Aquarion EVOL - generic discussion thread

[Saturn Beaver]

Originally Posted by miketyson

I totally agree, I don't mind a dark show or a show with complicated characters, but I don't like shows that start out all "broad strokes! primary colors!" and then turn all grimdark partway through; if it starts going that way I'll be dropping it too.

So even though it's probably mostly wrong, I think I'm at least in the right ballpark up until "shocking developments", but my guesses past "Mikono goes to Altair" are just me inventing "shocking" scenarios for kicks. I really like the idea of Kagura getting killed off -- and anger over this changing "fabulous Mykage, stealer of your women" into "furious Mykage, destroyer of your world" -- but that seems unlikely (unless Kagura's just a clone/android/whatever and there're like 10 more Kaguras in cold storage, but that also seems unlikely).

I think it'll be complicated (I mean it's at least a love triangle, possibly a rectangle with Zessica) but I don't think it'll be that dark or emo. There will be suffering and pain, but I think ultimately it will have a good ending, they had a bittersweet end in Genesis of Aquarion already.

[Ray]

Originally Posted by miketyson

I totally agree, I don't mind a dark show or a show with complicated characters, but I don't like shows that start out all "broad strokes! primary colors!" and then turn all grimdark partway through; if it starts going that way I'll be dropping it too.

So even though it's probably mostly wrong, I think I'm at least in the right ballpark up until "shocking developments", but my guesses past "Mikono goes to Altair" are just me inventing "shocking" scenarios for kicks. I really like the idea of Kagura getting killed off -- and anger over this changing "fabulous Mykage, stealer of your women" into "furious Mykage, destroyer of your world" -- but that seems unlikely (unless Kagura's just a clone/android/whatever and there're like 10 more Kaguras in cold storage, but that also seems unlikely).

Yeah, I'm sure that you are. It might not happen exactly like that, but I have a feeling that something along those lines will occur.

Hm, that sure would lead to some interesting developments indeed; but honestly, I can't say that I'd like to see Kagura get killed off. I love his character design, and his beast like approach to battle, which we saw in episode 1 and 2.

[Kaioshin Sama]

Originally Posted by Aphrah

That's an interesting take on Okada's statement. However, I think something like this would be a little too dark for the show; killing off popular characters is never a good thing for a show that comes across as a colourful mecha story with some romance.

I usually like dark stories, but I'd prefer to know if the show is one or not from the get-go. Otherwise, I may end dropping the show.

Character death is usually pretty common in mecha anime so you should always anticipate it from the get go. Also if you're wondering why some shows don't establish a darker tone early on than join the club. As far as my experiences go shows that start off all light hearted and then try to go darker later rarely work well. Either they get darker and more full of drama to late in the run to be able to make a proper use of the arc, get dark so early on that you have to wondee why it wasnt just dark from the get go or get dark at the halfway point such that it looks the show is bipolar. All I can say is that I can't help but hope this trend ends soon enough and we start to see more shows that pick a tone and damn well stick with it or at the very least don't start off so damn goofy that it comes across as laughable when they try to get serious.

Also I can't be the only one that thinks having 3 episodes of fluff before a major revelation sounds like really questionable pacing and storytelling. Then again considering the writer and show in question I can't really say I'm surprised.

[mayumi]

I am rather pleased that zessica will not be a irrelevant character. As long as she brings in the fun and cheerfulness, it's all good. The final pairing I think,will still be amata x mikono and it will be sad to see zessica sad. But thats the show or it will be a foursome

I will be really pleased to see the real mikono. Not the cutesy one right now.

[Ray]

Originally Posted by Kaioshin Sama

Character death is usually pretty common in mecha anime so you should always anticipate it from the get go. Also if you're wondering why some shows don't establish a darker tone early on than join the club. As far as my experiences go shows that start off all light hearted and then try to go darker later rarely work well. Either they get darker and more full of drama to late in the run to be able to make a proper use of the arc, get dark so early on that you have to wondee why it wasnt just dark from the get go or get dark at the halfway point such that it looks the show is bipolar. All I can say is that I can't help but hope this trend ends soon enough and we start to see more shows that pick a tone and damn well stick with it or at the very least don't start off so damn goofy that it comes across as laughable when they try to get serious.

Also I can't be the only one that thinks having 3 episodes of fluff before a major revelation sounds like really questionable pacing and storytelling. Then again considering the writer and show in question I can't really say I'm surprised.

Ah, is that so? I haven't seen a single 'proper' mecha anime yet so I wouldn't know. And yeah, I've noticed that most shows, or well, stories in general that start off colourful and light hearted and suddenly become darker as the story progresses on fall flat on their face in terms of execution. Sure, it's do-able, but a show would better off to set certain tone and stick with it throughout the story. I'm hoping this show fares well in this aspect.

Honestly, I think those 3 episodes, while having a lax atmosphere will more than likely set up for the major revelation in a 'the calm before the storm' manner.

Originally Posted by mayumi

I am rather pleased that zessica will not be a irrelevant character. As long as she brings in the fun and cheerfulness, it's all good. The final pairing I think,will still be amata x mikono and it will be sad to see zessica sad. But thats the show or it will be a foursome

I will be really pleased to see the real mikono. Not the cutesy one right now.

Amato x Mikono x Kagura x Zessica. Hell yeah!

[Arya]

uff, and I thought I'd have had a smooth romance here. How naive of me
But really Mikono will not die for sure here, I mean I remember few animes (prob. one) that killed a major character out of the blue. Excluding last episodes.
anyways I hope Mikono would not evolve in some Ranka-like who will go with abductors as miketyson guessed and that she won't end with Kagura.
Am I asking for to much?

[Ray]

Originally Posted by Arya

uff, and I thought I'd have had a smooth romance here. How naive of me
But really Mikono will not die for sure here, I mean I remember few animes (prob. one) that killed a major character out of the blue. Excluding last episodes.
anyways I hope Mikono would not evolve in some Ranka-like who will go with abductors as miketyson guessed and that she won't end with Kagura.
Am I asking for to much?

Well, due to Cayenne's visions we know that she has to appear on the abductors' planet in one way or another; she'll either go there out of her own free will, or she may have no choice but to go there in order to protect something or someone. Or alternatively, they may simply abduct her. Like a few people said. she'll more than likely not end up with Kagura.

[Adigard]

Originally Posted by Aphrah

Well, due to Cayenne's visions we know that she has to appear on the abductors' planet in one way or another; she'll either go there out of her own free will, or she may have no choice but to go there in order to protect something or someone. Or alternatively, they may simply abduct her. Like a few people said. she'll more than likely not end up with Kagura.

But do we? Very little of the 'wedding in funeral clothes' event looks like the Abductor's world to me. We've seen it multiple times now and from the way the sky looks I've always assumed it's the MC's world. Which from maps floating in the Neo-Deava HQ looks a lot to me like Earth.

We don't know much about the Abductor's home world... but the sky looks pretty nasty there. Could simply mean Kagura swaps sides and marries Mikono on the MC's world.

Originally Posted by miketyson

Mikono will get an offer from Kagura (or perhaps directly from Mykage?) and *voluntarily* decide to go to Altair, sneaking away in the middle of the night. When she arrives @ Altair we'll get some exposition and backstory, and she'll decide to go through with the wedding (even if it means she'll die, or whatever) because by doing so she can save vega from the abductors. She finally gets her chance to be useful, yadda yadda.

The OS had a VASTLY nastier variant on this theme... so nothing says anyone's exit to the other side will go smoothly for anyone.

[Arya]

Originally Posted by Aphrah

Well, due to Cayenne's visions we know that she has to appear on the abductors' planet in one way or another; she'll either go there out of her own free will, or she may have no choice but to go there in order to protect something or someone. Or alternatively, they may simply abduct her. Like a few people said. she'll more than likely not end up with Kagura.

Thank you for make it simple, I tried to recollect about Apollonius Apollo Cayenne reading this 3d but since I didn't like the first series I don't want to relate this new one to it too much

[Ray]

Originally Posted by Adigard

But do we? Very little of the 'wedding in funeral clothes' event looks like the Abductor's world to me. We've seen it multiple times now and from the way the sky looks I've always assumed it's the MC's world. Which from maps floating in the Neo-Deava HQ looks a lot to me like Earth.

We don't know much about the Abductor's home world... but the sky looks pretty nasty there. Could simply mean Kagura swaps sides and marries Mikono on the MC's world.

The OS had a VASTLY nastier variant on this theme... so nothing says anyone's exit to the other side will go smoothly for anyone.

Ah, that's a good point. I just assumed the wedding takes place there because I imagine it's the only place where Kagura would be able to 'marry' Mikono without getting pestered by the likes of Cayenne and Amata. I honestly didn't pay all that much attention to the sky and rest of the surrounding environment.

Would you be so kind as to inform what 'OS' means wrt. to the Aquarion universe? It's been brought up a few times already, and I haven't been able to come up with anything that makes sense.

Originally Posted by Arya

Thank you for make it simple, I tried to recollect about Apollonius Apollo Cayenne reading this 3d but since I didn't like the first series I don't want to relate this new one to it too much

No problem. Just make sure to take my assumptions with a grain of salt, as they may very well turn out to be false.

[Adigard]

Originally Posted by Aphrah

Would you be so kind as to inform what 'OS' means wrt. to the Aquarion universe? It's been brought up a few times already, and I haven't been able to come up with anything that makes sense.

I may be misusing it myself ^_^

I've always assumed it meant Original Series.

[Ray]

Originally Posted by Adigard

I may be misusing it myself ^_^

I've always assumed it meant Original Series.

Well damn. I assumed it was a specific term wrt the Aquarion series.

[Chaos2Frozen]

There's a meaning to the "cats".

Seriously ?!

Originally Posted by Lord of Pandemonium

Why are you blaming Cayenne?Flashbacks and current events shows that he was protective of her. Mikono's feelings of uselessness is her own fault, not her brother's or her family. She felt useless on her own. It's her fault

Because I never forget the first-second episode where he constantly berates her as useless throughout the entire second half. So what if he's intentions were good? Doesn't change that his methods were horrible.

Originally Posted by Kusa-San

And I'm not really surprised about Mikono. She seems the kind of girl who seems gentle but in reality has a dark side. And I'm sure this dark side is because of Cayenne.

Isn't her dark side that low self esteem and maybe borderline anti-social behavior?

Btw, I would also like to point out that as the token genki girl, Zesscia isn't exactly immune to having a dark side Between Ayaka from KamiMemo and Sayaka from Madoka, Animes these days aren't treating their type too well...

You shouldn't get too comfort

And that's why Tsundere characters are still the best

Originally Posted by totoum

And Okada is a troll that likes to play with the audience's mind,I'm taking anything she says with a grain of sault.

Well that's just brilliant =_=

[bakAnki]

Originally Posted by Lord of Pandemonium

I don't get it...

Shinobu, blonde girl on the left from Monogatari series (Bakemonogatari, Nisemonogatari, etc), is a vampire who loves donut. And Crea, that most probably incarnation of Rena whom looks like she is a vampire, loves donut as well

Originally Posted by Katapan

I stumbled upon some bits of information from interviews with director Yamamoto Yuusuke and Amata's seiyuu Kaji Yuuki in some magazine (FREECELL):

Spoiler for Vague spoilers for the few upcoming episodes:

Spoiler for Original Japanese:

山本監督
・「ネコ」には意味がある
・誰が誰の生まれ変わりかは匂わす程度とかじゃなくはっきり分かるようになる
・７８９話は「青春学園編」で楽しくかつあさっての方向な話
・それ以降はシリアスになって行き、中盤はかなりショッキングな展開もある
・マリー脚本はかなり過激で度々直してもらってる
　（３話の頭突きは当初、前からだったらしいｗ）

梶（こっちは時間なくてちゃんと読んでないスマン）
・マリー曰く「ミコノは悪い女」
・ゼシカは今収録中の話でどんどん気持ちが動いていってる

梶はミコノは男に好かれて女に嫌われるタイプ
頑張り屋さんで応援したくなるとも言ってたような（うろ覚え）
まあ、天然悪女だろうね
梶の話し方を見るに今後ゼシカターンは来るっぽい

あと書き方悪かったけど「ネコ」の意味はそんなに重い物ではなさげだった
ネコ好きにはたまらないとか書いてたような

http://yaraon.blog109.fc2.com/blog-entry-7014.html#more

Approximate translation that someone might want to double check:

Yamamoto:
- There's a meaning to the "cats".
- "Who's whose reincarnation" will eventually become much clearer, rather than just suggested.
- Episodes 7~9 will be fun, school-life episodes. From there on out, the story will take a more serious turn and by the half mark, a shocking development will unfold.
- Okada Mari's script is often so extreme that he ends up having to change it. (For instance, Amata sticking his head up Mikono's skirt in episode 3 was originally meant to be done into Mikono's crotch....???)

Kaji:
- According to Okada Mari, Mikono is an evil girl. (???)
- Zessica's feelings will keep evolving from now on.
- From the way he talks in the interview, it sounds like Zessica's "turn" should be coming soon.

Man, that's Okada for you wwwww

Awesome

Mikono's being evil girl doesn't mean Amata will give up on her, it could be one of obstacles Amata has to overcome to finally get Mikono. Besides, "悪い女"(evil/bad girl) here can mean anything. "Bad" as in easily get jealous as Zessica's feelings change, for example XD

[cyberdemon]

can those spoilers be confirmed? seems too big a spoiler to simply be said by them. and honestly seems more like a fake spoiler from a Zessica fan. The page given didn't exactly give scans about the interview.

[Marcus H.]

Just dropping by to say that Kirino-Mix is one hot lady.
Kudos to the character designer.

Spoiler for D-don't look at me like that, you pervert!:

[Bonta Kun]

Originally Posted by Marcus H.

Just dropping by to say that Kirino-Mix is one hot lady.
Kudos to the character designer.

Spoiler for D-don't look at me like that, you pervert!:

Just dropping in also to say +1!!!

She's a character that hits alot of sweet spots on the bullseye.

[Ypocaramel]

Also be nice to get someone to confirm the spoiler translation.

I don't think we need to be too worried about "school life" episodes in this show, the writers have so far managed to interweave humor and plot effectively. Episode 3 and most of 5 were arguably school life episodes and they turned out quite well. Of course they could always drop the ball and mess up, but I'm not that worried about it yet.

[bakAnki]

Mecha-otaku part of me kinda worry of "school life" episodes because there will be small chance to have proper battle scene on it; but on the other side I'm probably okay if it means we'll get more character and relationship development


More fan arts...

[miketyson]

Originally Posted by Ypocaramel

Also be nice to get someone to confirm the spoiler translation.

I can't confirm the source material being fake or not fake, but the translation with it here is both incomplete and what is translated seems a bit off (unless there's context we're missing). I'm not a real translator -- understanding is easier than translating -- but I'll take a whack at a couple things.

First, as was already mentioned, translating "マリー曰く「ミコノは悪い女」" as "According to Mari, Mikono is an *evil* girl" seems a bit aggressive (the *evil* part). That's a bit too strong and overly-specific for what's literally there, which is a fairly vague "Mikono's a bad woman" (which still comes across too strong in English).

Then there's this part:

梶はミコノは男に好かれて女に嫌われるタイプ
頑張り屋さんで応援したくなるとも言ってたような（うろ覚え）
まあ、天然悪女だろうね

...which that approximate translation basically skipped over. In-context, this is someone paraphrasing some more of what Kaji said, but isn't a direct quote from Kaji. I already paraphrased the last two lines earlier, but a fuller paraphrase (so paraphrase-of-a-paraphrase from a blog post summarizing an interview in a magazine, lol), would be:

(According to Kaji) Mikono's the type guys like but girls hate.
(There was some talk about how) She tries really, really hard and this makes you want to root for her.
But, still, she's kinda an unintentional villain.

Spoiler for TN Notes:

"TN" Notes: please note I'm not a real translator, so I'm just trying to communicate the gist of it as I understand it. A real translator could probably find a way to translate this without needing to include notes like this, and I apologize for any mistakes.

1. 頑張り屋さん means someone who tries really, really hard, with the implication of there being some kind of adversity / it being kind of a struggle. So in this context there's an implication Mikono's going to try really hard but not necessarily pull it off.
2. 天然悪女 is maybe more literal "natural villainess", but "natural" in the sense of unintentional/accidental, not "born evil". You'd usually see 天然 as an abbreviation for 天然ボケ, which means "natural idiot" (or "airhead", as commonly translated). Compared to English the meaning "natural" (天然) here is more "what you do without thinking/without conscious intent", whereas in English saying someone's a "natural X" tends to imply more conscious intent.
3. The overall sense here is that Kaji started out quoting Mari Okada directly with the "Mikono is a bad woman" line, then tried to backpedal a bit, but even then felt compelled to essentially throw his hands up and imply "well, in any case she's unintentionally responsible for some bad stuff".

As always, I'd prefer a proper translation to my paraphrasing, but I hope that makes what I was basing my guesses on a bit clearer for everyone. It jumped out at me b/c it's the kind of thing I could easily believe the writers would say: once it's pointed out it feels obviously correct -- a *very* good characterization of Mikono so far -- but it's hard as a viewer to be that precise this early on.

Moving back to the discussion: as much as I want to see a grief-tricken Mykage go into fully-fabulous berserker mode, I agree it'd be a shame to kill Kagura off anywhere as early as that halfway point, if only because he does have a cool character design. Beyond that though, eh? He's like Zessica insofar as we haven't seen enough of his personality for me to have a strong opinion on him one way or the other.