Genesis of Aquarion

Plot

Twelve thousand years in the past, mankind was at mercy of the mythical creatures known as Shadow Angels (堕天翅, Datenshi), 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 (アクエリオン, Akuerion).

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 (アトランディア, Atorandia) 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 (プラーナ, purāna, life force) from the harvested humans not only to serve energy and nutrition to them, but also to feed the legendary Tree of Life (生命の樹, Seimei no Ki). The Shadow Angels facilitate their harvesting via giant, floating harvesting machines called harvest beasts (収穫獣, shūkakujū) which are guarded by giant mecha called Cherubim Soldiers (ケルビム兵, Kerubimu Hei). 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 (ディーバ, Dība, Division of EArth Vitalization Advancement) takes over the research of these machines, called Vectors (ベクター, Bekutā), 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 (ベクタールナ, Bekutā Runa), the blue Vector Mars (ベクターマーズ, Bekutā Māzu), and the red Vector Sol (ベクターソル, Bekutā Soru). DEAVA discovers only people with special powers called Elements (エレメント, Eremento) 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.

Theme music

1. "Genesis of Aquarion" (創聖のアクエリオン, Sousei no Aquarion) by Akino (Episodes 1-17)
2. "Go Tight!" by Akino (Episode 18-26)

1. "Omna Magni" (オムナ マグニ, "I Can Fly") by Yui Makino
2. "Kōya no Heath" (荒野のヒース, "The Heath of the Wasteland") by Akino
3. "Celiane" by Gabriela Robin

Yoko Kanno is the composer of the soundtrack music. Performed by the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra.

Other appearances

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.