Aldnoah.Zero

Out of an era where average Joe protagonists are given extremely powerful mechs to slaughter trained evil soldiers comes Aldnoah.Zero. What this show does to the mecha genre is ingenious. Instead of "super badass op mech" being the star of the show, have the trained soldiers systematically take down their overpowered opponents using strategy and planning. On top of this, Gen Urobuchi's setup of the story and his writing of the major events in the series are entertaining as usual. This show is a fantastic subversion of common tropes in mecha shows from years ago. Story- 8/10 The setup and world building of A/Z is well done.The first episodes are a great hook for the rest of the show by using shock and awe to portray how crazy the scale is. Nuking a major city on the first episode is guaranteed to at least catch your attention and make you curious about the possible resolutions to this huge conflict. The split story-telling between our two protagonists, Slaine and Inaho, kept the show interesting. During calm periods in Inaho's story, something happens to Slaine, and vice versa. A major issue with the story however is that the big beefed up mechs are often beaten using coincidences or convenient plot devices. Some enemies are defeated in a more logical manner, while some lean closely to the "asspull" part of the gradient. Characters- 9/10 Save for Inaho, all of the characters feel real, likable, and relatable. Their relations, wants, needs, dislikes, goals, and personalities help bring you into the world of A/Z. Save for a few instances where a person snaps to help advance the main plot or a subplot, the characters all act rationally and use logic and strategy to the best of their abilities. The common pacifist princess trope, Asseylum, is subverted into a character who detests war, but understands the necessity to fight back. Instead of being weak and worthless while crying about the war, Asseylum goes active as a part of a few operations over the course of the story. Inaho, the highly trained Terran soldier, is an extremely hit or miss character. His emotionless efficiency was highly entertaining, but in a show where all the characters are well written and realistic, his presence slightly takes away from the atmosphere of the show. Lastly, Slaine is the Terran who serves Asseylum and was initally with her at the beginning of the story. He is the irrational, impulsive, and emotional counterpart to Inaho's inability to care about anything. The differences in situation and Slaine's personality create a lot of duality in the story, which I really enjoyed. Animation- 8/10. The animation is fluid, but there are a couple issues. A/Z doesn't really try anything new or eye-catching, simply resorting to the solid, fluid animation that we see in most anime today. The CGI mechs fit into the scene much more smoothly than many other shows, but it still doesn't quite feel right to see an animated character next to a CGI mech. The only other issue is that once or twice, it's difficult to understand what exactly happened on the screen until the character explain it for you, due to some chaotic moments passing by extremely quickly. Sound- 10/10 It's rare for an OST to be the anchor that solidified such a high score for an anime many were underwhelmed by, but the fact of the matter is that this show has some of the best musical accompaniment I've ever had the pleasure of listening to. Combat scenes had excellent combat music. Psychological scenes had excellent psychological music. Tense situations had either no music or even better psychological music. I could go on and on but my point stands that this show's music is exceptional. Overall- 9/10 With the action scenes, well written characters, jaw-dropping OST, and interesting compelling war story, this show is extremely well done. I highly recommend this to anyone looking for a war-time action show, mecha lover or not. This is not quite my anime of the season, but for what it's worth, it came pretty damn close.

Before I start this review I wanted to let you know that I want to focus more of my time on the character portion of this show mainly because that is this shows biggest drawback. I will briefly go over the story, art, sound, and my overall enjoyment and score. But again I will be focusing more on the characters in this review. Story: Aldnoah.Zero is an obvious homage to the gundam series and it succeeds in creating very cool and interesting action scenes. This shows story is simple yet there are a lot of factors surrounding it that make is unique in it's ownright. In short words the story is good enough to keep you watching until the end but it isn't going to please everyone. Art: The art aside from the action sequences with the CGI, is very simplistic. The art I felt was perfect for the show. Especially the colors they chose. The colors in the art can be vibrant but also bleak and it adds to the show depending on the story. In short the art makes the show more enjoyable. Sound: This is by far the best part of Aldnoah.Zero. I loved every part of the soundtrack. I would definitely buy the OST and listen to it on a daily basis. The songs range from high octane vocals, to powerful orchestral pieces, as well as the calm and soothing songs that fit well and make the viewing experience an absolute blast. Characters: Okay this is where it's going to get quite long. Now I want to get out that I feel as though the writers wanted to take these characters somewhere and wanted to have some depth, but that's all they really were, wants, and wishes. These characters are just boring empty shells that try to be this deep and complex character when they aren't. I specifically want to talk about Inaho as I believe contrary to almost everyone saying that he is the best character, Inaho is the worst character ever written in anime. Now that is taking it a stretch but I can't help but think that it's true. The writers were lazy, and didn't do anything with a character that showed promise. Inaho is just another typical badass silent type character. There are so many questions left unaswered that makes me just not care about Inaho. Why is he so good at that? Why is he so good at this? Why can he do this but nobody else can't? Why can this Highschool student do this? It's extremely pathetic and unacceptable that writers are just spoon feeding this crap to us. I felt no connection, and sympathy from him as a character. You can tell that the writers just want to do something with him but they just aren't doing anything. I believe that this is partially us, the anime communities fault. Instead of wanting well-written characters that have personalities, morals, and actual backstory we just want a badass character who pulls all the girls. Inaho was literally just used to push the plot forward and act on his own accord. Pretty much all the other side characters are equal with Inaho in every aspect, and when a supposed main character is about as interesting as a empty boring side character you have failed. Inaho has potential, but I found him to be the hardest thing to watch. In short I disliked Inaho as a character the most. The princess was also pathetically written, again other than having no reason in the story other than making it convenient for Inaho and the other people to proceed throughout the story in a boring one-dimensional way. Now there is a whole controversy with Slaine that has the anime community in a huge divide. I found that Slaine was the only decently well written character. He showed emotion, he went through hardships we got to see why he cares so much for characters, and we get to see him, grow as a character which makes me actually care for him. A lot of people tend to just hate on Slaine without really thinking about the things that he as a character has gone through and don't consider his standing on things. Instead he get's hated on by the community because he did something at the end that people didn't like. Slaine was written as a character that acts on emotions. It's extremely obvious that after being shot down by Inaho, for no good reason in an earlier episode, even after swooping down and helping him that he would not be on good terms with Inaho. Slaine shows some depth as a character and more promise than any other character in this show. Another descent character with potential is that one soldier guy who's friend died. Enjoyment: This show has it's moments, and when they happen they're an awesome spectacle. But I can't help but not enjoy this show because of how poorly the characters are done. You know the most important aspect of the show? This show had so much potential and it still might, due to there being a second season airing now. But this first season I can't help but say that I had a hard time watching it. Overall: I find myself getting angry because this medium called anime that I grew up with is constantly getting worse. I grew up watching animes like Cowboy Bepop, Lupin the Third, and although those shows are from way back, "The anime industry is changing" isn't a valid excuse as to why we are getting crappy anime year after year. Aldnoah.Zero is a letdown overall. I wanted to enjoy this series, and occasionally I did, but it does so much wrong that I can't recommend it to anyone unless you are looking for a mech anime because you've seen every single other mech anime out there.

Story - 9 Aldnoah.Zero is A-1 studios first attempt at a mecha anime. Though the plot is somewhat common, a group of individuals decide to fight against a stronger opposing force, in this case it’s a civil war between Earth and a more technologically advanced Mars. The pace of the story is well done with back stories and exposition placed throughout the series in small amounts. The individual elements in the story are interesting and well worth watching. Each episode is unique and executed nicely with new twists every episode. Earth, having being devastated by Heavens Fall 15 years ago, sets up the plot for ongoing events.Tensions having risen for the past couple years between Earth and Mars a war begins to arise when the Princess of Mars arrives on Earth. Aldnoah.Zero follows the events of these characters throughout the war. Art – 9 The visuals are well done, creating unique characters and designs to distinguish between each opposing side. The technology and mecha are unique and are never the same. In addition, the use of color and lighting throughout the show gives the viewers a definite understanding of the devastation that has occurred in the past as well as the battles occurring in the present. Each scene was well drawn and directed including even the smallest of details, and the CGI used was not too overbearing. Character designs were well done each having a unique persona that represents themselves. The quality of animation presented by A-1 studios is definitely top tier. Sound – 10 Aldnoah.Zero features an absolutely amazing soundtrack and other various accompaniments that improve each scene by giving it more depth, even mediocre scenes are made great by inserting the OST into specific places. The music was well composed and directed by Sawano, Hiroyuki. Having directed several other series such as Guilty Crown and Kill la Kill. He makes excellent use of the music placed throughout the series. The opening song is also noteworthy being performed by Kalfina, the same people who sang the ending for Fate/Zero. Though I rarely pay attention to most music in the background, the music in this series stood out, sending out chills during battle scenes and other important scenes throughout the series. Having implemented a wide variety of sounds and styles used throughout the series, Aldnoah.Zeros soundtrack is very pleasing to the ear and definitely worth paying attention to throughout the series. Character – 9 The characters in this series are particularly interesting to keep an eye on. Inaho being one of my favorite MC this season, due to the fact that he uses his brain in contrast to the various other MC found in anime. Slaine also provides a unique perspective to the story. And the final MC Vers Allusia is a unique character that becomes the catalyst for all events in the story. The characters introduced throughout this series come from wide variety of backgrounds each providing a unique perspective to the story. We have characters ranging from being born on Earth, princess of mars and an Earthling raised my Martians. Each characters represent a different side of the story, the characters are well thought out and executed to play each specific role. The character development is well planned out and we learn more about them as the series progresses. Enjoyment - 9 Aldnoah.Zero was a great mecha series and one of my favorites of the summer season. The character Inaho was one of my favorite protagonist, not driven by emotions, but rather by pure thought. In addition the combination of great music as well as an interesting plot makes this an amazing anime. Overall - 9 Aldnoah.Zero is a wonderful addition to the mecha genre, with unique characters and designs. This series was one of the most enjoyable of the season. Each element from sound, artwork and story were well executed. As well as including twists in each episode Aldnoah.Zero has been a wonderful anime to watch.

I hereby make another review co'z some pinche mod had a lot to say about my previous review, so, time to get down to business again. Story: First of all, the plot where it involves aliens invading earth was indeed pretty overrated, also, the theme of the anime was based on the classic Martian invasion. However, the scenario where, Princess Vers was able to escape from an assassination was pretty darn good to say the least and her wish to stop the invasion also adds to some good in it, even so, imo it wasn't enough that this anime's story would have a high score, soI'm gonna limit it to a 6. Art: Ok, so the art was the usual, I could have given it a 5, but after seeing how poor Princess Asseylum Vers Allusia and Rayet Areash shower scene, I've decided to limit it to a 4 and that's that, since I haven't seen some any good fanservice of the 2. Sound: I just like the opening theme and Princess Asseylum's cutsy voice, so a 7 for this part. Character: Now, I like the way Princess Asseylum was portrayed as this peace loving martian who some how was able to cheat death and Inaho for being this smartass who can operate a Kataphract and was able to kick them martians ass, however, the two mentioned characters where somewhat of a double standard, why? At first we saw the Princess who somehow was capable of hand to hand combat , but was unable to defend herself from Rayet's attack, we also see Inaho who was a good tactician, but was unable to anticipate Slaine's assault. Also, we have Slaine, though at first we would have sympathize with him for being a Martian who was being bullied by the nobles, we were surprise that he is an earthling after all, but the biggest disappointment about him was despite of the maltreatment from the martian noble, he still sided with them. Basically his character was a surprise for us, now having mention the double standard portrayal of Princess Asseylum and Inaho, and the thing about Slaine, was basically the reason why I give this part a 6. Enjoyment: Because, it was the usual alien invasion kind of thing based on a classic premise and it was more of a mini series than an episode, I would have dropped it already, but there is still that side of this anime where humans where able to win in the end and this is what kept me from dropping it, so I'm gonna give this part a 6. Overall: Though, I gave the enjoyment part of this anime a 6, there were some question as to why original creator Gen Urobuchi gave this anime the title "Aldnoah Zero," all we know is that it powers up the mech and the spaceship that them martians used, however we were left wondering as to what exactly is the "aldnoah" thingy, also, the synopsis of the anime stated that the martians were in fact humans who somehow discover some hyper-gate to Mars and when humans went there, they also discover advance alien tech, such synopsis basically puts a lot of plot holes in this anime as a whole, now if some humans did migrated to mars and become martians, how the fuck can they have developed a kind of monarchical culture within a span of 15 years? Also, if humans where indeed able to discover advance alien tech, then surely earth would have also have access to it and develop such alien tech that would put them at par with the martians, having said that I'm gonna give this anime a 3. Now since this is only the first season, I wonder if we're ever gonna see Princess Asseylum again? Also, there is no doubt that Saline is gonna be the next antagonist, but that's just my wild guess and not a spoiler. Now, I may have given this anime's overall a 3, but it doesn't mean that the rating applies to season 2, I hope we're clear. Here are my rating post of this anime: Story: Fair 6 Art: Decent 4. Sound: Good 7. Character: Fair 6. Enjoyment Fair 6. Overall: Poor 3.

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