Anime Review: Aldnoah.Zero

Let justice be done, though the heavens fall...

The human race has expanded, and now it is its own worst enemy. After settling on Mars, the new human race known as the Versians have discovered a new infinite power source known as Aldnoah. With this new technology at their disposal they set out on a conquest of Earth after the Versian princess Asseylum is seemingly assassinated, but the Terrans aren't going to go down without a fight. With master tactician Inaho Kaizuka on one side and dedicated servant Slaine Troyard on the other, who will emerge victorious from this war between worlds?

Oh dear, and it was going so well...

Being an avid watcher of shows and movies I have reached the personal opinion that it is far easier to write great build-up for a story than it is to write a satisfying payoff, and the greater the build-up is, the harder it is to write a great conclusion. In fact a lot of my favourite shows have average initial episodes that lead up to an absolutely stellar climax (Rozen Maiden, Shiki, Wolf's Rain, Kill la Kill etc). Conversely, I have seen many shows that have started really nicely but have quickly devolved into something sub-par at best (see Ergo Proxy, Parasyte). Of course every show is different, but sad to say Aldnoah.Zero definitely falls in the latter category for me.

The three initial episodes were apparently written by Gen Urobuchi, and it shows; these are easily the best episodes of the entire show. The war between Earth and Mars quickly gains multiple viewpoints on either side and the direction is tight and very tense, with the main hook being a battle between the unprepared forces of Earth and a Giant-Purple-People-Eater robot with a very hungry force field. The writing is tight and the characters quickly make their mark, and the focus is mainly on the battle itself, which is unique, exciting and has a great finishing move. The next few episodes are also pretty good as the Terrans begin to find their footing and we get to see more of the interesting Mars tech and the continuing development with Slaine.

However it's in the latter third of the first series where the series begins to stumble, since here we already see signs of the dreaded "we don't know what we're going to do with the characters". Developments are repeated again and again and the whole show appears to stagnate, though to be fair it does pull itself around again in the final episode of the first season with a pretty dang good cliffhanger and a turning point for both sides.

What a pity that it then decides to completely ignore this when the second season begins.

What was great and clever character writing almost instantly devolves into caricature and ridiculousness as one of the main leads becomes a ludicrously overpowered Gary Stu and the other one turns into a complete inconsistant ****. The side characters are quickly tossed aside and their developments from the previous season are turned into running jokes, completely invalidating them as having any sort of credible impact in the fight. Even the characters which have potential to be really interesting are either really terribly written or are completely wasted, their mini story arcs going absolutely nowhere. It genuinely feels like there were multiple writers each with their own ideas as to what was actually important, and the whole central conflict between Inaho and Slaine is at the centre of everything, though it comes out of nowhere and really should have no bearing at all on the larger conflict at hand. The writing and character issues really come through at the end since it genuinely feels as if the whole war, and by extension the whole series, had no point. Everything is wrapped up so easily and without any sacrifice; I know I'm a depressive git but I genuinely don't mind a happy ending if it's actually earned. This ending is not earned. At all. I don't think anybody did anything worthwhile throughout the entirety of the series.

It's a real shame because there are great ideas here, and great potential for characters. There's a resentment between a commander and a former front-line soldier over the death of a soldier in a previous battle; that has potential for great drama but goes nowhere. There's an excellent opportunity and a wonderfully exciting character in the form of a resentful illegitimate family member, and the show very nearly goes ahead with an amazing plot twist. But instead it pulls out at the last second and then pulls a contrivance that completely nullifies the amazing other dynamic. It's infuriating to see something with so much potential just waste it so effortlessly.

It's even more disappointing since it's clear so much effort went into making this show look and sound great. The studio is A-1 pictures who are behind such shows as Fairy Tail, Magi, Black Butler and Sword Art Online; basically, they know their stuff. The characters are consistantly on-model and each one looks unique, and the animation itself is smooth and at the very least well-done, for the most part. There are a couple of moments where the facial animation gets a little...strange, mainly when the characters in question are crying or pulling exaggerated expressions. I don't know what exactly it is that's off but I think it's the lip movement, which doesn't quite fit with the speech at the time. Sometimes it looks alright, sometimes it's just a tiny bit off. But frankly I've seen much worse character animation.

As for the action, it's amazing and varied and again I wish they'd actually utilise this more. This show has some of the most unique mechas I've seen in any series, with a lot of thought going into their designs and abilities (though admittedly not all of it is scientifically sound). The fights are also really well done, and when the show decides it wants to be awesome it really is, with Megazord-esque transformation sequences, complex military formations and a giant rotating space catapult. On the other hand, these moments are few and far between with far too much time just sending in random redshirt mechs to get blown up and even more too-much-time with shaky-cam space battles between our two main leads' mechs, which quite frankly just get dull after a while. Come on guys, you have all these incredible designs and locations to play with, why didn't you make the most of them? The music is the only thing I can genuinely say is consistantly excellent, with driving Pacific-Rim-esque rhythms and epic choirs behind every battle which just makes everything feel that bit more grand. Even when I had no interest in what was going on on-screen I did find myself head-bobbing to a lot of scenes just out of habit, though it's probably not a good sign when I could close my eyes and find myself just as invested in a show as when I'm actually watching it.

I do find it genuinely sad when a show has a quality-divebomb like this. There was clearly a lot of effort which went into making this look great but it was ultimately let down by poor writing and poorer characters, frankly due to a lack of effort in both those departments. Exciting plot threads and interesting characters are constantly teased, but none of them ever actually lead to anything meaningful and the whole thing feels like a massive waste of time. I can't go as far as to call it incompetant, since the story does technically follow a logical path. But in all honesty, after the insane beginning and the even more insane status quo shift in the second season, the whole thing just felt dull and uninspired. I hate feeling that, but this piece of entertainment actively went out of its way not to be entertaining, which is just not right. There is stuff to like - some stuff to really, really like - but in the end I just find myself shaking my head at a whole load of mechanised wasted potential, heralded by a pair of utterly prickish main characters.

My score: 3/10