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「熱砂の進撃 -Soldiers’ Pay-」 (Nessa no Shingeki -Soldiers’ Pay-)
“Advance into the Storm -Soldiers’ Pay-“
Here’s the thing about Aldnoah.Zero – it is what it is. Whether that’s good enough is up to you.
This was not an especially great episode, and Aldnoah.Zero certainly isn’t a great series. But there’s something about this show that’s still working for me – working better, in fact, in the second season than it did in the first. I think the key to enjoying it is to accept that there are things about it that are frankly dumb, and that they’ll drive you crazy sometimes – but that if you do, there’s an awful lot that can really be enjoyed about it. Maybe it’s simply a matter of acceptance on my part rather than any improvement in the series itself, but this season does seem to have a more agreeable balance to me.
Let’s get that bad stuff out of the way. This episode was full of the kind of forced exposition that just makes me cringe – characters giving extraneous speeches that obviously have no purpose but to explain stuff to the audience. Then there’s everything to do with Lt. Marito’s storyline (I don’t hate him, but I find I didn’t miss him) being trite and cliched (though the symbolism of prescribing the chugging of cheap scotch as a sign of his recovery did make me LOL). There’s the mid-boss Orbital Knight getting pwned storyline of the week, and the Slaine and Inaho schooling everyone storyline of the week. In other news, the sun rose in the East this morning and will set in the West tonight.
OK, I give you all that. But I feel – perhaps irrationally – that all this is going somewhere. I actually think the series is doing a very nice job building up to the epic bishoudown we all know is coming, and I really want to see it. There’s a kind of pubescent Shakespearean quality to the converging and diverging arcs of Slaine and Inaho, with the red string of fate ever tying them together. And this week seemed to show Slaine yet again having the upper hand, asserting his dominance over his fellow knights with a daring solo attack on Trident Base. But in true Shakespearean (and in truth, classical Greek) fashion, I sense pride growing out of control in Slaine, and becoming arrogance. And on some level, as smart as Slaine is, I just think Inaho is even smarter. Time will tell.
As for Inaho, how is it that he’s not in command of Earth forces already? Everyone acknowledges his true role, explicitly or implicitly – he’s the only reason the Earth hasn’t been conquered already. If we’re going to have the charade of adolescents schooling adults in warfare, why not acknowledge Inaho’s strategic superiority and stop with all this "Ensign" bullshit? This time around Inaho’s usual cavalry charge has an interesting impact in tweaking the standard Kataphrakt plot – rather than being killed, the knight in question is captured. That knight is Mazuurek (Toyanaga Toshiyuki), and there’s every reason to think he’s going to play an important role going forward: he’s a moderate by VERS standards, after the Earth’s resources but seemingly not genocidal towards its people. He’s played by a name seiyuu. And while it’s probably just a question of Shimura Takako character design, it struck me that he looks like a cross between Slaine and Saazbaum.
There’s a lot of interesting stuff simmering here, I think – and of course the fact that it’s all happening against the backdrop of perhaps A-1’s best-ever animation and production design certainly doesn’t hurt. The Martian side is a cesspool of betrayal and hidden agendas (I certainly don’t take Harklight at face value) while the Earth seems barely to be keeping its nose above the waterline of dysfunction and incompetence. When will Inaho and Slaine dance at last, their fates finally be decided and along with them the fates of their planets? It’s hokey, sure, but there’s a kind of old-school 90’s sci-fi anime grandiosity to the matter that I find quite appealing. I just hope Aldnoah.Zero doesn’t spend so much time pissing me off along the way that I lose interest.
P.S. Zephycles is taking a break from episodic impressions this week, but look for his thoughts on Aldnoah.Zero very soon…
Here is my theory
THe count that attacked Yemen did not kill any of the terrans. His personality as far as we saw wasn’t as aggressive in comparison to the other martians. He could potentially be a martian turned good with these kind of flags. There are two kinds of enemies turned good.
We have situation 1: Martian killed terrans, gets reason to fight with terran to redeem themselves.
situation 2: Martian doesn’t kill terran, gets captured and sees good in terran to fight with them.
This is what I am thinking is going to occur with that count that got caught.
Count Slaine is turning into the badass I knew he’d be. He looks suave as hell in red.
All hail (soon) King Slaine!
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2016%20-%20Large%2034.jpg
This guy may be a pacifist but he isn’t going to be an idiot.
If he turns traitor it isn’t going to be out of altruism or redemption, it’s going to be self preservation.
And even then any continued presence he has in the series while under terran control will be from a jail cell used for information and perhaps some exposition. He won’t be joining in on the fight any time soon unless there are some significant plot developments.
Now this is what I’ve been waiting for. Slain has got bloody awesome.
Slaine just went full frontal on those Feder.. I mean Terrans, hell even one of the officers made
a comment on his speed lol, now all he needs to do is get a new red paint job on his Kat
Slaine got awesome… but way too quickly, and what (to me) seemed like extremely contrived circumstances. He was the only person to walk away from the Season 1 finale unharmed, but something tells me they’re setting up his successes so his inevitable fall will hurt that much harder.
Well, a year and a half is a good amount of time for a person to grow. Slaine had been changing slowly and steadily throughout the first season, and that intelligence was always there, but he never expressed as he was pretty much under Cruhteo’s heel and his though was on just getting from day to day. As the war went on, he began to slowly become more assertive and was beginning to be able to streach his wings, and he flourished as a knight under Saazbaum. It’s not as contrived as you think, if you consider the subtle things and the skip in time.
I get that time has passed, but if this strategic aptitude was in Slaine all along then I’m afraid the hints were too subtle for me. Other than the initial decision not to tell anyone about Asseylum’s survival, it seemed like the first season just followed wrong turn after wrong turn for Slaine. I mean, revealing the truth to the Emperor without any evidence to back up his claims (despite knowing his status in VERS society), rushing to Asseylum’s side mid-battle (despite knowing he’s in an enemy airship that likely won’t be welcomed no matter who he saves), and impulsively saving Saazbaum (despite knowing that Saazbaum actively tried to kill his beloved princess): these all seemed like actions based in a LOT of emotion, not well-reasoned logic. I actually thought that’s what made Slaine the perfect foil to Inaho—the fact that he operated with feelings and emotions, unlike robo-Inaho.
Slaine will reach the inmorality with his actions.
@Canario
Immorality is tricky thing during wartime. In all honesty, nothing Slaine has done has really been reprehensible by war standards. Those he’s killed have been enemy soldiers and a technically, traitorous commander. He destroyed an enemy base by ambushing them when the time was right and attacked supply ships that were delivering munitions, all of these are valid targets in war.
However, it was shown in the very beginning of the series that Slaine is not a naturally violent person, but he’s willing to take on the mental scars and anguish that comes from fighting and killing in war in order to accomplish his goals. I’m sure that in his own eyes, his soul is turning black and I don’t think he takes any joy in anything he’s doing, however it’s something he’s got to do.
Yeah, except the Martians are still the almost clownishly evil bad guys. They’re fighting an unjustified war of aggression against a basically peaceful people who, aside from one guy, can’t fight back. They are genocidal and even their ‘heroes’ (slaine, etc) fully admit that earth isn’t really the problem, the Martian leadership is. Not that this stops him from killing mass numbers of a group of people who he fully admits aren’t even his targets. They’re just a speed bump.
Again, I’m not saying slaine is a bad character, but this weird hero worship is ridiculous. Slaine is not a hero. That’s the tragedy of it all. We know he was a nice guy and now he’s become an ends justify the means villain who schemes, betrays, lies, murders innocents, manipulates, and basically every other standard villain trope.
I actually disagree that Slaine acts with his emotions. If everything he did was based on emotion, the count would have been killed waay earlier. As in right after the princess was shot last season.
Slaine has certainly gone a long way since his initial character behavior.
I still remember him being reluctant to shoot Terran fighter jets in episode 2, and now he’s blowing up star bases like no man’s business. Guess ambition can do that to people. If you really REALLY want to go somewhere, you can’t afford to care if the road is paved with corpses.
Might be interesting to note that Marito was the one who realised the weakness of Mazuurek’s Kat, which would have been why he asked for a satellite base capable of detecting gravitational waves…
It was the first time they didn’t need Inaho to figure out a weakness!
Although they did give him the kill, I guess they don’t want him to feel left out.
They really tried to make Marito useful for once, but this just cannot be done when you insert ‘Inaho saves the day yet again’ into everything.
It felt like a lifetime watching a useless flashback of merely Inaho waking up.
Not only that but countless useless scenes emphasizing that Yuki and Inaho love each other verrry much.
A simple projectile like shooting into the air at the right angle would’ve taken down the cataphract in this episode (sp much for Martian pride) but the show spent another lifetime emphasizing that no one else could manage even that.
Worst Aldnoah episode EVER. Period.
He was hallucinating from the painkillers and thought the blanket was a box of 1-dozen eggs.
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2016%20-%20Large%2002.jpg
Here I thought, finally, someone else other than Inaho is going to defeat a kataphrakt.
5 min into the fight…
Just give me Inaho already, this isn’t going anywhere.
Inaho shows up… “Oh great, it’s Inaho again.”
The contradiction I’m having… aghhh
Anyone else?
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2016%20-%20Large%2036.jpg
Inaho’s last words of the episode has some big foreshadowing behind it. Badassery ahoy!
*quote* As for Inaho, how is it that he’s not in command of Earth forces already? *endquote*
Inaho is first and foremost a technical genius, and then fairly well skilled at tactics. He hasn’t displayed any strategic ability yet. Fighter pilot studs often don’t make great generals. Just my take on an answer to your question. 🙂
That’s true, and one of the key differences I notice between Inaho and Slaine. Slaine is more of a strategist while Inaho is more of a tactician. Inaho can analyze the weaknesses in his opponents and use that to his advantage to defeat them. However, we’ve never seen him plan beyond a single battle or a particular opponent. He’s not planning in terms of the war overall, but that particular battle.
Slaine on the other hand, sees more of the big picture rather than the individual fighters. He’s planning for the war and its consequences as a whole, rather than one single battle. For that, he leaves it up to Harklight to do the calculations and research and then he uses that to make a plan for that particular battle that will serve his overall plan in regards to VERS.
Honestly, I think we’re going to see Inaho making the transition from one-on-one battles to more strategic, landscape-changing matches with Slaine in the near future. Both the chess game and the “I guess I have no choice” moment foreshadowed this shift for me. Especially in the latter scene, it seemed as if Inaho was resigning himself to the fact that no one would be able to meet the threat that Slaine presents other than him, and as that threat involves more foresight than calculating bullet trajectories, it only makes sense that Inaho needs to take him on in a larger strategic setting.
I don’t know, Inaho still doesn’t seem to be thinking of the big picture at all, just of the threat that Slaine is to the UFE. He’s still thinking one-on-one. His thoughts have mostly been of how to find ways to defeat Tharsis and what type of a fighter Slaine is. If he actually thought about everything that was surrounding Slaine’s actions, he might just figure out what Slaine is trying to do. But it’s like that old expression “Can’t see the forest for the trees”, Inaho looks just at the details of one opponent and one battle, rather than the entire situation.
I’m not so sure what will happen next time and whatever Inaho is planning, but I don’t think that this time it will be like when Inaho faces other knights.
Inaho has no big picture. For better or worse this is not a grey conflict. The earth has no goal beyond “not die/defeat VERS” and right now that basically boils down to beating slaine and whatever other kataphrakts come his way. Slaine has a ‘big picture’ because he’s trying to take over a planet and reform society.
Arguably this makes Slaine more interesting, but it has nothing to do with their respective strategic capabilities. Earth needs no strategy since VERS entire strategy is to send one giant robot with a physics weakness at a time. If Inaho can beat those, they’re good. The trick will be if slaine decides to do something besides sending one physics weakness robot at a time against Inaho. Then maybe he’ll need an actual strategy.
This is ironic considering Slaine couldn’t see 5 minutes into the future when he decided to save Saazbaum in S1
Commander of Earth Defense? or Nippon Section? Could be Marito or the Captain of Deucalion, in my Eyes
Both have Combat experience and the “Trust” of their Comrades. It is a heavy factor, too. Trust. Not only be a Genius is not enough
If you would be some Soldier under these 3 Commando. Who would you trust your Life in Emergency?
Inaho? Marito? or the Captain?
If you ask yourself this Question, you also get a gist of the Soldiers under their command in this Anime. See, a little Bit of RPG thinking
Got to give Slaine credit where credit is due. He went from a sheep to a wolf, a slave to a noble in two years time, and he’s using what he’s learned all this time subserviently following the nobles around, to his advantage.
Also, he became a darn good pilot during that year and a half timeskip!
Yes you´re right, I hate that treacherous gull but the bastard is doing his best to realize his twisted plans but here is the thing: he´s certainly arrogant, more than Enzo said. The evidence? He´s using Lemrina withouth realizing how dangerous that little devil is, she doesn´t hold her puches and knows full well she´s puppet and is fine with that for now but the dead of Saazban has given her a lot of freedom and some degree of control over Slaine; think about, she didn´t know what drove Sazzbaun to use her but she can read Saline like a book, thanks to the fact the idiot only think of Seylum in a twisted way protective knight. Mark my words, Inaho might help in the fall of the gull but it will be Lemrina the one who will be his undoing, that girl scares.
I honestly think Lemrina is underestimating Slaine. She’s conniving alright and I think that she thinks she’s got the upper hand. However, one trait that Slaine’s had since the beginning is his intuitive instincts. Inaho was designed to think by logic, while Slaine was designed to think on instinct. I think he knows what Lemrina is a snake that’s trying to take what her sister has. She’s really not all that subtle about it. However, Slaine has actually been even more subtle, telling her what she wants to hear and acting in deference to her. He’s had plenty of practice when he was serving other knights. I think that she thinks she’s using him to get back at her sister, when he’ll be using her for his plans of revolution.
There’s no reason they can’t both be selling the other short – and I think they are. The Martian civilization is a nest of vipers and I don’t think anyone is doing anything but trying to manouver events for their own benefit.
And I believe you’re underestimating Inaho – he sees more than you think he does. Time will tell.
@Enzo
We’ll see. It would be interesting if they can surprise us. I would just kind of like Inaho to not succeed for once or to make a few mistakes here and there, but we’ll see where the story takes us.
He commited one mistake, he did not completely blow up the Sky Carrier with Slaine inside after the battle if Tanegashima, now he´s about to correct that mistake.
Slaine was hardly a slave. He was the imperial princess’s personal tutor and friend. Yes he was treated like crap, but it’s not like his life was as bad the lower classes apparently did.
Slaine hates the nobility because he knows they’re arrogant, violent jerks, not because he himself lived a lower class life.
..and some of them planed the execution of Hime-sama. i do not think, he forget that so fast
You guys can hate on Slain all you want, but what he did towards the end was pretty fucking brilliant. I don’t have any dislikes about him, nor do I adore him, but this episode definitely made me see him in a different light.
All hail Slaine the space Stalin! time to turn the Vers empire into communism!
That part pissed me off. Why the heck would you purposefully offer a recovering alcoholic his past liquor of choice like that? Especially when he looked like he was doing so well? I kind of thought this before, when he was going against doctor/patient privilege to give Darzana that session tape, but now I’m sure this idiot is a quack! What happened, did all the other doctors get killed off during the war and so the only one that’s left is the one that got thrown out of medical school?
I personally think that the doctor was celebrating Marito’s conquering over his nightmare-ish PTSD condition (ie. he’s not freezing up in combat anymore).
You can celebrate with a lot of other things other than alcohol. I just think that was very irresponsible of him especially since Marito’s looks like he’s been doing well for a little bit now.
Exactly. The doctor offering alcohol to Marito just made me cringe. Or maybe it’s a part of his keikaku to render Marito unsuitable for combat? I’m going to laugh so hard if the doctor is revealed to be a double-faced schemer in the last episode.
These siblings are born to be Master Economists. Inaho with his eggs and Yuki-nee with this.
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2016%20-%20Large%2010.jpg
that smile tho, so moe
Well, if you went into this kinds of Bazaar, you MUST fight for the Price. If you go there and pay on the First price, you insult him. (I myself went to Tunesia, and learned that..)
Imma add this to my “Smiles I want to protect” album.
Not enough shorts under skirts this week.
Yeah, not enough naked dudes playing piano either. Can’t watch an episode without it.
He’s wearing tightie whities…
LOL—well, that changes everything, Enzo!
Sorry I haven’t been watching Parasyte so I am not quite sure what a naked guy playing the piano has to do with wearing shorts under skirts because of zero gravity.
You watch Aldnoah but not Parasyte? Shit taste confirmed.
And with your quality response I am thoroughly convinced that Parasyte is worth watching.
Boo hoo. I guess I’m gonna cry in a corner now. 😀
Whatever tickles your fancy.
Even Exodus had Skintight “Asses” Shot, that let these middle-age Boys blushing
Give me a break. Stuff like this makes me recall Gundam SEED and Lunamaria’s space miniskirt. This just cannot be taken seriously.
The reaction to my comment is quite funny because that is exactly the type of thing being avoided by wearing shorts under a skirt.
All that effort protecting Trindent Base in the past episodes goes to hell in an instant! That bastard Slaine! But I hope for the sake of the story that he really thing that victories are going to win him a place in Vers, the low claa soldiers may respect him but the high herarchy of the Orbital Kinight will never accept him and will try to dispose of him at every turn.
Well, actually, we saw some of the 37 Orbital Knights salute him as well, and I think that if Slaine can get some of the ones that are more moderate like Mazuurek on his side, he’ll have a pretty good chance of support against the others that are against him. It might end up leading to civil war within Vers, but then again, maybe that’s what he’s counting on.
Yep, we have here 3 Front lines (the 4the is to weak)
1 Front-line Mars Old High-nose “We are superior Race” Count’s. Let us Crush the Earthlings Bugs for our Motherland. All Hail Britannia!!!
1 Front-Line Slaine and Peoples around him, want to break free of these “High Nose” Nobles. Some kind of French Revolution. But they would use Earth for there Own selfishness, but not conquer it entirely. Just to Hold necessary Power to keep their Own Kind alive. Peace through Military Might Power
1 Front-Line Earth Defense Force against Mars
the Weak Front-line i mentioned is the ancestors of Mars Population living on Earth. Do not forget them. Perhaps they have the same Fate as the Japanese living in US under WW2 Times.. Do not forget that, too
Well the first two equally suck, it´s like choosing how do you want to die? By a sword or by a gun? Both the genociders and the middle class of the Vers Empire care nothing for the terrans, they want Earth for the resouces, the only difference is that Slaine´s faction will use what little is left of the terrans as slaves and livestock. The bastards have already kill billons in this pathetic excuse of a war, the only path where Earth has a chance is what Seylum decided, peace but geting rid of most of the Orbital Knights first.
No matter how “noble” Slaine thinks he is he´s at the end of the day using the corpses of millon of innocents as the fundations of the new Vers Empire.
Certain blond will get his ass kicked very very soon with or without the cheat gundam.
You speak the truth by friend.
This blogging isn’t anything but great either.
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2016%20-%20Large%2005.jpg
Seriously, that hair. I want to do different things to it.
I was hoping that the Kataphrakt would be beaten by a creative non-Inaho solution but I guess that isn’t even possible if he’s outside of Earth’s atmosphere, eh?
There was a good chance that Marito could have defeated the Kataphrakt without Inaho (he already had an idea on how to defeat it). But because Inaho is being Inaho…
As someone who knows more than one alcoholic person, the doctor giving a sober one Scotch makes me question his education.
As for me, it makes me question his IQ and common sense.
I too thought that was weird but I think the idea is that Mario wasn’t an alcoholic, he had PTSD that he was self medicating with alcohol. Now that he’s come to terms with his PTSD, he can drink healthily. Not that I agree, but I think that’s what they were going for.
Did I just saw Lockon Stratos reincarnated?
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2016%20-%20Large%2018.jpg
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2016%20-%20Large%2020.jpg
…granted, Inaho was aiming INTO the atmosphere ¯\_( •_•)_/¯
Sigh….Can the Terrans not win without Inaho interfering every single time? Well, to be honest, that battle in the desert served no purpose whatsoever, and putting that aside the Terrans’ side remains ever so static and dull. Marito and his PTSD affair is so forced and uninspiring.
Perhaps this time the Doctor gave him the tip into the right direction. He can use his “weakness” as Force to fight. It is a remember to not Die, for the sake of his Old Comrades to Guide the New Comrades to surviving…
Marito turns into a “WarDaddy” (if you saw some special Tank Movie with Brad Pitt)
nice catch! even more appropriate as he was originally tank crew…
Yea it’s as ive been saying for some time (and you yourself said it quite well) the show has some interesting ideas and they draw you in but the series is just not good enough. In a better show, all these developments would be pretty damn cool and so intriguing. In a better show i would be invested in these characters and connect with their struggles; and even if i didnt like the characters, a better show would make me find them interesting. Still, the show is an enjoyable watch because of the draw of these developments that makes you become curious as to where they will lead up which keeps you watching (well me at least).
In some ways, this series reminds me about the way i ultimately felt for kyo ani’s kyokai no kanata in that it had some intriguing things going on, and a cool, supernatural world; but a weak narrative structure, weak characters, and it selling out was what brought that series down. I wanted to like it more than i did. At least aldnoah is surprisingly more…coherent. At this point im just going to shut up from now on and enjoy the ride, praying that it doesnt pull season 1 finale type shenanigans in its last stretch.
The just-introduced-and-already-inaho’ed Count Maazurek looks interesting to me – a pragmatic Martian looking for resources more than carnage. It might be me or he may yet play bigger role…
This series to me is just Guilty Crown the Sequel, because it feels exactly like it did before.
Picture Battle Time: Fight!!
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2016%20-%20Large%2002.jpg
Hi there, One-chan. You looking beautiful today. It is nice to see you
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2016%20-%20Large%2001.jpg
i gotten praised from my own Brother…*blushing*
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2016%20-%20Large%2005.jpg
Do i not have two nice big Things, too Slaine. Better then your Hime-sama?
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2016%20-%20Large%2006.jpg
*Mind Picture*
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2016%20-%20Large%2004.jpg
my Lord. Do not say anything wrong now…
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2016%20-%20Large%2026.jpg
Woah, really. Inaho praised your beautifulness? You know, he lie very rare
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2016%20-%20Large%2028.jpg
I confirm this. Inaho made be a Girls Talk baka, but he not lie to me
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2016%20-%20Large%2010.jpg
Can you give me a Discount for this? I am a Beautiful Girl, One-gai?
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2016%20-%20Large%2012.jpg
Beauty Sparkling Sparkling Sister on the Move!!
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2016%20-%20Large%2016.jpg
Um… could you not use that, you distracting me
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2016%20-%20Large%2017.jpg
i can not hit my Target…
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2016%20-%20Large%2014.jpg
Hoho, i am spendid Boy. the most Awesome looking Boy around here. I am right?
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2016%20-%20Large%2020.jpg
*Wooosh*
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2016%20-%20Large%2021.jpg
awaw… i think i hit my head…
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2016%20-%20Large%2022.jpg
I am a beautiful Earth Mecha, do i not have a Beautiful awesomeness Rifle that point it to your Head?
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2016%20-%20Large%2029.jpg
Well, said Marito-kun. i was moved about your Speak…
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2016%20-%20Large%2031.jpg
INAHO!!!! Look what your “Beautiful” Joke done some harm..
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2016%20-%20Large%2032.jpg
I am truly Sorry, Captain.
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2016%20-%20Large%2003.jpg
Please stop of using this “Beautiful” Joke for the sake of Moral
Seeing how Slaine easily achieved what other noble is unable to achieve, makes me remember a lot of how Reinhard von Longhengram from Legend of Galactic Heroes started his rise of power.
How Inaho being master tactician also feels a lot similiar to Yang Wenli who always win against Reinhard on battlefield however unable to stop him due to being resource less on strategic level.
Hope that this one will be able to show how Slaine begin to pull many heart of the lower class soldier and knights to follow him for a new Vers which will versus the competence Terran army.(Not only Inaho solo the game.)
We should not forget, only his Mecha give him the power to fruit his tactics into Success
Without his Mecha his is only All talk. Remember this Mecha is special, not that he can see into the Future. Also his moving in Space is astonishing.
if the Author want to give Slaine more steppingstones to his Finish Line. He could let these High-Nose Count’s, sabotage his Mecha in a Fight and he get hit…
I don’t think so, Those other Count themselves already had their owww super power mech and yet, they are unable to achieve anything.
What Slaine had done with Tharsis shows that as long as he is given the same power as the other count, he is surely much able to achieve his goal compared to the other.
Is it me or does the captured knight look like the son of Cruhteo? So apparently the Vers epire needs oil or was it because there was a HQ in the arabic city? On a scientific, and socio-political front Aldnoah.Zero is splendid. On this aspect I would say, it could easily become anime of the year. Same for sound and visuals. Unfortunatly, the characters are rather lackluster, though it’s better than last season. I hope there will be a spin-off with better characters or a prequel without Inaho.
I don’t know if he is Crutheo’s son but he is cute.
Maybe Yuki Kaizuka will be with him and the captured knight may develop stockholm syndrome.
The middle east, that is the most dangerous place to be for obvious reasons.
you compare RL Experience with Fantasy Sci-fi Earth time lines.
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2016%20-%20Large%2010.jpg
See? She is respecting their Culture where Females had to hide their Hair. Do not ask me why, but it is Tradition there. I just remind you an Lupin Movie, where some Female walked there in all female Body weapons, care a shit about Culture and Traditions. Lucky we overcome these phase
Why doesn’t she cover her arms? lol
Well she tried.
More like she is wearing it to protect herself from the sun.
“More like she is wearing it to protect herself from the raep”
FTFY
Have to agree with Enzo’s comment about Aldnoah being what it is, and you either have to accept that or not. That very sentiment entered my mind while watching this episode – particularly on the Terran side. Well, to be fair there was the Kataphrak of the Week (KOTW) for VERS. Still, IMO the show missed a good, arguably very good, opportunity to break free from its mold. Lt. Marito & Co. were getting pawned as usual, but for once someone other than Inaho figured out the KOTW’s Achilles heel. Good. Then after relaying that vital piece of information to Ducalion… Inaho, with cyborg eye no less, targets then takes out the KOTW. Not good.
In a previous episode’s comment, someone mentioned wondering why Inaho was the only one with the hax cyborg eye given now powerful/useful it was. Fair question, but it’s experimental and whatnot so essentially I decided to just go with it like the whole (solar) “wind” effect (conspicuously missing this time around I might add). However, isn’t there a sophisticated, computer controlled targeting system on Ducalion, a technologically advanced space battleship? WHY was Inaho needed vs. just using Ducalion’s targeting system? It’s almost as if Aldnoah is afraid that if anyone other than the two lead characters, especially Inaho, does something important, the audience will become confused as to who are the lead characters. No worries Aldnoah, I think everyone has figured that out… in spades.
So for me it was a wasted chance even after giving partial credit to Lt. Marito. It still ends up as Inaho taking out the KOTW. Speaking of Lt. Marito, I hope what transpired means we can finally get past his PTSD. That’s a very real & potentially serious condition, but I thought the way the show handled it last season was overly intrusive and heavy-handed.
For good or bad, Ep. 16 is more of the same. Slaine continues to be the more interesting character and VERS continues to be the more interesting side. Consider the difference in what the two characters did this episode. Slaine goes & blows up some Earth space transports, but that ties into something greater. It’s part of a plot line and has some some purpose (i.e. shut up Slaine’s detractors), whereas Inaho’s involvement strike me as simply “Inaho = protagonist and thus wins the battle. Again”. To me, the show is doing a noticeably better job with Slaine’s character up to this point, certainly better this season at least. Same goes for the VERS side with all the political intrigue. Conversely, there’s very little going on the Earth side other than Inaho and his cyborg eye. :/
To be fair, while Adlnoah can be frustrating at times, it also has its merits. Ep. 16 may not have been the best episode of the series, but it was sufficiently entertaining – something I can’t say for other shows this season.
Meh, my usual typo >_> 2nd paragraph, first sentence “…given how powerful/useful…”
Once again the creators successfully make the terran-scenes as boring as possible.
It was mentioned sometime ago that Slaine would get more screentime. This, unfortunately, has yet to happen.
Dunno why people are comparing this to code geass and gundam, this feel is more like Titania where only hyulick could put up a fight with Titania. All hail tytania
If people are going to compare this to any Gundam series it should be Gundam Seed Destiny where only Kira, Athrun and Shinn can really accomplish anything against the super evil Blue Cosmos despite it being run by a hilarious Ernst Stavro Blofeld clone and mainly rolling a ridiculous Psyco Gundam knockoff.
Let me just state for the record that I’m deeply wounded to get no love for that “Bishoudown” gem.
Also – Pete Carroll is an idiot.
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2016%20-%2004.jpg “I’m gonna figure you out you son of a bitch”
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2016%20-%2005.jpg “Don’t even bother, he’s the Wolf of Vers Street”
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2016%20-%2036.jpg “Getting tired of Slaine’s bullshit. I”m supposed to be the ace up in this bitch”
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2016%20-%2034.jpg “Back then they didn’t want me, now I’m hot they all on me”
And so we are back to the ‘monster of the week’ formula. Such a shame. I really have to question the abilities of the writing team when they sideline interesting bits, such as Mars politics, while giving more screentime to yet another gimmicky robot.
I genuinely hope they don’t wrap the series with a deus ex machina twist. Assuming they don’t announce a Season 3, I would rather they move towards an endgame next episode.
Inaho yeah, I still say he’s a better ACE on the battle field because he can get more data on this single crazy assed units they have been fighting. But THEY NEED to conference that boy into strategy meeting!!!!
If A-1’s “best ever production and animation design” is but a pale imitation and shadow of an average AU Gundam series from Sunrise than honestly I don’t see much hope for them in this genre going forward let alone the superseding of Gundam that was this franchises initial goal.
Hurray for Marito’s return! The only character on the earth’s side I like (Inaho’s sister is alright too, even if she’s just the worrying sister it’s easy to see where she’s coming from not wanting him to fight). I do like how they are handling the issue with his PTSD. Most of the time it hinders him but now he’s able to use it to his advantage. I don’t think they will implement the magical “you are suddenly over a traumatic experience” which is fine by me. It still could have been handled better but it’s one of the only things that have kept my interest in this show (besides Slaine of course).
I think Aldnoah is going through a midlife crisis. Every once in a while we’ll get character driven moments but they always get interrupted by the arbitrary action or military mombo jumbo. They kind of dragged this episode’s fight out for no reason. We all know who was going to save the day. Heck one of the dude’s ran into the tornado like an idiot. It’s confirmed that lab rats are smarter than these people. Even I thought about the “attack from above” strategy before the other characters did. At least Marito and Inaho’s sister were useful in this fight as they held off their opponent pretty well but I still wish they’d have won without Inaho’s help (continued lack of targeting systems is making me cringe).
It’s like the writers don’t know any other formula. I generally enjoy this show despite how much I complain about it but it’s actually getting really stale in comparison to last season which was able to break up the action better.
I’m really not sure about how the Martians justice system works. Slaine had a clear motive for murdering the Count. There is no reason NOT to suspect him when the count died RIGHT after Slaine was promoted in status. The timing is way to coincidental. Even if they don’t have hard evidence not having anyone/anything watching his every move is a hardly a reasonable action to take. Heck I like that Slaine is a respected badass now but he’s getting off way to easy in my opinion.
Going by their battle stats I think Saazbaum’s death should have raised more than a few eyebrows. Slaine was already a pretty well established warrior before his promotion. He hadn’t lost a single fight and has saved his comrades many times already. If you add this with Saazbaum who was not only a very competent warrior but has one of the most OP mechs in the show I have a hard time seeing either of them biting it without foul play.
PLUS wouldn’t it be strange that Slaine was the ONLY person to witness his end? I mean if something like this happened on earth you’d have the police on your ass in a heartbeat lol. Maybe titles hold more weight on mars which I suppose would explain the lack of surveillance but it should still be properly investigated instead of being dropped because he’s too popular.
Today i had some Deep Thoughts about Inaho, and how we could raise his popularity
What we know?
Inaho has a Bigger Sister, named Yuki.
Show Spoiler ▼
Inaho:
Show Spoiler ▼
What do you think?. I just want to add some Spice in our “Where is the Roots” of Inaho and Yuki-nee, to pull him up the ranks in attention against Slaine
I can’t tell whether Slain is a good guy or bad guy.
I’m waiting for the comm officer to say “3 times faster” during Slaine’s badass charge to Trident base but that didn’t happened.
This series has (or had) some good points but lately it’s merits are gradually declining for me.
What are you talking! this show is full powered awesome!
Ep 17:
I gave it a 7/10
Because there is most talk. But interesting talk. More to come, when the Episode is alive
Stay away. Speculation with Episode action…
Show Spoiler ▼
I love in how they try to play the random and turn of events in the Story so far. But some things they cannot change
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