Anime: Aldnoah.Zero 5g5u5e

When Earthlings finally stepped foot onto Mars, they discovered an ancient power known as Aldnoah. This power somehow transferred itself into the blood/DNA of the explorers and now an entire empire exists on Mars, built around the powerful technology. Unfortunately, tensions are at an all time high between the Martians and Earthlings, with Martians operating assault fortresses orbiting the Earth, ready to pound the planet at the first sign of provocation. That spark ends up being a peaceful visit by the Martian princess, who is seemingly blown to bits in an unprovoked terrorist attack. War is at hand.

For ages, we've watched mech shows where the protagonist is given great powers and must defeat unprecedented numbers of opponents to achieve victory. In A/Z, that premise is turned upside down; the Earth-dwellers must use archaic, outmatched machines to defeat seemingly invincible enemy mechs known as cataphracts. Huge losses are taken by the Earthlings just to stall one of these. Enter our protagonist Inaho, an intelligent reincarnation of the lead from Persona 4. He uses inference and his surroundings in order to even the odds against the Aldnoah-powered Martial cataphracts. The story follows both forces as the war proceeds.

A/Z is a mech-based action thriller with numerous twists and a cliff hanger attached to the end of every episode. It is an engaging watch as for once you're rooting for the underdogs, and constantly figuring out how they'll make it through the next battle. This continues to be the theme all the way up to the end of the first season, which ends on the mother of all cliffhangers. However, from that point, the series starts to grow old as patterns are repeated and space battles end up being your typical beam spam war.

A/Z could have been the start of an awesome franchise but ended up feeling like little more than Valvrave. By all means, it's a very exciting watch, but the actual character development, especially with antagonists, was pitiful at best. If you're looking for a great action show, this is definitely a good choice. If you're looking for something to rival the best of the Gundam franchise, you're going to be disappointed.

Animation:
There isn't anything to complain about in this section, well maybe perhaps the mech designs. I guess I should be happy that they don't look like beetles, but the mechs aren't exactly what I call pretty; they almost remind me a bit of the Arbalest from FMP. I was initially so turned off by the orange mech that I almost skipped the entire show. Mechs aside, the show has very good production values. Expect a modern look with great shading and effects. The show is drawn in a slightly under-saturated palette that gives it an appropriately desperate feel. There is great attention to detail be it in the backgrounds or how mechs are damaged and destroyed. There is extensive usage of CGI in many of the mech fights, but it's pretty good quality and not all that distracting. The only weird thing for me was that the backrests in the Martian cataphracts looks like the inside of a coffin, perhaps on purpose? There are many characters, but all the important characters are reasonably distinguishable. Expressions are very good overall except for our virtually emotionless protagonist and his rival, Slaine.

Expect a hearty dosage of action in this show, the majority of which is mech based; there are a few gun battles on foot as well however. The choreography is very good, especially early in the show where every battle is pretty desperate. Expect the protagonists to always barely escape death. Speaking of death, there is a lot of blood and dying, usually of unimportant or unnamed fighters. You should also expect a protracted battle at the climax. This show isn't ecchi based; don't even expect a Flay-like character as character development seems secondary.

Sound:
The sound production values are likewise high. I didn't really take a liking to either of the two OPs, but all of the EDs (with the exception of the last episode) were exceptionally good. The BGM is also very good, with a wide range of melodies ranging from the calming to the chaotic. It is used to great effect particularly in the battles. There is definitely a central melody along with a uniquely electronic feel. In addition to the music, expect great sound effects as well, examples include shells bouncing off the ground and grossly realistic throw up.

Story:
The story takes a very Gundam-like approach, where seemingly insignificant individuals end up having profound effects on the entire war effort. It also continues the Earth vs. colonies theme and attempts a rivalry between Inaho and Slaine, which seems to attempt to mirror something like Kira and Athrun from Gundam Seed; unfortunately, in this case that attempt falls very short.

You'll see the world presented from two viewpoints, that of our protagonist Inaho and company as well as that of Slaine. Expect a lot of ironies and some political banter, especially from the Martian crew. The story is very clearly divided into two seasons, each of which builds to an astronomical climax. Be prepared to start the second season immediately upon finishing the first season, as the cliffhanger is a big one. However, the tempo in the second season feels very different as it first undoes quite a bit of the first season. It doesn't feel as interesting in that the antagonist's rise to power is both rushed and unnatural. Inaho's originally unique take to battle by now has grown old and so it just feels like more of the same.

The second season also concludes in a very weird way; it feels like they wasted a lot of potential with the route that they followed. To say that I was disappointed is a huge understatement; really, what was all the fighting and bloodshed even for? There are a lot of particulars that I think went horrifically wrong in the second season, but almost all of them involve spoilers in some way or another. If I had to liken what they did in comparison with another show, I'd say the second season of A/Z is similar to the third season of Shakugan no Shana.

Character:
There are some likeable characters in this show; it's just that they all happen to be ive characters or characters that spend the majority of the show in a tank. Though the show had good attention to individual traits, it really didn't portray either Inaho or Slaine in a positive light. Inaho is an emotionless and calculating killing machine who fights to end the war as soon as possible. Slaine is a mysterious and capable fighter who suddenly becomes an incredible force one presented a mech; Slaine also harbors psychological issues and is infatuated with his own perception of princess Asseylum. Compared to the dynamic nature of characters in other shows, this one falls very short.

The show spends a significant portion of the first season developing character relationships, many of these interesting relationships (not necessarily romantic) in the first season are basically ignored in the second season. As for ease of relating, the primary cast fairs pretty poorly. Even worse are the antagonists who are barely developed as they often just end up being Inaho-fodder. Besides, isn't it weird to send your generals, alone, in front of the rest of one's forces?

Value:
A/Z is like one long roller coaster. At first, it is thrilling and exciting. However, by the end you're just swaying with the turns and really just want the ride to end. To be honest, I was totally prepared to give the show a raving review after the first season. However, the second season wasn't what I had hoped for; it was unable to run with the exciting tempo of the first season and it decided to take a lot of weird turns. That being said, it is still probably one of the more exciting mech shows out there. If you can put up with a story that turns sour in the center and sub-interesting characters, this is an entertaining show. However, if you're looking for the best of the mech experiences, I'd still stick with the Gundam franchise.

A minimalistic and spoiler free review.

Aldnoah Zero is a mechs anime where instead of power-ups the defeat of overwhelmingly powerful enemies is achieved by firing proton torpedoes in their thermal exhaust po... err I mean exploiting their weaknesses thanks to the tactical genius of the protagonist.

1 - The plot is fuelled by a dichotomy: the not the very well defined plans of conquest by genocide (yet plagued by infamous and very predictable treachery) of the overpowered faction A; and the survival/retribution quest of our bunch of protagonists from the underdog faction B. Basic premise, not that absurd or anything, plain.

2 - Characters are as deep as a dick joke. Adults are dense and unskilled, teenagers are skilful and smart. Major events or plot twists are more often than not the gifts of the great god of RANDOM, at best they are fruit of some character reasoning, sadly those reasons are often obscure or very very disproportionate (the like of decimating a city populace cause they have too many poets! FUCK THE POETS!). Be wary, plot devices are at large and, of course, teenagers got this, teenagers hold the show by the neck, teenagers snapped that neck... may all tremble before the last episode.

2.1 - Expect some personal issues being dragged on until they could be used to generate some dramatic interactions between characters, which of course would be interesting if only they mattered something. They are at best an information dump for the viewers, at worst just fillers with no consequences on the plot or even on the characters involved. They do not care, we do not care.

3 - As often happens in these days, the animation, the artwork, the sound design, everything is good and approved by the anime industry standard for 2014 department. Nothing incredible by any stretch of the imagination, only note is for the CG, which is not always the best, but IT TRIES to do things right.

4 - The show ended up being really average, playing heavily on the shocking factor of sudden deaths while forgetting to do enough world building to let us actually care about what it is happening.

Review
Anyone who appreciates japanese animation as a whole has some knowledge about the studio Sunrise. This powerful and important animation studio is not only behind the Gundam franchise, but is crucial to the essence of the mecha genre. If you do some research you will see that more than half of the mecha shows released came from it, and whenever they came from other studios they would usually suck hard.

Sunrise, however, is slowly failing to renew the genre. It released Gundam Unicorn, yes, but beyond that they missed the mark every single time since Gundam 00 was out six years ago. So... if Sunrise is failing, who can save the genre? A1-Pictures? The guys behind Ano Hana, Sword Art Online, and Fairy Tail? Ha-ha-ha, don't make me laugh.

Aldnoah.ZERO (Aldnoah) is exactly that. A mecha show released by the modern-day most popular studio and famous for an absurdly light presentation and cutie-style. Can we trust them to craft an intricate warfare show with betrayal, character development, drama, and lots of action? That's a tough question. Aldnoah, however, is not about just what a studio can do. It is also about the work of a few key guys, behind amazing shows like Fate/Zero, Ga-rei Zero, Phantom, and Kara no Kyoukai. When you take this into the math, then there is hope in here.

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1. Current Trend, Gundam Formula, Mass Effect
   Aldnoah follows the current trend of starting points: humanity is facing a nearly invincible threat. The twist there is: this threat is also human, descendants of Mars colonizers and absurdly more evolved technologically. In this alternate world, mankind found something more when they first landed on the moon: the remnants of an ancient civilization.
   
   Aldnoah basically borrows the survival idea that all other shows of the same season share, but throw in some Gundam inspired racial conflict, where the "superior" martians want to kill every single human, much like naturals and coordinators of Gundam Seed or common people and newtypes in the UC Gundam shows. Adding to that is the fact that humanity discovered ancient ruins right next to us, much like how Mass Effect (and many other scy-fy tales) depicts the abrupt rise of human technology. Its a interesting collection of ideas, one that could certainly bring about amazing developments.
   
   Why 2014?
   The show, however, points out the war between humans and martians broke out in 1999, when the moon exploded, and is about to be resumed in 2014, when to pilot episode starts. This means basically that in 30 years the martians already mastered a very different technology, crafted an entire political system independent to the Earth, started thinking themselves as superiors to earthlings, and want to kill everyone in our blue marvel. Seriously? Damn, 30 years means their parents, brothers, sisters, or any other family member may still live on Earth, why would they suddenly want to kill everyone? I mean... if this was about to happen a hundred years in the future, or maybe even half of it, it would make much more sense.
   
   This time issue, which initially appears superficial, prove to be a crucial factor into turning every martian into a mindless racist for no damn reason. It is not as if they are mythical beings such as the newtype as well, no, the martians are exactly the same as humans, they can't even tell the difference between them in the show.
   
   The Action and Tension
   Regardless of this big problem into the villains characterization, the action moments and tension of the show are simply superb. This could certainly be called A1-Pictures best work so far even with all the generic visual identity it has. The CG elements, mechas, background, and constant cat and rat play are nicely crafted and merged with each other, giving a visual show to behold.
   
   When there is little action, the show makes up for it with the charming concept of "brain beats muscle". Much like in Code Geass and in the newer No Game No Life, the protagonist takes more merits in being uber smart instead of uber powerful. Although this doesn't make much sense here (Inaho is just a regular boy as far as we know, his only super-power is to think when no one else does), it works well to give us fights that are far more interesting than just two mechas swinging light sabers or firing machineguns at each other.
   
   Cute Cute A1-Pitcures
   This, however, is A1-Pictures. After so many shows from these guys you know what this means, right? If you answered "cute girls" or "light presentation" you deserve a cookie! Yup. Aldnoah is not an exception, it is full of cute girls. For starters we have a clumsy princess whose charm and cuteness overwhelm everyone so they never question her motives or doubt her at any time. Then we have the cute classmates, an angry shady cute girl who is always stalking people, a cute older sister (_OLDER_? Whoa, that's a big change man! No sis-loli-con this time! yay!), a cute captain, a cute XO... and probably more cuteness to come in the next season.
   
   Following their cuteness, their character development is also typical. The princess herself just hangs in there to be saved, no strong personality or courage at all, just a damsel in distress, most of the other girls are just cute ories for scenes and marketing material, and even the cute captain is left behind, with only one single scene in 12 episodes trying to flesh her out.
   
   What about the guys?
   The guys... well, there are basically four guys. One is the classmate who ends up in , who is sadly just a carefree teenager who claims to wish all martians dead and just blushes when he sees a cute girl. The other is the protagonist, an absurdly cold and calculist guy that could just the cast of Gundam Wing instead of hanging here. The next one is a traumatized older soldier whose purpose in these 12 episodes is to enter the cockpit of a mecha and freeze there in fear, at least he shows some emotions. The fourth and final one is perhaps the only character truly explored in the show, Slaine, an earthling living as an ward to the martian princess and caught offguard in the middle of all the backstabbing and plotting between martian nobles. Slaine, however, proves to be just as insane as the protagonist and his actions later in the show doesn't make any damn sense (much less than how he can get in and out of martian fortress so easily).
   
   It is a good start
   Although Aldnoah has severe issues with its cast and major problems with some simple choices of the setting, it does offer a superb start for a show unlikely to be seen since Code Geass and Gundam 00. When we leave the motivations and reasoning to the sidelines, all the backstabbing, politics, warfare, and super technology involved turns out to be extremely fun and enjoyable.
   
   As usual, however, this is just a bit part of a larger show and it simply doesn't work as a stand alone experience, especially given the traumatic end it has. We must wait for the next season to see a development, but with all the issues presented at this start, I would be seriously disappointed if they rushed it to end with just 24 episodes.
   

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Comments
Whoa, that was a nice one. I mean, it has been some time since a show got my attention and pulled me episode after episode. Aldnoah is a jewel when it comes to production values. It does use the typical cuteness that is spoiling most of today's serious tales, but it manages to mix it with interesting CG elements, beautiful scenery, awesome background music, and a welcome lack of ecchiness and blushing.

The show, however, has terrible problems in its cast. The villains lack purposes and are far too mindless. The heroes get little screen time because most of the show is action after action. This works into turning Aldnoah into an addictive experience, but it slowly starts to feel shallow because the cast does not progress in the long run. This can be an even more problematic issue in its second season unless they complete redo the cast part, which gets us to the last episode.



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Graphics/animation

The overall art design is beautiful, very atmospheric. The only „criticism” this show usually gets is the use of CGI, but after re-watching those scenes Ill call it good. Apart from a few scenes where the Terran mechs looked really clunky most of the time they were using various tricks to make the robots blend into the background which included the clever use of camera angles, lighting, colors, smoke, snow etc... The show is easy to follow and visually appealing.

Music

As many have stated already – it’s great. Hiroyuki Sawano showed us again what a talented composer he is. But since this is a review about the anime and not the OST I want to talk about how they USED the music in the anime.

Usually the music’s role in a movie or a TV show is to enhance the experience during certain scenes. Problem is when you overuse it you will achieve the exact opposite and take away from the intensity of the scenes. Instead of letting your audiences make the interpretations for themselves about how they should feel (based on the visuals and the sounds) you force feed them with the information by using music.

The only time when the director showed real restraints were the final scenes in episode 12. This added more depth and emotion to the final showdown which is irable. Wish the rest of the directing was on par with that (in of using the music I mean).

Worldbuilding/war/politics

This is probably the worst part of Aldnoah Zero. Since the anime is focusing on both sides I was hoping for a show where at least the basics (history, motivations) are done right, but nope. It’s pretty obvious that they wanted to tell us a „cool” invasion story, but put minimal effort into the worldbuilding. I would say if your knowledge about history, politics, economy, social behavior (etc...) is limited to Hollywood movies you can come up with a BS like that, but what we see on screen is disappointing at best (or causes brain aneurysm at worst).

Story/action

After the first two episodes it’s quickly established that the Martians are „super-duper” powerful and the Terran military is pretty much helpless against them on a worldwide scale. This could have been a nice approach if the show was about the desperate fight for survival of the Terrans, but since it’s about them kicking some Martian assess you know that won’t be the case. This time we get a Japanese high school student called Inaho, a genius, who singlehandedly comes up with amazing battle plans to defeat the invaders.

I have to it it that compared to the „the-main-character-gets-an-overpowered-robot-for-no-reason-and-beats-everyone” cliché this is sort of refreshing, but gets boring really fast. Especially because the more you think about it the more you realize that while his plans look good on paper, based on his observations he could have came up with different conclusions/interpretations. Meaning he is making somewhat logical wild guesses and he turns out to be right every single time.

And naturally he is also able to flawlessly execute these plans, because he is an ace pilot who mastered the art of sidestepping instead of standing still and waiting for the fatal blow while screaming like an idiot.

Characters

Overall bland and boring. Only four of them are worth mentioning.

Inaho (protagonist) – The new "industry standard" empty shell with some desirable traits (genius, chick magnet etc...) so the average viewer can project his own personality at him and say "oh hey look he is just your everyday normal person. Just like ME".

Slaine (protagonist) – The best written character in the show (most likely unintentionally). Led by hormones and emotions, tossed left and right, naive and easily manipulated. Exactly how most teenagers would react in his situation.

Saazbaum (antagonist) – The only bad guy in the show who has a reasonable motivation which puts him way above the rest of the cartoony villains. Sadly his reasoning and actions often contradict each other, but considering the overall bad writing he gets a .

Marito – The alcoholic, traumatized war veteran. Since Inaho solves everything his potential gets wasted and remains at the sideline.

Overall

Aldnoah zero is basically the anime version of a Hollywood action movie. Just like the majority of the overhyped stuff this one also fits the "the-more-you-think-about-it-the-more-you-hate-it" category.

It has a really catchy premise, some nice action scenes, but on the other hand its full of plot holes, one dimensional characters, plot conveniences, clichés, etc..

Overall it’s a very "effective" anime that knows its targeted audience, but won't be ed 10 years from now.

Aldnoah.Zero is one of those anime that many will find very entertaining as it offers a lot of action together with beautiful animation and very few annoying characters, but for those that rate story above all else it will just seem like another mecha anime that has plot holes.

With Gen Urobuchi (Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Psycho-, Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet) being the writer, the story is anything but simple. You will find many plot twists and a lot of drama, especially in the backstory of some of the characters. It's biggest problem lies in the fact that it feels rushed. With so many characters and so much action going on there is very little time to properly develop the characters. In general, by the end you will know why they act the way they do and you will start to understand them a little better. That's until a major plot twist happens and throws you into confusion again. The ending unfortunately is non-existent as it stops at an important moment, but it can be forgiven knowing that the second season is only a few months away. As for the military aspect, it's not very well fleshed out. Most of the big battles are treated like a puzzle where the MC has to figure out how to win against all odds. At least the solutions are smart and make the MC feel like a true hero, just don't expect them to be amazing.

I would rate the story at around 7 - 7.5. It's above average with many good moments, but it feels rushed and it has a lot of plot holes. i would have liked to see more of the world they were fighting in.
As for the characters it's around a 7. There aren't any annoying characters, but at the same time, none stand out. the MC is very smart , but lacks emotions, the other male characters just don't get enough screen time or don't do anything important enough to stand out. The female characters are one dimensional and don't really get much character development with the exception of a single episode. I'm hoping this will change in season 2. On a side note, the fact that the MC isn't an angsty teen is a major plus.

The Animation is done by A-1 Pictures (Sword Art Online, Uchuu Kyoudai, Magi: The Kingdom of Magic). Fluid animations that rarely have distorted characters or mecha during action scenes and with beautiful backgrounds help create one of the most beautiful anime that aired this year. The character designs are in general above average and the mecha designs vary from average to good. The 3D mechas blend in together with the classic 2D animation really well and don't distract from the overall picture (something that many have problems with).

I'm giving the animation and art a solid 9. It's just beautiful and well animated.

The music is another good point with songs like Bre@th//less (ep 3) or aLIEz[I Say Cry] (ED) being songs that you'll want to listen to multiple times. Actions scenes have a lot of good music that range from electronic/pop to orchestras that complement the animation really well. The mechas sound heavy and metallic while the guns have deep powerful shots. Listening to the fights with good headphones or audio system is a must.

With the exception of a few out of place songs and some reused ones, the music and sound deserve an 8.

If you can forgive some of it's story and character flaws, this anime can be one of the better mecha anime you can watch. The enjoyment will vary a lot from person to person as this caters more to the action oriented viewers and less to the more "sophisticated" ones that like deep and complex stories. I personally like it from start to finish and i'm hoping for an even better second season.

Notice: This review covers both seasons.

The hype surrounding this show before it began airing was insane, because there were a lot of big names in the production team. OWWW LOOK WHO SINGS, LOOK WHO IS VOICE ACTING, LOOK WHO DIRECTS! I didn’t care about any of that, since I am watching a show for the actual show, not for if my favorite pop idol is voice acting. Also, the whole thing looked so dull in the promotional videos, like none of the characters was giving a damn. And turns out I was right, as I always am, the first episode tells you right away that this show is not about good characters, or a crafty exploration of its setting. It is all about a spectacle drowning in cynicism and shock factor, trademark of Urobutcher’s writing. It doesn’t have a drop of humanity in it, and is all about treating people as robots and themes as a canvas for ilogical stuff to happen, just because they sound cool. And boy did it work, since your average anime fan was building temples in the name of this show, for the moment he sees big explotions and big names in the production team he loses his shit and writes fifty pages of pretentious overthinking essays.

All of which are for naught, since other than fancy visuals there is zero effort placed in the making of this series. Take the history of the world for example; it is nothing but one big mess of random ideas next to which even Code Geass is more logical. For some reason some people got their hands on alien technology on Mars and in less than 2 generations they now think they are a different species to the rest of humanity. Which of course is unjustified since they have the same genes, and only use different technology. This is why the “space Nazi” excuse we see in other shows like Gundam or Space Battleship Yamato, does not count here. The Aldnoah thingy, which gives them control over super technology, is not gene-related. It can be given to anyone with a simple kiss. So this whole fuss they made about many of the Martians being in orbital stations around Earth for 20 years, with the claim “They were stranded away from their homeland on Mars” is pure bullshit. Nobody thought about telling these people how most of their first degree relatives are on the planet below them? Not all of them are on Mars and they are not aliens.

Anyways, the backdrop history is not the only thing that is off here; there is also a ridiculous amount of death and mass extermination going on in it which obliterates all forms of characterization, since all you will be noticing is people dying ten seconds after you meet them. You can count numerous scenes where they introduce a soldier, they use him to throw in a fortune cookie proverb, and proceed to killing him on the spot. And it’s not like Gundam shows weren’t full of genocides and multiple character deaths, but they were never focused that much on such things. Aldnoah on the other hand is all about being a big spectacle; focused on the excitement of mass destruction and people getting incinerated while cool music is heard playing in the background. It is not even going for shock factor since the music makes the whole thing feel cool, and is not tragic or sad. You never knew all these people and you are only meant to think “Woah, so many die in this show, it is dark and serious”.

Too bad that what you actually get is cartoony evil space people who exterminate billions of innocent civilians because they see them as insects. So mature indeed. I guess none of the tens of thousands who were hyping this bullshit knew that well written characters are those you get to like regardless of their actions or beliefs. Johan in Monster for example is a very cool character despite being a mass murderer. The villains of this show on the other hand are the ones you would encounter in 60s comic books. “Growl, tremble before my divine presence you scum. I pity how you will die without even being able to defend yourselves. Get wiped out by my godly hand as I end your meaningless existence.” The joke doesn’t stop there; they are written to be so cartoonishly evil that they included the classic backstabbing fuss. They kill their own people and blame it on the earth people as an excuse to kill them all. Such lovely characters; very easy to identify and cheer for.

And despite all that superiority and malice, they are still manipulated like total tools, falling for the weakest propaganda tricks imaginable. Such as starting a war to avenge the death of their princess. But then they see the princess is alive and well. And yet they keep fighting, this time to avenge Earth because ONE OF THE MARTIANS tried to kill her. And even when they fight for that reason, she is not even the real princess, she is an imposter. They will believe anything, no matter how dumb it is, which makes them too pathetic to care about.

There are a few cases when some of them try to question if what they are doing is right, which is a genuine opportunity to become actual people instead of drones, but in just five minutes they either get assassinated or get convinced that the extermination of Earth is a lovely thing to do. Such as the emperor of the evil space people, who was hell bent on stopping the war if no proof of the Earth peoples’ ill intentions were found. And yet as soon as one of his trusted followers reassures him his granddaughter, the person he cared a lot for, is alive and well, he ignores him and allows the extermination to keep going as if he never trusted him for a decade, or loved his granddaughter for twice as much. This keeps happening several times in the show and proves how ill-conceived bad guys they are. The only thing missing is holding huge signs with the words YOU MUST HATE US on them.

As for the good guys, the poor innocent Earth people, there is very little to care about them, other than being the victims of an evil plot. The show never focuses much on them, and they have no brains to make the audience like them for not being tools as well. Despite all young people of Earth having received military training, their tactics in warfare are limited to the amazing strategy of standing still and shooting at the enemy. Which, because of the technological gap between the two sides, has the same effect as throwing pebbles at a tank. And if you think they learn from it, nope, they keep using the exact same strategy in every single episode, which leads to their predictable, unworthy deaths.

But it’s ok, since they are dying for the sake of making the hero of the story to look cool. He is more capable than all combined military forces of Earth, because he has a superpower which allows him to move during battles instead of standing still and waiting to die like everybody else. Yes, this is unthinkable, I know. He is also the only person who can defeat enemy mecha despite their superior technology because he is the only one amongst the evil space army who has a plan during battle. You see, the villains are busy feeling superior and assuming the super technology is enough to win. Which by the way is the only excuse they have for calling themselves superior, because their intelligence or durability sure aren’t. They don’t think ahead like the carton cutouts they are, and freeze from horror when they realize they can’t defeat an earth guy with simple punches or slashes. This gives more than enough time for our hero to use his ultimate winning strategy of… throwing the mecha in the water. Yes, that is all it takes to defeat these city-leveling monstrosities, you throw them in the water and they deactivate faster than the wicked witch of the west. Later on he uses other types of strategies to win, and they are equally simple stuff only he amongst all of humanity can think of.

Well I guess that makes him a wonderful fellow and the only one who actually has personality in this show; right? Hell no! He doesn’t have a personality because he doesn’t have emotions. This trait is even on the name of the anime -> Aldnoah Zero FUCKS GIVEN! I tell you, it is a miracle if the only moving and thinking character in this whole show loses his temper and lets a tiny smirk to escape his permanently frozen to uncaring facial expression. And although they keep trying to fool you into thinking he actually cares about people, even if he doesn’t show it, that quickly ends up being a troll. He will say he wants to avenge the death of one of his friends on one episode with the same interest he asks for his pajamas to be ready when he returns from battle in another. And let’s not overlook how he thinks of a plan to defeat the evil robots only after examining their powers. And by examining I mean sending oblivious Earth soldiers to get brutally killed by the enemy. Lovely Guiney pigs you got there Inaho; their sacrifice is excused if it serves the glory of your exploits. You can thank Urobucher for making you such a humane and believable character.

There are more characters that get a focus in this show besides Inaho the Uncaring (meaning they don’t die after 10 seconds) but in the typical Urobutcher fashion they are all plot devises rather than people. Such as the princess who is used as an excuse for the war to begin, conveniently surviving an assassination, conveniently meeting Inaho the Smirkless, and conveniently giving him super technology when she accidentally es near a hidden base. Did you notice how she didn’t do any of that because of her personality or goals? Nope, they happened because they serve the plot. She is also a fine example of what happens when a story is depending solely on shock factor, instead of good writing. They make it seem like she gets killed a dozen times throughout the story as means to shock the audience. And then, pop, she appears alive and well 10 minutes later. It’s bad enough if you use such a lazy plot twist once. It’s beyond comprehention when you use it a dozen times in a row.

There is also Slaine, an errant boy the evil space people kick around just to further show us how irredeemably evil and stupid they are. I mean one of them brainlessly monologues the whole evil masterplan to him in a douchy way that yelled “I deserve to be killed for my stupidity and you to betray us for our satanic acts” followed by him doing so. Notice that he didn’t chose to do it, it was forced upon him by the plot. He then proceeds to go help the good guys, after magically finding them because the plot said so, and after conveniently saving them in the last second, he is then shot down by Inaho the Zero Fuck Giver, and abandoned on the spot because his role in the plot is over for now.

The same things apply for the rest of the characters, being plot devices with no humanity in them, doing staged events, just so the story can happen in any way the writer wanted. This is why you have the princess getting a pardon by everybody because she is the needed battery of the ship, when 10 minutes earlier everybody hated her kind and wanted her dead. This is why you have Inaho the Heartless showing no emotion and being a master strategist, falling in love with the princess for no reason, and doing some really retarded things in the finale of the first season because having emotions like a normal person makes you an idiot. This is why you have Slaine, who exists to be kicked around repeatedly by everybody for the sake of drama, doing out of character things in the mid-season finale, which leads to the death of the princess (for yet another time).

Lovely script there urobucherfags, your god is never doing something wrong. Oh but wait, he only wrote the first 3 episodes; the rest were written by the guy who made Boku no Pico. This is clearly not a good story. Yeah, and that is why the anime community made 150 topics about how amazing the mid-season finale was, and how amazing the second season is going to be thanks to these ingenious plot twists.

And it is true that the series was fun for awhile by doing lots of crazy shit, that were very uncommon in typical mecha stories. Like Martian humans, the moon blowing up, cities being incinerated while cool music is playing, and having the hero not being a typical shonen protagonist, but rather a calculating robot who uses his brains in order to defeat powerful robots. The strategies were ridiculous (like a black hole shield that doesn’t absorb air for some reason, flying cameras which nobody can see and get blinded by simple smoke) but were giving off a feeling of intelligence. And by intelligence I do not include the forced way he explains his strategies to the audience by basically talking to the wall next to him (meaning there is a lot of lazy infodumping going on during pseudo-scientific explanations, in the form of breaking the fourth wall).

Of course just like it happened with Code Geass, the tactics soon evaporate and the whole thing becomes brainless robot power ups and fan service. There is a scene where the princess is killed (again) while she is naked in the bath by another naked girl. Inaho gives her first aid by essentially gropping her, and then the naked assassin pops up out of nowhere and starts bitching about the cruelty of life. It was supposed to make you worried and sad but it doesn’t, because all you see is one emotionless dude surrounded by naked chicks. Also, what the hell was the assassin doing, was she hiding for five minutes, waiting for the princess to come back to life before she pops out, instead of running away?

There is a prolonged scene where an enemy mecha transforms as if you are watching Power Rangers, and it means nothing in the longrun, or is even presented as scary. There was also an attempt to have political intrigue and mysteries in the form of two different civilizations clashing, but it is impossible to give a damn when the Earth people are useless before Inaho the Peeping Tom. So goes for the villains, who are so shallow to the point you don’t care what is going on with the story as you care about the asspull Inaho the Mobile will use next time to defeat yet another mecha nobody else in the cosmos has the feet to be able to do that.

Despite all these obvious problems, the anime community still failed to see what a piece of crap this show is, evident in the mid-season finale, when they made it seem like most major characters got killed. Hundreds of pages were written full of praise and high expectations for what will come up, and the anticipation for the second half was enormous. Of course I knew it was all a troll but who ever listened to reason?

And what a plot twist, turns out nobody was dead after all!... Again. As I knew all along they weren’t. Inaho becomes Kano; gets a cyborg eye that makes him even more hax in battle and is otherwise the same uncaring bastard who wins in all battles as he always did. The princess is now a decoration, sleeping in a pod, while another princess that was asspulled in the story appears to take her place. Slaine out of nowhere becomes a Machiavelian asshole and with a complete character rewrite starts backstabbing everyone and keeps the war going by becoming a super elite pilot for no given reason. The earth military magically learns how to shoot straight and can now kill a few Martians towards the end, again for no given reason. And lots of other shit happen, which are never explained or resolved. What blew up the moon, what about the origin of the alien technology, what about that guy who had post traumatic stress disorder? Screw them, turns out they were nothing but fillers, since if you strip away the robot of the week battles that are always ending with Inaho the Jesus Figure using an asspull, the actual plot fills only a few episodes.

Down to it, if you want to watch a somewhat well animated mecha show (even if the CGI is subpar and there is very little animation in battles if Inaho is not fighting) regarding one-dimensional villains and emotionless plot devises blowing up stuff for the most unrealistic reasons imaginable, go ahead and watch this show. If on the other hand you want to watch a mecha show with worthy villains, charismatic heroes, and noble causes such as fighting for a better future, then watch Gunbuster or Gundam the Origin and stay away from Aldnoah Zero. There isn’t a speck of reason or emotion in it; it has as much humane warmth as the extent of the facial expressions the main character shows when his pajamas are not ready upon returning triumphant from a battle where he was running around and pushing robots in the water.

Also, eggs are in discount, gotta buy those.