Aldnoah.Zero Part 2

[THIS ENTIRE REVIEW WILL CONTAIN HEAVY SPOILERS FOR WHAT LITTLE PLOT THIS ANIME HAS]

PLOT 1/10

The ending of season 1 was quite unexpected. It was a great cliffhanger that made everyone speculate how the story would continue after 4 of the most pivotal characters of the show seemingly get killed. Disappointingly, nothing happens. None of them died. Welcome to my review of AldNoOne Dies Season 2. Did I mention that none of the main characters die? Season 1 ends on an unexpected and ominous note, only for none of them die. Seriously. The only thing that dies is the plot, and this review will be my ... morbid attempt at describing the dead carcass that is "the plot" as I poke it with a stick.

Basically, season 2 starts off with the princess stuck in a comatose state for a long period of time after Slaine forces Count Sassy-bum to keep her alive. Slaine becomes an angsty asshole and obtains a position of power within the Vers empire after murdering Count Sauce-bomb by 360 no-scoping him with timey wimey powers and succeeding him as count. Then he has where-the-fuck-did-she-come-from Princess Asseylum v2.0 marry him into royalty so he can unify the Vers empire and start a full scale war against earth for no clearly understandable or reasonable goal. From what I understand he does it to "protect the princess". Which makes absolutely no fucking sense because now that he is the fucking king of the fucking Vers Empire he already fucking has the needed political fucking power and support to fucking stop anyone else from fucking stealing his fucking girl. The fucking princess is already fucking fine, not to fucking mention everyone doesn't even fucking know that the fucking princess is actually in a fucking coma and that she is being fucking impersonated by her fucking sister. Meaning that any attempted assassination wouldn't fucking work because they would be fucking killing the fucking body double. YOU KNOW, LIKE IN THE VERY FIRST EPISODE OF THE FUCKING SHOW ALL THE FUCKING WAY BACK IN SEASON FUCKING ONE, FOR EXAMPLE. JESUS TAP DANCING CHRIST. Not to mention war goes against EVERYTHING THE PRINCESS STANDS FOR. WHAT THE FUCK SLAINE, THIS IS NOT HOW YOU GET A GIRL TO LIKE YOU. YOU ABSOLUTE RETARD.

I guess his actions can be rationalized a bit from the perspective of Slaine as the king of the Vers Empire, and not from the perspective of Slaine as the desperate, sex-starved virgin he is, since what he is doing could be seen as a political ploy to obtain more support amongst the other orbital knights and other members of nobility, who are unanimously pro-war. (Which he doesn't need.) And on top of that it will cause the Vers empire to become a better place free from an oppressive class system and widespread poverty among the working class that is caused by a lack of natural resources. (Which could be solved diplomatically through trading.) (Or stealing it without the genocide.) (Which would make him unanimously supported by the working class even if some of the nobles still don't like him, lessening the threat of their influence and cementing his legitimacy as king.) (Which again, doesn't matter because he already has all the political support he needs.) But really now... He doesn't care too much about any of that. He just in this for the PU$$Y. (SPOILER: HE DOESN'T GET ANY)

The real princess eventually wakes up, then plot hole after plot hole she finds out what Slaine is doing and manages to escape with Inaho's help. Princess Ass-pump marries some random dude named Count Cocaine and takes over rule of the Empire. Then Slaine gets wrecked. They use him as a scapegoat to blame the entire war on. The entirety of earth apparently completely forgives Princess Ass-plumber after her impostor shit talks everyone and their mother with obscene levels of hate and Aryan supremacy. Apparently decades of indoctrination, hatred, prejudice, racism, poverty, systematic classism, and human greed disappeared just like that. The war ends. Earth and Mars hold hands and circle jerk over each other in a new golden age of peace and prosperity. Happy happy fine and dandy. Wouldn't it be nice if actual conflicts in the real world could be solved so easily? Just blame every little problem on one person. Then kill him. Poof. Problems solved just like that. (Does this remind you of a certain other mecha anime? *cough cough*)

"Let justice be done, though the heavens fall." The motto of the show clearly represents Princess Asseylum's goal of peace no matter the cost. It really shows just how spoiled and unrealistic her standards are. Princess Ass-plum seriously used her love of birds as a valid reason to possibly jeopardize the long term unity and betterment of her entire empire. Don't get me wrong, war is bad. But a leader should realize when war is the best and most realistic option for her people. Good thing the shit writing this show has kicks in and everything somehow turns out alright anyways, no one suffers from the consequences of their actions except for Slaine.

If you really simplify it. The entire plot of season 2 is basically a war caused by a mans quest to seduce a woman through the romantic gift of genocide; and predictably, hilariously, painfully, and stupidly enough- it completely backfires. He gets friend zoned and gets sent to prison for the rest of his life. She'd rather enter an arranged marriage with a man she has never met before than be with you. How does that feel, you fucking cuck? Holy shit, someone give this a man a medal for the worst rejection in history.

Seriously that's the entire plot. Yup. The end. Aren't you fucking glad you watched this show?


ARTWORK 7/10

The general art style is pretty good, and the characters are drawn very well with a distinctive style. One of the strongest points of this show is aesthetic originality, even though sometimes "originality" becomes synonymous with "bad writing", as in, it's original how bad the writing is. Martian kataphrakts are pretty cool looking, despite just how bad the CGI in this show is. Their designs are strange, exotic, and unique, but at the same time completely absurd. For some reason the orbital knights care more about making flashy and cool kataphrakts over actually effective weapons. You would think that a robot with access to seemingly unlimited energy would make use of all of the ridiculously overpowered technology they have, but every single kataphrakt has some gigantic weakness that is so obviously intentionally added. For some reason, a robot that has in indestructible force field has no weapons on it besides some over-sized fists, and despite the fact that it has an indestructible force field, it is covered in thick plates of armor that makes the thing look like the girl from Willy Wonka that turns into a giant blueberry. For some reason, a mech attacks by shooting hilariously ineffective, re-attachable, remote controlled ROCKET ARMS at the enemy when a while ago they showed this dude shooting rapid fire mega death lasers everywhere. It just simply makes no sense.

That's how it works kids. If you aren't good enough at writing to make a character look brilliantly smart, just make all the bad guys so incompetently stupid the hero look better in contrast.


SOUND 8/10

The music was composed by none other than Hiroyuki Sawano, so as expected, it is quite good. Too bad they keep on replaying the same fucking song over and over again for every single god damn fight scene that you begin to hate the song. Good music is important, but making sure the music is used in a timely and appropriate manner is also important. This show succeeds in the former part, but fails in the latter.


Here comes the juicy part. CHARACTER.

2/10 Inaho: Absolutely no character development. Though it wouldn't be fair to expect character development from him. Inaho is literally God. Perfection personified into a Japanese school boy. He cannot further develop because he is already perfect. Getting shot in the head doesn't change that. He is still perfect. He is still an emotionless machine. The fact that he is now partially a cyborg doesn't help with that analogy either. He saves the day every single god damn time like he always does except now he does literally everything to the point where basically 60% of the entire show just focuses on circlejerking over how awesome he is. The writers made this man an autistic savant because they simply aren't smart enough to write an intelligent character well, and clearly even with that the job was still difficult for them. Because in season 2 they had to up the ante and make him even more overpowered than he already was so they can shoehorn more shitty excuses as to how he completely defeats the Vers Empire yet again by blessing him with some unreasonably overpowered god eye that can see everything. That dumb little eye can do literally anything. Like check out Inko's BMI for example. Inaho uses his eye to calculate Inko's weight so he can make fun of her. What the fuck dude? Asshole. And he knows he can get away with it since Inko wants his D for some reason. Why ya got to play a girl like that man? And to top it all off, the writers also gave him Aldnoah powers all willy-nilly to act as a convenient plot device to reactivate the Deucalion. How? Through oral transfer of royal blood and saliva. HAHA WHAT THE FUCK. In other words. This all powerful source of unlimited energy is pretty much some alien STD Ass-plump gave to Inaho.

9/10 Inaho's robot eye: A new character. Yes. The eye has its own character. Yes. THE EYE GETS MORE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT THAN INAHO HIMSELF. At first the eye is nothing but a tool, but then it starts taking over parts of Inaho's brain and becomes its own thinking entity. It even starts chatting up the princess while Inaho was unconscious. Look at that development. Oh yea. Such character. Inaho's eye x Asseylum is my OTP.

1/10 Slaine: Is basically the only character that gets any "development", which means jack shit because he just continually makes the most retarded nonsensical decisions a sane individual wouldn't ever consider. Honestly, calling it "character development" is a little too generous in the first place since his character is completely off the charts inconsistent. He doesn't really do anything that can be considered normal human responses. His level of intelligence and decision making is all over the place. His goals incomprehensible, and the reason behind this is because the writers just continuously use him as a cheap plot device to add drama and conflict to the story instead of treating him like how a reasonable or sane human being would act. Inaho and Slaine are both foils to each other in this regard. Slaine advances the story by adding unnecessary conflict to it through irrational decision making. And Inaho advances the story by solving the stupid problems Slaine causes with his own stupidly written god-like abilities. In the end, Slaine fails horribly due to his ridiculous levels of incompetency. Then the writers pretentiously rip off Monster by making Slaine pull off some bullshit Johan Liebert crap.

1/10 Princess Ass-lump: She doesn't change character either. Still this overly happy and naive dumb bimbo that can barely act like a responsible leader. She forces her childish idealistic views on everyone regardless of the effect it might have on her people. She tried to man up once and points a gun at Slaine and threatens him. Then he casually walks over and just takes the gun. AHAHA. Seriously. She is so worthless. Did I mention she likes birds? She likes birds. Apparently more than the possible long term prosperity of not only her Empire, but the entirety of humanity as well. Amazing judgment of importance there.

4/10 Princess Ass-lump v2.0: Yea the second princess with the weird hair. I forgot her name. Where the fuck did she even come from? She just appears suddenly as a new character. Basically she pretends to be Asseylum and slanders earth with her space Nazi propaganda. She does it because she has some extremely creepy as fuck obsession with Slaine. She is just weird.

10/10 Count Crouton or something. IDK it's hard to spell. Best character in the entire show. Absolute chad. Some new guy that shows up for like 10 minutes of screen time. Manages to NTR the princess away from Inaho and Slaine like immediately. What a badass.

5/10 Harklight. Gets seduced by Slaine's bishounen powers. I forgot whether or not he dies trying to get senpai to notice him. I don't really care.

5/10 Inko. Arguably the most likable girl in the show. Acts all cutesy and compassionate with Inaho and worries about him. Daww so cute amirite? Kind of I guess... Gets pushed away and assigned as Inaho's side bitch. She gets shot at 10 more times than any of the other characters but she always survives. Absolutely bullshit levels of plot armor. For some reason, every single kataphrakt instantly explodes into a million pieces of shitty pixelated CGI the moment it gets touched but nothing like that ever happens with Inko. But I guess they have to keep her alive as a romantic interest for Inaho, because it's not a true mech anime without poorly integrated love triangles am I right?

4/10 Female Inaho. Yuki Kaizuka, the bastard love child prototype that made way for the masterpiece of perfection that is her brother Inaho Kaizuka. Knowing just how hopelessly inferior she is to her perfect brother she tries to mimic her brothers robot like persona by getting a robotic arm to assist her broken one. But fails miserably at acting utterly emotionless like her brother does. As well as being perfect in every way possible like him. Seriously Yuki its not that hard to be a completely flawless human being. Way to break character, you fucking poser. She acts all lovey dovey over Inaho but comes off a bit more bitchy and possessive than Inko does when she tries to stop him from saving the damn world out of fear for his safety. At least wanting your brother to live is a slightly better excuse than liking birds.

All of the other characters basically get sidelined and don't do anything or have anything worthwhile to say about them. 0/10.


ENJOYMENT 5/10

The action was enjoyable enough. The only saving grace was the okay action. (And seeing Slaine's beautiful face marred with his salty tears at the end.) It follows a pretty cookie cutter formula of: Scary new Martian bad guy with fancy unique kataphrakt appears. It rains pain down, destroying a bunch of faceless Terran mooks, as well as miraculously damaging but never killing any of the minor characters that happen to be fighting. Then Inaho comes and saves the day with his tactical and scientific brilliance as his signature battle theme plays for the umpteenth time. Rinse and repeat. Some of the battles have some interesting strategies and events, but it's all methodically predictable. So if for some reason you are reading this review without even starting the show I wouldn't recommend this if you aren't a huge fan of action and mech anime.

If you have already watched season 1, I wouldn't really recommend you to either continue or discontinue the show, that's up to whether or not you are one of those masochists that don't drop any shows they started.


Well that concludes my review. Now if you excuse me I'm going to see what kind of horrific yaoi fanfiction fujoshis are making between Inaho and Slaine.

A mecha show like Aldnoah Zero isn’t without controversy. They say controversy creates attention, and honestly, it’s a bit of an understatement with this show. From the way the first season concluded, one could not help but wonder how they will craft the contents for the sequel. It should be no surprise that many viewers will wonder the fate of our main protagonists (such as Inaho and Asseylum), the state of the war, and what’s in stored for Slaine. However, what blasts off this season is nothing short but predictable cliché writing, a stack of weakly balanced characters, and in general a disappointment that doesn’t ... seem to be able to correct itself from what season 1 got started on.

Like the first season, the sequel begins directly from where the season 1’s events left off except with a time skip. Characters still look the same but some things have changed. Included with these include the absence of Asseylum on Earth. Then, there’s also Slaine who has now devoted himself entirely to the Martians. And in a state of war, Aldnoah Zero Season 2 seems to continuously shove down the audience’s throats of the personal struggles of certain characters. Don’t get me wrong though. I like how the show expresses its interest to show how our main characters’ lives are going in season 2. The problem I find is how it constantly recycles the same ideas over and over again. In general, it fails to ensnare a viewer’s interest with the frequent ideology clashes. Less emphasis is put on the development of our characters but instead showing them their roles with a lot of badly stitched tropes. Furthermore, season 2 seems to highlight on even more problems with plot holes and writing for certain supporting characters. Logic itself also makes the audience question sometimes if the show knows what it’s doing.

For our main characters, most of them play their roles in the war. Although many characters has certain objectives, it’s clear that the show has a weakness with its character development. Only on occasions do certain side characters shine in this second season. This is because the sequel seems to emphasize on building up the story with various interconnected events. However, the grim reality is that it’s predictable down to the earth and nothing really stands out besides our main characters. Season 2 also seems to have forgotten some of the major supporting characters on their development. (Rayet anyone? Calm?) In short, it’s neglecting their chance to shine and seems to constantly try to shove down the main characters down our throats. New character such as Harklight and Lemrina doesn’t gain any strong characterization at all. For instance, Harklight seems to play the sort of devoted servant for his “master”, Slaine. On the other hand, Lemrina is has a borderline obsession with him. It’s kind odd really. The sequel almost seems to devote its entirety on Slaine’s ambitions and ultimatum. Some of the diverting romance sub-plot is hardly anything interesting with the lack of interest between Slaine and certain characters. In general, it’s messy with its characters.

However, I do have to give credit to certain characters that makes their name more known compared to the previous season. One such name is Mazuurek that viewers may have forgotten about. His role in this season is expanded and in fact, even interesting to see considering where his loyalty lies. This seems to be a sharp contrast with other Martians who holds their close minds about pursuing peace. Instead of conquest, Mazuurek is devoted to Asseylum and believes her to be alive. So what does the man do? Take the risk and find her. Unlike the rest of the Martians who are too busy trying to stack up body counts or flexing their mecha biceps, the show offers a more thrilling insight on his mission. Unfortunately, this is still mostly overshadowed by our main character/antagonist Slaine. Season 2 really tries to show what he is capable of and his ambitions but it’s not working. His emotions gets the better of him and even some of the people that trusts him deeply now have turned against him. It’s hard to feel sorry for him because his own actions previously caused these consequences. And not to mention, his rivalry with a certain guy he dubbed ‘Orange’ isn’t going to forgive him.

Although not overbearing, some good portions of the show concentrates on action. However, it still remains the style it portrays with its gimmicky fighting. In particular, certain mecha now has ability to clone themselves, use piercing threads to slice and dice, or even make frost out of their enemies. Technology seems to have unlimited boundaries in the series as we even see the conscious of an electronic eye take hold of a person’s mentality. As fascinating as this all sounds, there’s really not much to get hold with these creative ideas. No matter how outrageous some of these ideas gets, the end result is almost always the same. The familiar strategies used through teamwork or taking a chance by calculations. Season 1 did that and the sequel doesn’t really express itself any differently. The modus operandi seems to be that wherever battles happen, the result is almost predictable. Certain build ups and death flags are also become more like false advertisements as well. Talk about disappointment.

On the more technical side, I do give praise to some of the artistic direction the sequel handles itself. Action is fluid and the coordination is attractive. Even some of the new style of the music can be appealing when combined with the intense elements of sci-fi warfare. The OP and ED songs also holds some degree of symbolism along with a few recapping of the first season. Character voice mannerism on most parts remains solid and character expressions show credibility with the events of the sequel. However, it can be cringe worthy to hear some of the stereotypical emotional scenarios because honestly, it’s all over the place.

In retrospect, Aldnoah Zero Season 2 is a slick and empty hollow shell of its prequel. Many events are predictable with a lesser degree on character building but more so on their grand roles. And to be honest, it’s annoying to see the same repetitive angles used over and over. At times, it even looks fake with a wrestling-like drama with faces and heels. It’s not only that but the story itself also introduced certain characters out of nowhere. While certain characters do get more emphasis compared to the first season, some of the previously established characters seems to lack focus on-screen. Instead, we are constantly being fed by Slaine and his preposterous ambitions that can be ridiculous dull. I can’t say for a fact that the sequel is complete utter trash though as it is mildly interesting to watch the development of the Vers/Earths War. It’s somewhat thrilling to see which side will win in the end and whether or not certain characters will meet their endgame goals. But for now, season 2 doesn’t get any better. Not by a damn long shot.

-This review will contain spoilers of season one as it relates to season two-

There's something extraordinary about trainwreck titles. Its ability to draw in viewers like moths to a flame, watching as the work fold in on itself, seemingly out of breath from the layers of its incompetence. The likes of which forming something like a toxic gas that stifles every bit of its production. Good ideas immediately dying off from screenplay pesticide, hovering over everything like a merchant of death and decay. You see, there's a kind of beauty to it all. The way everything topples over like a game of Jenga, with each ... piece representing a bad aspect of the overall project. The act of "being bad" in itself isn't due to a lack of inherently good attributes, but the fact that what little good is there can't survive because the ground it's growing out of is a complete landfill. When your base foundation is toxic, the only thing left to do is watch creativity wither and die, as it foolishly tries to eke out a meager existence in a place not meant for its type of inhabitants.

A bad show making a bad continuation is one thing, but seeing an average one that maintained a steady course of passable grade content, effectively take a kamikaze nosedive into an endless sea of stupor—now that's when things really get interesting. Vanilla content turned into a chocolate turd with sprinkles. Aldnoah.Zero 2nd Season is a serving of just that. A vaudevillian display of secreted nonsense, all standing out for the wrong reasons.

So where do we start with this one? It seems like a reach out in any direction to describe what went wrong would seemingly send you spiraling down a bottomless pit. Proceeding with caution isn't much of an option when this follow-up has the logistical density of walking on eggshells. I guess we could start by addressing the "story and characters," or whatever chicken scratch this anime is attempting to pass off as such. And since I seem to be running with the poultry metaphors, we'll touch bases with our egg connoisseur and master tactician first, Inaho. This season sees our Gary Stu coming out of his shell, abandoning his brick wall personality to emote occasionally, almost like he's a "character" or something... well, almost. Where he served as a bodysuit for the audiences to roam about the world before, now he's effectively turned the autopilot off and began doing things for himself. More specifically, he's given an end goal to motivate his actions. Where the problem in this season lies is in what he's given to obtain this end goal, as the screenplay bends over backward to hand him any and all tools necessary to succeed.

Where the first season was grafting its existence onto the template of Gundam as its skeleton, this season travels off the beaten path to problematic results. The ability of "Aldnoah" is no longer treated as a guarded inheritance by selected users, as now its power can be gained through a trading system. This system in question was possibly the worst written transferring mechanic to debut in 2015—that being a kiss. No, that wasn't a joke, the second season of A.Z quite literally made Inaho an Aldnoah user byways of a fucking kiss. This is something other stories would use as a form of a joke, as is the case with High School DxD's "Boosted Gear," which is powered by boners, being done as a sexual innuendo to parody shounen content. But that's a comedy, A.Z isn't. And so this season can be seen as a joke of itself without an inkling of self-acknowledgment of that fact.

But it doesn't stop there, as egghead Inaho is also granted another major advantage. This time diving more into the realm of 80s cinema cheese.

If you're reading this, I'm going to assume you've already watched season one, and if not, I will have to address the events of the finale to help explain the origin of Inaho's next hackneyed powerup. Season one's finale was concluded by a big shootout involving all of our key players up to that point. A shootout that saw Saazbaum and Asseylum gunned down by Slaine. This included Inaho, who received a gunshot wound to the head. Which, by the way, is a wound with a 5% survival rate, not even accounting for the smaller 3% chance of maintaining a good quality of life after recovery. Being the Gary Stu that he is, Inaho pulls through, seemingly getting rewarded a cybernetic eye for his troubles, which grants him an even greater tactical advantage. Now he can integrate his knowledge base with access to an infinite pool of information via the internet from his eye implant. He becomes part Terminator, part egg lover, and 100% HAX; why do these circumstances make him act more human as a result is beyond my comprehension (and the scriptwriters, for that matter). I guess it took getting shot in the head and being part cyborg before Inaho could act less robotic; on a meta-level, there's a bit of irony in there worth exploring, but I'll leave you to indulge in that on your own time. For now, we have more nonsense to explore.

For one, The yin to Inaho's yang, Slaine, has finally gone "full retard," and as the wise words of Kirk Lazarus from Tropic Thunder once said: "Everybody knows you never go full retard." After his failure to kill the men that have been the ire of his existence—despite putting a hole through the skull of one and firing off a dozen shots into the body of the other—Slaine decides to help out Saazbaum "cuz reasons." Entrusting his life in his hands, Slaine vows to serve under Saazbaum ranks for the final battle to come. You know, the "normal" thing to do after you empty a clip into someone with murderous rage. At this point, to say Slaine is a poorly-written character would be a gross understatement. His personality from scene to scene is a complete coin toss. From pragmatic at one moment to pure lunacy by the next, there's really no predicting what the screenplay has in store for him. The only guarantee given is consistent inconsistency; the ultimate oxymoron made into human form.

Bringing these two sides of the autistic-character spectrum together is the ongoing war that reaches its final chapter. One that takes towards the heavens, as the earthlings and people of Vers turn the leftover remnants of the Moon into their Battle of Gettysburg. This was brought to life in shitty fashion, as it seemed that the people responsible for the post-production coverup magic in season one has finally succumbed to the same level of complacency plaguing the rest of the staffing. Likely due to the new battle locations not allowing for the use of inclement weather and structural landmarks to hide the issues, the mech suits are now left naked in the vacuum of space. Their gross textures, impersonal designs, and robust movement placed one center-stage, as they're sent jettisoning awkwardly across the sky. It's a real visual eyesore, made even worse with the stark backdrop hanging in the background of a majority of the shots. Clunky pieces of CGI just bumping ugly in the open emptiness of space that surrounds it.

This wouldn't be so bothersome had everything else been done to a bare minimum, but surprisingly enough, the character models and sparsely used landmarks were done with a semblance of quality control behind it. By contrast, the mechs just stick out even further. It's a distracting mix of artificiality and decent content. Of course, Hiroyuki Sawano does what Hiroyuki Sawano does best, making the soundtrack the real star attraction amidst all the mismanaged production issues. Other than that, this 2nd season leaves very little to be desired, serving better as a drinking game for every time the show shelled out a new asspull than it does a "decent" continuation.

Even if the first season was a ripoff, it was, at the very least, a ripoff of something good. Season two isn't that. There's nothing to sugar coat here; this was a complete disaster. Very few shows have failed to the degree in which this one does. It's almost impressive just how little they manage to get right. But perhaps the greatest irony is that this season failed not because it was an off-brand like its first season but because it actually tried to do something different for once. It took a leap of faith only to be greeted by the ground below, and while that would be funny in most scenarios, here, it's nothing short of embarrassing.

With how much I loved season one, I was so excited for season 2 to start. Please, I'm begging you, do not watch season two. Stop at episode 12 of season one. Season two will ruin the entire experience for you. No matter how much you love season one, don't do it. Just don't. Anyway, on to the review:

STORY:
Basically, they take the entire ending of season one, take everything back, and then proceed to stop all over the plot and tear it apart, piece by piece. It's a mess. I'm honestly so upset with hoe bad this was.

ART:
It's almost like they forgot how to ... draw their own characters. Inaho looks off the entire time, Asseylum looks like a baby whale when she's sad, Slaine doesn't look nearly as good as he did in season one, I could go on. I loved the art of season one. This was a mess, none of the characters ever looked quite right, and frankly the fight scenes were also boring to watch and were always anticlimactic. Oh, and the second ending song, which plays for episode 11, looks like it's drawn by a two year old

SOUND:
The soundtrack is still amazing. Luckily that didn't change between season one and two. same great songs, and some great new songs. By all means, download the season two songs, but don't watch the show, please.

CHARACTER:
Basically they took all character development and recked it. the first two episodes of the season makes it seem like Inaho is gonna be better in this season. The first two episodes lie to you.

OVERALL:
I absoluetly LOVED season one. To the point where I had it listed as my number one favorite anime, and I was constantly making gifs of it. Second season makes me ashamed to like season one. I vote that we delete this season from existence, pretend episode 12 of season one is where Aldnoah.Zero really ends, and move on from there. on a final note: PLEASE DO NOT WATCH THIS SEASON, EVEN IF IT'S JUST AS A JOKE BECAUSE YOU KNOW HOW BAD IT'S GONNA BE. AVOID AT ALL COSTS. IT WILL DISAPPOINT YOU. DO NOT DO IT.

"BAM!" "BAM!" "BAM!!!". This was how season 1 ended. I was rather thrilled by the sudden plot shift, and dearly looked forward to season 2. Oh how wrong I was back then.

Story: 1/10
The very first episode of season two should have been a warning to me NOT to continue watching. It totally invalidated what season 1 had tried to build up(in the last episode). There was no major plot progression at all. Majority of the episodes followed this simple recipe:
1)Enemy(Martians) attacks
2)Non-Inaho personnels try to fight Martians
3)Martians engage their special weapon
3)Non-Inaho personnels struggle
4)Inaho to the rescue!
5)Enemy Martians get defeated ... by Inaho
It then spirals to meaningless battles between The Deucalion and The Martians. There was no clear motive by Slaine, the antagonist. I wouldn't even call him an antagonist. People were just fighting in the series to waste screen time. They could have better spent that time detailing about Dr Troyard and the history of Aldnoah. Sadly, they did not. To be honest, there was no story whatsoever.

Art: 3/10
The mechas and their animation just did not fit the space background. It felt out of place. The facial expressions of Slaine were, at times, poorly drawn. Asseylum sometimes appear to look somewhat like a whale. Inaho's face looked derpish too during certain scenes. This season's art was sorely inconsistent, which was rather surprising since season 1 had a rather decent art.

Sound: 8/10
I'm sorry but sound alone cannot save a series. Sawano Hiroyuki should not have wasted his talent on a show like this. The opening to the second series was well done. It has this rock-ballad feel to it which is just HNNNG. In fact, I felt that this season's opening was better than that of S1(by Kalafina). The OSTs were reused from S1 but everytime they came on I just realized why I continued ploughing through this series week after week.

Character: 1/10
Huh? What character?
INAHO appealed to me at first because I thought he had some backstory to him that gave rise to his stoic mindset. I was wrong yet again. He is basically the solution to every problem. He gained a power-up too this season which made him even more God-like, less sensitive, and more emotionless. I can't say much about him because there isn't exactly anything else to say.
SLAINE was my favourite. Was. Then he became a confused maniac - he suddenly wanted to destroy Earth for no plausible reason. While Slaine may be suffering, watching Slaine in season 2 act like a complete fool gave me more suffering. However, he was the most fleshed out character of the entire series - that I can say for sure. His dedication to Asseylum, his determination to rise up the ranks, and his cunningness pleasantly surprised me at times.
ASSEYLUM. Nope I'm not gonna waste my time talking about a character who barely made a difference in S2(Some may argue that she did something in the last episode, but did the Orbital Knights listen to her?)
LEMIRA. I actually don't know what happened to her after the 'finale'. She was your typical jealous girl character who wants to get into the pants of a guy that adores her sister.
I HAVE TO TALK ABOUT MARITO. He is the most pretentious character I have ever come across in any form of entertainment. "OHNO I HAVE HAD EMOTIONAL TRAUMA FROM MY PAST WAR(which wasn't even explained properly); I DRINK TO EASE MY PAIN; I CANT KILL AN ENEMY". He wins the title of most pretentious character. Period. A pity that he is voiced by my favourite seiyuu who also voices Hijikata(mayonnaise).

Enjoyment: 2/10
I only enjoyed two and a half things from this series: the music, me being able to laugh at the ridiculousness of this series, and the last 1/2 goes to Slaine. If you have read till here(thanks for reading btw), do yourself and I a favour by skipping this season. Season 1 was all right. Just.skip.this.season. If you want mecha anime, there are better ones out there. (TTGL, E7, CG, Gundam Unicorn, FCLC)

Overall: 2/10
+2 points for music. I have stated earlier that music alone cannot save a series. You can have the best composer in the anime industry on your production team, but if your story has no substance, your characters no proper development, and your art no consistency, it is impossible for your anime to be worth watching at all.

Stunning first season,original production, amazing Music by Hiroyuki Sawano, boring second season and terrible ending. I could be talking about Guilty Crown, but unfortunately is Aldnoah Zero.
After the end of season one, i thought "This can't be another guilty crown, right?" I was so wrong.

The season two started really well, but don't be fooled, the story will progress to a point that you will finding yourself hating the characters you used to love and forgetting some of them because it only focus on the trio Inaho, Aseylum and Slaine. The end is weird, rushed and does not make any sense to me.
(spoilers ... from here)


Although the end isn't what you could say "sad", it was one of the more unpleasant endings i ever saw, they focused so much in the main trio and at the end not a single one seemed happy nor sad, it was the "so so ending for everyone", Inaho is just Inaho, in love with Aseylum and keeping his nemesis alive by her wish, Slaine is "saved" by the wish of Aseylum, but this is the worst punishment for him, and Aseylum, who loved both Inaho and Slaine marry a random count (A pointless marriage, since it didn't really stop the war) that appeared in two episodes and is happy because earth is in peace now.

(Spoilers end here)

Unfortunately i'm in love with the soundtrack, so this is another anime that will be haunting me, every time i listen to it, i remember how unpleasant that second season was.

Thank you, Winter 2015 for producing another disappointing sequel. I enjoy it.

STORY (3):

The story continues where season 1 left off. The story involves the war between Earth & Martians. How will they solve their resolutions?

I enjoyed season 1. It had fun characters and an excellent build-up. Unfortunately, just like Tokyo Ghoul season 2, this sequel suffers from tensionless fight scenes and boring characters.

ART (4):

... The animation is nothing special.

SOUND (4):

The music is not memorable.

CHARACTER (3):

Oh boy? Where do I begin?

Inaho is so overpowered that he gets the job done easily. The rest of the cast members are relying heavily on Inaho all the time. Inaho barely shows any emotion, just like Edward Cullen. Inaho is just a wish-fulfilment character.

Slaine was an interesting character, he could be an anti-hero. If he was given a better material, he could have been a memorable villain. However, his character was handled terribly.

Asseylum Vers Allusia was useless all the time. She barely did anything. In the 1st season, she contributing something. However, in the second season, she become more useless. What are you writers doing? Give better roles to women. C'mon. First was SAO, then its Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei, and now this.

Rayet Areash, OMG. She is the most annoying character I have seen in my entire life. All she does is cry and moan all the time. She showed determination in the 1st season, however in the second season, she became more annoying that usual. If I thought Stephanie Dola was annoying, she is way worse than Stephanie Dola. At least Stephanie Dola didn't moan or cry all the time. I don't care if you say "Her parents are dead so that's why she acted like that". There are characters whose parents are dead, and they learn how to become determined to succeed. Example Shinji Ikari, he might be annoying however he showed some determination inside him.

The rest of the characters are bland.

CONCLUSION (3):

I am not going to waste my time talking about it because I have better things to do. I enjoyed the 1st season however, the 2nd season is a mistake to watch.

What ultimately makes this sequel worse than Tokyo Ghoul's sequel is the characters. At least the sequel of Tokyo Ghoul have characters that never annoyed me.

I have to give this anime a 3 out of 10.

Note: this review encompasses both seasons 1 and 2 of Aldnoah.Zero

One thing as an anime fan I've never really been able to get into is the idea that a single name behind a project can generate hype. I think it's better to prioritize looking at the scenario, and the studio's track record first and foremost as opposed to getting excited because of the reputation of one individual. Of course that "one individual" in this case just so happens to be one of the most controversial writers in the business to date, Gen Urobuchi. I'm not really here to get into my personal stance on Urobuchi ... obviously, though If I was to be honest with you, I am for the most pretty indifferent to his output. So I wasn't necessarily excited to hear that this was his brainchild nor was it much of a cause of alarm to hear he jumped ship. Considering how the quality of Gargantia and the Psycho-Pass franchise suffered after he handed those off (and not to mention the fact that the guy who took his place was the same dude who brought us Boku no Pico AKA everyone's favorite meme recommendation) perhaps some serious red flags should've been raised. I'm sure you know where I'm going with this. After an OK start, the writing really unravels itself into complete oblivion in the most uninteresting way imaginable.

Another issue is that none of it's battles feels particularly weighty or meaningful in the long run. The show doesn't really manage to make up for that with sheer entertainment value since the skirmishes between the two factions feel very samey-samey and repetitious to the point where you can make a sort of drinking game out of it. A shot every time UFE (United Forces of Earth) soldiers shoots repeatedly to no avail at overpowered marauders from Mars and end up becoming death fodder. A shot for every time Inaho appears, analyzes the enemy and finds out their weakness just minutes into the battle and wins. A shot for every time the plot isn't impacted in any meaningful way and all named characters come out alive. A shot for...OK, I think I've made my point. What also doesn't help is that the battles somehow turn a strong Sawano OST and turn into a negative. The issue here is that the music selection is incredibly shallow and overstated. They literally play the same theme for every battle against each Martian onslaught, only swapping themes once after the season break and continuing to do the same afterward. This way the OST not only makes otherwise good tracks seem stale, it also assigns the same level of importance to the battles with random irrelevant bad guys as it would the season-ending climaxes. Gimmicks are the only thing that set the battles apart from each other, the only real question is what broken power will the Martians bring to the table for a high schooler to overcome. From the mech that erases everything he touches to the mech that can freeze surroundings to the mech that can clone itself endlessly, it still manages to feel rote. The impenetrable layers of plot armor and the uninteresting hold-overs from skirmish-to-skirmish eventually make the action in Aldnoah.Zero a complete bore.

Everything I've brought up this far has only really been enough to make the show completely mediocre at worst, but the characters are what make Aldnoah.Zero a true failure. It's hard to not feel anything but the deepest of apathy for the UFE in particular since most of them aren't given a lick of depth and the only character arcs that are thoroughly set-up (Marito and Rayet's) fall off the face of the Earth in the 2nd season because they become entirely irrelevant. Honestly, the entirety of the UFE may as well be renamed the United Job-squad of Earth since they'd be about as capable as an infant in front of a bloodthirsty pack of hyenas if not for Inaho, which finally brings me to everyone's favorite autistic ace-pilot. There really isn't much to say about the guy that isn't incredibly obvious from the 1st few episodes and that's what hamstrings the show most out of all of it's problems. There's no getting around it, Inaho is just one massive, expressionless plot-win button to the point where the likes of Kirito and Tatsuya Shiba. They try to make it seem as if he actually gives a damn about anything by having other people talk behind his back about the guy he really is underneath, but even then he fails to stir much in the audience besides boredom since he would swear vengeance upon the enemy for the death of a friend with same level interest one would put into ordering a carton of discount eggs, possibly less. He has no interesting backdrop, development or anything resembling catharsis. He's just "competence" incarnate and that's fucking lame.

The Mars side fares better in the writing department considering, but that's pretty faint praise by my estimation. Of course, the only interesting character to follow throughout the entire series is Slaine Troyard for better of or worse. He has the benefit of not only being allowed to make mistakes, yet he also drives the story forward so he's already much better than any of the characters from Earth for that alone. The 2nd half mostly revolves around him and the decisions he makes that don't necessarily line up with the desires of the princess he once tried to rescue. His actions and his ambitions essentially run in opposite directions in the latter half. Without going into specific-spoiler territory, everything that befalls him in the second is completely a result of his own lack of foresight and thus it becomes difficult to feel bad for the guy. His evolution from a chicken running around with its head cut-off in the name of the Princess to some sort of Machiavellian-type mass-murderer overnight and it's hard to buy. The logic behind this character feels tacked on and silly. Sauzbaum had potential as a true antagonist because he was an actual character as opposed to most of the crazy warmongering elites, but even his character is wasted in a fairly stupid manner.

Aldnoah.Zero is just one of those titles I've completed only to question why I ever bothered with it in the 1st place. It sure as heck isn't smart enough to win over Legend of the Galactic Heroes or Gundam fans, nor is it stupid or edgy enough to capture the appeal of Valvrave or Cross Ange. Of course Aldnoah.Zero is full of nonsense too, but it takes nonsense far too seriously to the point where laughing at the writers is the best reaction I could possibly hope for. It never even manages to become a complete trainwreck at the end because the resolution in the final episode just feels too damn simple and lacking in pay-off. Character arcs and plot-points (like the research of Slaine's father, the origins of the alien technology, the issues with Inaho's eye, etc) are tossed into the wind since the series has wasted too much time in the 1st 23 episodes to do anything but fizzle out in a way that makes much of what the viewers subjected themselves to feel even more pointless than before.

It's a show for nobody, not even the most die-hard Urobuchi-philes since his influence on the majority of the story is non-existent and no attempts were made to even provide a cheap imitation of his voice. Want a mech series with romance, plenty of action and a strong OST? Watch The Vision of Escaflowne or Macross. Want a full-blown epic-scaled war between two sides with plenty of history behind it? Go check out Legend of the Galactic Heroes or get into the Gundam. As far as I see it, Aldnoah.Zero offers a war without weight and politics that lack intrigue.

After watching the entirety of the Aldonah.Zero series (except for the recap, I didn't consider it necesary for obvious reasons), I decided to write my very first review on MAL.

First of all, I would like to clarify something: I'm not a diehard mecha fan. I only watched other three mecha animes, specifically Neon Genesis Evangelion (including EoE and the Rebuilds), Gurren Lagann and Code Geass R1 and R2, and I could say I'm used to the genre by now.

After clarifying this, now I can talk about what are my thoughts about Aldnoah.Zero season 2.
I'll try not to spoil much, but I do need to talk ... about some stuff that really bothered me. A lot.

STORY 3/10:
So we begin 19 months after the events of the first season. The war between Earth and Vers continues as we find out everyone who presumably 'died' in season 1's finale is actually still alive.
We find out, through flashbacks, that Slaine Troyard spared Saazbaum's life after he shot the princess, but with the condition of taking her with them to save her life. Later on, the Earth people find Inaho unconcious and managed to save him, even though he was shot in the face.
Back to the present day, Inaho Kaizuka is back to kick some martian ass and be as emotionless and flat-written as always, only now he can know EVERYTHING thanks to his new fancy cyborg eye.
Oh, but how will the Earthlings fly their Aldnoah-powered ship now without the princess around? Simple, Inaho has the power to activate Aldnoah now. Just because he did CPR to her after she choked on her french fries on season 1. That's it, a fucking 'kiss' can give you the mystical power of Aldnoah, passed on generation after generation, something probably genetical, easier to get than contracting AIDS!
Everyone else depends on Inaho, as always.
Meanwhile, a fake princess Allusia appears, declaring that Earth must be invaded and stuff. We find out she's Allusia's half-sister and that she also has this shape-shifting power thing. The real princess stays in a comatose stage and only Slaine, Saazbaum, Eddelrittuo (the princess's loli) and the half-sister know about her.
Slaine gets greater and greater ranks between the Vers soldiers, and with the help of the fake princess, gets everyone to try to fight the Earthlings and take over Earth, even thought this was AGAINST what princess Allusia desired.
The ending is the stupidest thing ever.

ART 5/10:
The art is actually pretty neat, but the animation can be a bit confusing at times. The fighting scenes are 100% CGI and may be hard to follow. The character design is not very outstanding. Some characters look very much alike, at least between the Vers counts.

SOUND 7/10:
The music for this series felt adecuate, but it's a bit repetitive. It fulfills its purpose, but nothing else. The Kalafina opening was a lot better than this one. The ending theme is okay...

CHARACTER 2/10:
Until the end of season 1, the only likeable character was Slaine Troyard... but they fucking ruined him.
Inaho is still as boring and uninteresting as in season 1. He's the clichest character I ever seen, OP'd a lot, as smart and tactical as Light Yagami and Lelouch combined, and now he's even half cyborg, as if he wasn't emotionless enough. He has no backstory, no clear motivations, no nothing. I can't even consider him as the protagonist.
Slaine was the only character with actual character development, even until season 2. We saw him rise from the bottom to become almost Emperor of Vers. But after the princess was retrieved from Earth, the writers forcefully turned him into the 'bad guy', with no clear motivations, other than 'I DO THIS FOR TEH PRINCESS', so he goes against Earth, even though, once again, THIS WAS AGAINST WAHT THE PRINCESS DESIRED.
There is not much to say about the other characters without spoiling stuff, but I'll just say that they're not very outstanding and there's practically no one else is very relevant in the story. Well, maybe Alussia's sister, but there's not much to say about her either.

ENJOYMENT 3/10:
This second season felt very promising when first announced, even though there it seemed hard to have a new and fresh start with most of the main characters 'deceased'. I even thought Slaine was going to become the main protagonist, but I wasn't sure what to expect of him.
This season felt cliché-er than ever. No one dies, in contrast with the first half of the series (lol), the good guys always win and never lose, the bad guys, even with their dozens years advanced technology, are brutally defeated, and the ending is the worst shit I've ever seen.
There are a lot of plot holes in the story, no plot twists or sudden relevant changes, the non-battle scenes are boring as hell, and the battles themselves... well, all praise Inaho the all-mighty. He can do EVERYTHING.
BTW, why do their mechas look so much like Code Geass's Knightmares? They even have that harpoon shooting thingy... Hmmmmmm, I smell lack of originallity.........

OVERALL 3/10:
Disgusting.
This felt as a huge step backwards compared to the first series. Actually, the first series wasn't that good either, but the second season is actually worse. The characters are even lazier written (and more unrealistic than ever), the story fucking sucks, the ending fucking sucks, they don't even have Kalafina, and it's all plain boring.

If you enjoyed season 1, go watch it, but you may be VERY disappointed.

(This has been adapted from my reddit thread. Spoilers ahead!)

Something that everyone struggles with are "blocks." Maybe it's procrastination for that next exam. Or maybe it's the comfort of bed instead of the treadmill. Whether it is mental or physical, there are those times where one just doesn't want to do whatever it is that needs doing. In other words, there is a lack of motivation. So maybe it's the joy your parents would feel by seeing a good grade, or the elation you would have at obtaining that tone body, that motivates you to accomplish that ever elusive goal. Motivation, like those "blocks," is ... always present; you just need that initial push to really get going. And Aldnoah.Zero 2nd Season is a prime example for when such motivation is sorely lacking.

STORY

Zero Two (the moniker to be used) takes place several months after the conclusion of the first season. Inaho has miraculously survived, Slaine has climbed the Vers' ranks, and Asseylum is currently in a coma. Irrespective of their situations, war continues.

What Zero Two, like its predecessor, mostly focuses on is the action that permeates much of the show. The space battles, the cool robots, the random technology; it's an anime that is entertainment first and purpose second. And for the most part, the anime gets this right. While everyone outside of Inaho is fodder or useless, the range of scenarios that the action encapsulates are wide and varied. Whether it be taking down a Kataphrakt from the Earth's orbit or using a multi-lock-on system to eliminate the enemy in a solitary strike, Zero Two is always looking to switch up the formula in order to keep the show both refreshing and fun. There are always two issues that persist through all of the fights, though: Inaho and his robotic eye. Inaho is a "Gary Stu:" he's infallible, un-killable, and nonnegotiable when it comes to battle. He never has any problems dealing with the enemy (a reason that is never really explained) and thus the skirmishes follow the same pattern and predictability: good guys are losing, Inaho devises plan, and Inaho wins. These repeated events occur at an even higher probability due to his newfound eyeball. Acting as a sort of supercomputer, Inaho's already unfair level of tactical skills is amplified by his trusty ocular, making what goes down between Inaho and the enemy seem more like hide-and-seek rather than war.

There is another problem that persists, but not between the battles but instead between the seasons. And that is Zero Two's inability to properly utilize the very assets that it holds. The show has a lot of material to work with outside of the war, the main cast -- Inaho, Slaine, and Asseylum -- and the overarching plot. But it doesn't use any of it for some baffling reason. In fact, it even introduces new facets that go unused. Some easy examples include: Rayet and Marito's backstories, perceptions, and ideas; Inko and Magbaredge's role in the grander scheme of things; the political subterfuge that exists within both the Earth government and Vers Empire; Lemrina's and Maazurek's overall influence on the people that they were connected to; and Yuki's and Harklight's relationship with the person they were "protecting." There's a lot that is going on, mostly because there is a literal interplanetary space war happening in the background. And subsequently these myriad of relevant plot points are generated, and for good reason; they contain a breadth of potential that the anime can catapult off of. Yet, it never does: such elements stagnate and are sadly wasted by the time the anime finishes.

But when the dust settles and the eggs are counted, Zero Two does contain some semblance of theme. Like the introduction stated, motivation is a factor that is omnipresent; it's the kind of "entity" that allows someone to do or not do an action based upon the amount given. And for our main trio, this idea is displayed nicely enough. Inaho is wholly guided by Asseylum's light, and wants nothing more than to make her wishes come true; Slaine's motivation is at first Asseylum's protection but devolves into a thirst for power; and Asseylum herself discovers through the actions of these two boys that the brokered peace that she had always dreamed about was within her grasp. And this kind of thinking, that motivation takes on multiple forms, is manifest in all parts of the show. The Martian fighters rally to fight for Slaine's cause, Yuki and Inko look to support Inaho, and Lemrina is spurred on by Slaine -- the only person who shared even a shred of caring for her. So, while the actual narrative is a package filled with unused goods, Zero Two's motivational theme is tried and true.

ANIMATION

Zero Two's art was often quite nice to look at. This is mainly due to the landscapes that the anime found itself in. There were grassy plains with overcast, arid deserts with relevant sand dunes, and dilapidated cities that harbored past transgressions. Alongside the art, the show does a nice job of keeping the choreography of the fights easy to follow due to nice use of the camera. The Kataphrakts' abilities and the general dueling that occurred never felt overly difficult to read, making these bouts that much more exciting.

The character designs for the anime are nothing too notable. It's a "realistic" setting, so many of the characters are given realistic designs. Of note are Asseylum and Lemrina for their more stand-out dresses and hair styles. But beyond them, the rest of the cast is rather unimpressive, especially in comparison to the art.

Actual animation for the show was normally about average. The anime heavily relied on CG, namely with the Katphrakts and the Deucalion. One becomes desensitized to the three-dimensional usage after a time, but when it isn't showcasing this kind of animation, the rest is often static scenes with characters talking or lamenting.

CHARACTERS

Zero Two places the majority of its bets on two separate couplings: Asseylum and Lemrina, and Inaho and Slaine.

Looking at the pair of princesses, it's not immediately obvious who the better of the two is. One was sidelined into a coma and contracted amnesia for three-fourths of the show, while the other saw insignificant progression in her emotional balance. These descriptions fit Asseylum and Lemrina, respectively. The former does nearly nothing for the entire season, with her only act of importance coming through in the way of a radio message. She sees no development, serves no purpose, and has no worth outside of her name. She literally becomes a tool to be used -- for both sides of the war -- whenever the plot sees fit to take her out of the drawer. It's an unfortunate outcome that came to be because of her sister; Lemrina's inclusion in the story is not only sudden, but a direct byproduct of Asseylum's condition. For without the lovable, kindhearted girl, someone had to take her place. Therefore, the sibling does. But instead of being filled with good, Lemrina is filled with evil; her scorn of the position she's in, her jealousy of the sister she has, and her feelings of loneliness stir within her the makings of a mentally unstable being. She often talks of the moon base as being "her home," simply because it's the only location where things have gone right for her. She's accepted, her sister is gone, and Slaine is by her side. Yet, her home, like her character, explodes. By the anime's end, while her characterization exists, she, like her sister, means nothing to the story outside of a few radio appearances. In other words, the two are bound both by blood and badness.

The second pair is more of a seesaw than a level playing field. Inaho is the all-mighty warrior, the de facto champion of the Earth's soldiers. He begins the season compliant of the higher-ups that are guiding their hand, simply engaging in feud after feud to much success. And while Inaho always manipulates the outcome of the fights in his and his comrades' favor, there isn't any manipulation of his actual character. He without a doubt plays the biggest part in regards to everything that goes down, but lacks in personal development. Which might just be a corner he was written into thanks to the writing; his unbeatable status, his ridiculously overpowered eye-friend, and nonexistent emotions make such growth impossible. He cannot be challenged and he cannot be affected; he's as much a robot as the machine in his brain.

This leads to the higher side of that seesaw. Slaine Troyard is a man with a mission, one that he will do anything he can to accomplish. Initially, this goal was to save Asseylum, to keep her safe. But it slowly morphs into something more sinister: the attainment of absolute power. And this progression in his character makes complete sense; his previous passiveness nearly caused him to lose that which was most dear to him. So, this season, he moves from being reactive to active. Slaine's gall gradually grows, and as the people around him note, he no longer acts as a mere cub but as an unrelenting wolf. But as his ruthless behavior begins to amass, his unending bloodlust blinds him. Instead of caring for Asseylum, he cares only for the structure around her; he lies to her, deceives her, and undermines her, all for the sake of "keeping her safe." Yet, his actions sacrifice everything that Asseylum not only held dear around her but also held dear in him. And when Slaine realizes the folly of his ways, it's too late; he's been saved, forced to atone for the sins he mistakenly created. A poetic end for a poetic character.

SOUND

The OP starts with soft singing that accompanies some hard guitar and a simple drum beat. Yet, it works; it's catchy and sounds quite pleasant to the ear. The near halfway mark causes the singer to adopt a more prominent role in the piece, with grander singing and more skip-like lyrics. But past this point, the instruments work to overtake the singer, causing the piece to lose its established "oomph."

The ED is also a strange beast. It is filled with background ambient effects to sound more space-like and mysterious, but drowned out by powerful vocals and more rambunctious drum playing. At the very least, the opening and ending choir-like singing is quite captivating.

The rest of the OST contains specific pieces that are quite good, such as the lone female singer that follows along with the show's signature beat -- the one obtained from the previous season's ED. Others definitely fit the mood for the show, too, such as the slow violins during the tense buildups. The tracks certainly sound like Hiroyuki Sawano composed them, but they don't feel like his music. There isn't anything from them that is truly memorable or standout, despite everything sounding so nice.

As for voice-acting, the cast involved performed somewhere around average. Nobody involved was truly given the opportunity to shine, but Sora Amamiya as Princess Asseylum did a wonderful job capturing that innocently tender way of speaking.

ENJOYMENT

Part of the reason for watching this one, at all, was in wanting to see where the characters ended up. And upon seeing them all return, that wasn't extremely off-putting. Sure, it's completely implausible, but getting to watch the main three head toward a conclusion was going to be fun to see.

"Was" is the keyword. For what was given wasn't fun, it was lame. Not only is the final "duel" between Orange and Bat absolutely boring but Asseylum doesn't even end up with either of them, and more specifically the obvious choice in Inaho. I'm a huge romance guy -- it's my favorite genre. So watching her marry some random boy -- after having someone like Inaho chase after her, after giving him a beaded necklace from her, and after she starts to cry as she says, "I also think of you as a part of myself" -- is quite infuriating. Maybe his eye mistranslated his feelings towards Asseylum or maybe her decision was circumstantial. But it's clear from her and his actions that there was something between the two. And wouldn't it have been an even better sign of peace between the two sides if a Terran and a Vers became betrothed instead? Goading people on then forcefully throwing the rug out from under them is not enjoyable; it's frustrating.

Aldnoah.Zero 2nd Season starts off precariously, seems promising throughout its run, but ultimately ends on a very sour note. The story is misshapen, the characters are shoddy, and the rest is lackluster. While Asseylum, Inaho, and Slaine may be smiling by the show's end, I most certainly am not.

SUMMARY

Story: Bad, focused yet predictable entertainment, abundance of unused plot elements, motivational theme

Animation: Fine, nice art style, okay character designs, average actual animation

Characters: Bad, Slaine cannot support how awful Asseylum, Lemrina, and Inaho are

Sound: Fine, okay OP, okay ED, good soundtrack, average VA work

Enjoyment: Bad, the out-of-left-field "romance" is very frustrating to handle

Final Score: 3/10

*Review for both 'seasons'. This is simply one series split into two halves*

Aldnoah Zero is a mecha anime that pits the forces of the earth against a Martian empire whose technological superiority is underscored by a ruthlessness and pride resemblant of the great empires of earth with centuries of history. The year is 2014, and it has been forty-years years since the Martian empire was founded.

Wait.

Forty-two years?

Okay, let's try this again. Aldnoah Zero is a mecha anime that features plenty of drama, action, and even a hint of romance, but fails to set up its story and characters in a way that any of these ... elements can resonate with the viewer. The lead character, Kaizuka Inaho, takes the stereotypical self-insert main character to ridiculous length by having no emotions for the great majority of the series. Meanwhile his rival and series antagonist, Slaine Troyard, is a significantly more human and interesting character, far more so than the rest of the cast. But whereas Inaho's actions are guided by some sort of logic, Troyard's motivations for his absolutely insane schemes are never explained, shown, or slightly conveyed to the viewer in a believable way.

Ultimately, it doesn't matter if the Vers empire has existed for forty-two years, forty-two days or forty-two centuries. Either could work if there's some kind of impetus for the conflict presented, something tangible that makes us empathise with the circumstances of both sides. But throughout the entire series, not once are we given some kind of deep glimpse into the Vers Empire. There are a lot of remarks about how the masses of Vers are poor, but we never, ever see them. We only see the handsome knights, soldiers and gleaming technology. So as far the viewer is concerned, the behaviour of Slaine Troyard, the Vers Empire, in fact most of the characters in this decrepit series is inexplicable.

When I am getting increasingly bored and frustrated of Aldnoah Zero's boring, creatively frustrated plot, it has a little party trick to pull. Decent fight scenes. Watching Inaho figure out and exploit the weaknesses of the Vers Empire's high-powered mechs is one of very few enjoyable parts of this series. Ultimately, it's just a deus ex machina if you break it down enough, but it means the fight scenes are quite varied and sometimes surprising, even if the overall structure is predictable.

Aldnoah Zero is nothing if not well-produced. Having the mechas entirely animated by 3D models is going to be a turn-off for many, but they're quite detailed, the designs are good, and while the animation can seem clunky, the choreography is emphatic. This is also one of the many recent series scored by Hiroyuki Sawano, and while his music often comes across as bombastic, it's distinctive and forms a great accompaniment to the action. Though, while the art and character designs in Aldnoah Zero are decent, the colour palette of the series is cool and miserable, which only serves to mirror the boredom of the plot.

Frankly, with a project as large as this, a good presentation is the minimum I expect. This is what Aldnoah Zero is, the minimum of expectations. By refusing to have any kind of personality, whether figuratively in terms of story and setting, or literally in terms of characters, it doesn't offend enough to put its audience off from buying it, but it never elevates itself above mediocrity either. The question is, do I rate this a 5 to acknowledge its workmanlike averageness, or a 3 for not even trying to hide its identity as a cynical monetary franchise? Let's split the difference.

Story: 3, Art: 5, Sound: 7, Character: 3, Enjoyment: 4, Overall: 4

Goddammit.
As an admitted fanboy of the first Aldnoah.Zero season, I was greatly looking forward to this, the second season.
But, I'm left with simply a feeling of disappointment.
Warning- There may be spoilers.
Story- 3

Disappointing. That's really all I can say. Even as a fanboy of S1, I'll admit that the story was at most, poor. From the cliffhanger of the first season, I'm not sure what I was expecting, exsctly. Inaho might be missing a few brain cells, or there may be a new main character introduced instead. Even that I would've been fine with.
Instead, Inaho is given a new, shiny, Deus ex Machina eye that can ... pull off spatial calculations in seconds.
Ok, I can work with that.
Oh, the eye apparently has a will of its own.
...
I f*cking hate you.
The main focus of this season, to me, was mostly slaine. But, I'll get into that in the character sections.
Art- 8
The art follows the style of the last season.
Explosive action scenes with close to flawless use of CG (In my opinion),
And all around pretty good art.
Sound- 9
It's Hiroyuki Sawano.
From the seeping vocals to the flawless OST arrangements, the sound is amazing.
And that's all I'll say.
Characters- 2
This is where I really, really wanted to see some improvement.
The characters weren't that great (understatement) from S1, so I was hoping that Inaho ' s presumed death might force them to mature in some ways (and we all know how well that went) in addition, the one non-onedimensional character also fell flat.
Slaine kidnapped Seylum, and what happens?
He puts her in a healing tank of some sort and looks at her.
Besides a few moments, he really doesn't have as much development as he did.
Enjoyment- 5
I'll admit, I enjoyed it for the numbing action scenes, but.. that's about it.
Overall- 4
Meh.
So much potential gone to waste from the first season.
It really saddens me.

*Mild spoilers, particularly for the end of season 1*

How did this happen? Why did this happen? I know season 1 wasn't necessarily a masterpiece, but you could at least make the case that it had clear intentions, contrived as its methods tended to be. Here's it's a gigantic car crash at the beginning and end, occupied by a lot of nothing of note happening! What happened to all the big moments that season 1 was peppered with? What happened to letting characters sometimes have backstories or anything that could help them somewhat resemble actual characters rather than caricatures (not that the antagonists of the first ... season weren't caricatures anyway)? What happened to the wonky action scenes that often used actual movement and terrain to its advantage sometimes? How do you shit the bed this hard?

Oh wait, it's the second season of a mecha anime that already had some major scriptwriting issues that were bound to worsen as the series progressed. That explains everything! Geass R2 (ok that might be unfair cuz R2 ain't anywhere near as bad as this show), 00 Season 2, SEED Destiny, meet your new best friend as I proceded to beat the ever-living shit out of him!

The first episode is literally just a baffling cop-out of the first season's ending. It's an actually incomprehensible middle finger and one of the worst first episodes I have ever witnessed. Both Inaho who got shot in the head at point-blank range and Asseylum who was shot by a VERS version of a shotgun in the head, are still alive with no major head or brain damage. Count Saazbum, despite being riddled with bullets, is alive, and Slaine takes both him and Princess Asseylum with him, and everyone just fucks off and rejoices, except Slaine who goes nuts throughout the course of the season. The finale of the first season was a horrendous cliffhanger that already relied on terrible melodrama and arbitrary sequences to sell itself, but actively undercutting everything it tried to accomplish is not at all a good way of trying to "make up for it".

1 and 1/2 years later, Slaine has gone through the ranks of the VERS people, and with a now seemingly evil Asseylum leading, he feels that it is his turn to take charge and eliminate the humans of Earth to make it their new home. Inaho, and the rest of that military he was in, continue the battle, with little having being changed. The rest of the show until the finale is just Slaine rising through the ranks and Inaho taking down more VERS and keeping one prisoner to help him find Asseylum. Better than the first episode which has more plot holes that Saazbum had bullet holes, but a meandering mess where almost nothing of value happens. The finale just turns into this mush of obscene melodrama and rushed circumstance because they wanted to get the war over quickly and cut to everything and everyone having a mostly happy ending without the proper time necessary to devote itself to showing us a sense of proper reconstruction and consequences of the war's end. It's a baffling nightmare that makes me wish I was watching the final arc of Macross instead.

Inaho and Slaine are the actual worst here, which is an accomplishment given how terrible Inaho was last season. Inaho continues to be a ridiculously overpowered tofu MC except with less arbitrary douchebaggery towards Slaine and more robo eyes because he really needed to cement himself as superhuman. Slaine is the ultimate angsty, melodramatic pile of shit who just screams blood, cries, and vows for vengeance without having any concrete character or even having his progression naturally link up with the first season in practice. There's so little to mention regarding any of the other characters either. There's nothing going for any of them outside of the camaraderie some of Slaine's lackey's towards the end of the series share. It's a neat gesture, but it's too little, too late. Everything else is just a black void that somehow trumps even the abysmal writing of the narrative.

Visually, the show suffers compared to its predecessor as well. The CGI was never good, but the mechs tended to be surrounded by large objects in the first season so they facilitated movement and covered up some of the faults that were present. Here, empty space everywhere, both on Earth and in space! That means we get to see the awful CG mechs in full glory, just hovering most of the time. The 2D artwork is still solid, however. Sadly, it's wasted on pretty mediocre character designs that don't tend to have too much movement during most of the action scenes because TROYCA's awful CG (maybe it was A-1 Pictures, I wouldn't be too surprised) needed do be dragged around all the time. There's significantly more actual animation when the characters are running around doing their own escort missions or hanging out than during the battles themselves. It's pretty, but that's all there is.

The dub was ultimately one of the only saving graces of the show, even with some of its star players such as Patrick Seitz gone. That said, the dub is once again overshadowed by the show's OST which comes with several new insert tracks and bombastic background tracks to marvel at. There aren't too many new additions and the new tracks aren't quite as good as "No Differences" from season 1, and perhaps this isn't one of Hiroyuki Sawano's best OSTs, but it's still one of the highlights of this miserable series. The opening, "&Z" by SawanoHiroyuki[nZk]:mizuki, is a stellar track that builds up a sense of tension and melancholy before launching into a bombastic sequence that hypes you up for each disastrous episode. The main ED, "GENESIS" by Eir Aoi isn't as great as what came before, especially when it goes from emotional to sorta plain in the chorus, but it's still a nice song to listen to. The penultimate episode's ending theme, "Harmonious" by Asseylum Vers Allusia starring Sora Amamiya, is a lot more emotionally resonant, really representing the emotional climax the penultimate episode wants to have.

It's been several years since I've seen it, and I still remember how much of a disappointment Aldnoah.Zero was. After season 1 fell apart, season 2 decided to trample over any good will that was left before meandering for 10 episodes and then crashing and burning in spectacular fashion again. It's amazing to witness how easy it became to get disillusioned with this franchise by this season if the previous one didn't already do the trick. It's like witnessing a car crash and wondering if the people survived only for the wreckage to explode at the very end! It's amazing! I wouldn't say I despised this season, but it really was a gigantic misfire that imploded in on itself. This second season makes the first look like Turn A Gundam, and that comparison is honestly fitting if you've seen both A.Z and Gundam. If nothing else, it was entertaining to see the community react the way it did to this mess. Still, watching and talking about the show is honestly tiresome, and that right there speaks volumes of this dumpster fire more than its catastrophic first episode ever will.

I watched this series with a pretty decent amount of interest until the last two episodes.

The ending of the first season hints at how the plot points of season 2 will be and the penultimate episode made it painfully clear how shitty the last episode was going to be. I only skipped through the last episode, because I pretty much knew what was going to happen and even after 12 above average episodes, 10 meeeeh episodes, and 1 "uh... alright..?" episode... I didn't care anymore, I have stuff to do, let's just get it over with. I'm not sure I've ever gone from engaged to ... dismissive with a series that quickly. I could have forgiven this dumb season if it would have ended in a way as complex as they TRIED to make it.

I almost liked a mecha series. Almost. Way to blow it.

I would have been happier if everyone important died and both planets descended into chaos at the end of the first season. This season literally didn't need to happen at all.

Read LionCake's review. It's 100% accurate.

TLDR: Unpolished gem turned into shit instead of a diamond. U DUN FKD IT UP.

MINOR SPOILERS, nothing that will surprise you.

Aldnoah Zero basically had the setup of Code Geass, Slaine = Lelouch , Lemnrina = CC .


The first season is relatively average, Inaho going seed mode every-time and destroying every enemy in their ``vastly superior mechs`` , Slain not having much screen time sadly.

The second season goes like this, skip everything to do with Inaho and his crew of generically boring friends. Enjoy watching what Slaine will do next.
Each episode ... goes from 20 to 8-10 minutes of just watching Slaine and his Orbital Knights in action, literally the BEST part of the anime, Inaho pales incredibly had in comparison, it`s utterrly astonishing that they copied and pasted what he did from the 1st season instead of focusing on Slaine.


At the last few ep`s Slaine totally loses his drive, his princess is in another castle, boo fkn hoo ._.

Minor spoiler here.
Asselyum basically announces that she`s married some random Orbital Knight and want`s everyone to stop fighting, Slaine gives up. What he shouldve done is use his `Fake Princess`Lemrina and have her accuse the other one of being a fake all while being beside Slaine who would order his followers to continue their mission.

Bam, a stroke of genius from Slaine and the anime keeps going in a fking great direction instead of the train wreck it turned into.


The scriptwriters should`ve been replaced with someone competent.

- Slaine was the best character, could`ve been better
- Inaho was overbearingly boring, shouldve stayed dead
- Whoever directed this was a moron.

I rest my case.

As this is the second cour for the show Aldnoah.Zero, I will assume you have already seen the first half, but not the second. Going off this basis I will partially discuss major plot lines that occur within the first cour of the show. If you actually plan on wasting your time with the first and possibly the second cour after my (and many others) warning against such a path, I would suggest you find another review. Though I honestly don't know why you'd want to, as there are far many other mecha anime out there that both look better and are presented better. But ... without further ado, here is my take on Aldnoah.Zero's second cour.

Story: 3/10
Picking up nineteen months after the first half, we find not much has really changed on a whole. We discover that Slain is now a knight under Count Saazbaum. Princess Asseylum is in a bacta tank recovering from her gunshot wound at the end of the first cour, and is thus comatose. Finally, we find that Kirit- I mean Inaho, is not dead and now has a supercomputer in place of his eye, as he was shot in the face at the end of the first half. It appears almost nothing has happened in the last nineteen months, as the war is still on, but none of the characters have changed, or have changed so little its unnoticeable. All major developments have been stalled, and it seems like the only purpose for this time skip was to make it more dramatic when Asseylum inevitably wakes up, making the time skip wholly unnecessary.

Without spoiling anything that occurs in the second cour, this show story clearly had a lot potential, as The Urobutcher himself created the original concept and first episode. Being a big fan of Urobuchi anime, (Psycho-Pass, Fate/Zero, Madoka Magica, to name a few) this show had a lot going for it. However, with constant nonsensical character developments, and the walking Deus Ex Machina of an MC, we get a very unpolished product. This show had a direction, but it felt like the directors wrote the story into a corner, and instead of re-writing it, they just had Kiri- I mean Inaho, fix all the problems magically. While this is less annoying in the second half and more realistic due to the introduction of Cortana in the form of Inaho's left eye, it's still extremely annoy to watch the supposedly vastly inferior Earth forces constantly overpower and win out over the technologically superior Martian invading forces, because some kid is far too intelligent for his age.

Art: 4/10
While the art is not godawful, for a mecha show, you expect your mechas to look nice. But when they are just mechas are all CG all the time, they look very choppy and out of place with the rest of the characters. The characters themselves are pretty boring, and only have a couple of unique features, but for the most part just look like your average KyoAni esque anime character. (Note, I realize Kyoto Animation did not animate this show, that's just the name I've given to characters that look like this, as they might as well be KyoAni characters) While I do like the KyoAni style design, it's getting really monotonous, when everybody looks the same. However, my major gripe and the reason why I score the art so low, is because the CG mechs. I cannot stand this trend of godawful CG showing up in shows. It's lazy, looks like garbage, and it needs to desist, as it brings down quality as a whole. Speaking of lazy...

Sound: 3/10
To me, sound might as well just mean soundtrack, and so that is the biggest factor for this low score. However, the voice acting in this show was of average quality, and I had no qualms with it. The actual SFX was decent as well, but wasn't anything all that unique, but was certainly not bad. Now my main issue with this series is Hiroyuki Sawano. This is a man who has taken the Call of Duty approach to sound design. The first show I saw that he worked on was Guilty Crown. Guilty Crown has one of my all time favorite OST's, and is a big reason I think so highly of it, even though it has some awkward plot lines here and there. The next show I watched that had Hiroyuki's name on it was Shingeki no Kyojin. This show also had a very good soundtrack, but I couldn't help but feel it was far too similar to GC's. Take Bios and The Armored Titan's Theme, for example. Both have German-ese vocals, loud orchestral music + bass. Not exactly the same but the style just feels stagnate. It only gets worse from there, as next was Kill La Kill, which like Aldnoah was also a disappointment. I feel this is also in part to Hiroyuki, but KlK had a lot of it's own problems. Again, the only song I even remember is "Don't Lose Your Way", and only because it's so campy. Finally, we get to A.Z's OST, and at this point it all just sounds like poorer versions of GC's OST, as if Hiroyuki has run out of conductive genius, and is just trying to emulate his previous successes.

Characters: 2/10
I've already said basically anything that needs to be said about Inaho Kirigaya. Kazuto Kaizuka is Deus Ex Machina, and nothing more. He's a kuudere, but without the dere. He's completely unlikable, and I was very excited at the concept of him being dead at the end of the first cour, as it meant we'd hopefully get less plot convenience and more actual story. However, he comes in and saves everything every time, so much so that he's not even a character, he's more like a force within the series that pushes it forward because no one knew how to write a story without the Eagles coming in and saving the Earth and Company.

Next is easily the best and most frustrating character in the series, Slaine. Slaine was the most relatable character within the series, and is thus the most frustrating because he is not given the proper development he needed to really shine and make this a series worth watching. In the end he just feels like a crappy version of Suzaku. He gets a very good arc that could have gone sooo perfectly for him, but you know he can't achieve his goals because the "good" guys have to win.

All other characters feel like set pieces, and are so distant they don't feel real. The only one I want to mention is Kouichirou Marito. This is a character that in the first cour gets a great amount of development and could actually be a great character fighting with his PTSD after encounter a Martian warship and his forces being devastated by it. But I can tell you exactly what's wrong with him, by simply quoting what is, at the time of writing this, is his bio on MAL itself: "No biography written."

Enjoyment: 1/10
Very few shows actually piss me off. Even shows I absolutely despise, like Mirai Nikki, were incapable of pulling this feat off. I knew exactly what was going to happen at every turn, and was never surprised. This show followed the most linear path it might as well have been a line on a piece of paper, it's about as generic as one too, so I'd have trouble distinguishing which was which. That's a lie of course, because one of the lines would make me extremely perturbed, telling me exactly which is which. I don't write reviews that often, but when I do, it's for shows that I love so much and think are underrated, or I hate so much I feel it's my civic duty to warn others to stay far, far away from them.

Overall, I personally rate this a 1/10, but I think it's actually closer to a 3/10. This was a mainly negative critic, but I felt this show had so much potential, and because it didn't live up to it, I personally feel like it stole my time from me. And I want it back.

Just no. The development was out of wack, like Inaho saves the day as always. Even when the almighty arrogant martians start working together (a feat that seemed impossible due to their leader like behavior), he still manages to pull something out of his ass.

Asshime's personality was warped just so the plot could thicken.She starts off as a peace loving princess which if you've seen the first cou, was all because of her meeting with Slaine. Slaine soon becomes her best friend and all that jazz but then during the 2nd cour, she has the audacity to point a gun at the person who ... has kept her people an herself alive? Asshime was one of the most screwed up cliche anime characters that differently needed a redoing.

Slaine . . . . Believe me, I can write more than a four page essay on why Slaine and possibly even Rayet were the only good characters out of this whole show.

Stick to the first cour.

Now then, well to start?
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.
</spoilers>

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.

There comes a time where I come by a show and I am really impressed and I had a lot of fun watching. Season 1 of Aldnoah.Zero was awesome. I had a lot of fun watching this badass mech anime. It ended on such a cliffhanger that made my head explode I couldn't wait to see what would happen next. Boy did I wish I didn't know what happened next.

WARNING SPOILERS BEGIN HERE:

So at the end of Aldnoah.Zero season 1, the Princess and our edgelord main character both are shot dead and that's the end. I was losing my shit cause it was so ... fucking incredible. But then there was a dissapointing turn over in the second season where they retconed their deaths to them both living and they didn't really die...FUCK THAT BULLSHIT! It now felt meaningless and all forms of excitment where you could build from that where we could see a background character rise up to become the real hero and keeps the memories of the Princess and edgelord in their hearts or whatever and it could have been a really exciting and very emotional. But no they brought them both back to life and nothing of consequence was lost. It was so shitty and from there on it went downhill. It was the sharpest nose dive I've ever seen in writing. Aldnoah.Zero 2 is absolutely trash. I am so angry and sad to say it but I dropped this show fast before it got even more painful. I felt cheated of a real story and series. This could have been, no wait, it should have been amazing but it just ended up shitting the bed and ruined some really amazing potential. I hate cop outs on the death of characters. It drove me up a wall during Attack on Titan and it did it here for me too.

**THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN A FEW SPOILERS**

Woah, woah, woah, woah, WOAH!! What happened?! I haven't seen a sequel to an anime bomb this hard since Tokyo Ghoul Root A and Psycho-Pass 2. It is quite astonishing how an anime can do a complete nose dive in quality over the course of a couple of episodes and even though I thought that the first season of Aldnoah.Zero was mediocre I would think that it would stay that way throughout its whole span but I was proven wrong.

Story: (2/10)

The story of Aldnoah.Zero 2nd Season starts off 19 months later after the ending of the first season with ... Slaine rejoining the Martians and the whereabouts of Princess Asseylum being unknown. One of my problems with the story is how predictable it is with its writing and it definitely shows this the most during the battles. This is how most of the battles go, 1. Enemy shows up with a new mech that has a special ability. 2. The characters get into their own mechs to fight the enemy. 3. The enemy's mech shows its special ability by killing many no name characters. 4. The characters all panic because they can't find a way to beat the enemy. 5. Inaho comes out of nowhere and comes up with a plan to defeat the enemy and then immediately kills the enemy. It just gets so predictable that it gets really boring to watch and to make things worse is how they give Inaho a new ability to make him much more overpowered that he already was. Another problem this story has is how season 2 doesn't take the time to close up any plot holes that were left from the first season and it even adds new plot holes to the story. The way Aldnoah.Zero Season 2 ends is just very unsatisfying. It feels like a big slap in the face after finishing the anime.

Art and Animation: (6/10)

The art stayed at the same quality like the first season of Aldnoah.Zero. The backgrounds still look pretty good and the character designs managed to stay consistent but the only thing that held the art back was the CGI which was also the main problem I had with the art in season 1. The CGI appears even more than it did in season 1 and seeing all these scenes with CGI makes things much more unappealing to look at. The animation still managed to stay consistent with its fluency.

Sound: (7/10)

The sound is still the best part about Aldnoah.Zero. They still kept all the same good songs from the first season and the OP and the EDs are good. The voice actors were all solid and the sound effects were average.

Characters: (2/10)

The characters yet again are the worst thing about this anime. All the new characters that were added into this season didn't add anything to the story and were very forgettable. Inaho and Slaine didn't improve at all, Inaho still stayed the same no personality character and his only purpose is being able to defeat all the enemies that appear. Slaine in this season became much more terrible because of how much more inconsistent his personality is. He pretty much changes his opinion on things every second just to further the plot. All the villains in this are either one dimensional or only appear for one episode because they die in that episode.

Enjoyment: (3/10)

The only things I found enjoyable in this anime is the art, animation, and sound.

Overall: (3/10)

Aldnoah.Zero's 2nd Season managed to make an already mediocre anime much more worse than it should have been and I would in no way recommend this anime.