I loved the whole "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" then suddenly Kagura. But, they had sousei no aquarion playing, and everything was beautiful.

This calls for a "zetsubou shita". You just knew from the lack of OP (and the preview, of course) that this episode would be heavy, but that was more. Heck, I couldn't even get excited for the Shrade/Cayenne moments, and that's saying a lot. We knew we had a big turn coming at the half-way mark, but that's a complete 180 - though, at least, it was still done in Aquarion fashion and it didn't feel out of place, so that's yet another challenge I'd say the anime has passed. Maybe not as brilliantly as the first half, but it wouldn't be fair of me to really compare the two.

Molloy, you could have avoided that pun for one of your very few lines lol.

EDIT: I just realized that they had Sazanka animated in the nenshin gattai with all the other characters who've already gattai'd. I doubt they'd do it only for this episode, so I imagine this more or less confirms a Sazanka gattai in the future?

regrets and washing of negative energy and stuff. looks like zessica's doesn't get washed away thoug considering he preview for next episode :heh:

From the summary, the episode was surprizing. But nothing really changed.

At least I hope something managing to break the statu quo will happen next episode. Like Kagura not failing at getting Mikono for once and cherry on the cake : stealing an aquarion .

Hopefully some Zessica's goodness next week. We don't get enough of her lately. Damn !! And not only jelly Zessica moments plz !

Happy Birthday everyone!

Kagura sure has perfect timing when it comes to butting in on the moment... and having his entrances be richly symbolic gestures. Everyone is reborn, and are greeted by mother (:p) and father (;)) dearest. :heh: Now mama and papa just need their wedding. :eyespin:

i am fairly convinced if i wasn't before that they made silvie character into some sort of goddess or priestess who cleanses away sins etc. pretty hard imagining that :heh: after first series

I did watch the raw finally.

And I find this episode boring. I'm not a fan of Zen's lessons at all. I only felt a little thrill at the end when Kagura appeared.


I wonder what was the deal on Altea though.

But the next one has me pumped up to the max.

The first part was the funeral/memorial service for Jin and the other students who died during the attack. Yunoha has shut herself in her room and has taken Jin's death very hard. The coffins are transported to Neo Kow Loon for burial and it's at the cemetery where things start to get weird.

After burying the dead, Zen has Andy dig a bunch of graves and had the students lay down in them and get buried alive. :twitch: I'm not sure if this is another one of Fudo's training exercises, but Sharde and Yunoha went with it before the others also joined in. I couldn't help but think there should've been a "Don't try this at home" message appear on the screen while this happened. :heh: Even by Aquarion standards this is out of left field. Anyways. Everyone's confronted with their personal issues while buried underground (I cannot see how a bamboo breathing tube is going to help you if you're completely surrounded by dirt) before being "reborn" with help from Mikono's power and then go through a gattai moment despite being outside the Aquarion.

I'll have to watch the subs to figure out why Zen had them do this, though I think it has something to do with a mission to Altair? And speaking of Altair, it seems like Mykage has given his own version of Jin's death to the masses there. Izumo was very unhappy but seems kind of powerless to do anything about Mykage's actions.

Finally we see Mykage performing his priestly duties. So... Altair people know what he is? Or do they think he's just a weirdo but still human? Does anyone ever wonder why he never moves his mouth when he speaks?? Also, the reincarnation of the Solar Wings? Ohoho.

Hey, Mykage said "those wingless ones" :D And Kagura XDDD "Don't you want to try it, too?" while Kagura's face is like "well shit, do I have a choice?" and "oh man, what is he going to do to me now..." XDDD

Damn, Mikono's outfit when she went to visit Yunoha was horrible. She looked like a secretary or something. x_x) And she's still wearing it in the preview...

The cemetary scene was very... Aquarion. :heh: Also, pretty morbid. I think the entire point was getting Mikono to show the real nature of her power - and well, she does come across as a sort of Deneb, with the helpful depiction of the twin stars and whatnot. (My Kagura x Amata ending theory is getting closer and closer to becoming canon! XD) Btw after this I'm wondering about what Cayenne's vision of Mikono and Aquarion means... (nothing good, that's for sure)

Jin, oh Jin. XDDD It's not that I don't like him, it's just that it's so diffcult to take him seriously when he keeps quoting these incredibly cheesy song lyrics. ^^;; Aquarion is usually good at being intentionally hilarious about stuff like this, but as with last time, again I can't shake the feeling that it was actually meant to be serious and moving and stuff, and it failed miserably. :heh: Oh, but Genesis of Aquarion is such a beautiful song, it always gets me. *sniff*

Next episode, Mikono getting abducted? Cayenne foresaw a black wedding, and Mikono is wearing mourning clothes (no-one else does, though). Although I suppose it doesn't necessarily have involve actual mourning clothes, but going by how his "half-eyed giant taking a girl" vision came true...

Btw, Kagura suddenly showing up and killing the mood is starting to get old. I hope this was the last instance for a long while...

Does Mykage's strange grave ritual mirroring Fudou's had for goal to use Mikono's connection power to bring Kagura on Vega without using the interdimensional gate ?

Or was it so Mikono could connect with Kagura to start awakening that golden aquarion ?

Or both ?

It's difficult to guess considering the vast trolling potential of Mikono's ability. XD

The fact that the bodies were to be buried in Neo-Stanley shows a great amount of love and detail by the creators. The Stanley cementry in RL Hong Kong, amongst other honored persons, contains the graves of Canadian and other overseas volunteers* who fought in the Battle of Hong Kong in 1941. Like Jin, they were volunteers from a far away land to gave something, if only for a moment, to the local land. Politics aside, pushing aside the immediate political tension inherent since Aquarion Evol is a Japanese work at the end of the day, the scene's real world connection makes it significantly more compelling to the viewer in the know.

* and possible local volunteers. There are others, I know, the NT guerillas for example.

Fudo saying "you haven't changed to Mikono" implies a sense of familiarly I am certain is plot relevant.

The English acappella OP1 theme, Fudo's crazy lessons come through much stronger than in the earlier episodes.

By the way, Mykage was also behaving a bit more like the Angels in Genesis, what with his comment about those "wingless ones." Come to think of it, so far he really hasn't done anything Genesis!Angels did - no prana harvesting (as far as we know, anyway), no Tree of Life (though I'm pretty sure he has one stashed away somewhere), no blabbing about holy this and mythical that... he has the feathers, the powers and apparently the whole higher being thing, too, but as for his behavior, the closest he came to his Genesis predecessors(?) was when he visited Fudou in Neo-Deava, and now with the "wingless ones" comment.