Aldnoah.Zero – Page 3 – Marth's Anime Blog

Aldnoah.Zero Episode 4: Next up, beam swords

It looks like Slaine will continue to investigate things from the Martian side. It’s comforting to know that he wasn’t somehow brainwashed into thinking the Asseylum he saw was a double or something. Presumably, when Asseylum finally gets to contact Vers as she intends to do, they will try to pull some fake/imposter crap to cause confusion. Now we just need to see whether Slaine will be the constant rival for Inaho or a quick ally…that will have to wait until the two meet, though. I’m going to ignore the part this week where Inko points out that Inaho’s strategy was more reckless than usual because that’s probably just the start of the love triangle between Asseylum, Inaho, and Slaine.

No complaints about the changed ED song this week…these songs are all awesome.

That aside, is the Kataphrakt from this week going to be the next major enemy for the series? If all he has is a beam sword, it doesn’t seem all too impressive so far. While I’m totally fine with more action as the main characters struggle to survive, eventually there should be some sort of counterattack, right? Don’t they need some sort of ace other than Inaho’s strategies? I dunno…hijacked Kataphrakt, maybe? Or is Slaine going to be enough? Honestly, Slaine felt much more like a main character this week than Inaho did.

Aldnoah.Zero Episode 3: What’s Slaine’s role in all of this?

That was an interesting analysis of the enemy Kataphrakt’s barrier. One problem, though: if the barrier really absorbs all light, it should have been impossible to see the machine (or at least, it would look like a black spot to people). Using the water to find the weak point was pretty cool, though. I just thought they’d use the obvious vulnerability in the feet. Asseylum’s big reveal was also more random than I expected.

It looks like the show will be pitting Inaho and his friends in Terran Kataphrakts against the Martian army after all. I’m interested in how they’ll use their lower-spec machines to overpower the seemingly unstoppable Martians. They can’t all be as easy as this one, right? Also, what will Slaine do now? The opening shows him piloting Martian machines. Will he still serve them despite knowing the truth behind the assassination attempt and despite seeing Asseylum fighting with the Terrans? Or will he become some sort of spy in the Martian army?

Aldnoah.Zero Episode 2: This is basically a massacre

[Commie] Aldnoah.Zero - 02 [6B56F623].mkv_snapshot_15.38_[2014.07.13_07.29.33]

It’s great to know the Martian Cataphracts are incapable of outrunning a girl on foot. Well, it looks like the Terrans are going to learn that the assassination from the first episode was a Martian plot from this girl Rayet. The princess has also joined the rest of the cast. We even had our first character death…I’m guessing Inaho’s subsequent decision to destroy the Cataphract that caused his friend’s death is his way of showing he cares?

Agh…I like this ending song too…all of this music is just great. This worries me so much going into this show. Anyway, I guess this is one of those shows that doesn’t have a preview, so it’s time to start guessing. We already know that the group is going to try to make an attack on the Cataphract. I guess now we find out whether Inaho will remain a tactical brain, become a combat god, or both. I’m curious how they’ll be able to fight given how routed Earth has been for this entire episode. Speaking of what’s to come, is anyone else really curious about that scene at the end of the opening sequence where Asseylum points a gun at the camera in tears?

Aldnoah.Zero First Impressions (1): Time to go to war!

This show is one of the more anticipated series for this season. It starts out pretty simply…a stalemate between Mars and Earth falls apart when the princess of Mars is assassinated in a peace mission on Earth. It looks like our main characters will be Inaho Kaizuka, an almost too-stoic mecha pilot on Earth, and Slaine Troyard, originally from Earth but currently fighting for Mars. The show has a lot going for it so far. It has a solid soundtrack and a great opening song. And who doesn’t love nukes? I think I’ll join the hype train for this one.

I’m very curious about what Inaho will be doing. He remained way too calm during the attack. There’s always the slight possibility that he was involved, but he seemed to be analyzing the attack as it was happening. It’s an interesting character personality and I want to learn more about it. Also, presumably we’re supposed to interpret the setting as such: the Martians believe themselves to be the hands of Aldnoah, having been granted these powerful relics of a forgotten civilization. It works for me, but there are some obvious implications.

A lot of things have been left open in this first episode for speculation. For example, the princess’s face is never revealed during the missile bombardment, so there’s a very high chance that she sent a replacement and is still alive (I’d say almost certainly that’s the case). Also, I’m not sure what to make of the conversations before the assassination. For one, the group claimed that it was years of hiding coming to fruition, which suggests some sort of terrorist group…but on the other hand, the communication among Mars soldiers suggests that it was an inside job to allow Mars to use its incredible military force.

So now the fighting begins? It seems like a pretty typical race war…the same as what you would see in a Gundam series with the Earth using its higher population to fight against the much more advanced technology of its space-colonizing opponents. There’s even the possibility that Slaine defects back to Earth…especially if the Asseylum is still alive and sympathizes with Earth. This first episode followed a fairly predictable trajectory, but I’m ready for what comes next.