Aquarion MoE Ep 2 Review: Ill-Fated Girl

January 20, 2025Episode Review,  Mecha Discussion,  ,  
Episode 2 of Aquarion MoE rolls around, and we’re eager to see some Aquarion action. Well, we’re getting it this episode, but we also get some more backstory on the characters – especially Sakko and Sayo – which is pretty…depressing. Despite the cutesy artstyle, MoE is packing some heavy trauma that will make your heart tingle.

After the appearance of the Aquarion Siegel, we get to see it fight the Mythical Beast. However, this first fight was pretty…basic and lackluster. It was only kicks and punches. However, this Aquarion has some pretty interesting feature: if the pilots are in sync, they can “multiply” the Aquarion’s attack. Such as when the Aquarion throw a punch, it can manifest a second punch right alongside the first, same with kicks as well. I reckon it can apply it to other special attacks down the line. But we’ll have to wait a bit longer, as the enemy just run away and the first debut battle comes to an anti-climactic end.

Next comes the lore-dump session. And this is where MoE is banking on previous Aquarion series, as it combines a lot of elements from previous series. First we got the definition of a Mythical World – another dimension that is entangled with our own. Much like EVOL, both worlds exist at the same time. The Mythical World is said to be full of monsters that want to invade our world and basically devour it. And the only hope mankind has is, of course, the Mechanical Angel Aquarion. The Mythical Beasts are also referred to as “Shadow Angels” (Datenshi) just like the original series.

Then we get to the meeting of the world council, and they really put some effort into dubbing this scene. We get a lot of non-Japanese dialogue with very good accent. We got English, French, Chinese, and I think Swedish(?) or some European country for sure. And it seems like this Academy is an international effort, but I wonder if they will act like the UN-type in most mecha anime and just be observers, or will they actually do something that contribute to the show. Either way, the use of multiple languages is certainly a nod to Logos – where Words hold power and where the word “love” in many languages were used.

And then we get to the background session for Sakko and Sayo. The two of them and Momohime used to be very close-knit, and they created a club together. And here’s where things get…crazy. One of their projects – a robot – went out of control and start spewing stuff about Armageddon (fitting) and endangered the passerby people. Sakko – fearless as he comes – jumped in to stop the robot. But at the last second, it was Sayo that intervened and got struck by the robot. Blood went everywhere…and Sakko and Momohime was shocked to the core. However, the very next day, it was reported to be a completely different incident – where Sayo was still got hurt – but the robot was not mentioned at all. All footages and news also got “retconned”, and the only people that remember are the three of them. Yes, Sayo was fine the next day – much to the dismay of Sakko and Momohime. The incident felt like a dream, but at the time, the blood and trauma that everyone saw was real, but it was “erased” out of existence due to the “self-correction” property of the universe. And from that day on, the three of them drifted apart.

Well, intriguing backstory aside, it’s time to give the viewers the fight they were waiting for. The Mythical Beast return and the Vectors are deployed again. However, right before combination, Toshi kinda spazzed out and Sako had to teleported into replace him, which is very similar to previous Aquarion’s gimmick (except Logos). Well, now we got a girl in the team, Satelight finally showed us the proper combination sequence for the Aquarion Siegel (the Solar equivalent). The overall mechanism is still similar to the original Aquarion, but the animation style got a very colorful comic filter slapped on top, with the color palette snapping onto the mech itself. It does look like you’re watching a music video or an animated comicbook. I guess they are trying to appear different from the others. This would take a bit to get used to. And it’s not just the combination, even in the fight scenes, we get those colorful effect during “impact” frames as well, which is very similar to another anime airing this season: Ringing Fate. However, while Ringing Fate is more Zenless Zone Zero style, this one is more Cyberpunk 2077 style.

It seems that in this life, the pilots of Aquarion exhibit the opposite emotion that their past lives were associated with. Sakko’s past life – Nanook – was called a coward, and the emotion associated with him was “Terror”, but this time, Sakko felt fearless in the Aquarion, willing to take tremendous risks upon himself. Same with Rimiya, whose emotion was “Empathy”, yet he is putting on a fake mask everyday to “pretend” to have emotions while feeling nothing. In addition, Momohime’s past life were associated with “Romance”, and she has refused all romantic interest directed towards her until now.

And so we come to Sayo – whose previous life was associated with “Narcississm” – the syndrome of loving one’s self. So if you reverse that, it means that Sayo is quite selfless in this life – putting others’ interest ahead of her own. And in this episode, she did just that. The Mythical Beast performed a sneak attack on the Aquarion, and Sayo took the hit for Sakko, pushing him away from danger, once again. Sayo’s vital were hit and she seemingly lost her life again in Sakko’s arms. This trigger his emotion and the Mugen Punch from the Aquarion. Nanook’s spirit also appeared behind Sakko to lend him his ’emotion’ – Terror. The new Mugen Punch is called Inifnite Despair Punch – which is definitely not the positive and shining punch that deliver hopes like the previous Aquarions. This punch is powered by anger and despair, and the fact that Nanook’s spirit appear behind Sakko might confuse people who hasn’t seen that one specific PV and hasn’t checked the website. But yes, if you haven’t, go check out the latest trailer where they introduced the character’s past selves 12,000 years ago.
So, Sayo died…again. The shock value this episode is quite high. However, due to all the quantum timey-wimey they mentioned, and the fact that Sayo was a “spirit” from the start, I’m sure she will return next episode. However, she might suffer more in the future due to her “emotion” that compel her to sacrifice herself for others. Aquarion MoE stops being moe when it brings out some pretty depressing stuff despite the somewhat childish artstyle. This create a pretty stark contrast between the plot and the art. I guess this is what they were aiming for from the start. However, MoE is only listed for 12 episodes, and if they plan to reach the “Universe Egg Association” or whatchamacallit, they’re gonna have to do double-time to fit all the plot inside while maintaining a normal pace.
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