Aldnoah's story is its biggest disappointment. It is the diamond, the premise, the setup show so much that it fails to deliver on in virtually every way. It promises a huge scale, that is part of its premise set up in the first episode. But it does not deliver it. Aldnoah doesn't show, and it barely even remembers to tell. It does give pretty visuals but they're little more than pretty colours over a terrible form. There's nothing really to critique with the visuals.
The sound and music is excellent, as evidence suggests Hiroyuki Sawano is physically unable to write bad music. But it is terribly let down by poor use and direction. Impactful songs are overused, reducing their power, and it's hard to feel emotional in parts due to the characters.. This is due to the fact that the characters are awful. The main character, Inaho makes developmentally disabled people look emotionally available. Additionally, he is the only person on the side of Earth that the writers allow any agency, and as a result any character that could be more likeable than him, cannot be because they are impotent, one note caricatures. On the side of Vars, there is very little to say except that there's one character who they try to get you to like. But he's not engaging, he's just more likeable than Inaho and his actions make more sense.
Overall, I watched this anime to the end of this season, and barely scratched because I could see that it was going nowhere interesting. Some say that Season 2 is worse, but really it's more of the same. It just took longer for them to realise.
Aldnoah Zero? More like All Promise. Zero Potential Realised
