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Orion no Shounen: Aquarian Age #4
Juvenile Orion, Volume 4
After coming to terms with the dark side of both their pasts, Mana and Tsukasa decide to move forward. The power of the Aquarian Age is a double-edged sword. They realize that their powers may harm others, but can also be used to protect those they love. Meanwhile, Kaoru and her group continue their twisted game of hunting those with power, and Mana is their next target. Kaname, Naoya, Isshin, Tsukasa, and Tomonori rush to save her, but Kaoru's men stand before them. The final battle between hatred and love is about to begin.
208 pages, Paperback
First published October 24, 2004
1 person is currently reading
95 people want to read
About the author
Sakurako Gokurakuin
94 books31 followersNative name: 極楽院 櫻子
Associated names: さくら あしか; 极乐院樱子; 極楽院さくらこ; 櫻 海驢; efini; MELT DOWN; SAKURA Ashika
Circle(s): efini
Part of the MELT DOWN circle with Reku Fuyunagi.
She writes most of her BL and shotacon manga under the pen name "Ashika Sakura", and writes tame BL and mainstream stories under Sakurako Gokurakuin.
She is most known as the original creator of "Sensitive Pornograph" and "Sekirei", which are now both anime. She seems to be authoring mostly male-oriented work than yaoi these days.
When she presents herself in the afterwords of her comics, she tends to be very shy, embarassed and modest when she writes them, which some fans find humorous because her manga can get very sexual and outrageous.
Gokurakuin is a huge fan of singer, Akina Nakamori.
Zodiac: Scorpio
Blood Type: AB
Associated names: さくら あしか; 极乐院樱子; 極楽院さくらこ; 櫻 海驢; efini; MELT DOWN; SAKURA Ashika
Circle(s): efini
Part of the MELT DOWN circle with Reku Fuyunagi.
She writes most of her BL and shotacon manga under the pen name "Ashika Sakura", and writes tame BL and mainstream stories under Sakurako Gokurakuin.
She is most known as the original creator of "Sensitive Pornograph" and "Sekirei", which are now both anime. She seems to be authoring mostly male-oriented work than yaoi these days.
When she presents herself in the afterwords of her comics, she tends to be very shy, embarassed and modest when she writes them, which some fans find humorous because her manga can get very sexual and outrageous.
Gokurakuin is a huge fan of singer, Akina Nakamori.
Zodiac: Scorpio
Blood Type: AB
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 4, 2018
Review preface notation: Some digging revealed that the reason behind why this series often feels as though it is lacking in development for its characters and world-building elements is that it is similar in concept to the books written for the Magic: The Gathering card game. In Japan, the card game Aquarian Age is very similar to M:TG in play style and set-up, and like M:TG with its many novels, Aquarian Age has an anime series (perhaps more than one, even!) and this manga series that are all based off the original game but expect the audience to already be familiar with some aspects of the world under the assumption they are familiar with the original game. Each of these volumes also have pages toward the back mentioning aspects of the card game, though I had ignored these prior. Again, there is an expectation of the audience to already be familiar with the source material. While this doesn't necessarily satisfy all of my qualms with the elements of the story-telling and writing, it at least explains why I felt there's a lack of world-building in this manga series.
On to the proper review! As per usual, these books are a very quick read, even by manga standards. The plot never really slowed down from book one and that's the same here. This is the rising action building to the climax though, as we are close to getting our final confrontation with the antagonist the series has been building to. Everything is very intense and fast-paced, and even if many concepts present aren't always explained due to the expectation of the audience to already be familiar with aspects of the world, there is at least enough to still go off of in order to enjoy the conflict we're faced with.
I still have the complaint that I feel as though we have a large cast of characters and very little development for almost any of them. I feel like this was intentional; that cutting out or cutting down on the amount of character exposition and development was a choice in order to ensure that the pace of the story kept going at a breakneck speed. If that's the case, it certainly has served its purpose. I don't think I've ever read a manga series where each volume was such a fast read, and to be fair, most manga rely a lot on backstory and exposition for the characters in-between parts of the current plot. So while it is a little disappointing that our characters aren't as fleshed out as they probably could be, it leaves them up to some amount of fan interpretation, and it keeps the pace moving.
The art has also shown improvement (finally!) in this fourth volume of Aquarian Age: Juvenile Orion. It's like the artist finally got comfortable with their character designs for each of the cast of characters, and as such, they're all easy for me to tell apart now. It's kind of a-day-late-and-a-dollar-short in a way, as this is the second-to-last volume, but it's nice to finally not have to rely on context clues and looking over something several times before I can know who is saying what.
On to the proper review! As per usual, these books are a very quick read, even by manga standards. The plot never really slowed down from book one and that's the same here. This is the rising action building to the climax though, as we are close to getting our final confrontation with the antagonist the series has been building to. Everything is very intense and fast-paced, and even if many concepts present aren't always explained due to the expectation of the audience to already be familiar with aspects of the world, there is at least enough to still go off of in order to enjoy the conflict we're faced with.
I still have the complaint that I feel as though we have a large cast of characters and very little development for almost any of them. I feel like this was intentional; that cutting out or cutting down on the amount of character exposition and development was a choice in order to ensure that the pace of the story kept going at a breakneck speed. If that's the case, it certainly has served its purpose. I don't think I've ever read a manga series where each volume was such a fast read, and to be fair, most manga rely a lot on backstory and exposition for the characters in-between parts of the current plot. So while it is a little disappointing that our characters aren't as fleshed out as they probably could be, it leaves them up to some amount of fan interpretation, and it keeps the pace moving.
The art has also shown improvement (finally!) in this fourth volume of Aquarian Age: Juvenile Orion. It's like the artist finally got comfortable with their character designs for each of the cast of characters, and as such, they're all easy for me to tell apart now. It's kind of a-day-late-and-a-dollar-short in a way, as this is the second-to-last volume, but it's nice to finally not have to rely on context clues and looking over something several times before I can know who is saying what.
January 1, 2026
Alright, Aquarian Age, things are starting to get fun! (Even though the fights are still over way to quickly in my opinion.) I love some good old fashioned one-on-one fights that force the characters to face some inner aspect of themselves.
I can only assume the 'Polestar Empire' is actually Kaoru and her gang of evil psychics and they've finally made their move. Kaoru kidnapped Mana and chained her up, forcing the boys to fight to save her. Naoya vs Kasei was pretty enjoyable, Isshin showed up just in time to stop Mizunagi. Lafayel and Tsukasa should have a decent fight (in the next volume) while Tomonori waits in the wings. Kaname went directly to MAna's side and will probbaly have to fight Kaoru, Kuga, AND Ama-Inu.
While it does feel like there are too many characters and not enough of the world it being fleshed out, I'm surprisingly invested going into the final volume. 3/5
I can only assume the 'Polestar Empire' is actually Kaoru and her gang of evil psychics and they've finally made their move. Kaoru kidnapped Mana and chained her up, forcing the boys to fight to save her. Naoya vs Kasei was pretty enjoyable, Isshin showed up just in time to stop Mizunagi. Lafayel and Tsukasa should have a decent fight (in the next volume) while Tomonori waits in the wings. Kaname went directly to MAna's side and will probbaly have to fight Kaoru, Kuga, AND Ama-Inu.
While it does feel like there are too many characters and not enough of the world it being fleshed out, I'm surprisingly invested going into the final volume. 3/5
October 15, 2025
I. Don't know how I feel about this series. The art just keeps getting better and better. I still live Tsukasa, best boy- even had a gd magical girl transformation. Love it. But Mana is such a nothing character. The fighting makes no sense- the logistics of how their powers work and whatnot. Love the villain, love the little tastes of back story that we get. But I feel like this could be so much more. I loved this series in high school, I can still see why. But like. 12 volumes at the least. Flesh out these characters. Give me more, give me a reason to care about these characters and this world. And give me some explanation on HOW this world and its magic works.
May 16, 2017
Enjoyable read. I'd recommend this one.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews