Genesis of Aquarion is an anime TV series written and directed by Shoji
Kawamori, produced by Satelight. The science fiction series is a homage
to the Super Robot shows of the 1970s and 1980s, executed with modern
animation techniques and aesthetics. Set in the future, a giant fighting machine
called the Aquarion is humanity's only effective weapon in the fight against
the technologically advanced species called the Shadow Angels.
Aquarion aired from April 4, 2005, to September 26, 2005, on TV Tokyo. An
alternate retelling of the television series, the Genesis of Aquarion OVA,
premiered on May 25, 2007. The television series is licensed in North
America by Funimation. On February 14, 2006, it aired on MTV Italia.
On April 27, 2009, the series made its North American television debut on the
Funimation Channel. A sequel to the series titled Aquarion
Evol was announced on February 25, 2011, and aired in 2012.
Plot Twelve thousand years in the past,
mankind was at mercy of the mythical creatures known as Shadow Angels,
immortal winged beings with overwhelming powers and technology. That is, until
one of their kind, Apollonius, fell in love with a female human warrior,
Seliane. Apollonius joins forces with the humans to free them from their
oppression, by using the legendary giant fighting robot Aquarion.
Eleven years prior to the story, in a disaster referred to as the "Great
Catastrophe" the Earth's magnetic field shifted devastating significant parts of
the world and killed off many of its inhabitants. Along with the disaster
came the return of the Shadow Angels who have been in slumber in their city of
Atlantia since their battle with Apolonius. The Shadow Angels began
invading human cites on Earth to harvest human beings, dubbing them as "the
wingless ones", like cattle, to extract the prana from the harvested humans not
only to serve energy and nutrition to them, but also to feed the legendary
Tree of Life. The Shadow Angels facilitate their harvesting via giant,
floating harvesting machines called harvest beasts which are guarded by
giant mecha called Cherubim Soldiers. They are sentient machines, yet there
are times when they are piloted by Shadow Angels.
Ordinary weapons prove ineffective against the Cherubim, with limited
protection coming only from rings of projectors built around the remaining
cities which tap into the Earths strata to project a quantum shield which limits
the Shadow Angels ability to enter or materialise within. However a human
expedition under the leadership of Gen Fudo eventually excavates three very
technologically advanced fighter planes, and an organization called DEAVA takes
over the research of these machines, called Vectors, trying to identify how
to use them. The three Vectors are shown to be colored mostly in white and are
identified as the green Vector Luna, the blue Vector Mars, and the red Vector
Sol. DEAVA discovers only people with special powers called Elements can
control the Vectors and the three vectors are in fact the pieces of
Aquarion, the same robot used to fight the Shadow Angels twelve millennia
before. They also discover the Elements can ultimately unite the vectors into
one of three formations of the giant robot in battle, and can use it to fight
and defeat the Cherubim. During the Elements' first sortie
against the Cherubim by uniting the Vectors into a formation of Aquarion,
they stumble on 13-year-old Apollo, who seems to be the reincarnation of
Apollonius. They become convinced of this when he single-handedly takes
control of the Vector Sol, unites the Vectors into the Solar Aquarion
formation and defeats the enemy, thus causing him to be recruited by DEAVA to
join their ranks. Mecha
In the process of Unification, each Vector is able to transform into a head
section, a back section or a leg section. Thus, when the Vectors combine
to form the humanoid robot Aquarion, they make a leghead formation with the
head being the leading section. The Vector that makes the head ultimately
identifies the form of Aquarion the vectors make as well. The Unification,
the process of "merging", also combines the souls of the Elements to some
degree, as each supplies one of the supposed three aspects of their soul
into one when Aquarion is formed. During Unification, the Elements experience an
influx of power and energy, which in classic Japanese fan-service style is
shown to be a feeling of wondrous power for the men, while for the women it is
blatantly orgasmic in nature. In all three forms, Aquarion weighs 88 tons.
= Aquarion= Solar Aquarion: 48 meters tall.
Corresponds to Vector Sol as the head, Vector Luna as the back, and Vector Mars
as the legs. This is the most balanced of the three basic Aquarion forms as
well as the true form of Aquarion, with its specialty in melee combat. It is the
only form that can manifest the "Solar Wings" on its back. Later in the series,
the Elements develop the Solar Aquarion's signature "Infinity Punch",
an attack extending the arm indefinitely in order to reach even the most agile
enemy; to elaborate, the Infinity Punch can reach distances that extends to the
surface of the moon. The Solar Aquarion is almost always used by Apollo. With
both Apollo and Pierre in control, Solar Aquarion can perform the "Fire Fist"
technique. In the events of Aquation LOVE, the Solar Aquarion shows the
ability to transform into a beast-like form during its fight with Aquarion
EVOL. Aquarion Mars: 51.1 meters tall.
Corresponds to Vector Mars as the head, Vector Sol as the back, and Vector Luna
as the legs. It does have a set of wings on its back, but it cannot manifest or
de-manifest them. This is the fastest of the Aquarion forms. It is Sirius de
Alisia's favorite because it can wield a sword, enabling it to perform the "Long
Range Saber" and the "Jealous Sword" techniques and due to its long legs and
speed, it is perfect for Pierre Vieira's "Fire Kick" technique.
Aquarion Luna: 46.2 meters tall. Corresponds to Vector Luna as the head,
Vector Mars as the back, and Vector Sol as the legs. It specializes in ranged
combat, with the ability to wield a bow and arrows, or as another form to
partake in melee situations, given the Aquarion Luna's agile movement and
reflexes. It too can manifest a set of wings on its back. It is mostly used by
Silvia de Alisia, enabling it to use the "Lunatic Archery" and "Spiral Arrow"
techniques, and Hong Lihua, enabling it to use the "Dragon Thunder" technique.
Powers and Abilities Elements: All elements have at least one
special power that can be amplificated while piloting Aquarion. Sometimes these
increased powers can enable them to create and use "sub-powers" besides
their main power, like to make devastating lighting powered spin-kicks
or create and use throwing weapon disks. Aquarion: All three Aquarion forms are
capable of using the powers and/or abilities that the elements piloting it
have separately or in any combination, as well as combining them with the main
powers of the form Aquarion is in at the time and using the main powers in
special ways, such as designating them with unique names or using them in
unique ways. The elements piloting it can combine their status, such as
strength, speed, targeting, mental strength and willpower in any way as
well, and enable Aquarion to use it as its own in battle. Gen Fudou also trains
the elements routinely on how use their powers to unlock and wield other powers
that Aquarion itself has, such as how to firmly attach Aquarion to the ground so
it cannot be moved or make Aquarion's body grow. Sometimes the Elements can
even combine their emotions with Aquarion's energies to make new powers,
like when Lihua turned her fear of her bad luck into unlucky-like energy to
defeat the legend monster or when Pierre turned his determination to save his
family into fire-like strength to defeat Kumba and Nikumba.
Secondary forms The following are other forms the
Aquarion can take, but only appear in specific situations:
Aquarion Soluna: After the Solar Aquarion's arms are destroyed and
separated, Lihua, Tsugumi Rosenmeier and Pierre united to form this Aquarion.
Essentially the Solar Aquarion, it uses the Vector Luna as the head, but flipped
forward, becoming the torso on top of the Vector Sol, making a leghead
formation. It is assumed this is the tallest of Aquarion's forms due to its
configuration. Aquarion Angel: When the Vector Mars was
absent, Apollo, Tsugumi, Lihua and even Silvia united to form an Aquarion out of
the Vector Sol, Vector Luna and a Military Vector Omega, respectively,
with the Vector Omega taking the position of head, the Vector Sol as the
back, and the Vector Luna as the legs. It is assumed this form retains all of
the Aquarion Mars' abilities, even with the lack of the Vector Mars' presence in
the combination. Solar Aquarion 2: Another Aquarion form
with the Military Vector Omega. It consisted of the Vector Sol as the head,
the Vector Luna as the back and the Vector Omega as the legs, It was piloted
by Apollo, Lihua, and Pierre. = Assault Type Aquarion=
The Assault Type Aquarion is a copy of the original Aquarion, constructed in a
joint operation between DEAVA and the New United Nations using Shadow Angel
DNA collected by force. It follows the same basic architecture of the original
with a couple of physical differences and uses massive versions of
conventional weaponry of cannons, rockets and machine guns as opposed to
the original's more traditional weapons of bow and arrows, sword and Infinity
Punch. Because of the size of its weapons, it is capable of fighting and
defeating the Cherubim. This Aquarion is normally piloted by one Shadow Angel
DNA-infused mentally reprogrammed element or even a normal human being,
while the other two corresponding Vectors are AI-controlled. It can
configure into six different forms and is composed of three Vectors that are
colored mostly in gray/black and look very much like the originals. The
Vectors are a red Vector named Alpha, a green Vector named Delta, and a blue
Vector named Omega, which corresponds to the Vector Sol, Vector Luna and the
Vector Mars, respectively. These Vectors are compatible with normal elements and
the original Aquarion Vectors and they are mass-produced by the New United
Nations. Aquarion Alpha: Corresponds to Vector
Alpha as the head, Vector Delta as the back, and Vector Omega as the legs. It
is the equivalent of the Solar Aquarion. It uses an enormous PSG Cannon on its
right arm as its primary weapon and like the Solar Aquarion, it can deploy the
"Solar Wings" on its back, but does not have the mystical effect of the
original. Oddly enough, its head is shaped like the Aquarion Luna's and has
a visor over its eyes. This configuration can transform into the
Walker Formation without the need to separate the Vectors and reuniting.
Aquarion Delta: Corresponds with Vector Delta as the head, Vector Omega as the
back, and Vector Alpha as the legs. It is the equivalent of the Aquarion Luna.
Taking a similarity to the Aquarion Luna's bow, the Aquarion Delta
specializes in long-range combat through a complement of rockets that fire from
its own customized bow and can also utilize the Aquarion Omega's machine
guns, mounted on the same part as the rockets.
Aquarion Omega: Corresponds with Vector Omega as the head, Vector Alpha as the
back, and Vector Delta as the legs. It is the equivalent of the Aquarion Mars.
Using a pair of machine guns, this form is only featured once and can transform
into the Armageddon Formation without the need to separate the Vectors and
reuniting. Armageddon Formation: A formation where
the three Vectors combine into a 6-legged walker with the Aquarion
Alpha's PSG cannon mounted on top, similar to a tank. This formation exists
due to the PSG Cannon being able to fire at its maximum capabilities with a
stable footing. This form can transform immediately into Aquarion Omega without
separating and reuniting. Assault Walker Formation: A vehicle
formation used for speed, it appears as a jet-like machine with two legs. This
form can transform into Aquarion Alpha without separating and reuniting. Its
appearance closely resembles the GERWALK mode of the VF-1 Valkyrie from Super
Dimensional Fortress Macross, another anime written and directed by Shoji
Kawamori. Aquarion Beast Form: In the Aquarion
movie, when Lihua gets mad and could not understand why Apollo was helping Silvia
Aquarion Omega transforms into a rampant beast form. The form appears similar to
Seismosaurus from Zoids Fuzors and fired the PSG Cannon from its tail.
= Shadow Angel Mecha and Monsters= Cherubim Mars: After allying with the
Shadow Angels and taking the Vector Mars with him, Sirius uses a Cherubim Soldier
in place of the other two Vectors. The Cherubim Mars acts the same as the
Aquarion Mars, but if its Cherubim Soldier body is destroyed, another
Cherubim can take its place. Antichthon: A three dimensional polygon
that brings out the inner hatred and/or jealousy of those that see into it long
enough. Black Rena: A harvest beast with the
ability to make itself look and act like what the people facing it fear most.
Because the elements were afraid of Rena at the time, it took on a Vampire Rena
form and acted like a vampire to drain prana.
Cherubim Blumeblatt: Miniature versions of regular cherubim soldiers that act as
anti-military forces. Although they lack legs they are highly maneuverable users
of levitation and are armed with pulse lasers from the head and sometimes the
hands. They are very important for the Shadow Angel invasions of human cities
to harvest human beings, as they are what broadcast the Shadow Angel's "Hypno
song", which hypnotizes normal unprotected humans and makes them
sitting ducks for the harvest beasts to collect.
Graave Cherubim: A special cherubim with immensely thick armor that can stand up
to most assaults with very little damage. It can fire Pulse beams from its
large head and the hands and it can also use its drill-like gloves for melee
combat as well as launch them. Cherubim Iskuron: A colorful custom
cherubim used by Mohora capable of bisecting. Its pulse beams are green
instead of blue and aside from being normally fired from the head and
club-like claws can also be used as daggers in melee. Other powers include
an energy beam from the chest and teleportation.
Cherubim Lune: A special cherubim that was infused with "the moon's ability to
be not too near yet not too far". It can dodge nearly any attack and can produce
black/purple electric balls from its hands. It can also quickly recover from
normal attacks. Cherubim Soldier: Standard mecha used by
the Shadow Angels capable of flying very fast and firing a verity of blue pulse
lasers and sometimes even missiles from their head and palms. The only notable
versions are Toma's revived one capable of spinning fast enough to produce
tornadoes in episode 2 and the soldier armed with the gravity staff from
episode 4. Cherubim Sur le Kubera: A customized
cherubim used by Toma and later Otoha armed with a pair of swords and pulse
lasers from the palms designed for impalement like spears.
Cherubim Verizeva: A black cherubim soldier made and used by Toma in two of
the last episodes in the series. It is armed with a pair of rapiers and pulse
lasers from the palms designed for impalement like spears and has great
speed and agility. Harvest Beast: Standard Hammerhead
shark-like vessels used to collect humans for Shadow Angels. They possess
no offensive capabilities. Kumba and Nikumba: A pair of cherubim
that share a core and can exchange it between each other; the one without the
core becomes indestructible and by exchanging it with the other when the
one with the core is struck down, they are almost unstoppable. They look like a
fiesta-like mix of the Cheribum Iskuron and the Graave Cheribum, except they
have yellow-and-black coloring. Legend Monster: An ancient water-like
harvest beast that remained dormant in a lake. A plant-like one was hidden in a
building in Apollo's former hometown. Mirror Aquarion: A fake version of
Aquarion made from three fake versions of the Aquarion Vectors that possesses
all the regular abilities except expansion of the body.
Reality Tower: A massive tower that can manipulate the reality around it thanks
to dimensional distortion by Futaba. Dragon Monster: A living dragon-like
monster, presumably some kind of bio-weapon.
Mongie: Tiny harvests beasts used to consume all the food consumed by humans
with a great resemblance to the kaiju Dogora.
Titania: A dream manipulator harvest beast from the Moon that exists in the
dream world and entraps people in their nightmares.
Xibalba: A cherubim-like digging machine that is essentially a giant mechanical
worm with large clawed hands and a massive mouth that are used for
burrowing through the ground quickly and can fire pulse lasers and missiles from
the back of its hands. Religious References
= Age of Aquarius= Age of Aquarius, also known as the
Aquarian Age, was a concept popularized by Carl Gustav Jung. The Age of Aquarius
was seen in contraposition with current the Age of Pisces: whereas the Age of
Pisces represents duality and antithesis, the Age of Aquarius is an
age of synthesis and spiritualism. In the New Age, because of the implications
of love, comprehension and one-ness, it can be associated with the fourth
chakra. Aquarion as a name is a reference to this concept, but the show
digs deeper in symbolism in using the Aquarion as an instrument for a "new era
of holy genesis", managing to resolve conflict between the opposing parties of
humans and Shadow Angels and showing a not-so-metaphorical process of oneness
with the Earth. = Yoga=
Aquarion's main theme references Indian lore. The word yoga is translated as
"unite" and means "union with the divine through the integration of body, mind
and spirit". During Unification, the Elements merge their bodies, minds and
spirits, but a real Unification of the Aquarion can only be obtained with a
Shadow Angel on board, fitting the scheme of the divine element necessary
into order to achieve true Unification and completing Aquarion's power.
= Prapti and the Infinity Punch= Yogis are said to develop special powers
called siddhis. One of them is called prapti and with this siddhi, the perfect
mystic yogi can not only touch the moon, but he can extend his hand anywhere and
take whatever he likes. In the series, the Solar Aquarion's Infinity Punch
manages to reach the moon, although the real prapti should not involve greatly
elongated arms, but rather the ability to cancel distances between objects. In
this sense, the real prapti in the show is perhaps used by Gen Fudo, who makes
things appear out of nothing from his hand. It is worth noting another siddhi
called Mahima is the ability to become incredibly big; this may be referenced
to the Aquarion's ability to expand itself in size during particular battles
with the Cherubim. = Apollonius=
The character Apollonius is a passing nod to Greek mythology. Seemingly
inspired by Apollo, the Greek god of light and Prometheus, who gave fire to
humans and was punished by Zeus by having an eagle feast on his liver.
Similarly, Apollonius is a Shadow Angel who seems to have light-like powers and
gives the humans a fighting chance against the Shadow Angels with the
Aquarion, but loses his wings as punishment from the other Shadow Angels.
Like Apollonius of Tyana, Aquarion's Apollonius dies and is believed to be
reincarnated as the protagonist Apollo, while the Greek god Apollo is stated to
have been born in the bank of a lake, Aquarion's Apollo is given his name
after he swims in a lake. = The Tree of Life=
Atlandia's Tree of Life took on two roles throughout the series. It is
basically a large pile of multicolored flowers. The arrangement of the flowers
at the end of the top central flowering portion can be easily seen forming the
ten interconnecting nodes of the Sephirot from Hebrew Bible/Christianity,
only that the flower at the top middle center of this arrangement, the spot
that is supposed to symbolize the unity of the nodes, is absent. The tree's
first role was made by the Shadow Angels to use it to restart the Shadow Angel
race. The second role was its original role and was a similar function to its
name, it literally contained the entire planet's life force. Because of this, if
that force was unleashed as a power such as to give birth to a race of species,
the planet would become lifeless and the tree would die, causing its remains to
fall to the Earth's core and make the planet fall apart. This was something
the Shadow Angels, who had possession of and took care of the tree, oddly did not
know. Theme music
Opening songs "Genesis of Aquarion" by Akino
"Go Tight!" by Akino Ending songs
"Omna Magni" by Yui Makino "Kōya no Heath" by Akino
"Celiane" by Gabriela Robin Other themes
"Nike 15-sai" by Akino "Genesis of Aquarion" by Akino
Yoko Kanno is the composer of the soundtrack music. Performed by the
Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra. Other appearances
Genesis of Aquarion made its video game debut in the Sony PlayStation 2 game
Super Robot Wars Z. It has also appeared in the PlayStation 3 game Another
Century's Episode R and the PSP game 2nd Super Robot Wars Z.
Reception In The United States of America, Genesis
of Aquarion has been praised for its excellent mecha designs, musical score
and animation style. The story, however, has mixed reviews. AnimeonDVD, and Anime
News Network has rated the series overall a C+, claiming that Aquarion
tries to please everyone with the different elements that are reminiscent
of other series, and fails to establish its own identity.
References External links
Sousei no Aquarion Official Site FUNimation's Official Aquarion website
Sousei no Aquarion at Anime News Network's encyclopedia