Aquarion: Volume 3

Introduction

We've had a month's respite between volumes, yet it doesn't feel as if Aquarion has been away. I guess that 7 episodes on the previous disc is more fulfilling than the old 3 and 4 episode discs of yore. Aquarion is my personal oxymoronic anime. It's the one mecha show that I like, the one Power Rangers clone that I can watch without significant eye-roll. The first half of the series has been entertaining, and fast paced, if not exactly memorable and striking. I've been happy to switch off my brain and bask in the infusion of flavours released by this mental chewing gum, but now that the second half of the series is about to commence, things may just get more serious, as we get to the heart of the story, and the point where stakes are raised, and the challenges for our heroes get harder.

In Holy Genesis Year 0011, after 12000 years of slumber the Shadow Angels of Atlandia attack an Earth already weakened in the Great Catastrophe. They seek the prana energy that every human possesses, and the weakened inhabitants of the world have no defence. No defence, except the Mechanical Angel Aquarion, which was rediscovered by Fudo Gen, and has been put to use in defending against increasingly devastating attacks. The Aquarion is a giant robot, comprised of three vehicles or vectors. Each vector has to be piloted by a unique individual with a multi-dimensional aura, an Element User, and these Element Users are in short supply. When they merge their souls in perfect harmony, they can combine the elements of Aquarion to create an unstoppable fighting machine. Some elements are more harmonious than others, and a feral child named Apollo was plucked off the streets as he had the right multi-dimensional aura. More than that, prophecies state that he is the reincarnation of Apollonius, the greatest warrior of them all. Fellow pilot Silvia is apparently the reincarnation of Apollonius' love Celiane, but she's none too impressed by the foul-smelling, animalistic youth that they find, believing instead that her brother Sirius is the true heir to Apollonius' soul. But they will have to work together to save the world.


The next 7 episodes of Aquarion are presented on this disc by MVM.

14. Shining Shadows
Following the events of the previous volume, you could understand that Silvia is trying to sort her feelings out. Having dreams about Apollo doesn't help, or rather dreaming that she is Apollo. It may be past lives intruding on her subconscious; it may be that merging in Aquarion is breaking down the barriers between the pilots. She's advised not to take these new memories as fact, but all that is forgotten when a new enemy attacks, an invisible enemy that reaps its way through the Aquarion pilots. Apollo isn't there to fight, he's still grieving over his friend Baron, but when it comes to the pinch he does show up. Only it's not Apollo, it's Apollonius.

15. Aquarion's First Love
Pierre's got problems now. He's become addicted to the merging of the Aquarion pilots. It's an orgasmic experience at the best of times, and he's become so used to the endorphins that he can barely function outside of the cockpit. It's like a drug, a drug that will eventually kill him. He's told in no uncertain terms that if he merges again, he won't survive. But the next Cherubim that attacks is one that only Pierre can face, especially when it attacks his hometown of San Jose.


16. Black Mirror
It probably wasn't a good idea to watch a horror movie, but now Tsugumi and Jun have bite marks on their necks and are feeling anaemic, then someone spots Rena hovering in the air, and as usual people put two and two together and get the wrong answer. Rena's a vampire, or Rena's actually one of the enemy in their midst, sucking their prana energy away. But could there actually be some truth to this fantasy? When the next mythic beast attacks, it looks just like a fifty-foot version of Rena, and back in the base, Rena is nowhere to be found…

17. Merge to Eat
It's typical girl talk. Silvia, Reika and Tsugumi are comparing waist and bust sizes, and together forming a sisterhood of weight loss. It's harmless enough usually, but this time the Shadow Angels are eavesdropping on the girls' dreams, and have created a mythic beast just for the occasion. Suddenly, a new microbe attacks and eats all the food in a 50 km radius of the Deava base. As the Aquarion pilots and support staff begin to starve, the question is, how do fight a Mythic Beast that is microscopic in size, when you're piloting a giant robot?


18. Cosplay of the Soul
The teamwork still needs a little attention, as Silvia, Apollo and Sirius still don't get along when they pilot Aquarion. Fudo Gen has the answer; roleplay. Every member of the Aquarion team will become another, from wearing their clothes, to imitating their mannerisms, to getting behind their inner psychology. But will this be enough when the next mythic beast attacks, and does so by mimicking the Aquarion vectors?

19. Mischief Without Malice
It was all turning out to be a pleasant swimsuit episode, when suddenly the alert went off, and Apollo, Silvia and Reika were called into action. But this is one odd mythic beast, as all of a sudden, perceptions and appearances aren't what they are supposed to be. The mental stress causes Aquarion to disengage and the vectors to crash, and as a last ditch effort, Sirius attempts to teleport in. But contact is lost with Aquarion, and Sirius vanishes without a trace. Trapped in a world that they can barely comprehend, the Aquarion pilots have become playthings of a Shadow Angel child.


20. Sound of an Angel's Feather
The Shadow Angel child Futaba is up to his odd tricks again. This time, the Cherubim attack en masse, and no longer content with harvesting, they are just destroying the city at random. But Deava are ready, they've devised a way to capture a Shadow Angel. But capturing Futaba may just be the worst mistake they could possibly make.

Picture

Aquarion gets a 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer, as befits a modern anime. As you would expect, it is an NTSC-PAL standards conversion, although there isn't a major prevalence of softness of ghosting in the image. What you probably will spot is the judder in the pans and scrolls. Aquarion is a Satelight production, the same people who made Noein and Heat Guy J, so there is a comfortable familiarity in the character design style. However, for a comparatively recent anime, it does seem dated in the way that it blends, or rather fails to blend CG animation and traditional 2D stuff. The kick ass mecha and villainous Cherubim are depicted in bright, shiny, geometrically exact CGI, while the character designs are plainly 2D, and they don't go together all that well. On a rare occasion, one of the characters would sprout polygons, and become CG him or herself, to better fit in a 3D background, a little like Vexille or Appleseed, and I'd be left scratching my head, wondering what had just happened. All that said, if you can put Aquarion's visual oddities aside, you'll also find that it's a vibrant, and fluidly animated show, lacking in those static moments that I usually associate with anime, and instead showing the results of a higher budget and a greater number of man hours spent at the computers.

Sound

You have a choice between DD 5.1 English and DD 2.0 Japanese here, along with optional subtitles and signs. I can tell you that as usual I was happy to listen to the original language track, but I did sample the English and found it to be one of the good ones, with a decent cast and good performances. I think Aquarion is one of those rare anime that I'm happy to watch in either language, and given the action packed nature of the show, then the 5.1 soundtrack is definitely a plus. Besides, with Yoko Kanno's great music accompanying this show, you want to hear it all at its best.

Extras

After the previous volume's barren desert, we're back with the extras for this third instalment of Aquarion.

First up is the commentary to accompany episode 15. ADR director and voice of Toma, J. Michael Tatum joins Christopher Bevins (Apollo) to chat about the episode where all Pierre can think about is 'docking manoeuvres'. As you can guess, this commentary is heavy on the chuckles and light on the relevance. Also remember that this was a two-disc set in the US, and the commentators assume that you have seen the whole of the second half of the series before listening to the commentary. There is a whopping great spoiler for volume 4 if you aren't careful.

There is a 23-minute featurette on the Creation and Development of the Series, which takes us behind the scenes of the production, and has plenty of interview footage of creator Shoji Kawamori.

The disc rounds off with the 2005 stage drama, where four of the voice actors perform a skit called The Search For Fudo, which offers much levity and nonsense, guaranteed to appeal to a live audience.

Conclusion

Following the events in volume 2, I was expecting Aquarion to take a turn for the darker and more ominous as this third volume kicked off the second half of the series. Quite the reverse occurred however, as the episodes ventured into even more ridiculous and trivial territory. Not that I'm complaining. I enjoy Aquarion the most when it's at its most absurd. Aquarion is still that solitary exception to the rule; it's still bizarrely a mecha anime that I can enjoy. The clichés aren't annoying, the 'teens piloting a giant robot to save the world' somehow makes sense here, and the overabundance of homilies and trite wisdom actually has a charm. It's because Aquarion approaches its subject matter with tongue firmly in cheek, with a determination to have as much fun with it as possible, that I'm able to view it with warmth and affection, where any other similar series would be met with derision. To venture forth from the world of anime in search of an appropriate comparison, Aquarion delivers that same energetic and irreverent jolt to the spine that Farscape gave to the space opera genre.


The first episode on the disc, Shining Shadows does address the earlier events, as Apollo has to come to terms with his loss, while Silvia has to sort out her feelings for Apollo. It's as much a recap episode as it is continuation, and we get a useful warning to place all this new information in its correct context, but from then on, this disc is devoted to the funny, the fun, and the ridiculous. This series makes a lot from the merging of the Aquarion pilots when their vectors link up being akin to sexual climax. Aquarion's First Love gets to play with that idea by giving Pierre the equivalent of sex addiction. He's so addicted to the merging that it's all he can think about, while the overdose of orgasm induced endorphins is slowly killing him. This episode has plenty of laughs in it, with crossed wires and misunderstandings aplenty, and Fudo Gen in his perverse wisdom offers the most bizarre solution, overdose his way through to the other side.


Black Mirror plays on Rena's mysteriousness. She's the doll-like character that is confined to a wheelchair, prefers loli-goth attire, and likes to keep out of the sun. After watching a horror movie, it becomes clear to the other pilots that Rena is a vampire, another absurd premise that is takes to extremes, and rather than dialing it down, Aquarion keeps on pushing the idea until it sort of passes absurdity and begins to make sense again. Merge to Eat also offers some silliness, with the Shadow Angels picking up on the Aquarion girls' urge to diet, and using their hunger as a weapon against them. But Cosplay of the Soul has to be the best episode yet, with the pilots assigned role-play as a training tool. They each have to become one of their comrades, to better understand them, and by doing so better understand themselves as well. It means a lot of costume changes, and in the case of Pierre, a lot of cross-dressing as well. This has to be the funniest episode on the disc by far, and I was tickled pink during its short 25 minutes.


Alas it's followed by the worst episode so far, Mischief Without Malice, although not for content, but for animation style. It's one of those mind altering substance episodes, which sees the animation and character designs distorted to reflect altered perceptions of reality. In this case it means everything is simplified and drained of colour, and it looks really bizarre. The problem is that it's as if this entire episode was farmed out to another company, as from the start of the episode onwards, regardless of where in the narrative it is, the animation style is altered anyway. Even if we're back at the Deava base and not in the warped reality, the characters still don't look and move right.


This and the final episode, Sound of an Angel's Feather do signal the return to the serious storyline though, as the character of Futaba comes to the forefront, the motivations behind the battle between humanity and the Shadow Angels take precedence and it becomes more than just a mythic beast of the week show. The disc leaves us on a seriously ominous note, much like the second volume did, and once again, I get the feeling that Aquarion will continue in this darker vein to the conclusion of the storyline. With just six more episodes to go, I feel a little more comfortable in saying that at this point. This penultimate volume of Aquarion is certainly the best yet, even with the oddly animated episode taken into account. It's fun, it's fresh and it's entertaining. I also find that it's also pretty nifty with the exposition, as in between all the gags and goofing around, it also makes sure that you get a goodly amount of ongoing story as well. Aquarion is definitely a show to keep an eye out for if you want to rest the brain, but give your fun gland a workout.