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Aquarion: Season 1 - Part 1 | 
| Studio: Funimation Prod
Category: DVD
List Price: CDN$ 59.95
Buy New: CDN$ 41.36
You Save: CDN$ 18.59 (31%)
New (13) Used (1) from CDN$ 41.36
Rating:  1 reviews
Sales Rank: 13205
Format: Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: 1-4210-0134-9
UPC: 704400045714
EAN: 0704400045714
ASIN: B00127R2XI
Release Date: March 11, 2008
Availability: Usually ships within 1 - 2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand new Item, factory Sealed. Buy direct from the U.S. and save! We only ship airmail to Canada (7-15 days).Caiman, les prix qu'on aime! Tous nos produits sont neufs. Envoi par avion des Etats-Unis
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| Customer Reviews:
Go, Aquarion April 23, 2008
E. A Solinas (MD USA)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Anime has a lot of cliches, and mecha anime has even more than its fair share. Especially if you include, you know, metaphysical stuff along with the giant killer robots.
And at first glance, "Aquarion" seems to have all those cliches and more, despite the stunningly lovely animation. Fortunately Shoji Kawamori's series starts hitting its stride after five or six episodes. At that point, the pomposity is replaced with a sly sense of humor that spoofs its own cliches, peppered with some decent characters and a bittersweet edge.
12,000 years ago, the Earth was invaded by the arrogant Shadow Angels, who abducted hundreds of people to drain their life force. But they were defeated by the Shadow Angel Apollonius (also called Solar Wing) and his human lover Celiane, in the enormous three-part mecha Aquarion. Now the Shadow Angels have returned. To defend the Earth, Aquarion is being piloted by a bunch of Element Users working for a special defense unit.
Then two element users -- including Celiane's reincarnation, spoiled princess Silvia -- come across a strange, feral street boy named Apollo. Not only is Apollo shockingly powerful, but he pilots the Aquarion as he always knew how -- yup, he's the reincarnation of Apollonius. Silvia is appalled by the idea that her long-lost soulmate is this rough, dirty boy, and Apollo is only coming along to rescue his abducted friend.
And as they battle the Shadow Angels, this motley little team of element users learns some weird lessons -- the benefits of fighting barefoot, dangers of dreams, corruption of jealousy, their "first times," finding Apollo in a booby-trapped labyrinth, and overcoming their own fears even if they blow stuff up in the process. But then a familiar face returns -- Apollonius' ex-lover Touma, who still feels betrayed by Solar Wing jilting him for Celiane 12,000 years ago. And now he wants to reclaim Apollo -- or kill him.
The first several episodes of "Aquarion" are not very engaging -- they speed by too fast, don't really make you care about the characters, and basically consist of the same pattern: Apollo does something feral and/or stupid during training, Silvia and/or Sirius are disgusted, the Cherubim attack, but Our Heroes (including Apollo) save the day and learn a valuable lesson in the process.
All that, and the typical anime cliches too like the accidental kiss, the mystical soulmates who initially hate each other, and the big stompy robots. We even have some totally random elements, like the blind handicapped vampire girl.
But something happens about five or six episodes into "Aquarion" -- suddenly the series gains a sense of humor. It still has an overarcing storyline, and it's a rather cheesy one -- but Kawamori seems to become secure enough to let the story unfold gradually, and with a sly sense of spoofery instead of pompous seriousness. And some of the more bittersweet moments, such as Apollo reminiscing about his life with Baron, are quite nicely done.
But at that point, we've got intentionally silly attack names ("Unlucky Bottom Attack!"), comical deus ex machinae (Our Heroes are saved by a cry of "DINNER!"), piroetting alien mecha, lots of pseudomystical stuff, Silvia knocking herself unconscious, and a Yoda-like commander who exists solely to teach the heroes Important Life Lessons and spout cryptic sayings. And I must admit, those orgasmic mecha merges are pretty funny.
The characters are something of a mixed bag, though. Kawamori spends too much time emphasizing that Apollo is a feral wild-card, so we don't get to see enough of his loyalty and kindness. He's far more endearing when he's being goofy (gobbling Silvia's ice cream before she can react), or working his butt off to save his friends. And Silvia is pretty much a brat to everyone, except the brother she has a bizarre incestuous crush on.
The supporting characters end up being much more interesting, partly because they seem so much more real. We've got the loyal, flirty athlete Pierre, the painfully unlucky Reika, and a handful of newbies who are still learning the ropes. And there's Silvia's brother Sirius, whose confidence and self-image are being slowly destroyed by Apollo's presence.
It's worth noting that the animation for "Aquarion" is utterly gorgeous. While it has a few things like swelling fists and little puffy cartoon faces, most of it is hyperrealistic, and infused with colour, light and exquisite shots of flowers, bejewelled books, and half-ruined buildings with a Grecian theme.
"Aquarion" takes a long, long time to get off the ground. But once the satire kicks in, this mecha series becomes a gorgeous, fluffy brand of brain-candy.
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