AQUARION COLLECTION TWO
January 1st 2010 17:17
Category: Videos
Original creators: Shoji Kawamori & Satelight
Director: Shoji Kawamori
Screenplay by: Shoji Kawamori et al
Producers: Iwazaki Atsushi, Minegishi Takuo, Hattori Hiroyuki, Satoyoshi Jun & Kasia Tsutomu
Starring: Christopher Bevins (Apollo), Brina Palencia (Silvia), Z Charles Bolton (Baron), Brandon Potter (Fudo), Eric Vale (Sirius), Colleen Clinkenbeard (Reika), Mick McFarland (Glen), Carrie Savage (Rena), Justin Cook (Kurt), Caitlin Glass (Chloe), Stephanie Young (Sophia), Travis Willingham (Pierre), Laura Bailey (Tsugumi), Todd Haberkorn (Jun), Monica Rial (Otoha) & J Michael Tatum (Touma)
English Language Version by: FUNimation Productions
Released by: Madman Entertainment
Running Time: 325 minutes Rating: M
The clangour of steel rings out across the heavens, the very fate of all existence is in the hands of a few select individuals and at the darkest moment it seems as if all is very much teetering on a precarious precipice. Friends become enemies, old wounds from literal ages ago are reopened, secrets that have plumbed things that should not be delved into are revealed and a pall of tragedy and betrayal hangs over all. Getting rather melodramatic here wouldn’t you say? Still it has to be said that the second and concluding volume in the Aquarion saga is very much a melodramatic conclusion to an epic series. This is not your usual run of the mill mecha anime and the creators behind the series have used the old Spinal Tap aphorism and turned it all the way up to eleven.
For those of you who have not seen the first section of the series I shall give you a brief rundown on what has occurred before hand, so to speak. Twelve thousand years ago a group of beings called Shadow Angels ruled the world and harvested humans for an energy known as prana just as humans might harvest a field of wheat or a vine of grapes. Called wingless ones humanity was seen as being little more than beasts whose sole purpose was to provide prana to their Shadow Angel overlords. Humans being what they are naturally took some serious umbrage at this particular state of affairs to say the least and decided to do something about it, something that would involve considerable fighting and violence.
Enter Deava and Aqaurion. Deava is the organisation responsible for the training of those known as elements, individuals with unique abilities and the characteristics necessary to pilot the vector machines that comprise the mecha Aquarion. This mecha is formed when the three vector machines, Sol, Luna and Mars all merge into a single entity and thus the whole is greater than is various parts. This unique mecha was the creation of Apollonius and with it the humans of twelve thousand years ago managed to turn the tables on their foes. Found once again by the mysterious and somewhat lateral acting Commander Fudo Aquarion has become the means by which once again humanity shall take the fight to the Shadow Angels.
Cracks are starting to show in the Deava facility, amongst its element members and amongst the command staff in charge of its overall mission. It seems that in the shadows certain agencies are conducting experiments into fusing an element with a Shadow Angel in order to create what can only be called a military version of Aquarion. Black and gunmetal grey this particular Aquarion prototype requires only a single human pilot, one who has been fused with the genetic structure of a shadow angel, an almost unholy fusing one would expect. Needs must is probably the rationale, and when the Deava team manage to actually capture a live shadow angel then it was only a matter of time for various authorities to embark on a dark agenda. It’s kind of chilling to watch the hapless Shadow Angel imprisoned and exposed to an implied enforced surgical dissection.
The new model Aquarion thus is the creation of dark practices and its appearance echoes its sinister and somewhat gruesome origins. Still having said that this particular incarnation of the mecha looks a lot more like the traditional mecha found in similar anime series, it has some serious firepower; in fact it’s the first Aquarion to actually have things like big chunky particle accelerator cannons, mass drivers and missiles, lots of missiles. And with any good black operations program there is more than just one of them, there is what looks at least to be a good thirty or so military vectors ready to deal out ‘righteous’ carnage on the enemy.
Marching onto the abode of the Shadow Angels like a relentless horde the military Aquarions end up playing second fiddle when all is said and done, it is not these weapons of the New United Nations military that will determine affairs but the original Aquarion and the elements who are piloting it, three souls who merge to be one will seek to reconcile affairs and hopefully prevent the very end of all life on the face of the planet. Gripping stuff I have to say, and when the dust finally settled on things I have to say I had a tear in my eye, although that could have been a result of the eye drops I’ve been taking due to my recent surgery. Still I have to say I didn’t expect to come across this particular volume, still in the Boxing Day shopping extravaganza sometimes amidst all the chaos and frenzy and present returning you can come across a gem, a treasure, and that’s what I gained when I picked up this item. Tight taut storytelling filled with drama, pathos, humour and superb animation, definitely a must see if you like full on, edge of your seat mecha anime…GO AQUARION!
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