Genesis of Aquarion

"Synchronize... Combine...! GO! Aquarion!"

Teenagers with Psychic Powers pilot an orgasm-powered Super Robot Genre to fight evil Shadow Angels from Atlandia who feed on human lifeforce.

... while that's entirely correct, it's probably an overly simplified way of Describing Genesis of Aquarion here. Let's try again.

Twelve thousand years ago there was a great war between humans and Shadow Angels; the humans won, in no small part thanks to Apollonius, an Angel who turned against his own people out of love for Celiane, a human woman, and the Angels became dormant under the South Pole.

Flash forward to Twenty Minutes Into the Future. Eleven years after a catastrophe known as the Great Incident ravaged Earth and gifted a few young people with Psychic Powers, the Shadow Angels awaken, and start harvesting humans all around the world. Ordinary militaries are unable to stop them, and it's up to the aforementioned young people (referred to as "Element Users") to stop the Angels, using an ancient Atlandian weapon: the Aquarion, a Humongous Mecha which is the combination of three different flying machines called Vectors (causing the three pilots to join their souls and spiritual bodies into one).

As soon as the Aquarion pilots first engage the Shadow Angels, however, they promptly get their asses handed to them, and crash-land near the place where two Element Users were investigating rumors of a possible reincarnation of Apollonius. The supposed reincarnation, Apollo, climbs into the robot and pilots it to a first victory against the Shadow Angels, losing his True Companions to them in the process. He then joins DEAVA, the organization which handles the Aquarion and Element Users, in the hopes of finding his friends and bringing them back.

The series was created by Shoji Kawamori, the designer of the Valkyrie and the Nirvash typeZero amongst other mecha, which is why the titular robot looks so awesome.

A two-part OVA (entitled Wings of Betrayal and Wings of Glory, respectively), was released after the series. It takes place in an alternate timeline, where the full team (except for Apollo) had already been assembled, Glen didn't fall into a coma, Sirius, and introduced is a Prince Scorpius, a new player in the Apollonius/Celiane backstory  At the end of the OVA, it is revealed

A movie, Wings of Genesis, was also released. It recycled the plot and footage of the OVA, though a few scenes were cut, while others were added to flesh out  Released with the movie was a comedic short film featuring the characters from the original series.

A sequel began airing in January 2012. Entitled Aquarion Evol, it takes place 12,000 years after the first series, chronicling a battle against new enemies from another dimension.

"Apollo: "Even if a spring is never discovered, it still continues to flow... whatever that means.""
 * An Aesop: Every single one of Fudou's lessons. They're all on crack as well.
 * It gets to the point that even people like Sirius, Sophia, and Jerome have no clue about what Fudou's getting at. Lampshaded by Apollo at one point.

""I'm disappointed in you ... attacking with such a crude gun.""
 * All of the Other Reindeer: Tsugumi was constantly shunned by friends and family because of her powers before coming to Daeva.
 * All Your Powers Combined: The individual powers of whatever Element Users that merged can be drawn upon by Aquarion, which can result in some powerful and/or crafty Combination Attacks.
 * Aloof Big Brother: Sirius.
 * Anime Theme Song: Some of Yoko Kanno's finest work.
 * Armies Are Evil:
 * Armor-Piercing Slap: Aquarion uses this on Futaba.
 * Artistic License Physics: creating additional mass from within itself sounds like this but it's based on the mahima siddhi.
 * Art Shift: Used as a Mind Screw by Futaba.
 * Barbie Doll Anatomy: Most notably in the Gattai sequences and when an incapacitated Element User is teleported out.
 * Belligerent Sexual Tension: Apollo and Silvia, although the sexual tension really surfaces when the belligerence starts to die down.
 * Better Than Sex: Basically when they describe how it feels when they merge ships.
 * Big Freaking Gun: PSG Cannon.
 * Bi the Way: Tsugumi.
 * Bifauxnen: Reika dresses the part, complete with another girl crushing on her. It doesn't make her any less desirable to the guys, though.
 * Bifurcated Weapon: Moroha's mech, Cherubim Iskuron. Literally. As in, his mech literally splits into two (not evenly down the center but close) and either of them can chase different targets.
 * Big Bad: Touma.
 * Big Brother Complex: Sirius and Silvia. While the most basic case of the trope is evident and perfectly justifiable (given that their parents are dead), there is also strong subtext of the more sexual interpretation, mostly from Silvia's end. Silvia seems to justify her feelings by insisting that Sirius is the reincarnation of Apollonius, but in fact it is revealed that
 * Doesn't make it any less creepy that she has a giant stuffed doll of him on her bed.
 * Bishonen: Touma, Apollonius, and Sirius.
 * Kind of-sort of "justified" in Sirius' case, what with being
 * Bittersweet Ending:
 * Blessed with Suck: Tsugumi can create explosions when her pulse reaches its peak, and has probably the strongest raw power of all the Element Users; unfortunately, she's really bad at controlling her emotions, so whenever she gets excited or anxious things around her tend to go KABOOM. It's heavily implied that because of this she was shunned by her family and friends.
 * Reika's powers are based on bad luck.
 * Brainwashed:
 * Brown Note: The Monster of the Week for episode 7 is so beautiful it causes the Aquarion pilots to experience supreme jealousy and start fighting amongst themselves.
 * It is also a case of Alien Geometries, because it appears as an "impossible" polyhedron.
 * The Brute: Angel Moroha. You'd think from the first opening the brute would be the masked gorilla-dinosaur.
 * But Now I Must Go:
 * Butt Monkey: Jean-Jerome. Never right about anything.
 * Calling Your Attacks: "INFINITY PAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANCH!"
 * Cannon Fodder: Cherubim Blumebatts, although it is somewhat subverted as they easily destroy military vehicles.
 * Captain Ersatz: The Aquarion itself uses a transformation scheme almost identical to Getter Robo.
 * Capulet Counterpart: Apollonius.
 * Catch Phrase: Sirius' "How disgraceful...", Gen's "Special training!", and Reika's "How unfortunate...".
 * Char Clone: Sirius de Alisia fits the bill for this one.
 * Really good Character Development.
 * Clingy Jealous Girl: Silvia to Sirius. Otoha to Touma. Needless to say, they don't enjoy it when their men show affection to someone other than them.
 * Color Coded for Your Convenience: Not only do the Element Users each have uniquely-colored pilot suits, but when a teleport change is done the replacement Element actually leaves their clothing behind and materializes in the empty suit of the last pilot, said suit then magically changing color to match the new wearer.
 * Yes, this does mean that the pilot being replaced comes out at mission control completely naked. Invariably results in Barbie Doll Anatomy.
 * Combining Mecha
 * Cosmic Plaything: Reika, who is really, really unlucky, and tends to avoid human contact whenever possible to prevent her bad luck from "rubbing off" on those close to her. Pretty much exists to Freak-Out and get swapped with someone else.
 * Cosplay: Played completely serious. Fed up with the Element Users constantly playing the blame game, Fudou gets the idea (from Sirius' words, no less) to have each member portray another Element User, assuming their appearance and personality. Hilarity Ensues from the matches (Apollo and Sirius, Silvia and Reika, Pierre and Chloe, Jun and Tsugumi; while it would seem that Sophia and Fudou have swapped, it turns out that ), but there's a method to his madness. By seeing through the eyes of their comrades, each Element User is able to accept who they are, as well as appreciate the unique traits that their comrades bring to the table, understanding that together, any trio can compensate for the shortcomings of the individual units.
 * The same episode shows that Jun is an Otaku who regularly attends Anime and Cosplay conventions.
 * Cute Bruiser: Silvia.
 * Dark Skinned Redheaded Hero: Apollo, with matching scars to boot!
 * Doesn't Like Guns: Sirius, as evidenced by this quote from episode 23:


 * Does This Remind You of Anything?: In the first half of episode 8, many characters discuss with each other what it's like to unite with one's partners.
 * Just listen to Sylvia during the uniting in the first episode.
 * Dodge the Bullet: Cherubim Lune.
 * The Dragon: Otoha.
 * Dream Weaver: Titania.
 * Drill Sergeant Nasty: Gen Fudou on occasions during his "Special Training!"
 * Elegant Gothic Lolita: Rena, who always wear such an outfit, and who is also.
 * End of Series Awareness: You know that triangle that flashes whenever the Aquarion gets a new attack? The very last one of the series reads "-AQUARION FINAL EPISODE- I HOPE TO BE CONTINUED."
 * The End - or Is It?: After Pierre deals with his addiction problem, Jun is shown displaying the same symptoms, and even caps off the "On the Next..." dialogue with an anguished scream. nothing of the sort happens in the next episode or ever again.
 * Everything's Better with Princesses: Silvia.
 * Face Heel Turn: near the end of the anime. Complete with a snazzy Evil Costume Switch.
 * Fan Service: Plenty of shower scenes, shirtless scenes, Gainaxing, and Male Gaze. Pretty much every major Element User plays Fanservicer at some point in the series.
 * Touma being a White-Haired Pretty Boy and an out-an-out member of the Yaoi club falls straight under this.
 * In universe example: Jun has a robotic doll that has multiple sets of fanservicey clothes.
 * Fearful Symmetry: Mirror Aquarion.
 * Foot Focus: Episode 4: "Barefoot Warrior."
 * Freaky Friday Flip: Played with gloriously in the "Cosplay of the Soul" episode.
 * Giant Equals Invincible: Regular cherubim soldiers are not affected by military weapons.
 * Cherubim Graave takes in a step further with the addition of Powered Armor.
 * Good Scars, Evil Scars: Fudou has a scar running vertically up his right eye, while Apollo has a X-shaped scar on his right cheek.
 * Hair Decorations: Tsugumi.
 * Half-Human Hybrid:.
 * Half-Identical Twins: Kurt and Chloe.
 * Halloween Episode: "Black Mirror," in all but name. It's kind of funny to watch a 20-story robot startle.
 * Hammerspace: Sirius' rapier. Where does he hide it? Up his ass? Actually... don't answer that last one.
 * Hate Plague/Mind Rape/Your Mind Makes It Real: The Shadow Angels are just as likely to resort to psychological warfare as they are to bring the battle directly to DEAVA.
 * Heel Face Turn:.
 * Heterosexual Life Partners: Apollo and Baron in the Backstory.
 * Hopeless Suitor: Otoha, The Dragon to Touma, is head-over-wings for him and her loyalty knows no bounds for the one man she loves. While he does return her affections to a certain degree, Touma has made it clear that he'll sacrifice her without a moment's hesitation should she become a liability or present an opportunity to get an advantage over the humans (as seen when the Shadow Angels attempted to retrieve a feather belonging to their civilization), a fact that Otoha herself is more than aware of. However, her knowledge of Touma's love for Apollonius seems to be variable; at times, she's depressed because she knows she'll never woo him away from Apollonius; at others, she's confident that Touma has abandoned such foolish feelings. Any half-ass excuse he makes about his feelings towards Apollonius are DAMNABLE LIES. 'Tis a shame; Otoha is actually quite the looker (perhaps excluding ) and.
 * Horde of Alien Locusts: The Mongie even to the point of.
 * Hot Amazon: Apollo and Pierre constantly refer to Silvia as "Amazon," although it would seem to be a sarcastic running joke at times.
 * Hot Mom Parents: From what we can see of Sirius and Silvia's mother and father, they fit the bill. Also,
 * Hot Teacher: Sophia.
 * And she seems to have eyes for Fudou...
 * Humongous Mecha
 * Ice Cream Koan: Gen Fudou's primary method of instruction. They somehow teach the pilots important lessons, but that doesn't stop anybody from noting that they rarely make sense.
 * I Need You Stronger: The Shadow Angels are trying to return Solar Wing back to his full strength so that they can use him for the ritual to resurrect and ultimately save their Dying Race.
 * It's All My Fault: Reika blames herself for Glenn falling into a coma.
 * Not to mention when anything bad happens when she's around.
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite being the possible Reincarnation of Leeroy Jenkins and having his fair share of Jerkass moments towards the other Element Users (then again, most of them ostracized him to varying degrees over the course of the series), Apollo has made it clear that his friends are the most important friends to him. In fact,
 * Last-Minute Hookup: Pierre finally wins over Chloe... just in time for the Shadow Angels' last stand.
 * Latex Perfection: Gen Fudou manages to pull an epic one in "cosplay of the soul," by disguising himself of someone who is half his size.
 * Limited Wardrobe
 * Love Dodecahedron: It was a trainwreck waiting to happen. From the beginning of the series, Sirius, Reika, and Glen seem to be in a Love Triangle (albeit a friendly one), . Sirius and Reika have some chemistry together, but Reika is usually reluctant due to confidence issues and the fears that her bad luck will rub off on anyone who gets too close to her. And then there's Silvia, who has eyes for her brother which stems from his Promotion to Parent in the wake of their parents' deaths and is "justified" by her believing him to be the reincarnation of her lover, Apollonius; she is deeply jealous of Sirius/Reika. Things become worse when Silvia and Apollo begin to form a romantic bond towards the end of the series. Tsugumi seems to like Jun, but also has a crush on Reika so blatantly obvious that you'd have to be blind to not notice it (Reika doesn't). Outside of this, Sophia seems to have feelings for Fudou ("Have you ever loved someone?") and is visibly upset when he answers "Yes." However, his words imply that he referring to Sophia, thus reciprocating her affection. Lurking in the background is Pierre, who shamelessly makes advances on nearly every female in Daeva, something that is temporarily amplified by his addiction to merging. Once he accepts that he pursued many a woman (a flashback shows him to have quite a few girlfriends) was his way of coping with getting hurt (stemming from his first love Esperanza), he mellows out and becomes a Chivalrous Pervert. To many's surprise (especially Kurt's), Chloe expresses her love for Pierre in the finale, although hints of this were dropped back during the infamous "Cosplay of the Soul" event. And that's not even getting into the Shadow Angels. Touma is trying to win back Apollo(nius), who left him for Celiane 12,000 years ago, thus beginning the mess that Daeva has to deal with in the present. In the meanwhile, Otoha is hopelessly in love with Touma, whose teasing is ambiguously open. At best, he actually wouldn't mind pursuing a more romantic relationship with his overly-devoted right-hand woman (remember, he actually kisses her), but is ultimately caught in a deathly vice grip by his anger and depression towards Apollonius' betrayal; at worst, he is toying with her emotions to manipulate her like any Magnificent Bastard would (remember, he actually kisses her). And remember, all of this is usually not Played for Laughs.
 * Macross Missile Massacre: One particular cherubim that uses an invisibility cloak fires off salvoes of these. Hardly surprising, given the creator's previous work.
 * Meaningful Name: "Vectors." Now, whether they make sense to sane minds is a different issue.
 * This is actually referencing vectors in math and physics. If the vectors aren't moving in a similar nature, the overall force and direction of said force is diminished. Isn't this similar to the point of the Vectors themselves? If the pilots are moving in different directions, the merging is marred.
 * Meganekko: Tsugumi.
 * Monster of the Week
 * Multinational Team: The Element Users.
 * Nerd Glasses: Jun, natch.
 * The Nose Knows: Apollo has an inhumanly keen sense of smell, capable of detecting... well, pretty much anything the plot calls for, really. Implicitly hand waved as being the result of his harsh upbringing, but the scope of his ability is so truly ludicrous that it might be more plausible to attribute it to his Element Powers.
 * To put this in context, he regularly figures things out through his sense of smell while piloting Aquarion. That's right, he can smell things on the battlefield from inside his cockpit. Usually from several hundred feet away.
 * He can also smell lasers.
 * Not So Different: The battle between humanity and the Shadow Angels seems to bring out the worst in both...
 * Which is ironic, given the Fantastic Racism present throughout the series.
 * Off-Model: Quite a bit of it in "Mischief Without Malice."
 * Old Master:.
 * Ominous Latin Chanting: A staple of the soundtrack, especially in scenes focusing on the Shadow Angels in their headquarters.
 * Only Sane Man: There are times when Jerome seems to be the only one acting like the battle against the Shadow Angels is a war to stop the genocide and consumption of mankind instead of a chance to sling metaphors.
 * However, the tradeoff is that he veers into Well-Intentioned Extremist territory, best shown with.
 * Our Angels Are Different: Sort of. If you get technical, the datenshi are only angels in that they apply a pun. Their kanji doesn't actually use "angel."
 * Parental Abandonment: We don't get to see the parents of any of the Element Users, and it's implied that they all either died in the Great Incident or were harvested by the Shadow Angels.
 * Perma-Stubble: Fudou.
 * Power Echoes: The Shadow Angels. With a few notable exceptions, their mouths don't move when they're speaking, suggesting telepathic communication.
 * The Power of Friendship: Usually how the protagonists win their battles, until later in the series it's superseded by...
 * The Power of Love: Though they have also won battles with the power of jealousy, the power of bad luck, and the power of hunger.
 * The Power of Trust: Usually played straight.
 * Psychic Powers
 * Really Seven Hundred Years Old: and ; all Shadow Angels, being technically ageless, also qualify.
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: Apollo and Sirius.
 * Redshirt Army: The United Nations army, who last all of five seconds against the Shadow Angels.
 * Reincarnation: An important theme of the Anime. At first it seems that Silvia is the reincarnation of Celiane and Apollo is Apollonius', but the reality is much, much more complicated and a spoiler of gigantic proportions.
 * Reincarnation Romance
 * Rocket Punch: Solar Aquarion's Infinity Punch has the spirit of this trope, except it never actually detaches. Instead, it has an infinite number of extendable arm segments packed inside each other.
 * Played right in Wings of Glory, when.
 * Rule of Cool: A lot of the attacks, sometimes crossing over into Mundane Made Awesome.
 * Schoolgirl Lesbians: Tsugumi has a clear-as-day (if unreciprocated) crush on Reika.
 * Sacrificial Lamb: Glen, whose entire purpose in the series boils down to 1. piloting Vector Sol to the battlefield so Apollo can fall into its cockpit and 2. getting put in a coma so Reika can have someone to angst over.
 * Shout-Out: Three jets that can transform into different configuration's of robot's depending on who's jet is leading? Sounds A LOT like Getter Robo had some influence on the mecha design.
 * "Angels" buried beneath Antarctica, an incident ravaging the Earth, and Young people piloting highly-empathic mecha are all reminiscent of Neon Genesis Evangelion.
 * Sinister Geometry: Antichthon.
 * Sixth Ranger:
 * Spider Tank: In the second to last episode of Aquarion we find out that
 * Splash Damage: Moroha repeatedly hits Aquarion while Aquarion is defending from the attacks, but the entire Aquarion gets damage from the attacks that were directed on the arms.
 * Star-Crossed Lovers: Apollonius and Celiane.
 * Start X to Stop X: In episode 21, Sirius declares that "the reason I fight is to create a world free of fighting, where beauty prevails."
 * Strictly Formula: Not all the time, but quite a few episodes play something like this: There is some conflict between the kids, then Fudou shows up with some kind of seemingly absurd lesson or exercise that no one can figure out. Then the angels attack some random city and the trio departs to fight them. They get their asses kicked at first until mid-battle epiphany about the meaning of the earlier lesson. They defeat the cherubim, unfortunately the harvesting ships manage to get away. But at least the team learned some valuable lesson and can now work better. Till the next episode that is...
 * Super Robot Genre
 * Super Robot Wars: Debuted in Super Robot Wars Z and returns in the sequel.
 * It also appears in Another Centurys Episode R, as the token Super Robot Genre series, alongside 5 other Super Robot Wars Z shows.
 * Surprisingly Good English: The Gospel version of the main theme played in the last episode. In fact, it's so good and there's so much English in it that it's more like Gratuitous Japanese.
 * Swiss Army Mecha: Depending on the configuration of the Vectors, Aquarion can assume different forms. The main ones are Sol (Good Old Fisticuffs), Luna (The Archer), and Mars (I Like Swords and Playing with Fire), although circumstances have forced the team to improvise on occasion.
 * Tall, Dark and Handsome: Fudou and Pierre.
 * Teleporters and Transporters: The Teleport Change, which can exchange the pilots of the Vectors with someone who's back at the base.
 * Telescoping Robot: Again, Aquarion Sol's Infinity Punch.
 * Theme Music Power-Up: Whenever AKINO starts singing, you can be sure the next couple of minutes are going to be awesome.
 * Sometimes causes Soundtrack Dissonance, especially in the earlier episodes where "Sousei No Aquarion" was the main theme. Something just seems a little off about playing a heartfelt song proclaiming undying love while dribbling a Humongous Mecha into orbit like a soccer ball!
 * Theme Tune Cameo:
 * This and That: In episode 8 Tsugumi and Jun ask Reika and Pierre respectively for advice on their first union, and the other two naturally assume they're asking for advice on This and That (although, seeing how the "union" works, they might as well have...).
 * Trial Balloon Question
 * True Companions: The Element Users, and especially important for Apollo, who puts friendship before everything else. Rena Who cares, she's my friend. Sirius and Silvia  Who cares, they're my friends. And so on and so forth.
 * This is also important to Fudou, who gets mightily pissed
 * Tsundere: Silvia. She does get better as time goes on.
 * Twin Telepathy: Kurt and Chloe.
 * The twin monsters Kumba and Nikumba also do this with their core.
 * Warrior Poet: Sirius, whenever he's not in battle or training, spends his time picking roses in his garden and spouting poetry.
 * Wax On, Wax Off: Every single training regimen Gen Fudou puts the Element Users through.
 * Which also leads to some moments of Hilarity Ensues in some episodes, such as "Cosplay of the Soul"...
 * Arguably Pierre's Crowning Moment of Funny.
 * Definitely Pierre's CMOF. He had his fellow Element Users down to a science.
 * Weapon of Choice: Sirius wields a rapier, adding to his composed and foppish air, while Apollo (on the few occasions he is seen with a sword) uses a broad-bladed scimitar more appropriate to his wild, feral personality.
 * What the Hell, Hero?: Reika delivers one to Apollo upon discovering that The fact that Apollo didn't fret over such a major detail shows how loyal he is to his True Companions.
 * White-Haired Pretty Boy: Touma.
 * Glen, too, although he's not as bishie as Touma.
 * White-Haired Pretty Girl: Rena.
 * Winged Humanoid: A variation with the Shadow Angels. Most of them aren't human or possess vaguely humanoid shapes. The few that are (such as Touma and Otoha, among others) have wings in odd places; Touma's hair is made out of feathers, while Otoha's wings are her arms (much like that of a harpy) and she can play them like a harp. Apollonius seems to be the sole exception that plays this trope straight.
 * Woman Scorned: Touma, despite being male, is precisely this after being dumped by Apollonius in favour of Celiane.
 * Yaoi Guys: Touma and Apollonius in the Backstory.
 * You could also consider Jun possibly in this category as well. In the episode where he inquires Pierre about merging, they have a yaoi moment, and in the following episode, Pierre's dream of a harem has all of the female pilots plus Jun in female clothes all fawning over him.
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Surprisingly avoided for the most part. Few of the characters have have wild Hair Colors, the oddest example coming from the twins (Kurt and Chloe), who have blue hair, and Futaba, who sports green hair braided in a ponytail.
 * Then again, Futaba is a Shadow Angel.
 * You could also consider Jun possibly in this category as well. In the episode where he inquires Pierre about merging, they have a yaoi moment, and in the following episode, Pierre's dream of a harem has all of the female pilots plus Jun in female clothes all fawning over him.
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Surprisingly avoided for the most part. Few of the characters have have wild Hair Colors, the oddest example coming from the twins (Kurt and Chloe), who have blue hair, and Futaba, who sports green hair braided in a ponytail.
 * Then again, Futaba is a Shadow Angel.