Search - Aquarian Age - The Complete Collection on DVD

2.5 Stars for an enjoyable but forgettable anime.

Simple Reader | NC USA | 11/27/2005

(2 out of 5 stars)

"This DVD collection is nice, well-priced, and looks great. I was able to watch this with a friend, and not have to purchase it myself. For any relatively well-versed anime fan, this series is a walk through a colorful but extremely familiar park. The characters are certainly easy to like.

The main issue I had with this anime is that it is packaged as one thing in many places... a story about supernatural factions fighting for domination in the mundane world, with an aspiring pop-singer as the key character... when the truth is that this story is about 85% relationship-oriented. It's a romance with some supernatural elements thrown in. The struggle and rivalry between the factions are a serious backdrop, often more hinted at than played out, and they leave the viewer boggled about who belongs to what until six or seven episodes in. By the end, I was feeling that I wished they had done much more with some of that great story potential.

It has a feel-good, gentle, know-thyself kind of message, but the story, character design and setting are a little cliche. They throw in as many standard anime bits as they can, but all of these pieces have been fleshed out far better in other series. Summarized all together: It's a nice rental, looks good, and for the less finicky anime geek, it's certainly mellow and fun. As another reviewer has advised, I recommend giving some other titles a viewing before spending your money here."

Not as good as I thought...

Andrew Dill | 11/07/2005

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I have seen previews for Aquarian Age from multiple other ADV DVDs that I had gotten, and it looked pretty interesting. I went online (Amazon.com) to look for some more information about it, and found some positive things about it. This anime was not absolutely horrible or anything, but was still no where near any of the "best" or even "good" anime I have seen. The story was pretty original I guess, but it was extremely slow, and a lot of times just boring. The set is only about $35-$40 though, so it has that working for it. In conclusion, there is some much better anime out there for people to buy, so do not consider this one unless you already feel you have tried most of the good stuff already. Try some of the following before Aquarian Age: Neon Genesis Evangelion, Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, Peacemaker, Texhnolyze, Wolf's Rain, Saiyuki, Gungrave, Raxephon, Ghost in the Shell (SAC), Hellsing, Samurai Champloo, Paranoai Agent, Fruits Basket, Cromartie High School, Excel Saga, Azumanga Daioh, Samurai Gun, Inuyasha, Tenjho Tenge, Mars Daybreak, Gankutsuou, Serial Experiments: Lain, Witch Hunter Robin, Outlaw Star, and FLCL.
**Based on all the anime I just listed that is better than Aquarian Age, you should realize that it just isn't worth it when there are so many other good series out there."