Aquarion Logos is the third installment of the Aquarion franchise, released in 2015. Unlike its predecessor Aquarion Evol, Logos takes place in its own unique universe unrelated to the previous works.
Once upon a time, human voices had defined the true nature of all things, yet the invention of text changed the status quo, while creating a "Logos World" between the voice and the truth. Millennia have passed since then, advancements of civilizations have made the "Logos World" too big to control "texts." A group of young people dedicate themselves to counter chaotic "texts" with "Creative Voice Power," and among them, a boy named Akira Kaibuki living in Asagaya.
Aquarion Tropos:
- Alternate Continuity: Logos doesn't take place in the same universe as the previous Aquarion series and doesn't seem to have any connection with the other series.
- Alas, Poor Villain:
- It's hard not to feel sorry for Sougon.
- This also happens to Nesta, who joins Kiryu Together in Death after finding out what his last letter to her was.
- All of the Other Reindeer: Kokone's crippling social anxiety is the result of continuous bullying and hatred from her schoolmates when she was a kid: when one of the boys she had turned down was killed by a speeding car on that very same day, the kids blamed her for his death.
- Animal Mecha: Aquarion Phoenix, Aquarion Ryu (Dragonfly), Aquarion Sei, Aquarion Gai.
- Antagonist Title: The titular Aquarion Logos is the ancient mecha Subete and Nesta are trying to awaken in order to destroy the world.
- Anthropomorphic Typography: The Monster of the Week are M.J.B.K. (Menace of Japanese with Biological Kenetic energy / Mojibake / corrupt text), which are monsterized Kanji used by NESTA in the Logos World to turn concepts in the real world dangerous for humans and need to be destroyed.
- Art Shift: A commercial
for the blu-ray release by Kamikaze Douga is depicted with paper cutouts on sticks with a fully 2D transformation sequence of Aquarion inserted in the middle. - Beach Episode: Episode 5, in which the girls go to the beach.
- Betty and Veronica:
- Akira finds himself in a Love Triangle with the timid and gentle ordinary girl Kokone and the aloof and harsh undercover spy Maia.
- Maia herself is in one with Akira as Betty (who might be clueless about it, but definitely cares about her) and Subete as Veronica.
- Big Bad: Sougon Kanzaki. However, with the appearence of a mysterious angel-like figure called Nesta, it seems that Sougon's position as the Big Bad is in doubt.
- Big Good: Sakurako, who used to be Sougon's secretary.
- Bookends: At the beginning of the first episode, Akira stops a burglar who steals an old woman's purse by taking off the key of the motorcycle the burglar is riding on while it's still moving and then he claims he did it because he's a savior. At the end of the final episode, Akira stops another purse burglar in the exact same way and he's about to say the same thing as before, but he realizes he couldn't become a savior, Subete did. Maia comforts Akira by telling him that even though he can't be a savior, he still can be her lover.
- Borrowed Catchphrase: At the start of Episode 17, Subete says Sougon's phrase, "Rejoice. I shall now set you free."
- Break Them by Talking: Nesta delivers a pretty harsh one to Maia in Episode 20.
- Bridge Bunny: There are several of them, but Shoko is the only one who has a name.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Being the commander of a group of defenders of humanity doesn't stop Sakurako from being eccentric and behaving like a Cosplay Otaku Girl at times.
- Casanova Wannabe: Tsutomu's attempts at picking up chicks are comically unsuccessful.
- Character Catchphrase:
- Whenever Sougon summons an M.J.B.K., he says, "Verbalize. Rejoice. I shall now set you free."
- Whenever Akira says he is the "savior".
- Childhood Friend Romance:
- Subete has loved Maia ever since they were kids. She doesn't feel the same way.
- Akira and Maia met when they were children and saving Maia from her fate became Akira's reason to become the world's savior. Even before remembering it, their strong feelings for each other are obvious.
- Combining Mecha: The Aquarion mechas can combine with each other.
- The Comically Serious: Akira tends to fall under this sometimes, such as fighting for swimsuits.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: Sougon's son Subete, towards Maia.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Sougon can't understand why Akira would want to save humanity, since in Sougon's opinion, humans have only brought their own doom upon themselves and don't deserve to be saved.
- Free-Fall Romance: Akira and Maia do this when Maia brings him back into existence with The Power of Love.
- Fun with Acronyms: The main enemies, the M.J.B.K., stands for "Menace of Japanese with Biological Kenetic energy/Mojibake". They're also referred to as "Corrupted Text".
- Funny Background Event: Kagura and Appolon beating each other up in the background.
- Girlish Pigtails: Karan sports them.
- Gold-Colored Superiority: The titular mecha after it becomes the Logos Genesis.
- Got the Whole World in My Hand: In Episode 13, when the Nothingness M.J.B.K. is summoned and absorbs and erases practically everything, Akira quickly grabs The World.
- Halloween Episode: Episode 15.
- Intergenerational Friendship: Between Hayato, who is quite probably in his late teens, and Karan, who is still in primary school.
- Irony: Akira always says he's the saviour, but Subete is the one who ultimately creates the new Logos World and becomes the new saviour. On that note, this allows Akira to live and get together with Maia, which is something that Subete could have gotten instead.
- Kids Are Cruel: The ones who bullied Kokone certainly were.
- Love Across Battlelines: Nesta and Kiryu were members of enemy tribes that were at war with one another, but they fell in love after Kiryu spared Nesta's life despite being her enemy.
- Love Dodecahedron: At this point standard for Aquarion. Kokone has a crush on Akira, Maia is sent as a spy but soon becomes interested in him while her childhood friend and former partner Subete is trying to get her back. Akira meanwhile is clueless about the whole thing, but does seem to have a thing for Maia.
- The Mole: Maia joined the Verbalism Club in order to spy on them on Sougon's behalf.
- Messianic Archetype: Akira seems to think he's this, and he may actually be right.
- Mid-Season Upgrade:
- Subete starts as Aquarion Batsu, then changes to Aquarion Syo and Ressho. Near the end of the series, he gets Aquarion Logos.
- Vector-1 is destroyed in the middle of the series and replaced by Vector Ga, which erases the existence of Akira.
- Monster of the Week: The series, especially the first half, consists in defeating the monster made from the word released this episode known as the M.J.B.K.
- Muggles:
- Shoko has been stated to possess no amount of Verbalism power, no matter how small. This is noted In-Universe to be very unusual.
- Ultimately subverted when Shoko reveals her Verbalism ability to be a unique form called Zero Verbalism. She uses this to absorb and nullify the corrupted 'Obey' concept that has ensnared most of Japan's influential figures, including her father.
- Near-Villain Victory: Episode 7. Because of Subete's tampering, the M.J.B.K. of the episode nearly managed to fully corrupt the concept it was linked to. Even an attempted Heroic Sacrifice from Sakurako failed to work. Disaster was only averted because of Akira's Heroic Resolve.
- No Social Skills: Neither Akira nor Maia seem to know much about interacting with others due to their upbringings.
- Not So Stoic: When Maia disappeared in Episode 9, Akira showed clear signs of anger and worry. He is also shown to be generally shocked at Hayato Taking the Bullet for him from Subete in Episode 12, leaving him in a coma.
- Official Couple: Akira and Maia. The series ends with them confessing their feelings for each other and becoming a couple.
- Our Centaurs Are Different Aquarion Deava.
- Parental Neglect: Despite his son Subete wanting his approval, Sougon seems to think of him as annoying at best, and not even worth considering at worst.
- The Power of Love:
- A dark take on the trope; the Aquarion Logos, which is meant to destroy the world, is empowered by love. In this case, Subete's love for Maia.
- Played straight when Maia's love for Akira brings him back into existence.
- Raised by Grandparents: Akira was raised by his adoptive grandparents.
- The Resenter: Hayato doesn't like how Akira's gut-instinct solutions always seem to work out for him.
- Sealed with a Kiss: The series ends with Akira and Maia sharing their first kiss.
- Shout-Out:
- In Episode 15, the characters dress up as the "Yurei Busters", which is similar to the Ghostbusters.
- and his have an tool called Aquaripen to draw kanjis in the air, identical to Mojikara in Shinkenger
- In Episode 18 we have an parody: Straw Wars: The Shake Rushes Back reading the iconic scene from The Reveal but Darth Vader is now Transgender.
- Episode 21 has The Big Guy, who pilots a yellow ship, end up pulling a Heroic Sacrifice. Where have we seen this before?
- In Episode 15, the characters dress up as the "Yurei Busters", which is similar to the Ghostbusters.
- Show Within a Show: In this universe both Genesis of Aquarion and Aquarion Evol are shows and in TV's occasionally shows Aquarion Love.
- Shrinking Violet: Kokone. Not played for laughs or cuteness, either: her shyness is depicted as a crippling problem.
- Slasher Smile: Akira sports one in Episode 17 when he nearly succumbs to Vector-Ga, the "Destroyer of Legends".
- Snow Means Love: At the end of the final episode, it starts snowing as Akira and Maia confess their feelings for each other and kiss.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: Nesta and Kiryu were members of enemy tribes who fell in love with each other. Since no one would accept their love, they tried to end the war themselves with the Aquarion Logos, but they were defeated and Kiryu and Nesta were captured and executed by their opposing tribe.
- The Stoic: Akira, of the emotionally repressed type - he does have feelings, but is very good at keeping them in check.
- Title Drop: At the end of Episode 17, Subete says, "To destroy the world [Akira] will save, I will awaken Aquarion Logos."
- Tyke-Bomb: Maia was trained by Sougon ever since childhood in order to be his perfect enforcer.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: Subete desperately wants to prove his worth to his father Sougon.
- Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Subverted. The government is aware of Sougon's role in the disasters and has attempted to assassinate him, but he has the Book of Verbalization, which pretty much makes him invincible.
- The Worf Effect: The M.J.B.K.s in Episodes 6 and 7, Strength and Flame, are actually one of the stronger M.J.B.K.s that not even Akira and Maia could handle.
- Words Can Break My Bones: The entire series runs with this concept. Every episode features a M.J.B.K, creatures that are the embodiment of certain words/concept. The heroes defeat them by turning concepts into metaphysical attacks.
