The original show's first opening theme song "Genesis of Aquarion" in particular feels so triumphant and universal that it never fails to satisfy when the show needs to really sell an emotional moment. Kanno's music here realizes this theme by utilizing timeless strings for the soundtrack as well as a few unbelievably catchy pop songs to tie it all together. The conflict the characters face is a recurring one that repeats every 10,000 years, with the chosen saviors of the world being unique from their predecessors, but the cyclical nature of the conflict representing humanity's undying ability to overcome by coming together. In Aquarion, people save the world by co-piloting robots in pairs, connecting to each other through the power of love and understanding rather than brute force. That desire to create music that brings the characters and world alive is also the driving force behind her work on Shoji Kawamori's far-future mecha Aquarion franchise. The rest of the music was similarly thought out as well Kanno's music feels like the kind of sounds the people of Macross' future would be listening to, making its alien world feel alive in ways it wouldn't without her touch. In Macross Plus, the character Sharon Apple literally hypnotizes people with her music, and to get that right, Kanno put all of her effort into creating thumping electro that convinces us of Sharon's abilities, channeling her dreams of crafting stories to use music to bring her character alive. In the Macross franchise, created originally by director Shoji Kawamori, music plays an important part not only in the show's tone but even the story, with each entry revolving around world-changing pop stars amidst grand wars. An easy place to see that is in the anime soundtrack that cemented her place in the industry, Shinichiro Watanabe's directorial debut Macross Plus. It might surprise some that Kanno actually wanted to be not a composer but a novelist growing up while her career trajectory obviously didn't end up as she planned, her dreams definitely did influence her style.
I never liked her from the TV series and neither now.RELATED: 'Cowboy Bebop' Music Featurette Spotlights the Woman Behind The Series' Iconic Sound: Yoko Kanno Reika as one of the important reincarnations doesn't sit well with me. Not sure if Silvia is really Scorpius or Cerianne for now but it seems to imply Silvia is Scorpius for now. Guess they included Scorpius in as the 3rd pilot and the great betrayer of man-kind and to take on the role that Sirius was supposed to fill, since Sirius is already dead in the events of the OVA. This was the strange bit in the TV series cuz they needed 3 people to pilot the Aquarion but in the TV series it seemed to imply only Apolonius and Cerianne were needed to pilot it 12,000 years ago. There seems to be a switch in roles in terms reincarnations but i think its just to mislead the audience for now. Assault Type Aquarion gerwalk mode (Armageddon mode i think its officially called) gets more screen time.awesomes! You can still see the "tree hugging hippiness" of hory froating head in the OVA, but its done quite well with less cheese. Aquarion minus all the "useless" episodes of the TV series and just concentrated with the "meat" you'll get the OVA. I think the OVA was more in-line to what Kawamori had in mind with the series. Its a retelling, as linx put it so well, its just like how DYRL? was a retelling of Macross and Girl In Gaea was for Escaflowne. Now I just gotta wait for the second part, Wings of Glory, comin this fall. There are a few scenes that used animation from the series and it feels a little out of place since they're not as smooth and detailed as the rest of the OVA. The animation is fantastic! Satelight has come a looooooong way since Arjuna. Unless there's something for him on the next part which I doubt from I saw on the preview. I don't see why else this change would be neccessary. It seems that was done to give the spotlight to Reika and introduce the new character, Scorpios.
Too bad you don't actually see who's else is piloting the vectors together with the main characters, only their names are mentioned and just for one unit. A lot things have been changed, for example the Assault type is now the standard Deva mech, yay! And there are lots of them, pretty much every character gets one. It's a retelling like DYRL? and Escaflowne: A Girl in Gaea so watching the series first always gives you a better idea of what's going on but it can stand on its own too fairly well. I just finished the first part of Aquarion: Wings of O_O