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~PLOT SYNOPSIS~
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Season 1
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Story revolves around the difficulty of what happens when humanity, hypothetically in the future,
is split up into two categories:
- humans who inhabited the Earth, known as Terrans
- humans who migrated to Mars and settled at the barren planet (Mars), known as Martians
The humans who migrated to Mars, known as Martians, settled in the barren planet for a long span of time and eventually, the inhabitants established their own government system that portrays their independence from those governing bodies that control the Earth. As the generation that migrated to Mars perished and the forthcoming Martian generations soon gained a wrong notion that they're solely different from their Terran counterparts just because they've inhabited a different planet, the notion that they're ancestors used to inhabit Earth fades, as time passed by.
Fast forward to the future, Martians soon faced scarce resources as the barren planet gets populated. Due to the lack of bounty and infertility of the land of Mars, the Martians decided to perform a coup d'etat (intentionally used this term since the Martians' ancestors used to inhabit Earth) in order to obtain Earth resources. Not before long, due to the Martians' ulterior motive, the hostilities started in order to gain what they've been longing for.
But in order to do that, the Martians need a stronger war trigger, a trigger that will supplement the reason as to why they need to invade the Terran's inhabited planet and loot. And so, an assassination attempt to the Martian Princess was framed/conspired by a Martian knight (not going to be named to prevent spoilers) in order to do just that.
By making it look as if the Terrans planned to assassinate the Martian emperor's daughter, the Martian knight managed to persuade the nation of Mars migrants to ensue an all-out war.
(This is all done just for the sake of the intent of garnering Earth resources as well as expanding their dominion.)
The war breakout caused many casualties on the Terran force's side as they're overpowered by Martians through the means of higher spec mechas that makes use of a powerful energy source that can solely be derived on Mars - Aldnoah. (hence the origin of the anime's name is deduced)
When all hope seems lost and Terrans seems to be on the brink of absolute annihilation due to the unfathomable difference in military power, whether it'd be mecha (known in the show as Kataphrakts) or warhead strength,
hope sheds light as a Terran prodigy spearheaded a movement in order to prevent the Martians' goal from taking into full swing.
The Terran prodigy, named Inaho, prevented the colonization not by brute force, but by sheer intellect; this is achieved through the means of strategic and tactical style of warfare - exploiting the enemies' flaws, flaws that are somewhat unperceivable to a regular human's analysis and plans that are inconceivable.
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Season 2
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Following the war ignited by the Martian knight, the Terran prodigy, Inaho, after a near-death experience in Season 1, managed to survive the conflicts and became stronger than ever, intellectually speaking, in Season 2
via cybernetic implant which was brought forth by war repercussions. On top of that, Inaho gained Martian accomplices,who just like him and other Terrans, wanted to make peace and form a pact/treaty.
Generally speaking however, most Martians, including the emperor of the Martians himself, opposed this idea and hence, war continued to resonate.
Due to the Martians' immense military powers, conceit-driven, they have no intention of giving in. The same goes for the Terrans, whose trump card is Inaho who comes up with ridiculous plans with his strategic/tactical prowess.
To summarize Season 2 in a nutshell, the continuation of the war and the conclusion of the hostilities is portrayed in the 2nd Season.
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~MORALE OF STORY~
Ever heard of the terms Rayleigh's Scattering, Leidenfrost Effect, Meissner Effect or Quantum Teleportation?
Obviously, those who have physics background would know pretty much some, if not, all of these. But for a regular person, that won't be the case.
And so, here comes the anime called 'Aldnoah' which incorporates these scientific jargons and exposes viewers to the realm of science.
Not only are you watching anime, but as the anime progresses, the creators of Aldnoah explains to you why that's happening, why that didn't happen, what's the scientific explanation behind it and whatnots.
Thereby, by the end of the show, the viewers gains more knowledge in the aspect of science.
The real life scientific terminologies aforementioned are embedded and is used as basis in the creation of this show.
Magnificently, if you think of all the animes one has watched over the course of his/her lifetime, there's only a handful, if not none, has encountered an anime which adheres to technicalities as in-depth as Aldnoah.
Also, general knowledge is taught there indirectly via the mecha battles and conversations amongst the characters.
(ex: negating smoke screens via electricity as part of the plan to counter the enemy forces' smoke screen. Scientific reasoning behind it?
The phenomenon occurs as colloids are absorbed by ions which in turn...ah forget it.
Watch the anime and you'll learn more of such things.)
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~ART~
It's safe to assume, or declare to be more precise, that Aldnoah has reached the pinnacle when it comes to
graphics. When one might ask me, "How does modern anime graphics look like?" I'll simply answer,
"Watch Aldnoah and you'll know."
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~CRITICISMS~
All in all, it was definitely a worthwhile show to watch. I'm bothered though, about the amount of negative reviews the show's
receiving.
Nevertheless, frankly speaking, I was expecting this since I know for a fact that Aldnoah goes in-depth; not a lot of animes have that approach and hence, viewers are not used to it and tend to get annoyed by it to the extent
that they started hating the show and instead of being straightforward and confess that they don't understand much of the show due to the adherence of the show to scientific technicalities,viewers have the tendency make
unnecessary excuses (unnecesary whining, to be more precise), specifically, stating that the plot's cliche, apparently.
There's a lot more complaints but I'm too dismayed to read them, all the more, list those things in my review.
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~COMPLIMENTS~
Up next, I'll discuss my 'compliments' to this show after briefly discussing about the cause of criticisms.
Unlike some shows that includes unnecessary fillers, flashbacks, etc. Aldnoah doesn't have that trait.
Aldnoah utilizes every episode well, carefully selecting appropriate moments at which a particular flashback
is necessary. Furthermore, the pace is wonderfully decided, upon realizing that every episode ends at a well-timed
cliffhanger. And finally, Aldnoah doesn't need a deus ex machina to make the protagonist prevail over the antagonists. (unless being a genius tactician is not considered a deus ex machina, my argument crumbles apart)
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~MUSIC~
One of the key triggers for me to give this anime a try is because of the 1st season's catchy opening song.
Judging by the melody of the opening and closing songs of both season 1 and 2, they're highly fancy. On the aspect of OST (background music), one thing that must be made known is that OSTs are incorporated to enhance a particular mood portrayed in a scene, whether it'd be action, depressing, joyful scene, etc.
However, I was too immersed on the technicalities embedded in the anime which resulted for me to become unaware of the OSTs, all in all; not to mention, OSTs are mood enhancers, so they're not meant to be noticed in the
first place. PS: Opening songs of both seasons are so melodically attractive, to the extent that the songs still constantly reverberate in my mind approximately a week after I finished watching the series.
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~CONCLUSION~
If you take the fact aside that Mars cannot be inhabited due to its lack of bounty of oxygen in its atmosphere, then the show will be worth watching.
If you like a show that has a protagonist who takes advantage of the antagonists by outdoing the antagonists strategically, like Lelouch and Blank from the renowned animes 'Code Geass' and' No Game No Life' respectively, then I hereby announce that Aldnoah is a kind of show that you'll enjoy, inasmuch as I did.
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