Forum - View topicEpisode Review: Aldnoah.Zero
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Stark700
 Posts: 11762 Location: Earth |
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Yeah, there's definitely a problem with the character development. I think the show is 2 cour (split?) so maybe there's time to fit some of that later on.
Besides the soundtrack, I find some of the other side characters to be interesting. I was also quite surprised by what happened from the latest episode as well involving spoiler[Asseylum]. 
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SailorTralfamadore
 Posts: 499 Location: Keep Austin Weeb |
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Wow, I really hope that spoiler[Asselyum wasn't killed off]. That would be the second time in a row that spoiler[they killed an interesting character for shock value], and I think even this show can do better than that. That's the kind of thing I expect from like, the later seasons of Skins, not a show with a writer of Urobuchi's caliber associated with it, even if he hasn't been writing the recent episodes. He may be the "Urobutcher" but he always explores characters to their full potential before having them kick the bucket, and those deaths always mean something more than just shocking the audience.
Anyway, other than that, I really did enjoy this latest episode, which is more than I can say for a lot of recent episodes of this show. I liked that it focused more on character stuff without feeling like the it was stalling the plot. It also zeroed in on the two most interesting characters in the show, Slaine and Rayet, who both deserve more development and screentime and who I really wish were the protagonists of the show. I hope it keeps going in that direction. |
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Hellwarden
Posts: 321 |
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So, I've only watched up to, I believe, the 6th episode.
Does the story ever get over the problem of spoiler[Inaho just sucking the tension out of every single combat engagement? Because once I realized Inaho is gonna be able to just think his way out of every fight, boy does all the cool mecha action seem hallow.] That said, it the show certainly looks nice. And the musical score is pretty good. |
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RestLessone
 Posts: 1426 Location: New York |
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Actually, I believe he only wrote the first three episodes. |
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levonr
 Posts: 820 |
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No he is perfect. Too perfect. He must be an android 
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DeSpawn
Posts: 82 Location: Boston, MA |
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I greatly enjoyed the series thus far, it has some interesting elements and i've not been able to predict what going to happen next. The big old episode 9 cliff hanger does a bang up job.
I swear that Inaho's must suffers some sort disorder, maybe he's Autistic... his emotionless self i'm glad has gotten the back burner. Maybe the series will throw a curve ball and switch main character focuses around.. |
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Dian Z
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Honestly I think this series is getting 'funny' as the writing develops. Some plot turns remind me to soap opera with its repetitive use of misunderstanding and unfortunate coincidence tropes. With then, voila, the misunderstandings and coincidences solved in no time, like, why does it matter in the first time?
The scene with the spoiler[Princess' flying ship] and spoiler[Cruhteo's hugging Slaine] look more funny than effective, tbh. I wonder if Urobuchi's contribution, regarding the idea (not the script-writing), includes the idea of how it begins, develops, and especially, how it will end? |
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SailorTralfamadore
Posts: 499 Location: Keep Austin Weeb |
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That's not what autism is. |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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Am I the only one who thought that the show was weak right off the bat? Because that first episode wasn't good at all - Inaho and the terrible infodumps being the main culprits - and second episode was so poor I would have dropped the show then and there had Urobuchi's name not been associated with it. The third episode was pretty good however, and I got my hopes up that maybe the show was shrugging off a slow start and was going to get good just like Psycho Pass . . . but no. Beam katana dude just had to turn up and generate thousands of facepalms and the show hasn't looked back since. |
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terminus24
 Posts: 304 |
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This is easily my favorite show this season, although I did have a few problems with the ending of the latest episode. If spoiler[Asseylum is dead,] then, well, I guess it may complicate things. Maybe make things more interesting. If, however, spoiler[Asseylum is alive,] then I'd just call that bad writing, because spoiler[almost killing the same character twice] certainly wouldn't be called good writing. spoiler[I hope that if she is alive, she's at least in a coma or something for the rest of the season.]
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SailorTralfamadore
Posts: 499 Location: Keep Austin Weeb |
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Well, I'm hoping spoiler[Asselyum is alive] rather than build up all this stuff with her and Inaho and Slaine, and then destroy it before its potential can be fully executed. Blargh.
But I agree that I'd rather that spoiler[she be in a coma or otherwise "offstage"] until some climactic moment near the end of the season, because doing the same thing twice is, indeed, stupid. |
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JacobC
ANN Past Staff
 Posts: 3728 Location: SoCal |
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This may just be because I've digested three long-form series he's written inside of a few months, but I could tell instantly when Urobuchi stopped writing the show, and from that point on, it's been really hard for me to keep interest in it. Which makes me sad. The showrunner Katsuhiko Takayama who's stepped in for him is apparently well-liked by some fans, but I'm not familiar with his work, and for me it's just a massive step down into mech fights of the week and unfulfilling teasing about secrets and twists they haven't given me any reason to care about. Also, the way he writes women is really "anime," and I don't like that either. Not that the men haven't suddenly become boring too. Because oh boy, have they ever!
I think Slaine and Rayet are still great characters and all their scenes continue to be good because it's hard to get such rich wealths of potential drama and development wrong. I think the same could have been true of Lieutenant Marito, but they've definitely squandered that and it will take a lot of recovering to make him less of a walking cliche at this point. But anyway, I keep watching to see what they're going to do with Slaine and Rayet, and I'm glad this newest episode could deliver on that some. Gimme some small flakes of drama I can care about, at least. But this is not a case where Urobuchi is "building to something through subtle details and--" whatever, because his voice is gone from this show. The dialogue couldn't be any less like his dialogue, the exposition couldn't be any less like his exposition, and entire scenes go by that I can't imagine him writing. I'm sure Takayama is taking the story somewhere, but it's his story now, and it's not focused around the same elements of imperialism-against-earth that I found so fascinating in the first couple episodes. Basically, I'm just commenting to defend Urobuchi's honor (yeah, I'm sure it needs defending, ha ha...) because he would never ever write what's happening in Aldnoah.Zero right now.  It's not his voice at all! I'm not saying he can't write bad things, I'm sure he can. But even a bad thing he would write wouldn't be in the vein of what's happening in Aldnoah right now. The writer shift was like getting hit in the face, it was so obvious. But again, maybe that's just because I've now consumed almost 100 episodes of his writing in the past five months and I'm really sensitive to that. (Not counting the Madoka episodes and movies from long before that, which probably brings it up to 100.) I'm a mega-fan at this point, and I should probably just accept that...
Last edited by JacobC on Sat Aug 30, 2014 9:07 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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grooven
Posts: 1428 Location: Canada |
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Great review!
That last episode caught me off guard. spoiler[Though i don't think the princess is dead, too many plot points revolve around her needing to be alive] I can also agree and say I feel the show is missing true Urobuchi elements.
Last edited by grooven on Sat Aug 30, 2014 9:37 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Doodleboy
Posts: 296 |
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... Darn... was hoping that we'd get an explanation on why Inaho's hyperlogical... Why he acts like a robot. How the hell did a high-schooler become a unparalleled military genius that he can discover the flaws in technology that decimated armies. That would be kind of interesting and could give him some character momentum. When you introduce traits that implausible like that you better explain that crap. And I was hoping the Princess would become a more complex character... at least a little bit... Now I'm losing faith. |
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ChibiKangaroo
 Posts: 2941 |
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This has been pretty much sin #1 with this show for me. Yea, I have been complaining a good deal about Inaho's characterization, as I find him to be an utterly dull protagonist. However, the bigger problem has been that the show has basically been about 2 things, which you mentioned in that quote, (1) mech fights of the week, and (2) plot twists. Certainly, mech fights of the week are formulaic in a lot of "mech" type series, so it's not a total killer, but I think combined with this show's obsession with ending damn near every episode with a plot twist is just destroying any sense of continuity or direction. The show has this seemingly complex background with an intriguing (if implausible) narrative, but it doesn't seem to be heading anywhere. Right now, do we even know where Inaho and the other terrans on spoiler[their brand new flying battleship] are even headed, and why? I know there was a scene between the Captain and CO where they were discussing their route, but I'm not really sure what it is that they are going to try and accomplish at this point. At one time it might have been "stop the war by announcing that the princess is alive," but that doesn't necessarily seem to be the gameplan anymore spoiler[(especially after our brand new plot twist of episode 9)]. I think Aldnoah.zero is trying too hard to keep the audience guessing in an attempt to be some much-talked about show of the year, but instead, it doesn't even seem to know where it is going.
Agree 100%. The last episode made me cringe with its treatment of all of the female characters, except for maybe Inaho's sister. She seemed to be the only female of consequence on the ship that was acting competently or not being victimized.
Yea, I have been making fun of how the show has been treating Slaine, but that's probably because I think his character deserves better. He's become a plot twist tool at this point, which irks me. I suppose Rayet is creeping into that role as well... Also, dtm: No you're not the only one. I thought episode 1 was bad. However, I found it bad in the same way I found episode 1 of Chaika to be bad. Therefore, I continued on hoping this show would significantly improve like Chaika did. It didn't. I would much prefer Chaika over Aldnoah at this point ;0 |
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