I can see why Funimation chose Aquarion to test the season box-set release instead of releasing it the traditional one volume at a time. Aquarion has names behind it that anime fans in the US recognize like Shoji Kawamori and Yoko Kanno, so Funimation can market the show. Who doesn’t like Yoko Kanno?

Though after watching the first volume, it’s pretty easy to see why Aquarion was chosen as a season-set guinea pig. The first five episodes are quite lame. I know I probably would not have bought volume two after seeing volume one.

Sure, most mecha shows are either super cheesy or are trying their hardest to prove mecha can be a serious business. Aquarion straddles the line quite deliberately in equal parts that it comes off as trying too hard without a clue. Eventually it sorts it self out enough to dump some interesting ideas about some shadow angel bad guys who harvest humans as food and that there are reincarnated heroes who are able to fight them.

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