Sometimes we get a series that genuinely surprises us with its premiere. It can be fleeting – often I get wrapped up in one of those out of the blue shows that starts well and quickly lose interest. Some seasons don’t have even one of them, so I really appreciate them when they happen. And Sousei no Aquarion: Myth of Emotions is definitely one of them. I did preview this so I saw something in it. I suppose it was mostly how out of the blue a new Aquarion show was that piqued my interest. But frankly, I went into this premiere not expecting that much.
To preface: I know so little about Aquarion as to effectively go in completely cold. I know it’s in effect to Satelight what Gundam is to Sunrise, albeit much less commercially successful. I know it was created by Kawamori Shouji, one of the titans of mecha anime. I know a little about the mythology now (the 12,000 years ago, Shadow Angels thing) only because this episode intrigued me enough to look it up. What’s the hook with Aquarion – what’s its trademark as compared to other mecha franchises? Frankly I have no idea. And I assume it’s going to more or less follow the tropes of the genre, because as unorthodox as it looks, this premiere puts Myth of Emotions solidly on track to do just that.
I guess I should also say that I’m not a huge mecha fan to begin with, so even the above context is kind of skin deep. But we’ve got kids forced to go to battle way too young to save mankind. We have the whole gattai thing (in Aquarion’s case I guess three is the magic number). We have an existential threat to humanity, this time before we emigrate out to the stars. It’s set in plain old Enoshima in fact, a charmingly quirky tourist trap of an island across a spit from Kamakura (and the place where Tsuritama, among other anime, was set).
The trio here are all boys, which is the old-fashioned approach I guess, all about 13 which seems to be the magic age with this mythology. First among equals is Ootori Sakko (played by Hanamori Yumiri channeling Ise Mariya). He’s a bit of a scamp with a heart of gold. Then we have Tsukishiro Rimiya (Kouichi Makoto), a little brash and combative. And finally Hatano Toshi (Toyosaki Aki), a somewhat timid bookworm. They’re selected for the “Elements Class” (read, sacrificial lambs) in the special school they attend. There’s a girl too, Ichiki Sayo (Kohara Konomi), but we meet the others while they’re attending her funeral and she seems to pop in and out of existence at will. And she’s not currently piloting anything.
All four actresses do a really nice job here, especially the three playing the boys – they really capture their individual personalities in this weird situation in an unusually authentic way. The school seems to be taking orders from DEAVA, which I initially thought was an entity (like an AI) but seems to be an organization. The “principal” is some kind of Kyuubey-like creature. Sayo implies that all four children were around 12,000 years earlier (even I now know that’s when the original invasion in Aquarion took place). And that parts or all of their hearts are missing, though I’m not sure if that’s meant literally.
The boys are supposed to be in training – they’re not told for what but it’s obvious to the viewer. But when an actual “crack” opens and one of the mythical creatures they’re being trained to fight actually shows up, in the manner of pubescent pilots since mecha time immemorial they’re sent off to fight (and probably die) way too soon. This all sounds pretty rote, but it’s quite interesting – it has an edge to it that I wasn’t expecting, and the characters are quite engaging. What I didn’t realize going in was that Myth of Emotions is being written by Murai Sadayuki, who’s a real industry stalwart and generally quite good at what he does.
There are other things going on that make this show more interesting than expected. The music is excellent, and we even have a Kanno Yoko-penned ED (a tradition with Aquarion, I believe). And the look of the series is obviously pretty distinctive. It’s very Satelight in its way, but I don’t think any of the earlier Aquarion incarnations had an art style anything like it. This could all blow away in a stiff breeze at any time, experience tells me that – but for now I’m definitely intrigued by Sousei no Aquarion: Myth of Emotions and anxious to see where it goes from here.
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