The war between the Terrans and the Vers Empire of Mars has ended, allowing humanity to blissfully enjoy their lives in a time of peace. Nineteen months later, however, the Vers princess makes a shocking public declaration: "the Terrans are a foolish race that covets resources, destroys nature, and are devoted to the pursuit of pleasure." And so, to protect their precious Earth, she calls upon her knights to take up arms, and the raging battle between the two civilizations reignites.
Slaine Troyard has found a place among the Martians, giving Earth a short respite from the war against the Vers Empire. However, a peaceful resolution seems inconceivable. The various people who fought desperately for survival in the past now find themselves in the midst of yet another bloody and chaotic conflict, one that will forever alter the fate of humankind.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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ModeratelyHuman
[THIS ENTIRE REVIEW WILL CONTAIN HEAVY SPOILERS FOR WHAT LITTLE PLOT THIS ANIME HAS] PLOT 1/10 The ending of season 1 was quite unexpected. It was a great cliffhanger that made everyone speculate how the story would continue after 4 of the most pivotal characters of the show seemingly get killed. Disappointingly, nothing happens. None of them died. Welcome to my review of AldNoOne Dies Season 2. Did I mention that none of the main characters die? Season 1 ends on an unexpected and ominous note, only for none of them die. Seriously. The only thing that dies is the plot, and this review will be mymorbid attempt at describing the dead carcass that is "the plot" as I poke it with a stick.
Basically, season 2 starts off with the princess stuck in a comatose state for a long period of time after Slaine forces Count Sassy-bum to keep her alive. Slaine becomes an angsty asshole and obtains a position of power within the Vers empire after murdering Count Sauce-bomb by 360 no-scoping him with timey wimey powers and succeeding him as count. Then he has where-the-fuck-did-she-come-from Princess Asseylum v2.0 marry him into royalty so he can unify the Vers empire and start a full scale war against earth for no clearly understandable or reasonable goal. From what I understand he does it to "protect the princess". Which makes absolutely no fucking sense because now that he is the fucking king of the fucking Vers Empire he already fucking has the needed political fucking power and support to fucking stop anyone else from fucking stealing his fucking girl. The fucking princess is already fucking fine, not to fucking mention everyone doesn't even fucking know that the fucking princess is actually in a fucking coma and that she is being fucking impersonated by her fucking sister. Meaning that any attempted assassination wouldn't fucking work because they would be fucking killing the fucking body double. YOU KNOW, LIKE IN THE VERY FIRST EPISODE OF THE FUCKING SHOW ALL THE FUCKING WAY BACK IN SEASON FUCKING ONE, FOR EXAMPLE. JESUS TAP DANCING CHRIST. Not to mention war goes against EVERYTHING THE PRINCESS STANDS FOR. WHAT THE FUCK SLAINE, THIS IS NOT HOW YOU GET A GIRL TO LIKE YOU. YOU ABSOLUTE RETARD.
I guess his actions can be rationalized a bit from the perspective of Slaine as the king of the Vers Empire, and not from the perspective of Slaine as the desperate, sex-starved virgin he is, since what he is doing could be seen as a political ploy to obtain more support amongst the other orbital knights and other members of nobility, who are unanimously pro-war. (Which he doesn't need.) And on top of that it will cause the Vers empire to become a better place free from an oppressive class system and widespread poverty among the working class that is caused by a lack of natural resources. (Which could be solved diplomatically through trading.) (Or stealing it without the genocide.) (Which would make him unanimously supported by the working class even if some of the nobles still don't like him, lessening the threat of their influence and cementing his legitimacy as king.) (Which again, doesn't matter because he already has all the political support he needs.) But really now... He doesn't care too much about any of that. He just in this for the PU$$Y. (SPOILER: HE DOESN'T GET ANY)
The real princess eventually wakes up, then plot hole after plot hole she finds out what Slaine is doing and manages to escape with Inaho's help. Princess Ass-pump marries some random dude named Count Cocaine and takes over rule of the Empire. Then Slaine gets wrecked. They use him as a scapegoat to blame the entire war on. The entirety of earth apparently completely forgives Princess Ass-plumber after her impostor shit talks everyone and their mother with obscene levels of hate and Aryan supremacy. Apparently decades of indoctrination, hatred, prejudice, racism, poverty, systematic classism, and human greed disappeared just like that. The war ends. Earth and Mars hold hands and circle jerk over each other in a new golden age of peace and prosperity. Happy happy fine and dandy. Wouldn't it be nice if actual conflicts in the real world could be solved so easily? Just blame every little problem on one person. Then kill him. Poof. Problems solved just like that. (Does this remind you of a certain other mecha anime? *cough cough*)
"Let justice be done, though the heavens fall." The motto of the show clearly represents Princess Asseylum's goal of peace no matter the cost. It really shows just how spoiled and unrealistic her standards are. Princess Ass-plum seriously used her love of birds as a valid reason to possibly jeopardize the long term unity and betterment of her entire empire. Don't get me wrong, war is bad. But a leader should realize when war is the best and most realistic option for her people. Good thing the shit writing this show has kicks in and everything somehow turns out alright anyways, no one suffers from the consequences of their actions except for Slaine.
If you really simplify it. The entire plot of season 2 is basically a war caused by a mans quest to seduce a woman through the romantic gift of genocide; and predictably, hilariously, painfully, and stupidly enough- it completely backfires. He gets friend zoned and gets sent to prison for the rest of his life. She'd rather enter an arranged marriage with a man she has never met before than be with you. How does that feel, you fucking cuck? Holy shit, someone give this a man a medal for the worst rejection in history.
Seriously that's the entire plot. Yup. The end. Aren't you fucking glad you watched this show?
ARTWORK 7/10
The general art style is pretty good, and the characters are drawn very well with a distinctive style. One of the strongest points of this show is aesthetic originality, even though sometimes "originality" becomes synonymous with "bad writing", as in, it's original how bad the writing is. Martian kataphrakts are pretty cool looking, despite just how bad the CGI in this show is. Their designs are strange, exotic, and unique, but at the same time completely absurd. For some reason the orbital knights care more about making flashy and cool kataphrakts over actually effective weapons. You would think that a robot with access to seemingly unlimited energy would make use of all of the ridiculously overpowered technology they have, but every single kataphrakt has some gigantic weakness that is so obviously intentionally added. For some reason, a robot that has in indestructible force field has no weapons on it besides some over-sized fists, and despite the fact that it has an indestructible force field, it is covered in thick plates of armor that makes the thing look like the girl from Willy Wonka that turns into a giant blueberry. For some reason, a mech attacks by shooting hilariously ineffective, re-attachable, remote controlled ROCKET ARMS at the enemy when a while ago they showed this dude shooting rapid fire mega death lasers everywhere. It just simply makes no sense.
That's how it works kids. If you aren't good enough at writing to make a character look brilliantly smart, just make all the bad guys so incompetently stupid the hero look better in contrast.
SOUND 8/10
The music was composed by none other than Hiroyuki Sawano, so as expected, it is quite good. Too bad they keep on replaying the same fucking song over and over again for every single god damn fight scene that you begin to hate the song. Good music is important, but making sure the music is used in a timely and appropriate manner is also important. This show succeeds in the former part, but fails in the latter.
Here comes the juicy part. CHARACTER.
2/10 Inaho: Absolutely no character development. Though it wouldn't be fair to expect character development from him. Inaho is literally God. Perfection personified into a Japanese school boy. He cannot further develop because he is already perfect. Getting shot in the head doesn't change that. He is still perfect. He is still an emotionless machine. The fact that he is now partially a cyborg doesn't help with that analogy either. He saves the day every single god damn time like he always does except now he does literally everything to the point where basically 60% of the entire show just focuses on circlejerking over how awesome he is. The writers made this man an autistic savant because they simply aren't smart enough to write an intelligent character well, and clearly even with that the job was still difficult for them. Because in season 2 they had to up the ante and make him even more overpowered than he already was so they can shoehorn more shitty excuses as to how he completely defeats the Vers Empire yet again by blessing him with some unreasonably overpowered god eye that can see everything. That dumb little eye can do literally anything. Like check out Inko's BMI for example. Inaho uses his eye to calculate Inko's weight so he can make fun of her. What the fuck dude? Asshole. And he knows he can get away with it since Inko wants his D for some reason. Why ya got to play a girl like that man? And to top it all off, the writers also gave him Aldnoah powers all willy-nilly to act as a convenient plot device to reactivate the Deucalion. How? Through oral transfer of royal blood and saliva. HAHA WHAT THE FUCK. In other words. This all powerful source of unlimited energy is pretty much some alien STD Ass-plump gave to Inaho.
9/10 Inaho's robot eye: A new character. Yes. The eye has its own character. Yes. THE EYE GETS MORE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT THAN INAHO HIMSELF. At first the eye is nothing but a tool, but then it starts taking over parts of Inaho's brain and becomes its own thinking entity. It even starts chatting up the princess while Inaho was unconscious. Look at that development. Oh yea. Such character. Inaho's eye x Asseylum is my OTP.
1/10 Slaine: Is basically the only character that gets any "development", which means jack shit because he just continually makes the most retarded nonsensical decisions a sane individual wouldn't ever consider. Honestly, calling it "character development" is a little too generous in the first place since his character is completely off the charts inconsistent. He doesn't really do anything that can be considered normal human responses. His level of intelligence and decision making is all over the place. His goals incomprehensible, and the reason behind this is because the writers just continuously use him as a cheap plot device to add drama and conflict to the story instead of treating him like how a reasonable or sane human being would act. Inaho and Slaine are both foils to each other in this regard. Slaine advances the story by adding unnecessary conflict to it through irrational decision making. And Inaho advances the story by solving the stupid problems Slaine causes with his own stupidly written god-like abilities. In the end, Slaine fails horribly due to his ridiculous levels of incompetency. Then the writers pretentiously rip off Monster by making Slaine pull off some bullshit Johan Liebert crap.
1/10 Princess Ass-lump: She doesn't change character either. Still this overly happy and naive dumb bimbo that can barely act like a responsible leader. She forces her childish idealistic views on everyone regardless of the effect it might have on her people. She tried to man up once and points a gun at Slaine and threatens him. Then he casually walks over and just takes the gun. AHAHA. Seriously. She is so worthless. Did I mention she likes birds? She likes birds. Apparently more than the possible long term prosperity of not only her Empire, but the entirety of humanity as well. Amazing judgment of importance there.
4/10 Princess Ass-lump v2.0: Yea the second princess with the weird hair. I forgot her name. Where the fuck did she even come from? She just appears suddenly as a new character. Basically she pretends to be Asseylum and slanders earth with her space Nazi propaganda. She does it because she has some extremely creepy as fuck obsession with Slaine. She is just weird.
10/10 Count Crouton or something. IDK it's hard to spell. Best character in the entire show. Absolute chad. Some new guy that shows up for like 10 minutes of screen time. Manages to NTR the princess away from Inaho and Slaine like immediately. What a badass.
5/10 Harklight. Gets seduced by Slaine's bishounen powers. I forgot whether or not he dies trying to get senpai to notice him. I don't really care.
5/10 Inko. Arguably the most likable girl in the show. Acts all cutesy and compassionate with Inaho and worries about him. Daww so cute amirite? Kind of I guess... Gets pushed away and assigned as Inaho's side bitch. She gets shot at 10 more times than any of the other characters but she always survives. Absolutely bullshit levels of plot armor. For some reason, every single kataphrakt instantly explodes into a million pieces of shitty pixelated CGI the moment it gets touched but nothing like that ever happens with Inko. But I guess they have to keep her alive as a romantic interest for Inaho, because it's not a true mech anime without poorly integrated love triangles am I right?
4/10 Female Inaho. Yuki Kaizuka, the bastard love child prototype that made way for the masterpiece of perfection that is her brother Inaho Kaizuka. Knowing just how hopelessly inferior she is to her perfect brother she tries to mimic her brothers robot like persona by getting a robotic arm to assist her broken one. But fails miserably at acting utterly emotionless like her brother does. As well as being perfect in every way possible like him. Seriously Yuki its not that hard to be a completely flawless human being. Way to break character, you fucking poser. She acts all lovey dovey over Inaho but comes off a bit more bitchy and possessive than Inko does when she tries to stop him from saving the damn world out of fear for his safety. At least wanting your brother to live is a slightly better excuse than liking birds.
All of the other characters basically get sidelined and don't do anything or have anything worthwhile to say about them. 0/10.
ENJOYMENT 5/10
The action was enjoyable enough. The only saving grace was the okay action. (And seeing Slaine's beautiful face marred with his salty tears at the end.) It follows a pretty cookie cutter formula of: Scary new Martian bad guy with fancy unique kataphrakt appears. It rains pain down, destroying a bunch of faceless Terran mooks, as well as miraculously damaging but never killing any of the minor characters that happen to be fighting. Then Inaho comes and saves the day with his tactical and scientific brilliance as his signature battle theme plays for the umpteenth time. Rinse and repeat. Some of the battles have some interesting strategies and events, but it's all methodically predictable. So if for some reason you are reading this review without even starting the show I wouldn't recommend this if you aren't a huge fan of action and mech anime.
If you have already watched season 1, I wouldn't really recommend you to either continue or discontinue the show, that's up to whether or not you are one of those masochists that don't drop any shows they started.
Well that concludes my review. Now if you excuse me I'm going to see what kind of horrific yaoi fanfiction fujoshis are making between Inaho and Slaine.
Stark700
A mecha show like Aldnoah Zero isn’t without controversy. They say controversy creates attention, and honestly, it’s a bit of an understatement with this show. From the way the first season concluded, one could not help but wonder how they will craft the contents for the sequel. It should be no surprise that many viewers will wonder the fate of our main protagonists (such as Inaho and Asseylum), the state of the war, and what’s in stored for Slaine. However, what blasts off this season is nothing short but predictable cliché writing, a stack of weakly balanced characters, and in general a disappointment that doesn’tseem to be able to correct itself from what season 1 got started on.
Like the first season, the sequel begins directly from where the season 1’s events left off except with a time skip. Characters still look the same but some things have changed. Included with these include the absence of Asseylum on Earth. Then, there’s also Slaine who has now devoted himself entirely to the Martians. And in a state of war, Aldnoah Zero Season 2 seems to continuously shove down the audience’s throats of the personal struggles of certain characters. Don’t get me wrong though. I like how the show expresses its interest to show how our main characters’ lives are going in season 2. The problem I find is how it constantly recycles the same ideas over and over again. In general, it fails to ensnare a viewer’s interest with the frequent ideology clashes. Less emphasis is put on the development of our characters but instead showing them their roles with a lot of badly stitched tropes. Furthermore, season 2 seems to highlight on even more problems with plot holes and writing for certain supporting characters. Logic itself also makes the audience question sometimes if the show knows what it’s doing.
For our main characters, most of them play their roles in the war. Although many characters has certain objectives, it’s clear that the show has a weakness with its character development. Only on occasions do certain side characters shine in this second season. This is because the sequel seems to emphasize on building up the story with various interconnected events. However, the grim reality is that it’s predictable down to the earth and nothing really stands out besides our main characters. Season 2 also seems to have forgotten some of the major supporting characters on their development. (Rayet anyone? Calm?) In short, it’s neglecting their chance to shine and seems to constantly try to shove down the main characters down our throats. New character such as Harklight and Lemrina doesn’t gain any strong characterization at all. For instance, Harklight seems to play the sort of devoted servant for his “master”, Slaine. On the other hand, Lemrina is has a borderline obsession with him. It’s kind odd really. The sequel almost seems to devote its entirety on Slaine’s ambitions and ultimatum. Some of the diverting romance sub-plot is hardly anything interesting with the lack of interest between Slaine and certain characters. In general, it’s messy with its characters.
However, I do have to give credit to certain characters that makes their name more known compared to the previous season. One such name is Mazuurek that viewers may have forgotten about. His role in this season is expanded and in fact, even interesting to see considering where his loyalty lies. This seems to be a sharp contrast with other Martians who holds their close minds about pursuing peace. Instead of conquest, Mazuurek is devoted to Asseylum and believes her to be alive. So what does the man do? Take the risk and find her. Unlike the rest of the Martians who are too busy trying to stack up body counts or flexing their mecha biceps, the show offers a more thrilling insight on his mission. Unfortunately, this is still mostly overshadowed by our main character/antagonist Slaine. Season 2 really tries to show what he is capable of and his ambitions but it’s not working. His emotions gets the better of him and even some of the people that trusts him deeply now have turned against him. It’s hard to feel sorry for him because his own actions previously caused these consequences. And not to mention, his rivalry with a certain guy he dubbed ‘Orange’ isn’t going to forgive him.
Although not overbearing, some good portions of the show concentrates on action. However, it still remains the style it portrays with its gimmicky fighting. In particular, certain mecha now has ability to clone themselves, use piercing threads to slice and dice, or even make frost out of their enemies. Technology seems to have unlimited boundaries in the series as we even see the conscious of an electronic eye take hold of a person’s mentality. As fascinating as this all sounds, there’s really not much to get hold with these creative ideas. No matter how outrageous some of these ideas gets, the end result is almost always the same. The familiar strategies used through teamwork or taking a chance by calculations. Season 1 did that and the sequel doesn’t really express itself any differently. The modus operandi seems to be that wherever battles happen, the result is almost predictable. Certain build ups and death flags are also become more like false advertisements as well. Talk about disappointment.
On the more technical side, I do give praise to some of the artistic direction the sequel handles itself. Action is fluid and the coordination is attractive. Even some of the new style of the music can be appealing when combined with the intense elements of sci-fi warfare. The OP and ED songs also holds some degree of symbolism along with a few recapping of the first season. Character voice mannerism on most parts remains solid and character expressions show credibility with the events of the sequel. However, it can be cringe worthy to hear some of the stereotypical emotional scenarios because honestly, it’s all over the place.
In retrospect, Aldnoah Zero Season 2 is a slick and empty hollow shell of its prequel. Many events are predictable with a lesser degree on character building but more so on their grand roles. And to be honest, it’s annoying to see the same repetitive angles used over and over. At times, it even looks fake with a wrestling-like drama with faces and heels. It’s not only that but the story itself also introduced certain characters out of nowhere. While certain characters do get more emphasis compared to the first season, some of the previously established characters seems to lack focus on-screen. Instead, we are constantly being fed by Slaine and his preposterous ambitions that can be ridiculous dull. I can’t say for a fact that the sequel is complete utter trash though as it is mildly interesting to watch the development of the Vers/Earths War. It’s somewhat thrilling to see which side will win in the end and whether or not certain characters will meet their endgame goals. But for now, season 2 doesn’t get any better. Not by a damn long shot.
ZephSilver
-This review will contain spoilers of season one as it relates to season two- There's something extraordinary about trainwreck titles. Its ability to draw in viewers like moths to a flame, watching as the work fold in on itself, seemingly out of breath from the layers of its incompetence. The likes of which forming something like a toxic gas that stifles every bit of its production. Good ideas immediately dying off from screenplay pesticide, hovering over everything like a merchant of death and decay. You see, there's a kind of beauty to it all. The way everything topples over like a game of Jenga, with eachpiece representing a bad aspect of the overall project. The act of "being bad" in itself isn't due to a lack of inherently good attributes, but the fact that what little good is there can't survive because the ground it's growing out of is a complete landfill. When your base foundation is toxic, the only thing left to do is watch creativity wither and die, as it foolishly tries to eke out a meager existence in a place not meant for its type of inhabitants.
A bad show making a bad continuation is one thing, but seeing an average one that maintained a steady course of passable grade content, effectively take a kamikaze nosedive into an endless sea of stupor—now that's when things really get interesting. Vanilla content turned into a chocolate turd with sprinkles. Aldnoah.Zero 2nd Season is a serving of just that. A vaudevillian display of secreted nonsense, all standing out for the wrong reasons.
So where do we start with this one? It seems like a reach out in any direction to describe what went wrong would seemingly send you spiraling down a bottomless pit. Proceeding with caution isn't much of an option when this follow-up has the logistical density of walking on eggshells. I guess we could start by addressing the "story and characters," or whatever chicken scratch this anime is attempting to pass off as such. And since I seem to be running with the poultry metaphors, we'll touch bases with our egg connoisseur and master tactician first, Inaho. This season sees our Gary Stu coming out of his shell, abandoning his brick wall personality to emote occasionally, almost like he's a "character" or something... well, almost. Where he served as a bodysuit for the audiences to roam about the world before, now he's effectively turned the autopilot off and began doing things for himself. More specifically, he's given an end goal to motivate his actions. Where the problem in this season lies is in what he's given to obtain this end goal, as the screenplay bends over backward to hand him any and all tools necessary to succeed.
Where the first season was grafting its existence onto the template of Gundam as its skeleton, this season travels off the beaten path to problematic results. The ability of "Aldnoah" is no longer treated as a guarded inheritance by selected users, as now its power can be gained through a trading system. This system in question was possibly the worst written transferring mechanic to debut in 2015—that being a kiss. No, that wasn't a joke, the second season of A.Z quite literally made Inaho an Aldnoah user byways of a fucking kiss. This is something other stories would use as a form of a joke, as is the case with High School DxD's "Boosted Gear," which is powered by boners, being done as a sexual innuendo to parody shounen content. But that's a comedy, A.Z isn't. And so this season can be seen as a joke of itself without an inkling of self-acknowledgment of that fact.
But it doesn't stop there, as egghead Inaho is also granted another major advantage. This time diving more into the realm of 80s cinema cheese.
If you're reading this, I'm going to assume you've already watched season one, and if not, I will have to address the events of the finale to help explain the origin of Inaho's next hackneyed powerup. Season one's finale was concluded by a big shootout involving all of our key players up to that point. A shootout that saw Saazbaum and Asseylum gunned down by Slaine. This included Inaho, who received a gunshot wound to the head. Which, by the way, is a wound with a 5% survival rate, not even accounting for the smaller 3% chance of maintaining a good quality of life after recovery. Being the Gary Stu that he is, Inaho pulls through, seemingly getting rewarded a cybernetic eye for his troubles, which grants him an even greater tactical advantage. Now he can integrate his knowledge base with access to an infinite pool of information via the internet from his eye implant. He becomes part Terminator, part egg lover, and 100% HAX; why do these circumstances make him act more human as a result is beyond my comprehension (and the scriptwriters, for that matter). I guess it took getting shot in the head and being part cyborg before Inaho could act less robotic; on a meta-level, there's a bit of irony in there worth exploring, but I'll leave you to indulge in that on your own time. For now, we have more nonsense to explore.
For one, The yin to Inaho's yang, Slaine, has finally gone "full retard," and as the wise words of Kirk Lazarus from Tropic Thunder once said: "Everybody knows you never go full retard." After his failure to kill the men that have been the ire of his existence—despite putting a hole through the skull of one and firing off a dozen shots into the body of the other—Slaine decides to help out Saazbaum "cuz reasons." Entrusting his life in his hands, Slaine vows to serve under Saazbaum ranks for the final battle to come. You know, the "normal" thing to do after you empty a clip into someone with murderous rage. At this point, to say Slaine is a poorly-written character would be a gross understatement. His personality from scene to scene is a complete coin toss. From pragmatic at one moment to pure lunacy by the next, there's really no predicting what the screenplay has in store for him. The only guarantee given is consistent inconsistency; the ultimate oxymoron made into human form.
Bringing these two sides of the autistic-character spectrum together is the ongoing war that reaches its final chapter. One that takes towards the heavens, as the earthlings and people of Vers turn the leftover remnants of the Moon into their Battle of Gettysburg. This was brought to life in shitty fashion, as it seemed that the people responsible for the post-production coverup magic in season one has finally succumbed to the same level of complacency plaguing the rest of the staffing. Likely due to the new battle locations not allowing for the use of inclement weather and structural landmarks to hide the issues, the mech suits are now left naked in the vacuum of space. Their gross textures, impersonal designs, and robust movement placed one center-stage, as they're sent jettisoning awkwardly across the sky. It's a real visual eyesore, made even worse with the stark backdrop hanging in the background of a majority of the shots. Clunky pieces of CGI just bumping ugly in the open emptiness of space that surrounds it.
This wouldn't be so bothersome had everything else been done to a bare minimum, but surprisingly enough, the character models and sparsely used landmarks were done with a semblance of quality control behind it. By contrast, the mechs just stick out even further. It's a distracting mix of artificiality and decent content. Of course, Hiroyuki Sawano does what Hiroyuki Sawano does best, making the soundtrack the real star attraction amidst all the mismanaged production issues. Other than that, this 2nd season leaves very little to be desired, serving better as a drinking game for every time the show shelled out a new asspull than it does a "decent" continuation.
Even if the first season was a ripoff, it was, at the very least, a ripoff of something good. Season two isn't that. There's nothing to sugar coat here; this was a complete disaster. Very few shows have failed to the degree in which this one does. It's almost impressive just how little they manage to get right. But perhaps the greatest irony is that this season failed not because it was an off-brand like its first season but because it actually tried to do something different for once. It took a leap of faith only to be greeted by the ground below, and while that would be funny in most scenarios, here, it's nothing short of embarrassing.
swirrlix
With how much I loved season one, I was so excited for season 2 to start. Please, I'm begging you, do not watch season two. Stop at episode 12 of season one. Season two will ruin the entire experience for you. No matter how much you love season one, don't do it. Just don't. Anyway, on to the review: STORY: Basically, they take the entire ending of season one, take everything back, and then proceed to stop all over the plot and tear it apart, piece by piece. It's a mess. I'm honestly so upset with hoe bad this was. ART: It's almost like they forgot how todraw their own characters. Inaho looks off the entire time, Asseylum looks like a baby whale when she's sad, Slaine doesn't look nearly as good as he did in season one, I could go on. I loved the art of season one. This was a mess, none of the characters ever looked quite right, and frankly the fight scenes were also boring to watch and were always anticlimactic. Oh, and the second ending song, which plays for episode 11, looks like it's drawn by a two year old
SOUND:
The soundtrack is still amazing. Luckily that didn't change between season one and two. same great songs, and some great new songs. By all means, download the season two songs, but don't watch the show, please.
CHARACTER:
Basically they took all character development and recked it. the first two episodes of the season makes it seem like Inaho is gonna be better in this season. The first two episodes lie to you.
OVERALL:
I absoluetly LOVED season one. To the point where I had it listed as my number one favorite anime, and I was constantly making gifs of it. Second season makes me ashamed to like season one. I vote that we delete this season from existence, pretend episode 12 of season one is where Aldnoah.Zero really ends, and move on from there. on a final note: PLEASE DO NOT WATCH THIS SEASON, EVEN IF IT'S JUST AS A JOKE BECAUSE YOU KNOW HOW BAD IT'S GONNA BE. AVOID AT ALL COSTS. IT WILL DISAPPOINT YOU. DO NOT DO IT.
Raiye
"BAM!" "BAM!" "BAM!!!". This was how season 1 ended. I was rather thrilled by the sudden plot shift, and dearly looked forward to season 2. Oh how wrong I was back then. Story: 1/10 The very first episode of season two should have been a warning to me NOT to continue watching. It totally invalidated what season 1 had tried to build up(in the last episode). There was no major plot progression at all. Majority of the episodes followed this simple recipe: 1)Enemy(Martians) attacks 2)Non-Inaho personnels try to fight Martians 3)Martians engage their special weapon 3)Non-Inaho personnels struggle 4)Inaho to the rescue! 5)Enemy Martians get defeatedby Inaho
It then spirals to meaningless battles between The Deucalion and The Martians. There was no clear motive by Slaine, the antagonist. I wouldn't even call him an antagonist. People were just fighting in the series to waste screen time. They could have better spent that time detailing about Dr Troyard and the history of Aldnoah. Sadly, they did not. To be honest, there was no story whatsoever.
Art: 3/10
The mechas and their animation just did not fit the space background. It felt out of place. The facial expressions of Slaine were, at times, poorly drawn. Asseylum sometimes appear to look somewhat like a whale. Inaho's face looked derpish too during certain scenes. This season's art was sorely inconsistent, which was rather surprising since season 1 had a rather decent art.
Sound: 8/10
I'm sorry but sound alone cannot save a series. Sawano Hiroyuki should not have wasted his talent on a show like this. The opening to the second series was well done. It has this rock-ballad feel to it which is just HNNNG. In fact, I felt that this season's opening was better than that of S1(by Kalafina). The OSTs were reused from S1 but everytime they came on I just realized why I continued ploughing through this series week after week.
Character: 1/10
Huh? What character?
INAHO appealed to me at first because I thought he had some backstory to him that gave rise to his stoic mindset. I was wrong yet again. He is basically the solution to every problem. He gained a power-up too this season which made him even more God-like, less sensitive, and more emotionless. I can't say much about him because there isn't exactly anything else to say.
SLAINE was my favourite. Was. Then he became a confused maniac - he suddenly wanted to destroy Earth for no plausible reason. While Slaine may be suffering, watching Slaine in season 2 act like a complete fool gave me more suffering. However, he was the most fleshed out character of the entire series - that I can say for sure. His dedication to Asseylum, his determination to rise up the ranks, and his cunningness pleasantly surprised me at times.
ASSEYLUM. Nope I'm not gonna waste my time talking about a character who barely made a difference in S2(Some may argue that she did something in the last episode, but did the Orbital Knights listen to her?)
LEMIRA. I actually don't know what happened to her after the 'finale'. She was your typical jealous girl character who wants to get into the pants of a guy that adores her sister.
I HAVE TO TALK ABOUT MARITO. He is the most pretentious character I have ever come across in any form of entertainment. "OHNO I HAVE HAD EMOTIONAL TRAUMA FROM MY PAST WAR(which wasn't even explained properly); I DRINK TO EASE MY PAIN; I CANT KILL AN ENEMY". He wins the title of most pretentious character. Period. A pity that he is voiced by my favourite seiyuu who also voices Hijikata(mayonnaise).
Enjoyment: 2/10
I only enjoyed two and a half things from this series: the music, me being able to laugh at the ridiculousness of this series, and the last 1/2 goes to Slaine. If you have read till here(thanks for reading btw), do yourself and I a favour by skipping this season. Season 1 was all right. Just.skip.this.season. If you want mecha anime, there are better ones out there. (TTGL, E7, CG, Gundam Unicorn, FCLC)
Overall: 2/10
+2 points for music. I have stated earlier that music alone cannot save a series. You can have the best composer in the anime industry on your production team, but if your story has no substance, your characters no proper development, and your art no consistency, it is impossible for your anime to be worth watching at all.
Skrid-Crevasse
Witnessed a lot of bad reviews so it's high time to introduce something different - positive review to this show. ============================================== ~PLOT SYNOPSIS~ ---------------------------------------------------- Season 1 ---------------------------------------------------- Story revolves around the difficulty of what happens when humanity, hypothetically in the future, is split up into two categories:- humans who inhabited the Earth, known as Terrans
- humans who migrated to Mars and settled at the barren planet (Mars), known as Martians
The humans who migrated to Mars, known as Martians, settled in the barren planet for a long span of time and eventually, the inhabitants established their own government system that portrays their independence from those governing bodies that control the Earth. As the generation that migrated to Mars perished and the forthcoming Martian generations soon gained a wrong notion that they're solely different from their Terran counterparts just because they've inhabited a different planet, the notion that they're ancestors used to inhabit Earth fades, as time passed by.
Fast forward to the future, Martians soon faced scarce resources as the barren planet gets populated. Due to the lack of bounty and infertility of the land of Mars, the Martians decided to perform a coup d'etat (intentionally used this term since the Martians' ancestors used to inhabit Earth) in order to obtain Earth resources. Not before long, due to the Martians' ulterior motive, the hostilities started in order to gain what they've been longing for.
But in order to do that, the Martians need a stronger war trigger, a trigger that will supplement the reason as to why they need to invade the Terran's inhabited planet and loot. And so, an assassination attempt to the Martian Princess was framed/conspired by a Martian knight (not going to be named to prevent spoilers) in order to do just that.
By making it look as if the Terrans planned to assassinate the Martian emperor's daughter, the Martian knight managed to persuade the nation of Mars migrants to ensue an all-out war.
(This is all done just for the sake of the intent of garnering Earth resources as well as expanding their dominion.)
The war breakout caused many casualties on the Terran force's side as they're overpowered by Martians through the means of higher spec mechas that makes use of a powerful energy source that can solely be derived on Mars - Aldnoah. (hence the origin of the anime's name is deduced)
When all hope seems lost and Terrans seems to be on the brink of absolute annihilation due to the unfathomable difference in military power, whether it'd be mecha (known in the show as Kataphrakts) or warhead strength,
hope sheds light as a Terran prodigy spearheaded a movement in order to prevent the Martians' goal from taking into full swing.
The Terran prodigy, named Inaho, prevented the colonization not by brute force, but by sheer intellect; this is achieved through the means of strategic and tactical style of warfare - exploiting the enemies' flaws, flaws that are somewhat unperceivable to a regular human's analysis and plans that are inconceivable.
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Season 2
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Following the war ignited by the Martian knight, the Terran prodigy, Inaho, after a near-death experience in Season 1, managed to survive the conflicts and became stronger than ever, intellectually speaking, in Season 2
via cybernetic implant which was brought forth by war repercussions. On top of that, Inaho gained Martian accomplices,who just like him and other Terrans, wanted to make peace and form a pact/treaty.
Generally speaking however, most Martians, including the emperor of the Martians himself, opposed this idea and hence, war continued to resonate.
Due to the Martians' immense military powers, conceit-driven, they have no intention of giving in. The same goes for the Terrans, whose trump card is Inaho who comes up with ridiculous plans with his strategic/tactical prowess.
To summarize Season 2 in a nutshell, the continuation of the war and the conclusion of the hostilities is portrayed in the 2nd Season.
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~MORALE OF STORY~
Ever heard of the terms Rayleigh's Scattering, Leidenfrost Effect, Meissner Effect or Quantum Teleportation?
Obviously, those who have physics background would know pretty much some, if not, all of these. But for a regular person, that won't be the case.
And so, here comes the anime called 'Aldnoah' which incorporates these scientific jargons and exposes viewers to the realm of science.
Not only are you watching anime, but as the anime progresses, the creators of Aldnoah explains to you why that's happening, why that didn't happen, what's the scientific explanation behind it and whatnots.
Thereby, by the end of the show, the viewers gains more knowledge in the aspect of science.
The real life scientific terminologies aforementioned are embedded and is used as basis in the creation of this show.
Magnificently, if you think of all the animes one has watched over the course of his/her lifetime, there's only a handful, if not none, has encountered an anime which adheres to technicalities as in-depth as Aldnoah.
Also, general knowledge is taught there indirectly via the mecha battles and conversations amongst the characters.
(ex: negating smoke screens via electricity as part of the plan to counter the enemy forces' smoke screen. Scientific reasoning behind it?
The phenomenon occurs as colloids are absorbed by ions which in turn...ah forget it.
Watch the anime and you'll learn more of such things.)
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~ART~
It's safe to assume, or declare to be more precise, that Aldnoah has reached the pinnacle when it comes to
graphics. When one might ask me, "How does modern anime graphics look like?" I'll simply answer,
"Watch Aldnoah and you'll know."
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~CRITICISMS~
All in all, it was definitely a worthwhile show to watch. I'm bothered though, about the amount of negative reviews the show's
receiving.
Nevertheless, frankly speaking, I was expecting this since I know for a fact that Aldnoah goes in-depth; not a lot of animes have that approach and hence, viewers are not used to it and tend to get annoyed by it to the extent
that they started hating the show and instead of being straightforward and confess that they don't understand much of the show due to the adherence of the show to scientific technicalities,viewers have the tendency make
unnecessary excuses (unnecesary whining, to be more precise), specifically, stating that the plot's cliche, apparently.
There's a lot more complaints but I'm too dismayed to read them, all the more, list those things in my review.
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~COMPLIMENTS~
Up next, I'll discuss my 'compliments' to this show after briefly discussing about the cause of criticisms.
Unlike some shows that includes unnecessary fillers, flashbacks, etc. Aldnoah doesn't have that trait.
Aldnoah utilizes every episode well, carefully selecting appropriate moments at which a particular flashback
is necessary. Furthermore, the pace is wonderfully decided, upon realizing that every episode ends at a well-timed
cliffhanger. And finally, Aldnoah doesn't need a deus ex machina to make the protagonist prevail over the antagonists. (unless being a genius tactician is not considered a deus ex machina, my argument crumbles apart)
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~MUSIC~
One of the key triggers for me to give this anime a try is because of the 1st season's catchy opening song.
Judging by the melody of the opening and closing songs of both season 1 and 2, they're highly fancy. On the aspect of OST (background music), one thing that must be made known is that OSTs are incorporated to enhance a particular mood portrayed in a scene, whether it'd be action, depressing, joyful scene, etc.
However, I was too immersed on the technicalities embedded in the anime which resulted for me to become unaware of the OSTs, all in all; not to mention, OSTs are mood enhancers, so they're not meant to be noticed in the
first place. PS: Opening songs of both seasons are so melodically attractive, to the extent that the songs still constantly reverberate in my mind approximately a week after I finished watching the series.
==============================================
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~CONCLUSION~
If you take the fact aside that Mars cannot be inhabited due to its lack of bounty of oxygen in its atmosphere, then the show will be worth watching.
If you like a show that has a protagonist who takes advantage of the antagonists by outdoing the antagonists strategically, like Lelouch and Blank from the renowned animes 'Code Geass' and' No Game No Life' respectively, then I hereby announce that Aldnoah is a kind of show that you'll enjoy, inasmuch as I did.
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Fidelfc
Stunning first season,original production, amazing Music by Hiroyuki Sawano, boring second season and terrible ending. I could be talking about Guilty Crown, but unfortunately is Aldnoah Zero. After the end of season one, i thought "This can't be another guilty crown, right?" I was so wrong. The season two started really well, but don't be fooled, the story will progress to a point that you will finding yourself hating the characters you used to love and forgetting some of them because it only focus on the trio Inaho, Aseylum and Slaine. The end is weird, rushed and does not make any sense to me. (spoilersfrom here)
Although the end isn't what you could say "sad", it was one of the more unpleasant endings i ever saw, they focused so much in the main trio and at the end not a single one seemed happy nor sad, it was the "so so ending for everyone", Inaho is just Inaho, in love with Aseylum and keeping his nemesis alive by her wish, Slaine is "saved" by the wish of Aseylum, but this is the worst punishment for him, and Aseylum, who loved both Inaho and Slaine marry a random count (A pointless marriage, since it didn't really stop the war) that appeared in two episodes and is happy because earth is in peace now.
(Spoilers end here)
Unfortunately i'm in love with the soundtrack, so this is another anime that will be haunting me, every time i listen to it, i remember how unpleasant that second season was.
mercury1980
Thank you, Winter 2015 for producing another disappointing sequel. I enjoy it. STORY (3): The story continues where season 1 left off. The story involves the war between Earth & Martians. How will they solve their resolutions? I enjoyed season 1. It had fun characters and an excellent build-up. Unfortunately, just like Tokyo Ghoul season 2, this sequel suffers from tensionless fight scenes and boring characters. ART (4):The animation is nothing special.
SOUND (4):
The music is not memorable.
CHARACTER (3):
Oh boy? Where do I begin?
Inaho is so overpowered that he gets the job done easily. The rest of the cast members are relying heavily on Inaho all the time. Inaho barely shows any emotion, just like Edward Cullen. Inaho is just a wish-fulfilment character.
Slaine was an interesting character, he could be an anti-hero. If he was given a better material, he could have been a memorable villain. However, his character was handled terribly.
Asseylum Vers Allusia was useless all the time. She barely did anything. In the 1st season, she contributing something. However, in the second season, she become more useless. What are you writers doing? Give better roles to women. C'mon. First was SAO, then its Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei, and now this.
Rayet Areash, OMG. She is the most annoying character I have seen in my entire life. All she does is cry and moan all the time. She showed determination in the 1st season, however in the second season, she became more annoying that usual. If I thought Stephanie Dola was annoying, she is way worse than Stephanie Dola. At least Stephanie Dola didn't moan or cry all the time. I don't care if you say "Her parents are dead so that's why she acted like that". There are characters whose parents are dead, and they learn how to become determined to succeed. Example Shinji Ikari, he might be annoying however he showed some determination inside him.
The rest of the characters are bland.
CONCLUSION (3):
I am not going to waste my time talking about it because I have better things to do. I enjoyed the 1st season however, the 2nd season is a mistake to watch.
What ultimately makes this sequel worse than Tokyo Ghoul's sequel is the characters. At least the sequel of Tokyo Ghoul have characters that never annoyed me.
I have to give this anime a 3 out of 10.
gedata
Note: this review encompasses both seasons 1 and 2 of Aldnoah.Zero One thing as an anime fan I've never really been able to get into is the idea that a single name behind a project can generate hype. I think it's better to prioritize looking at the scenario, and the studio's track record first and foremost as opposed to getting excited because of the reputation of one individual. Of course that "one individual" in this case just so happens to be one of the most controversial writers in the business to date, Gen Urobuchi. I'm not really here to get into my personal stance on Urobuchiobviously, though If I was to be honest with you, I am for the most pretty indifferent to his output. So I wasn't necessarily excited to hear that this was his brainchild nor was it much of a cause of alarm to hear he jumped ship. Considering how the quality of Gargantia and the Psycho-Pass franchise suffered after he handed those off (and not to mention the fact that the guy who took his place was the same dude who brought us Boku no Pico AKA everyone's favorite meme recommendation) perhaps some serious red flags should've been raised. I'm sure you know where I'm going with this. After an OK start, the writing really unravels itself into complete oblivion in the most uninteresting way imaginable.
Another issue is that none of it's battles feels particularly weighty or meaningful in the long run. The show doesn't really manage to make up for that with sheer entertainment value since the skirmishes between the two factions feel very samey-samey and repetitious to the point where you can make a sort of drinking game out of it. A shot every time UFE (United Forces of Earth) soldiers shoots repeatedly to no avail at overpowered marauders from Mars and end up becoming death fodder. A shot for every time Inaho appears, analyzes the enemy and finds out their weakness just minutes into the battle and wins. A shot for every time the plot isn't impacted in any meaningful way and all named characters come out alive. A shot for...OK, I think I've made my point. What also doesn't help is that the battles somehow turn a strong Sawano OST and turn into a negative. The issue here is that the music selection is incredibly shallow and overstated. They literally play the same theme for every battle against each Martian onslaught, only swapping themes once after the season break and continuing to do the same afterward. This way the OST not only makes otherwise good tracks seem stale, it also assigns the same level of importance to the battles with random irrelevant bad guys as it would the season-ending climaxes. Gimmicks are the only thing that set the battles apart from each other, the only real question is what broken power will the Martians bring to the table for a high schooler to overcome. From the mech that erases everything he touches to the mech that can freeze surroundings to the mech that can clone itself endlessly, it still manages to feel rote. The impenetrable layers of plot armor and the uninteresting hold-overs from skirmish-to-skirmish eventually make the action in Aldnoah.Zero a complete bore.
Everything I've brought up this far has only really been enough to make the show completely mediocre at worst, but the characters are what make Aldnoah.Zero a true failure. It's hard to not feel anything but the deepest of apathy for the UFE in particular since most of them aren't given a lick of depth and the only character arcs that are thoroughly set-up (Marito and Rayet's) fall off the face of the Earth in the 2nd season because they become entirely irrelevant. Honestly, the entirety of the UFE may as well be renamed the United Job-squad of Earth since they'd be about as capable as an infant in front of a bloodthirsty pack of hyenas if not for Inaho, which finally brings me to everyone's favorite autistic ace-pilot. There really isn't much to say about the guy that isn't incredibly obvious from the 1st few episodes and that's what hamstrings the show most out of all of it's problems. There's no getting around it, Inaho is just one massive, expressionless plot-win button to the point where the likes of Kirito and Tatsuya Shiba. They try to make it seem as if he actually gives a damn about anything by having other people talk behind his back about the guy he really is underneath, but even then he fails to stir much in the audience besides boredom since he would swear vengeance upon the enemy for the death of a friend with same level interest one would put into ordering a carton of discount eggs, possibly less. He has no interesting backdrop, development or anything resembling catharsis. He's just "competence" incarnate and that's fucking lame.
The Mars side fares better in the writing department considering, but that's pretty faint praise by my estimation. Of course, the only interesting character to follow throughout the entire series is Slaine Troyard for better of or worse. He has the benefit of not only being allowed to make mistakes, yet he also drives the story forward so he's already much better than any of the characters from Earth for that alone. The 2nd half mostly revolves around him and the decisions he makes that don't necessarily line up with the desires of the princess he once tried to rescue. His actions and his ambitions essentially run in opposite directions in the latter half. Without going into specific-spoiler territory, everything that befalls him in the second is completely a result of his own lack of foresight and thus it becomes difficult to feel bad for the guy. His evolution from a chicken running around with its head cut-off in the name of the Princess to some sort of Machiavellian-type mass-murderer overnight and it's hard to buy. The logic behind this character feels tacked on and silly. Sauzbaum had potential as a true antagonist because he was an actual character as opposed to most of the crazy warmongering elites, but even his character is wasted in a fairly stupid manner.
Aldnoah.Zero is just one of those titles I've completed only to question why I ever bothered with it in the 1st place. It sure as heck isn't smart enough to win over Legend of the Galactic Heroes or Gundam fans, nor is it stupid or edgy enough to capture the appeal of Valvrave or Cross Ange. Of course Aldnoah.Zero is full of nonsense too, but it takes nonsense far too seriously to the point where laughing at the writers is the best reaction I could possibly hope for. It never even manages to become a complete trainwreck at the end because the resolution in the final episode just feels too damn simple and lacking in pay-off. Character arcs and plot-points (like the research of Slaine's father, the origins of the alien technology, the issues with Inaho's eye, etc) are tossed into the wind since the series has wasted too much time in the 1st 23 episodes to do anything but fizzle out in a way that makes much of what the viewers subjected themselves to feel even more pointless than before.
It's a show for nobody, not even the most die-hard Urobuchi-philes since his influence on the majority of the story is non-existent and no attempts were made to even provide a cheap imitation of his voice. Want a mech series with romance, plenty of action and a strong OST? Watch The Vision of Escaflowne or Macross. Want a full-blown epic-scaled war between two sides with plenty of history behind it? Go check out Legend of the Galactic Heroes or get into the Gundam. As far as I see it, Aldnoah.Zero offers a war without weight and politics that lack intrigue.
Quan_
[Adapted From Original Blog Post] It's a shame it all had to end up like this. If you were to flashback to about a year ago, the first season of Aldnoah.Zero was the most anticipated anime of 2014 for many(including me): the latest brain-child of Gen Urobuchi, directed by Ei Aoki, with music by esteemed composer Hiroyuki Sawano. It was a super-star of the 2014 summer anime season, but by the time it had finished airing it had fallen quite roughly from the spot-light. Problems plagued it: a lackluster cast, odd pacing, as well as mediocre writing, as it soon became the butt of the animecommunities jokes. But even so, it wasn't a terrible anime; at least in my opinion. It had problems, but it was still enjoyable, and even showed an occasional spark that it could be something more then it was, that it could maybe meet those hefty expectations that the community had set for it before it had begun airing. This was my mind-set as we headed into the second, and concluding season of Aldnoah.Zero. It wasn't the right one.
Hello people of "The Wired", my name is Quan, and today, we take a look at the second season of Aldnoah.Zero, and maybe we can figure out where it all went wrong. I won't be boring you with the studio who animated it or the writers involved, all that information is already available in my review of the first season. What I will tell you is that Aldnoah.Zero 2 is a 12 episode anime TV series that aired between January 10th to March 28th of 2015, airing in that year's winter season. Now, let's jump right into where we left off in the plot.
So, as a slight refresher, where did we leave off? Well, if you recall, everyone was dead. Princess Asseylum had been shot in the head, Slaine had shot Inaho in the face, and now it is 19 months later. The war between Earth and the Vars Empire has continued, though after the events of the finale of the first season, the core pieces have been shuffled, and now everyone stands in different places. Slaine is now a well-respected knight for the Vers Empire, as he has the backing of Count Saazbaum, a penance for Slaine saving the count's life at the end of the first season. Slaine, with the help of Count Saazbaum has rescued Asseylum from her certain death on Earth, and now they hold her in permanent status within Ver's military base on the moon, unsure whether she will ever wake up from her coma. With the Princess now out of commission and the last chance for peace between Earth and Vers completely gone, Slaine has devised a new way to rally troops against Earth: as now Asseylum's half-sister Lemrina impersonates Asseylum, using the princess' influence to ignite the hatred between Earth and Mars to drive the war effort onward. Slaine in the meantime, works his way up Ver's military, with a final goal in mind that only he knows, as he leads the charge against Earth's military and gains the support of various counts and knights around Vers. The situation is made even more complicated as Slaine must work through his own personal stigma of being "a terran", a fact which places various barriers in the way of his path into a commanding position, and now, Princess Lemrina has started to develop feeling for Slaine, and she could potentially reveal herself as an impostor at any moment out of jealousy of Slaine's feelings for Asseylum or if he reject her advances, effectively putting an end to his plans before he even has time to instigate them.
On the Earth side of the war, Inaho has miraculously survived as well, due to some, let's be fair, bullsh*t involving Aldnoah.Zero that allowed him get medical attention. Inaho lives on as a soldier, now equipped with a new robotic eye that allows him to perform all kinds of life-hacks(including being able to tell if somebody is lying, scanning distance between targets and make predictions, scan for coordinates(and really this thing is just completely over-powered)). Inaho is the only one who suspects that the current Princess Asseylum is an impostor, and is determined to find where the real princess is and rescue her, even if that means he will be putting himself directly in the way of Slaine Troyard, setting the stage for an inevitable showdown between the two that may determine the fate of the entire war.
I suppose I'll talk about positives first. As a the plot for a "second cour" of a series goes, it could be worse. It has pust both main characters into more commanding roles that allow more radical plot-points to occur, and it does well to recognize that these things must always have a sense of escalation as now most of the battle scenes take place in space, which, let's be honest, is pretty awesome no matter what context. But that's really all the good I have to say about it. The idea for this second season might have worked, and worked very well, but ultimately, the execution is so lack-luster that all positives it had just sort of steadily seep out as the anime buries itself deeper under its own stupidness.
The inherent problem is probably that the writing really isn't that good, rendering all ideas the anime had pretty much pointless. Characters often make stupid or unrealistic decisions that only serve to drive the plot onward, and certain plot-points only occur because of amazing coincidences or logic that fails to hold any sort of weight. I mean guys, are you really telling me that Slaine missed Inaho's head from literally point blank range when he shot him at the end of the first season? We all know the only reason Slaine missed is so this "second cour" could happen, and so Inaho could get his stupid robotic eye. And another thing, that robotic eye is complete bullsh*t. I don't care how smart the show tells us Inaho is, that eye is pretty equivalent to a Geass in terms of unfairness(though to be fair, they do add consequences later on for that plot-point, though it never really goes anywhere). It's things like this that make the whole thing hard to take seriously, though Aldnoah.Zero does undoubtedly want you to take it seriously. You can really tell it's trying to be an epic space adventure, filled with interesting politics and awesome characters, but... it just isn't. It's not like, say Valvrave, that pretty much just insulted your intelligence and credibility as an anime fan by just watching it; Aldnoah.Zero legitimately wants you to be pulled into this world, to care about these characters, and to really be on the edge of your seat as events play out. But the writing just can't support these good intentions; no matter how good it wants to be, just the act of treating itself like a good anime when it really isn't only adds to the stupid factor, and makes the show easier to insult. I don't want to insult Aldnoah.Zero. Hell, I still rather like the first season at the end of the day. But it's really not doing itself any favors by behaving the way it does, because by doing so, it's only going to sink lower and lower down people's "good lists", when arguably it doesn't belong there, at least not as much as some other shows I could mention.
But here's the last, and maybe even the biggest problem that this second season has: it's just sort of boring, and I think I can offer two possible reasons about why it's like this. First, if you were to rewind to the pacing of the first season, what you might recall is that it was a little weird. There were two very specific "highs" of the series that were exciting and adrenaline pumping, those two moments being the very beginning(or to be more specific, those first three episodes), and of course the very end, where, you know, everyone dies. The space in between was where the first season lost nearly all of its momentum and promise; a space where Inaho just sort of inexplicably beat whatever soldiers the Vers Empire would throw at him, and nothing really happened besides some half-asked attempts to throw in drama(like when Rayet chokes Asseylum in the show, only for Inaho to revive her five minutes later). That's what season 2 largely consists of. I don't think the reason per say is that it actually is as boring as that mid-section of the first season, but because we've already jumped the shark in terms of dramatic tension. I mean, when you "kill" everyone as the finale of your first season, you can't really top that can you? Also(and I've mentioned this before in other reviews but whatever), when you sacrifice your narrative integrity, or in this case, "killing" all your characters and then bringing them all back literally the next episode, it sort of just renders everything pointless after that. What's the point of caring about what happens in this war between Earth and Mars when you feel that anything that you're told can be taken right back if the creators feel that is would increase the drama, or have a target audience return for your crappy second season just so they can see what happened. Pair this with, as I've already said, how seriously the show takes itself, which means there are plenty of politically driven scenes that really aren't interesting, and yeah, it's all sort of boring.
What this season largely consists of is Inaho and Slaine circling each-other like sharks, breezing through whatever challenge is in their way because both of them are extremely overpowered, until it is time for the final showdown 12 episodes later. Sure, some interesting stuff happens in that time that could have potentially lead to something intriguing: Lemrina's mental state, Slaine's own doubts about his attack against Earth and Inaho's slowly emerging humanity, but nothing really goes anywhere. There's only one sub-plot that really dramatically effects how events play out, but I can't mention it because, you know, spoilers. What I will give the anime credit for is the ending, which while a lot of people seem to find problems with, I thought it was just fine. It's dramatic, there's a certain bitter-sweet aura that I really liked, and hell, even a emotional moment for Slaine at the very end that I thought actually worked. Well, more so than much of anything else in the anime at least.
Before I talk about how this second season has changed our two main characters: Slaine and Inaho, I'll about the only significant addition to Aldnoah.Zero's cast in this season: Princess Lemrina. At first, when she was introduced, I thought she had potential. Her relationship with Asseylum was sort of interesting, as she was jealous of her sister's beauty and how she was loved by her people, something that Lemrina would never be able to achieve due to her legs being bound in a wheel-chair and her status as a princess born illegitimately from her father, who was Vers royalty, and an unnamed woman. This leaves her a sort of bitter and manipulative person, fully aware of how she is despised, and taking that hatred to use for her own advantages, which makes her position as currently impersonating her sister to inflame tensions between both sides of the war sort of unique. However, what really annoys me about her is her nearly blinding devotion to Slaine, which drives her motivation for pretty much everything. And here's the fact of the matter: she really has no reason at all to like him so much; he treats her pretty crappy all things considered. She even offers to be a "replacement for her sister", if that is what he wants, and none of it just doesn't make any sense, because you will always have this burning question of "why?" in your head. The anime doesn't really have an answer. It has the decency to question this devotion later on, leading to a couple interesting scenes which I won't talk about because spoilers, but like most things in the anime, it doesn't go much of anywhere.
So, let's talk about Inaho first. He was a character that I thought could potentially develop into something interesting when the first season ended, because I still had no idea why he was so emotionally repressed, and as a matter of fact, I still don't. What could have been interesting is completely ignored, the most we get in terms of development is that he smiles a little more than he used to, and occasionally tells us profound emotional statements with the same blank look on his face. And I appreciate that I guess, but we still have absolutely no reason why he was like this in the first place. Was it because of his parents deaths? Because he tries to be the perfect soldier? We have no idea. And that's not good enough.
And here's the character I've been saving for last, because undoubtedly, Slaine is the star of this second season, as he makes his transition from narrative limbo into a primary antagonist. In hindsight, that's something that the anime had been building up to, and rather well at that, there's a clear progression in the ruthlessness of his actions, going all the way back to season one. I rather liked it. But the problem with his character is that his motivation as "the big bad guy" is practically non-existent. At first, you think it's just because he's doing everything for Princess Asseylum like always, but in light of events that happen later on, that theory doesn't seem to hold much water. I honestly don't think Slaine himself or the writers knew what he was trying to accomplish by the end of the series, sure he throws around cliche lines like "trying to make a better world", but I don't think that really makes sense either. Like many things in this anime, I like the idea of it. You could see what they were trying to go for, a good man following his heart as he tries to do the right thing for the girl he loves, but eventually everything falls apart as he digs himself deeper and deeper into his sins, and in the end isn't even sure what he's trying to accomplish as now everyone he cared about has turned against him. However, his reasons for ending up how he does by the end don't seem justified and logical, and he's ultimately flat and uninteresting as a character. Again though, I do like the moment of self-reflection at the end of his arc, even if I can't talk about without spoiling the ending of the anime.
As for everyone else, well they don't really matter. Yeah. All those side characters that the first season built up: Rayet, Inko, Lt. Marito, they don't really do crap in this season, so much to the point that I question why they're all here in the first place, or why we spent so much time with them in the first season. Another waste. And if you recall, my favorite character of the first season was Princess Asseylum herself: I found her interesting as well as pretty bad-ass when she wanted to be, but again, she's in a comatose state for pretty much the entire time so... yeah. Those three characters above are really the only ones you need to worry or care about.
Turning to animation, while I never went as far to compare side-by-side, I'd say the animation is just as high-quality or better than it was in the first season, and that's nice to see, when some shows with great animation will cut corners in their second seasons, like Sword Art Online 2. But no, everything looks great, from background, to character designs, to the aesthetics of this futuristic world. The deal-breaker for a lot of people is undoubtedly going to be the mechs rendered in CG. Yes, it doesn't look particularly nice, but after two seasons of watching these things, I can say you just get used to them after awhile, it's a not a legitimate reason not to watch the show(there's plenty of other better reasons not to watch it), because it's simply a matter of getting used to them. The fight scenes are rather good too, as now they've moved largely from Earth into space. I've already stated the benefits of space battles(they're awesome), but Aldnoah.Zero really uses them to enhance the fight scenes, with the battles seeming to take full advantage of the three-dimensional nature of space, and the various factors of it which come into play during fights.
Hiroyuki Sawano has returned to do the music for this second season, and as most sound-tracks he does are, it's fantastic. Some might find problems with how often certain tracks are repeated, but those tracks in question are so good that I really didn't mind in the slightest. Nothing more to say about the OST: it's great. However, special mention must be called to the OP of this season: "&Z". You might remember that I altogether wasn't too fond of the first season's opening: "Heavenly Blue", but "&Z" is a truly magnificent song, especially the full version, which is exhilarating, exciting, yet somewhat melancholy at times, like it's a reflection of all that was lost in the Vers/Earth war. If you close your eyes while listening to it at the start of every episode, you could almost trick yourself into thinking that you're watching some epic space opera, but unfortunately when you open them, it's always going to be Aldnoah.Zero. I wouldn't go as far to say it's the biggest reason for watching Aldnoah.Zero 2, but... yeah it is actually.
So, here we are, standing at the end of this unfortunate franchise. It's all over; undoubtedly, a third season is(hopefully) not in the works; this is what Aldnoah.Zero is at the end of the day, the kind of show that we will look back on years from now. And despite all the promise, despite all the ways it could have succeeded, Aldnoah.Zero's second half is equivalent to a slow, sinking decent in mediocrity. Various life-lines appeared during its run: possibly interesting plot-lines and characters, but it failed to grab anything significant, as it sank too fast under its own expectation and incompetence. What is Aldnoah.Zero at the end of the day? A very typical, very mediocre mecha. And that, is a damn shame.
Final Verdict: 5/10
P.S: I didn't know Inaho was Solid Snake.
For this review and others, feel free to check out my blog! (Link on profile)
kawaiichickenman
After watching the entirety of the Aldonah.Zero series (except for the recap, I didn't consider it necesary for obvious reasons), I decided to write my very first review on MAL. First of all, I would like to clarify something: I'm not a diehard mecha fan. I only watched other three mecha animes, specifically Neon Genesis Evangelion (including EoE and the Rebuilds), Gurren Lagann and Code Geass R1 and R2, and I could say I'm used to the genre by now. After clarifying this, now I can talk about what are my thoughts about Aldnoah.Zero season 2. I'll try not to spoil much, but I do need to talkabout some stuff that really bothered me. A lot.
STORY 3/10:
So we begin 19 months after the events of the first season. The war between Earth and Vers continues as we find out everyone who presumably 'died' in season 1's finale is actually still alive.
We find out, through flashbacks, that Slaine Troyard spared Saazbaum's life after he shot the princess, but with the condition of taking her with them to save her life. Later on, the Earth people find Inaho unconcious and managed to save him, even though he was shot in the face.
Back to the present day, Inaho Kaizuka is back to kick some martian ass and be as emotionless and flat-written as always, only now he can know EVERYTHING thanks to his new fancy cyborg eye.
Oh, but how will the Earthlings fly their Aldnoah-powered ship now without the princess around? Simple, Inaho has the power to activate Aldnoah now. Just because he did CPR to her after she choked on her french fries on season 1. That's it, a fucking 'kiss' can give you the mystical power of Aldnoah, passed on generation after generation, something probably genetical, easier to get than contracting AIDS!
Everyone else depends on Inaho, as always.
Meanwhile, a fake princess Allusia appears, declaring that Earth must be invaded and stuff. We find out she's Allusia's half-sister and that she also has this shape-shifting power thing. The real princess stays in a comatose stage and only Slaine, Saazbaum, Eddelrittuo (the princess's loli) and the half-sister know about her.
Slaine gets greater and greater ranks between the Vers soldiers, and with the help of the fake princess, gets everyone to try to fight the Earthlings and take over Earth, even thought this was AGAINST what princess Allusia desired.
The ending is the stupidest thing ever.
ART 5/10:
The art is actually pretty neat, but the animation can be a bit confusing at times. The fighting scenes are 100% CGI and may be hard to follow. The character design is not very outstanding. Some characters look very much alike, at least between the Vers counts.
SOUND 7/10:
The music for this series felt adecuate, but it's a bit repetitive. It fulfills its purpose, but nothing else. The Kalafina opening was a lot better than this one. The ending theme is okay...
CHARACTER 2/10:
Until the end of season 1, the only likeable character was Slaine Troyard... but they fucking ruined him.
Inaho is still as boring and uninteresting as in season 1. He's the clichest character I ever seen, OP'd a lot, as smart and tactical as Light Yagami and Lelouch combined, and now he's even half cyborg, as if he wasn't emotionless enough. He has no backstory, no clear motivations, no nothing. I can't even consider him as the protagonist.
Slaine was the only character with actual character development, even until season 2. We saw him rise from the bottom to become almost Emperor of Vers. But after the princess was retrieved from Earth, the writers forcefully turned him into the 'bad guy', with no clear motivations, other than 'I DO THIS FOR TEH PRINCESS', so he goes against Earth, even though, once again, THIS WAS AGAINST WAHT THE PRINCESS DESIRED.
There is not much to say about the other characters without spoiling stuff, but I'll just say that they're not very outstanding and there's practically no one else is very relevant in the story. Well, maybe Alussia's sister, but there's not much to say about her either.
ENJOYMENT 3/10:
This second season felt very promising when first announced, even though there it seemed hard to have a new and fresh start with most of the main characters 'deceased'. I even thought Slaine was going to become the main protagonist, but I wasn't sure what to expect of him.
This season felt cliché-er than ever. No one dies, in contrast with the first half of the series (lol), the good guys always win and never lose, the bad guys, even with their dozens years advanced technology, are brutally defeated, and the ending is the worst shit I've ever seen.
There are a lot of plot holes in the story, no plot twists or sudden relevant changes, the non-battle scenes are boring as hell, and the battles themselves... well, all praise Inaho the all-mighty. He can do EVERYTHING.
BTW, why do their mechas look so much like Code Geass's Knightmares? They even have that harpoon shooting thingy... Hmmmmmm, I smell lack of originallity.........
OVERALL 3/10:
Disgusting.
This felt as a huge step backwards compared to the first series. Actually, the first series wasn't that good either, but the second season is actually worse. The characters are even lazier written (and more unrealistic than ever), the story fucking sucks, the ending fucking sucks, they don't even have Kalafina, and it's all plain boring.
If you enjoyed season 1, go watch it, but you may be VERY disappointed.
DarkDestry
It has been quite awhile since I have enjoyed a well made Mech anime. Season 2 of this anime has some twisted moments but all in all, the plot was developed nicely. Some might say that episode 1's revival of the main cast is bullshit. If you just call it plot armour that like 99.9% of anime out there have, you can deal with it better. -------Story------- The plot of this season was somewhat twisted. Slaine took a 180 degree turn and became the main antagonist for a reason that is deep and shall not be spoiled by me. There are as much moments of frustrationwhen you wished something to happen and it took a left turn and crashed down the chasm. Most of the plot devices are somewhat explained in this season though. The ending was one of the best and most complete ending I have ever seen for awhile.
--------Art---------
The animation used in battles was phenomenal. Each battle scene would take your breath away and when you thought its the end, the final battle between Slaine and Inaho is even better. Definitely worth watching just for the battle scenes. You wont see another mech battle with such amazing animation anytime soon.
-------Sound-------
What? There is music? Basically it blends so nicely and emphasises each scenes to bring out its excitement that I dont even notice its there.
-------Character-------
Most of the characters are more or less well developed. Some of the Counts seem to not have any back story or just a one episode description of their story.
Slaine's character... You can call him the typical "Twisted" antagonist where he do something thinking he was right and at the final turn, crushed by his most important friend saying something that turns him completely. Only thing is, the twisted part is REALLY twisted.
--------Overall---------
Go watch it. You may end it at season 1's ending and call it quits. Its a good ending. But Season 2's ending is better. If I was to judge, Season 2 has weaker characters but stronger plot. Well. Stronger in the sense of the ending.
BanjoTheBear
(This has been adapted from my reddit thread. Spoilers ahead!) Something that everyone struggles with are "blocks." Maybe it's procrastination for that next exam. Or maybe it's the comfort of bed instead of the treadmill. Whether it is mental or physical, there are those times where one just doesn't want to do whatever it is that needs doing. In other words, there is a lack of motivation. So maybe it's the joy your parents would feel by seeing a good grade, or the elation you would have at obtaining that tone body, that motivates you to accomplish that ever elusive goal. Motivation, like those "blocks," isalways present; you just need that initial push to really get going. And Aldnoah.Zero 2nd Season is a prime example for when such motivation is sorely lacking.
STORY
Zero Two (the moniker to be used) takes place several months after the conclusion of the first season. Inaho has miraculously survived, Slaine has climbed the Vers' ranks, and Asseylum is currently in a coma. Irrespective of their situations, war continues.
What Zero Two, like its predecessor, mostly focuses on is the action that permeates much of the show. The space battles, the cool robots, the random technology; it's an anime that is entertainment first and purpose second. And for the most part, the anime gets this right. While everyone outside of Inaho is fodder or useless, the range of scenarios that the action encapsulates are wide and varied. Whether it be taking down a Kataphrakt from the Earth's orbit or using a multi-lock-on system to eliminate the enemy in a solitary strike, Zero Two is always looking to switch up the formula in order to keep the show both refreshing and fun. There are always two issues that persist through all of the fights, though: Inaho and his robotic eye. Inaho is a "Gary Stu:" he's infallible, un-killable, and nonnegotiable when it comes to battle. He never has any problems dealing with the enemy (a reason that is never really explained) and thus the skirmishes follow the same pattern and predictability: good guys are losing, Inaho devises plan, and Inaho wins. These repeated events occur at an even higher probability due to his newfound eyeball. Acting as a sort of supercomputer, Inaho's already unfair level of tactical skills is amplified by his trusty ocular, making what goes down between Inaho and the enemy seem more like hide-and-seek rather than war.
There is another problem that persists, but not between the battles but instead between the seasons. And that is Zero Two's inability to properly utilize the very assets that it holds. The show has a lot of material to work with outside of the war, the main cast -- Inaho, Slaine, and Asseylum -- and the overarching plot. But it doesn't use any of it for some baffling reason. In fact, it even introduces new facets that go unused. Some easy examples include: Rayet and Marito's backstories, perceptions, and ideas; Inko and Magbaredge's role in the grander scheme of things; the political subterfuge that exists within both the Earth government and Vers Empire; Lemrina's and Maazurek's overall influence on the people that they were connected to; and Yuki's and Harklight's relationship with the person they were "protecting." There's a lot that is going on, mostly because there is a literal interplanetary space war happening in the background. And subsequently these myriad of relevant plot points are generated, and for good reason; they contain a breadth of potential that the anime can catapult off of. Yet, it never does: such elements stagnate and are sadly wasted by the time the anime finishes.
But when the dust settles and the eggs are counted, Zero Two does contain some semblance of theme. Like the introduction stated, motivation is a factor that is omnipresent; it's the kind of "entity" that allows someone to do or not do an action based upon the amount given. And for our main trio, this idea is displayed nicely enough. Inaho is wholly guided by Asseylum's light, and wants nothing more than to make her wishes come true; Slaine's motivation is at first Asseylum's protection but devolves into a thirst for power; and Asseylum herself discovers through the actions of these two boys that the brokered peace that she had always dreamed about was within her grasp. And this kind of thinking, that motivation takes on multiple forms, is manifest in all parts of the show. The Martian fighters rally to fight for Slaine's cause, Yuki and Inko look to support Inaho, and Lemrina is spurred on by Slaine -- the only person who shared even a shred of caring for her. So, while the actual narrative is a package filled with unused goods, Zero Two's motivational theme is tried and true.
ANIMATION
Zero Two's art was often quite nice to look at. This is mainly due to the landscapes that the anime found itself in. There were grassy plains with overcast, arid deserts with relevant sand dunes, and dilapidated cities that harbored past transgressions. Alongside the art, the show does a nice job of keeping the choreography of the fights easy to follow due to nice use of the camera. The Kataphrakts' abilities and the general dueling that occurred never felt overly difficult to read, making these bouts that much more exciting.
The character designs for the anime are nothing too notable. It's a "realistic" setting, so many of the characters are given realistic designs. Of note are Asseylum and Lemrina for their more stand-out dresses and hair styles. But beyond them, the rest of the cast is rather unimpressive, especially in comparison to the art.
Actual animation for the show was normally about average. The anime heavily relied on CG, namely with the Katphrakts and the Deucalion. One becomes desensitized to the three-dimensional usage after a time, but when it isn't showcasing this kind of animation, the rest is often static scenes with characters talking or lamenting.
CHARACTERS
Zero Two places the majority of its bets on two separate couplings: Asseylum and Lemrina, and Inaho and Slaine.
Looking at the pair of princesses, it's not immediately obvious who the better of the two is. One was sidelined into a coma and contracted amnesia for three-fourths of the show, while the other saw insignificant progression in her emotional balance. These descriptions fit Asseylum and Lemrina, respectively. The former does nearly nothing for the entire season, with her only act of importance coming through in the way of a radio message. She sees no development, serves no purpose, and has no worth outside of her name. She literally becomes a tool to be used -- for both sides of the war -- whenever the plot sees fit to take her out of the drawer. It's an unfortunate outcome that came to be because of her sister; Lemrina's inclusion in the story is not only sudden, but a direct byproduct of Asseylum's condition. For without the lovable, kindhearted girl, someone had to take her place. Therefore, the sibling does. But instead of being filled with good, Lemrina is filled with evil; her scorn of the position she's in, her jealousy of the sister she has, and her feelings of loneliness stir within her the makings of a mentally unstable being. She often talks of the moon base as being "her home," simply because it's the only location where things have gone right for her. She's accepted, her sister is gone, and Slaine is by her side. Yet, her home, like her character, explodes. By the anime's end, while her characterization exists, she, like her sister, means nothing to the story outside of a few radio appearances. In other words, the two are bound both by blood and badness.
The second pair is more of a seesaw than a level playing field. Inaho is the all-mighty warrior, the de facto champion of the Earth's soldiers. He begins the season compliant of the higher-ups that are guiding their hand, simply engaging in feud after feud to much success. And while Inaho always manipulates the outcome of the fights in his and his comrades' favor, there isn't any manipulation of his actual character. He without a doubt plays the biggest part in regards to everything that goes down, but lacks in personal development. Which might just be a corner he was written into thanks to the writing; his unbeatable status, his ridiculously overpowered eye-friend, and nonexistent emotions make such growth impossible. He cannot be challenged and he cannot be affected; he's as much a robot as the machine in his brain.
This leads to the higher side of that seesaw. Slaine Troyard is a man with a mission, one that he will do anything he can to accomplish. Initially, this goal was to save Asseylum, to keep her safe. But it slowly morphs into something more sinister: the attainment of absolute power. And this progression in his character makes complete sense; his previous passiveness nearly caused him to lose that which was most dear to him. So, this season, he moves from being reactive to active. Slaine's gall gradually grows, and as the people around him note, he no longer acts as a mere cub but as an unrelenting wolf. But as his ruthless behavior begins to amass, his unending bloodlust blinds him. Instead of caring for Asseylum, he cares only for the structure around her; he lies to her, deceives her, and undermines her, all for the sake of "keeping her safe." Yet, his actions sacrifice everything that Asseylum not only held dear around her but also held dear in him. And when Slaine realizes the folly of his ways, it's too late; he's been saved, forced to atone for the sins he mistakenly created. A poetic end for a poetic character.
SOUND
The OP starts with soft singing that accompanies some hard guitar and a simple drum beat. Yet, it works; it's catchy and sounds quite pleasant to the ear. The near halfway mark causes the singer to adopt a more prominent role in the piece, with grander singing and more skip-like lyrics. But past this point, the instruments work to overtake the singer, causing the piece to lose its established "oomph."
The ED is also a strange beast. It is filled with background ambient effects to sound more space-like and mysterious, but drowned out by powerful vocals and more rambunctious drum playing. At the very least, the opening and ending choir-like singing is quite captivating.
The rest of the OST contains specific pieces that are quite good, such as the lone female singer that follows along with the show's signature beat -- the one obtained from the previous season's ED. Others definitely fit the mood for the show, too, such as the slow violins during the tense buildups. The tracks certainly sound like Hiroyuki Sawano composed them, but they don't feel like his music. There isn't anything from them that is truly memorable or standout, despite everything sounding so nice.
As for voice-acting, the cast involved performed somewhere around average. Nobody involved was truly given the opportunity to shine, but Sora Amamiya as Princess Asseylum did a wonderful job capturing that innocently tender way of speaking.
ENJOYMENT
Part of the reason for watching this one, at all, was in wanting to see where the characters ended up. And upon seeing them all return, that wasn't extremely off-putting. Sure, it's completely implausible, but getting to watch the main three head toward a conclusion was going to be fun to see.
"Was" is the keyword. For what was given wasn't fun, it was lame. Not only is the final "duel" between Orange and Bat absolutely boring but Asseylum doesn't even end up with either of them, and more specifically the obvious choice in Inaho. I'm a huge romance guy -- it's my favorite genre. So watching her marry some random boy -- after having someone like Inaho chase after her, after giving him a beaded necklace from her, and after she starts to cry as she says, "I also think of you as a part of myself" -- is quite infuriating. Maybe his eye mistranslated his feelings towards Asseylum or maybe her decision was circumstantial. But it's clear from her and his actions that there was something between the two. And wouldn't it have been an even better sign of peace between the two sides if a Terran and a Vers became betrothed instead? Goading people on then forcefully throwing the rug out from under them is not enjoyable; it's frustrating.
Aldnoah.Zero 2nd Season starts off precariously, seems promising throughout its run, but ultimately ends on a very sour note. The story is misshapen, the characters are shoddy, and the rest is lackluster. While Asseylum, Inaho, and Slaine may be smiling by the show's end, I most certainly am not.
SUMMARY
Story: Bad, focused yet predictable entertainment, abundance of unused plot elements, motivational theme
Animation: Fine, nice art style, okay character designs, average actual animation
Characters: Bad, Slaine cannot support how awful Asseylum, Lemrina, and Inaho are
Sound: Fine, okay OP, okay ED, good soundtrack, average VA work
Enjoyment: Bad, the out-of-left-field "romance" is very frustrating to handle
Final Score: 3/10
jkalyana
Coming from season 1 this season 2 falls slightly short from expectations. No spoiler but story takes a more political scenarios, which some people might not like, including me, but I think is nonetheless required for complete justification. But its becoming somewhat predictable, of you have seen similar anime. Still the fight scenes are incredibly enjoyable. Sound is good, not as good as season 1, art is still great, story as I said slightly falls short. Overall its still a very good anime 2015 has to offer.
Gridfire
*Review for both 'seasons'. This is simply one series split into two halves* Aldnoah Zero is a mecha anime that pits the forces of the earth against a Martian empire whose technological superiority is underscored by a ruthlessness and pride resemblant of the great empires of earth with centuries of history. The year is 2014, and it has been forty-years years since the Martian empire was founded. Wait. Forty-two years? Okay, let's try this again. Aldnoah Zero is a mecha anime that features plenty of drama, action, and even a hint of romance, but fails to set up its story and characters in a way that any of theseelements can resonate with the viewer. The lead character, Kaizuka Inaho, takes the stereotypical self-insert main character to ridiculous length by having no emotions for the great majority of the series. Meanwhile his rival and series antagonist, Slaine Troyard, is a significantly more human and interesting character, far more so than the rest of the cast. But whereas Inaho's actions are guided by some sort of logic, Troyard's motivations for his absolutely insane schemes are never explained, shown, or slightly conveyed to the viewer in a believable way.
Ultimately, it doesn't matter if the Vers empire has existed for forty-two years, forty-two days or forty-two centuries. Either could work if there's some kind of impetus for the conflict presented, something tangible that makes us empathise with the circumstances of both sides. But throughout the entire series, not once are we given some kind of deep glimpse into the Vers Empire. There are a lot of remarks about how the masses of Vers are poor, but we never, ever see them. We only see the handsome knights, soldiers and gleaming technology. So as far the viewer is concerned, the behaviour of Slaine Troyard, the Vers Empire, in fact most of the characters in this decrepit series is inexplicable.
When I am getting increasingly bored and frustrated of Aldnoah Zero's boring, creatively frustrated plot, it has a little party trick to pull. Decent fight scenes. Watching Inaho figure out and exploit the weaknesses of the Vers Empire's high-powered mechs is one of very few enjoyable parts of this series. Ultimately, it's just a deus ex machina if you break it down enough, but it means the fight scenes are quite varied and sometimes surprising, even if the overall structure is predictable.
Aldnoah Zero is nothing if not well-produced. Having the mechas entirely animated by 3D models is going to be a turn-off for many, but they're quite detailed, the designs are good, and while the animation can seem clunky, the choreography is emphatic. This is also one of the many recent series scored by Hiroyuki Sawano, and while his music often comes across as bombastic, it's distinctive and forms a great accompaniment to the action. Though, while the art and character designs in Aldnoah Zero are decent, the colour palette of the series is cool and miserable, which only serves to mirror the boredom of the plot.
Frankly, with a project as large as this, a good presentation is the minimum I expect. This is what Aldnoah Zero is, the minimum of expectations. By refusing to have any kind of personality, whether figuratively in terms of story and setting, or literally in terms of characters, it doesn't offend enough to put its audience off from buying it, but it never elevates itself above mediocrity either. The question is, do I rate this a 5 to acknowledge its workmanlike averageness, or a 3 for not even trying to hide its identity as a cynical monetary franchise? Let's split the difference.
Story: 3, Art: 5, Sound: 7, Character: 3, Enjoyment: 4, Overall: 4
chrisA15
{Contains Spoliers} Damn the ending really pi**ed me off, clearly rushed, was forced on the viewers and to be honest makes all the fighting between the 2 main characters pointless. Story - The second series carries on after ending of the first. Inaho is still alive and was revealed to be shot in the eye and has had it replaced with a bionic eye capable of predicting algorithims. Slaine has risen through the ranks and has gained the trust of several Orbital Knights, and continues thier plan to invade earth from the moonbase. Now onto the most annoying MC, Asseylum who spends much of the seasonin a comatised state within the moonbase, she wakes up at the ending of the season but has lost her memories. She eventually regains them and during an attack on the moonbase by Terran (Earth) forces, she tries to escape from earth soldiers firing on her. She then bumps into Inaho who falls unconcious before her but his bionic eye takes control telling Asseylum that Inaho had infiltrated the base to get the, she states her feelings towards Inaho and asks him something which isn't seen to the viewer until the last episode.
As we get to the last episode, Asseylum takes over from the grandfather's position upon his death, announces her intention for the war to end and that she is to marry Count Klancain (nothing but a character that is used as a plot device). Slaine and Inaho upon hearing that decide to have a final battle, it is also revealed that Asseylum had asked Inaho to save Slaine. Slaine ends up in imprisoned, Asseylum ends up with Klancain and Inaho ends.. well to be honest I don't know.
Art - Nicely designed environments and mechas and the battles are nice as well. Character designs aren't too bad either, nothing really worth noting.
Sound - The soundtrack is definitely the best thing to do with AZ, brings epicness to the battles as well.
Character - I enjoyed the sense of rivalry between Slaine and Inaho but because of the ending all of it seemed rather pointless. I do end up feeling sorry for the both of them and to be honest, after all the two have done for Asseylum, she really does let them down, I can't help but consider her a bi**h.
Enjoyment - The battles are enjoyable and the music is brilliant, the art is good but as I have already stated, the ending would most likely let many down.
Overall - good but unfortunately stopped from becoming great by a poorly written and rushed ending to the anime
glaceon_cute
Okay, so...I never intend to make a review for this, because of how little of time I'm having now; but seeing all the reviews so far are all so bad and mostly don't even pass 5, I need to write one for this. Let me ask you one question: What's the theme of this anime? Let's stop a moment and think back. Maybe because of the way it's directed, you lost track of the important messenger that Aoki wants us to understand: What's the cause of war, and how to prevent it. The show simply shows it to us through the story of 3 main characters: Inaho,Slaine, Asseylum. Inaho believes in his aspect of war "War is the continuation of negotiation, and it only stops when they get what they want", Slaine believes in his aspect of war "War is there because there is someone to go against, and it only stops when that boundary disappear". Asseylum believes that "Peace can be achieved when there is no hatred.'
How to prevent war? The series ended with everything return to 0, with the things that would happen in Ep 1 if Asseylum wasn't assassinated. Because there is no solution yet, to them, and to us in reality. This peace, again, is a false peace. Throughout the story, many parallels to WWII and Cold War have been made, and also many issues that are debated in Japan about their postwar situation, but let's not talk about that, since it would be out of the story.
That's the basic plot of it, and IMO, the anime has done well in what it wants to tell.
The flaw of the anime, but also an unique style of directing, is the "Talk less, show more". We don't know what characters are thinking, we don't know what are their objectives. Everything is so ambiguous, unless you notice everything, the flowers, a tea cup, or a single line. You know the main characters from other characters, from what they say. And like Aoki did say, Slaine is he protagonist of this season, not antagonist, though maybe we see him as one. Why is Slaine interesting? Because out of all people, he is the most hard-to-understand character. He lied everytime, but then it these lies there are truths. Listen to them and the tone of him, figuring out what he really wants is really an art. I understand why people still say "I don't get what's Slaine's plan" even after the ending. Because it was never talked out, it doesn't mean that there wasn't any hint. So I suggest you to watch again. "Poor written", maybe, but it's surely interesting for me to analyze every single stuff.
"Let justice be done, though the heaven falls" - the motto has been done in the series. Because all characters follow their aspects of war, that they made mistakes and eventually they got their consequence. "Justice" here doesn't mean "The right thing", but "The thing that you believe in", whether it's right or wrong.
I don't get why we should compare this series to Guilty Crown, since it's not a train-wreck with the story of "fighting for love" and finished well what it wants to do. And moreover, I don't get why we should compare Slaine to Lelouch, since Lelouch is obviously smarter and all. Slaine can never become Lelouch, because his character is to be the ugly side of war, while Lelouch is the beautiful side of war, though Lelouch's way was really surrealism to me.
Aldnoah.Zero is the story of reality. Whether you like it or not, this's what happening. At least, I think all the characters can start new lives now.
CodeBlazeFate
*Mild spoilers, particularly for the end of season 1* How did this happen? Why did this happen? I know season 1 wasn't necessarily a masterpiece, but you could at least make the case that it had clear intentions, contrived as its methods tended to be. Here's it's a gigantic car crash at the beginning and end, occupied by a lot of nothing of note happening! What happened to all the big moments that season 1 was peppered with? What happened to letting characters sometimes have backstories or anything that could help them somewhat resemble actual characters rather than caricatures (not that the antagonists of the firstseason weren't caricatures anyway)? What happened to the wonky action scenes that often used actual movement and terrain to its advantage sometimes? How do you shit the bed this hard?
Oh wait, it's the second season of a mecha anime that already had some major scriptwriting issues that were bound to worsen as the series progressed. That explains everything! Geass R2 (ok that might be unfair cuz R2 ain't anywhere near as bad as this show), 00 Season 2, SEED Destiny, meet your new best friend as I proceded to beat the ever-living shit out of him!
The first episode is literally just a baffling cop-out of the first season's ending. It's an actually incomprehensible middle finger and one of the worst first episodes I have ever witnessed. Both Inaho who got shot in the head at point-blank range and Asseylum who was shot by a VERS version of a shotgun in the head, are still alive with no major head or brain damage. Count Saazbum, despite being riddled with bullets, is alive, and Slaine takes both him and Princess Asseylum with him, and everyone just fucks off and rejoices, except Slaine who goes nuts throughout the course of the season. The finale of the first season was a horrendous cliffhanger that already relied on terrible melodrama and arbitrary sequences to sell itself, but actively undercutting everything it tried to accomplish is not at all a good way of trying to "make up for it".
1 and 1/2 years later, Slaine has gone through the ranks of the VERS people, and with a now seemingly evil Asseylum leading, he feels that it is his turn to take charge and eliminate the humans of Earth to make it their new home. Inaho, and the rest of that military he was in, continue the battle, with little having being changed. The rest of the show until the finale is just Slaine rising through the ranks and Inaho taking down more VERS and keeping one prisoner to help him find Asseylum. Better than the first episode which has more plot holes that Saazbum had bullet holes, but a meandering mess where almost nothing of value happens. The finale just turns into this mush of obscene melodrama and rushed circumstance because they wanted to get the war over quickly and cut to everything and everyone having a mostly happy ending without the proper time necessary to devote itself to showing us a sense of proper reconstruction and consequences of the war's end. It's a baffling nightmare that makes me wish I was watching the final arc of Macross instead.
Inaho and Slaine are the actual worst here, which is an accomplishment given how terrible Inaho was last season. Inaho continues to be a ridiculously overpowered tofu MC except with less arbitrary douchebaggery towards Slaine and more robo eyes because he really needed to cement himself as superhuman. Slaine is the ultimate angsty, melodramatic pile of shit who just screams blood, cries, and vows for vengeance without having any concrete character or even having his progression naturally link up with the first season in practice. There's so little to mention regarding any of the other characters either. There's nothing going for any of them outside of the camaraderie some of Slaine's lackey's towards the end of the series share. It's a neat gesture, but it's too little, too late. Everything else is just a black void that somehow trumps even the abysmal writing of the narrative.
Visually, the show suffers compared to its predecessor as well. The CGI was never good, but the mechs tended to be surrounded by large objects in the first season so they facilitated movement and covered up some of the faults that were present. Here, empty space everywhere, both on Earth and in space! That means we get to see the awful CG mechs in full glory, just hovering most of the time. The 2D artwork is still solid, however. Sadly, it's wasted on pretty mediocre character designs that don't tend to have too much movement during most of the action scenes because TROYCA's awful CG (maybe it was A-1 Pictures, I wouldn't be too surprised) needed do be dragged around all the time. There's significantly more actual animation when the characters are running around doing their own escort missions or hanging out than during the battles themselves. It's pretty, but that's all there is.
The dub was ultimately one of the only saving graces of the show, even with some of its star players such as Patrick Seitz gone. That said, the dub is once again overshadowed by the show's OST which comes with several new insert tracks and bombastic background tracks to marvel at. There aren't too many new additions and the new tracks aren't quite as good as "No Differences" from season 1, and perhaps this isn't one of Hiroyuki Sawano's best OSTs, but it's still one of the highlights of this miserable series. The opening, "&Z" by SawanoHiroyuki[nZk]:mizuki, is a stellar track that builds up a sense of tension and melancholy before launching into a bombastic sequence that hypes you up for each disastrous episode. The main ED, "GENESIS" by Eir Aoi isn't as great as what came before, especially when it goes from emotional to sorta plain in the chorus, but it's still a nice song to listen to. The penultimate episode's ending theme, "Harmonious" by Asseylum Vers Allusia starring Sora Amamiya, is a lot more emotionally resonant, really representing the emotional climax the penultimate episode wants to have.
It's been several years since I've seen it, and I still remember how much of a disappointment Aldnoah.Zero was. After season 1 fell apart, season 2 decided to trample over any good will that was left before meandering for 10 episodes and then crashing and burning in spectacular fashion again. It's amazing to witness how easy it became to get disillusioned with this franchise by this season if the previous one didn't already do the trick. It's like witnessing a car crash and wondering if the people survived only for the wreckage to explode at the very end! It's amazing! I wouldn't say I despised this season, but it really was a gigantic misfire that imploded in on itself. This second season makes the first look like Turn A Gundam, and that comparison is honestly fitting if you've seen both A.Z and Gundam. If nothing else, it was entertaining to see the community react the way it did to this mess. Still, watching and talking about the show is honestly tiresome, and that right there speaks volumes of this dumpster fire more than its catastrophic first episode ever will.
ArcLeak
Goddammit. As an admitted fanboy of the first Aldnoah.Zero season, I was greatly looking forward to this, the second season. But, I'm left with simply a feeling of disappointment. Warning- There may be spoilers. Story- 3 Disappointing. That's really all I can say. Even as a fanboy of S1, I'll admit that the story was at most, poor. From the cliffhanger of the first season, I'm not sure what I was expecting, exsctly. Inaho might be missing a few brain cells, or there may be a new main character introduced instead. Even that I would've been fine with. Instead, Inaho is given a new, shiny, Deus ex Machina eye that canpull off spatial calculations in seconds.
Ok, I can work with that.
Oh, the eye apparently has a will of its own.
...
I f*cking hate you.
The main focus of this season, to me, was mostly slaine. But, I'll get into that in the character sections.
Art- 8
The art follows the style of the last season.
Explosive action scenes with close to flawless use of CG (In my opinion),
And all around pretty good art.
Sound- 9
It's Hiroyuki Sawano.
From the seeping vocals to the flawless OST arrangements, the sound is amazing.
And that's all I'll say.
Characters- 2
This is where I really, really wanted to see some improvement.
The characters weren't that great (understatement) from S1, so I was hoping that Inaho ' s presumed death might force them to mature in some ways (and we all know how well that went) in addition, the one non-onedimensional character also fell flat.
Slaine kidnapped Seylum, and what happens?
He puts her in a healing tank of some sort and looks at her.
Besides a few moments, he really doesn't have as much development as he did.
Enjoyment- 5
I'll admit, I enjoyed it for the numbing action scenes, but.. that's about it.
Overall- 4
Meh.
So much potential gone to waste from the first season.
It really saddens me.
