History YMMV / AldnoahZero

** 'Sauce-bum', 'Sassybum', and 'The Sauce', for the BigBad, Count Saazbaum, for obvious reasons. As the series progressed and he was revealed to be an increasingly sympathetic and badass MagnificentBastard instead of a generic SmugSnake NonActionBigBad, 'Awesomesauce' began to gain popularity.

* MagnificentBastard:
** [[WellIntentionedExtremist Count Saazbaum]] is the leader of the VERS Empire's Orbital Knights and the [[BigBad mastermind]] behind the assassination attempt on on Princess Asseylum Vers Allusia, starting a war between Earth and Mars with plans to have Earth conquered so their vast resources can be used for Mars' benefit while seeking to replace the current ruling family with a more democratic government as {{revenge}} for the death of his fiancee. Saazbaum also manipulates Emperor Rayregalia Vers Rayvers into believing that Slaine Troyard is a traitor when Slaine tries telling him about Asseylum's survival resulting in his capture by Count Cruhteo before Saazbaum kills Cruhteo upon learning the truth and capture Slaine. Sparing Slaine out of [[NobleDemon respect]] for his father having once saved Saazbaum, Saazbaum convinces Slaine to join his side, helping him defeat Inaho Kaizuka and capture Asseylum. Saazbaum and Slaine then have Lemrina Vers Envers disguise herself as Asseylum to manipulate the Martians to continue their war Earth, before Saazbaum names Slaine his successor, spending his last moments complimenting Slaine before dying.
** [[{{Deuteragonist}} Slaine Troyard]] is a Terran-born Martian who became Asseylum's closest friend after she saved his life. Growing more [[TookALevelInBadass ruthless and cunning]] as he uncovers the conspiracy to kill Asseylum and start a war between Earth and Mars, Slaine allies himself with the conspiracy's leader, Saazbaum, helping him defeat Inaho Kaizuka, and capture Asseylum before turning on Saazbaum to avenge Asseylum by letting his trap kill him. Slaine then paints Saazbaum as a martyr to continue the war between Earth and Mars, [[WellIntentionedExtremist hoping]] that through conquest, peace would be established, while using his role as Saazbaum successor and adopted son to become leader of the Orbital Knights, while killing off any who opposes him. Using military tactics and strategies to keep the heroes on the defense, Slaine only fails to win the war when Asseylum escapes from Slaine clutches where Slaine makes [[LastVillainStand one final stand]] against Inaho. Being denied the death he wanted in battle, Slaine smiles upon learning that Asseylum wanted him spared, happy that she still cared for him.

* ClicheStorm: It seems that the series quotes almost all the popular MechaGenre franchises in our time, especially ''Code Geass'', ''Gundam Seed'', and ''Macross''. At the same time, Creator/GenUrobuchi works with this enough so that it is not annoying or wiil be plagiarizing, and the references themselves may appeal to the fans of the genre.

** People who can't easily spell Princess [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Asseylum's]] name often just give up and refer to her as "The Princess" or "Asshime".

** "Space [[LightNovel/FateZero Tokiomi]]" for Cruhteo due to sharing a [[Creator/ShowHayami voice actor]], staff, [[spoiler:humiliating demise]], and general [[UpperClassTwit aristocratic demeanour]], as well as both series sharing a lot of staff. "Croutons" also crops up, due to the awkward spelling of his name.

* RetroactiveRecognition: Edelrittuo was one of the earliest characters Creator/InoriMinase played that actually had a name and quite a bit of screentime as opposed to just being a nameless extra. This was almost a year before she [[StarMakingRole became famous]] in 2015 and 2016 as [[LightNovel/IsItWrongToTryToPickUpGirlsInADungeon Hestia]] and [[LightNovel/ReZero Rem]], both of whom are also cute lolis.

* FandomRivalry: Surprisingly created one with fans of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamIronBloodedOrphans'' due to similarities in the basic plot, ''and'' the fact that some of ''[=A/Z=]''[='s=] seiyuus also ended up with roles in the former. Notwithstanding the fact that ''[=A/Z=]'' started airing a full year ahead of ''IBO''. This became HilariousinHindsight with their ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' debut in ''[[VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsDD DD]]'', as now both series are in the same game (although ''IBO'' came first in the base launch-roster, before the World 5 Update with ''[=A/Z=]'').

* {{Anvilicious}}: The show pretty well conveys the idea that racism and the cult of hatred is a time bomb and clearly only brings evil, but it would be much better if most of the Martians were not so flatly malicious, pretentious and insidious. Otherwise, a little more, and the show itself would have spread FantasticRacism.

* DieForOurShip: A good part of the dislike that Lemrina is getting comes from Slaine/Asseylum shippers who think she's a threat to their ship. ''Specially'' after [[spoiler: Lemrina gives Slaine a surprise kiss on the lips]].

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Princess Lemrina seems to be picking up a rather large fanbase, particularly among viewers who think she's a far more interesting character than the one-dimensional Asseylum ever was.

* EpilepticTrees: From the moment the first season's opening aired, the fandom started speculating like mad about the final frame on [[SeanConneryIsAboutToShootYou what Asseylum is pointing her pistol at.]]
** She winds up pointing it at Slaine(! of all people) in Episode 21. Background doesn't quite match though.

* HarsherInHindsight: In-universe example, Yuki Kaizuka was initially terrified to let Inaho go onto the battlefield because he could be killed at any time. [[spoiler: He gets shot in the head and left for dead in a pool of blood as of the first season finale. Even worse, Yuki was right outside the room to HoldTheLine when this happened, meaning her brother was shot almost literally right behind her back and she couldn't do anything about it.]]

* HesJustHiding: There's a surprisingly large segment of the fanbase that still thinks [[spoiler: Count Cruhteo]] is alive, despite all evidence to the contrary.

* SpecialEffectsFailure: Both fans and detractors agreed that the way the show [[TwoDVisualsThreeDEffects handles]] almost all the mechanical equipment (with the exception of that one time on episode 2) was jarring and wished that they could've done better with it. Issues like poor and inconsistent framerate pacing, and poor implementation of CG in the mechanical design is apparent in this show, so prepare your eyes.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: [[TokenMiniMoe Eddelrittuo]] is clearly meant to be comic relief and provide some {{Bathos}} for the viewing audience, but the dominant perception of her is that of an [[TheScrappy annoying, racist, and myopic spoiled brat]]. To wit, there is a moment in Episode 9 when she calls some Earthlings "commoners." It's supposed to be funny and illustrate that she's a FishOutOfWater on Earth, but those who weren't amused took it as [[AristocratsAreEvil classist.]]

** Viewers who are familiar with Katsuhiko Takayama's work (the scriptwriter for episodes 4 and beyond) have come up with their own nickname for him after the season finale: [[spoiler: Ta'''[[KillEmAll kill]]'''yama]].