In the decade-plus I’ve been running LiA, I’m not sure I ever covered a series wire-to-wire that got less interaction than Sousei no Aquarion: Myth of Emotions. Which is certainly fine – blogging a series (or not) is a choice I make entirely on my own. It’s not as if I was wowed by this thing, and I do get why it isn’t more popular (I have no idea how Japanese mecha/Aquarion fans have reacted to it). It has it’s flaws, to be sure. But on the whole I think it brings a lot to the table, and deserves more attention that it’s gotten.
Sincerity counts for a lot with me in anime terms. Especially with flat-out genre shows. And even more so with mecha for some reason. To an extent a series being kind of sloppy in terms of writing and production has a certain charm to it in this realm. I also think this is a case where not having the baggage of a serious mecha fan worked to my advantage. I was able to focus on the things MoE was (well-written, unpretentious) and not on all the boxes it didn’t check.
I certainly didn’t understand everything in the plot, but I kind of defy anybody to do that. And a certain incomprehensibility is part and parcel of the mecha experience. There are a lot of very traditional mecha elements here, and the ending is no exception. We get a reveal that the HAKOBUNE is actually an ark for AI copies of those privileged few who have “tickets”. And the Staff of Zeus will basically “turn the surface of Earth into Hell”, which is a price the ticket-holding illuminati are wiling to pay if it means the whole universe not getting cancelled.
From there it gets a little fuzzy to be honest, but the power of love is the ultimate weapon. I think the alternate timelines versions of the main cast are supposedly from “between” universes”, existing in their own space. And they keep getting reborn in a sort of Buddhist perpetual cycle of rebirth, always causing the destruction of universes. Until DEAVA brings them all together in this one, which of course winds up blowing up in its face. Momohime is the key – she has a plan to prevent the universes from combining, with the help of Sakko and Aquarion.
On the ground Munetaka-sensei, the vice-principal, Palpatoshi and Kamisama (also reborn from that other timeline) set about shutting down on the terrestrial computers and turning DEAVA back into a normal von Nuemann computer. Which goes well until DEAVA reveals that it saved a local copy of itself, which proceeds to kill Momohime right after Sakko had rescued her. But Palpatoshi manages to delete that too, and Sakko prepares for the ultimate gattai – “Super Transcendent Infinite Universal Correction Punch“. The gattai to stop the gattai. And in the process declares his undying love for Momohime, which she will happily remind him of later when she’s alive again.
And that’s that. Sun has a role in this too (I’m not clear on exactly what that is TBH) and then goes to sleep until the next time he’s needed. In this after-universe it seems as if the children have their wings again – they certainly have their missing emotions. In fact it’s pretty darn close to a happy ending across the board (apart from Sun and from Sayo not coming back) which is a real rarity for mecha series. I’m more than satisfied, and glad I watched. Flaws and all Aquarion MoE was a lot of fun and genuinely interesting and well-written. My priorities for this sort of show are probably different from most viewers, but they were certainly met to a quite satisfying degree.
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