Checking for Style and Substance at the Aquarion: Myth of Emotions Premiere

Of all the anime out there to get such a gorgeous and stylized new series in 2024, I don't want to call Aquarion a totally unpredictable guess—after all, it's been steadily getting new series every few years ever since 2005. Still, I don't think it would've been my first guess. Or my second. Or my third. Or my tenth. All the same, I welcome it. It's reminiscent of Panty & Stocking's cartoonish and sharp visuals, and looks fantastic.

The story, however, I'm less excited about. Even by Aquarion standards, things aren't always explained clearly. The episode opens up at the funeral of a high school girl named Sayo, who died under mysterious circumstances. But then in the library, while our protagonists—which includes Sayo's friends—are talking about her, she appears. Suddenly, the four of them (yes, including Sayo) are told that they and only they are the Elements who must fight mythical beasts. That they're the Elements must remain a top-secret, so I'm not sure why it was announced to the whole school. Maybe I blinked and missed something. All the same, they fight in the Aquarion—who wasn't there at first, but something leads to its reappearance at the end of the episode (to be fair on this last point though: I think this beat was purposefully vague. That feels like something that will probably—hopefully—be explained in the next episode).

You might wonder how necessary familiarity with Aquarion is, since this will be its fourth series. And if this first episode is indicative of anything, it's unnecessary. Still, it would both enrich your experience and may help to explain some things that this first episode glosses over. Although to be fair: it was just the first episode. It's possible the second episode, for example, is the one that explains why there are so many people talking about wings. It's impossible to say for sure yet, but the impression this leaves one with is that this series expects plenty of newcomers, and was written with them in mind.

All in all, this premiere was a mixed bag. I'm certainly not the biggest, most dedicated Aquarion fan out there, but I don't necessarily dislike it either. Even so, I thought this episode had great visuals, but a poorly explained plot that I can't feel excited about. That said, fantasy and mecha can combine in cool ways that we've never seen in previous Aquarion series. So I guess my number one hope for Aquarion: Myth of Emotions moving forward is that it takes more advantage of the fantasy aspects of it all. There might be something cool here, and once this show starts airing, I plan on watching at least a few more episodes to see if it can find it.