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The abilities of the Tharsis weren't really concealed in any way - they just never came up because it never did anything.
The interview in full, so we know the context of each entry:
- Aoki: Aniplex producer Iwakami first proposed it to us. Urobushi Gen-san, Iwakami-san, and I decided to make a mecha anime together. That was about 2-3 years ago...probably around the time I was doing Fate/Zero. It was a while before we came up with the broad basis for the story. In the beginning, the story was completely different, but the first thing we decided on was that it'd be a story about 'strong vs. weak robots'. The story was decided based around this concept.
- Amamiya: Out of the three main characters, which one crystallized first?
- Aoki: Hm...I'd say they all came into being around the same time, but if you want to be really precise, then you could say Slaine was first. Though they weren't even named at that point, just labelled 'main character A, B and C'. The character that became Slaine was the first one that was completed, so-to-speak.
- Minase: The final episode was pretty shocking to many people. Was that decided early on?
- Aoki: Urobuchi-san made the original story outline, upon which all the screenplays were based. That foundation has been protected, but a lot of things have been added to it — stories, characters and details. And we'd make adjustments based on those additions.
- Amamiya: So Inaho and Asseylum having fallen in that final episode, was that also in the original story outline?
- Aoki: No, it was slightly different.
- Aoki: The story has remained the same, but the route we are taking is different.
- Minase: Waaah...I'm really curious about the route you didn't take!
- Amamiya: Yeah, I really want to ask about that!
- Minase: Right? Ah, and also, we looked at the character concepts from the first BD last week, and Inaho's character struck us as being rather different from what he is now. Like, there are a few drawings of him smiling. Does that mean that even character expressions were amongst the details that you added or took away?
- Aoki: Back when Shimura-san created those character design concepts, he was a bit 'softer', so-to-speak. But we were still finalising his character at that point. The basic idea was there - a smart and quick-witted kid, someone calm and collected; the question of just how 'calm and collected' was still up in the air. So Shimura-san's original character designs had a good balance. In the end, he became a character who's emotions don't really show on his face, so his design was modified based on that.
- Minase & Amamiya: So that expression really is rare...something we can see because it was made before his character was complete. (Minase: I thought he was pretty cute. Amamiya: Agreed!)
- Amamiya: In terms of character settings, has Inaho always been like this?
- Aoki: It's in the show (really...? -karice) but Inaho lost his parents during Heaven's Fall 15 years ago. Since then, he's been living with his sister, Yuki — with a lot of help from the people around them, of course, but basically, it's been the two of them. And even though they had support, I'd say their life has been pretty difficult. So in the course of supporting each other through this, like, 'the wisdom of living' and the attitude of never giving up no matter how tough things get, that's probably how those traits that Inaho has came to be.
- Minase: Like how he was looking out for food specials (in the first episode - What Aoki says here about Inaho is what came to my mind, especially when I rewatched episodes 1 and 2, when those silly debates were going on. It was great to get confirmation! -karice). That kind of 'wisdom of living' is what has helped them overcome all the challenges they've had.
- Amamiya: It's a good thing that Yuki isn't the same though, isn't it?
- Minase: Perhaps that's why she's like that though, because she has a brother like that. I really really like her.
- Amamiya: And the trust between them is also the result of them having worked together to get to this point.
- Aoki: Right on. In supporting each other, each filling in for what the other lacks, that's how each of their personalities have taken shape.
- Minase & Amamiya: Wow, that's fantastic...really love them as siblings, huh?
- Minase: And now for the topic that the two of us are most interested in...Slaine... what should we start with?
- Amamiya: Slaine...well, I'm personally really curious about his past, like his father and so on. Like, what happened before he crash-landed into the 'bath house' and was saved by Asseylum.
- Aoki: Slaine's father was a researcher studying Aldnoah (NB: the word used indicates that he was the 'doctorate-holding' Dr, not an MD). At the end of episode 5, Saazbaum mentioned a "Dr Troyard," right? Dr Troyard was invited/called to Vers to conduct research on Aldnoah. On the way, their vehicle malfunctioned and so they crash landed. And that's how Slaine and Asseylum met.
- Amamiya: Does that mean that they'd always lived on Earth before then?
- Aoki: Yup, Slaine lived on Earth for quite a long time.
- Amamiya: And his father was from Vers?
- Aoki: No no, he's originally from Earth. Slaine's past will be covered in a manga extra packaged with the 2nd BD. (Minase is extremely happy about this.) It's something we couldn't cover in the series itself, so...
- Amamiya: And...well, going completely off on a different tangent, does Slaine have any hobbies?
- Minase: Or favourite foods?
- Amamiya: Since the anime probably won't cover this sort of thing...?
- Aoki: Well, the food will appear in the manga... (Both are very excited) Like, a bit more of his personality will become clear, as will his relationship with his father.
- Minase & Amamiya: Yay! I'm glad...we have to buy it and read it! (etc etc)
- Amamiya: And coming now to Asseylum, in the world of Aldnoah.Zero, she's like a light. But we don't really know much about her...she's lost her father, right? In Heaven's Fall. And her grandfather is the current ruler. Does she have a mother?
- Aoki: Her mother passed away pretty soon after she was born.
- Minase: So, Asseylum has been alone, except for her grandfather, pretty much since she was a baby.
- Aoki: She doesn't really speak about her father in the show, right? Or her family? She does talk about her grandfather, but she probably has no memory at all of her father.
- Amamiya: Because she was so young, she really has no memory of her parents. That's really sad. Would she have played with her grandfather?
- Aoki: Well, she interacted with him. Remember the formal photo we made for promotional purposes, the one with Slaine as well?
- Amamiya: And did they get along?
- Aoki: I'd say so. From both sides. And remember in episode 5, how he remembered Slaine? So I think they got along very well when she was young.
- Minase: Moving on again...can I ask what you think of Eddelrittuo? Like, I've been wondering about her past, about when she first became a 'lady-in-waiting', and when she was first attached to the princess etc etc.
- Aoki: Well...Eddelrittuo is going to be covered in the next manga - like their meeting and stuff.
- Minase & Amamiya: (Excited reactions, though 'nervous'). But she's a good kid, right?
- Aoki: Yes, she is. Actually, she's also changed a lot from how we first envisioned her. She was actually around 20-years old at first. (Wha— Really?!) As the princess's companion, we set her up as being older and we even had Shimura-san design her based on that concept. But as we got a bit further in development, we felt that the story progression would work better if she was younger, and that's how she came to be. And we apologized to Shimura-san and asked her to redesign her after that.
- Amamiya: Ah, so she was originally an older-sister figure.
- Minase: And if she'd been 20, I probably wouldn't be voicing her!
- Amamiya: Ah, good point! Someone else would probably be playing her!
- Minase: And...I'm also hoping we'll be able to see her with her hair down...
- Amamiya: It's in the character design concepts, right?
- Minase: Ah, yes! But perhaps, in the anime too, someday?
- Aoki: Well, I've long wanted to do that, but there's been no suitable scene...
- Minase: Ah...the whole elite thing means she doesn't have that opportunity to relax and let her hair down, huh? I guess I'll just have to wait for the manga... (with Amamiya: etc)
[They then decide the director's Vers name]
- Minase & Amamiya: Since you're like the father of this show => maybe Aldnoah Ei. What would you like?
- Aoki: Is this something that I decide?
- Minase & Amamiya: Or Aoki Zero, or Aoki Rei. Aoki Zero is pretty stylish... Is there anything that strikes a chord with you? (Aoki laughs) How about we flip it? Zero Aoki, or Zero Aoki Ei? Which would you like?
- Aoki (laughing): Out of which options?!
- Amamiya: Director Aldnoah Ei, Director Aoki Zero or Director Aoki Rei.
- Minase: And the 'Rei' will probably be written as '0'
- Aoki: Then let's go with 'Rei'.
- Q&A section (from the readers)
- Aoki: Well, there are quite a few. For example, since this is a mecha anime, there are quite a few ideas for robot abilities that didn't really fit in.
- Amamiya: Does that mean they won't appear at all?
- Aoki: Well, I'd like to try to include them in S2.
- Minase: Can we ask what some of those might be?
- Aoki: Since they might appear, we'll be spoiling things, so...
- Minase & Amamiya: then we'd better leave it here. Is there anything else? Something that you can share in greater detail?
- Aoki: Well...turning to the characters, Marito is also different from what we envisioned at the start. In episode 7, at the very end Rayet finished Feminanne off, right? (Yes) That was originally meant to be Marito.
- Minase & Amamiya: So he was meant to get back into the fights there? But it changed to Rayet.
- Aoki: Yeah, the producer made a comment that "wouldn't it be better if it were Rayet?"
- Amamiya: Ah, so just a word from the producer, there wasn't a deeper meaning behind it? Like, Having him fight later?
- Aoki: Well, no. I asked him, "wouldn't it be fine leaving it as Marito?" Though Rayet too worked — both were ok in terms of the story. But it ended up being Rayet in the end.
- Amamiya: So Marito lost that chance to fight, and even now, still hasn't returned to the field...
- Minase: Even though he keeps warming up for it...
- Aoki: Another one is actually Slaine.
- Aoki: Slaine was originally meant to be a bit more...ambitious. The basic background is the same: he's from Earth but went to Vers and is oppressed/mistreated there. The current Slaine, the one in the series, well, his spirit has been broken because of this mistreatment, right? Like, he's struggling with it; even when he tries to go against it, it doesn't work out well for him, so that's broken his spirit. The one thing that keeps him going is Asseylum. But at the start, he was someone who took whatever happened and it...you could say he had a rebellious spirit. But that didn't really work out, and we figured that actually, his character would actually work better if he were someone whose spirit had been broken. So we changed quite a few things at that point.
- [Minase & Amamiya find it really interesting, especially thinking about how things might have been. But they're happy with what they got, because they really really love him as he is now (e.g. they love the facial expressions of the broken-spirited Slaine, the Slaine who's struggling so hard), so it must have been the right decision!]
- After watching that final episode, I really don't know how I'm going to wait 3 months! So, without giving away any spoilers, could you please share with us a little about the second cour?
- Aoki: Well, this week, a preview for the second cour was released. If you listen to it, you should get an idea (of what happens next).
- Minase: But even then, we don't really know how we should take it.
- Aoki: Well, but even in the last episode, we included a few hints. I wondered if they might not get through-
- Minase: Really?
- Amamiya: Well, then we're going to have to watch it over and over again.
- Minase: Maybe some of the viewers have already picked up on it. For us, we don't really know what to pay attention to, huh?
- Aoki: Well, for example, the narration at the end. (By Yuki. Yup). There, she says that "Her Highness, Princess Asseylum's whereabouts are still unknown."
- Amamiya: So that means...that her body hasn't been found...
- Minase: Ah, so her death isn't confirmed. So you can hold your head high.
- Aoki: Well, we don't know whether she's alive or dead.
- Amamiya: So if she's alive, then how will she come back into the story? or something like that?
- Aoki: Also, the person narrating is Yuki, right? That's also a hint.
- Amamiya: Well, I'd actually wondered why it's Yuki that's narrating...so that was also a hint...
- Minase: I thought it was simply because Ohara-san's voice was perfect for it...
- Amamiya: I see...we really need to rewatch this...
- Minase: Ah, and 'Inaho' hasn't popped up in this conversation at all yet, so about Inaho...does that mean he's definitely...?
- Aoki: Inaho...he's quite...well, he was definitely shot...
- Minase: The bullet didn't penetrate, but...
- Aoki: there was blood.
- Minase & Amamiya: and quite a lot of it.
- Minase: Like, Slaine really aimed to kill...
- Amamiya: Like...try a bit harder to miss, please!
- Minase: Like, it looked like there's little hope...but even then, perhaps, he's still-
- Aoki: Well, it's certain that Inaho's been shot. So...there's no way that he'd be able to just pop right back up after that final episode and say, "well, that was close."
- Minase & Amamiya: (nervous laughter) That's true. Ah...it's nerve wrecking.
- Aoki: Well...so given the situation, given those conditions, he will die.
- Minase & Amamiya: Wait...but you're saying "given the situation"... Like, it feels like there's a riddle in the words you've used! Like, I've a bit more uncertain now! (Both decide to rewatch it when they get home)
PARTY PARTY PARTY I WANNA HAVE A PARTY
If they bring Inaho back for S2, I'm going to go to Boku no Pico dude's house and have him personally test just how easy it is to survive a 9mm headshot.
I've got new mythological machinery, and very handsome supernatural scenery. Goodfae: a mafia web serial
Ma...maybe his aim was off. 
If Inaho survives, I'm expecting that it turns out Saucy was the one who shot him.
Dark Matter
They planned this Slaine=Suffering thing from the beginning?
And they actually enjoy his suffering?
Those unforgivable sadistic assholes!
That does explain his loyalty to Asseylum. She's the only light in the depressing darkness that is his life.
And no way could Slaine have missed when he shot Inaho. When he missed all those shots on Sauce-bum he was just blindly lashing out. He was closer and far more composed when he shot Inaho. What was in your right hand is hope; And in another hand is something else to fade.
The only gunshot for which we know exactly where it hit was the shot Asseylum took in the torso. Neither of the head-shots were shown in any detail. Given that Inaho was in rough shape before Slaine shot him, he could very easily be dying of blood loss just from a graze.
We also don't know the caliber of the sidearms. Everybody's been assuming that it's 9mm, but it could very easily be .32 acp or something even smaller.
It's still effectively ret-conning the end of episode twelve, but it's at least somewhat plausible.
edited 28th Sep '14 3:14:18 PM by HighVelocityPointyThings
@KSPAM. Before you post any more Inaho hate, you might want to read up on what he would have experienced in a Japanese Orphanage, and then add witnessing riots requiring 10+ meter mechas to quell.
Here's a hint, if he's more scared of going back than being on the front lines of combat with super-powered mecha, his fear would be justified, and that's the REAL LIFE situation of Japanese orphans, during times of peace and prosperity. Yes, Japanese orphanages are that horrendous.
This is an open secret in Japan. Everyone knows it, but nobody talks about it because "the nail that stands up gets hammered down."
If anyone in the series has a right to be filled with hatred, especially towards the Vers, it's Inaho. The fact that he is not, in and of itself, is an act of incredible kindness.
Another helpful hint. Reading up on an interview with an actual orphanage survivor, and a mysterious "disorder" would not be needed to explain Inaho's lack of social skills, or his difficulty emoting.
It would also explain why Inaho is such a brilliant tactician. He was accustomed to being the underdog in street fights. The UE redshirts, however, were used to having the upper hand, so when the vastly superior M-kats came along, they fell apart.
Further proof of Inaho's kindness, which the Princess recognized almost immediately, is the combat dialogue. He isn't just deconstructiong Martian superiority complexes, he's teaching his squad how to take the M-kats down. Even ditsy Yuki picked up on that in episode 12.
Yuki: "AH! The antenna controlling the rocket arms!"
A valid interpretation for him turning a gun on Slaine is that he figured Slaine was going to shoot him anyway. After all, Slaine shot at him every time they met before.
Immanentizing the eschaton
I thought you said he was definitely a highly functional autistic?
edited 28th Sep '14 4:43:38 PM by majoraoftime
You know, the last time I used that phrase I was told that foreigners tend to exaggerate that part of Japanese culture.
Pronounced YAK-you-luss
Inaho's what, sixteen? Seventeen? Yeah, I can see how getting thrown into this
at two years old with only your five/six-year-old sister to look out for you might be adequate cultural shorthand to explain a lot about the poor, maladjusted little weirdo without further elaboration being necessary.
edited 28th Sep '14 5:15:19 PM by Iaculus
What's precedent ever done for us?
PARTY PARTY PARTY I WANNA HAVE A PARTY
Yes, because we know for a fact that any of this happened to him, amirite?
And even if it did, it's the show's fault for never addressing it. Show, don't fucking tell.
I've got new mythological machinery, and very handsome supernatural scenery. Goodfae: a mafia web serial
Pronounced YAK-you-luss
Remember that it's a Japanese show. All works of fiction contain tacit cultural assumptions - for example, the particular sort of class-consciousness in British works is rarely spelled out because the audience, being British, understands it's present anyway. All you have to say is that someone's trying very hard for an Estuary accent and your readers will fill in the blanks (posh kid going for a man-of-the-people-but-not-too-common-and-mucky inflection in a cynical bid for maximum appeal). Similarly, if there's a tacit understanding in Japan that Becoming An Orphan Will Fuck You Up, all you need to provide as an author is long-dead parents, some social maladjustment, and an excessive degree of concern over where your next meal's going to come from (Inaho's skewed priorities over the eggs) and a Japanese audience will get what you're aiming for.
They did show us this, it's just that we lacked the cultural toolkit to interpret it.
What's precedent ever done for us?
PARTY PARTY PARTY I WANNA HAVE A PARTY
Except we were never told jack about his childhood. Could he have been raised in an orphanage? It's possible, but we don't know that. And when you leave it up to your audience to interpret and guesstimate what makes your character the way he is without ever explaining it, that's universally regarded as shitty fucking writing.
...culture-specific references/themes should be banned from fiction. That way, everyone will understand what's going on.[[/joke]]
Only in fanfiction. Original works are not rated with the same standards.
edited 28th Sep '14 5:47:04 PM by amitakartok
Pronounced YAK-you-luss
We were told his parents died fifteen years ago, and that Yuki is his only living relative. In Japan, that means one of two options - orphanage or living on the street - and Japan's childcare system is shitty enough that they basically amount to the same thing. One quarter of Japanese orphans without other living family are mentally or emotionally disabled (not just ill-adjusted, but medically disabled). Those are big enough numbers that if you're familiar with Japanese culture, the specific details don't matter. All that's necessary is 'is an orphan with no family but his sister', kind of like how a Brit might go 'oh, right' if the belligerent, hard-drinking asshole turns out to be from Glasgow.
edited 28th Sep '14 6:05:26 PM by Iaculus
What's precedent ever done for us?
Not showing Inaho's backstory in detail is probably a symptom of this being a 24-episode, split-cour show with a grand premise. A 48+-episode epic can afford to show the details even if a character has a generic backstory: Something like this doesn't really have that kind of time to burn.
PARTY PARTY PARTY I WANNA HAVE A PARTY
Not an excuse. Considering he never emotes, if we don't know his backstory, we don't know anything about him as a character. And if we don't know what his character is, then for all intents and purposes he may as well not have one. And that makes him more of a plot device than a character; an object even.
Would you cast a soldier's gun as the main character in a war story?
I've got new mythological machinery, and very handsome supernatural scenery. Goodfae: a mafia web serial
That depends. Do interesting things happen around the soldier's gun?
The past few posts have been all about his backstory, how they showed it, and why most of the western audience missed it. Spending valuable screen-time showing that Japanese orphanages are really shitty places is not something they can do in a twenty-four episode show that really has nothing to do with Japanese orphanages.
Even with that, the story focuses on a world that is for all intents and purposes post-apocalypse. They take the time in the first episode to point out how terrible things are: The fact that the only thing Inaho had for a parental figure was his not-much-older sister should have told you that his childhood was probably terrible. The added details given via his focus on food and routine should have provided the rest.
There is really no point arguing this, KSPAM has stated more than enough times that Inaho never expresses anything, even when it has been pointed out that he does. Neither side is suddenly gonna change the other person's thoughts on the matter.
I have one issue with the "abusive orphanage" idea. When Inaho got subdued by Asseylum, he should in my opinion have been visibly distressed (basically a trigger) or even break down completely or get violently aggressive. Going with the assumption that show was completely consistent with Inaho, that should be ruled out. Or maybe they just didn't handle that scene very well.
I also doubt that an average orphanage would create a character like him, it rather had to be one of the most abusive ones.
Dark Matter
And while we're on the topic of Japanese orphanages, how did Yuki end up so relatively well-adjusted, assuming she also stayed at one of those?
What was in your right hand is hope; And in another hand is something else to fade.
Pronounced YAK-you-luss
Three in four odds. Plus being older when she went in. It's the under-threes who really get fucked up by the system, and Inaho falls squarely into that category.
It's also a mistake to think of it as automatically causing PTSD. Simple mental and emotional delay due to early-childhood neglect are far more likely. It's less a presence of bad stuff, more an absence of good stuff.
edited 29th Sep '14 3:41:52 AM by Iaculus
What's precedent ever done for us?
PARTY PARTY PARTY I WANNA HAVE A PARTY
And yet somehow miraculously it's the kind of traumatic, abusive childhood that only yields an unflinching badass who does everything right and who no one feels uncomfortable or weird around despite him being so stunted emotionally he may as well be a piece of wood with a Gundam DVD and an issue of Popular Science strapped to its chest.
Y'know, realism!
I think the line is actually saying that "that robot that didn't use its powers" will appear in season 2. So probably referring to the Tharsis.