Summary:
Sirius’ wounds start to get healed by the Aquarion after Apollo forces Vector Mars into a gattai. As the Solar Aquarion battles Toma’s Cherubim, the light particles from its wings start to pollinate the tree of life, making it glow brightly. However, it soon stops and starts to wither instead. Toma is caught off guard by the dying tree, and his Cherubim gets destroyed. With the tree of life dead, the world begins to crumble and separate. Through Apollonius’ help, Apollo realizes that Shadow Angels are a necessary part of the equation in order to fully awaken Aquarion. Toma uses the opportunity to teleport change with Reika, and takes Vector Luna to below the tree of life. Silvia tries to chase him with Apollo and Sirius, but gets attacked by Otoha in her Cherubim head. She’s saved by Pierre, Reika (who salvages a military Vector), and Rena (who appears out of nowhere to join the fun). They form Aquarion Alpha and dispose of Otoha once and for all. Silvia flies to the base of the tree and uses her spirit to go below. In their efforts to gattai, Sirius, Toma, and Apollo have all formed the Head versions of their respective Vectors. With Gen Fudo’s guidance, Silvia finds a warm light borne in darkness. She uses it to subdue and calm the three bathed in dark, and with Apollo’s help, she combines them into a powerful Aquarion. In front of Aquarion, Apollo appears to Silvia one last time and kisses her. The three pilots, finally in tune with one another, use Aquarion’s ultimate power to rebind the world together, sealing them inside in the process. The world revives, with all of the lives restored including Chibiko’s. Waking from what seems to be a dream she sees Silvia but no Apollo. Silvia tells her that Apollo will come back, someday surely.

The first time I watched this episode (I’ve seen it three times now), I was completely blown away. From the subtle mecha humor to Apollo and Silvia’s kiss to the amazing use of music…Wow…
So the music is my favorite part by and far, hands down. In writing this entry up, I’ve had the last 4 minutes of this episode on repeat just for the background music. Their use of AKINO’s 「Genesis of Aquarion」 was absolutely perfect, and I understand now why the song that played during the kiss is called 「First love Final love」. It’s all on the second OST too. In fact, this episode was quite good about playing the final songs of the OST in order: 「Genesis of Aquarion」, then 「First love Final love」, and finally 「Rena to Tanpopo」.
Plotwise, Apollo and Silvia (and Sirius and Toma) save the world. And Apollo disappears, though not before he kisses her. But he’ll be back in 12,000 years. The cheesiness of the final move Love ♥ Fusion with everyone working together (even Toma) is undeniable, but I eat it up all the same. There’s plenty of loose ends (I still don’t quite understand Gen Fudo), but packaged together, it all made for quite a good story, which is more than I can say for a certain other mecha series right now (*cough*GSD*cough*). And you never know, there could be more… At least the “I hope to be continued” with the episode title at the end was both fitting for the episode and a funny way to end it.

Final Thoughts: This really has been one helluva ride. I remember how the first episode just pulled you in with the great music (they played the OP as an insert song) and the hilarious gattai concept (better than sex!). The series faltered in the middle, but then came roaring back at the end. The director and his entire team do a fabulous job making things exciting and fun to watch. And I’d like to reiterate that my favorite part is the music. AKINO puts in some great performances through multiple songs and Kanno Yoko also delivers another superb soundtrack. Sousei no Aquarion is going down as one of my all-time favorites.

27 Comments

  1. Okay, watched the ending even though I’ve been on-and-off with watching Aquarion in general.

    There was a lot of cheese in this episode, most of which I was able to swallow. The ending *ending* however left me going “WTF?!” in the sense it didn’t completely sit right with me. I’m sure there’s some deep meaning only the likes of which Satoshi could possibly translate for us dumb folks (i.e. me); like for example, what’s the deal with Fudo? The whole three arrow and cube bit I was pretty lost on so… and are those constellations we see at the end suppose to represent all the dead “main” characters (Toma, Apollo, Sirius, etc)?

    Dunno… Aquarion is definitely better in terms of overall plot than GSD (I think my left foot could make a better storyline than GSD’s), but there are still some holes as you mentioned. I think maybe if they had like five or so more episodes to flesh out some of the characters (and storyline) more, Aquarion would have sat a little better with me. However, maybe because I skipped out on watching the whole middle section, even after keeping up with your reviews Omni, Aquarion still left me with mixed feelings.

    … or just maybe I feel that 90% of anime love relationships are always rushed, forced, and just plain unreal given the circumstances they happen in. I think the Silvia X Apollo still doesn’t feel right to me 🙁

    moyism
  2. moy,
    I think you’d have liked it a bit better if you had watched the episodes. A summary can never replace the actual viewing. Especially not my summaries which were more focused toward what was going on in the main storyline, and so omit a lot of the side stuff (which add to the development of the characters and the series in general).

  3. Figured as much Omni. Guess I’ll sit down one day and watch the rest of the series whenever it gets done subbing (which will probably be the same time I catch up with my blogging backlog). ;_;

    moyism
  4. Wow. This anime started off with an ok for me. Then it kinda got boring cause it felt like nothing was really happening, then the ending totally blew me away(good way). i really wanted to give up this anime halfway, but im glad i didnt. The ending was wonderful, yet sad at the same time. Kinda left me with a unsatisfied feeling though, but great ending. Great songs and utilizations of them too(at perfect times).

    nariza7
  5. Throughout this whole series, i’ll haev to say that the best episode was the last. I didn’t quite like this series, it seemed really childish to me, having the whole “3 mechas changing into one big mecha” the “lesson” that was tied with each battle and the attacks that were used… and the naming of the attacks…
    x__x”
    the one thing that actually kept me watching was the music and my wanting to know what would happen to Silvia and Apollo. It’s quite sad that Apollo dies, leaving Silvia, but then agian, if he somehow stayed alive, that’ll make the series even chessier than it already is…
    x__X”
    haha, anwyays, the kiss between the 2 was just so sweet, it was totally the highlight of the episode for me, along with the whole “Silvia will go and calm down the ‘raging with anger’ pilots and get them to wrok together”, cuz Silvia never really did anything major plot-wise, besides deciding not to go with her brother and joining the Angels. Not really sure how to explain it, but Silvia really struck me as a whole new person this episode, she really seemed to have matured (in my point of view…).
    Anyways, the music was great, but i still don’t think i understand the whole “3 arrows” thing… or the forming of the cube…
    x__x”

    Kocopo
  6. Episode 26 was the best! the beginning episodes got me hooked on them, then it got boring near the middle, there was really nuthing important in them. I almost just stopeed watching them! But then it started getting better again from episode 20! Episode 26 just left be dumbfounded, awestruck. The whole thing was just amazing! I didn’t get the whole 3 arrows thing eiter
    :S >__

    Have any of you watched bleach???? Fudo Gen is like the guy who gives Rukia the gigai. The guy knows so much!! Also, Sirius is like Rukia’s brother.

    Aquarion_addict
  7. Episode 26 was the best! the beginning episodes got me hooked on them, then it got boring near the middle, there was really nuthing important in them. I almost just stopeed watching them! But then it started getting better again from episode 20! Episode 26 just left be dumbfounded, awestruck. The whole thing was just amazing! I didn’t get the whole 3 arrows thing either. I didnt understand the cube either.
    :S >__

    Have any of you watched bleach???? Fudo Gen is like the guy who gives Rukia the gigai. The guy knows so much!! Also, Sirius is like Rukia’s brother.

    Aquarion_addict
  8. I believe the 3 arrows were explained in an earlier episode with our all-knowing Gen Fudo explaining it. The cube itself could be a representation of Earth itself. A regular cube is one of the 5 platonic solids, and the cube represents earth, and I believe the Greeks gave it that symbol.

    My thoughts on Sousei no Aquarion – sugoi. I’ll agree, it was a roller coaster ride that didn’t stop. I finally finished this series now, and this is one very beautifully done anime, and nothing like the deep psychology of Neon Genesis Evangelion. Not only an interesting plot, the music was mind-blowing and the character development through the series amazed me… each episode sucked me in. It felt like I took forever to watch this series even though I finished it in 2 weeks. (More like day binges.) I couldn’t agree more with the episode summary. As for GSD, I’ll keep that in mind because another person recommended me to watch GS, and not the second season.

    g-money
  9. OMFG, just finished it, watched the whole thing in a week or so (know im late).

    Aquarion totaly blew me away, and the ending is no exeption. I was getting goosebumps all over the place. This is one of those FEW shows where the music is absolutely superb and fits exactly the way it’s suppose to.

    Iv’e seen the ending multiple times now, and iv’e even put the Aquarion OST songs from the ending in my sleepy time winamp playlist. ^^

    I would rate Aquarion a 10/10, judging by how many times i got goosebumps and made me think “WOW, That was fucking awesome.”

    cheerz. :p

  10. อยากได้เพลงจบของเรื่องนี้อะ ชอบมากๆๆๆๆๆๆๆๆๆ

    เพลงที่คล้ายๆ ว่าเด็กร้อง เสียงใสๆๆๆๆ

    เสียวๆ

    อะ ฟังแล้วชอบอะ

    ใครมีขอหน่อยน้า

    pat_nw
  11. THIS ANIME WAS VERY GOOD IN THE FIRST COUPLE OF EPISODE THE MIDDLE WAS BORING AND THE LAST EPISODE WAS FANTASTIC BUT WHEN APOLLO DIES AT THE END IT WAS REALLY HEART BREAKING AT FIRST I HAD THIS ANIME RANKED A 10/10 BUT AFTER APOLLO DIES IN THE LAST EPISODE I GOT TO RANK IT A 6/10 THEY COULD HAD ENDED IT BETTER.

    BMIKE
  12. The series as a whole was good. It wasn’t the best anime out there but better then other stuff that I’ve seen lately. The ending of the last episode was indeed sad(I was hoping that he would survive and finally meet up with his old love) but I don’t think any other ending would have worked as well for the series.

    anime_geek
  13. same here. i had hoped apollo and silvia would live happily ever after but i think the ending it came with fit perfectly. i cried for a good hour and half (me being the hopeless romantic and thinking how amazingly beautiful and sad the ending was w/ the apollo/silvia kiss) it was that great, i really did enjoy the anime and the soundtrack is absolutely beautiful.

    i also have to agree with aquarion_addict about fudo and sirius being like those two characters from bleach. lol

    emma
  14. hello, i just recently stumbled across Aquarion… i loved it but had some anger as to the end so i would like to know some things…. whats the movie? i had heard it was just the OVA’s put together and have been unseccessful in finding anything usful about it… what is it? well now that i think about it that was all i wanted to know…

    Ryan =D
  15. The ending left me feeling really unsettled. The concept and problem is the same as Clamp’s Wish (though they still had an epilogue where the two met), which is that the reincarnations are still not the same people. Silvia was not Seliane, she was Silvia and Apollo was Apollo. Further, it echoes of the Big O/Wolf’s Rain ending where the same thing happened now as it did before (though the problems in those animes were not solved). Having them all live, and seeing how Toma and the angels would fit into the world would have been an immensely better ending.

    And what’s not to get about Fudo? He was the third element in the original three, the only thing they don’t say is whether he is a reincarnation or immortal. It would make the most sense that he is a reincarnation that fully remembers all of his memories including those of combat skill. (If he was immortal he would be a shadow angel, so he’s probably a reincarnation). All the lessons are because he is trying to teach them instead of just hand them power. And the three arrows is the animes philosophy that three people working in unison are better than one or three working for their own goals. The three arrow’s philosophy climaxes with Toma, Apollo and Sirius fighting for the head.

    The ending felt rushed, the non-main characters got the shaft for their tie-ups, Reika, Tsugumi, Pierre, the commander that no one liked got really shafted though it was more like karma for him. There was a lack of focus on the importance of their deaths or endings.

    suomynonA
  16. Ah, right! The cube with the directions coming off is literally a vector. In class, if you take it, you learn that the rule of forming a vector can be represented with your right hand, here’s a visual: http://xkcd.com/199/ just imagine the finger pointing in the direction of the arrow and it’s just like when Fudo did it!

    The music was great, sure, but it doesn’t compare to something like .hack//sign, or just kajiura yuki’s stuff in general.

    And I left my first point unfinished. In another 12,000 years, it will be two different people meeting who will need to re-fall in love. With that in mind, Apollo and Silvia’s love got to play out even less than Apollonius and Seliane.

    suomynonA
  17. I watched this when I was a young kid. I didn’t understand a lot of it cause’ I’m still a child and maybe it was too complex for me. I definitely watched it until the end though. Now, I was able to rewatch it and it hit me right in the feels. I mean, I never realised Apollo actually died. I love the story but Apollo’s death was too much for me. If I was Silvia it would REALLY hurt having to wait for another 12,000 years to meet the one you love again. The ending was unexpected and yes it has some loopholes. I just wished they didn’t rushed the plot so much that makes some of us feel incomplete after watching it. There are episodes that I think wasn’t necessary or didn’t really contribute to the series and they could’ve used those to make episodes that answers important questions, relating to the characters or some symbolisms. Anyway, I still LOVE this anime. For me, it’s unforgettable.

    Sha

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