I suppose I will start with the good.
Sounds 7/10
I enjoyed a handful of the score immensely but at the same time almost none stuck.
aLIEz is probably the song from the whole show, while rest just blur with one another and the moments of silence had more impact on me.
Art 6/10
The art is the same quality more or less, although in couple scene the frame rate and quality of animation should be greater, with one of the most notable scene with those issues being one with Inaho and Slaine on the beach.
The CGI of the mechs was okay in the space scene but when put next to buildings on Earth made them look plastic and comparable to CGI used in Initial D.
Characters 3/10
The main problem of the show is that the main cast is quite week. An average viewer starts to emphasize with Slaine after all the ordeals he goes through but his character is ruined as the anime progresses. There is also the fact that the Inaho's squads appears to be protected by the plot armor as none of the is even close to death, despite the fact that they have to go around without Inaho's tactical brilliance for 18 months + the duration of season one, unlike the Orbital Knights.
Inaho 2/10
Everyone jokes that he is emotionless since season one and rightfully so. For a split second the anime tries to mislead viewer that he got character upgrade as well as cybernetic upgrade, as Inko comments on him making a small talk, but in the end he is as emotional as ever. He generally shows his emotions only around his sister Yuki and Princess Asseylum, since the anime still tries to use this weak excuse for a romance similarly to Sword Art Online. While his tactical abilities in the first season could easily shutter the suspension of disbelief of viewers, his cybernetic eye takes the cake. The eyes is able to, among other things, map out the whole moon station despite not having any kind of access to the system, has zoom allowing to not only see battle on Moon from Earth, despite the fact that this kind of thing cannot be achieved with very specialized lenses, assess the enemy's geographical location without satellites. Had such technology been available to humans, they would actually have a read fighting chance against Marsians as they are also surprised at the Inaho's abilities, although they do not know it's mainly made by the cybernetic eye. Inaho is quite a hypocrite as well as he suggest Inko not to fight, despite the fact that seconds before his own sister asked him the same thing and he refused.
Speaking of the cybernetic eye, Inaho is quite the hackers since he upgraded the provided software for his own means. Good to know.
While I always like Inaho's design as it makes him look more like a side character then lead, his "tactical abilities" are the only thing that gives Earthlings upper hand despite they far worse mech and spaceship technology. Deucalion boosted their defense as well, but the military mostly operates using Inaho's brilliance.
Cybernetic Eye 6/10
Considering that it learned to lie, it went through more character development that the main character. But it's ability to detect lies is just as questionable as other crazy things it can do, as stress patterns can be caused by multitude of factors such as fear, disgust or anger.
Slaine 7/10
Since Slaine has won multiple hearts of fans throughout the 1st season, being treated like a scum, betrayed by "Orange" just because, tortured and belittled, it wasn't surprising that he basically became star of the show. I found myself actually wanting the Martians to win, considering how little I cared for the Earthlings. It was interesting to see him go from a fierce protector of the princess to actually finding motivation to conquer the Earth even if it went against his princess's wishes. Had he remained loyal to his ideals I would have ranked him higher, but considering how quick he was to abound his plan and go suicidal mode I couldn't help but feel disappointed. He did however become a better tactician that was more believable that what Inaho has been pulling off those two seasons, and even when his plan doesn't turn out the way he planned, he is able to turn the outcome to his favor.
<Spoilers>
Princess Asseylum 2/10
Apart from forgetting everything that have happened in season one, she had the chance to get an interesting spin on her character, but since the only thing that she did recall was seeing bird with Inaho, I guess the power of boner...I mean lady boner was stronger. She display the same level of naïveté as in season one, but at least she took active part in fighting against her own people then. I hoped that she would take at least some responsibility for her actions, considering how kindhearted she is but it seems it only extends towards Earthlings.
Klanclain plot/10
Considering how suddenly and out of place he felt, I can't really say much about him other than he was a plot device. In one episode we see him traveling to meet Slaine with almost childlike friendliness and curiosity, the other he is off marrying the princess. If the writers needed some to seal the deal, they might have as well used Mazuurek as he was given actual character development and similar character traits to Asseylum. Klanclain is pretty much prince charming arriving to save the die out of nowhere.
Mazuurek 6/10
Speaking of Mazuurek, he was definitely one of the most flashed out characters, especially among Orbital Knights, but in the end he was delegated to the sidelines more or less. The fact how easily he trusted Inaho is something hard to swallow however. Had Mazuurek knew the princess personally at least to some extend, which clearly he has not, it would be more believable that he considers Inaho's suggestion worth investigating, especially how Slaine was keeping her away from everyone. Then again, he might just be as naive as the princess. Fukuyama Jun did a good job with his character as well, so I was glad that he didn't die in two episodes like other Orbital Knights tend to.
Harklight 8/10
I actually found him the most appealing out of whole Martian cast. Especially after he went ahead and returned to Slaine's side and thus directly going against his orders, which in turn inspired Slaine not to give up without a fight. Although I don't always like Hirakawa Daisuke's performance *cough* Itou Makoto *cough*, he shined in this particular role.
Eddelrittuo 8/10
It was interesting to see her attitude change towards Slaine in comparison to season one. She definitely gained more maturity and understood Slaine better than someone who was friends with him for five years - Asseylum.
Lemrina plot/10
Lemrina showed up kind of nowhere (I even joked after seeing the first season that Orbital Knights are silly for trying to eliminate Asseylum unless she has a sister hidden away somewhere) similarly to Klanclain and pretty much behaved the way I expected her too. I ended up liking her more that Asseylum since she had more depth despite being essentially a plot device.
The rest of the cast remained the same, without any major changes to their character. Since they haven't much to being with, they interactions were simply mundane. Inko had potential to go in an interesting direction, but the power of lady boner she has for Inaho stopped her dead in the tracks.
Story 3/10
There is so much wrong with the plot, I can't even. Putting aside the obvious plot devices such as Cybernetic Eye, Lemrina and Klanclain, the final outcome is simply unbelievable. It's impossible for the Orbital Knights who were there just to fight, not counting the ones that were there for resources like Mazuurek, they wouldn't stand down simply because the princess said so. The show even points it out, but as soon as she takes the rains completely suddenly everyone decides to chill, of course fighting for "earth scumbag" was something that most of them didn't want in the first place but considering how trigger happy most of them are, it's came across as very unrealistic. The fact that Slaine immediately abounds his own plan, even after Lemrina shows him support was out of character as well. Slaine was at the point when he was going to do anything to achieve his goals: lying, killing, putting his princess in a cage, simple announcement of marriage should be something to steel his resolve. Besides, why he couldn't use Lemrina to counter princess's speech? There is no way of distinguishing between the two and as long as he would use a pirated signal like the real one did, everyone would be confused as to what is real. The fact that he stood up didn't prove anything as we have seen Lemrina stand as well.
Let's also talk about Asseylum's with to save Slaine. In what world is keeping someone, who basically destroyed everything in his path and was willing to die, alive is the merciful thing to do? He has no way of redemption. He was pronounced that and he cannot do anything other than live in prison for the rest of his life. It makes me actually wonder if Inaho didn't keep him alive for his own reasons, but told Asseylum that he put him out of his misery. Considering how he back stabbed Slaine in season one and would have shot him if Slaine wasn't first to pull the trigger, I wouldn't be surprised.
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Personal Enjoyment 2/10
The main reason why I had hard time fully enjoying that show is that I felt that my intelligence was being insulted. Recognizing that someone posing as the Princess in the first episode was as not surprising for me as the fact that the Nilokeras must not have the barrier on joint point and feet or that Mazuurek's mech has to be attacked from the top. The same goes for pretending to be Lemrina. As soon as she asked Slaine "Would you mind explaining yourself" it was obvious that it wasn't her. Those moments that were supposed to make me "no way!" simply ended up annoying me to bits. The only moment when I did end up surprised was when Slaine figured Herschel's weakness.
It was simple done better in different anime.
Want thick political plot, good mech fights, great character development?
Go watch Code Geass or Gundam series. At least you won't be disappointed.
