Story: Aldnoah.Zero is an obvious homage to the gundam series and it succeeds in creating very cool and interesting action scenes. This shows story is simple yet there are a lot of factors surrounding it that make is unique in it's own right. In short words the story is good enough to keep you watching until the end but it isn't going to please everyone.
Art: The art aside from the action sequences with the CGI, is very simplistic. The art I felt was perfect for the show. Especially the colors they chose. The colors in the art can be vibrant but also bleak and it adds to the show depending on the story. In short the art makes the show more enjoyable.
Sound: This is by far the best part of Aldnoah.Zero. I loved every part of the soundtrack. I would definitely buy the OST and listen to it on a daily basis. The songs range from high octane vocals, to powerful orchestral pieces, as well as the calm and soothing songs that fit well and make the viewing experience an absolute blast.
Characters: Okay this is where it's going to get quite long. Now I want to get out that I feel as though the writers wanted to take these characters somewhere and wanted to have some depth, but that's all they really were, wants, and wishes. These characters are just boring empty shells that try to be this deep and complex character when they aren't. I specifically want to talk about Inaho as I believe contrary to almost everyone saying that he is the best character, Inaho is the worst character ever written in anime. Now that is taking it a stretch but I can't help but think that it's true. The writers were lazy, and didn't do anything with a character that showed promise. Inaho is just another typical badass silent type character. There are so many questions left unaswered that makes me just not care about Inaho. Why is he so good at that? Why is he so good at this? Why can he do this but nobody else can't? Why can this Highschool student do this? It's extremely pathetic and unacceptable that writers are just spoon feeding this crap to us. I felt no connection, and sympathy from him as a character. You can tell that the writers just want to do something with him but they just aren't doing anything. I believe that this is partially us, the anime communities fault. Instead of wanting well-written characters that have personalities, morals, and actual backstory we just want a badass character who pulls all the girls. Inaho was literally just used to push the plot forward and act on his own accord. Pretty much all the other side characters are equal with Inaho in every aspect, and when a supposed main character is about as interesting as a empty boring side character you have failed. Inaho has potential, but I found him to be the hardest thing to watch. In short I disliked Inaho as a character the most. The princess was also pathetically written, again other than having no reason in the story other than making it convenient for Inaho and the other people to proceed throughout the story in a boring one-dimensional way.
Now there is a whole controversy with Slaine that has the anime community in a huge divide. I found that Slaine was the only decently well written character. He showed emotion, he went through hardships we got to see why he cares so much for characters, and we get to see him, grow as a character which makes me actually care for him. A lot of people tend to just hate on Slaine without really thinking about the things that he as a character has gone through and don't consider his standing on things. Instead he get's hated on by the community because he did something at the end that people didn't like. Slaine was written as a character that acts on emotions. It's extremely obvious that after being shot down by Inaho, for no good reason in an earlier episode, even after swooping down and helping him that he would not be on good terms with Inaho. Slaine shows some depth as a character and more promise than any other character in this show. Another descent character with potential is that one soldier guy who's friend died.
Enjoyment: This show has it's moments, and when they happen they're an awesome spectacle. But I can't help but not enjoy this show because of how poorly the characters are done. You know the most important aspect of the show?
This show had so much potential and it still might, due to there being a second season airing now. But this first season I can't help but say that I had a hard time watching it.
Overall: I find myself getting angry because this medium called anime that I grew up with is constantly getting worse. I grew up watching animes like Cowboy Bepop, Lupin the Third, and although those shows are from way back, "The anime industry is changing" isn't a valid excuse as to why we are getting crappy anime year after year. Aldnoah.Zero is a letdown overall. I wanted to enjoy this series, and occasionally I did, but it does so much wrong that I can't recommend it to anyone unless you are looking for a mech anime because you've seen every single other mech anime out there.
