, no more about that.

Character:
This is where I was remarkably surprised for the most part. Each character has a bit of his/her own personality and stereotype surrounding them (which is almost expected nowadays in characters) but at episode 18 breaks the mold and totally changes before your very eyes. Not only do you get to see the characters realize their OWN stereotypes, but they're aware of each others as well and thus are able to consciously better themselves. I thought this touch was amazing due to the way that each person was allowed to evolve at their own pace. Couple that with not necessarily having a "star" character but the entire cast seems to star, giving everyone a chance for their time in the spotlight. Bad guys, though don't fit any of this formula. They're almost cookie-cutter right off the assembly line and hardly change at all. That and there's a few times where a decision is made but then their personality doesn't uphold with it during the following episodes.

Value:
I'm glad I have this anime in my collection, I'm glad I finally watched it. I think it has a little bit of replay value at a later time to try to match up the things you know towards the end with some of their establishing factors at the beginning.

Enjoyment:
I enjoyed watching this series and didn't really think of many negatives as I was watching it. In fact, I pretty much sat through the entire thing in one day, save for about the first six episodes. I just had to know what was going to happen next for some of those moments that weren't quite cliffhangers, but piqued my curiosity enough to keep going.

SUMMARY:
As said before, Aquarion is a mecha-style anime. Even so, lots of action revolves around the characters, not just the mecha. And the mecha itself is not so static that it stays the same monotonously evey episode. Something new is introduced quite often. Maybe too often. The bottom line is that if you like mecha, quality characters, and a decent plot then Sousei no Aquarion should be on your watch list.