Background Information

Aquarion (Sousei no Aquarion) is an anime series directed by Shoji Kawamori in 2005.Set in the future, a giant humanoid machine called Aquarion is humanity's last hope against mysterious force of Shadow Angels. It plays many homages to the old 70s super robot shows while using modern animation techniques.

Aside from the first series there's a two episodes long OVA (Aquarion: Wings of Betrayal) which is an alternate retelling of the original story. Recently, there's also a new ongoing series called Aquarion EVOL that takes place 12,000 years after the original series' ending.

Plot Introduction

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, Apolonius, fell in love with a female human warrior, Seliane. Apolonius 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, a disaster only referred to as the "Great Catastrophe" devastated 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 to extract their prana (life force). The harvested humans not only to serve as energy and nutrition to the Shadow Angels, but also to feed the legendary Tree of Life. The Shadow Angels raid human cities from a different dimension, using giant floating Harvest Beasts to facilitate their harvest. The Harvest Beasts are protected by giant doll-like machines called Cherubim. They're available in various shapes and form the backbone of the Shadow Angels' army.

Ordinary weapons prove ineffective against the Cherubim, but a human expedition under the leadership of Gen Fudou eventually excavates three very technologically advanced fighter planes, and an organization called DEAVA (Division of Earth Vitalization Advancement) takes over the research of these machines, called Vectors, trying to identify how to use them. 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 millenia 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 15 year-old Apollo, who seems to be the reincarnation of Apollonius. They become convinced of this when he single-handedly unites the Vectors into the Solar Aquarion formation and defeats the enemy, thus recruiting him to join their ranks.

Standing in the Battledome

Aquarion is a rather strong verse. The titular mecha has massively hypersonic and city busting feats with a number of machines and characters holding their own against it.

Aside from raw power, the verse has a lot of hax. Groups of fodder Cherubim are capable of hypnotizing an entire city. Shadow Angels have various magic powers ranging from telepathy, telekinesis, intangibility, and even reality warping.

Aquarion (the mecha) is no slouch either as it's like a walking Deus Ex machina, continuously developing new powers in each battle.

Special mention goes to Aquarion's final form that managed to prevent the entire Earth from falling apart.

Character Profiles

• Gen Fudou
• Toma
• Titania

Mecha Profiles

• Aquarion
• Aquarion EVOL
• Assault Type Aquarion
• Cherubim Iskuron
• Cherubim Lune
• Cherubim Mars
• Cherubim Soldier
• Cherubim Verizeva
• Kumba and Nikumba
• Vector

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