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「LOVE」
Sure Zessica hasn’t been the most likable character as of late but I thought it was pretty grown up of her to want someone she loved to be happy even if she wasn’t. It was also kind of noble to put herself up as a martyr in order to stop Mykage. Then again, it shows how a strong-willed character like Zessica had given up which was very unlike her true nature.
I had a pretty good laugh when Malloy thought he was going to be able to gattai but was instead blocked by Crea. Crea decided to jump into a vector herself while telling Donar and Suomi that they would be the new Adam and Eve should anything go awry. That led to another funny moment when Crea says she’s too old to be piloting. Just how old is that loli?!
While we all thought Shrade was “dead,” he actually turns into a projection like Amata’s parents and embeds himself with the Vector he was defeated in and Cayenne. It cheapens his untimely “death” but Shrade turning into a spirit should have been foreseen. After all, there wasn’t a dead body. Never assume!
Mykage tries to use the original Aquarion to exact his revenge on Apollonius by drying up the planets and killing everything he fought for because he tricked him last cycle. Fortunately and rather predictably, Amata is able to thwart this attempt by retaking Aquarion and using its tears to replenishes the water supply.
I’m sort of disappointed at how they made Mykage seem like the one who has been victimized the whole time. It didn’t make it any better that he was only looking for acknowledgement and an apology from either Apollonius or Celiane this whole time. Mykage lashing out against Apollo for not knowing he wasn’t Apollonius is kind of irrational but as the ultimate villain he doesn’t need to be rational at all. We’ve spent a great amount of time disliking him so sympathy just isn’t in the cards. I’m not saying you can’t feel bad for the reformed villain but it doesn’t work for me here.
Finally, many saw that EVOL was “LOVE” spelled backwards from the very beginning. While I thought it was partially clever and lame at the same time, I can’t believe they waited 26 weeks to go: “Oh look! It’s not Aquarion EVOL! It’s Aquarion LOVE!” In hindsight, I should have seen that coming but didn’t which made me facepalm hard enough to leave a mark on my face. It was way too cheesy.
Final Impressions:
At least for this writer, Aquarion EVOL is an anime enjoyed for the journey because the end was generic and slightly boring. The first half was fun but lacked real progression. The second half had major plot points but abandoned what made the show fun in the first half. This series didn’t end the way I anticipated it to. Frankly, I thought all the splits would be rectified but in the end Kagura and Amata remained two distinct people (as with the planets).
Some of the best facets of this series is its heavy use of various philosophies, mythologies, and religions and the writers’ use of lore to create surprising twists. Just to name a few examples: we saw reincarnation, Taoist philosophy, the tree of life and Greek/Roman mythology used as motifs. This allowed Aquarion to create its own legend by tweaking and combining ideas.
There were plenty of unexpected developments that took place (and didn’t take place). EVOL plot may have been slightly shallow and not very good but at the same time it made great use of Sousei no Aquarion’s lore. First of all, we learned that Apollonius was Fudo the whole time. While this isn’t a good thing for several reasons, it still left me wowed because it seemed highly unlikely prior to the ending. Another startling development was when Amata and Kagura were revealed to be Pollon, someone who was absent from the original series. Zessica also turned out to be nothing more than a regular girl. The way that things unraveled was astonishing yet you felt for much of the series that you were being trolled.
Unfortunately, the way the way the anime was written and structured left us loving some characters and couples while completely despising others. My favorite couple was Andy and Mix because their romance followed a good typical romantic comedy. Andy was also perceived to be a much better male since he didn’t really side-step his feelings. It was just really cute to see them go back and forth. Amata and Mikono were frustrating on the other hand. Their development felt like the total opposite of the likable couple. Add in Zessica who was the favorite and got the short end and things really get messy.
It would have been nice to know what happened to Altair. The safe bet is that the planet returned to a more healthy state since reproduction on it was revealed to have not been totally hampered. I guess the epilogue we got of Amata and Mikono returning (after what seems to be a while) will have to be good enough.
In conclusion, this show is flawed but still enjoyable. It’s over-the-top and not really meant to be taken seriously. I enjoyed EVOL even more by having seen the original because there was epic use of continuity (like something you would see from Gundam’s Universal Century timeline) which kept you guessing throughout the series. If you were one to jump in without having seen the original, it can still be a fun mecha anime. Much of the original tale gets explained in the second half anyway.
well… I raged at the ending… and I guess I can’t really demand a Zessica end now 🙁
why do I have the feeling that this episode is trying to ship Kagura x Zessica?
ok, I probably will forever rage at how they treated Zessica… poor girl 🙁
Andy and Mix is the best CP in this show!
and thanks for the post, unlisted 🙂
It was so bad it made Aquarion cry.
Don’t worry Zessica, I’ll continue to love you even in 12 000 years!
Who’s that guy who looks like Kagura?
“Bitch!”
“Asshole!”
My new OTP <3
Um… but otherwise. Typical Kawamori stuff. I’m going to go back to pretending the entire middle of the series didn’t exist… maintains lower blood pressure that way 😛
This is kinda a loose translation from the subs – Kagura is calling her a mopey girl and Zessica calls him stinky boy (like he called Mikono KUSO-ONNA).
By the way, anyone else think Okada was kinda trolling in this episode? We don’t need Kagura telling Zessica that Amata’s not worth dying for; we could have had him saying something like “You can’t die just to kill Mikage; he’s a jerk that doesn’t deserve anyone sacrificing his/herself to kill him” or whatever. As well as Kagura calling Amata an idiot for making Zessica cry. Maybe I’m just looking too deep into things.
Kagura was thoughtful of Zessica’s feelings and well-being (unlike his obsessive disregard for Mikono’s with his kidnapping). He refused to kill her (when he could have maybe save Mikono like that), he immediately tried to grab her when she fell from the vine trap, then attempted to protect her as they fell. He isn’t pleased for Amata upsetting her and protects her in the manner Andy did with MIX when Mykage attacked them with those lasers.
In short: he was everything Zessica expected from Amata.
See, I’d believe this more if we didn’t have 25 episodes showing how Kagura would pretty much destroy everything just so he could get to Mikono. The Kagura in 26 is completely different from the Kagura we’ve seen before.
Although, a sane Kagura sounds pretty bro. Bet he could totally dig better holes with Andy than Amata can. And he already recognizes how awesome Zessica is compared to KUSO-ONNA.
“Mikono-san!”
“Amata-kun!”
“Sylvie!”
This sums up about 75% of Amata, Mikono and Kagura’s dialogue throughout the 26 episodes. And you wonder why people like Zessica, Andy and Mix better?
How is Zessica any better? After episode 10 or so her entire personality can be summed up as “I love Amata. I love Amata. I love Amata. I like to angst.”
She still had 10 episodes more of being likable than Mikono did.
Because Mikono sucked for 26 episodes straight whereas Zessica was awesome for at least 13. Until the plot gave her Ranka Syndrome. Then we were stuck with two dumb heroines.
Making the main heroine useless does not exemplify how great she is in the end. Mikono did not make a great heroine or character. Zessica showed much more emotion and realism as a person than her, sure the angst is enough to make me smash my brains out on a wall, but it rational reason behind it.
One word: Underboob
Honestly, the reason people love Zessica in the first place is because she wears less clothing. I still remember when she first interact with Amata, I look through a lot of anime forum and people all talking about “DAT ASS” “DAT BOOBS” “YOU’RE STUPID IF YOU DIDN’T CHOOSE HER AMATA” something like that and it still continue in the next episode.
Somehow i actually enjoyed EVOL all the way to the end. Even though most of the time Mikono is just too annoying, but somehow I think that there are some girls that are like that IRL too(sry if I offended any, didn’t mean to). That OST before Genesis of Aquarion made that confession scene a lot better for me. All in all I really enjoyed EVOL with all of its trolling twists.
By the way I think those who hate this show for its trolling is like Mykage. He was also trolled the whole time by Kawamori…
Being totally unlikable is not an issue, unless you’re one of the main characters. Mikono fails.
Man that was cringe worthy! what were the highlights? Oh yes;
Last episode of heavy handed explanations to tie-in the plot twist fell flat, It felt like the current characters personality’s and development was lessened to focus on personality’s and motivations of the PREVIOUS characters from the last show and the entire series depended on that fact!
Mykage makes a horrible villain but makes a EXCELLENT deranged stalker
Mikono and Princess Peach from the SNES days must have exchanged notes on how to be even MORE useless for anything else BUT getting saved
I can no longer pretend that most of the mech battles look remotely cool and a lot of the scenes were so full of cheese I was looking for some macaroni to put it on
They couldn’t even let Zessica die with grace since living around “that” couple and having Kagura as a “implied” new love interest must SUCK!
If I squint hard enough and pretend that the entire series was about Andy and Mix and was just out of focus most of the time because Mikono and Amata was blocking the camera then I find this show redeemable, the first season pulled me in but the second season made me want to PUNCH baby seals!
LOL, how will Zessica dying be a better choice?
It’s like Kagura stated, her death is not worth it for someone like Amata. I would probabley rage even more if Kawamori let her die for someone like Amata as well.
In a way, she “Lost” in a good way. She could do so much better than Amata *cough*A Doggie*cough*.
Also I shall squint my eyes with you. Let us both pretend this show was about AndyxMix (and SuomixDonar XP) with Amata and Mikono blocking the view of the camera now and then.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the original intention was to kill her after all. Probably the writers thought it twice seeing how people raged about how Zessica was trated -.-
Point taken, well at LEAST I “hope” Zessica realizes that she’s FAR too good for the mutt and move on to look for someone better
…that doesn’t reek when wet and track mud on the floor…
Wanted to post a thing:
http://i.imgur.com/zUrKj.jpg
This…pretty much covers everything.
If you’re gonna post that, at least post the first one also.
http://danbooru.donmai.us/post/show/1184795/acidfreecoke-amata_sora-aquarion_-series-aquarion_
Long post ahead to show my rage XD lol
This anime was quite disappointing to me. Maybe it’s because I liked Sousei and started this with a high expectation, hoping Apollo and Silvia will finally get together. But to be honest I wish they never made EVOL because it ruined the original Sousei Aquarion. From Apollo turning out he was Pollon, to Apollo and Silvia being reincarnated into a completely useless character, EVOL really did ruin Aquarion. Many people said “Trolled by Kawamori” but trolling is not the right word here. It’s just plain bad writing.
There is so much I want to complain but my main concern was the main character Amata and Mikono. With Aquarion Evol, it was great animation, great music, great battle scenes, great lovable supporting characters, yet the main characters were just complete trash compared to the rest of the aspects of this anime. We have Amata who cannot seem to see his other friends on the battlefield EXCEPT Mikono. And at first I thought his character would develop through this whole “Changing Destiny” theme but in the end it turns out he did not have to do this and by the end of the show, it was Zessica who seem to have stuck to this theme (which gives off the message we can’t change Destiny. Yay.) And then we have Mikono who is just plain useless yet highlighted under a bright spotlight in every single way. It’s almost like Kawamori is afraid to show her as a “flawed character”. With 2 guys fighting over her to Zessica saying guys prefer girls like Mikono who they want to protect. And unfortunately, that’s how many people ended up hating her.
Also Amata x Mikono are TOO different from Apollo x Silvia. Sure, reincarnated may mean you are a different person, but as an Apollo x Silvia fan, I am so mad to see them now so useless and weak whereas Apollo x Silvia were strong, straightforward and were not afraid to argue with each other and speak their mind. The impression we got of Celiane is she is a strong woman. Then we have Silvia who is hot-headed and violet but was not afraid to speak her mind and openly expressed her crush/ respect towards her brother. Then we have Mikono, who can’t chose between 2 guys and does nothing but blush even in battle. I also don’t like Amata adding “San” to Mikono and Mikono adding “Kun” to Amata. Apollo and Silvia would have never done this.
I really wish Kawamori had left some aspects of Apollo and Silvia in Amata and Mikono. To be honest I saw ApolloxSilvia in KaguraxZessica more when they called each other “Donzoko-Onna” and “Kuso-Otoko”
I cannot unsee this couple as a Dog x Kuso Onna now. Thanks Kawamori.
It really is a huge disappointment. The rest of the EVOL pairing are all lovable pairing. From AndyxMix, YunohaxJin, ShradexCayenne (Yes! They are a couple!), SuomixDonar etc. I know Kawamori has potential to create amazing couple. So it makes me wonder why he created Amata and Mikono.
Not sure where I read it, but apparently, even the writers hated Mikono, which…says a lot really.
Specifically, Okada called her a bad girl who unknowingly manipulates people, or something along that.
What’s better for me is Yuki Kaji said in a magazine interview that Mikono is trouble and that Amata should shack up with Zessica.
The Japanese fanbase agrees. Zessica’s first reaction to Kagura is similar to Sylvia. Kagura was sorely disappointed with Mikono being so fragile (episode 6), because probably he expected “Sylvie” to be stronger. He was chasing after a false illusion.
Now he has a Sylvia proxy to his Apollo proxy.
You’ve pretty much just summed up everything that made me rage about this series as a huge fan of Genesis. *gives you round of applause*
Honestly the reason why I now dislike this show is the reason why I watched it in the first place: it being a ‘sequel’ to Sousei no Aquarion. I don’t think I would have disliked it so much if it had just been another completely unrelated mecha series. I don’t particularly hate Amata and Mikono, I just can’t accept them as reincarnations of Apollo and Silvia. I’m just going to forget this series happened tbh which is a shame because it honestly does have some really great side characters.
Note to everyone hating on the Evol series. Its stated in wiki that the writers took a different appaorch with season 2, Writing it as a squeal and as stand alone series. To make such a thing work they had to make some changes, such as Fudo being Apollonius. To see it as a true season 2 look at things like Amata and Kagura has being two reincarnations of Apollo one his gentle side Amata the other his Animal side Kagura. When it comes to Mikono being torn between them keep in mind Slyvia only saw Apollo’s animal side at first not his gentle side, which would explain why Mikono goes after Kagura first. As for Mikono herself think of her as Slyvia’s gentle side rather then the forceful side of her we saw in season 1.
Kagura and Zessica are more like the Fierce Apollo and Silvie from season 1 like Azure pointed out, Amata and Mikono are their gentle sides the ones we did not see them direct towards each other much in season 1 at least not until near the end.
I hope this clears things up for people about Aquarion Evol as to why the series was so strange in comparison to the original.
I still wonder how Mix got her BIG BANG back.
trollscience
Because that is justice…
Here’s a hint, they’re fake.
Thank goodness it ended. Finally. I wish they post new reviews of other shows quickly, so that any trace of this show gets tucked into 2nd page nicely. There.
I would say the finale was pretty good. In that its actually an AQUARION episode. Stuff like, hot-blood screaming, pulling moves out its ass, save the world, power of love and all that jazz. And that brings the question: WHY WASN”T THE SECOND HALF OF THE SHOW LIKE THIS!? Its like Kawamori finally realized he was making a Super Robot Show and not a painfully stupid “love” story so he made this episode as an apology.
Too little too late, because the main couple just sucks. At no point did they even try to convince me that they were meant to be in love when they spent 26 episodes dancing around the issue and hardly having any meaningful chemistry. Its even dumber that Zessica and Kagura just have a convenient character derailment just so they can “support” this awful main pairing.
I was really insulted with this pic, I absolutely refuse to associate Mikono with Sylvia. SHE DID NOTHING. Heck it almost looked like she would actually get something done to stop Mykage, but nope AMATA had to come in and “save” her, because she is nothing more than a trophy. Why would we let a WOMAN solve everything right?
And you know what I really hate? Is that the retcon troll twists actually contributed nothing. It was made for the sake of a twist and really it felt unnecessary. Did it expand the mythology of Aquarion or brought up some new meaning to the reincarnation cycle? NO all it did was change everything that happened in Genesis! What was the point?
Me too. I thought she will somehow stop Mykage, but even though her apologizing was supposed to be an emotional scene all I heard was
Mikono: “LOL, sorry I stole your fiance 24,000 years ago and made you suffer all this time. While you were obviously suffering I tried my best not to notice it. I don’t even know why I stole your fiance in the first place because I fell in love with another person 12,000 years later and now I’ve completely forgotten about him.
Oh, Amata-kun is here? I don’t care about your say on this matter so I am going to fly away from you now without hearing what you have to say. I know I said I don’t care what you do to me and all but I am just going to forget about that too and go to Amata-kun because I deserve all the happiness in the world. Bye -bye now. Have a good day~~~~”
LOl and that pic! Huge insult to Silvia XD
Gonna agree with fragb85 for the most part. If you’re going to have Amata and Mikono be the endgame pair, at least make them interesting with each other (they weren’t) and give them constant development (mysteriously halted all throughout the second cour until 26 with too much focus on Zessica’s worrying and side characters; I love Andy and Mix like any other person but their plotline got way too dragged out when we all knew how it would end).
Good thing I still have episode 8 on my HDD to remember the good times by.
i Stopped watching this series because even though i love all robot shows as default stance The first 8 episodes of this reminded me of the first season in which i watched every episode of, back to back a while ago and realised that even by anime standards it was terrible.
However i like to give all series a chance (otherwise having grown up with british TV beleifs id end up watching nothing else!)
So tell me people. Was this series every bit the over the top, bizzarely erotic, somewhat incoherent, inconsitent, at times totally random act of foolishness of which having its only redeeming qualities being the soundtrack and maybe the robot
– OR –
as i suspect was it… much MUCH WORSE than series one.?
You have to add a douche and a bitch as main characters, an alternative to the main girl ruined and every side character way more likable than the mcs. Oh, and Fudo sprouting philosophical shit wich can give you some laughters given how ridiculous is glued to the plot, probably that’s the best of the show. And the fanservice. And the loli headmaster.
Probably you will enjoy the show more knowing its flaws and don’t expecting nothing from it than us people who watched it expecting it to be a good show and in the end turning into the show of the wailings.
This show was fun with it’s music and some comedic attempts, but it also makes me want to rage so damn hard with the Amata x Mikono pairing. Amata’s small character growth (if any) did not make him into the hero he was supposed to be or give any of his actions any real meaning. Mikono rarely showed any resolve compared to Zessica. Despite Zessica being uncharacteristic and willing to give her life for Amata (twice!), she is given the treatment an “ordinary girl” gets despite the series spouting the nonsense of “defying destiny.” Zessica could have played a major part in defying destiny if Amata ended up with her. I wanted this show to do well plot wise, I really did, but the ending appeared to be nothing special. The music, comedic aspects, and (some) characters made the show enjoyable, but could not make it out on top.
Great finale. Overall, this anime series is pretty good, but with some stuffs that I dislike.
First of all, the storyline. The story is a bit messy, and the ending is not conclusive enough to show what happened to Altair residents, and other stuffs. Good plot twists all around, but the story feels incomplete because there are certain unexplained stuffs in the series, such as why does Zessica has a vision of the past.
Secondly, the main characters Amata and Mikono. Surprisingly, Amata and Mikono are the characters that I dislike a lot in this series. In comparison with Genesis of Aquarion, I felt that this series main characters less likable than the original series’ main characters, except Kagura and Zessica. I felt that Amata’s personality is overused in many other anime series, and lacks a distinct personality. Mikono’s character is also a bit boring, and does not have notable traits from her past as Sylvie or Celiane. Other characters in this anime series are pretty good, such as the Mix, Andy, Kagura, Shrade, Zessica, Jin, and others. It is rare for me to prefer the supporting characters than the main characters in an anime series, and this is one of the cases that happened.
Thirdly, the character designs. Personally, I prefer Genesis of Aquarion’s character designs because they look more detailed. This anime series character designs felt familiar in many other anime series that I have watched.
Fourthly, the opening and ending songs of the series. The songs are pretty good, although I felt that all 4 songs lack the emotional impact of Genesis of Aquarion’s first opening. By far, Genesis of Aquarion’s first opening is my most favourite song in anime series.
However, I still love this anime series, even though it has it’s own flaws. A happy ending between Pollon’s and Celiane’s reincarnation is good enough for me to accept the flaws in this anime series.
The music made the ending soooo good “All these twelve thousand years I’ve been loving you ”
Overall it’s a good ending and series
I think yunoha is the best girl in the show, she found her person, conveyed her feeling had to deal with lost. The Zessica,amata,kagura, mikono show was just grueling. And mix is typical I don`t need you but I DO need you girl. With that Andy unyielding love is very admirable though. I think even shrade and mikono brother bromance was better then the main quartet. Also I love SuomixDonar reactions when boss loli said that they are couple to be next adam eve if it didn`t go so well.
I think the blogger said it best, this show was more about the journey,references and zany super robot stuff. While I did enjoy it I think the characters in series 1 where more interesting. Also I don`t like how appolonius is sucha troll, he lets all this happen when he could have just accepted mykage shadow before you know everyone died. what an ass. Screw your donuts philosophy.
I guess I expected better characters and story from a super robot show. Especially from kawamori who usually does make great couples, which I think he did a good job with except the main 4.
And here was my reaction.. still is.
So tl;dr
1. Mikonofags won
2. Zessikage fags go down BURNING!
3. Main couple OTP
4. Kagura forever alone, but has hints he’s getting friendly with Zessica
5. Mikage get’s his happy ending.
6. Andy not gay in the end
7. MIXY back to MIX and gets her “bigbangs” back
8. The two teachers get together
9. Yunoha still alone. Why did they ever kill Jin?
10. Fudo end with Mikage and the legend ends…
Or did it?
I felt the world die a little when I saw the end of this series. When I watched the start of the show, I had a feeling it would have been one of the animes I would watch eagerly in the next 5 years and still be happy with the outcome.
No such thing.
While the show had giant mechs, magic powers, ridiculous plot twists and tons of fan service, it fell flat towards the end. The characters were great but some esp. the main characters left so much to be desired.
Overall, what started out as a great series left a filthy taste in my mouth.
i think aquarion evol is a great anime if you don’t take it seriously! everything’s crap unless you treat it as comedy (in the so bad/cheesy it’s good way). then it’s REALLY FUNNY.
You mean like laughing at Amata for being a hypocritical idiot and Mikono for being useless?
I could live with that.
who is the writer I wish I could throw him outside our galaxy.why the hell all the main chara have to be so indecisive and cheap personality.its been like I am seeing them in every other show except in Harem anime.I mean Accel World’s fat main protagonist is 1000 times better than
Amata,I wish Amata x Mikono a traumatized life.
Anyone who took the writing in this show seriously really needs to go re-watch Sousei no Aquarion and point out to me where the characters were believable (or not annoying), or where the show even made sense. I mean for most of the series, Sylvia was all “brother! brother!”, and even Apollo had that stupid subplot with his friend or whatever. EVOL is just more of the same, and it’s stupidity and awesome robot are still the reasons that will make the series a favorite in my books.
Apollo cared about his friends all the damn time; Amata more or less forgets about stuff unless it’s MIKONO-SANNNNNN/mom from episode 22 and beyond.
Silvia was a brocon, but she had her moments as head when she kicked butt; Mikono gets EPISODE 14 NENSHIN GATTAI…and that’s it.
Sorry, but I’ll take Apollo and Silvia over Amata and Mikono.
From episode 22 and beyond? To me it was from episode 1 till the end. I never watched Sousei no Aquarion (I’d have hated the show even more if I had apparently), and all I wanted to happen was for Amata to get shot, and Mikono to be bitch-slapped. She was always “I’m useless”, then WTF was she staying there?
Honestly, the one thing I liked in this entire show was the music.
I can see where you didn’t like Amata and Mikono (I definitely didn’t care about their kiss moment which had much less impact to me than Geparda, AndyxMix, Kagura and Zessica’s interactions, heck even Zessica’s kiss back in episode 21) but I felt like they were getting a little bit better as characters; not as a romantic pairing though. Of course, episode 22 is where my opinion changed as Amata begins to fight himself over a boring girl and Mikono reverts to being a damsel in distress.
Apparently its you that needs to re-watch Aquarion. Yes it was stupid but they were actually likable and had character development. How convenient you forget such moments like how Apollo gets tempted by Toma to betray DEAVA and Apollo tells him to stuff it because he won’t betray his friends. Or how there are entire scenes where the cast are together to interact to show they are friends.
EVOL has none of that. Amata is one of the most pathetic, uncharismatic protagonist I have ever seen. Even Shu was more believable as a protagonist.
The only good thing that happened in EVOL is AndyXMix. Really, Kagura gave up on Mikono that easily? WTF kind of reasoning is that? It was like telling your love rival “I give up, you love her more than I do.”
Then they try shipping Kagura and Zessica ON THE FINAL EPISODE. That’s really outrageous.
This sequel is a total failure. It was able to destroy the first series as well by making Apollo a freakin’ dog. If you ask me why the heck did I watch it ’till the end even though I hate it, it’s because I had hopes and I believed that Kawamura can pull something off. Too bad I guess I should say I overestimated him.
Sometimes in the past, I rewatched Original Aquarion and OVAs on my collection for fun. This sequel will make me delete all those materials and try to forget about Pollon. Way to go… This must be some sorts of copy protection scheme.
I’m not gonna waste my breath on a wall-o’-text. I already said that EVOL became a trainwreck in the last episode summary. In the end, Altair’s fate became irrelevant since their problem was their own stupid fault and not related to the reincarnation cycle. Seriously, that’s just piss-poor plot development right there. Great job making Mykage look like the sympathetic scorned lover rather than the complete bitch that he was supposed to be.
My only consolation in all this is that MIX got her boobs back. Seriously, that’s it.
Mykage was never meant to be a ‘complete bitch’. Read Kawamori’s interviews, he said his love was a pure as Amata’s. He has nothing but sympathy for the guy. He earned his happy ending after 24,000 years of getting trolled.
I’m going to be upfront completely by saying this… I enjoyed Aquarion Evol. I’m very aware of its flaws, but even so I enjoy it for what it is, what Aquarion always is, an enjoyable mecha show. It’s not meant to be perfect, or even be a show we’ll talk about months after it’s over, it’s meant to be enjoyed even with its flaws. The original series was by no means perfect, heck I think popular opinion is it’s a bad series, but I’ll always look at Genesis as something I enjoyed immensely.
The announcement of the sequel came right after I had watched the original in its entirety, so I was very excited. I enjoyed the premier but I was still unsure if I would enjoy this as much as the original. 4 episodes later, I was effectively hooked by the show. I loved the characters, I had my own ships, the mecha action was as great as it’s ever been, and Fudou was still Fudou.
It wasn’t until after the beach episode that I think Aquarion Evol’s flaws started getting even to me. I’m not going to deny that Zessica’s love for Amata became very detrimental to her character, but at the same time I still think we got some great moments from it. The confession and the kiss were great, and I don’t think that I’d want to take those moments out of the series. But the creators soon let it define her character, and that’s a no no. Had she kept her positive attitude from the end of episode 17, I think things would’ve been much better off.
I shipped Amata X Mikono from the very beginning, even when it seemed that those who did were very few. I though the first half was perfect for them, but the second half could really have used more development of their relationship. Heck, they could’ve used at least a scene together before the final episode. Kagura didn’t help much, as he soon became just a tool of the writers. But I still shipped Amata X Mikono, and as such the ending, and the confession and kiss, pleased me. I, however, won’t argue that some of the road to that ending could’ve been better.
I liked Amata from the beginning, but even I saw how the focus got shafted away from him a lot. Now I like Andy too, but I don’t think it’s good writing to have your side characters seem like the main character for three or more episodes. But his actions in and speech in the finale redeemed him as the main character once again.
As for the whole Apollo/Pollon thing, even now I’m not sure how I feel about it. The main reason I don’t outright hate it is because this is what Kawamori had in mind for Apollo back in Genesis, he just never used it. The hints were there, though they weren’t as prevalent as the hints that Apollo was Apollonius. I would’ve kept Apollo as Apollonius, but ultimately I don’t think it mattered that Apollo was really a dog. In the end, what mattered was that Amata was Apollo and nothing else. Also, I squeed a little when we saw Apollo, Touma, and Sirius, all with their original voices!
So I loved the first half of the series, the second half was much more rockier, but ultimately I loved the finale. We got great action, great music, likable characters (most of the time), and some nice Akino songs… with a great new one for the final battle (Zero).
So in summation, Aquarion Evol is by no means perfect, but I truly believe that it was Aquarion until the very end. It kept the true main theme of Aquarion, love, and I enjoyed it from beginning to end just like the original series. If anyone asks me about the show, I’ll say Aquarion Evol was a flawed series, but that overall it was fun and enjoyable just like its predecessor.
Though I’ll be quite disappointed if the reason for the dip in quality for the series is because Kawamori and Okada were more focused on AKB0048.
the only good thing about this show is its ended for good.
Dropped by to say that Kagura/Zessica is actually pretty cute and thank the Buddha this series is over.
And it was pretty funny to see Kagura, still raving about SYLVIE, calling out Amata over his treatment of Zessica.
I wonder if Kagura and Amata will actually fuse again as one person… And that KaguraxZessica hinting… Is she thinking ‘close enough’? Although I’m overjoyed that Andy got a happy end AND his long awaited union with Mix, an explaination as to how she got her big bangs back would be nice. Plus can you imagine you reaction on people’s faces if they didn’t know EVOL was LOVE spelt backwards?
About the episode itself, I facepalmed the moment it started because the first line was: “Mikono-san!!!” Then there was the initial thought that Shrade may have gotten newgame + when his vector came from no where! He’s an awesome character but his death was too emotional for him to come back to life like a Dues Ex Machina. Not sure what to make of Fudo Zen just WATCHING. The guy hardly did anything! Sure his claps made miracles, but apart from episode 1-2 it never contributed to anything wow or awesome!
It seems that Aquarion EVOL suffered a Guilty Crown syndrome in that the first 12-13 episodes were really good, but failed hard from there on. If Accel World suffers the same fate it seems that Yuki Kaji still hasn’t learnt from his Guilty Crown days. Wimpy main character that becomes really strong, really early and maybe loses a limb or two. (High School DxD soesn’t count as it was only 1- cour :P)
So uhh… was anyone else kicking themselves when it took them 26 episodes to realize EVOL was just LOVE backwards?
Can’t describe how stupid I felt when the letters flipped around.
Ya I was like ‘how did i not see that’. It figures that it was Kagura who said that since his power is reversal.
I didn’t give a fuck about shipping so I enjoyed Evol for the silly super robot show that it is.
My only complaint is that the ending was as epic as the original. That’s about it. Everything else was on par, though I hate the Retcon of Apollo being actually Pollon nonsense.
arrg. I meant the ending was NOT as epic as original
I always enjoy to read your page Random Curiosity. It is one of the best anime blogs in the web.
I have noticed that many animes ends just OK, and nothing else, I really miss epic endings. Endings that make you cry and laugh, and you will remember the ending always. One of the reasons is seasons, why bother doing proper ending, when it will continue in next year.
Aquarion Evol was again anime with OK ending. Most of the happenings were very predictable and some of the things were what I really wait to happen and some of them were just disappointment. You just can’t take this anime serious, but in the end the plot was too big, there were too many things in one box.
I’m happy that they did explain everything very well to people who haven’t seen the earlier series, but there were so many absurd things. But in this anime you just swallow the explanations and think okay, that’s not possible, but that’s okay, because this is Aquarion Evol.
The last fight was interesting and Mykage is really annoying and great enemy and character, he just looks really funny… The happy happy ending was the thing that I did expect and the fact that Mikono and Amata survive was the thing that have to happen.
And that Andy gets Mix. But I think they did give too little time to the end, I just would love to see more things what happened after the fight. So less time to fight and more time to tell what will happen to the characters. Maybe they did rush with the end. And I didn’t like the idea, that maybe Zessica and Kagura… No, never, Zessica deserves better.
I didn’t like Kagura, and I didn’t like what happened to him in the end. I just don’t like when the bad guys turn to good in half episode. And I didn’t like Mikono, she was just annoying, she was cute, but I don’t like characters who just are very jealousy, and helpless. Amata, yeah, he was just cute, and that’s it. But all the other characters were great. I did like them a lot, so they did very good work with the character. My favorites were Mix, Andy, Yunoha and Jin.
The music and art was amazing, the songs and the characters were handsome and cute.
The openings and endings were wonderful. I didn’t get bored with this anime, so I did enjoy every episode and it just did get better and better. And I did cry and laugh and I’m really happy that I watched it. And I can recommend this to others. It was great journey with characters that I will always remember. So I gived to the serie 9/10
I don’t mind the KaguraxZessica pairing too much because 1) at least she didn’t die for Amata and 2) at least her ending didn’t suck entirely for her, even if we think she deserved much, much better…. -________-
There are moments when it generally is awesome. Then it just all goes splat by something that doesn’t make sense (and a LOT doesn’t). Its a shame because I think this could’ve been one of the better animes this year.
I kind of would have liked to see Mix get her big bangs back.
Preferably in a Mahou-Shojo-esque sequence.
This series really left a bitter after-taste in my mouth. And like many people here already stated, the main reason for that is because of Mikono and Amata.
It’s really sad. Looking at Macross and Sousei Kawamori really knew what makes a great couple. It’s those that aren’t afraid to speak their mind to each other, bicker with each other and both characters are strong enough to stand on equal ground with one another. I saw none of that in Amata and Mikono. It was always Amata chasing after Mikono, fighting for her, while all Mikono did was unable to chose between him and Kagura and blush at every statement the boys made of her.
I also think it’s an insult to Apollo and Silvia for being reincarnated into someone like Amata and Mikono. I really like Apollo and his brave, strong attitude and Silvia’s straightforward personality. It’s is the complete opposite of Amata and Mikono and it makes me wonder why Kawamori made them so different.
By the way Question: Was it ever stated WHY Apollonius allowed his puppy to have his women?
I didn’t follow this series too closely because despite the “Love-Triangle” they tried to create, I always knew it was going to be Amata and Mikono.
I also liked the Kagura x Zessica pairing they threw in the end. In a way I liked how Kagura was one of those characters that were able to defend Zessica and stopped her going down the path of dying for Amata. He knew someone like her should not throw away her life for someone like Amata, and in a way, lightly told Amata he should not have made a girl like Zessica cry for him.
I am going to be one of those people that will deny that this series was ever created.
Seriously guys, this last episode ruined everything I considered for EVOL. Besides having a few things that were great (Mix and Andy) and great battles, but for me, it ended up like Guilty Crown: An awesome beggining and a horrible show at the last episodes.
Well, we have some hilarious parts, like when Kagura threw Mikono to Amata, just because “he loved her more”. So, the guy who got shotted, fight the whole EVOL ALONE, betrayed his planet and a lot of things give up of his love just because there were someone who loved her more? Please.
And I couldn’t stand to the part when they tried to pair Kagura and Zessica. Seriously, they were enemies the entire series and now a couple? For gods. And well, the part that Zessica said “Hey you two, get a room…” was the saddest line in all the episode. I felt really bad for her.
Amata and Mikono was just patetic. I was hoping that the writers could get some sense and make Kagura x Mikono and Amata x Zessica. Maybe its only me, but them together seems to be much more natural then the opposite, who is a bit forced.
Yes, i’m mad with this episode. Maybe I’ll consider that I never had saw this series.
After spending most of his screentime in a semi deficient mental state, Kagura is finally revealed to be far less retarded than Amata.
Best thing about Evol was reading the posts on RC afterwards and having a laugh at some of the comments. Thanks heaps Divine, Unlisted and everyone on here for making this show go from frustrating to fun : D
I want to give it a 1/10, but I probably have to give it a 5/10 for the overall production.
Awesome ride, to the bloggers of this series!
No matter what people say, I loved the ending. No one’s going to take my opinion from me. After all, what we say is what our true personality is. Hate it all you want, and people will hate you for it ~
Kagura’s sudden change of personality made me laugh. Mikono and Zessica remain cute (although Mikono, no offense to her fans there, is still kinda..useless?).
“Love is permitted once again”, eh. Nice move, Kawamori. You actually had to end Genesis of Aquarion’s epic entrance with that line XD Formally, I love Genesis of Aquarion. More like in the original series’ songs, Genesis >> Sousei.
Still, nice episode. But I, like everyone else, am glad that this troll series is over~
This has to be among the corniest shows ever.
yeah.. i too… i super facepalmed for not noticing the LOVE inverted xD
Personally, I liked Amata and Mikono to start out with. At least at first they genuinely seemed to slowly be making progress towards being less useless. At some point though I stopped watching Evol for the characters and was keeping up with it for the plot. Which is the opposite of Sousei for me; I actually gave up on it about the midway point because I didn’t like how the plot was being handled, but eventually came back because I wanted to see more of the characters and what happened to them. Evol’s characters (especially Amata and Mikono) stopped being as interesting after a while.
Honestly, I find myself trying to forget everything about this series from the moment we’re told Apollo was Pollon to the end. It’s a twist that’s there for the sake of having a twist, and it contradicts and raises questions about the events in Sousei. Why did Aquarion respond to Apollo in the first episode like that if he wasn’t Apollonius? Why did Rena “see” him become Apollonius twice? Why did Apollo and Silvia both read as feeling passion when they hated each other if Apollo was the dog that Celiane never realized loved her? Why did the scars appear on his back in that one scene if he wasn’t Apollonius? Sure Rena “saw” him with dog traits a few times, but she also “saw” him as a kappa at one point. I thought it was clear that that was a reflection of his personality, not his past life, and his animalistic behavior was to contrast with Silvia and add more conflict to their relationship. A “Beauty and the Beast” plot, in a less literal sense than Evol would have us believe. To add to that, if Fudo was Apollonius all along, shouldn’t there have been more of a relationship between him and Silvia? This makes me feel like I watched a soap opera that said “No John didn’t die, that was actually his identical twin brother Jack who we never heard of until this very sentence and was impersonating John the whole time.” Pollon had about 60 seconds of screen time in Sousei and only got a name and any sort of characterization in the OVA, which is explicitly in an alternate universe. I resent the Viewers Are Morons trope.
Compare this to Sousei’s twist, where when you hear it you can look back over the series and see the tiny hints that show it was coming. Show Spoiler ▼
But back to the ending. I felt happy for Amata and Mikono, but not happy that it was them, if that makes any sense. Mikono not getting a chance to “connect” Mikage made me feel cheated out of her actually doing something for the first time in so many episodes, Kagura gave up on his smelly wench uncharacteristically easily, the implied shipping between Kagura and Zessica made me lineface, and I’m disappointed that they chickened out and gave Mix her “big bangs” back. It’s like saying “Okay, we proved that Andy loves Mix no matter what gender she is, now put her back to normal so this becomes a traditional relationship and Mix doesn’t have to come to terms with her body.” And it was inexcusable for Mikage to make a beautiful song like “Sousei no Aquarion” sound so creepy.
Ultimately, Evol was more enjoyable to watch than Sousei, but it wasn’t better. Personally I like the OVA best overall, despite the massive Green Aesop it pounds you over the head with repeatedly. Really, none of the three are “excellent”, just good in different ways.
And Frontier? If you can direct me to where Kawamori said he originally intended Apollo to be Pollon I would be very grateful. Even though I get the feeling that I’ll be feeling like he’s retconning himself.
Hope they don’t get good sales for this series. It doesn’t deserve it for raping the entire established universe and fucking with the nicest characters for no reason.
Mari Okada is a hack.
I dislike her as well. I probably won’t be watching any more series written by her as well since after this, it is crystal clear, her writing revolves around glorifying the main heroine of the show (eg. AnoHana) while all the sub-characters that fall for the main character and the heroine “loses”.
Stupid writer.
So some anon on /a/ got himself scans of interviews from Yamamoto (the person who got interviewed most of the time for EVOL), Kawamori and Okada. One of the more infuriating tidbits is that Okada considered a Zessica route but thought it “wasn’t refreshing enough”. You know, as opposed to Mikono’s “First Girl Wins” shtick. She also put Zessica in a position of “fighting but never able to win anything” and thinks she might have overdone it a bit.
So instead of there possibly being creative differences from director to writers, it turns out that they all were incompetent.
Evol started out pretty well. It knew not to take itself too seriously. It had it’s flaws back then too, but it was still fun and enjoyable. However, when the second half came along everything took a nosedive. Characters, storyline, writing, etc. Sure the production values were still there, especially with the finale but it when I take away the finale, which was pretty solid. Now it still had the ongoing issues that I mentioned earlier and last minute changes to 2 certain characters personalities. Overall it was decent. Production values were there, but everything else like story, characters, writing, etc. still the same mess. As a series, Evol is a disappointment.
Kagura and Zessica match the true Apollo x Silvie a lot more than Amata and Mikono as so-called reincarnations. This show would have been much more interesting with the changed/mentally matured Kagura of episode 26 and Zessica as the two mains of the series and Amata and Mikono just being side characters while the enemy throughout the series could just remain as Mykage being the evil puppet master who is obsessed with vengeance because he got trolled hard by Apollonius-Fudo Zen for 2 x 12,000 years. Concluding statement? Don’t deny it!- You would have preferred a guy with balls and a heart like the Kagura at the end of this series being the male lead of Aquarion Evol and having the sexy and strong Zessica-Kana Hanazawa as the female lead instead of Mikono would have been delicious.