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One of the first Mecha series as a fan, Aquarion has never ceased to amaze me with its plotlines and mecha fights, but after a few years after Evol, I feel as if the writers tried to come up with something new but got lost in where they were heading. Forget what you know about the previous Aquarion's and read onward about the true nature of this series.

I am in no way bashing on this anime, but I believe it really had potential. At first glance, it seems the writers geared this Aquarion towards a more younger audience. The original Aquarion and Evol were geared ... towards many mature audiences and I believe this is the case. As the merges in this series were short and did not show much nudity, the other Aquarion's showed more mature content and more nudity and adult-like themes. The Verbalism Club in the show is all means family friendly and of course the other Aquarion's shows like I said above were more serious and adult centered, I do believe this was geared towards a new generation audience of Aquarion rather than old time fans.

As for the plot, there are a bit of filler episodes which can sometimes be unnecessary. The series does grow more darker as it progresses as you see a certain character in the story embrace his destiny and becomes a living badass! Certain Episodes such as, 14 and 15 could of been away with since they really had no relevance with the plot and were there for comic relief. Now, this series does portray comedy well and I find myself laughing at Akira for always shouting, "I am the savior." which makes fun of anime cliches of shows. The plot is executed weirdly but it stays true to its world and always never ceases to amaze me of how much weirder it can get. The climatic fight scene was well worth it, but I often found myself curious on how everytime Akira needed strength, the Holy God of Plot decided to intervene and give him the strength or OP power to make it through the situation. Kinda cliche. Now let me hit on something that I haven't seen in the other reviews.

Moral lessons. This show is very good at portraying moral lessons that are very close to home and real life. Lessons of the consequences of holding your emotions, to the satisfaction of winning the appeal of others, to the creating your own dreams and not letting your parents decide it for you and finding your voice to make change in the world. It is excellent on really showing the struggles of teenagers and the moral lessons that they learn. I found myself smiling at how it reminded me of some decisions I have made in my past as a child.

Overall, its a decent show but being a fan of Aquarion, I would of love to see the reincarnation theme back and the good ol' Solar Wing. I would watch if your are looking for something happy to watch and something interesting with lessons but as a long term fan, you might not get satisfaction from it.

B: The Beginning is an interesting anime that is flawlessly put together as an anime that has no manga or resources to begin with. It starts off pretty strange as another one of those shows that has crime and they solve the murders, but each murder and each episode builds off each other fits into place and makes the story unique. The story is good at shockers and confusion into making you question what everything means and the best part is the journey of how it gets there and how all the puzzles pieces fit together.

Story: 10
Most animes can't get a good story going and ... make it bland and the "protaganist" is overpowered and always wins making the villain useless and we all know the outcome. B is very good at throwing away the cliches and starting something new. The plotline example is a triangle. The RIS is looking for "Killer B" and other murderers while "Killer B" is looking for the murderers they are pursuing intertwining each other in their fates. Whatever the RIS does affects what "Killer B" does. Its an elaborate scheme as the villains are luring "Killer B" out while also taking on the RIS who is caught in the crossfire. As the ending goes very satisfying all the pieces fit together and its a masterpiece.

Art: 10
Of course good ol' I.G. Productions never fails to disappoint with art. Some scenes are mixed with CGI such as the cars but everything else seems animated wonderfully.

Sound: 8
The opening could use some work. MOST people skip it because it sucks. I think they could of came up with something better than a creepy opera. Now the ending, "Perfect World" is amazingly done and very catchy. It gives little punk feel. The soundtrack is also pretty good as well.

Character: 10
I have mixed-feelings about the characters but none the less they all have their roles. The main character isn't OP! Congratulations that cliche is gone! The character development with Keith, "Killer B" and the baddies are splendid. You learn more and more about them as the show goes on. What's best is just when you think you know the character, you really don't. Each character plays a roll in the story except a few members of RIS I deem useless but still have their best moments.

Enjoyment: 10
I enjoyed watching the plotline pieces fall into place and in my mind I knew somethings were to happen but how they would play out is surprising and the unexpected twists and the people you think you trust aren't who they say they are. Finding out their true colors and finding out how even at the beginning the things they did laid the foundation to what's to come later and it doesn't fail to disappoint in all three of its plotlines.

Overall: 9.5
For an anime with no manga or resources, I have to say it is extremely interesting and I would watch it all again to feel the same thrills and feel the same amazing feeling of watching a mystery unfold. The ending is extremely satisfying and no cliffhangers at all. Best part is, its possible the show will get a second season and I pray it will get more amazing as ever. The guys did a great job creating this.

I have yet to understand why this series is praised? Its like a soap opera with card games, but you don't get enough time with the actual cardfight? As you can see by my image, I like Vanguard. I thought all 4 seasons before this series was excellent. They made it almost like Yu-gi-oh and almost kept it guessing. Here comes this new series where you don't see the excitement of cardfights anymore. ITS LITERALLY CALLED CARDFIGHT VANGUARD. If you take away the fights, all you get is a soap opera, where characters mope all the time. Now onto the review everyone was looking for~!

Story: ... 5
NO SPOILERS: A lonely kid in middle school discovers a card shop, where people battle using Vanguard. At first he finds no interest, but like Aichi from the first series he gets sucked in and makes some "cardfight" friends. Unlike the original Vanguard the plot is slow and gets no where really quickly. The first season had a goal, and that goal was set and achieved. Now we got people skipping Cardfights that last only 4 minutes. BEST YET, they don't check for drive triggers. Its like the creators wanted this series to be a soap opera full of fillers and not fighting.

Art: 10
Like all the rest of the Vanguard series, the artwork is amazing. They know exactly how to make a monster come out of a card and attack, but those monsters are short-lived because they are only on the field for...... 20 seconds before the end of the cardfight is near. Still the artwork is amazing.

Sound: 4
There isn't much to say about the sound. Its the same as all the series, same sound effects different battle themes and musical themes. Its okay, I'll give it that. The voice acting is alright as well.

Character: 4
Referring to most of my points, character's get built and relationships get formed with cardfighting which does happen, but when you don't see them struggle or even see the cardfight, how are you suppose to make character development. MOST OF THE DEVELOPMENT, was outside the fights. Where someone talks some sense into a mopey character. This same character development is used throughout the entire series, including the ones to come. I feel like they rushed it too quickly and had a good idea in there heads, but were too lazy to put in the effort.

Enjoyment: 1
I could not enjoy this at all. Cardfights were the highlight of the series before that. You take it away, its a dumb show. Its like Yu-gi-oh without the duels or Gundam without the mechas. Why did I watch all 48? I expected more, so much more and I gave it more chances than ever. Every episode continued to give me more disappointments. Like most people are going to tell me, "Well it's not like the original." I didn't expect it to be the original, I expected cardfights with a good story line *ahem* Link Joker, Legion Mate. Vanguard went down a lot by making this series.

Overall: 2
I suggest anyone who is a Vanguard fan, stay away from this series. You will regret it, if u think the new characters is gonna be like the old series. I suggest you forget about this series and wait until they actually care about the cardfights and the characters. Just let the whole G series blow over and wait for a new series where they fix there mistakes.