Aldnoah.Zero Episode 4 Discussion

Orvieto said:
What reason do they have to 'trust' the princess so openly? Seeing as the Martians have cloaking devices and are shown they know how to use doubles, what's stopping a cloaked Martian from cloaking themselves as the princess, or really any high ranking authority/diplomat, and once led to the HQ broadcasts the coordinates for a direct Martian assault on the Terran leadership?

Skraggy said:
I can see the soundtrack being overplayed

orchidork said:

now that the urobutcher's involvement is over it's easier to notice the show's flaws.

BullSmit said:


It's pretty much the same thing being played every other scene in a different key or scale. It's not really special in any shape or form. Half the time I feel like I'm watching SNK, and of course, that would be because of who's composing it. A little more diversity in the sounds he uses for his composing would be nice, but I'm probably reaching too far.

Skraggy said:
I can see the soundtrack being overplayed

Kaioshin_Sama said:


More like people are just going to be more open to noticing and criticizing the script for it's flaws that have been there since day one now since that guys reputation has to remain absolute perfect for reasons of fanboyism and people needing at least one writer in the industry to worship over like they do Sawano and his white noise music. The only real difference in the way this episode was written that I could see was not all the dialogue is hard wired towards exposition purposes. Though it's more like it went from 100% exposition dialogue to something more like 90%. There's basically just some throwaway banter now to give the sub characters a little bit more personality, but of course that's going to stand out by comparison since it actually exists now.

Sourire said:
Like in every anime using Sawano..Holy fuck you're obnoxious.. "I'm not a hater" lol right.

Sourire said:
Like in every anime using Sawano..

Skraggy said:

Except this time it sounds a lot more stale.

He's probably saving the big guns for the inevitable second season of AOT

Skraggy said:

Except this time it sounds a lot more stale.

He's probably saving the big guns for the inevitable second season of AOT

Kaioshin_Sama said:

I'm starting to think he does it on purpose now because it'll remind people of other mega-hyped shows he worked on. I can't count the number of times people have insisted this soundtrack is a masterpiece not because of anything to do with actual composition or demonstrable appreciation of the music, but simply because it reminds them of Attack on Titan or Kill la Kill.

BullSmit said:


I doubt the second season of AOT will sound anything different from the first.



It's far from a masterpiece, that's for sure. I wouldn't be surprised if you're spot on with your assessment of why he actually keeps using the same programs and sounds to compose his music.

Being someone who's composed digitally, I can understand using the same programs, because you want to use what you know best, but diversity is extremely important too. It'd be nice if one day Sawano could add that to his music, but what you said above again, is likely why. Popularity >>>>>

BullSmit said:


I doubt the second season of AOT will sound anything different from the first.

antonn said:
Dat ED is simply orgasmic.

Kaioshin_Sama said:


More like people are just going to be more open to noticing and criticizing the script for it's flaws that have been there since day one now since that guys reputation has to remain absolute perfect for reasons of fanboyism and people needing at least one writer in the industry to worship

Vanisher said:

You don't need to know that the writer changed to notice that there was a clear change between this episode and last episode.

If someone complains about "flaws" of these new episodes they are clearly not talking about things that were there since the start.

ichii_1 said:
This whole series is like 15 min okay/average and 5 min awesome and 3min for op & ed.

They want to be or surpass Gundam? XD lol, they better be ready to lose 10's of millions of dollars if they want to solidify the franchise until it gets big.

Tommk said:

I would rather it not get as hyped as gundam. Gundam fanboys gave me cancer

Keten said:


To be honest, nothing should ever be as hyped as Gundam. I mean... Isn't Gundam practically the mascot of Anime in general? For a company to even suggest or imply they are going to surpass Gundam, that is pretty stupid of them. o.O

Tommk said:

SAO for next mascot of anime please. Heh

Anyways, Gundam isn't even the best anime evarrr for me. It's just there for its gunpla, mascot, classic old school where people can talk about it saying how they miss the series.

Its overhyped :(

Kaioshin_Sama said:


Well I mean you can only go to the well so many times before it starts to dry up a little and the water doesn't taste as good anymore. That and his style really has changed a lot for the more simplistic and homogeneous ever since Guilty Crowns soundtrack. I'd like to see what he can do with a full orchestra again like he had with Unicorn and some stuff before that but it doesn't look like he's going back to it and prefers the white noise sound now. It also just has to be a lot easier, quicker and cheaper to produce if he's going to be doing every soundtrack for every show that wants to play itself off as operatic and epic now like it's starting to same. To me it's less an issue of him lacking the talent and ability so much as high demand makes it impossible to put his best into every work. That's why I still really like Yoko Kanno as an example. She's used pretty sparingly as a composer and she brings something a little different to fit the work she's handling every time she gets a contract.

drama_menck said:
very interesting proposal of the anime, I'm curious about your development
I'm also liking the main character, I like characters with this personality, no one of anything for them, but when they need, they go and do what must be done in incredible way, I think his coldness demonstrates its concentration ..

bonifide said:

I agree with you i guess a lot of the new anime generation are use to whiny ass brats. He actually reminds me of Heero from Gundam Wing some. They forget the students are actually trained soldiers unlike that other dumb ass in the other mecha show.

Keten said:


You are free to enjoy what you like, but if you want me to justify why I dislike characters like this, it is because they aren't remotely interesting or relatable. Due to having no emotion, he has no room for development, because of that he is stuck as a 1-dimensional character. Wanna know the only way he COULD get development? If something happened to turn him into a "Whiny ass brat" as you put it.

Say what you will, but I will take a relatable flawed human being over a perfect emotionless badass any day of the week.

Flaws make characters good. Emotions make characters good. There isn't even any appeal to him because it's not like he's funny or entertaining in any way. Not to mention how lazy it is to write an emotionless character.

Giving a kid training in a camp does not equal them never having emotions or flaws. People have emotions, that is how the world is. War is a touchy subject, it effects everyone, especially those who go into war. You think soldiers are just emotionless machines who are fearless? Hardly, many never are able to get over what they witness, so having a character so insanely not human be a main character is insulting to the theme of war. (That is why Slaine is far more interesting)

bonifide said:


I never said anything wrong with Slaine but I am sick of whiny brats in serious type animes. Plus i know wars affect people i guess i shouldnt compare it the other mecha show this season. I assume something happened in his past to make him this we will find out soon. I dont mind if he gets emotional but i like the fact he kill if he has too. I hate soft people in a war type show who ends being the hero in some lucky way. If you aint notice the most merciless tactics usually win wars in the real world.

Keten said:


To be honest, nothing should ever be as hyped as Gundam. I mean... Isn't Gundam practically the mascot of Anime in general? For a company to even suggest or imply they are going to surpass Gundam, that is pretty stupid of them. o.O

Sourire said:
A1.. Were talking about the studio who completely butchered one of the best manga out there (Magi).

Keten said:


You are right, much like the hiroshima and nagasaki bombings in japan. Oh that's right, the people who issued those bombings felt sick and suicidal after giving the order to do that. You make it sound like killing people is badass. When a series is trying to take itself seriously with a war theme, they better damn well get the killing aspect right.

Killing changes people, for the worse. Even if the people they kill are horrible, it still effects people. Even if I shot a rapist or murderer, I would still feel terrible, I would still feel sick, possibly even suicidal because that is what killing does to people. War is not some bullshit, "WOAH LOOK AT THIS BADASS GUN IMMA GUN DOWN THESE PEOPLE CUZ THEY SUCK." sure, some people end up that way, but it isn't because they think they are badass, it's because its escapism from what they truly feel inside, a deep hatred of themselves.

The only people who kill and feel nothing are sociopaths. Aka, people who do not act like humans. REGARDLESS of how much experience, training or how old you are, this is the case.

Not to say killing people can't be entertaining to watch in anime, but that is only the case for shows that do not take themselves seriously which this series clearly is trying to do.

GodlyKyon said:

Or that they were sociopathic. I think you're right about variety of things regarding to war, but Inaho here hardly flinched at anything. he either is deeply scarred or he just don't give a damn about people/

laldonkaments said:


I'm also a fan of such characters - if they're adult people with a sufficient amount of life experience.
Giving such features to a teenage soldier-trainee babyface-brat is annoying as hell... (well, a piece of the moon probably fell on his parents and now he's a totally composed mad dog, YO!)

Keten said:


That is what I ASSUME they are going for with him. Which would make me less angry at his characterization I guess. Regardless though it still stops him from gaining any sort of development. I would rather see him be scarred and go emotionless by the end of the series rather than right off the bat and I don't see why they couldn't have just done that.

Keten said:


Except that the things people tend to be complaining about this episode have been around since the previous episodes.

Emotionless main character - check
Boring action due to one side being overpowered or just stupid - check
Cliche cartoony villains - check
Nonsensical character traits (Why are these kids better than experienced soldiers?) - check
"War is bad" theme being SHOVED DOWN OUR THROATS - check
Awkward and exposition filled dialogue(Albeit not as bad as the previous episodes) - check

These are things that were around since the very beginning, it's not like they just SUDDENLY appeared. I am just glad people are starting to pick up on them.

GodlyKyon said:


Well, the series is nowhere close to finishing, so we'll have to wait until that happens. I am not exactly sure why are people supposedly super impressed with this central character. Sure, he is much better than the beta male protagonists that are so common in ecchi-harem series out there, but the way he behaves is just ... too emotionless. And what's more they haven't really been throwing anything obvious as to why he would act this way(maybe it happened in the first episode with him not waking up his sister or something), like a past ... Or a flashback when something he does reminds him of his childhood.

I guess people just aren't questioning these things. But as of now, he's pretty much a wrench in moving the plot to a certain direction. Not sure why he's outsmarting all the Martians either.

And I'm not even gonna question the setting.

Whatever, at the moment, he's a tool; maybe he will grow into something different though.

parfaited said:
Needs less Inaho and more Slaine.



Yeah some lines are weird like that one were they were telling the girl that that's why she couldn't get a date.

Slaine and Cruhteo look similar. Watch them be related.

I enjoyed the ED.