[KleenexGhost]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

After watching Aquarion EVOL episode 24, I'm left with two conflicting viewpoints on the anime:

1. It's something of a self or genre-parody. This show is meant to deconstruct, or at least make fun of, storylines like this one. Storylines where a child is The Chosen One (tm) of two important parents who he loses in his youth, and then he goes on a journey to achieve his destiny (possibly along with his fated lover). You see a fair bit of this in mecha anime, Gundam especially (Alisia herself makes me think a lot of Sheryl from Macross and a little bit of Lacus Clyne from Gundam Seed).

What aids the deconstruction: Amata's life is actually pretty crappy when you stop to think about it (what ZetaAEUG brought up really showcases that ), and Amata/Mikono has caused a lot of problems for many other characters.

2. The show is actually entirely sincere in what it's presenting. No deconstruction. Problem is that they're massively screwing up secondary details (and while they are secondary, they shape how we perceive important characters, which in turn can hurt what the narrative is aiming for with the main characters). I can't believe it never occurred to some Editor, Okada, or Kawamori himself that "You know, maybe we should at least have Alisia find adults to care for her son, and not just literally abandon him at a graveyard of all places."


So yeah, I think it's one or the other. An otherwise well-crafted deconstruction that perhaps is a touch too coy/cute for its own good (so people aren't "getting it" unlike Madoka Magica)... or Kawamori actually intended this to be an epic Coming of Age "monomyth" story played straight, and it's getting unraveled by really badly handled secondary details.

I'd like to know what my fellow viewers think is more likely of the two.


Anyway, in spite of its writing flaws, the show's sheer spectacle makes it a very engaging watch. But I have to say that I'm not optimistic about how this will end. For one thing, I don't think Kagura and/or Zessica fans are going to like how it ends... and for reasons that go beyond shipping wars.

I'm honestly in the middle. I mean on one hand you have some things that seem tongue in cheek like the couple that is the cause of everything, somewhat useless chosen one, etc.

And other things like bad writing, poorly-developed main characters, plot seems rushed at times, bad romance that it presents that just seem like they don't know what they're doing.

And Kagura's death flag is pretty at half-mast since his voice over in the preview, as for Zessica it would be stupid to kill her off because she's possessed by Mykage. They could save her without killing her. But something tells me that they're gonna try and have her sacrifice herself to stop Mykage. Hopefully that's not the case.