Story- 8/10
The setup and world building of A/Z is well done. The first episodes are a great hook for the rest of the show by using shock and awe to portray how crazy the scale is. Nuking a major city on the first episode is guaranteed to at least catch your attention and make you curious about the possible resolutions to this huge conflict.
The split story-telling between our two protagonists, Slaine and Inaho, kept the show interesting. During calm periods in Inaho's story, something happens to Slaine, and vice versa.
A major issue with the story however is that the big beefed up mechs are often beaten using coincidences or convenient plot devices. Some enemies are defeated in a more logical manner, while some lean closely to the "asspull" part of the gradient.
Characters- 9/10
Save for Inaho, all of the characters feel real, likable, and relatable. Their relations, wants, needs, dislikes, goals, and personalities help bring you into the world of A/Z. Save for a few instances where a person snaps to help advance the main plot or a subplot, the characters all act rationally and use logic and strategy to the best of their abilities.
The common pacifist princess trope, Asseylum, is subverted into a character who detests war, but understands the necessity to fight back. Instead of being weak and worthless while crying about the war, Asseylum goes active as a part of a few operations over the course of the story.
Inaho, the highly trained Terran soldier, is an extremely hit or miss character. His emotionless efficiency was highly entertaining, but in a show where all the characters are well written and realistic, his presence slightly takes away from the atmosphere of the show.
Lastly, Slaine is the Terran who serves Asseylum and was initally with her at the beginning of the story. He is the irrational, impulsive, and emotional counterpart to Inaho's inability to care about anything. The differences in situation and Slaine's personality create a lot of duality in the story, which I really enjoyed.
Animation- 8/10.
The animation is fluid, but there are a couple issues. A/Z doesn't really try anything new or eye-catching, simply resorting to the solid, fluid animation that we see in most anime today. The CGI mechs fit into the scene much more smoothly than many other shows, but it still doesn't quite feel right to see an animated character next to a CGI mech. The only other issue is that once or twice, it's difficult to understand what exactly happened on the screen until the character explain it for you, due to some chaotic moments passing by extremely quickly.
Sound- 10/10
It's rare for an OST to be the anchor that solidified such a high score for an anime many were underwhelmed by, but the fact of the matter is that this show has some of the best musical accompaniment I've ever had the pleasure of listening to. Combat scenes had excellent combat music. Psychological scenes had excellent psychological music. Tense situations had either no music or even better psychological music. I could go on and on but my point stands that this show's music is exceptional.
Overall- 9/10
With the action scenes, well written characters, jaw-dropping OST, and interesting compelling war story, this show is extremely well done. I highly recommend this to anyone looking for a war-time action show, mecha lover or not. This is not quite my anime of the season, but for what it's worth, it came pretty damn close.
