The discovery of a hypergate on the Moon once allowed the human race to teleport to Mars. Those who chose to settle there unearthed a technology far more advanced than that of their home planet, which they named "Aldnoah." This discovery led to the founding of the Vers Empire of Mars and a declaration of war against the "Terrans," those who stayed behind on Earth. However, a battle on the moon—later called "Heaven's Fall"—caused the hypergate to explode, destroying the moon and leading the two planets to establish an uneasy ceasefire.
Their peace was a fragile one, however. Fifteen years later, high school student Inaho Kaizuka witnesses the plotted assassination of the Vers Empire's Princess Asseylum Vers Allusia, who had come to Earth in hopes of repairing the relationship between the empire and its homeland. The ceasefire is shattered, and the Martians declare war on the Terrans once again. In the face of this insurmountable enemy, Inaho and his friends must now fight against the Vers Empire to settle the war once and for all.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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Comentários
AnimeAddicts
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 aboutthe 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 admirable. Wish the rest of the directing was on par with that (in terms 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 admit 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 pass.
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 remembered 10 years from now.
Arsene_Lucifer
Spoiler Warning: This review will spoil specific plot points in certain episodes in order to provide examples of why Aldnoah.Zero writing fails for a number of reasons. While I attempted to keep spoilers to a minimum, it’s best recommended to avoid reading this for those who have an interest in checking out Aldnoah.Zero and don’t want anything to be spoiled. In a nutshell, Aldnoah.Zero has the aesthetic for a great series, but no substance to support it not offering anything in between all the eye candy. If you plan to continue reading past this point you have been warned. “Fiat justitia ruat caelum” isa Latin phrase that means justice must be achieved no matter the consequences. Its usage varies depending on who uses the phrase, especially those among writers in any media, but it has significant value in history prevalent in important court cases where a judge reflects on the duty of the Court. Why do I bring this quote up? This is Aldnoah.Zero tagline that is shown alongside the anime logo in the opening animation. Except it’s translated to "Let justice be done, though the heavens fall" in English. Not only is it a misuse of the quote because of A.) Politics don’t exist in Aldnoah.Zero, B.) Heroes aren’t in any danger because of it’s lead character, C.) villains don’t face the consequences despite going against direct orders from their superiors, and finally it’s a one sided conflict that’s black and white with no significant meaning tied to it. Aldnaoh.Zero is a plain and simple a mecha anime about good versus evil. Yet even with that much simplicity no amount of eye candy is able to disguise the poor writing of the anime.
Unredeemable: Nonsensical Story
Aldnoah.Zero takes place in the futuristic year of 2014. Basically last year at the time of posting this review. I double checked around the internet and some local newspapers just to make sure this anime wasn’t based around any true events. If they were based on true events than this anime would have played out differently with some level of logic. The anime follows main character Inaho who is thrust into a world of conflict when a peace mission goes disastrously wrong. Everything about it first episode is a mess in writing. It’s bad in establishing the setting, introducing characters, and creating a central conflict that have a sense of weight to it. What exactly it was trying to achieve in its first episode is unfathomable.
Within this first episode characters provide a quick summarization of a war that occurred in the past in some unnatural exposition. Apparently Vers and Terrans aren’t really all that different since both race when boil down are basically humans. It is also explained that Princess Asseylum is attempting to ease the tension between Vers and the Terrans who I’ll refer to as Earthicans. As soon as something bad happened to Princess Asseylum the Vers Empire immediately launches a military invasion on Earth. A race of species that is more technologically advance than Earthicans apparently doesn’t know how politics function. This one moment becomes further questionable when shown a sick emperor in bed and told he has authority over the Orbital Knights (basically Vers military). The Vers Emperor didn’t issue an attack on Earth to start a war, yet he does nothing to punish those who killed possibly millions. He even goes as far as calling a ceasefire with Earthicans to negotiate peace which goes nowhere near a brain cell in the story. Orbital Knights can do whatever they want without repercussions. In episode 8, Saazbaum, a high ranking Orbital Knight kills another high ranking Orbital Knight and this is never brought up again, nor is the fact he kidnapped a prisoner who was being tortured for information mentioned to him.
For the central characters, they are never in any danger because of leading character Inaho is the solution for any battle. The other characters don’t get the opportunity to contribute in a battle lessening the group dynamic and eliminating the purpose of teamwork. Inaho plans always work out due to luck or plot conveniences. Usually his plans have smart setup to them. Like in episode 3, Inaho uses a toy plane in order to determine what kind of camera a specific Vers mech is using and how it functions in recording its surrounding. Then the actual plan itself throws away logic in order to write a scenario that best suited to make an action scene around. Opting for escapism over intensity which fails due to how it was set up only to be ruined by good luck in execution.
Still on episode 3, it’s established that a mech uses drones in order for its pilot to see the area around him. In a later episode it shows the Vers empire have developed some sort of teleportation device for communication. So by this anime logic; something difficult like teleportation is achievable for this race, but apparently not allowing it’s own pilot to control its own camera drones from within their own robot is not. No matter how often the anime claims the Vers Empire has the superior technology oversights like these show up regularly which can’t be forgiven. Escapism itself is broken when down the line another plot point will either break that immersion by what it reveals or create more nonsense. The thought of how these Martians who have superior technology, yet act so stupid never leaves the mind.
One major problem as a whole in the anime is the lack of weight that comes from a worldwide invasion. It never gets across that this war between the Earthicans and Vers Empire is a global issue. Only focusing on a single group never bringing up how other parts of the world are holding up. With a self-contained mindset this central conflict feels less like a major catastrophe by the way it chose to depict it. A small scale approached backfires when the central characters are static when introduced all the way to the end. Supporting characters do change somewhat, but they aren’t the focus feeling free to just leave their storylines dangling in the finale.
Episode 1 shows a Vers mech using lasers, but other robots Inaho and his group fights against use practical weapon like swords or projectile arms. Despite in several battles Inaho proves with limited training he’s able to overcome any opponent that uses a practical weapons. Vers never change up their tactics, even when it has a success rate of zero percent. Vers strategy comes down to only sending down a single one of their mech pilot to fight against large numbers of Earthicans mech pilots. Not once in this season do the Vers Orbital Knights ever mention perhaps sending two experienced pilots to fight against Inaho since he poses a major obstacle for them. Another issue regarding the weaponry are the soldiers of Vers do have guns, but for unexplained reasons gun type weapons aren’t made for their mechs and if they are not implemented in battles.
The anime also explains what kind of power source the Vers Empire uses for their technology. Once this plot point gets explained it further questions the villain's motive. Basically, if the only two people who are able to provide power die Vers is as good as dead. Now from the villain's perspective it makes no sense to eliminate the only source of power for your own species. The villain claims he wants to help the masses, but still goes with his plan to kill the royal family, even though they are the key to supplying their planet with energy.
The final episode of Aldnoah.Zero first season is awful and unfulfilling in every sense. At this point, none of the central cast are developed to care about and the one supporting character who has potential is pushed to the sideline in the finale. Like in previous episodes, there is no sense of suspense on the character's livelihood as they already have victory in their hands by plot convenience and enemy pilot stupidity. Inaho doesn’t struggle much to fight against a pilot whose mech is a combination of mechs that he already fought. With that alone, it guarantees his victory because at this point it proves Vers aren’t intelligent despite the writing claims that they are. How it ends is weak and purely for shock value. Narratively it’s a horrible ending because it forgets to inform the viewer status of Earth, which is at war with Vers. Only offering a narration of what happened to the characters it focused on. Leaving the fate of its central characters ambiguous isn’t bad, but in this case when the characters are one dimensional who really cares what happens to them.
Unredeemable: Shallow, inconsistent characters, and miss opportunities
Inaho Kaizuka is a young teenager of average height, short tousled black hair, and our lead character. He’s stoic and despite what his sister claims about him being human in episode 10, Inaho never actually shows human emotion. When he does show emotion it’s out of character; in episode 1 Inaho expresses his interest in buying eggs that are on sale. Within the same episode, a couple minutes later Inaho sees Princess Asseylum of Mars killed in front him, remaining stoic at the sight of it. Showing no concern despite the clear consequences of the assassination he has just witnessed. Later on in the series the anime attempts to ship Inaho with Princess Asseylum which simply does not work because of this one moment. So any affection Inaho shows to his “love interest” is as artificial as the robot he uses. Expecting you to believe he developed emotion for his “love interest” when he showed no reaction when he saw her presumably die in the first episode.
As a leading character events magically have a way working out for Inaho even though it’s establish in episode one he’s a trainee of the military. Somehow, with minimal training, he surpasses Martian pilots who have had more experience under their belt in actual combat. It’s not because he smart that he wins. It’s either due to plot convenience, his enemy being stupid, or a mixture of both. Another skill Inaho has over his far more experience comrades is the ability to move out of the way of attacks. This godly power can’t be obtain by the other pilots. All of which are usually standing around in front of an enemy attack until they get killed. Granted evasion should be obligatory in basic combat training, but if allowed so Inaho wouldn’t be the overpowered self insert lead that he is.
In episode ten, Inaho claims that anyone that fights against the same enemy on his side he considers an ally. A statement that is completely proven false in episode seven when he shoots the plane of a Vers pilot that helped him fight for an entire episode. These inconsistencies further weaken the anime when Inaho has no consistent traits let alone a consistent philosophy to believe in. Inaho becomes as much of a plot device as everyone else he interacts with. Finally, Inaho is the character that delivers a speech about how war is used to gain something and ends until the objective is met or the cost outweighs the gain. Not a bad position to take when voicing your thoughts on war, except this character has never shown sympathy when killing his enemy nor ever mentally coped with taking someone's life. He says within the same speech here cares for no such emotion to gain anything in war. So this whole war speech in the final episodes coming from a lead who said he himself “I care for no emotions” is forced to sound deep and makes Inaho full of himself.
Another major character is Princess Asseylum (who I refer to as Princess Ass since she doesn’t give a shit) is the embodiment of Aldnoah.Zero problems. Easy on the eyes and pleasing, but shallow with no identity of her own. The anime only gives her positive traits like acting like a child when she’s learning about Earth with Inaho and desiring doing the right thing. She looks nice on the surface, but that’s all. In actuality she’s a terrible character. Asseylum has been friends with another major character, Slaine Troyard, for five years showing no concern for him throughout her near death experiences. When reversed, Inaho proved in about a week's time showing no emotion he’s able to capture Princess Asseylum's heart. In context, the anime wanting to ship Inaho and Asseylum makes no sense given how little time they’ve known each other. It’s also brought up in a episode she knew someone was trying to kill her, and doesn’t bother to take extra security just to be cautious in case anything happens. Then again, the Earthicans don’t bother giving her protection when they attempt to keep her safe so I shouldn’t be surprised.
Slaine Troyard (not the only pointless reference to Greek mythology) is another poorly written character. His conflict of wanting to be accepted by the Vers Empire is worth investing on paper. Having to overcome the racist mindset of his superior officers and being treated like scum. In execution it’s the opposite, creating scenarios forced to make the viewer care for him. There’s an entire episode dedicated to Slaine being tortured, which doesn’t since in the same episode, it shows Princess Asseylum without care enjoying the day. This episode's impact is lessened when the entire Vers race is one dimensional and not given any redeeming values to perceive them as actual people.
Supporting characters, just like the main three, that receive tons of screen time are merely plot devices. There was potential with the character Marito to create a satisfying subplot. His back story is compelling, has likable traits by being himself, and has a strong personal turmoil that he can’t immediately overcome. Seeing Marito struggle and trying his best to improve himself provides the best moments in the anime. Unfortunately, by the finale his subplot is left unresolved.
Another wasted opportunity is with character Yuki Kaizuka (Inaho’s sister). Like Marito, Yuki carries a permanent scar from war with her. Unlike Marito conflict, Yuki war scar is resolved quickly and has no important use afterwards. The thought of her brother being an expressionless killing machine never bothers her either. When one of Inaho friends asks Yuki why Inaho is expressionless. She answers by saying yes, he does. A wasted opportunity to develop Inaho beyond a stoic lead, and a miss opportunity to explore what kind of life, Yuki had with Inaho since the status of their parents' livelihood is never brought up. Other minor supporting characters serve a single purpose. There’s one created to simply die, there’s one that created to be simply racist against Earthicans, there’s one simply created to be sick so the Vers can have power, and so on.
Rayet Areash the worst of the supporting cast being given a position in the anime similar to that of Gavrilo Princip. The anime attempts to paint her in a sympathetic light, except for the fact that it was her fault as well that millions of people got killed. Forgetting this fact, it dedicates an entire scene in episode 10 where she blames Princess Asseylum for something out of her control. Somehow she’s able to make Princess Asseylum feel guilty. This is the equivalent of making Archduke Franz Ferdinand the villain and making him apologize for being assassinated. It doesn’t work that way, even in fictional context when the entire starting point for the story's existence is because she helped in the assassination. For unexplained reasons, she’s also allowed to do whatever she wants on a military base.
Then there’s the villain Saazbaum who is about as well thought out as the writing in the anime. This character personifies how nonsensical the writing is in physical form. For starter, his motive contradicts his goal. He hates the royal family for manipulating the masses, but the first episode the emperor sends his daughter to Earth for a peace mission. He also initiates an attack on Earth without consulting the emperor. Despite his intentions to help the masses, he fully should grasp the consequences of his own action by attempting to eliminate the only source of power for the Vers Empire. These two points don’t add up; just like the Vers technology and their actual intelligence. The writing never treats the characters it creates as actual characters. They’re a means as story devices and nothing more.
Good: Production side of the anime is generally good
The animation is a joint effort between A-1 Pictures and Troyca. Together they create an anime that all around looks great. It clearly has a high budget incorporating both 2D animation with nice looking 3D robot models that aren’t distracting. Environments in general tend to come across as being large and empty. Since our heroes are on the move battles, mostly take place in environments where nothing much is happening in the background. In some cases, it is put into good use to keep an action scene moving in an large environment as well as showing some environmental destruction. In one action scene, the size of an environment is use to its advantage when Inaho has to stop an attack from a Vers mech on an ship he’s on.
However, the biggest drawback is there’s no visual scale growth in the battles. One of the few memorable scenes in Aldnoah.Zero is in the first episode where an explosion has a similar impact to that of an atomic bomb hitting Earth. Buildings crumbles, cars are blown away by a gust of wind, onlooker to the site are in shock, and it’s large scale destruction implants what a serious threat the Vers Empire is. Everything else, past this moment feels smaller in comparison. There isn’t another scene that visually comes close to matching the mass destruction in episode one. All the characters have appealing looking design no matter the situation. Especially Slaine, who even when being tortured looks good! Particle effects are in no short supply to adding more visual flair to the battles.
One questionable decision in the animation would be the mechs even when stationary are still in 3D. It makes sense in a action scene to use 3D since the thirdimension offer more maneuverability than a 2D plane, but it comes across lazy when mechs are stationed and simply there to show off its high budget. The downside to the animation is the awful staging of the action scenes. Going more for visuals splendor than actual staging. So in most battles there will be multiple mech stationed in one position accepting their death or shooting to hold off an enemy attack. Without a single creative battle that avoid doing these things action scenes are a one time deal for entertainment.
Voice acting is serviceable. The writing didn’t offer much in anything so the voice cast are stuck with what they are given. Natsuki Hanae plays protagonist Inaho and he’s stoic throughout the series. His vocals, mostly stay in emotionless delivery range sounding uninterested in anything. It’s not a compelling performance because there’s no range, but he does portray how the character was written properly. Then there’s Kensho Ono, who plays Slaine, who has a slightly more open role. He gets to scream in pain when his character is tortured, sound serious, concerned, and in the finale near hysterical when he goes insane. Ono role is similar to Hanae where in both performance they have to repeat themselves. Sora Amamiya plays princess Asseylum. It’s passable in general. When Amamiya portrays the more innocent and childlike side of Asseylum she’s convincing as Asseylum, but when in a dramatically heavy scene she falls short. She’s sounds like she’s on autopilot delivering most of her dramatic material with little variation no matter the context of a scene.
The supporting cast in general suffer from the same handicap that Natsuki Hanae is given in which they mostly portrayed a single character trait. This is especially true for voice actors that get casted as Vers Martians. Show Hayami who plays Cruhte only yells for his time on screen. Only having one tone voice in the series. Inori Minase plays Edderlrittuo and sounds like a little girl. It’s an appropriate performance getting across Eddelrittuo sisterly love towards Princess Asseylum.
Tooru Ookawa plays Saazbaum and unlike Hayami who’s allowed a single scene to change up his act Ookawa isn’t as fortunate. His performance isn’t bad, but it’s a single note role where one line delivery is no different from line another delivery. Takahiro Sakurai plays Trillram and thanks to his more expressive character taking delight in killing people. He’s the most enjoyable screen presence out of all the pilots that Inaho fight against. Yuki Kaida plays Femieanne, Hiroki Yasumoto plays Vlad, and Mamiko Noto, who plays Orlane aren’t as lucky in playing interesting villains. They lack the proper screen time to make something out of their role being forgettable once off screen. Sachika Misawa plays Rayet Areash. While the character is full of herself Misawa performance is fine since she does her best to make her character sympathetic despite what she did. There is a scene in episode 10 where she’s allowed to express her dislike for the Vers empire and it’s a highlight for her performance.
Any Japanese voice actor playing an Earthican gets sideline eventually into the background. Unlike the voice actors that play a Vers. Earthicans voice actors don’t have a single episode where they’re given a highlight moment to show off their acting chops. They get stuck in a single note sometime delivering the same lines of dialogue word for word in different episodes. Ai Kayano who plays Darzana Magbaredge and Yuu Shimamura who plays Kaoru Mizusaki have this problem. Whenever they share a scene together, it plays out the same getting repetitive over time.
The best voice actor in the cast regardless of what race he portrays is Kazuya Nakai and that’s because he plays Kouichirou Marito. His character suffers mental turmoil while on the outside, he shows a free caring personality. Nakai is allowed the freedom to vocalize different sides of a single character more so than anyone in the cast. When he mentally breaks down it’s believable through his delivery. His performance is the most interesting because he’s funny, likable, and a compelling actor in the role. It’s a shame that his character isn’t fully use to his full potential in order to create a good character.
The soundtrack is composed by Hiroyuki Sawano mixing ambient and techno music with aggressive synthesizers, beats, even some 8-bit and a few thunderous orchestral compositions thrown in with Japanese singers singing German lyrics. The music is all around a great fit for the anime and when used correctly in its placement creates some stellar scenes. In episode 1, the musical piece “aLIEz” sung by mizuki is played during a scene of mass destruction is instantly memorable. It’s not as demoralizing seeing an atomic bomb like explosion at the sight of a more technically advance race, wiping out humans with ease, but it’s a cool scene none the less. As great as the music might be there tracks that get reused frequently. In particular the track “BRE@THLESS” sung by mizuki is used in a number of action scenes. Preferably when there’s a chase scene this track will likely play. Losing what made them exciting musical pieces in the first place.
The anime has a single theme song that’s also used as the ending theme in episode 1 is titled “Heavenly Blue” by Kalafina. Despite the less than stellar opening animation “Heavenly Blue” manages to create a strong atmosphere with orchestral composition along with a catchy chorus. It does feel slightly phoned in since there’s not an extra push or power to the track that really demands your attention. The following tracks are sung by mizuki are “aLIEz” used as an ending theme in episode 4, 7-8, 10-11 and “A/Z” in 2-3, 5-6, 9. “aLIEz” loses some of its impact since it’s used frequently in the series failing to rekindle the same feeling when hearing it for the first time. While the usage in the anime distracts from its impact over time the track is a great listen. “A/Z” is more of a techno side with 8-bit beats that’s more optimistic in general. In both tracks mizuki vocals add to the songs; in “aLIEz” her vocals are on a level of opera singing those high notes beautifully sounding as epic as the interustmentals. In “A/Z” she sounds almost robotic like which is fitting for the track. Sawano score is fantastic, but how it’s used in the anime tends to undermine it.
Personal Enjoyment: It killed some brain cells
Usually the first time I ever see an anime I don’t go in them with a critical mindset. Although, fleshed out characters and a story that have working elements is part of the requirement for an anime to be enjoyable for me. However, the first episode did so many things poorly that I couldn’t simply see it without critical thinking. What flipped the switch in my brain was the scene where Inaho showed more emotion for a sale for eggs more so than he does the princess of another planet trying to bring peace to both race when killed in front of him. From then on it’s been nothing, but an infuriating experience how little of the anime was fully thought out. I was so infuriated by Aldnoah.Zero I didn’t bother waiting for any news regarding an English dub. I went into writing out a review for it. Not even the action scenes for as pretty as they look were awfully staged and required very little to no strategy on the characters part. Aside from hearing Hiroyuki Sawano score there wasn’t any other good reason the anime provided to keep me watching. If it ain’t evident with a review consisting of over 4000 words that I think very poorly of Aldnoah.Zero first season I don’t know what will convince you.
Story: 0/3
Character: 0/3
Technical: 3/3
Personal Enjoyment: 0/1
Final Thoughts:
Aldnoah.Zero is nothing more than eye candy and takes pride in that. It’ll excuse logic and good characters if it means it’ll get to show off nice looking action scenes. Understanding what type audience, it wants to appeal to, but mere action spectacles aren’t enough to make an anime worth viewing. It takes itself too seriously unable to be dumb fun, it’s too idiotic to touch on the topic of war maturely, and paints each side in black and white dumbing down the premise to be approachable sacrificing depths along with it. Its central lead wins through a series of plot convenience and luck that remove the suspense of battles. It’s all aesthetics and without substance, it guarantee its own expiration date in a short amount of time. Once you’ve seen the explosions and action there’s nothing left to Aldnoah.Zero.
ZephSilver
They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but at what point do we cross the line between paying homage to other works and being a complete ripoff? Many titles have been labeled as copycats or cheap knockoffs before, usually riding the coattails of tentpole entries to gain recognition. Every storytelling medium has this occurrence, and with anime, it's no different. But every once in awhile we get a title that doesn't just copy a well-known property but takes it a step further by copying the definitive title in its respective genre. A public display of pillaging so unforgivable, that in the court ofpublic opinion, it's usually met with disgust and pitchforks in the form of verbal diatribes. Aldnoah.Zero is such a title, a show so full of itself that it didn't just have the audacity to steal the entire Mobile Suit Gundam setup, but it does so without even batting an eye, xeroxing it down to the minute details.
At times, the changes made were so minuscule that the only thing done was name substitution. The circumstantial evidence of which was so apparent, that by merely reciting the setup of its premise, the tumor-like symbiosis that it shares with the patriarch it draws blood from could still be seen desperately clinging to the surface; bite marks still fresh from where the ideas were directly leeched off from, stopping just short of wholesaling arcs and iconography in its entirety.
Mankind is broken into two separate governing factions, with the ones residing in space, the Vers Empire of Mars, treating the inhabitants of earth as inferior relics of their past. With bad blood still looming over both nations, the people of the Vers Empire finally declares war on their former "Terren" brethren once again, after the temporary truce of a fifteen-year period of civil unrest was finally brought to an end. With these two nations plunged back into battle, a ragged-tagged group of teens and public servants find themselves swallowed up in the chaos, leading to their boarding of a military vessel, as they pilot mechs and fend off the endless wave of enemy invaders. Poorly trained and doing everything in their power to survive, the only hope left for this motley crew is to seek out the assistance of the Earth's united front, as the fight for dominion over the planet marches forward.
Sound familiar?
The idea of "paying homage" quickly topples like a house of cards when the piracy on display is this blatant.
The fresh coat of "Vers Empire of Mars" paint still wet, as it barely covers up the stolen "Principality of Zeon" ornament positioned underneath. But try not to wince too much, you need to save your composure for the rebranding of "newtypes" as "Aldnoah users" and all the subsequent "borrowing" yet to come, as the story drags itself down an inevitable path. The impression of reverse engineering can't be ignored, with plot points charted out from lifted passages of other works, the bold outlines of which already taking shape before the actual arc does due to little to no effort placed towards diversifying the formula.
And if that wasn't apparent enough, this is a show that deploys shock value moments and plot twists, but the obviousness of it being there all long prevents any of it from truly being "shocking" in any sense of the word. Like whenever you watch a horror movie and everything cuts to silence while the character's hands grip the side of the bathroom sink, the medicine cabinet left ajar, and—you guessed it—a jumpscare occurring right after they close it and the mirror reveals something standing behind them; an act that's usually highlighted by a loud audible stinger. You may have involuntarily been spooked at those scenes in movies before, but at no point were you surprised by the placement of the jumpscare itself. That's the feeling that Aldnoah has with its content. When you do nothing but take ideas from other works, it's hard not to see things coming from a mile away. It could still keep your interest because of it, but any sense of validity it may have been desperately holding onto can only be taken seriously from those still new to the experience or less-demanding of their consumer goods.
This is also true for the main character, Inaho, a default bodysuit made with the sole purpose of giving the viewer a shell to occupy as they walk around the scenery. His expression marked off with a thousand-yard-stare, with an interest in eggs being the only discernable desire shown (no, I'm not even joking). The thin veneer of a "personality" is barely there. I've seen dozens of self-insert male protagonists in my lifetime, and yet even I am taken aback by the sheer lack of effort on display here. Being emptied of any personality also seems to be the secret ingredient to becoming a genius tactician as well, as Inaho defeats numerous military personnel using what little school-combat training he acquired before the war broke out.
But Inaho, lover of eggs and master of combat, isn't alone. Joining him on the main lead podium is his antithesis, Slaine, a person with perhaps too much emotion to spare. Fighting for the Empire of Vers, Slaine is our proxy to see things from the other side. Although, it's more of a surprise that anyone would even grant him a chance to fight any battle instead of placing him in a mental asylum. For every instance of Inaho acting like the human embodiment of a brick wall, Slaine is channeling his inner Saturday morning cartoon villain. It's honestly pretty entertaining, if only for all the wrong reasons. Like if all the implied subtextual autism of the newtype breed in Gundam was balled into a singular entity then condensed into a neutron star. That "star" being this highly volatile character, ready to "go off" at a moment's notice—and boy, does he ever "go off."
As if making meta-commentary about the show being a bootleg version of the Gundam franchise, the mecha suits themselves are these jagged clumps of computer-generated apathy. Horrendously processed things that act as constant reminders that you're watching an anime and not truly experiencing it. Thankfully, some of the people staffed with bringing this anime to life seemed to have cared about the finished product, as the post-production work helped aided in masking the issue as much as possible. Fights would often take place at dusk or dawn, with dust and debris kicked up to camouflage the inherent ugliness of the suits in motion. Pilots divebombing as they're surrounded by snow, the cast shadow of a winter storm draped behind them. Busy locations with buildings and landmarks to keep from fixating too much on the CGI combatants. It was all very commendable. Didn't stop the rest of the staff from not giving a fuck, but hey, at least someone tried. Also, Yuki Kajiura did Yuki Kajiura, so there's that.
When watching Aldnoah.Zero, it's hard to get upset at it. Sure, you could raise your pitchforks high for what's a blatant ripoff, but really, who cares? It's not going to stop Gundam from existing. There's a 65-foot replica of a Mobile Suit overlooking Tokyo bay after all, while the most adoration Aldnoah is getting is a few action figure purchases off of Amazon's website.
With lots of violence, cartoonish villainy, and silly narrative twists to go around, Aldnoah.Zero was an entertaining off-brand. The kind of thing you pop in for cheap thrills and occasional blips of entertainment, only to forget it 15 minutes later when you do decide to watch an actual show instead. With all things considered, Aldnoah just ended up demonstrating just how much of a seminal piece of work its parental inspiration is, and if only for that bit of indirect self-reinforcement, I accept this dimestore bootleg into the fold.
jdbe
Aldnoah.Zero not only flashed the name Urobuchi before it aired, but it was supposedly seen as the love child between Legend of the galactic heroes and gundam wing. I'm glad they used a condom because Aldnoah.Zero would tarnish their names through association. Aldnoah.Zero follows the strained relationship between humans (commonly referred to as Terrans) and Martians (from mars). After an assassination attempt on the princess of mars, war breaks out with the Martians, whom wielding their sacred Aldnoah technology fight against the earthlings. The show depicts the war from both sides. Aldnoah.Zero follows the mecha genre in more of a 'super robot' format than the 'real robot'format due to the mysticism of Aldnoah technology. As for the themes of the show, it attempts to highlight how the hate and obsession of what others have, as well as prejudice, can lead to the loss of many human and martian lives. The show also dabbles into the characters feelings of what the war personally means to them, as well as if there will be anything gained from it. As for the fighting, it's based more on tactics than on brute strength, as the Martians overwhelming technology would mean outright victory if it wasn't fought on tactics. As for the pacing, the shows first three episodes are paced well with very good plot development and suspense in each episode, after that the shows pace shows down, usually ending on a cliffhanger each episode.
Unfortunately, the show is ruined by the large amounts of 'anime logic', in which events favor the main characters too much rather than being slightly more realistic. For example, although the Martians have almost invincible mecha robots due to their power, the glaring and awful design of them leads to them being defeated with only the slightest bit of common sense. As this happens each week, none of the fights contain any suspense due to the high amounts of predictability. Furthermore, after episode 3 (low and behold, the end of Urobuchi's involvement in the show entirely), the episodes lose their valor, pondering on pointless dialog, with slight hints of character development and slow plot development.
As for the animation, a large budget would have been needed for this show, as the fights with the mecha are done to a very high standard. Although the transitions and movement of the mecha are not super smooth, it didn't have a negative effect on fighting scenes.
Leading onto the cast, this is where the show really disappoints. The main protagonists are Inaho (terran), Slaine (a terran who works for the Martians), Princess Asseylum vers Allusia of mars and Rayet (a martian). As for character development, it's night and day between the protagonists. Slaine it's the most developed in the show, he is constantly striving and struggling to do what's right for the princess and although he may get things wrong, he fights his hardest to work to the goal of saving the princess. It's very similar to Rayet, whom acts more towards the end of the show as someone who moves the plot along, this comes from the peril she has come across during the war affecting her greatly, which leads her to take action.
On the other hand, the princess and Inaho face little or no development. The princess is too pampered for most of the series, and only starts truly knowing the extent in which the war has had on everyone's life. But it's Inaho which divides most opinion. Inaho has received virtually no character development at all. For a character that shows no emotion when his friend dies in front of him, it's difficult to look at him as being a relatable character, and therefore is difficult to like. His lack of emotions may make him look cool under pressure, but in the end he comes truly across as cold. Not to mention his brilliant tactics, as he is the only person who can defeat the Martians, he becomes so overpowered he virtually takes control of the army ship whilst others stand by and watch, which ends up being very boring.
As for the opening song, it starts off slightly classical before turning into a slight heavy jpop song, which I didn't really sit well with. The original OST was very good, making each battle distinct and entertaining. The show contained no ending song.
To conclude, Aldnoah.Zero is a prime example of how name dropping and high expectation can ruin a series, and it did in this case. Although it was the most talked about anime this season, I wouldn't recommend it due to the poor writing of the show.
Manumento
"Let Justice be done, though the trainwreck rolls." Aldnoah.Zero is an original sci-fi mecha anime about an intergalactic war between Terrans and Martians. It was highly anticipated because of the superstar names under the ones who made the show, A-1 Pictures, Gen Urobuchi as the original story creator and script writer and Hiroyuki Sawano making the soundtrack. However, the creators and hype don't guarantee a good anime, and we witnessed that in full bloom here. Plot: After a Martian princess Asseylum Vers Allusia comes to Earth in attempt to form a friendly bond between Terrans (Earth habitants) and Martians (Mars habitants), she is assasinated during a parade. OutragedMartians launch a massive attack from Mars to Earth in attempt to annihilate all Terrans. The story follows a group of students with a military unit as they try to survive the war against the superior Martian mechas, Aldnoahs.
The war plot is fine for the most part, but there supposedly was another war 15 years before the events of the show which ended with massive consequences. The Earth is already in an apocalyptic setting, but there's no exploration of it at all. The anime starts destroying the setting in the very first episode without any establishment at all. The results? You don't care about what's going on!
The story is extremely predictable. It was sure as hell that the princess survived, and that Martians themselves participated in the assasination. The show attempts to have tension, in the early episodes following a "villain of the week" format. The problem is in the extreme differences in mecha power, with Aldnoahs basically wiping the floor, so it takes a lot of plot armor for our protagonists to overcome the enemies. So much that you barely care what's going on, because no matter what the odds are, our heroes always win.
Characters:
I've mentioned "you don't care what's going on" a few times in this review already. Well, this is the section where everything starts going downhill, with the characters. Billions of people die, but our heroes don't care at all. They witness a genocide right infront of their eyes, but the level of apathy shown was so high I didn't think it was even possible. The worst care scenario is Inaho Kaizuka, the main protagonist. I really thought his lack of emotions or personality was a plot point and there would be an explanation as to why he doesn't give a shit when his friends die infront of his face, but there wasn't. He is a silent super smart guy that wins battles using anime's insanely stupid logic and flawed physics, and forms a sub-harem with chicks he travels with, because girls must be interested in the main character at all times for no reasons given.
Moving forward, we have Inko, Calm and Nina, completing the student group, once again having surprising level of lack of emotion, but not so much as Inaho. Yuki Kaizuka is the overprotective nee-san of Inaho, who also acts as a bridge of connections for the group to get into the military unit. Rayet is another girl that joins the fleet later on, and she was part of the group that was told to assasinate the princess, but her father is slaughtered infront of her eyes and all she does is blink. Lieutenant Marito was the most laughable attempt of character development through PTSD I've seen in this show and anime in general for a long time, the potential he had from episode 1 was huge but he ends up being completely irrelevant. Ending the 0 to 1 dimensional characters is Magbaredge, the unit's leader.
Things are more interesting in the Martian side, where we have a deuteragonist Slaine acting as the protagonist there. He formed a bond with the princess being her teacher about Earth, but even he is a one dimensional character whose sole purpose seems to be saving the princess, and having a one to two personality traits. Saazbaum is a plot device, has some sort of reason behind his actions but they're not explored. Princess Asseylum was the best character of the show, as she is the only one who gives a shit about people dying everywhere and has some sort of personality. The villains of the week of the Martian sides are just 0 dimensional dolls that have insanely high amount of pride and disgust for weaklings and they all lose because of that. So much potential wasted!
The problem with the characters is that you just don't care about them. Most of them are just emotionless puppets or plot devices that are there to just be there or just to move the story forward. Marito, Saazbaum and Asseylum were the only ones who had some sort of internal conflicts and were the only ones who were affected by this tragedy and that had influence on their actions (and not that they had lots of time to get decent amount of exploration considering everything that was going on), but the rest of the cast? Genocide is an everyday thing, guys! It doesn't even help the characters that they get Urobutchered in the end, it was just a sad attempt to create drama and tragedy.
Writing:
And here we get to the most awful part of the show. The writing is just ludicrous. There are millions of instances of plot inconsistencies and defying logic of physics and common sense, so much that you cannot take it seriously. Plot holes were just glaring throughout the entire anime, and even if the anime does get a second season in attempt to gloss them over, they just destroy any sort of fluid continuity or attempts to care about the situation when they just flip it over 360 degrees with introducing a new plot device or solving the issue with deus-ex-machina. The characters don't help either, there is no global perspective of humanity and what do they do in this situation, or how was their life inbetween the wars. Everything that we know comes from the characters that the story follows, and they are just awfully apathic, effectively making everything useless. If the characters don't care, neither does the audience care.
All of the battles between the Terran fleet and the Aldnoahs consist of the Martian Knights being overconfident, playing a "cat and mouse" game and getting Jerry'ed. One moment they destroy entire cities just upon landing, and in another moment they get shot from a pistol and explode. It is extremely hard to take fights seriously with such huge power disparity between sides, with the weaker side winning all the time because of defying logic of physics or just because of plot convieniences. Not to mention, the Aldnoah concepts of power are extremely stupid with such advanced technology of theirs that they just can't crush a piece of metal can that is a normal mecha the Terrans use. The audience is led to believe that the Aldnoahs are supremely powerful, but that never happens in the fights for some reason. At this point, I just wanted the writing crew to try and save the fights by introducing a super-powerful mecha equal to Aldnoahs to give to the main protagonist and try to have cliched, but atleast logically reasonable battles.
However, the anime does stay away from unneccesary fanservice and doesn't try to have comedy out of place. They do have a pseudo-comic relief character in Calm, but the themes are not butchered because of it: it is trying to be a mature story without any distractions, and they do a good job at telling a story without the need to throw boobs at you every 5 seconds to keep you interested.
Animation and sound:
I have to give credit where credit is due, though. Animation looks really solid in this one. The character designs are okay, the mecha designs are okay. Even the CGI looks fluid, to be honest. However, sometimes (and especially the last episode) the action is just so quick you barely know what the hell is going on, what was damaged and what was not. It should have toned down the tempo during fights so you can clearly see what happened or what is about to happen, because considering the power inequality between sides you may reach to wrong conclusions after an attack happens.
Hiroyuki Sawano is often found guilty for overusing the same tracks over and over again in the soundtrack. He did it with Shingeki, he did it with Kill La Kill, and Aldnoah is no exception. However, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. The grandiose scale style of Sawano's music fits perfectly with the action, and it was one of the main reasons I still followed this show after so many shortcomings. And yes, he uses a lot of German lyrics in this one too.
The opening sequence is pretty basic, it has nice visuals but a really generic and lackluster music to go with, it gives a big Fate/Zero vibe. The ED to the show, "aLIEz", is Sawano's one of the best tracks created, and it especially fit in the demolition part of episode 1. The other ED, A/Z, is pretty basic and unmemorable.
Summary:
Aldnoah.Zero is a rather failed attempt at creating an exciting mecha battle show with tragedy, as it is lackluster in both of the categories. It ends in Urobutcher's style, on a cliffhanger, and barely resolves anything. As with all Urobutcher shows, a proper characterization of the cast is non-existant. The second season is scheduled to air in January 2015, so atleast that has going for it, which is nice, but in all honesty, after this first season there shouldn't be lots of expectations going forward. It is just an another anime with overblown hype, with medium thinking that famous names grant a well made work. They don't. And I only enjoyed the soundtrack, and which is the only good thing this anime can provide.
Final Verdict: 4.2/10
citizen169
In Short: A slightly above average (I've seen some really bad ones) mecha anime, focusing mainly on art, music, and battle sequences. Character development is sadly not very existent, and the story is mostly predictable with a few twists (except the end...) Story: 7. Rather predicable with a few twists. Coherent for the most part. Was best in first few episodes and the last 2. In between I kinda felt like watch someone play a RPG. You know, defeat a bad guy, oh look, there's a new one. The ending was unexpected... but feels really random. I really wonder what season 2 will be like. Art andSound: 9. CG was used but it fit well, flowed smoothly. The music was great. The OP and ED are both decent. Eye candy. This made the battles a joy to watch (if you didn't pay much attention to the script/writing).
Characters: 5. Decent characters but not developed. Some side characters had interesting backstories but they were never used. Just kinda in the background, like "Hey, I'm still here". Villains were all the same except the main, who probably had the most depth out of all the characters... Ok fine, like 2 other "good" characters are developed ok... but development is kinda absent for everyone. I hope season 2 fixes (improves on) this. The characters have been introduced already, can they develop now?
Enjoyment: 8. Self-explanatory. Read above.
Satire
When I first heard that Man of Steel was referenced in an interview pertaining to Aldnoah.Zero, with Gen Urobuchi also playing a small part in the project, I had a general idea of what to expect from the series. I wasn't wrong. The high production values, high amounts of collateral damage, questionably bland characters, and a controversial ending are a close match to the recent DC Comic film about Superman. Mix in some grim thematics that Urobuchi is notorious for and we now have our new mecha tragedy series. While the overall premise of Aldnoah.Zero is heavily based off of the tension and prejudice betweenthe people of Earth and the Martians of Vers is easy to follow, there are many parts of the writing that qualitatively vary from good to bad. There are aspects that I enjoyed, such as Inaho actually using some tactics to outwit his opponents and smooth plot progression, but there were also very noticeable flaws. One of the biggest gripes I had with this series — though it may seem like nitpicking to some — was its historic timeline. In 1972, the Apollo 17 mission finds a hypergate to Mars on the surface of the moon. The astronauts discover Aldnoah, which grants them immense knowledge, technical prowess, and ability to colonize Mars. Soon after, many humans from Earth migrate to Mars and form the Empire of Vers. In the span of a couple decades the Vers Empire obtains and acts on their newfound feeling of superiority over Earth. The Vers Empire ignites a war and instigates heavy collateral damage to both themselves and Earth. It's as if Aldnoah gave the people of Vers technical savvy at the cost of brain damage. Considering that the martians came from Earth not too long ago themselves, and the first generation of immigrants are mostly still alive, their heavy prejudice comes off as confusing and highly implausible.
The characters of Aldnoah.Zero are extremely hit or miss. Inaho, a Japanese high school student, is one of the main characters of the series. Unfortunately, he also has the personality of a stone. For a majority of the series he's portrayed as intelligent, emotionless, calm, and collected. Allied forces, friends, and civilians getting killed right in front of his eyes? No problem, poker face. About to get killed during a battle with a superior Martian mech? No problem, poker face. He’s the stoic, but well-collected type of character, which people will either enjoy or despise. Despite being an offender of using this character archetype, it's hard to point the finger at Aldnoah.Zero specifically. Nearly all mecha anime are like this; you can never win. In any given mecha series you will either get a genius-level pilot that gets things done at the expense of personality or a useless, beta MC that relies solely on asspulls, a significantly stronger mech, and the power of friendship. Personally, I prefer the former.
As much as I'd like to discuss Slaine and Asseylum, since they are the other two major point of view characters, it would be difficult to do so without spoilers. In a broad sense, they're not bad characters. Asseylum is a bit generic, taking on the typical pure, benevolent princess role, while Slaine is basically the pinnacle of suffering and angst. At the very least, I can say that Slaine was interesting to watch.
While the rest of the cast aren't terrible, they also aren’t exactly a well-written bunch. Because there isn’t a lot of screen time allotted to them, most of the supporting cast are easily forgettable or just completely insignificant. The main antagonists of the series, the Orbital Knights of Vers, are originally perceived as extremely dangerous due to the power of Aldnoah and their vastly superior Cataphracts decimating the Earth armed forces opposition. Unfortunately, their glaring character faults begin to show upon entering combat with Inaho; they quickly turn into nothing more than a villain of the week plot device. Marito, who gets noticeably more screen time than other side characters, is haunted by his past and PTSD. Originally I thought the whole PTSD idea was interesting. You don’t see too many series touch upon the subject and relate its severity well. The problem with Marito and his PTSD is that it’s constantly shoved in your face on several occasions for little to no reason. It’d be one thing if Marito grew as a character and showed any signs of recovery, or usefulness for that matter, but there isn’t. His scenes in the second half of the series acted as nothing more than empty screen-time devoted to reminding the audience that Marito has been traumatized. That time spent focusing on Marito could have been much better utilized in fleshing out other characters who desperately needed depth. It’s disappointing that it wasn’t.
The biggest attribute that Aldnoah.Zero has going for it is the aforementioned production values. The series looks and sounds fantastic. I'm not a fan of CG, but even that is visually implemented very well. The OST of the series was surprisingly quite small, in comparison to nearly any other show. Most of the background music, despite sounding sublime, is reused often. The concept of having less tracks, but making them of higher quality is something I might like to see more often. It worked well in this case.
While the first season of Aldnoah.Zero was a fairly good watch overall, it seemed more like a setup for what’s to come in its second cour. We’ve been introduced to several characters and plot struggles, but nothing too substantial came about until the ending of the first season. It’s unclear what direction the series will go in, but I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see.
Stark700
War is a controversial word. People fight in wars for a variety reasons. Oppression, liberation, or imperialism are just a few reasons. But fighting a war for survival sometimes also become a reason without choice. In Aldnoah Zero, that war takes place in 2015. After fifteen years of peace, we have one side from Mars (the Vers Empire) trying to annihilate Earth off their existence in its galaxy. To say the least, Aldnoah Zero hits where it hurts. It establishes the foundation of sci-fi action series with war but also other factors packaged into this Summer extravaganza. For starters, Aldnoah Zero already had several keypoints that made the show one of the most anticipated series prior to its release. The key staff involves Gen Urobutchi, who served as the script writer of the first three episodes. The combination A-1 Pictures’ production qualities with Hiryouki Sawano’s music score also creates the tension of what may be expected. Nonetheless, the series is done without any source material. It’s a standalone show divided into two halves as this review will cover the first split cour.
There’s much to learn about the origins of the series. If we go back into history, the show actually established its origins over 40 years ago. In 1972, an alien artifact known as the Hypergate was discovered that made colonizing on Mars possible. From there on, the powerful yet mysterious technology known as the “Aldnoah” was discovered that allowed settlers (later known as Martians) to survive there. The catch is that these Martians declared war on United Earth after establishing independence. An event known as the “Heaven’s Fall” occurred that shattered Mars breaking the war stalemate. Now present in 2014, we have this princess named Asseylum Vers Allusia from the Vers Empire coming to Earth for a visit. Unfortunately, an assassination attempt ensures and all hell breaks loose. If all this sounds a bit generic, then you’ll probably right. Without a doubt, Aldnoah Zero dances around with the concept of a war between two fronts – the Martians (Vers Empire) and the United Earth (Earthlings). Not to be confuse with invasion, both sides seeks to maintain superiority over the other. However, there’s also a catch in that Asseylum tries to create a state of peace like it has maintained 15 years ago. But who are we kidding here? The first episode breaks the boundary of any sense of peace when a terrorist attack occurs in full view of the public. Not only that but New Orleans goes out with a big bang. Peace? Hope? Prosperity? What Heaven’s Fall established is what the tagline suggests:
“Let Justice be done, though the heavens fall”
As a sci-fi action series, it’s easy to say that the show is consistently engaging and challenging itself. The first episode creates the tension between the Martians and Earthlings already with an attempted terrorist attack. In full of the public, we witness the princess “die” as an assassination attempt. On the other hand, we also meet the earthlings. However, it’s hard to believe in the hype when we realize that the main characters are no more than mere high school students. The guy that may or may not stand out is Inaho Kaizuka. With a strange interest in eggs, the young boy is a difficult character to read. His calmness (as demonstrated during the terrorist attack) and intuitions makes one of the most mysterious character of the series. Throughout the course of the show, he also demonstrates tactics with excellent calculations and strategic maneuvers. His risky moves often puts others at risk but his stoic face often shows that he has confidence in an almost predetermined-like outcome. That’s just the tip of the iceberg though. Joining Inaho are his friends, allies, and even his sister who also plays a crucial role in the military. But perhaps the most prominent ally of Inaho is none other than the Vers Empire princess herself.
The Vers Empire family is an interesting generation of characters to say the least. Unlike most of the Martians, Asselyum is sympathetic towards Earth and its people. She wishes to create a state of peace and even has fascination of Earth’s inhabitants and creations. Her kind nature sharply contrasts with most of the Martians as they wish to invade Earth and destroy it. However, there’s a noticeable flaw that viewers may see from her: self-insecurity. Throughout the show, she constantly tells herself that the ongoing war is perhaps her own fault. This is considered faulty logic considering the fact that the Martians are looking for an excuse for a war. (the attempted assassination) In fact, the behaviors of some of the Martians could even be described as borderline psychotic such as the case of Trillram during his crazed rampage on Earth. Others such as Vlad are more careful with their goals. However, their motivations remain the same and that’s to destroy Earth. Yet, there are some people from the Empire who seeks other reasons to come to Earth. A prominent example would be Slaine Troyard, an Earth born human (Terran). Flashbacks reveal his encounter with the princess during his childhood and since then, the two have become very close friends. Unfortunately, Slaine isn’t exactly a character that receives credible characterization. His one motivation seems to be his interest to reunite with the princess. Throughout the war, he reluctantly fights the Terrans, kills a fellow comrade, and even undergoes intense torture after an attempted escape from a Mars capital ship. His temporary alliance with the Martians also becomes his fault as he quickly learns the consequences. In retrospect, Slaine’s loyalty could be his downfall as his actions creates tensions between him and the Martians.
This series doesn’t quite have a taste of originality to its premise or delivery. The prejudice of the Martians against Terrans isn’t something new in sci-fi series. In this show, it borderlines on the line of genocide and imperialism as the Martians wishes to establish supremacy in the universe. A quick look back will make us realize how desperate some of them are with their tactics such as falsely trying make their Emperor believe that the princess was assassinated. Still, most of their characters have a one dimensional view of Earth. Only a few of the Martians get characterization throughout the show and surprisingly enough, Cruhteo (Slaine’s superior officer) is one of them after he discovers the truth. Similarly, Saazbaum is also both an interesting character and antagonist. His role in the war eclipses most of the single minded motivations of the other invaders as he wishes to gain revenge for results of the Heaven’s Fall.
Revenge actually has more of a meaning though. One particular character wishes to regain revenge against the Martians after her own father is killed in the ongoing war. Her motivations become increasingly dangerous with PTSD-like tendencies as she tries to assassinate Assleyum herself. These self-motivations builds on the psychological impact of how war can be. The truth is that war is fought for reasons but there are no righteousness with the laws. Heaven’s Fall is just one event that gained the vengeance of certain characters.
On the Terran side, there’s a plague of clichés when it comes to the character cast. We have the childhood friend Nina (with a presumed crush on the protagonist, Inaho), the lone wolf Rayet, the energetic Calm, Inaho’s older sister Yuki with a tough boss type attitude. The character cast on the Earth side lacks characterization or depth on most parts. Inaho stands out as the most prominent character not just for his roles but as a soldier and tatician. The strategies he utilizes often are risky but the results are often surprising as the Martians realizes his skills. And speaking of risks, Aldnoah Zero plays a bit around with drama. Unfortunately, it feels brain-dead with the way it’s executed and almost silly at times. To say the least, it also creates a sense of manipulative tearjerker with the ongoing war struggles. Comical moments has weird timing as well and some jokes are generic with repetition. There are also a lot of ironic moments in the show and cruelly timed moments that may seem unpredictable but feels generic once the dust settles down. At the same time, the show has a fast pacing especially with the other main protagonist, Slaine. He becomes a major scapegoat for his troubles as he fails to stop the war, betrayed by a temporary ally, and tortured by his own superior officer. It’s really hard to see him as a role model with what he has done despite his seemingly good intentions that ends up being left stranded. Other issues of the series include asspull moments although some of it is minimized by strategic scenarios with Inaho being the main cause.
On the technical front, the visuals establishes the fact of a futuristic/alternate setting. The sci-fi themes are most definitely featured with exquisite features such as the mecha used. The lost technology used by the Martians have distinctive mecha designs such as Trollheim’s defensive Kataphract Nilokeras, the six-armed Kataphract Hellas, and Vlad’s modified machine armed with proton swords. In retrospect, they are impressive and shows the difference in firepower between the Martians and the Terrans. The way CG is adapted also hardly distracting. However, character designs of the Terrans are generic. In fact, most of the main characters look nothing like members of the military. Neither Inaho nor Slaine has any distinctive characteristics at all. However, Asseylum stands out as the princess with her pure beauty and elegance. On the other hand, her personal maid/assistant looks like a child that makes us wonder if the show takes itself seriously at times. Still, overall action coordination is magnificent with the choreography and well-timed battle scenes. Fan service is also minimal except during one shower scene. Take it for granted as this show is a cinematic blockbuster with the artistic delivery.
Soundtrack plays more of a role than just being part of the series. The brainchild of the soundtrack, Sawano, brings together an intense set of beat with its techno style OST. It seizes moments to capture every battle at the core while climaxes are delivered with memorable moments. (see New Orleans) Kalafina’s involvement with the theme songs is also easily recognizable as well. Striking the right and balanced cords, the show’s soundtrack becomes a prominent centerpiece that’s even more as a supplement. Voice mannerisms also makes its point well with Inaho’s stoic expressive dialogues, Assleyum’s calm way of speaking, and the Martian’s aggressiveness. You want wartime drama? You’ll get wartime drama. The soundtrack makes it that damn more acceptable.
As a sci-fi science show with war themes and mecha, it’s easy to say the show might not be for everyone. The story has problems with its writing when it comes to some characters. There’s also no escape of clichés with the characters themselves on both the Martian and Terran side. Simply put, the show exhibits a war that is built by tension, executed by actions, and splashed onto the screen to show us what the consequences are. Still, characterization of a few select characters are memorable and makes us want to get to know more on both sides. There are credible themes involved that pushes the boundary of more than simply winning battles. And to top it all, the technical front of both artwork and soundtrack strikes out with strong impressions. In a way, Aldnoah Zero is a strange show with a curveball that balances itself between story and characters. It’ll just take patience to get to know each other well.
Season 2 has been confirmed as the split-cour and to be honest with that ending, you better be in it for this wild ride.
Jayko
Great story, great art, great sound...questionably well played character development? Possibly. Regardless, Aldnoah.Zero will probably be seen as an instant favorite to most anime lovers. It makes sure to get you attached, but not too attached to characters, and I put much emphasis on the 'too.' Nevertheless here's my review continue to read to see if this show is for you. Story: 10/10 I give this anime the benefit of the doubt strictly due to the fact that it was deeply implied that a season two would be coming, most likely this is the case. In fact as far as story is in generalit was very thrilling and can easily keep a viewer hooked even without the complete enjoyment of the person watching. To be completely honest it was story that was seemingly most emphasized and because may have lacked in some other topics concerning this anime which will be discussed.
Art: 10/10
The animation, art, mechas, everything concerning this topic is well done, in fact other than some questionable angles and on occasion facial expressions, it is hard for me to dislike anything about this topic.
Sound: 10/10
This topic is almost directly related to sound, perfection. From Aldnoah.Zero we get a visually stunning show as ear pleasing one. The soundtrack that plays throughout the show greatly complements the battle sequences and mood no questions asked. Even the sound effects concerning the show, whether it be action or casual in the scene, is good. No qualms should be met here.
Character: 7/10
As mentioned in the story topic, this anime does so well in so many criteria that is bound to be lacking even a little bit in something. In Aldnoah.Zero we see a major emphasis on getting the story moving in earlier episodes but get very little in terms of character development. In fact what can arguably be called the protagonist turns out to be one of the least interesting characters up til the end of the show. The viewer will no doubt be interested in other characters the story introduces because the are being more 'human'. As an added note however this does play better for the story criteria, the show will make like certain characters and either pull a R.R. Martin, or make feel a little betrayed. HA! Focused character development can play with emotions, and for that I give the Character criteria a courteous score.
Enjoyment: 8/10
Overall I would call this show a very good anime, and I look forward to any progression in the story. At the very least a season two, which the show so kindly introduced, will be very greatly desired. Keep up the good work!
nightwalk
Hype, hype, hype. If one show received a huge ton of it this season, it was A-1 Pictures' Aldnoah.Zero. But is it as great as all the big names and the hype make it out to be? Well... not really, but it certainly was a good watch. Thanks for reading my review on Aldnoah.Zero! The show takes place in an alternate reality, in which the Apollo 17 mission discovered a hyper gate to Mars on the surface of the Moon in 1972. After these events, the astronauts discovered the legendary "Power of Aldnoah", which made technology beyond our imagination possible. With this power in their hands,a lot of people settled on Mars, created the Empire of Vers and declared their independency from Earth. After years of conflicts, in 1999, a fight between humanity and the Empire of Vers caused the hyper gate to get destroyed and it took a huge part of the Moon with it, thus "Heaven's Fall" began and lots of the debris from the Moon landed on Earth, destroying whole cities and landscapes. Both sides had to take in massive casualties. After 15 years and a long time of ceasefire, the Vers princess was sent to Earth for a peace mission, but it didn't turn out as expected and the princess got assassinated and right after this, the Martian soldiers began to descend from the sky, riding steel giants, intent on exterminating humanity, taking revenge and conquering Earth for themselves once and for all.
Sounds pretty epic, huh? Granted, for the most parts the presentation of the show IS really epic, just assisted and maximized by Hiroyuki Sawano's fantastic soundtrack. While the plot concept sounds quite interesting, the execution is rather meh to say the least. This starts off with some pretty obvious info and exposition dumps and a rather predictable story layout in the beginning; new Martian super robot shows up, kills a lot of people, protagonist beats super robot with a "clever" tactic, the end. The show offers some plot twists here and there to keep you engaged, but they somewhat lack depth and impact for the most part, which really was a shame. This is mostly the fault of the anime's characters, as these are obviously the show's biggest downside.
The main protagonist Inaho is your typical "2cool4u" smart hero a lá Lelouch, except that Lelouch actually has an understandable and relatable personality for the most part AND charisma. Inaho doesn't have that. A friend dies in front of his eyes; cool and straight face. He beats a bad guy's awesome robo; cool and straight face. He just saved someone's life and they are thanking him; cool and straight face. He is ice cold in whatever he does and this is what makes him distant and in my opinion completely unlikeable and unbearable as hell. I know he doesn't show his emotions from the outside and rather in his actions, but come on. Unrelatable and poorly written!
The rest of the cast was average at best, with the best ones being Lieutenant Marito and Slaine Troyard. In the Lt.'s case his backstory of the war before the show started was really interesting to watch and how he had to deal with his PTSD, because he lost a precious friend to him back then. That's a more realistic depiction of PTSD compared to... other shows this season *cough* Sword Art Online II *cough*. Sometimes during the show, I wished he was the protagonist instead of Inaho, because he felt a bit more human. But of course, they didn't do anything with him, wasted potential. Slaine Troyard on the other hand was not that bad. He had an somewhat understandable motivation for doing what he does, his backstory was quite interesting - even if presented poorly. Compared to other shows he may still be meh at best, but together with the Lt. they made the otherwise trashy and forgettable cast of Aldnoah.Zero somewhat bette, but that doesn't say much. All in all the characters felt very flat, unengaging, plot-devicey and unlikeable.
The villains were mostly one-dimensional, cartoony cardboards, with little screentime or focus put on them and the rest of the supporting cast was either not really worth mentioning or spoiler territory.
But I could overlook some of the writing flaws and the characters for the sometimes godly action sequences. Yeah, the robots are made with 3DCG and tend to not blend in with the background well, but the action A-1 Pictures presented was mostly jaw dropping in my opinion, especially in episode 3 and the finale episode. And yes, I know that the "tactics" rival those from Code Geass, but if you turn your brain off and just embrace the action with Hiroyuki Sawano's masterful Original Score in the background, you can probably ignore those flaws as well and just enjoy the show. Of course the flaws wont disappear, but at least it makes it all the more enjoyable. Well, at least for me.
In terms of visuals, Aldnoah.Zero looks really good and for the most part solid as well. The backgrounds are very detailed, the action is smooth and the colors bright. It only took me a while to get used to the kind of blobby character designs and especially in episode 10 there was a huge noticeable drop in animation quality. But thank god it was just for this one episode and the final episodes looked as amazing as they should.
Personally, I had a good time with the show and I looked forward to it almost every week. Probably it was the hype getting me fired up every time the fantastic OP by Kalafina started playing, but Aldnoah.Zero was one of the few shows of the season I really wanted to watch. The start was quite dull, then it got better for a long period of time, then it slightly dropped and the nice final episode made up for it. I know, it was mostly SHOCK FACTOR and Urobutcher being Urobutcher (well, Boku no Pico man trying to be Urobutcher), but the way the emotions of certain characters came across really made my blood boil, but not completely in a good way. It somehow reminded me of Code Geass... weird, a lot of Code Geass comparisons in this review.
Well, time for the verdict.
Did I like Aldnoah.Zero? Sure, I did. Do I think it's a great show and everyone should watch it? Nah, no way. While you can (and most likely will) enjoy it as a brainless watch for tons of good looking and sounding action scenes, it falls flat in terms of good, consistent writing, offering a plot with at least some depth and even mediocre characters. Just don't take this show too seriously and embrace it as the stupid fun it is. Exactly as it was with Code Geass. DON'T PRETEND IT'S SMART! It's just another below average mecha with teens saving the world, only this time with more hype and less good writing. A shame that all the big names didn't amount to anything.
RATING:
STORY SECTION: 3/10
Premise 1/2 (generic mecha premise)
Pacing 1/2 (kind of repetitive formular, but solid)
Complexity 0/2 (pretends to be)
Plausibility 0/2 (none)
Conclusion 1/2 (a really mixed bag)
CHARACTER SECTION: 2/10
Presence 0/2 (barely interesting or stand-out)
Personality 0/2 (flat as a rock or too impulsive and dumb)
Backdrop 1/2 (only tiny bits)
Development 0/2 (non existent)
Catharsis 1/2 (fucked up, but it's there)
ART SECTION: 7/10
General Artwork 2/2 (very detailed but static)
Character Figures 1/2 (kind of blobbish and samey)
Backgrounds 2/2 (highly detailed and far from generic)
Animation 1/2 (solid)
Visual Effects 1/2 (some ugly CG, otherwise solid)
SOUND SECTION: 7/10
Voice Acting 2/3 (basic)
Music Themes 3/4 (feels like a Frankenstein'd Sawano OST, still good)
Sound Effects 2/3 (ok, I guess)
ENJOYMENT SECTION: 5/10
Art 1/1 (looks good)
Sound 2/2 (sounds nice)
Story 1/3 (interesting start and fucked up ending, that's it)
Characters 1/4 (Slaine and the Lt. were okay at some points)
VERDICT: 4,8/10 (putting it down to 4,5; 4/10!)
DaBomb1
Out of an era where average Joe protagonists are given extremely powerful mechs to slaughter trained evil soldiers comes Aldnoah.Zero. What this show does to the mecha genre is ingenious. Instead of "super badass op mech" being the star of the show, have the trained soldiers systematically take down their overpowered opponents using strategy and planning. On top of this, Gen Urobuchi's setup of the story and his writing of the major events in the series are entertaining as usual. This show is a fantastic subversion of common tropes in mecha shows from years ago. Story- 8/10 The setup and world building of A/Z is well done.The first episodes are a great hook for the rest of the show by using shock and awe to portray how crazy the scale is. Nuking a major city on the first episode is guaranteed to at least catch your attention and make you curious about the possible resolutions to this huge conflict.
The split story-telling between our two protagonists, Slaine and Inaho, kept the show interesting. During calm periods in Inaho's story, something happens to Slaine, and vice versa.
A major issue with the story however is that the big beefed up mechs are often beaten using coincidences or convenient plot devices. Some enemies are defeated in a more logical manner, while some lean closely to the "asspull" part of the gradient.
Characters- 9/10
Save for Inaho, all of the characters feel real, likable, and relatable. Their relations, wants, needs, dislikes, goals, and personalities help bring you into the world of A/Z. Save for a few instances where a person snaps to help advance the main plot or a subplot, the characters all act rationally and use logic and strategy to the best of their abilities.
The common pacifist princess trope, Asseylum, is subverted into a character who detests war, but understands the necessity to fight back. Instead of being weak and worthless while crying about the war, Asseylum goes active as a part of a few operations over the course of the story.
Inaho, the highly trained Terran soldier, is an extremely hit or miss character. His emotionless efficiency was highly entertaining, but in a show where all the characters are well written and realistic, his presence slightly takes away from the atmosphere of the show.
Lastly, Slaine is the Terran who serves Asseylum and was initally with her at the beginning of the story. He is the irrational, impulsive, and emotional counterpart to Inaho's inability to care about anything. The differences in situation and Slaine's personality create a lot of duality in the story, which I really enjoyed.
Animation- 8/10.
The animation is fluid, but there are a couple issues. A/Z doesn't really try anything new or eye-catching, simply resorting to the solid, fluid animation that we see in most anime today. The CGI mechs fit into the scene much more smoothly than many other shows, but it still doesn't quite feel right to see an animated character next to a CGI mech. The only other issue is that once or twice, it's difficult to understand what exactly happened on the screen until the character explain it for you, due to some chaotic moments passing by extremely quickly.
Sound- 10/10
It's rare for an OST to be the anchor that solidified such a high score for an anime many were underwhelmed by, but the fact of the matter is that this show has some of the best musical accompaniment I've ever had the pleasure of listening to. Combat scenes had excellent combat music. Psychological scenes had excellent psychological music. Tense situations had either no music or even better psychological music. I could go on and on but my point stands that this show's music is exceptional.
Overall- 9/10
With the action scenes, well written characters, jaw-dropping OST, and interesting compelling war story, this show is extremely well done. I highly recommend this to anyone looking for a war-time action show, mecha lover or not. This is not quite my anime of the season, but for what it's worth, it came pretty damn close.
Rayouri
Before I start this review I wanted to let you know that I want to focus more of my time on the character portion of this show mainly because that is this shows biggest drawback. I will briefly go over the story, art, sound, and my overall enjoyment and score. But again I will be focusing more on the characters in this review. Story: Aldnoah.Zero is an obvious homage to the gundam series and it succeeds in creating very cool and interesting action scenes. This shows story is simple yet there are a lot of factors surrounding it that make is unique in it's ownright. In short words the story is good enough to keep you watching until the end but it isn't going to please everyone.
Art: The art aside from the action sequences with the CGI, is very simplistic. The art I felt was perfect for the show. Especially the colors they chose. The colors in the art can be vibrant but also bleak and it adds to the show depending on the story. In short the art makes the show more enjoyable.
Sound: This is by far the best part of Aldnoah.Zero. I loved every part of the soundtrack. I would definitely buy the OST and listen to it on a daily basis. The songs range from high octane vocals, to powerful orchestral pieces, as well as the calm and soothing songs that fit well and make the viewing experience an absolute blast.
Characters: Okay this is where it's going to get quite long. Now I want to get out that I feel as though the writers wanted to take these characters somewhere and wanted to have some depth, but that's all they really were, wants, and wishes. These characters are just boring empty shells that try to be this deep and complex character when they aren't. I specifically want to talk about Inaho as I believe contrary to almost everyone saying that he is the best character, Inaho is the worst character ever written in anime. Now that is taking it a stretch but I can't help but think that it's true. The writers were lazy, and didn't do anything with a character that showed promise. Inaho is just another typical badass silent type character. There are so many questions left unaswered that makes me just not care about Inaho. Why is he so good at that? Why is he so good at this? Why can he do this but nobody else can't? Why can this Highschool student do this? It's extremely pathetic and unacceptable that writers are just spoon feeding this crap to us. I felt no connection, and sympathy from him as a character. You can tell that the writers just want to do something with him but they just aren't doing anything. I believe that this is partially us, the anime communities fault. Instead of wanting well-written characters that have personalities, morals, and actual backstory we just want a badass character who pulls all the girls. Inaho was literally just used to push the plot forward and act on his own accord. Pretty much all the other side characters are equal with Inaho in every aspect, and when a supposed main character is about as interesting as a empty boring side character you have failed. Inaho has potential, but I found him to be the hardest thing to watch. In short I disliked Inaho as a character the most. The princess was also pathetically written, again other than having no reason in the story other than making it convenient for Inaho and the other people to proceed throughout the story in a boring one-dimensional way.
Now there is a whole controversy with Slaine that has the anime community in a huge divide. I found that Slaine was the only decently well written character. He showed emotion, he went through hardships we got to see why he cares so much for characters, and we get to see him, grow as a character which makes me actually care for him. A lot of people tend to just hate on Slaine without really thinking about the things that he as a character has gone through and don't consider his standing on things. Instead he get's hated on by the community because he did something at the end that people didn't like. Slaine was written as a character that acts on emotions. It's extremely obvious that after being shot down by Inaho, for no good reason in an earlier episode, even after swooping down and helping him that he would not be on good terms with Inaho. Slaine shows some depth as a character and more promise than any other character in this show. Another descent character with potential is that one soldier guy who's friend died.
Enjoyment: This show has it's moments, and when they happen they're an awesome spectacle. But I can't help but not enjoy this show because of how poorly the characters are done. You know the most important aspect of the show?
This show had so much potential and it still might, due to there being a second season airing now. But this first season I can't help but say that I had a hard time watching it.
Overall: I find myself getting angry because this medium called anime that I grew up with is constantly getting worse. I grew up watching animes like Cowboy Bepop, Lupin the Third, and although those shows are from way back, "The anime industry is changing" isn't a valid excuse as to why we are getting crappy anime year after year. Aldnoah.Zero is a letdown overall. I wanted to enjoy this series, and occasionally I did, but it does so much wrong that I can't recommend it to anyone unless you are looking for a mech anime because you've seen every single other mech anime out there.
Izayai
Story - 9 Aldnoah.Zero is A-1 studios first attempt at a mecha anime. Though the plot is somewhat common, a group of individuals decide to fight against a stronger opposing force, in this case it’s a civil war between Earth and a more technologically advanced Mars. The pace of the story is well done with back stories and exposition placed throughout the series in small amounts. The individual elements in the story are interesting and well worth watching. Each episode is unique and executed nicely with new twists every episode. Earth, having being devastated by Heavens Fall 15 years ago, sets up the plot for ongoing events.Tensions having risen for the past couple years between Earth and Mars a war begins to arise when the Princess of Mars arrives on Earth. Aldnoah.Zero follows the events of these characters throughout the war.
Art – 9
The visuals are well done, creating unique characters and designs to distinguish between each opposing side. The technology and mecha are unique and are never the same. In addition, the use of color and lighting throughout the show gives the viewers a definite understanding of the devastation that has occurred in the past as well as the battles occurring in the present. Each scene was well drawn and directed including even the smallest of details, and the CGI used was not too overbearing. Character designs were well done each having a unique persona that represents themselves. The quality of animation presented by A-1 studios is definitely top tier.
Sound – 10
Aldnoah.Zero features an absolutely amazing soundtrack and other various accompaniments that improve each scene by giving it more depth, even mediocre scenes are made great by inserting the OST into specific places. The music was well composed and directed by Sawano, Hiroyuki. Having directed several other series such as Guilty Crown and Kill la Kill. He makes excellent use of the music placed throughout the series.
The opening song is also noteworthy being performed by Kalfina, the same people who sang the ending for Fate/Zero. Though I rarely pay attention to most music in the background, the music in this series stood out, sending out chills during battle scenes and other important scenes throughout the series. Having implemented a wide variety of sounds and styles used throughout the series, Aldnoah.Zeros soundtrack is very pleasing to the ear and definitely worth paying attention to throughout the series.
Character – 9
The characters in this series are particularly interesting to keep an eye on. Inaho being one of my favorite MC this season, due to the fact that he uses his brain in contrast to the various other MC found in anime. Slaine also provides a unique perspective to the story. And the final MC Vers Allusia is a unique character that becomes the catalyst for all events in the story. The characters introduced throughout this series come from wide variety of backgrounds each providing a unique perspective to the story. We have characters ranging from being born on Earth, princess of mars and an Earthling raised my Martians. Each characters represent a different side of the story, the characters are well thought out and executed to play each specific role. The character development is well planned out and we learn more about them as the series progresses.
Enjoyment - 9
Aldnoah.Zero was a great mecha series and one of my favorites of the summer season. The character Inaho was one of my favorite protagonist, not driven by emotions, but rather by pure thought. In addition the combination of great music as well as an interesting plot makes this an amazing anime.
Overall - 9
Aldnoah.Zero is a wonderful addition to the mecha genre, with unique characters and designs. This series was one of the most enjoyable of the season. Each element from sound, artwork and story were well executed. As well as including twists in each episode Aldnoah.Zero has been a wonderful anime to watch.
Baddie007
I hereby make another review co'z some pinche mod had a lot to say about my previous review, so, time to get down to business again. Story: First of all, the plot where it involves aliens invading earth was indeed pretty overrated, also, the theme of the anime was based on the classic Martian invasion. However, the scenario where, Princess Vers was able to escape from an assassination was pretty darn good to say the least and her wish to stop the invasion also adds to some good in it, even so, imo it wasn't enough that this anime's story would have a high score, soI'm gonna limit it to a 6.
Art: Ok, so the art was the usual, I could have given it a 5, but after seeing how poor Princess Asseylum Vers Allusia and Rayet Areash shower scene, I've decided to limit it to a 4 and that's that, since I haven't seen some any good fanservice of the 2.
Sound: I just like the opening theme and Princess Asseylum's cutsy voice, so a 7 for this part.
Character: Now, I like the way Princess Asseylum was portrayed as this peace loving martian who some how was able to cheat death and Inaho for being this smartass who can operate a Kataphract and was able to kick them martians ass, however, the two mentioned characters where somewhat of a double standard, why? At first we saw the Princess who somehow was capable of hand to hand combat , but was unable to defend herself from Rayet's attack, we also see Inaho who was a good tactician, but was unable to anticipate Slaine's assault. Also, we have Slaine, though at first we would have sympathize with him for being a Martian who was being bullied by the nobles, we were surprise that he is an earthling after all, but the biggest disappointment about him was despite of the maltreatment from the martian noble, he still sided with them. Basically his character was a surprise for us, now having mention the double standard portrayal of Princess Asseylum and Inaho, and the thing about Slaine, was basically the reason why I give this part a 6.
Enjoyment: Because, it was the usual alien invasion kind of thing based on a classic premise and it was more of a mini series than an episode, I would have dropped it already, but there is still that side of this anime where humans where able to win in the end and this is what kept me from dropping it, so I'm gonna give this part a 6.
Overall: Though, I gave the enjoyment part of this anime a 6, there were some question as to why original creator Gen Urobuchi gave this anime the title "Aldnoah Zero," all we know is that it powers up the mech and the spaceship that them martians used, however we were left wondering as to what exactly is the "aldnoah" thingy, also, the synopsis of the anime stated that the martians were in fact humans who somehow discover some hyper-gate to Mars and when humans went there, they also discover advance alien tech, such synopsis basically puts a lot of plot holes in this anime as a whole, now if some humans did migrated to mars and become martians, how the fuck can they have developed a kind of monarchical culture within a span of 15 years? Also, if humans where indeed able to discover advance alien tech, then surely earth would have also have access to it and develop such alien tech that would put them at par with the martians, having said that I'm gonna give this anime a 3. Now since this is only the first season, I wonder if we're ever gonna see Princess Asseylum again? Also, there is no doubt that Saline is gonna be the next antagonist, but that's just my wild guess and not a spoiler. Now, I may have given this anime's overall a 3, but it doesn't mean that the rating applies to season 2, I hope we're clear.
Here are my rating post of this anime:
Story: Fair 6
Art: Decent 4.
Sound: Good 7.
Character: Fair 6.
Enjoyment Fair 6.
Overall: Poor 3.
Social_Elitist
Aldnoah the rip off by this Urobutcher'd Review: MINDSET: The causals soon encounter the best mix of some of the most amazing staff members, we have the same script director of Boku no Pico (ok, lets ignore that one) We have the 3 legendaries of Anime script writing: Ei Aoki, the Urobutcher and Jin for the music, (who is better than Yujikadra) have now joined forces to become the Asian Writers League! The amazing trio of gangsters are in the midst on making the best Anime for your friends, your familly, your pets, your grand parents, your teacher, your ex-girlfriend and even the prostitute You picked up5 years ago!
SYNOPSIS:
Apparently Martians come down from the moon to kill people, for apparently “Food and Culture” but the biggest difference between whats a human (Terran) and a martian is that despite that they both look alike, the martians are a technological advance species whose only difference is that they can breath in space and that they can operate a super over powered mechas known as “Aldnoah” for the few who can operate such a machine has high status from their political ladder, while the Terrans just have these misely little mechs who apparently wield giant machine guns, the martians land down to Earth to declare war for chances of them to fulfil more food and culture on to themselves.
REVIEW:
First off, the protagonist may show little to know mercy and is completely OP but is utterly lifeless, like You see his friend dying at the first episode and he doesn’t even change he's expression! He has no personality, at all, which makes him boring and the audience to not care. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to You a story that is purely of lazy, choppy and sometimes predictable piece of horrendous writing from this uncanny valley from these retards that created Aldnoah.
Right at the first episode, it may not be predictable, but it always seemed so into the face when I see at how “Moronic” Urobutchi and he's Boku friend can pull out so many forced plot points.
Sure, the story is unpredictable, but all I see is a bunch of unpredictable ass pulls! Like You see this one dimensional villain going all we need to capture planet Earth so we can have more food, then a few episodes later, he dies, but another villain just taken he's place and its like You can just let the first main villain to not exist at all. Which makes so, sooo many characters completely useless other than being a backdrop or being used for future plot holes that are forcefully coming out of nowhere.
The only thing that motivated me on watching the later episodes was the the premise seemed interesting. It has a lot of potential to be one of those greats. But of course, this is a “Popular” modern Anime with loads of hype surrounding it so I can already predict a sh*t storm narrative miles away, but if it really needs to strive to be greater, it must be more respectful towards its audience and show depths of realism and especially not pull out any plot devices out of the forced dimension! (and a million other jazz) and consequently, this “ever” happens to mainstream shows.
Speaking of how utterly useless a large portion on what actually seemed to be the “Main Cast” the characters don't really have much use at all, there often the 20% who are taking action, or the 80% who barely have a role to the story and are just there for plot convenience, like how these teenagers who are friends with the protagonist who you could think they have loads of screen time for supporting the protagonist, but are really just there to operate whatever machine the good guys use. They are really just a majority of characters like these who feel just as lifeless and uncared for as the main, yeah, You may counter saying that he changes facial expressions, or boast at how OP he is and that he's like one of the Earth biggest hope for survival but there is clearly nothing to explore his context, his nature, back story, personality, motives and just feels like an empty shell that simply reacts with only having the complexity of damn Smurf! The 99.9% of this side cast is stupid writing. Period.
The shows logic feels completely stupid, I already went through enough pain by how forced fed we are by the plot, but is'nt this supposed to be part of a massive planetary war against humans and martians and jazz? Then how come we could really accept the realism if there just a bunch of teenagers? Oh wait, its because they flipping sell. (DUUUUHHH)
When You think about a full on Sci-Fi war against two divided races, there has to be some good tension that will provide a higher level of entertainment and satisfactory, but so many of the issues of the show can all be pointed at the claim that its just too forced. Plot holes can be thrown out of nowhere and be patched up with a BS explanation that forces us to accept it as actual logic, Side characters are plot devices, the so-called “Epic Twist” feel rather unnatural and downright moronic, characters get barely to no development and it all feels like a large mess for no one to even care or mind about. This show is without a doubt one of the best examples of how much Urobuchi makes stuff up, and makes them look more like plot devices than actual characters!
Yes, Slain seems to be the only good character unlike the pussies who just sit there and do nothing but sob for reasons we don't care about and he actually takes action with a reasonable motive, though he can be a bit corny, he still is a million times better than everyone else. However, one character cannot suffice a million other horrible ones, and they might as well all go to a hentai and the show is probably better if Princess Seylum was tentacle'd by the evil knight leaders because I don't care, and she's protected by plot armour. And she is almost a plot device character!
Actually, did anyone notice that in the OP when You see Seylum lying on a small puddle that her bra was off when we see her whole body on a birds eye view, or was it me? Well, the music is pretty damn good, though it is pretty sad that I don't get to hear the OST alone in my own pleasure for free, but at least the OP still retains that Kalafina awesomeness we all love, though additively it is starting to feel like that same exact style going to repeated over and over again, with the usual electric guitar and piano into the mix, with that amazing voice that I won't seem to actually get bored of until another a year or two.
A-1 Pictures does seem to understand how to animate a damn good looking show, but this is 2010's so what do You expect the narrative substance would be? Any how, the slightly varied designs feel quite lazy, characters don't tend to have memorable designs which Perfectly blends in on being plot devices, and its like You can simply tell which character plays a larger role if they seem to have a slight variation of hair colour or the fact that she's “Prettier” than the reset of the girls. Mecha designs kind of suck around the latter parts like that wierd tripod who can only shoot lasers, but, I do see effort and creativity with these massive legged robots and I am definitely no mecha fan boy nor I find the designs hugely appealing, but they are real good for what there worth, and the budget seems very consistent with the action scenes looking really cool. The strategies feel a bit stupid with the teenagers just doing all the dirty work, but the choreography and overall feel of the Animation and show in general makes for a fairly immersive experience in a visual stand point. The CGI looks stupid BTW.
LEGACY:
And this is why we don't use the script director of Yaoi hentai to make proper sh*t up! Just love it from the garnishing of the Animation and to see how utter retard this team of producers cen get. I'd be bored out of my mind watching such a horrible show, though because of how turd the hype was it is a very, very bloody endeavour for me to anti-forget such a show from that over killing hype... Hopefully I'll forget it once I die.
SCORES:
2.5/10 – The characters are stupidly pointless
3/10 – The story is just an entire assh pull!
7/10 – Great animation, but corny CGI.
7/10 – Kalalalalalalafina!
2.5/10 – ONE OF IF NOT, THE MOST BORING SHOW OF SUMMER 2014.
FINALE: 3/10 “Let justice be done, though the heavens fall....” Thats it! Now Your just making stuff up for everyone to awe at for a lousy quote that might as well say “Directed by Boku No Pico, now shut the hell up and give me money!”
dalhoy
In all fairness I thought that Aldnoah.Zero was a 7/10 anime throughout the whole series. I was pumped to watch the next episode, I thoroughly enjoyed the fight scenes and the artwork was almost at a level of perfection, but my overall was dropped because of the way the story was executed and played out throughout this anime. At first I thought that the plot would fill up a fair bit of the anime instead of being based purely on the fight scenes and the war itself, yet I was slightly lead to disappointment in that component. The part of the story which really threw thisanime out of place was most definitely the ending... I genuinely believed that the ending was going to go smoothly and it would be all hunky dory, but then I was hit by a tsunami which crushed every bone in my body. It was by far one of the more horrible anime endings! I won't go into detail to explain why I thought the ending was horrible, but it was definitely a shocker in my eyes.
Overall, I thought Aldnoah.Zero was an anime which had potential, but it just wasn't executed properly. I recommend watching Aldnoah.Zero, but brace yourself for the ending and the disaster of a story since they were the one of the biggest let downs you will ever face in anime.
Don't hate me if you disagree, this is just my personal opinion.
EDIT: I changed it from a 9/10 to a 7/10 because I felt as if a 9 was too high for this anime.
Quan_
[Adapted From Original Blog Post] Expectation, for anything really, is a really dangerous thing to have when going to any anime. I may have made this point before, but that's because it's true, starting an anime with the mindset that it will either be amazing or crap can influence your opinion on it when it ends. The problem with this of course is that you may lose sight of how good the show actually is; this is a common problem with the landmark anime like Cowboy Bebop or Neon Genesis Evangelion, it's because they are so hyped up that some people may watch them and thinkthey weren't all that great. This may be a trap I have fallen into myself with my viewing of Aldnoah.Zero, the latest brainchild of Gen Urobuchi that aired this past 2014 Summer anime season, and was possibly one of my most hyped anime of the entire year. And why not? This is a show that had absolutely everything going for it; an interesting premise, awesome animation, a top-notch writer, and music that features easily some of the most pulse-pounding awesome songs this year. But after I finished Aldnoah.Zero last week, I leaned back from my monitor, pondered for a moment, and thought, "where'd did it all go wrong?" Hopefully today, I can answer because that question. It just might be a little hard, since I can't deny the little things the anime does right.
Hello people of "The Wired", my name is Quan, I hope you're doing awesome, and I'm sorry about the month anime review hiatus I've been on. Hopefully you've enjoyed the other posts in that time, but I swear it won't be long before the next review: which may or may not have something to Kyoto Animation again. Today I'm going to be tacking the sci-fi mecha quandary that seems to have split opinions with a lot of people: Aldnoah.Zero. Here we go.
Let's talk technical for a couple minutes shall we? Aldnoah.Zero was brought to life by a partnership of both the heavily celebrated A-1 Pictures, those gentleman whose works include Sword Art Online, Anohana and Shinsekai yori, as well as the newly formed Studio TROYCA, meaning that Aldnoah.Zero stands right now as their only full-scale work. It was directed by the one and only Ei Aoki, that awesome person who directed Kara no Kyoukai: Overlooking View and Fate/Zero, as well as a couple others that I don't care to mention due to their unimportant nature. And yes, that's not a good thing. The series creator is of course Gen Urobuchi, the writer who brought us Madoka Magica, Psycho-Pass and Fate/Zero as well, so you can see why I have a lot of expectation for this guy. However, while Urobuchi did write episodes 1-3 of the anime, the actual script for Aldnoah.Zero was handled by Katsuhiko Takayama, who has written scripts such as ef: A Tale of Memories, the original Fullmetal Alchemist, Toyko ESP...and Boku no Pico...which is interesting to say the least. And once again, the anime aired this summer through July 6 to September 21, and was a mere 12 episodes. Now, onto the plot.
In an alternate present day Japan, Earth holds an uneasy truce with the Vers Empire, humans who migrated to Mars in 1972 to claim an ancient and powerful technology known only as "Aldonah", which allows their technology to forward at an impossibly quick rate, granting things such as mechas. The princess of Vers is intent on rekindling peace between the two planets, now 15 years after a war broke out between Mars and Earth, resulting in thousands dead and the moon being destroyed in a near-apocalyptic event known as Heaven's Fall. However, peace negotiations break down quite quickly as the Vers princess is assassinated, causing the Vers Empire in fury to launch a full scale attack on Earth, this time to destroy all inhabitants and claim the planet with their vastly superior technology granted by Aldnoah. In the chaos we are introduced to our main protagonist: Inaho Kaizuka, a top grade high-school student who, with his friends, misses the first evacuation wave and is caught up along in the chaos of war, but at the same time discoveres a secret that reveals that the war might not be all that it seems. At the same time on Mars, a close friend of the princess named Slaine Troyard is uncovering the same secrets, secrets which could topple the Vers Empire, and get himself killed.
And yeah, for the first 3 or so episodes the plot is rather effective. The sequence of when the Vars Empire start to descend on Earth and take out all the major cities Independence Day style, paired with the awesome music easily gets my vote for one of the most epic string of scenes for the year, all brought to life by the high quality animation A-1 and TROYCA have provided. We also are introduced to a conspiracy that a trigger-happy Vers Empire may have killed their own princess as an excuse for a vendetta against Earth, mostly established from Slaine's point of view on the other side of the battlefield. It's also hard not to be intrigued by Inaho's character right off the bat, because even if he seems to have the personality of hand-rag, he takes down a seemingly invincible enemy mech using pure brain power, and that's kind of cool, at least it is at first. However, after Aldnoah.Zero sets up all these intriguing threads, with mysterious character motivation, conspiracies, and a few plot-twists, it then proceeds to play it safe, and in doing so, quite spectacular loses the most traction and kinetic energy I've ever seen in an anime in such a short amount of time since Mirai Nikki......and we all know how Mirai Nikki turned out. Though to be fair, I'm pretty sure the ending of Aldnoah.Zero is even worse.
The most frustrating part is that the plot isn't even that bad. The bigger picture of what's actually going on with the war is fairly interesting, but the biggest problem Aldnoah.Zero has is that the cast of characters it has simply aren't likable or well-developed enough to carry the narrative onward, because for me, there wasn't any particular reason why I should care about any of them, especially the main protagonist Inaho who I'm pretty sure has the same blank expression on his face for almost the entire series, even if an angry Martian is about to smash his face in with a mech. Now I know I'm getting ahead of myself here, we'll get to the character section of this review in a minute, but really it's the character's fault that the plot fails. Aldnoah.Zero did half the work if you like, setting a decent story up, but not giving us characters who we want to see it through with. Don't get me wrong, a cast of unlikable characters can sort of, kind of work, but the fact that they're so underdeveloped gives them no saving grace, and just leaves us with a group of thoroughly nasty people.
Getting back on topic with the plot however, the anime just seems to lose all of its passion after that 3 episode run. As the show progresses, it starts becoming fairly formulaic for a couple of episodes, where a new solider of Vars comes in to attack Inaho and his friends, and then Inaho comes up with some plan to stop said solider, which he does, and rinse and repeat for about 5 episodes or so. And no matter how much the music is trying to tell me whatever is going on is absolutely amazing, I just can't get hyped about whatever is happening when I've seen it happen already, and explained by a protagonist who doesn't really seem to care about it. Granted, I will admit, the first battle sequence in episode 3 is awesome and clever, and even prompts that Inaho might be some kind of unassuming bad-ass, but again, it just happens over and over after that. Not only this, but clichés and fanservice start creeping in the mid-to-late stages of the anime, which basically just killed any optimism I had left for the show. I mean come on guys, you made Fate/Zero, you don't need to rely on this crap! Things do start to pick up once the final goal of the story has been established and faith for humanity is restored, because it's here when the action really starts picking up for the show, and for the first time, the show actually begins to gain some structure as the last few episodes start building and building towards this final point. We do also get a kind of lame "surprise" villain at this point(I say surprise in quotations because the anime really doesn't make any effort to hide who the bad guy is), but I didn't mind too much because the show was finally starting to peak my interest for the first time since the opening episodes...and then the ending happened. Now, let me get something clear. Yes, I have been known to blow certain things out of proportion in the past, but seriously, I don't exaggerate when I say that the show quite completely falls apart in the final episode, and then pulls a completely out of nowhere ending that just feels like it's there for the shock alone. And yeah it's shocking, but that really doesn't make it any more stupid or just plain lazy writing.
And you know, it's kind of easy here just to let Urobuchi off the hook here and blame it all on Takayama. After all, the first 3 episodes, the only ones Urobuchi is actually credited with writing, are by far the best of the anime, but he's not completely without blame here. True, it was actually Ei Aoki who came up with a lot of these weak characters, and it was Takayama who is responsible for the poor writing later on in the series, but Urobuchi is, after all, the "original creator". He must have had some say in how the plot progressed from those initial episodes, so congratulations guys, Aldnoah.Zero failed, and it's everyone's fault. Well, maybe fail is a strong word. Before I bash on the show too much, particularly in this section coming up, I just wanted to get out there that the plot really isn't all that terrible, and there are a couple good moments in between the beginning and the lead up to the end that are very well done. They just aren't nearly as common as I would hope for.
This is where Aldnoah.Zero truly fails I'm afraid: the characters, and this is the most obvious with our main character Inaho. You may have noticed I've been taking shots at him already through this review, so it's time to say why I just don't like this guy, and the reason is the most obvious one, a detail you'll pick up quickly after watching him for a couple minutes. No matter what is happening and no matter who is attacking him, Inaho shows practically no emotion at all. He always has this bored look on his face, even when he sees his friends die in front of him in the early episodes. Sure he might grit his teeth for a second when in battle or something, but mostly, he just delivers his lines with no emotion at all, and this just makes him boring in the end. His only defining feature his intelligence, which he uses along with his calm demeanor in battle to take down the enemy, usually with actually smart tactics that you can appreciate. Now, emotionless characters can work, for example Yuki Nagato in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, as long as their behavior is justified, but with Inaho, we never really learn why he acts like this. Seriously, is this a childhood trauma effecting him? Why is he so emotionally distanced to everything? I never found out. Sure, Inaho might have the occasionally spark of personality when talking to his sister Yuki Kaizuki, but in the end, I spent all of the anime waiting for some kind of emotional outburst from him which never came. I just don't know what the creators are thinking with this character, his only redemption at this point could be a more detailed back-story in the second season of Aldnoah.Zero which will be airing this winter, though judging how the anime ended, that seems a little unlikely.
As for Slaine Troyard...well I almost hesitate to call him a character rather than a plot device. Why do I say this? Well, as far as I can tell, he only exists in the series for one purpose at the very, very end, I'm talking the last few seconds here, but I'll won't elaborate due to spoilers. I suppose if you take him at face value though, he's a OK character. He's defined by his unyielding loyalty(and possible romantic affection) to the princess of Vers: Asseylum, who he owes everything to due to an event in the past, and yeah, that's basically all his character. Don't get me wrong, I like him to an extent, he's brave and headstrong at the very least, and one of the few people who actually tries to uncover the truth behind the princesses' murder, but yeah, that's all he has going for him. It wouldn't even be so bad if he actually did something throughout the anime, but he's kind of held in limbo for the entire time until the end, where he really has nothing else to do besides question the morality of the war. There is one point in episode 6 where you think he's actually going to meet up with the rest of the plot, but like a dog on a leash he's yanked almost instantaneously to where he was before, as if the creators are saying: "no, you're not important until the end, go away." Again though, we'll see where his character goes in the sequel.
I'm a little hesitant to talk about this last character since it is technicality a spoiler for episode 2 of the anime, but she's arguably the best character in the show, and besides, the anime makes no effort to keep this a secret(both the OP and ED especially), but if you really don't want to know anything, you can go ahead and skip this paragraph. Basically though, the twist at the end of episode 2 is that the Vers princess: Asseylum is still alive, a copy being sent in her place on the day of the assassination. As you can imagine, this opens a whole new side to the plot, as the princess goes undercover with Inaho and the rest of the United Earth forces in an attempt to contact her grandfather and stop the war. At first, I thought her a little generic, just a typical perfect princess archetype that only disguising feature was her want for peace between Earth and Vers, but I later found out she's a lot more complex than she first appears. She harbors a strong guilt; blaming herself for the war because it never would have occurred if she had never gone down to Earth for peace talks, and her entire ark is basically her confronting that everything isn't going to work out and not everyone particularity wants peace between the two planets. We see her get increasingly frustrated by the lack diplomatic discussion or effort of both Earth and Vers, which eventually reaches a breaking point near the end of the anime, which I thought was probably the most subtle and best character moment of the show. And hey, she's also pretty awesome with hand-to-hand combat. If there's one thing that doesn't work with her character, it's the implied romance between her and Inaho, which really dies. After all, it's kind of hard to have chemistry between two characters when one of them is basically a robot, and it just doesn't work. It's clear that Slane deserves her if anybody, considering all he goes through throughout the course of the anime just to protect her, including being tortured... though even that's kind of hard to buy since the two only have about two scenes together in the anime. But I digress.
The rest of the supporting cast is fairly unremarkable, not even having any real standouts. As I said, the villain who enters later isn't really anything to talk about, and the rest of the cast like the rest of the United Earth officers and Inaho's classmates really don't contribute much of anything to the story either. If I had to choose a standout, a sub-plot of sorts involving a retired Earth officer named Koichiro Marito whose struggling with PTSD from the first Vers-Earth war. And yes, while that is fairly interesting, it really doesn't seem to relate to the main story at all besides from giving us some exposition on the events revolving around Heaven's Fall.
As I've stated before, the animation is awesome. The shows looks amazing, typical of A-1 pictures, and hey, maybe this is a standard we can expect from TROYCA as well in the coming years. The action of the show is fast-paced and exciting, which is good for a show with so much of it. Colors are relatively mellow, yet get more expressive on Mars, where purples and greens start making the world feel a little more surreal, though I feel like the design for the show, especially considering it is sci-fi, could have been a little better. Everything feels a little borrowed from other things, including the shattered moon in the sky which is really supposed to be the anime's identifiable setting center-piece, looks cool, but other more creative measures could have been taken to make the world feel a little more original. But now I'll stop dancing around the topic and address what was undoubtedly one of the biggest controversies animation-wise before this show started airing. Yes, the kataphrakts(which is just a fancy word for mechs) are rendered with CG, which some might view as devil's spawn when paired with typical animation. I will admit I'm not the biggest fan of CG myself, it always looks a little too clunky and out of place when placed in a 2-D environment, and it can break immersion just because of how noticeable it is most of the time. However, while it might take a little getting used to in Aldnoah.Zero, I can say that much for it, you do get used to it and accept it as a part of the show. It doesn't really add anything a typical drawn mech wouldn't have, but it does sort of solve that problem of the world feeling a little uninspired that I mentioned before. However, if you really aren't one who can stand CG, this is going to be a huge problem if you decide to watch the show, because unlike other times when CG has been integrated into anime sparingly, the kataphrakts are a huge part of the show and kind of hard to miss.
Let's talk about Hiroyuki Sawano's music, which at this point, I consider to be some of my favorites of any composer. I mean, just look at this list of prestigious soundtracks he's done: Kill la Kill, Guilty Crown and Attack on Titan, which may I add, are all amazing soundtracks in their own right. And now, I'm delighted to say he hasn't run out of steam quite yet, because Aldnoah.Zero's OST, while it might not be the best he's ever done, is still probably going to be one of the best of the year. Sawano just knows how to make his music sound cool, whether that be by mixing different languages or just adding an epic beat so you love the song regardless. Personal favorites form this soundtrack include a song entitled "I Say Cry", which plays during that previously mentioned scene when Vers are first attacking Earth, which yes, I know is everyone's favorite song from this soundtrack, but hey, it's epic. Also, the first ED titled "A/Z" is a lovely little song, that was actually co-created by Sawano himself and Mitzuki. The OP for the anime: "heavenly blue" was done by Kalafina, and while I like it a lot, I'm just saying it sounds really similar to Fate/Zero's first OP "oath sign". That may be because Yuki Kajiura, who is doing the "theme song arrangement" for "heavenly blue" worked on that OST as well.
Aldnoah.Zero is the perfect example of an anime which had too much hype surrounding it when it started, and now I don't think the public majority's opinion of it is that great, now that it has finished airing, which is a shame, because it doesn't deserve(all) the hate it has gotten. I mean, it has great music and animation, bundled with a decent plot, I just think that the characters may have pissed everyone off, not that I blame them. So I'm going to try to remember Aldnoah.Zero in a more positive light, and remember the good things rather than the bad, because there is good in it, and it needs to be acknowledged. You don't need to love it, I don't, but it a little slack. Though rage all you want about the ending, because that was literally the worst.
Final Verdict: 6(.5)/10
P.S: So what, she's died three times now?
For this review and others, feel free to check out my blog! (Link on profile)
issen-ken-taka
I'll focus more on the bad, since the good was covered everywhere. It's full of optimistic reviewers out there, but for the people who need to get into a show with appropriate expectations in order to enjoy it, I present to you a review with a focus on the bad. The show reminds me of Guilty Crown. Many make parallels with Code Geass as well, although comparing it to Code Geass is an insult to the latter. The similarities to Guilty Crown are a lot more apparent, though. Aldnoah.Zero is pretty much Guilty Crown without the overly complicated plot and the awesome animation. The animation isgood, don't get me wrong, but it's not up to par with GC. The CGI use for Kats (mechas) depends on your taste.
Plot 5/10
A.Z should be called Swiss cheese the Anime. The plot is riddled with plot holes. Most of the laws of physics are completely ignored, which is more annoying when they decide to invoke them first. The best example would be the piece of armor that supposedly absorbs all light but somehow is visible in all its purpleness, rather than being pitch black. Oh, it also goes: "The law of conservation of energy? Never heard of it!"
The entire reason for the invasion of Earth is stupid as well. "The Call To Arms" song details the motivation of Saazbaum and the Orbital Knights. While those motivations are understandable in their given situation, their given situation is absurd. Had they not decided to put in practice their brilliant idea to declare independence from Earth when they weren't autonomous from it at all they wouldn't be in the situation in the first place. But I guess not everyone is as smart as the American colonies.
The Earth armies are nothing more than the Mecha equivalent of WH40K Imperial Guardsman bayonet charging a bunker. Earth never seems to evolve from the tactic of throwing conscripts at tanks hoping their mangled bodies will eventual clog up the threads. The fact that a bunch of highschoolers are more capable at destroying the enemy than the actually army is hilarious, and gets even more so when you realize that they MC is not necessarily a genius, he's just surrounded by idiots.
And the ending? I don't want to spoil it… but it reminded me of School Days.
And all of the above wouldn't be so bad if not for the character development, or better said, lack thereof.
Characters 5/10
By the end of the show I realized I barely knew most of the recurring characters. Not even the MC gets that much development. Frankly, we get more development and interaction from the antagonists. Most of the backgrounds of the secondary characters are left unexplored. I waited for some development of the relationship between Lt. Marito and the Captain, but it remained unexplored. I fail to understand why it was started in the first place. The so-called reveal of the Captains identity was utterly pointless other than to create a twist. It all fells like an introduction and I can only hope that it all gets fixed and explained in the second season.
Sound 9/10
The music was pretty good. Opening and endings were enjoyable and the OST has quite a few epic tracks. Again, reminds me of Guilty Crown.
Personal Enjoyment 6/10
Between the plot holes, missed opportunities and lost potential, the show quite disappointed me. But it was mostly because I went in with too high expectations. Don't make the same mistake.
Overall 6/10
All in all, A.Z has a lot of good ideas, but aims too high and fails miserably. Can still be quite enjoyable and I'd recommend you watch it. You'll probably like it more than me.
RyugaHellsing
In a Nutshell: Aldnoah.Zero holds a very special place in my heart, it really does. How one anime can so comprehensively screw up in every department, that actually matters, is beyond me. It is a feat not even the great Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate was able to achieve. So unmitigated is this disaster that I think its required viewing for anyone interested in knowing how NOT to write an anime. Everyone else would probably be better off watching boku no pico. The Review: Aldnoah chronicles a war that breaks out over the attempted assassination of the Martian princess, Asseylum, who was on a diplomatic mission to improverelations between the Terrans and the Martians. Tensions between the two factions had apparently been escalating ever since the last war, which purportedly took place 15 years prior the series. This is all the information we get before the anime becomes a tedious string of action sequences, interlaced with uninteresting conversations and nearly useless infodump sections. As a result, we learn barely anything about the political and economic conditions surrounding the conflict. But hey, who gives a damn if the plot is paper thin and has holes the size of Jupiter, as long as there are you have badass explosions, and a cast of high school students to boot!
The anime focuses on a handful of characters at the expense of all other aspects of the so-called war. So you would think the writers would put at least SOME effort into developing them, right? Heh, WRONG! In fact, Aldnoah has plot devices instead of 'characters.'The biggest problem with the cast is undoubtedly its size. There are simply way too many characters for a 12 episode show to handle properly. As a direct result, most of them end up being extras with no personalities whatsoever. Strangely enough, the 'main' characters don't fair any better. Inaho, the protagonist of this trainwreck, is the most lifeless individual I have seen to date. If he were to be replaced by one of the mechs, you would've have a really hard time telling the difference. This is helped by the fact that the apathetic idiot sounds as if he were voiced by a text-to-speech software. for someone labelled as the protagonist, Inaho doesn't really do much besides delivering exposition during battles. He doesn't even get into a relationship for god's sake! Even the most generic ecchi anime has a lead more human than this bag of bones.
The Martian side of things is even worse, believe it or not, when it comes to the character department. This entire faction seems to be comprised of disagreeable individuals, who are bent on starting a war with the Terrans. Moe Mars princess, (Asseylum) and Slaine, the Terran who was 'saved' by her, are apparently the only people who have a conscience. Asseylum is clearly the more annoying of the two. The anime tries to portray her as a pacifist, an angel among demons, if you will. This probably could've worked if the writers had bestowed her with an appropriate back story. But as it stands, she's a walking, talking, collection of cliches. Given the princess' fetish for Terrans, I fully expected a relationship to blossom between her and Slaine. But the guy is busy with plot device duties throughout the series, you see. His sole purpose seems to be accentuating the inhumane nature of the Martian gentry, by being repeatedly beaten and tortured. You actually feel sorry for him until you realize it's just too contrived to take seriously. The very notion that he suffers all this abuse right under Asseylum's nose is preposterous. Why couldn't the idiot just go and tell her about his misery. There is absolutely no reason for the dim-witted Terran to suffer in silence. Oh wait, there is, SHOCK VALUE!
Aldnoah zero is yet another series which squandered its potential because of lazy writing. It literally offers NOTHING of value in terms of plot and characterization. Not even the flashy visuals and catchy soundtrack can save this one from my shit list.
