Aldnoah Zero

This is gonna make for a predictable final episode.

Pls Aldnoah, just go full crazy, I don't care anymore.

So is Hime qualified as a base breaker now? A lot of people hate her naivety

So...

It is confirmed that Ray regalia is, in fact, senile and suffering from dementia and/or Alzheimer's.

Interesting to note, he actually initially didn't want Aldnoah to be misused (which it ironically was). Slaine's apparent master plan seems to (probably unknowingly) involve that initial desire of Rayregalia.

It worked in the first season since we didn't know the circumstances of Vers and of course wanting peace is a sympathetic opinion.

But now that we know what Slaine knows, it should seem unlikely that halting the war would solve the underlying problem, even if it's her. So Slaine should have really been completely honest with her, since she's ignorant of it.

But the show could always live up to it's mediocrity and have it resolved predictably by Crouton Jr, Earth forces beating Slaine and then everything was sunshine and rainbows.

How many episodes left, 1 or 2?

It could still go full tilt crazy as Slaine goes COMPLETELY batshit crazy, and it ends up that, true to medieval tradion, the only way to stop the war is for the crown princess of Vers to marry the greatest warrior of Earth, Inaho (if we go by M-Kat kills).

So Slaine, what's it like to have your grand ambitions go pear shaped again?

I'll catch up on this show if I hear the finale is batshit but just wanted to say wow the character designer Takako Shimura has a major case of sameface. One of the short-haired girls in that looks a hell of a lot◊ like Inaho. Threw me for a bit of a loop.

We still haven't seen a Motive Decay rant from Slaine yet, but with things coming down, we might just get that next episode.

Also, political marriages are a thing, after all. In hindsight this all fits with Asseylum's "I belong to Vers" comment from that interview. I'm STILL waiting for the other shoe to drop, and us getting something similar to the end of Crossbone Gundam Steel Seven...

The only way Slaine could suffer from Motive Decay is if we were supposed to believe his motives have been anything other than "Do stuff that might make this one pretty girl happy.". IMHO, that's one of the big flaws of this cour - they tried to portray Slaine as somebody he couldn't possibly be.

Another one is Cruhteo's son suddenly showing up in the last eighth of the show. If he'd shown up at the beginning, or even the beginning of the cour, he could have been a useful viewpoint character for the rest of Vers. As it stands, he's ponce showing up to claim the rewards after the contest is all but finished.

edited 23rd Mar '15 6:09:08 PM by HighVelocityPointyThings

I have to admit if his father had name dropped him in the first episode of the first season and then he shows up a handful of episodes from the end of the second season and the series i would actually have been impressed.

Slaine does have two mutually-exclusive drives in this season. He's loyal to Asseylum and her goals, but he's just got his first ever taste of real power and control after growing up as an abused slave, and he likes it. Trying and failing to reconcile those two things is at the heart of all his decisions this season.

Watched ep 2 and...

THIS is the show that was advertised as Gundam Killer?

WOW.

That better be one hell of a noise marketing, because I can't imagine anyone actually genuinely believing that and those who do probably suffer from a severe case of delusion.

Not entirely sure where you're getting the 'Gundam Killer' thing from. It's certainly not a claim I've seen anyone here make.

So this week's episode...

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Also, Big Boss Inaho.

And we get a S3 announcement. What.

Oh god plz no.

The official Aldnoah.Zero website now has a mysterious timer, and usually that's used for sequels or special projects.

I think I can safely say that this was one of the most disappointing mecha series I've ever seen, along with Aquarion Evol and Eureka Seven AO. And I'm usually rather forgiving when it comes to mecha.

Inaho was the most unlikeable protagonist I've ever seen in a mecha series.

Eureka Seven AO was worse. Not only was it written by incompetent people who had no idea what they were doing, their incompetence somehow also managed to ruin the original series.

In contrast, Aldnoah Zero is just wasted potential.

On that note, Season 2, as far as I'm concerned, was filler. If they ended season 1 with an ending like season 2 we'd have better memories of this show.

edited 28th Mar '15 11:46:30 AM by universalperson

Gotta say, I'm pretty disappointed in the second finale. It wasn't so much a flaming train wreck as a... nothing. Still did have some delicious Slaine pain, though. I love how he's the scapegoat for everything bad and is a broken wreck. Big Boss Idaho made me laugh, as well.

Also, I suspect the timer is for a movie reveal.

edited 28th Mar '15 12:07:52 PM by majoraoftime

To be honest, I would also like to add that Slaine's descent into evil felt artificial, contrived and poorly done to me.

Doesn't help that not only de the character designs have only six faces, but they don't emote much either. Contrast to:

And that was a low key scene.

edited 28th Mar '15 12:51:24 PM by TheHandle

Yeah, the second cour was weak at best and the ending was terrible. Really, this is a black mark against the entire production/writing team - the premise had a lot of potential, but they weren't able to execute on it.

I thought the anime was decently good and the ending was acceptable. But I'm starting to think I didn't have nearly as high expectations for this show as everyone else did.

I didn't see the ending yet, but I kind of knew it wasn't going to live up to the hype.

That's what happens when you slap the Urobutcher's name on a product.

Although the Princess marrying Inaho didn't happen, we still got the peaceful resolution that I wished for, Peace through Aldnoah powered construction.

Yes, episode 24 was EVERYBODY going bat-shit crazy.

Inaho did one better than shooting Slaine in the eye, he's forcing a death-seeker to LIVE behind bars.

It's also a shame that we didn't get to see the crew of the Deucalion get their much deserved war medals, it would have been truly glorious seeing them get medals handed out like candy!

The ceremony would have served three purposes.

1.) Those kids truly deserve to have their phenomenal accomplishments recognized.

2.) It would be one hell of a recruitment tool for UEF Kataphract pilots and engineers.

3.) It would shame the self-proclaimed "honorable" knights out of their high-handed superiority complex.

The lion's share would go to Inaho, of course, with a minimum of one purple heart, one distinguished service cross, possibly a medal of valor, (for founding and leading what would later be called Mustang Squadron), no less than four silver stars, a couple of bronze stars with V for valor, and a few combat ribbons.

Yukina is not far behind with two bronze stars, V for valor, three silvers stars, and a navy cross.

Inko gets a whopping four silver stars, three bronze stars with V for valor, and one combat ribbon for her actions in episode 4 where she distracts Vlad with the crane, and actually damages his M-Kat with some I-beams.

Rayet gets three bronze stars, v for valor, two silver, and a meritorious service award for her actions in episode 11 and 12 where she single-handedly staved off literal withering fire while defending an entire bunker of civilians against Saazbaum's drone fists, and laid down suppression fire which allowed the Princess to board the Deucalion for the mission to power down Castle Saazbaum.

Even Calm Craftsman earned a few medals despite spending most of the series in the engineering bay. Episode 1-3 earned him one bronze, v for valor, episode 4 earns him a second bronze, and episode 11-12 earns him two silver where he braved enemy fire to actually secure the Princess aboard the Deucalion, and then took her in a UEF kat himself when her designated pilot was killed by Saazbaum.

Marito and Marberge certainly deserve a few, while all their actions are not shown, they clearly deserve Distinguished Service crosses, at a minimum for what they've done.