Aldnoah.Zero

In 1972, an ancient alien hypergate was excavated on the surface of the moon. Utilizing this technology, humanity began immigrating to Mars. During their time on mars some colonizers uncovered some highly advanced technology originally left behind by some mysterious alien race. Through this technology, the recently established Vers Empire declared Mars and its secrets for themselves. Due to Vers Empire's technological pride, the Vers Empire declared war on Earth in 1999. Overwhelmed by the human martian's technological militaristic advancements, the people of Earth destroyed the hypergate, thus shattering the moon and dispersing the remnants of the Vers Empire into a debris belt around Earth. Cut off from Mars, the remaining members of the Vers Empire established several enormous orbital space stations within the debris belt and a ceasefire was inaugurated. However, after 15 years of tensioned peace, an attack on the Vers Princess, Asseylum Vers Allusia, during a peace mission, causes the Vers Empire to launch an all-out attack on the citizens of Earth. Overwhelmed by the Vers Empire's superior mecha militaristic technology, Earth's only true defense is the brilliant tactical mind of a high school student named Inaho Kaizuka.

As someone who has watched several different Mecha anime such as the Gundam franchise, Robotech, Code Geass, Neon Genesis Evangelion, etc… AldNoah.Zero, directed by Ei Aoki, originally created by Gen Urobuchi, is a brilliant story about a small handful of citizens from both Earth and the Vers Empire who are desperately trying to stop a war which was caused by an attack on Princess Asseylum Vers Allusia. This show is atmospherically driven by wonderful music, amazing characters, outstanding animation, and a pleasingly intense action-packed plot. This series successfully challenges the stereotypical archetypes of conventional anime and leaves you wanting more. My only suggestion is that you watch this anime in its entirety, (All Seasons!), because it will emotionally astonish you.

8 Stars

The mars) attempting to cool down the tension by visiting the Earth. However, it doesn't work out and soon the battle follows. There was a lot of action in the first season. We even saw some brilliant war strategies and we were also introduced with the soldier struggling with PTSD. The season 1 felt really genuine. Sadly, by season 2, the plot was just going nowhere. Before I could realise, the anime was no longer making any sense. It merely became an anime about two teenagers who rise through ranks and are now ready to lead their respective planets in a major conflict.

The characterization is even worse than the storyline. The characters are very hard to relate with. There was a character who was initially well-intentioned, forgiving and peace loving but becomes war-hungry as he is frustrated that his love interest got nearly killed and is now comatose. His personality got corrupted so easily. Perhaps, in this scenario, the viewers deserve to know more about his mindset. Even the main character is not very well written. He is shown as emotionless. However, his stoic demeanor is really exaggerated. I don't think we would come ever across to such a robotic teenager in our real lives. While that would have been still okay if we were given at least a bit idea about his past.

The animation is good and there are also some powerful action scenes. However, they are not at the level of Attack on Titan that they would be able to cover up for the weak plot. The soundtrack is amazing. The season 2 ending gives us a bittersweet feeling.

Overall, I don't feel like recommending this anime to anyone. There are plenty of good anime out there with some being fairly long ones. I don't think it would be wise to spend time watching this one.

Lots of reviews cover why this anime is bad because of the lackluster ending and mediocre writing, but it really delivers some powerful scenes and the soundtrack is INCREDIBLE.

The plot is generic futuristic/alternate reality mecha: a world on the brink of war and young people's experiences through the ordeal (typical Gundam archetype). The big characteristic is the stoic main character that isn't overprotected by a plot armor, I've come to appreciate his stoic style. Animation is great, mecha fights are well executed. However from plot and animation itself it is slightly above average at best, what really makes this anime an 8 is the INCREDIBLE soundtrack by Hiroyuki Sawano (Attack on Titan, Gundam Unicorn, Guilty Crown, etc).

This anime started off horrible and did not change during the course of the series.

I do not recommend anyone starting this series. You will be sorely dissatisfied with the plot, the reasons given for the war, and the character development. Save yourself some hours and move along.

Without going in to speak spoilers, i can only say that key characters do not perform up to expectations. Main character are either not developed, or go against the values they where established with later on the series.

I did have high hopes for this, but as I said, even the first two episodes where lame. Only reason I kept watching was for the OK action, and hoping something would change and would make me love the series.

Aldnoah Zero is one of those shows that is stuck halfway up the ladder. It hasn't reached "great", but is out of reach of "bad". While there are better alternatives to this show (Code Geass, and Neon Genesis Evangelion, for example), that doesn't mean you shouldn't watch it. It has enjoyable fighting scenes, a pretty neat soundtrack, and interesting characters, and quite simply, is entertaining. The disappointment lies in the direction of the show. It started off with a riveting premise (I actually thought it would be another Code Geass), but it fell short of expectations, which is why I think this show receives substantial amounts of hate. Just to clarify, the ending wasn't bad, it just wasn't satisfying. So if you're bored, and can't find anything to watch, you might as well settle for this average show, just don't expect much. Enjoy it for what it is.