Aquarion follows the lives of those forced to fulfill a past-life that gradually unfolds with every relationship they form with each other, through the struggle to save their own race from utter destruction.

It's The Genesis of Aquarion, and it's been 12,000 years since the Earth has seen peace with the Shadow Angels, an ultimate force that harvest energy from humans to replenish themselves and the Tree of Life.  The only problem is, the humans don't like the Shadow Angels taking whole cities for the energy, so, they fight back with the three-part mech, Aquarion.  The collective military of nations keeps Aquarion at the special facility called Deava, which is responsible for the upkeep of Aquarion and its pilots.  Only humans with elemental powers are chosen to pilot this mystical weapon.  There are not many of these elemental humans, so their search for more sends them to one of the poorer camps.  There is evidence that the elemental there could be the reincarnation of the fallen Shadow Angel, Apollonius.  Ironically, the Elemental turns out to be an orphaned boy named Apollo.  Silvia, the reincarnation of Celiane (Apollonius' true love from the past), and a comrade, are the ones sent to retrieve Apollo.  Unfortunately, a Harvest Beast appears over the camp, collecting all the humans around, all except the Elementals.  Apollo's best friend, along with younger orphans with him, are taken by the Harvest Beast. Apollo vows to save his friend and the young ones, all of whom he was unable to stop from being taken, thus he joins Deava and learns to pilot Aquarion, but not without the help of his new companions.  

Aquarion crosses almost all the genres there are: vampires, soccer, Victorian style royalty, mechs, samurai, angels, and so many more things, it's crazy (and really cool)!  Everything fits together perfectly, and it's great to see how they interact with each other.  Those who like Last Exile will like Aquarion, there is a very similar feel between the two, while still being two very different stories.  This is set more in the future, and the motive is to save the human race from the opposing force.  There are also a lot of themes as well: friendship, love, unity of races, not abusing the earth's resources, choosing between right and wrong, finding your true self, trust, etc.  Everything the creator is trying to tell you is strongly shown through beautiful animation, well developed and understandable characters, and true bonds between the characters.

Episodes

Disc One: 01 "Memories of Heavenly Wings", 02 "Beast of Darkness", 03 "Element School", 04 "Barefoot Warrior",  05 "King of the Underground Labyrinth", 06 "To the Other Side of Emotions", 07 "Knight of the Crimson Rose"

Disc Two:  08 "The First Merge", 09 "The Path to Dreams", 10 "Stars in the Sky, Flowers on the Ground", 11 "Happiness is at the Bottom of the Lake", 12 "The Time of Amber", 13 "A 12,000-Year-Old Love Letter"

Disc Three: 14 "Shining Shadows", 15 "Aquarion's First Love", 16 "Black Mirror", 17 "Merge to Eat", 18 "Cosplay of the Soul", 19 "Mischief Without Malice", 20 "Sound of an Angel's Feather"

Disc Four: 21 "Crimson Path", 22 "Wings Unseen", 23 "Fleeting Wings", 24 "Heaven's Gate", 25 "Final Battle! Atlandia", 26 "The Day the World Begins"

Overall

I loved Aquarion. It has a well rounded plot and easy to watch.  Plus I liked the combination of genres.  The artist did a great job of capturing real life moments, especially the smaller ones.  Episode 17 "Merge to Eat" brought up women and weight control, but in a BIG way!  It was funny to see three female characters trying to lose weight by not eating and exercising really hard, while the guys just sat around (and staying fit at the same time).  But that wasn't even the best episode. It's like third on my list.  "Cosplay of the Soul", which is the one right after "Merge to Eat", is about understanding each other, and understand yourself.  Their commander teaches them this through extreme role playing.  They dress up like the one they don't get along with the most/don't understand the most, and have to be them for as long as it takes to understand them. Personalities were really prominent in this episode, and humor was its light! Then there's the episode 19 "Mischief Without Malice", next in the episode lineup.  It starts off kind of different, by that I mean the animation, it's become more basic, like average Saturday morning Cartoons for younger kids, then, after the opening theme, it goes back to normal.  I was amused by the unexpected change, and was curious to see what was to come next in the episode.  It just got better from there! The usual happens, a city is under attack by a Harvest Beast, so Apollo and the two pilots flying with him are sent to destroy the harvest beast and save the city, but this Harvest Beast is different, it's a huge tower.  The three parts of Aquarion go straight for the tower, but are warped to a strange world with "original sketch" animation.  Apollo sees Silvia, and he breaks out in laughter at the way she looks, like they notice the change in animation! Not only that, but they really don't like it, (especially Silvia and her brother), thinking it makes them look ugly.  The whole episode is extremely funny (not slapstick funny, realistic funny), and is a nice break from the kind of depressing plot.

I do have to say, I disliked the last episode, most significantly.   As of the second to last episode, the watcher's emotions and devotion to the show are raised to those of a diehard fan. We hope for everything to turn out the best for the humans and the Shadow Angels. But then the last episode is just like a slap in the face, it's too relaxed with conclusion, almost to the point of being boring.  But, even so, it's not enough to take away from the experience Aquarion has to offer as a whole.  

Aquarion is perfect for just about any kind of older Anime fan (I'd say 14 and older).  From scifi troopers to romance lovers, it's a must have for one's collection.

ComicsOnline gives Aquarion: The Complete Series 5 out of 5 Memories from the past.