Neon Genesis Aquarion Astral Ocean 09 (Eureka SeveN AO 09)

[Eureka SeveN AO Episode 08]

[I’m filling in for Joe, who’s currently moonlighting as a masked superhero in New York City (what else is one supposed to do there?) so you’ll have to bear with my utter lack of patience in getting into the plot developments of this rather confusing show. Instead I’ll talk about how this show references and plays off on other shows because this is We Remember Love and I’m that kind of fanboy.]

I really didn’t mean to put Aquarion in the post title because this show doesn’t really happen 12,000 years before or after Holland and Talho were making babies and the like. But who knows? The Truth is acting like an annoying Kagura from the planet Vega pining for his smelly wench/Rare Igura and the less I say about The Truth the better. I just wish he’ll turn into a robot already and shut up.

This episode though, brought back all the love for Evangelion. It’s crazy good.

Asuka Strikes and Magmadiver (episodes 08 & 10) – these are fundamental episodes introducing and establishing the character of Asuka Langley Soryu and the capabilities of the Evangelion Unit 02. This episode planted wet sloppy kisses on those Eva eps and is real cool about it too, like it was nothing. Obviously, this episode did more than just pay homage, only that I’m less interested in discussing these things in this post proper [ – feel free to mention them later in the comments and Joe will indulge you].

The episode starts with fanservice: the underage Pied Piper girls are in their swimsuits either lounging by the pool and doing laps. In Magma Diver it was Rei doing the swimming and Asuka showing off her suit and teasing Shinji. Here it’s Elena lounging poolside and Fleur flirting with Ao, teasing him about his girlfriend (he denies having one), and trying to cause “thermal expansion” to everyone involved.

Later on, Magma Diver is further referenced by having the IFO’s fight in the harsh conditions of liquid pressure under great depths. The Evangelion Unit 02 had to use D-Type Equipment (a deep diver suit worn over the Evangelion LOL) to operate under the magma since it had to fight the Angel inside a volcano. Here in this episode Ao had to fight the Secret deep in what remains of Tokyo and its harbor. The water pressure causes damage to the IFO and it was pretty cool how Ao had to cut off the Nirvash’s own leg at some point.

Asuka Strikes is one of the best episodes of anime ever. It builds on characterization of the cast thus far, leaps tall buildings of world-building and exposition, introduces a primary character in a superb way, and is filled with incredible action and awesome moments delivered in a very humorous way. The Eva wore a cape while posing on top of an aircraft carrier! They defeated the angel by shoving two battleships down its gizzard before firing their guns into its bowels!

This episode is not so ambitious, but the secret in this episode pretty much moved around in the water just like the angel Gaghiel. Poor Gags wasn’t invited to appear in the Rebuild of Evangelion movies, so some other anime must remember love for this cutie. The secret wasn’t’ hooked and angled like a fish the way Gags was (with the Eva as the bait no less!) but it sure darted about in the water like a fish. This movement from Asuka Strikes plus the pressure on the robot chassis from Magma Diver constitutes the bones of the tribute to Evangelion here, and it’s very interesting to me how it’s mashed up this way.

For a stretch, Gazelle pokes his nose around like Kaji does in Eva … but this is a thin reference if is at all. The geopolitics in this show doesn’t interest me except in the slightest. The Nirvash’s cockpit view got ruined by the water pressure. The underage butts in swimsuits planted on it moments ago were the ones that saved it in the end. Fanservice saves lives and synechdoche sure is awkward.

Oops I think We Forgot EVOL.