Title: Aquarion EVOL
Genre: Action, Drama, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Romance
Publisher: Satelight (JP), Funimation (US)
Chief Director: Shoji Kawamori
Director: Yusuke Yamamoto
Music Composer: Ayako Otsuka, Yoko Kanno
Original Release Date: December 3, 2013
Title: Aquarion EVOLSometimes, a series comes along that’s outlandish to the point where you start to wonder, “Man, am I watching this because I’m entertained or am I watching this because I’m watching something great?” Aquarion EVOL, which is the sequel to the popular Genesis of Aquarion (2005) in Japan, decidedly falls on the entertainment side. With a childish plotline and unremarkable mecha designs, if you can get behind the notion that teenage protagonists get stronger by the power of their libido, then what you will get by watching these 13 episodes is a hilarious, off the wall anime series with the potential for a solid finish.
Aquarion EVOL’s story begins when Amata Sora, a young man working at a movie theater, sees a girl, Mikono Suzushiro, crying at the end of the “Skies of Aquaria” feature film. They both end up hanging out with each other from there. Their interactions end when invaders from Altair arrive on the planet Vega and cause widespread panic. That’s when, in order to protect Mikono from harm, Amata reveals he has the ability to float. It involves him getting horny. Also thanks to this ability, the two are able to take control of a vector, and fuse with a male and female unit to form a mech. With the sealed power of “Aquarion” now broken, this leads to a new order…and getting into the bottom of who the “Elements” are.
Before getting started with EVOL (it was streaming back in 2012), there were two things I knew about it: it had the power of teenage hormones down pat, and that you didn’t need to watch the original Aquarion, which was lifeless, and apparently not nearly as fun as EVOL is. I’ll comment on the original later. For now, I can confirm that the people who said those things were basically right: EVOL takes advantage of those hormones and exploits it in a manner that’s childish, and yet acceptable.
Why is it acceptable? Well, whereas some anime would use a person’s immaturity and experience with romance as an excuse for poor writing as well as an inaccurate reflection of normal romance, it is used instead for laughs, and isn’t a waste of time. After all, Amata having the gall to float because Zessica, an element user chided for how she’s dressed throughout the series, pressed her body on him right in front of Mikono is actually hilarious since aside from that he’s no different than most other nice guy protagonists. He just happens to be refreshingly honest when he starts floating.
Because of how it ties into the general storyline where NEO-DEAVA, an organization that houses those with element powers, had forbidden interaction with boys and girls, even going so far as to create The Berlin Wall (it’s called Berlin, but hey) to separate the two from seeing each other, it works well enough. This level of immaturity is not for everyone, since it involves being wacky and assuming that whenever someone says their lines that there’s a sexual connotation associated with it. That, and some characters who hog most of the screentime don’t really develop that much, so you might be annoyed at what they represent: teenagers and kids who have no idea how to interact with someone that’s hot.
Get behind its premise, and what you get is a solid, entertaining mecha series. While the designs of the mechs are unimpressive (or maybe it’s the, “you’ve seen one mech, you’ve seen them all” bias here), its energy whenever there are battles, or whenever the pilots get ready to fuse, combined with the chorus that appears when it reaches its climax in battle, you can certainly say it’s not boring. I will be satisfied whenever any Aquarion mech is in an apologizing position since it has the ability to cause simulator dummies to shut down because it has no idea what the heck just happened.
So Aquarion EVOL is good, and it ended at a spot that definitely is important whenever I get a chance to watch Part II. What doesn’t it do well? Well, aside from what I had mentioned about the characters and its storyline, I was very disappointed in the music — which seems shocking since Yoko Kanno is on it! But aside from the chorus whenever there’s a battle and probably one track (that plays in the main menu of the disc), I can’t care for any of the other tracks that play in the background. Maybe it’ll sound better by listening to it separately? Whatever the case, maybe Part II will have some life to it, but for now, it’s forgettable.
I get the distinct feeling that this move by Amata would be considered sexual harassment in 50 states and places elsewhere in the world
The only other issue I have is the dub. It…it’s not good. Already about a good portion into the first episode it sounded pretty poor, with it lacking the energy of the JP voices. Then once it got to the supreme commander speaking, with nowhere near the cheesy excitement as with the sub, I was done. Well, I did watch more of it, but aside from whenever the characters fused and had to shout Aquarion, it was a painful and forgettable listen.
As one of the specials of the disc, there was a 22 minute sequence that explained how Aquarion was popular in Japan, how the idea came to be, and an event announcing the voice actors of EVOL. Considering I had heard how poor the first season was, I was surprised to hear that. From the highlights they showed of the original, despite looking terrible and dated, it seemed exactly like EVOL. There’s differences, I’m sure, and I’m not exactly pining to see it. That’s because so far, there’s one Aquarion I’m devoted to at the moment, and it’s a ton of fun right now.
