Sousei no Aquarion.

[Retracting Head Ter Ter]

Who slipped the elephant juice into Kawamori-san's sake huh?

The mecha designs are CRAP! They look like the love child of beyblade who got buggered by a virtual-on robot.....BLEAH!!!! Whats with the psychedelic colours huh? Too many drags on the bong?

I can't believe the Holy Froating Head, the same person who designed the VF-1 is the same person doing this crap!

Edited March 17, 2005 by Retracting Head Ter Ter

[ogami]

Don't jump to conclusion when you haven't watch one single ep yet...

[UN Spacy]

Don't jump to conclusion when you haven't watch one single ep yet...

Agreed.

[wolfx]

Don't jump to conclusion when you haven't watch one single ep yet...

Agreed.

Not to mention there's already 2 threads for Aquerion and you've missed the designs by a few months.

[Final Vegeta]

Actually, I am beginning to love them. Well, the Solar still looks strange (even if it has its style), but the Lunar and the Mars are quite good even though I would have liked more blending to cover gattai gimmicks.

Beside this, the music in the trailer sounds awesome.

FV

[Guest Bromgrev]

I have to say - nice ...

[Father Jack]

I think they look pretty cool.

[chrono]

Well at first I was intally 'bleh! it's another BIG ROBO anime'. But the designs tend to grow on you and the 3D is pretty damned good looken!

I'm a story whore though, so that's all I'm interested in.

[Effect]

That looks really good. It reminds me of Rahxphon and the mecha from Full Metal Panic in some ways.

[JELEINEN]

I like the chara designs. Story is what will decide it for me as well.

[Effect]

When is this suppose to be finally airing anyway?

Edited March 17, 2005 by Effect

[bandit29]

The video game is coming from the designer of Robotech? ugh...ah it never ends does it, for us Macross fans...

The show starts on April 4th according to the article.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/03/15/news_6120473.html

New anime series from the designer of Robotech and Sony's Aibo will be released as a game June 30.

TOKYO--Bandai today announced a new science fiction anime series titled Aquarion, which will begin airing in Japan on April 4. The anime will also be making its way to the PlayStation 2 as an action game.

Aquarion will be an anime directed by Shouji Kawamori. The general public may not know Kawamori by name, but anime fans know him as the machine designer for classic hit titles such as the Macross (Robotech) and Cyber Formula series. In addition to working on the two series, Kawamori was also the designer of Sony's mechanized canine, Aibo. Also joining the Aquarion development team is music composer Yoko Kanno, whose work has appeared in Koei games as well as anime titles such as Cowboy Bebop.

Aquarion takes place in a postapocalyptic world where two-thirds of the human population has perished from a catastrophic incident that took place 11 years before the game's story. Mankind is now facing a new challenge, as mysterious winged beings called the Datenshi-zoku (the Fallen Angels) have appeared out of the melting ice in the South Pole. The Datenshi-zoku capture people and feed on their life energy, but civilization counters with three fighter jets called the vector machines, which supposedly defeated the Datenshi-zoku in a battle 12,000 years ago. The vector machines can transform into robots named Aquarion, but they require youths with innocent souls and extraordinary senses as their pilots. Aquarion's story rotates around the youngsters that have been recruited to fly the machines in order to save mankind.

Little detail has been released about Aquarion on the PS2. Only that it will play as a mission-based 3D action game where gamers take the role of the Aquarion pilots and control the mechanized warriors from a third-person perspective. The game is slated for release on June 30 at the price of 7,140 yen ($68).

By Hirohiko Niizumi -- GameSpot

EDIT: Fixed for the retarded.

Edited March 17, 2005 by dejr8bud

[ogami]

The video game is coming from the designer of Robotech ugh...ah it never ends does it, for us Macross fans...

The show starts on April 4th according to the article.

Aquarion will be an anime directed by Shouji Kawamori. The general public may not know Kawamori by name, but anime fans know him as the machine designer for classic hit titles such as the Macross (Robotech) and Cyber Formula series.

What the hell are you talking about???

VFs are designed by Shouji Kawamori, the great "God" of Macross, not Robotech...

HG bought his Macross TV version design and messing with it...

He has nothing to do with Robotech... In fact, he doesn't like Robotech.

Edited March 17, 2005 by ogami

[bandit29]

The video game is coming from the designer of Robotech ugh...ah it never ends does it, for us Macross fans...

The show starts on April 4th according to the article.

Aquarion will be an anime directed by Shouji Kawamori. The general public may not know Kawamori by name, but anime fans know him as the machine designer for classic hit titles such as the Macross (Robotech) and Cyber Formula series.

What the hell are you talking about???

VFs are designed by Shouji Kawamori, the great "God" of Macross, not Robotech...

HG bought his Macross TV version design and messing with it...

He has nothing to do with Robotech... In fact, he doesn't like Robotech.

I didn't write the article. I just didn't put quotes around it. Learn to read.

[bandit29]

Another article with pics of the PS2 game

http://ps2.ign.com/articles/596/596749p1.html

Bandai Announces Sousei Aquarion Game

Based off the new anime from the director of the Macross/Robotech.

by Anoop Gantayat

March 16, 2005 - A big new Japanese anime (or, as they call it in Japan, anime) is about to hit the airwaves across the Pacific. Starting April 4, and continuing every Tuesday morning at 1:00AM (that tends to be a big time for anime in Japan), Media Factory, Bandai, Touhoku Shinsha and DY Media will begin airing their new collaboration, Sousei Aquarion. The series will run 26 episodes and should get a lot of attention, considering it's being directed by Shouji Kawamori, who's well known for his work on Macross (which came to America as Robotech).

Sousei Aquarion is set in the near future when, due to some strange happenings, the Earth's population has shrunk down to two-thirds its current level. The Antarctic melts due to a great calamity, revealing the lost city of Atlantis, and a group of winged creatures who eat human beings for energy. Mankind manages to find three special "hybrid war machines" under water, which they find can counter the attacks. The three machines can group together into the legendary mechanical angel, Aquarion. As one would expect, these machines require young pilots, in this case about 10 years of age.

Where there are robots, young heroes and heroines, animation and Bandai, there's bound to be a game, and that's why this story is being run on IGNPS2. Bandai has already announced a videogame version of Sousei Aquarion. Operating under the same title as the animation, this Sting-developed 3D action game is being prepared for the PS2 for release on 6/30. Players will be able to play from three different perspectives as they clear missions that are based on the source material. Of course, all the merging/transformations from the anime will feature in the game.

Be sure and check out the first screens of the Sousei Aquarion game in the media section. Neither the anime nor the game have been announced for stateside release at this time.

[JELEINEN]

I didn't write the article. I just didn't put quotes around it. Learn to read.

You forget, this is the internet. Literacy is rarer here than your average preschool.

[Project Phoenix]

All we need now is HG to come out and claim Aquarion's license then brutally rape it to something call "Robotech: 9000" or something.

Yeah, since it has transforming mechas, HG could sell super-posables or Masterpiece collections with it.

[Graham]

Quite like some of the character designs and as the music is by Yoko (Macross Plus) kanno, it's bound to be good.

I'm really not liking the mecha designs at all though. But that's just me. I've always preferred more realistic looking military style mecha like in Macross, Armored Core, Blue Gender, Gasaraki etc rather than the more unreallistic and sillier looking (IMO) Super robots like the Evas, Getter, Giant Robo etc. And as I mentioned in another thread, the Samurai style helmets on a couple of the Aqarion mecha reallly bug me.

And isn't it about time to give a rest to that 40 year old cliche that super mecha can only be piloted by young kids. And of course you just know the kids are going to be full of angst!

Honestly speaking if I have to watch one more anime where the only person who can save the world is an angst ridden young teenager, that has issues with his parents, and who unwittingly becomes a pilot of a super robot, I'm going to scream.

I'll give this series a chance when it comes out, but I'm not too hopeful.

Graham

[Aegis!]

Quite like some of the character designs and as the music is by Yoko (Macross Plus) kanno, it's bound to be good.

I'm really not liking the mecha designs at all though. But that's just me. I've always preferred more realistic looking military style mecha like in Macross, Armored Core, Blue Gender, Gasaraki etc rather than the more unreallistic and sillier looking (IMO) Super robots like the Evas, Getter, Giant Robo etc. And as I mentioned in another thread, the Samurai style helmets on a couple of the Aqarion mecha reallly bug me.

And isn't it about time to give a rest to that 40 year old cliche that super mecha can only be piloted by young kids. And of course you just know the kids are going to be full of angst!

Honestly speaking if I have to watch one more anime where the only person who can save the world is an angst ridden young teenager, that has issues with his parents, and who unwittingly becomes a pilot of a super robot, I'm going to scream.

I'll give this series a chance when it comes out, but I'm not too hopeful.

Graham

hahahahaha , I´ve gotta agree totally with you there.

I´m getting sick and tired of watching the same old ¨young geezer with angst attitude gets the cool mecha¨stereotype. Really , it´s not enough we have to deal with the same Gundam designs year after year after year ( you get the idea ) , but we also have to deal with Shinji´s bastard clones ?

Anyway , I´m really exited about this series ,for starters it´s got Kawamori and Yoko Kanno working on it so it has some degree of potential. It´s has that epic-storytelling feel to it so it really gets my attention , I´m just waiting to see what the story will present.

As for the mechas , well , it´s Armored Cored-ish so it´s fine with me. They´re original by any means but at least they´re pleasing to the eye.

Edited March 18, 2005 by Aegis!

[wolfx]

Bear in mind that the mecha-anime market, (inclusive of super robo anime) are generally targetted at kids in Japan. There are alot of non-kid-pilot series but ironically, its always the kid-pilot ones that make it big and become more well-known.

[Smiley424]

Quite like some of the character designs and as the music is by Yoko (Macross Plus) kanno, it's bound to be good.

I'm really not liking the mecha designs at all though. But that's just me. I've always preferred more realistic looking military style mecha like in Macross, Armored Core, Blue Gender, Gasaraki etc rather than the more unreallistic and sillier looking (IMO) Super robots like the Evas, Getter, Giant Robo etc. And as I mentioned in another thread, the Samurai style helmets on a couple of the Aqarion mecha reallly bug me.

And isn't it about time to give a rest to that 40 year old cliche that super mecha can only be piloted by young kids. And of course you just know the kids are going to be full of angst!

Honestly speaking if I have to watch one more anime where the only person who can save the world is an angst ridden young teenager, that has issues with his parents, and who unwittingly becomes a pilot of a super robot, I'm going to scream.

I'll give this series a chance when it comes out, but I'm not too hopeful.

Graham

It's all about giving young kids attainable goals today . Kids will think that if they hate their parents and are full of angst, one day the gov't or some secret organization will give them a giant robot to pilot and save the world . Anyway, I still think this a crutch that is holding back anime and keeping it stereotyped as childish and kiddie

Side note, the mecha designs I find interesting and I'm a sucker for combining robots into bigger robots, so I'll see where this series goes.

[Guest Bromgrev]

I'm really not liking the mecha designs at all though. But that's just me. I've always preferred more realistic looking military style mecha like in Macross, Armored Core, Blue Gender, Gasaraki etc rather than the more unreallistic and sillier looking (IMO) Super robots like the Evas, Getter, Giant Robo etc. And as I mentioned in another thread, the Samurai style helmets on a couple of the Aqarion mecha reallly bug me.

And isn't it about time to give a rest to that 40 year old cliche that super mecha can only be piloted by young kids. And of course you just know the kids are going to be full of angst!

Honestly speaking if I have to watch one more anime where the only person who can save the world is an angst ridden young teenager, that has issues with his parents, and who unwittingly becomes a pilot of a super robot, I'm going to scream.

I'll give this series a chance when it comes out, but I'm not too hopeful.

Graham

And I've just bought 5 Evas and the Thirteenth Angel ...

True about the kiddie pilots, but I guess we're stuck with those. In fact, I can (dimly) remember when I was one of those kids who identified with the teenage heroes ...

[Wes]

The video game is coming from the designer of Robotech? ugh...ah it never ends does it, for us Macross fans...

The show starts on April 4th according to the article.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/03/15/news_6120473.html

New anime series from the designer of Robotech and Sony's Aibo will be released as a game June 30.

TOKYO--Bandai today announced a new science fiction anime series titled Aquarion, which will begin airing in Japan on April 4. The anime will also be making its way to the PlayStation 2 as an action game.

Aquarion will be an anime directed by Shouji Kawamori. The general public may not know Kawamori by name, but anime fans know him as the machine designer for classic hit titles such as the Macross (Robotech) and Cyber Formula series. In addition to working on the two series, Kawamori was also the designer of Sony's mechanized canine, Aibo. Also joining the Aquarion development team is music composer Yoko Kanno, whose work has appeared in Koei games as well as anime titles such as Cowboy Bebop.

Aquarion takes place in a postapocalyptic world where two-thirds of the human population has perished from a catastrophic incident that took place 11 years before the game's story. Mankind is now facing a new challenge, as mysterious winged beings called the Datenshi-zoku (the Fallen Angels) have appeared out of the melting ice in the South Pole. The Datenshi-zoku capture people and feed on their life energy, but civilization counters with three fighter jets called the vector machines, which supposedly defeated the Datenshi-zoku in a battle 12,000 years ago. The vector machines can transform into robots named Aquarion, but they require youths with innocent souls and extraordinary senses as their pilots. Aquarion's story rotates around the youngsters that have been recruited to fly the machines in order to save mankind.

Little detail has been released about Aquarion on the PS2. Only that it will play as a mission-based 3D action game where gamers take the role of the Aquarion pilots and control the mechanized warriors from a third-person perspective. The game is slated for release on June 30 at the price of 7,140 yen ($68).

By Hirohiko Niizumi -- GameSpot

EDIT: Fixed for the retarded.

bah, who cares if a Gamespot writer isn't a Macross Purist? All I know is that, being made by Bandai:

No Gundam = Crappy game.

What's Aido? I've never heard of it.

Also, does anyone know who, if anyone is fansubbing this one?

[Mechamaniac]

What bothers me most about Aquarion, and Macross Zero, and Arjuna, all of the recent Kawamori anime is that he just can't stop hugging the phucking trees long enough to give us some decent science fiction!.

Everything has to be about nature, nature, nature.

Kawamori Sama..... WE GET IT ALREADY!! Earth is fragile yadda yadda yadda, ad nauseum.

Next thing you know, he'll be doing an anime about saving the whales. Oh, wait, he already did, it was called Dynamite 7.

How could the guy who gave us the coolest transforming mecha EVER, have slipped into such tree hugging hippiedom?.

Edited March 18, 2005 by Mechamaniac

[Kin]

Lol that mecha got nice armpatches... only he hits himself alot with it

[Renato]

Bear in mind that the mecha-anime market, (inclusive of super robo anime) are generally targetted at kids in Japan. There are alot of non-kid-pilot series but ironically, its always the kid-pilot ones that make it big and become more well-known.

As I said in another Aquarion thread, this one is gonna be shown at around 1am. They could afford to target it towards adults, but it seems they're STILL taking the stupid, cheesy kiddie route.

[bandit29]

The video game is coming from the designer of Robotech?   ugh...ah it never ends does it, for us Macross fans...  

The show starts on April 4th according to the article.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/03/15/news_6120473.html

New anime series from the designer of Robotech and Sony's Aibo will be released as a game June 30.

TOKYO--Bandai today announced a new science fiction anime series titled Aquarion, which will begin airing in Japan on April 4. The anime will also be making its way to the PlayStation 2 as an action game.

Aquarion will be an anime directed by Shouji Kawamori. The general public may not know Kawamori by name, but anime fans know him as the machine designer for classic hit titles such as the Macross (Robotech) and Cyber Formula series. In addition to working on the two series, Kawamori was also the designer of Sony's mechanized canine, Aibo. Also joining the Aquarion development team is music composer Yoko Kanno, whose work has appeared in Koei games as well as anime titles such as Cowboy Bebop.

Aquarion takes place in a postapocalyptic world where two-thirds of the human population has perished from a catastrophic incident that took place 11 years before the game's story. Mankind is now facing a new challenge, as mysterious winged beings called the Datenshi-zoku (the Fallen Angels) have appeared out of the melting ice in the South Pole. The Datenshi-zoku capture people and feed on their life energy, but civilization counters with three fighter jets called the vector machines, which supposedly defeated the Datenshi-zoku in a battle 12,000 years ago. The vector machines can transform into robots named Aquarion, but they require youths with innocent souls and extraordinary senses as their pilots. Aquarion's story rotates around the youngsters that have been recruited to fly the machines in order to save mankind.

Little detail has been released about Aquarion on the PS2. Only that it will play as a mission-based 3D action game where gamers take the role of the Aquarion pilots and control the mechanized warriors from a third-person perspective. The game is slated for release on June 30 at the price of 7,140 yen ($68).

By Hirohiko Niizumi -- GameSpot

EDIT: Fixed for the retarded.

bah, who cares if a Gamespot writer isn't a Macross Purist? All I know is that, being made by Bandai:

No Gundam = Crappy game.

What's Aido? I've never heard of it.

Also, does anyone know who, if anyone is fansubbing this one?

I care. I'm tired of Robotrash. All Bandai games are crap. Even the Gundam ones. This one will probably suck too. IIRC, the Aibo is a virtual pet dog.

I do like the mech designs for this show but like Graham and others said I'm really tired of the young angsty mech pilots. But this show wasn't aimed at me (an almost 31 year old American). Kawamori's "save the Earth" message can get heavy handed sometimes. Why does Kawamori feel so compelled to preach enviromentalism?

I'll give this show a chance though.

[Jemstone]

What bothers me most about Aquarion, and Macross Zero, and Arjuna, all of the recent Kawamori anime is that he just can't stop hugging the phucking trees long enough to give us some decent science fiction!.

Everything has to be about nature, nature, nature.

Kawamori Sama..... WE GET IT ALREADY!! Earth is fragile yadda yadda yadda, ad nauseum.

Next thing you know, he'll be doing an anime about saving the whales. Oh, wait, he already did, it was called Dynamite 7.

How could the guy who gave us the coolest transforming mecha EVER, have slipped into such tree hugging hippiedom?.

Maybe I just read your post wrong but do you have something against environmentalist and that kind of thinking? I sure hope you realize he's not the only one who's had that theme recurrent in his works. I don't see anything wrong with that at all. It's not a bad thing to think of the world's envrionmental future when you consider polution levels. Hayao Miyazaki must be the ultimate tree-hugging hippie to you if it bothers you that much. Alot of writers and artist ahve recurrent themes in their works. This is no different. (I know I've been told I ahev too much death and destruction in mine)

[ogami]

I'll say it again, Don't jump to ANY conclusion when you even haven't watch one single episode yet.

Preaching enviromentalism is a good thing. Do you know how Earth is polluted with our trash... Mr.Kawamori is doing something good.

young mech pilots, this thing started since Maginger Z in the 70's and still in most of the Robot Anime. And, that's where "hot blood" coming from. It is a normal thing.

Edited March 23, 2005 by ogami

[Mercurial Morpheus]

The little I've seen looks good. I wasn't awere of who was making it though. I'll definately be checking this one out.

[Renato]

Saw the first episode of Aquarion last night. Maybe it was because my expectations weren't particularly high, but I thought it was GREAT! ...For the most part.

Animation is top-notch for both the CG and cel art -- blows the hell out of Macross Zero in terms of cel-animation: smooth, life-like movements which blend perfectly with the CGI.

Also, I'm starting to think Zero was a kind of indirect introduction to Aquarion... Maybe that's just me. It seems to me that Kawamori needed a base to start his main Aquarion project, and he just used the Macross licence to form that. Now that is done, he can expand on the main themes explored in M0. Of course, this is just pure speculation since only one episode has been screened so far... we don't know how the show will turn out.

But alas... It's not perfect. The story, setting and style reeks of Evangelion and it's very easy to just dismiss this as a Getter Robo for the 21st century (as some have already done). Most of my pet peeve cliches are present here:

1) Hero Kid can handle the main mecha better than anyone else even though he is getting in it for the first time.

2) Triumphant J-Pop in the background as the main mecha destroys the baddie.

3) Slow, zooming-in-and-out, pose-y transformation scenes.

4) Screaming out the main mecha's or weapon's name before striking a pose or rushing forward and attacking, with a backwash of colours.

5) Magic. Lots of it. ("Floating" from the top of a building into the mecha's cockpit, etc.)

Pfft... There's more, but I won't go into it. Let's just say that it's the best damn show on TV at the moment, but that just says how bad TV anime in general has become.

Bottom line -- EXCELLENT for what today's anime is; SO-SO for what today's anime ought to be. I'll try to watch this one every week.

[Commander McBride]

Is it subbed yet, or just raw? If subbed, by who?

[Bariaburu Faita]

Yeah, I watched it too. I like it alot, it blows away all the cute girl/fanservice shows that seem to make up 90% of whats on the air this season.

BTW, check your PM, McBride. I send you one source for the show

[1/1 LowViz Lurker]

VFs are designed by Shouji Kawamori, the great "God" of Macross, not Robotech...

HG bought his Macross TV version design and messing with it...

He has nothing to do with Robotech...  In fact, he doesn't like Robotech.

Yeah but I think the author was writing this for the masses so he had to dumb it down a little by including "robotech" so people knew. Gamespot is primarily a game site not an anime one. Thanks to HG, a lot of americans may not have been exposed to the 'real' version known as Macross and only know it as robotech. Sadly by using the robotech name as a vehicle to get people interested it might make them notice a little more.

I've noticed that there is a lot of this 'myth' mixed with ancient technology theme in robot shows too. Even in macross you could say that the ancient protoculture race (like some atlanteans with superior knowledge) were in some way trying to teach us something by giving us thier better tech to fight bad people.

"Don't phuck up the planet like we did kids..stay the hell away from the weapons we made, ok??? Be nice to animals, plants, and the environment and please don't abuse the uber power or you will all die! Oh by the way, there is a biological experiment gone wrong lurking around out in space somwhere, be a kind boy and go kill it for us could you?"

Signed, - The extinct aliens/your gods/master geneticists/the "good" non-rebellious angels

Edited April 6, 2005 by 1/1 LowViz Lurker

[Fort Max]

Ace, it's started. Looking forward to this one.