A grim and emotional anime with Poké-kids and garish mecha? After watching the PV, I didn’t expect Aquarion: Myth of Emotion to be anything but trash. In fact, I’m pretty sure it is trash. But it’s the sort of trash that’s worth digging through. Like the dumpster in which your newly married neighbor dumped his lewd anime figure collection.
Before we dive into this dumpster, I admit that Aquarion: Myth of Emotion left me confused and alone. Well, feeling more confused than alone. The rest of the internet is, seemingly, just as confuzzled. A few reasons for this confusion exist — which we’ll unpack — but don’t get the wobbles and avoid this show because it’s the weird kid. Instead, read on and arm yourself with the knowledge you need to interpret this moe addition to Genesis of Aquarion. Because it’s the emo kid. It has layers!
Launch Synopsis Scanner!
Middle school students Sakko Ōtori (voiced by dakimakura-waving Yumiri Hanamori), Rimiya Tsukishiro (voiced by Makoto Koichi, who played Sumika Chibana in Yuri is My Job), and Toshi Hatano (voiced by Aki Toyosaki) are assigned to the superior “Elements Class” of their prestigious space school, Enoshima Academy. It’s not what they have that sets them apart. It’s the emotions they’re missing.
“Class Cannon Fodder” has the task of secretly fighting dimension-hopping monsters using transforming Vector Machines. These sweet rides can combine to form the legendary giant robot Aquarion.
Sounds like a relatively straightforward mecha show, right? The show starts out after the apparent suicide of Sayo Ichiki (voiced by Konomi Kohara, who voices Ulmandra in Headhunted to Another World: From Salaryman to Big Four!). Our living dead girl (Rob would be proud) soon shows up to join Team Dead Meat, along with green-haired love interest Momohime Amaha (voiced by Azumi Waki, who played Special Week in Uma Musume Pretty Derby). Reincarnation, mecha, and feelings. Aquarion: Myth of Emotion (or Sousei no Aquarion: Myth of Emotions) has it all.
The Wiki Dive Is Wild and Wonderful
I love it when a new anime series sends me to Wikipedia to figure out the “true facts.” And Aquarion: Myth of Emotion is full of factoids for fact-finders like me. So, class, sit back and enjoy a quickfire info dump to prepare you for the show.
Fact Barrage
- Nash Equilibrium is a game theory term used to define a state in a multiplayer game where no player can improve their expected outcome by changing their strategy. E.g., the later stages of any tic-tac-toe game.
- A Pareto optimum is a state one cannot improve without worsening someone else’s situation. For example — If everyone has a kawaii Fern figure, the solution is Pareto-efficient because the only way to improve things for one collector is to take a Fern figure from one of them and give it to another. See? You can learn complicated social science concepts with hot anime collectibles!
- The Naacal people are the fictional missionaries of Mayan beliefs and sciences. Although the British American archaeologist Augustus Le Plongeon’s claims that they were real had faced heavy criticism, the Naacal have lived on in the works of pulp writers like H. P. Lovecraft, Lin Carter, and L. Sprague de Camp. Three men who all had a hand in fleshing out Robert E. Howard’s Conan.
- The Mandela effect describes false memories recalled by a large group of people. Named after the South African anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela since many people reported memories of him dying in prison in the ’80s. In fact, he died in his home in 2013 at the age of 95. We have a long list of disappointing anime we wished were Mandela effects.
- Ru and Hina are supernatural entities from the mythos of Māui and Tahiti. In one story, they are brother and sister and discover the islands of Tahiti.
- Tir (ᛏ), Siegel (ᛋ) (or Sigel), and Feoh (ᚠ) are the names of Anglo-Saxon runes. In the Aquarion: Myth of Emotion, they are the names of the Vector Machines. So much cooler than X-wings, B-wings, and Y-wings!
This list has only a few interesting things you can learn if you’re ready to pause and google terms. All the occult lore should give you a clear idea of the themes in Aquarion: Myth of Emotion.
Aquarion: the Franchise of Four
Aquarion: Myth of Emotion is the fourth installment in the twenty-year-old Aquarion franchise. If you’re new to the story, you can enjoy the new season with the promise that there’s much more to experience while your hype is up. And there are some amazing toys to try and collect. If you want to find out about Genesis of Aquarion (2005), Aquarion Evol (2012), or Aquarion Logos (2015), then our own Kasaix has you covered with a look at Aquarion: Myth of Emotion’s past.
And check out these Genesis of Aquarion action figures with all their fiddly bits. Who needs finger fidget toys if you have these! Also, the clicky-clicky ASMR is surprisingly soothing!
Japanese Tourism Starts Here
Also, Aquarion: Myth of Emotion is set in real-world Enoshima Island, from which you can see Mount Fuji (on a clear day). Tourism anime is great because it teaches us all sorts of weird facts. And, if you’ve been to where the anime is set, you get the warm fuzzy “I’ve been there” feelings. I get those feelings whenever I watch Dandadan or You Don’t Know Gunma Yet and remember my home away from home, Gunma.
Unfortunately, I had other reasons to go fact-finding.
Let’s Talk About Aquarion and Art
Aquarion’s art impressed me, confused me, and disturbed me. The problem is that some of its art is exquisite, the character designs are reminiscent of Splatoon, and the CGI mecha are cool but dazzling. And none of it ever forms a cohesive whole. Furthermore, the cute design of the Poké-kids is jarring with its themes of suicide and time-jump death.
So, I went fact-finding to understand modernism and postmodernism. I wanted to determine if the dissonance was an artistic choice by studio Satelight. It might be. But I don’t feel I’ve figured out Aquarion: Myth of Emotion. If that’s the point, then Satelight is a clever girl. You got me!
The Ratings Are In!
If not, Aquarion: Myth of Emotion will appear to audiences like a sloppy mishmash of disconnected parts. I’m sure this is why aggregate rating sites like IMDb give the series a poor rating (a 4/10 for IMDb, 5.47 for MAL, and 2.3/5 for Crunchyroll at the time of writing).
Cult movies are often too creative for general audiences. They flounder at the box office but pick up a following when the few who understand them evangelize the show to others. That might be the case here, that Aquarion: Myth of Emotion needs an intermediary to bring audiences in.
I’d love to be that guy and help you get into the show, but I don’t get it either.
Weird but Watchable?
I’d love Aquarion: Myth of Emotion to include the raw, emotive animation style of Dandadan that reminds me that living, breathing humans made it. I’d also love to see mecha launches and transformations that make your balls drop. Or battle scenes that remind me of how excited I was watching BattleTech as a kid. Aquarion had heaps of potential.
But it’s not our job to tell the producers what we want. That duty rests with Satelight. Make it, and if audiences eat it up and cry, “More please, Sir!” then you’ve hit your mark. If we’re left scratching our heads, then the show’s a marketing flop. Can a marketing flop still be an entertaining watch? Sure, it can. Every cult classic is proof of that.
Studios Satelight and Canna Japan produced Aquarion: Myth of Emotion under directors Kenji Itoso and Hidetake Uchida. Sadayuki Murai wrote the show, and Takashi Ohmama and Shu Kanematsu created the music. Aquarion: Myth of Emotion has an official X/Twitter account, mostly Japanese content.
Aquarion: Myth of Emotion streams on Crunchyroll with several subtitles for you to choose from. The show earns a cool three on the Chibi Megumi Meter. Give it a try and see if it sticks.
Have you been watching Aquarion: Myth of Emotion? How about other Genesis of Aquarion shows? And who is your favorite living dead anime girl? Tell us in the comments so that other readers can have a heated argument with you.
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