Posted by  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
「いつか見た流星 -Inherit the Stars-」 (Itsuka mi ta Ryūsei -Inherit the Stars-)
“Shooting Star of Yesteryear -Inherit the Stars-“
Fair or not, anime are always graded on a curve. And it’s a tough week for Aldnoah.Zero.
Let me start out by saying I really didn’t this this was a bad finale. Technically it was solid, the action sequences were (as ever) terrific, and the pacing was fine. It was coherent and easy to follow, and didn’t leave much in the way of loose ends. So in sum, not terrible by any means. But I’d be lying if I said it didn’t leave me feeling… Well – not much of anything, really. And that’s a disappointment.
It’s finale week for the bulk of series that are ending this season, of course, so it’s impossible not to compare and contrast a little. This was a sort of antithesis to the Tokyo Ghoul final episode in a sense – predictable, conventional, plot-driven and emotionally hollow where that one was an impressionist painting, a canvas of pure feeling which told its story largely in silence. But it’s Death Parade which most springs to mind for me as the A.Z credits roll, because it was clear when that show ended that everything had happened for a reason. Here, the question that demands to be asked is, what was the point of all that?
I don’t have any single grievous complaint with how Takayama Katsuhiko (a very good writer) chose to end the story. Probably the biggest gripe I’ve heard is Asseylum marrying Cruhteo Jr., but that makes sense to me – she acted like a leader, not an anime character. Princesses don’t get to choose their husbands, and in the act of trying to wrest control of her nation away from a despot and usurper and stop a war, she did what had to be done. Slaine paid a price for his almost limitless misdeeds, and Inaho was spared a Valvrave-esque personal demise. In the big picture, it was basically (here’s that word again) “fine”.
But again, somehow this all feels very pointless to me. There was no poetry to this ending, nothing epic or Shakespearean in the final bishoudown that’s been teased for two seasons. We had Slaine finally making what seemed like a reasonable decision – ordering his troops to surrender and destroying the moonbase to keep it out of enemy hands.. But his Orbital Knights decided, out of loyalty to the boy who’d led them and their world to the brink of ruin, to throw away their own lives in a pointless suicide mission. Then you had Slaine try and enter into a murder-suicide with Inaho, who was offering him the opportunity to live. It sort of makes sense in that Slaine is smart enough to realize the future that awaits him if he lives is pretty bleak, but it just offers no closure or satisfaction.
Maybe it’s wrong that after all this, nobody dies (though it seems somehow fitting given Aldnoah’s history). Maybe Slaine’s death would have given the ending greater pathos, though that doesn’t feel like the problem to me – I think again it comes down to the issue of there seeming to be no larger purpose behind all this. And at least there was a good reason why Inaho inexplicably bent over backwards to spare Slaine’s life – he was asked to by Asseylum. And in the end, Inaho certainly proves to be the better man in this matchup.
I think a lack of a deeper character arc for Inaho was definitely a problem that undercut the impact of the finale. I like Inaho and I found his reverse-Pinocchio situation in the second season interesting, but he didn’t get much in the way of backstory or emotional catharsis. That all went to Slaine, and he was so uniformly a dickhead in the second season that there was really no doubt as to how his arc would or should end up – live or die, he had to suffer a serious downfall. From the Greeks onward great tragedies have been built not around suspense, but on knowing such a downfall was going to happen and watching it unfold, so structure isn’t the problem here. If Slaine’s ending lacked poetry and power (which I would argue it did) execution was the issue.
In the end, I think it was really Asseylum that seized events by the throat and changed the game – which is certainly unexpected given the first 22 episodes. At least Slaine had the grace to admit he’d underestimated her – “I didn’t think she was capable of it” – but you know, I almost would rather have seen Slaine go all-in on the megalomania and fight like a cornered wolverine right down to the end. He was really beyond redemption anyway, so seeing him go down with a whimper – while it was the logical course for him – doesn’t bring much emotional pop. He was neither redeemed or destroyed in a blaze of glory, and that’s not a satisfying result from a dramatic standpoint.
I guess, for Slaine, one has to ask if Asseylum really did him any favors by begging Inaho to spare his life. The world thinks he’s dead, he’s in solitary confinement, and has to suffer the pity of Inaho and Asseylum for the rest of his life. I suppose the smile we see from him at the end is supposed to indicate that he’s glad Asseylum still had feeling for him in her heart, but his lot is pretty grim by any standard. In the larger picture Asseylum has certainly carried the day – peace has broken out, Aldnoah is being shared, and only a few occupying Orbital Knights seem to be holdouts. As for Inaho, he’s taken out his prosthetic eye-engine (is that murder?) and as always, reveals little of what he’s really feeling. But it’s safe to say he’s resigned to having lost the love of his life to a greater cause, and his history suggests the response is going to be to make sure he never allows himself to be that vulnerable again. Once more, a perfectly feasible and logical endpoint – but one that doesn’t offer much closure or emotional catharsis.
I would still say that, on the whole, the second season of Aldnoah.Zero was better than the first – it was certainly more coherent and consistent. But the rather flat conclusion leads me to wonder if the series wouldn’t have been better off pursuing the Valvrave route after all – balls-to-the-wall insanity and illogic everywhere you turn. Even if was sometimes frustration or irritation, at least it would have left the audience feeling something – and maybe that’s better than what we ended up with. If you’re going to play it straight, in order to be a really good series there has to have been a larger point to everything that happened. Otherwise, you end up with Aldnoah.Zero – a collection of perfectly good parts that somehow add up to less than they should.
Obviously, a huge thanks to Zephestopheles for this partnership – covering A.Z together has been a blast. Let’s hope Spring delivers – if it has anything on the schedule as good as Death Parade, Akatsuki no Yona or Kiseijuu, that will mean the season isn’t a total loss.
Zephyr’s Final Impressions:
Here we are. Two cours and 24 episodes later, ALDNOAH.ZERO comes to an end, and it’s a fitting finale for a series that has been predictably unpredictable and controversial almost every step of the way. Slaine and Inaho have their 1v1 fight to end things, Earth and Vers make strides toward a permanent peace via the sharing of resources and ALDNOAH tech, and all’s fine with the world. The only thing missing was a literal bow around this happy ending, and it’s a finale that won’t be without its share of “what the heck happened,” with many aspects feeling as if they were merely shoehorned in to end up at a certain result.
Granted, there’s an immense amount of pleasure to be gained seeing Slaine incarcerated permanently in a shady prison somewhere in the boonies, but that doesn’t change how the UFE’s attempted assassination of Asseylum suddenly gets brushed under the rug like they never intended to kill her in the first place. The offerings of peace and ALDNOAH tech probably played a part in changing their minds, but there’s a certain incongruity to how things suddenly sped up to the happy ending we got here—especially considering how it’s Asseylum herself that ends up activating the first ALDNOAH reactor on Earth. Part of me expected one last explosion to set the stage for a third season, but obviously that didn’t happen. The third season however, might, depending on how much credence you lend to rumors and images floating around…
Either way, the whole resolution regarding Slaine ultimately also feels lackluster considering the build up it’s gotten throughout this second-cour. It’s fitting given Slaine’s psychological state, and the shock of Asseylum’s announcement clearly played a bigger role than anticipated, but to suddenly have everyone abandon the Moon Base and self-destruct with himself still inside? That’s certainly stretching things quite a bit. The compassion for one’s companions only goes so far, and the fact that he subsequently rushes out to fight Inaho shows there were clearly things he wanted/intended to do, which goes against his whole decision making process in the first place. It’s as if they expected us to believe that the Slaine we’ve been watching over the past dozen episodes would’ve just sat there if Inaho didn’t come, and this is just one of those moments that was clearly made in a way just to ensure they would have a 1v1 fight to finish off the series and set up for an ending that leaves everyone alive. The latter makes you wonder if their intent wasn’t to make sure they could do a third season later if they wanted to, and it makes you shake your head if it ends up being true, even if they did do a good job bringing things back to the beginning with the shooting star, the mentions of Rayleigh scattering, and the seagulls flying across the empty ocean.
Put it all together though, and I suppose it’s ultimately par for the course in regards to the series as a whole. ALDNOAH.ZERO was a great series to watch from an action and entertainment standpoint, but it was always lacking from a narrative and character development perspective. The second season made great strides by providing us character-centric episodes to see where much of our cast were coming from, but to echo a comment I read elsewhere, when both Inaho and Slaine end up being NTR-ed by someone with less than 10 minutes of screen time, the overall development issues really show. It ends up pretty darn hilarious thinking about it in hindsight like this, but I would doubt that was the initial intent of those behind the series.
ALDNOAH.ZERO is still worth a watch/recommendation to people regardless however, just as long as you make sure that people know to come in with their expectations tempered and with the knowledge that UroGen was only involved in the first few episodes. If anything, it’s worth watching just to see what the fuss is all about, especially of another season does end up coming, and it’s interesting to note that despite all the flaws of the series, I’d likely watch a third season if it came. Until then though, I’ll just be content building model kits of the mecha from the series as my only remaining tie in to ALDNOAH.ZERO…
Looking forward, it’s amazing how fast time flies, and I hope that everyone reading has enjoyed Enzo and I’s posts/caps respectively regarding this series and will continue to do so for whatever series we end up covering next season. Spring’s looking pretty darn good—especially compared to this past season—and we could very well end up with much of our AOTY contenders by the time the summer comes up…
ED5 Sequence
 |
 |
 |
ED5: 「heavenly blue」 by Kalafina
End Card
 |
Not much for an ending but Inaho looks better with an eye patch.
Yeah and the one who came out of it big was the 10 min man. Heck even Inaho didn’t get that much time with her. He’s eye got more time with her.
He is the true “Gantai” here (anyone watching Tokyo Ghoul will know what I’m talking about) XD
I liked the ending for Slaine, it shows that after everything that has happened, he’s still human. The way he cried. He hasn’t lost empathy.
I am sure everyone has a mixed feeling about Slaine. R.I.P Harklight and many of Slaine’s loyal followers. I really feel bad for Slaine, where he is now “all alone,” since he intended to have himself die while his devoted followers live in a happy future forged by the salvation provided Asseylum, only for the opposite to happen where all his followers chose to die while Slaine, much to his surprise, was allowed to live and see the peaceful world created by the new Empress; Slaine, you should not hate that color, Orange is the color for loyalty after all. Seeing Slaine so depressed shows how much he regrets not accompanying his followers in the afterlife. Anyway, like father (step-father in this case) and son, both expected to be killed, as they want a headshot, only to be spared.
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2024%20-%20Large%2027.jpg
I am surprised on how my prediction had partly came true. Like Lelouch, Slaine was seen as the “absolute evil” and his “death” came to put an end to the rift between Vers and Earth. Though it would be reasonable to give Saazbaum, or someone else like Asseylum’s delirious grandfather, the blame and spare poor Slaine from prison; of course, it is understandable to have a Terran be the scapegoat for starting the war.
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2024%20-%20Large%2005.jpg
T_T no farewell kiss though like the many times it occurred for Lelouch.
Well, on another prediction, if we get another spin-off, besides Twin Gemini, I think we may see this girl as an important herorine, some character designs seem too good to be used only once.
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2023%20-%20Large%2030.jpg
On the side note: T_T Asseylum…… we know who she is getting married to (i think), but let us see the rest of our ships. *Sigh*, it is officially Inaho and discounted eggs being shipped, unless Inko has a plan in mind to step in. Of course
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2024%20-%20Large%2035.jpg
Like a certain ninja, who covered his Sharingan in most occasions, I am sure Inaho may attract the ladies with this new look, much to Inko’s horror.
InahoXEye also failed
Oh, hey. Remember the guy who died in the second episode?
Yes, SilentCid, I also think that ‘eye patch plus uniform’ look of the no-longer-Terminator Inaho is really cool.
Also, sorry about the late reply.
That was… unsatisfying.
What a total cop-out. The guys with no character developments won. Hollow ending. Boooo!
I’ll remember not to drop the soap till I return in Season 3/Movie.
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2024%20-%20Large%2038.jpg
How about a team up with inaho against the count ntr master?
He’ll pull up an Aizen – appearing in restraints like Hannibal Lecter.
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2024%20-%20Large%2036.jpg
They stole my Hime-sama away from me! They shall pay. Let’s team up Orange kun.
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2024%20-%20Large%2035.jpg
Forget it. You should really eat your meals. I hear the eggs are especially good here.
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2024%20-%20Large%2037.jpg
Asseylum: “Sorry, Slaine and Inaho. Its not right for me to be with a Terran.” Teehee~
Klancain: “Im so suave, damn am I the NTR king or what?”
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2024%20-%20Large%2035.jpg
“Let’s play some chess old fri….”
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2024%20-%20Large%2036.jpg
“I’m not Magneto damnit!”
Totally agreed. I felt the whole anime basically failed on itself. It basically said, “There are things wrong with this world, and concluded that people are too small to change it.”
Slaine is the ultimate tragic hero. To the point that even the audience hates him. The guy was the son to the scientist who made Vers possible. And he was delegated to a servitude and shame lower than the lower classes of Mars. His only light was a stupid and naive princess who thought her presence alone will solve the two world’s hatred for each other. One destroyed the moon, the other destroyed the king-to-be. He had to side with the person he hated most, side with the enemy, marry someone he didn’t love, and isn’t even allowed to die. Oh, his one side step that cemented him into the wrong course was shooting Inaho. But I think he did because this jackass put his light onto the battlefield where she was shot by the very guy who wanted to killer in the first place.
Slaine scarified more than anyone else to try and make a world that the princess wanted. He came to the conclusion that the two worlds just will not stop fighting. She was delusional to think otherwise. The concept of keeping the Aldnoah’s power to a select few was creating a society of suffering that constantly needed someone to blame. So he decided that he would weaken both worlds with a massive battle and create a new one where all would be equal.
At the end, the princess has to do a political move and betray one of the two people she cared for. But atleast she grew up finally. And she doesn’t even end his suffering. He wanted to die at the end and stop killing people because his version of society was no longer possible and he is not allowed to. And the guy who got his light killed… is still alive! Finally, Slaine is blamed for _everything_ just so the politicians can have an _excuse_ for peace. Otherwise, how could they? Slaine will go down in history as not the reason for the temporary peace between Vers and Earth but the guy who caused ALL the suffering on both sides. And appear even more so because he is compared to his father, the savior of both societies. He was a slave in the Vers society and he is a prisoner in Earth’s.
As for peace, the two societies have a huge history of hate and all the Aldnoahs will do is arm both sides with bigger guns (ie: every Gundam series). The underlying problems were the social and political structures on both sides, not just the Aldnoahs.
The only good thing I saw was at the end when Slaine cries because the princess still cares for him, he no longer needs to carry the burden, and he no longer needs to suffer. Later he kind of smiles as although he is in a cage, never to be free, his suffering is at an end.
Right!? I don’t think many really realize what Slaine was put through and the hard decisions he had to make (not that, that makes his decisions any better, just more understanding). I find it baffling when I hear people giving him the title as “coward” when any character who’s gone through as much loss and pain has he did and still trucked on to make a new world for the one he loved seems like the exact opposite… but okay lol. Wanting death at the end of how this turned out doesn’t seem cowardly to me. A man who devoted and fought a great deal of his life for a world he thought would be better and loved one that will never be… it just seems fitting to say then to oneself “I tried my best, and I think I’m done”. As well all know, and he did as well, there was nothing left for him to do after Asseylums announcement.
“Oh, his one side step that cemented him into the wrong course was shooting Inaho. ”
I don’t believe that, Inaho sealed his fate when shooting him down for no reason.
As for Slain shooting him, you have to remember, from Slaines point of view Inaho shot him down after helping him save everyone for no reason lol. I would be very leery of him myself.
Many things have been put on Slaine, and while he did commit some terrible feats in acts of war, most make sense with the position he was in (not right, just make sense). He could not do what Asseylum did, he is not of royal blood. Lemrina did not wish for the same thing Asseylum did so he could not make her play Asseylum’s real role of peace bearer. And he needed power from the Orbital Knights to get anything done and they of course did not want peace with earth.
So Slaine took action like I feel any reasonable man would do when countries are at war and there is a real and present fear of losing everything you love… to just try and make a difference. The only point I see that his decisions became questionable or out of line, maybe even out of character, is when Asseylum’s woke up and order him to stop. But then again this decision was made after him being involved in a war with Earth for two whole years of his life and currently still on going. So again I don’t think it was unreasonable for him to feel like peace would just come out of nowhere if you asked for it. Cause it sure didn’t work for her the first time lol. And that wasn’t even Earth that fought against Asseylum but Mar’s very own Orbital Knights. And this time everyone from Earth to Mars is technically after her cause of what they think she has done. Which is why this ending feels very fake to me, neither side seems like it would have just stopped for her IRL. Which is why Slaine’s ideas seems more approachable. But hey… it’s fiction we’re talking about here right!? lol
Inaho’s shooting Slaine down made no sense though, and pretty much forced Slaine into his position do what he had to do.
To me this is where things get interesting on moral standpoints. Some keep saying how Slaine should own up to his mistakes and be punished for his poor choices in judgment (and I don’t really disagree with that, such is war and life). But from my understanding most of his decisions make sense for a war that takes place in this story. Inaho made an irrational and very poor decision (for anyone to make lol) of shooting him down that shaped most of what individuals here think was wrong with what Slaine did.
I think this is intriguing because while IRL no one would really know what Inaho did (just like in the story) so it would result in how this story ends with him getting off scot free. But in reality his poor choice also caused the loss of many lives and better opportunities that could have been taken if he hadn’t shot him down. And also it was what gave rise to what Slaine did.
So while Slaine’s acts were more… atrocious to some? Inaho was the cause lol.
This just reminds that most humans are just humans. Trying to make the best decisions we can make. While making small to irreparable mistakes that depending on the circumstance can make you a hero or villain in the eyes of the masses but never really tell the true story.
Such is life I guess?
I’d even say I feel cheated: to me, a great deal of the second season also revolved around Inaho moving Heaven and Earth (literally) to find and save Seylum, and all in all, he crossed her path for like ten seconds in the whole season, and then it took just another ten seconds to blow their development away.
I’m not referring to the political marriage, but after that annoucement, in the last episode, there was not even a single mention of their true feelings, up until the very end when Seylum just referred to Inaho as a friend. So much for that, even if some will say that it’s typical.
I might just be venting some frustration here, but even so, looking back at all that happened in the series between them, I can’t believe this can be considered as a good closure.
Her referring to Inaho as a friend and a “happy memory” was a huge slap in the face. So strong it probably knocked that eye out of his head, hence the eye patch.
I agree 100% on this. Seriously why even have all that build up to practically gloss over it in the end with less that 5 seconds of an explanation. Oh he was just a friend i knew. Yes im sure she wasnt being truthful there and theres more feelings between the two. But the entire premice of the second season for inaho was to find and save the princess, someone he considered to be a part of himself, and in the end of the show they dont even get time to spend together because the queen has already jumped into her relationship with random guy. I get that political marriages are meant to be that way but its the last episode and after a build up of practically 2 seasons worth of winking at a romance and the final seconds of the season they just imply nothing will come of it all. So dumb…
I believe that the writers were trying to give us a bittersweet ending but failed hardly. It is a fact that bittersweet endings has a tendency to get carved in people’s minds a than happy endings (Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, Steins;Gate before the Movie, Code Geass, etc).
What happened was they threw away 2 season’s worth of “character development” for that “Seylum chose her duty as a princess instead of Inaho” crap ending. I wouldn’t compare it completely to Guilty Crown but in a sense, they’ve both utterly failed that bittersweet ending they were aiming for.
Def agree, though I sorta felt like that for the whole second season once they revealed everyone was alive. It really felt like they were just going through the motions to get to…this, and by that time, you just didn’t feel anything (as Enzo mentioned), and the result was pretty unsatisfying.
It’s like how the Martians acted in this episode, it felt like they just acted that way because the plot called for them to. For a society based on a military caste system, seeing them easily disobey Slaine’s orders felt pretty empty.
And the action sequences were sort of muddled. All we really saw of the crew of the Deucalion was give orders to fire, and we saw their ship fire, but we didn’t get much else, and they repeated that sequence again when the Martians turned back to fight them. It felt really static.
It also felt rushed with the way Slaine and Inaho’s battle ended, and they fell to Earth, and he was already out of his mech in a blink of an eye. But that was just an encapsulation of the whole episode. They didn’t have a lot of time to go into too much detail, so the crammed in what they could an tacked on an epilogue.
I even feel Valvrave ended on a much more satisfying conclusion, even though that was a mess of its own, as it just was more entertaining. This just was a free sub I needed to eat to get my free sub, and I’m glad it’s over.
The ending was fucking garbage. In fact the entire show was just a pile of shit that only got popular because of hype.
I agree.
Anyone else notice the countdown on the website? Maybe another season in the works, or maybe a movie?
If they do a season three, I want a good 4-5 year timeskip. And for it to the final season. It makes sense to do a large timeskip to allow enough stuff to happen and for any bad guys to establish themselves enough.
Yeah, that was what I was referring to as one of the potential rumors.
We’ll see in about 11 hours what that’s all about.
3rd season plot twist Martians return and everyone fights alien invasion
I m pretty sure aldnoah can pull this one off
Er…they’ve been doing website countdowns thoughout the series: the post-screening one was time limit to download a key animation wallpaper/image related to the episode. It should appear again on Thursday after the finale is broadcast in the Kansai region…
If there was any announcement, it would be after that broadcast as well. But going by Aoki’s Twitter, where he’s been replying to a lot if well-wishers and other comments, I’d honestly be very surprised.
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2024%20-%20Large%2036.jpg “That shit better be blurays, I don’t want another season of bullshit!”
There’s a rumor of movie version.
But since this ending was utter fail and the whole 2 seasons got totally ruined by it, now nobody really cares about the show anymore.
Well, Season 3 would not be a surprise. The way the ending was written, to me, was done in a way that allow for Code Geass R2 type restart for Slaine. There are just too many plot-holes and unresolved construction and resolution of the Aldnoah world that is so unsatisfying. I feel like a grade-schooler can write a better ending, or the writers are simply trolling us for more anime product so they can milk us for cash.
1) We haven’t even seen the Vers homeworld. God knows what in-fighting, class struggle could explode. What we know so far:
a) Saalzbaum-like faction; Vers nobles who have a hatred of feudal society/Royals (a la Saalzbaum), who can use this current situation and construct a narrative to overthrow Asseylum/Klancian who basically usurped the elder emperor, who is still alive.
b) Harklight-like faction; Vers lower-class (who like Harklight), struggled in the said feudal society and are loyal and very sympathetic to Slaine personal story, a Terran that rose to high rank despite of his “birth” status as a Terran even with the crushing discrimination towards the lower class, and who could be wiped to a frenzy if “someone” promises them to overthrow the tyrants of Vers feudal society and promise a better life.
2) “The Empire strikes back” elements still lurking around, people who will still want to fight
a) As heard in the ending new broadcast, orbital knights that STILL has not yielded to Asseylum
b) As with Saalzbuam, orbital knights are a faction that are not very pro-peace and were basically betrayed after ordered into war by “Asseylum” only for her to declare peace.
3) Personal plot lines that are unresolved
a) Lemrina? Who would be surprised that she will rally to Slaine if given the chance.
b) Harklight? No body is dead in this anime until you see their cold dead body.
b) Count Barouhcruz? He had no reason to fight with Harklight at the end to rescue Slaine but he did. He is the most interesting person here, why would he, who dislike Terrans, then become the biggest ass-kisser once Slaine won, still come to the Slaine/Harklight side when he saw the loyalty of Harklight et al when defeat is at hand?
d) Eddelrittuo?
————————————————————-
So if I was going to milk anime fans with Season 3. This will be my plot line.
A Saalzbaum like character from the Vers home world who wishes to overthrow the Vers system will proclaim that Asseylum/Klancian have usurped the throne from the living (though mentally gone) emperor. He will manipulate the bedridden Emperor and divide the Vers homeworld and cause a civil war. As part of the rallying call, this Saalzbaum like character will at the beginning or at the mid-point, when the battle has turned against them, say that the feudal system should be abolished so the lower-class/serfs rally to their call. This part will probably come when these anti-feudal faction let the Emperor die, naturally or otherwise. The tool that anti-Asseylum/Klancian faction will use will be Slaine, now proclaimed by Earth propaganda as dead and who tried to kill Asseylum, as a hero for doing so. They will use Slaine to do their dirty work while advancing their goal.
Lemrina, Harklight, and Barouhcruz, still alive somewhere will team up with disgruntle Orbital Knight who are still resisting, and the Vers anti-Asseylum forces to “rescue” Slaine as a figure head to fight Asseylum and resume the glory of true Vers. Lemrina, Harklight, and various characters will have their respective agenda; Lemrina for love, Harklight out of loyalty and emancipation of his serf-class, and orbital knights out of betrayal. Slaine at 1st will be like Senji from Evangelion, useless and emotionally broken, but will be made to fight after a promise that the life of Asseylum will be spared when the monarchy is overthrown. Rescue will be like Code Geass R2 episode 1, except Slaine will be like Senji, not like Lelouch.
On the earth side, Inaho, hopefully will get character development. Asseylum/Klancain now faced with this civil war, they will team up with earth to fight in face of anti-Asseylum/royal faction. Earth will fight gladly as the enemy will renew war with Earth. Asseylum will have to deal with her “subject” that she said she loves, but will openly revolt and hate her, thus getting character development. As part of the development, she will spend time with Inaho, giving hope to all Inaho X Asseylum shippers.
The ending will be better! Slaine, thrown into madness, forced to fight the one he loves just so he can protect Asseylum from the anti-Asseylum faction from Vers, will fight Inaho at the end. He will die, as a tool and also a hero for Lemrina-types, Harklight-types. Slaine would have finished off the anti-Asseylum Saalzbuam types before he dies, to ensure their power-grab fails and they don’t harm Asseylum, but that true power rest with Harklight/Lemrina who will ensure Vers will ensure the end of the feudal system. Slaine will also get to “communicate” with Asseylum, via Eddelrittuo, who as we saw in Season 2 defending Slaine, will at least let Asseylum know a bit about Slaine’s love and complicated nature and that Slaine intends to die to let her live.
There are many ways to handle Barouchcruz, Lemrina, Klancian, Inaho, and the Decalion crew to develop their story and character. But the above plot/ending would at least put some meaning and drama.
Whoa, Hime-sama totally came off as a psychopath. Seriously, you’re ordering Inaho into a high-risk mission just to put Slaine into a jail for life… when you could have let him just die (somewhat peacefully)?
Our new Japanese Nick Fury
So I guess we will have a movie named ALDNOAH.ZERO THE AVENGERS?
Cast:
Inaho Fury – “You shall the witness my fury”; the boy has been in depression after losing the love of his life to a random Martian loser who did nothing but NTR the whole show.
Batman Troyard – “I might not be the one you want, but I am what you need”; a man from a distant planet who was captured from his planet and made into an Avenger against his will. He is lost, as if he was put in an entirely different dimension.
Black Inko – “My name is… Inko Amifumi… but you… can call me The Black Inko!”; Inko, still unable to capture the heart of Inaho Fury, has been called a lonely widow by others due to how she acts. She was once nicknamed the Inko Widow, but Calm calmly suggested that Black Inko sounds better… because you know… black ink. A horrible joke of a name, yet Inko adopted it as her Avenger codename. It has since evolved into a racist joke.
Captain Terran aka Lt Marito – “I believe in the Terran dream. But THIS…this is some sort of NIGHTMARE!”; after recovering from his PTSD, he has finally proven himself worthy of praise. Lt Marito was promoted and given the codename Captain Terran. Inaho Fury recruited him as an Avenger, but in reality, he was recruited as a fodder to keep the enemy from Inaho. Furthermore, his fodder existence allows Inaho Fury to steal the spotlight. He enjoys drinking with his buddy – the Winter Scientist.
Synopsis: There still remains a dissenting faction within the Vers Empire that wishes to usurp the throne and throw the world into chaos once more. Count Cruhteo has been conveniently captured by that faction and brainwashed to betray Empress Asseylum when the opportunity arrives. Inaho Fury, with his god-like powers, somehow senses that his love is in danger. He forms a new Terran force called the Avengers in order to thwart the evil plan of the evil Vers faction and maintain peace between Mars and Earth.
Coming in 3235.
Show Spoiler ▼
We compare things from what we know. In your Case, you know a lot about The Avengers
Yeah. Was a bit disappointed with that ending. Didn’t seem particularly interesting. There was very little consequence and no real closure for any character. Asseylums path felt like a wild relationship which is sacrificed for a career path. No meeting with inaho or slaine. Why does inaho have to be just a friend resigned to the past?
Because reality strikes. Inaho is not from Vers and is also a mere commoner. For Asseylum to marry him, she would need to discard any political career – a non-option if she wants to rally for peace.
Perhaps but really in reality, Inaho should be top of the UFE for what he’s done and should be in enough of a standing to at least maintain some friendship (in the name of peace).
I think the ending sold out a lot of relationships. Feels something like how I felt when Mass Effect 3 finished without Citadel DLC lol.
Was the marriage absolutely necessary? I don’t think so. It’s not like Klancain refused to support her. He should have easily persuaded. She could totally have gone with the Virgin Queen route like Elizabeth I. If that happened the ending could actually been bitter-sweet.
This show really was a lot of nothing aside from a childish pissing contest going overboard between the two male leads.
What left me unsatisfied in A/Z:
1. Lt. Marito’s sudden development from an alcoholic, PTSD wreck in S1 and a badass in S2. Sure, I like the fact that he’s a capable fighter now, but the process of his recovery was almost 100% behind the scenes, except for his brief scenes with Dr. Yagarai. I wanted a least a coherent process that showed his development. No final reconciliation with Magbaredge?
2. Rayet. I had high hopes for the character development of the Martian who hated herself and killed a lot of fellow Martians in battle, but the ending took the usual “offer flowers at your dead loved one’s grave and smile”-thing, and she got away scott-free for her sin in sparking the 2nd Mars-Earth Conflict. Inaho must be a good therapist if he succeeded in speed-healing Rayet’s psychological scars.
3. No final “Misuzaki-kun, do you know why you can’t get a date”-jokes from Cpt. Magbaredge at the Aldnoah Reactor #1? I was waiting for that!
4. Lemrina? What happened to Onion-haired princess? Did she go back to Mars, or chose to live incognito on Earth? Or committed suicide when she heard Slaine “died” on the Post-War News Reports?
And once again, disappointment strikes. I was at the very least hoping for Inaho and Seylum to be together in the end even if they were both to die. Politically and story-wise, it was good. But was it worth to throw away the character development for such ending? I honestly thought that Inaho’s story would be about how an emotionless boy would learn to love but sadly they chose the “realistic” and political ending.
Show Spoiler ▼
Worry not, we’re getting a sequel anime and visual novel for Steins;Gate in the future. It’s already been announced.
I can only say that… I AM VERY UNSATISFIED! 🙁 ;_; D:
There really isn’t any closure to this “ending” at all!
What’s more is, dammit… MY SHIP DIDN’T SAIL!
Slaine was not slain…
And Asseylum & Inaho didn’t get a happy ending 🙁 DAMMIT!
And WTF WITH GANTAI! GRRR… GRRR…. GRRR…
Inaho’s definition of saving someone = Put them in prison for the rest of their life, blame an entire war on them – basically making him a second Hitler. Kind of fucked up if you ask me! Would have been a lot better to just kill him and be at peace. That’s what Slaine wanted too. BTW I just can’t find the logic in asking an unconscious person to save The LAST BOOSS of all people. Weather Inaho could do it or no is irrelevant. But seriously, to ask a wounded unconscious person to defeat and at the same time not kill the most powerful person present at that time is beyond crazy. Or is it just me who is surprised by her demand?
Slaine was a wannabe tyrant so Inaho was correct, also what Slaine did to Asseylums character was disgusting. Inaho sparing Slaine and ensuring he faces justice for his actions shows that Inaho is a good guy and not a murderer.
Good guy? Going out of your way and risking your life just to prevent someone from dying, solely for the purpose letting him rot away in jail?
It sounds closer to a really twisted sense of revenge, to be honest. The only reason I wouldn’t call out inahole on it is that Asseylum ordered him to do so in the first place.
Yes exactly, saving his life despite everything he’s done shows that Inaho is a good guy. And giving him prison instead of death does too. It doesn’t matter what Slaines done there, like any bad guy he deserved to face justice, perhaps one day he’ll be reformed and a better person when he’s eventually released. I’m sure Slaine would want to one day see Asseylum.
Um… sorry, but did you watch the ending? Slaine has been officially announced as dead – heck, he was named as the sole instigator of the whole conflict (which made me think that Saazbaum is smiling in his grave).
Slaine is dead. No, even worse than dead – he is rotting away in a prison and there is absolutely no chance he could ever get out. He would be sooner put to summary execution than be allowed to leave. Since he is officially KIA, the whole EUF would be in a deep shitstorm if he was found out to be alive.
Seriously, this is every single bit as bad as what he was doing to Asseylum himself. Only, now we consider Inahole and Asseylum to be good for repeating the trick? WHY?!
Yes of course I did see the ending, that doesn’t mean anything. I’m sure one day Asseylum will use her authority to request his release when he no longer poses a danger to anyone. He’s not going to stay there forever, despite everything Asseylum still cares about him and his well being. She doesn’t want him dead.
Aaaand now you’re entering delusional territory, I’m afraid. What would the UEF say when they let Slaine go? What could the UEF possibly say?
“Oh yeah, the guy who we blamed the whole conflict on and announced dead? Well, turns out he was actually sitting in a top-secret prison facility the whole time! Funny that, isn’t it? You see, our accounting is a bit of a mess…”
Political armageddon aside, there’s another issue with your idea. Namely that 99% of the world believes Slaine was the mastermind behind A. trying to murder Asseylum, B. starting the whole war which killed millions. He’s a dead man the moment he’s not under guard. There will be people seeking vengeance on him.
If Asseylum wanted Slaine to be redeemable, then she would have made sure he was put into a prison proper, and not, you know, made carry all the blame and announced dead. Simple as that.
Delusional? Because I don’t agree with you? I don’t see why he can’t eventually live out the rest of his days on Mars when he’s been quietly forgotten about and no longer poses a danger to anyone.
Not because of you disagreeing with me, but because of your assumptions that:
1. That someone who had caused the 2nd Interstellar War would be forgotten by anyone on Earth. Especially in less than a lifetime, given the massive loss in life.
2. That someone who attempted to murder the current ruler of Vers would be forgotten by anyone on Mars; especially since he has also done so to trigger a failed war. And this is not accounting for all the Orbital Knights who loathed Slaine for his attempt to snake his way to power.
3. That the UEF would risk a political meltdown without some REALLY substantial reason, especially when they can just let Slaine rot away and have the problem solve itself.
In contrast to these, saying “but Asseylum still has feelings for him” feels very much like wishful thinking.
Seems like it.
Regardless, he’s been declared as dead, so people wouldn’t expect it to be him on Earth anyway when released. Secondly we have no idea what kind of information has filtered to Mars. Asseylum at the very least could forgive him of his crimes if and when the time came and someone discovered who he was. Thirdly, political meltdown? what? If he has been quietly spirited away to Mars in the future no one would ever know.
Yeah, it’s not like he’s the son of a famous scientist researching Aldnoah. He also announced forming his very own empire and then declared a full-out war… in video feeds. I bet hardly anyone knows his face at this point. 🙂
Nah, he would be found out right away. The only way his existence could be kept a secret is if he was locked up in another room on Mars… but in this case we’re just talking about putting the him from one prison into another one. Remember, all it takes for news to break is one wrong person to ever see him.
I agree, at this point he would need to keep a very low profile on Mars. But it can be done. I wasn’t talking about him returning to Mars and walking around in public like nothing happened, apologies if I wasn’t clear.
The answer is fairly simple in practice. The result of what Inaho is as follows:
1. Asseylum’s request to save Slaine
– Inaho has done this in terms of Slaine’s EMOTIONS and PEACE OF MIND as is quite clear with the ending.
2. War Crimes don’t go away
– Regardless of whether of not “Slaine did nothing wrong 2k14/15” is objectively true or not, war crimes are war crimes. Whether or not he deserved this treatment is not the right question to be asking. He instigated a war, killed and brought general suffering to a whole lot of people. That fact doesn’t disappear regardless of whether or not he is a changed person.
Take this as a parallel to irl with the whole execution of drug smugglers in Indonesia atm/not too long ago. People rallied to have their execution revoked as they’ve undergone thorough rehabilitation and for the most part, are now changed people. But does that change what they’ve done? The answer is no. The crime(s) were committed under full awareness and knowledge of the possible consequences.
Choices should be made with commitment and understanding of consequences. Young’uns in modern times don’t really seem to understand that second chances are not/should not be a given, rather they are a luxury. As arrogant as it sounds, the easiest way of not making a mistake is simply to make an effort not to make the mistake in the first place.
As such we come full circle to our friend Slaine.
tl;dr Inaho gives Slaine peace of mind thus “saving” him as requested by the Princess. Slaine pays for his war crimes by living the rest of his life in confinement.
Well said, it’s disappointing that so many people wanted the show to go along the corny route of Slaine dying in some explosion during the final battle. Inaho and Asseylum throwing him in prison was the kindest possible outcome for him to atone for his crimes. He serves no use to anyone dead, at least while he’s alive he can repent for what he’s done. There are some people commenting near the bottom of the page hating on Inaho for not showing him ‘mercy’ which is kinda laughable as he didn’t deserve any.
While I was facepalming during the final episode of Tokyo Ghoul (artsy direction can’t save a trainwreck episode like that one) at least Aldnoah.Zero finale was coherent, entertaining and offers closure even if it didn’t pack an emotional punch or show the conclusions of long running character arcs even when character development improved dramatically in season 2, but I’m fine with all that, they entertained me quite enough with the action scenes, mech battles and resolving the conflicts between the characters and nations… Can’t ask for more than that at this point.. And IMO it is enough.
Overall I’d give Aldnoah.Zero [7.5/10] for entertainment value, impressive OST, cool mech designs and interesting battles that are fun and satisfying to watch since our heroes win using actual tactics not the the mystical macguffin power of pixie dust (at least here the bad guys are the ones using the pixie dust), on the down side it lacks strong characters and has no deeper meanings to contemplate nor a non-stop series of thrilling twists and turns (it has very few).
Sounds lika a crap end to a crap series. Good thing I stopped watching after the goddamn resurrection galore in the first ep of the 2nd cour.
This ending sucked. I was rooting for Slaine to win, or at least be put out of his misery.
It’s a classic good vs bad ending, the good guy almost always ensures the bad guy faces justice. It’s quite rare for a good guy to kill the bad outright.
If Slaine died, he would at least have retained some dignity. Instead, he’s rotting in prison for the rest of his “life”.
The black sheep alternative: Cross Ange
I realize a lot of people were made to feel uncomfortable and turn their collective noses torward Cross Ange, but the show was all the better for it.
Happy Endings, Balls the the Wall illogic for a super-climax, distinct villains. Sunrise defintely went the Valvrave route here, and has a so much more satisfying ending. Oh, and it is gender cooperative rather than chauvinist or feminist, with men and women saving the day together hand-in-hand after 24 episodes prior of character development seeing them change and grow into the people they are.
I am happy to see Cross Ange embrace the ugliness in life in contrast to the joys. No-washing out of emotions or denying horrible things happen for a world of grey. Drama whirlwind ahoy, and lots of crazy asspulls happen, but it is an enjoyable series all around.
I really like A/Z, but yes the ending is disappointing even though also satisfying in a way. Glad to see happy endings and a S3 left as a possibility.
But annoyed there’s no real closure.
Ironic that Cross Ange ended up being one of the better shows of the season, and A/Z ended up a complete disappointment considering the staff.
well, for me it was the opposite. An Undead Villain (hes not dying) that loves to seduce Females to his liking.. i dunno
Heh, the majority of the side characters in Cross Ange are better developed & characters than the most developed character in Aldnoah, a.k.a. Slaine and they’re decisions, for better or worse, are understandable. And this is all with Cross Ange taking the Valvrave entertaining trainwreck route while being more self-aware and even less apologetic while at the same time, it still makes more sense. It’s a halfie: both a self-aware, glorious trainwreck with your self-aware asspulls & what not but also a genuinely good show with some excellent developments for it’s main character, and some of the side characters too. It’s actually funny that an anime many deemed as misogynistic has one of the strongest female leads out there, an alpha one at that, and some of the other girls aren’t exactly push-overs either.
Amen to that… While its linear and almost predictable, there’s a lot of character development in Cross Ange.
My only gripe was how did Tusk survived that blast when he tried to suicide bomb Embryo.
Agreed. Even Cross Ange’s ending was better than Aldnoah.Zero’s. I never would have expected that.
There is still hope for a 3rd season. Imagine Lemrina enraged for the “dead” of Slaine. Discovering a more powerful aldnoah mechs and succeding a coup d’ eat in mars to drive to a 3rd war with earth. Earthians now have aldnoah power but that is not enough. Drived into a corner once again, the Discount-egg-lover is forced to use the Eye once again. Even with Roboinaho still not enough, they are forced to ask “him” for help.
Slaine: You Must Be Truly Desperate To Come To Me For Help
Nah i want the creators of the Aldnoah tech to come and want their sht back. Can you imagine going on a long vacation and coming back only to find squatters using your stuff lol.
That would erm work, but what if they’re long dead? I suppose they could always do a movie about a small force returning and have all of the action around Mars.
My friend, I raise you this:
http://www.reddit.com/r/AldnoahZero/comments/2zjvja/final_two_episode_names_for_season_2_theories_on/cpjrpxc
I would exactly say I felt the same way when Slaine got imprisoned but it does feel appropriate since Slaine was one of the most interesting and controversial characters in the anime; he suffered under constant prejudice from the Vers, saw Asseylum get shot in front of his own eyes, even manipulating people to rise up in power, which at that point he deserved to become a prisoner but its sad to see how his good intentions were not fulfilled in the way he hoped. Compared to Inaho, I can honestly say that initially I didn’t like him because he didn’t have much of a background so we barely knew him. To the end of season two, Inaho still feels two-dimensional; we never got to explore his life, he conveniently had tactical prowess and understanding of physics, and had little to no display of emotion. Inaho was in a way just a foil to Slaine’s character and simply just needed to fight the Orbital knights.
I wish Inaho was more than just a plot device to the enemy forces and drive the story forward, especially in this season’s opening sequence I thought getting the robotic eye and have a near death sequence would give Inaho the necessary development or catharsis but the creators decided to stay consistent with Inaho’s character. Granted, I love the action that Inaho and the characters exhibited from the anime, but without some kind of “foothold” into Inaho’s history or character, it felt Inaho soley exists to have the Earth forces stand a chance in the war.
And then there were issues with the war, The Vers played their cards really poorly despite having Alnoah technology in their hands, they mostly fought as individuals and were not as a offensive force. The war felt too incomplete in the way that most of the war were one-on-one fights and there was no spectacular finish, just a quick transition to peace on Earth.
I don’t regret watching Aldnoah.Zero since it was entertaining and the animation was fantastic. It’s just as what Zephyr said though, that it lacks in the narrative and character development. As long as I keep expectations low, it was a good show for what it’s worth.
I think the key word to describe A/Z is “bland”. Nothing really stood out or kept me at the edge of my seat while watching it. It’s far from any sort of trainwreck but at least those are fun to watch.
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2024%20-%20Large%2004.jpg “The Slaine route, you add 1 face turn heel, a dash of plot armor and hax, 1 rival, some NTR, a speck of redemption, a few loyal bros, a waifu you can’t bang because you still love someone else and you’d feel like shit for doing it, some of that Final Fantasy Tactics history telling a lie about what you’ve done, a hatred of the color orange, throw in some attempted murder suicide because you ain’t got shit to lose and never really did to begin with because permanent plot armor was attached to what you had to lose, your rival pretending we are in the Xmen universe and we’re old friends like we’re Professer X and Magneto trying to get us to play chess and shit knowing full well that plot hax dictates that he will win forever, and finally life imprisonment because you will never be able to decide your own fate when your rival has vastly superior plot armor and hax than you.”
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2024%20-%20Large%2005.jpg “I’m sorry, but we won’t be banging ok? Like ever. Not that I never wanted to though so don’t get me wrong. I’d just feel like shit for doing it when I still love the one that NTRs me 24/7.”
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2024%20-%20Large%2003.jpg “It’s not like i’ll be shown in the ending anyway. It’s because I attempted to murder the one with the most plot armor. It’s cool though, we kissed at least once. You’ve been kissed by two girls while your rival only was kissed by one. You have one small victory over him.”
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2024%20-%20Large%2026.jpg “You’re right, I did win in that area, and no one can take that from me, ever.”
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2024%20-%20Large%2038.jpg “I only have three options now, death by starvation, something that probably won’t be in my control since I can be force fed, bite my tounge and kill myself that way, but that’s not my style, or just live on confined in these walls till I finally do die like some average criminal. Choices….something I never really had to begin with. There’s no coincidence in fate because it’s all predetermined bullshit. Hey, I look cool with longer hair though right? Right?! Man I miss my redcoat.”
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2024%20-%20Large%2036.jpg “Moral of the story is, justice won’t be done because no one important on the “good guy” side died, heavens fell because everyone only cares about earth and Vers/Mars was pretty much told to go fuck themselves. We never got to see Vers/Mars civilization either, but this not big surprise because once again, they were told to go fuck themselves. To all my nakama who have been NTR’d or been through a similar feeling, don’t follow the Slaine Route, it’s not worth it, you can’t even be Slained when you want to be. Your life will just be full of bullshit. In the end it doesn’t even matter!
The last few scenes in the entire series seems to be some sort of irony for Slaine..
1) He originally wanted Asseylum to himself, like a bird in a cage.
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2024%20-%20Large%2036.jpg
2) 2nd last scene in the series: He’s the one in a cage now, for life.
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2024%20-%20Large%2038.jpg
3) Last scene in the series; birds in the sky, known to be free throughout their life.
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2024%20-%20Large%2039.jpg
Yep, i confirm this too
“1) He originally wanted Asseylum to himself, like a bird in a cage.”
… when did he want her to be in a cage? He fought to give her a new world. One she would rule… one that she would have more freedom with than she would have just fulfilling the role of a Princess. She was only put in a cage until that was fulfilled since she disagreed with the method and result. But other than talking to whatever the 13 year old mars girls name was about birds being in a cage while Asseylum was unconscious I don’t recall him ever “wanting” to put her in a cage.
She was on Purpose that long in the Tank? Did the Actions of Lemrina, trigged her somehow? or did she closed the Drugs that keep her in Coma?
Most thinking the last, while she was nearly there to shutdown life-support, she also shutdown the Drugs for her artificial Coma
https://randomc.net/2015/02/14/aldnoah-zero-18/comment-page-1/#comment-1710028
Slaine has to cry at the end of every season lol. After all that tough act, he was sitting in jail and breaking down, that was pathetic. They should have gave him an *orange* prisoner uniform, that would have been the icing on the cake hahaha.
So,what does aldnoah “ZERO” mean ?
I believe it refer to the amount of character development?
Well said 🙂
Slaine is the classic villain Generic, one that of egocentric and cowardly way, after his defeat, give up everything, even giving up his own life.
Feeling that death is the easiest way to put an end to their suffering and erase his crimes, mistakes and sins.
Slaine spent the entire anime making mistakes, but never learn anything from them and tried to improve through them.
Slaine never recognized their mistakes, sins, crimes and guilt, he wore the easiest and cowardly way to get rid of them, which is blaming others for them, as did killing Saazbaum and nearly killing Inaho.
MgMaster you are conscious that Aldnoah.Zero is a action/mecha anime.
It seems that you watched Aldnoah.Zero thinking it was an anime drama/shoujo,
you rate a mecha character, as if estivece evaluating a shujo manga character that has a barto drama focused, é totalmente ridiculo, is totally ridiculous.
Slaine is the classic villain Generic, one that of egocentric and cowardly way, after his defeat, give up everything, even giving up his own life.
Feeling that death is the easiest way to put an end to their suffering and erase his crimes, mistakes and sins.
Slaine spent the entire anime making mistakes, but never learn anything from them and tried to improve through them.
Slaine never recognized their mistakes, sins, crimes and guilt, he wore the easiest and cowardly way to get rid of them, which is blaming others for them, as did killing Saazbaum and nearly killing Inaho.
MgMaster you are conscious that Aldnoah.Zero is a action/mecha anime.
It seems that you watched Aldnoah.Zero thinking it was an anime drama/shoujo,
you rate a mecha character, as if estivece evaluating a shujo manga character that has a barto drama focused, é totalmente ridiculo, is totally ridiculous.
Slaine typical antagonist, Generic villain found in qualque anime mecha for the worse your cheap drama is based on shoujo manga drama
Is it just me or has it been the trend of recent mecha anime shows to have rushed, unsatisfying endings? The last ending that left me satisfied was Majestic Prince and that was less of an ending and more sequel bait. Are writers really getting short handed that they become incapable of closing character arcs and plot threads they’ve spent time establishing?
Kancolle’s finale sucked, but at least it was trying to be climatic. This A/Z episode wasn’t even a climax, more of a denouement of Slaine’s story. Slaine literary just gives up and surrenders, than as if the writers decided “Wait we still need an action set piece!”, everyone decides to go back and fight a pointless suicide mission. While the action is very well done, its completely devoid of tension since it was already established as a no-win scenario for the VERS forces. No stakes means no investment on the battle. I was just tapping my fingers waiting for them to get killed off.
The only thing the might earn any investment is the duel between Inaho and Slaine as they finally come into blows. The problem with that is their “rivalry” is really tepid. Amuro vs Char it is not, because they have so little interaction. I mentioned this before, but Season 1 really should have built up Slaine as Inaho’s foil just so I can actually feel some emotion on their last duel.
I will say, I did think the show did right by ending with the princess still on an arranged marriage. It’s one of the few things that actually makes sense. Though Klancain was worthless as a character. His role should have been done by Mazurek since he was already established and was already filling that role of loyalist.
Slaine being imprisoned is something I’m satisfied with after all he’s done. Unfortunately it was undermined by Inaho’s reason. Save him because the Princess asked he to? “From the chains of misery?” The merciful thing would have been to kill him, not let Slaine wallow in prison with his guilt and self-loathing. If Inaho had said something like “You don’t get to take the easy way and die” then it would be poetic. The only way I can think this makes sense is if Inaho was deliberately making Slaine suffer but that would be giving the writers too much credit.
Plenty of bad people who have done bad things do end up regretting their actions or wallowing in misery, that doesn’t mean they deserve to die. Time can and will change him. I honestly don’t think he deserves to die.
I’m not really arguing whether Slaine should live or die. In fact I’m all for sparing him. I just think Inaho’s reason for sparing him is stupid.
Slaine DOES deserve to die. That’s the only way he can find some solace at least.
Deserving and should are two entirely different things. He deserves to die, but he should stay alive and pay the price for what he’s done each and every day he’s imprisoned.
That’s not punishment, that’s torture. And torture is never justice. Death is better than a lifetime of torment and despair. That’s how much Asseylum’s “mercy” amounts to.
IMO Gargantia -Another mecha series associated with Urobutcher- had quite a satisfying ending and if someone wanted more the main story is very well complemented by its OVA material that fills all the little gaps in the main story and also shows us a glimpse of how life goes on for our heroes after the series ended.
Seylum’s choice of not picking Inaho really feels like To Aru Hikushi series
I realized this as well. The title even fits: “The Princess and the Pilot”. 😀
LOL if Aldnoah gets a spinoff series with a plot like “Pilot’s Love Song”.
Man, Eddy is cute as heck with her hair down.
That was underwhelming. Aldnoah did a great job at making me feel apathetic or distasteful towards all its characters, so I was rather disappointed there were zero (important) deaths. Felt like the writers were trying to force out the generic happy ending; ignore all the death flags, forget about reforming Vers society, and sweep the hundreds of millions dead from the Vers invasion under the rug to end with everyone holding hands singing kumbaya. In the end, Aldnoah was a cheap knockoff of the original Gundam and Code Geass, sprinkled with bits of Full Metal Panic!, Space Battleship Yamato, and School Days.
Say what we want about inconsistencies, ass pulls, plot points out of left field and broken deaths and death flags. There is much to complain about when in comes to A/Z but there is one thing I guess we can all agree upon. A/Z had good entertainment value.
The weakest points of the series were undoubtly the characterization and development of the characters as well as the actual plot of the series. Without a doubt both these points, especially the latter, took massive strides through the 2nd season. While the show still managed to pull WTF moments they seem well foreshadowed and logical in hind sight. That can only be a good thing.
Which brings me to the final episode that aired this week. I think this is the ending that is very 2nd season A/Z. It defies convention yet feels oddly logical and correct but somewhat unsatisfying. Perhaps it’s the conventions that we are so used to seeing in the mecha genre. Kira Yamato and Lacus Klien come starkly into mind when thinking of what most people were probably expecting of Asseylum and Inaho especially after the “part of me” just 2 episodes ago. Be that as it may, I want to give props that we finally have a Princess character that acts like a Princess to the end. One who puts Duty over DokiDoki. I fore one appreciate that little twist yet still at the bottom of my heart I still sail with my ship.
In the end I think the series ended the way it should. Unconventional yet logical. Correct yet somehow lacking. For all the sci-fi elements and super powered mechs and tech, I find that A/Z had one of the most realistic endings in Anime. Perhaps that’s why it felt somewhat lacking as we love to have our stories romanticized to step away for a few moments from reality.
PS
Poor other princess…. forgotten again.
Valvrave was better all the way than AZ. There were too many inconsistencies and not enough deaths from the main cast to merit any type of feeling from the story. A good concept but a wasted effort. They need better writers that can handle a mature story of war and its consequences. The whole build up of the 2nd season only amounted to a fart and a waste of time. Gen should have stayed on for the entire series
Buddy Complex was better than this and had a better ending.
If I was to compare “recent” mecha, nothing beats Majestic Prince, Valvrave defaults to second place because lol Buddy Complex and now this. Of course I want to add Gundam Build Fighter Season 1 to second place, but I don’t know if it counts. That G Recognista gundam crap, I haven’t finished yet, that first episode annoyed me too much.
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2024%20-%20Large%2038.jpg “I got physically tortured and now I’m getting mentally tortured. I smile because the bullshit that consistently stacks up is laughable.”
The scene in prison was like copied from x-men, only difference is that Magneto and Xavier was friends, here Inaho is mostly visiting for the sake of the princess, not Slaine.
As for ending, I’m not satisfied. What about Asseylum x Inaho? They made all these hints in first season for nothing? It’s not like I want them be together or sth, but it’s just like they forgot about it. I liked idea of love triangle.
Empress Asseylum sacrificed her real Love for her Duty to bring Peace to both Worlds. And they all know about that, well the Husband, Inaho, Slaine and Deucalion Crew. Remember, she hold the Entire Mars peoples, Hopes, Fear, Future on her shoulders now. Mars/VERS is still a Monarchism
Well, Inaho and Slaine ended in a “only Best Friend forever” trap, and Inaho still has her Yuuki-ne and perhaps Inca now. Where Slaine life now in Jail. he is official Dead, and they put the entire Planet WW2 on him. Official he was the one on the Attack on Asseylum first visiting Earth and such. A straw doll to blame the War on him to end this
Thanks for reply! I’ve to admit that I didn’t watched with my whole focus, although even with Asseylum’s sacrifice, I’d be even satisfied with them talking. During whole season, they met only once, with can’t even count, because Inaho lost consciousness. Has it been mentioned what happened to Lemrina?
There was only a faint Picture of a Wheelchair in the background after the Aldnoah Power reactor got started, the Doctor was looking after someone sitting on the bed.
i did not found it out in the first look, someone other found it out. So Wheelchair and Doctor is looking for the Legs = possible Princess Lemrina on Earth, or in a Hospital where he is working
Moonbase got self destructed… so perhaps Earth
I definitely saw a flash of brilliance when Hime declared herself the empress at the end of the penultimate episode. Then the finale itself came and ended up as one of the most autopiloted mecha endings in recent memories…
But it was not planned by Slaine, he gave up everything, e wanted to die on the Moonbase, Slaine then backtracked and decided to fight because of Harklight speech, even during the fight with Inaho in no time Slaine thought or wondered that his death would would by end to the war and bring.
When he lost the battle and Tharsis was falling, Slaine just thought of dying, after in beach when Inaho pointed the gun at Slaine, again he asked to Inaho kill him, Slaine of cowardly way and egocentric was not thinking that his death, would end with war and bring peace, Slaine only wanted to put an end to their suffering, and get rid of their mistakes, crimes and sins of the easiest way, like a coward choose through death. Even in prison he questioned why he was saved.
UFE used the same tactic that was used in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Involving the use of the image of the death of Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden, to put an end to war and establish peace.
Just as Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden are not Considered Heroes tragic, Slaine can not be Considered a tragic hero also, as their fans try to paint your image.
Slaine is the classic villain Generic, one that of egocentric and cowardly way, after his defeat, give up everything, even giving up his own life.
Feeling that death is the easiest way to put an end to their suffering and erase his crimes, mistakes and sins.
Slaine spent the entire anime making mistakes, but never learn anything from them and tried to improve through them.
Slaine never recognized their mistakes, sins, crimes and guilt, he wore the easiest and cowardly way to get rid of them, which is blaming others for them, as did killing Saazbaum and nearly killing Inaho.
Well, in a way EDF’s Yamato survived the War. Even if it’s the only Kind. I think or they surly put this on Peace Contract. So we get no Musashi
I love the conclusion they made for the Ending. But they could show our Princess Lemrina more clear, if she was the one the Doctor was inspecting. There was a Wheelchair nearby, and he was checking her Legs. She can stand, just in near Zero G Gravity. i bet her problems is her Bones or Muscle illness. Prostheses like he build for Yuuki-nee can help her stand on her own Feet again on Earth 1G Force
Well Lemrina has not ill intension against Asseylum. She made her peace with her on the Moonbase escape, when she was smiling behind the closing Doors
Does anyone think that Slaine could be given a new identity if Asseylum requests his release in the future and he’s sent back to Mars? The technology already exists to do it, they could change his hair color, facial features, eye color etc That would solve the issue of him being recognised on Mars anyway. He would still need to keep to himself to avoid suspicion but I just believe that Asseylum wouldn’t want him in that prison forever, when he’s reformed he could be released. And there’s no place for him on Earth.
I think Slaine would not do that. He know of his Sins, and gain force to life on, because Asseylum not forgotten him. So he stay in Prison for atoning his Sins
If I were Slaine, I’d choose suicide before any sort of compromise.
He would have no reason to want to die, especially given that Asseylum would want to see him at some point. In some twisted way he loves her 🙂
Why not? He has lost everything. Even his dignity as a human being.
Meh. Someone like Asseylum is better lost than found.
These days, mecha anime tend to attempt making really weird endings to avoid being termed as cliche. But sometimes, a little cliche would work wonders, especially in anime like this. I knew roughly that the ending won’t be as typical as I would have wanted. Especially not after what happened to the first season ending. After that, it all made sense to me, because Gen Urobochi is the person writing the scripts.
Gen Urobochi only played a bigger Role in Season 1, Season 2 is not from him. Only helping the Main Writer out
this was really.. unfulfilling.
i understand why asseylum had to do what she did but i kinda wished that she and inaho had their secret happy end.
in the end for inaho, best waifu is left-eye waifu
The writers read too much of TV Tropes to the point that they try to break, avert and parody almost every popular trope out there.
a very interesting ending to a very interesting show that has kept me captivated for 2 seasons!
I think what’s important in this is the sense that everyone has of the 2 main male leads being NTR-ed by a 10 minute man. It’s important… perhaps crucial?
The fact of the matter is that this was about 2 young men in love with a girl who they could never hope to be with. An ordinary (well in background at least) student-turned warrior and tactical genius – Inaho; alongside an otherwise ordinary son of a scientist who just happens to get caught up in the mix of the Martians. In a ‘normal’ setting, neither of them would have gotten anywhere near the princess (now empress) of Vers but they were able to go along for the ride.
I think Slaine understood this very much, however he was so captivated and in love with the princess that he was willing to do anything for her. The turning point of the Slaine’s life was when he lost the princess to Inaho/Earth federation and he realised that despite what he thought he meant to the princess, this new ’10 minute man’ – ie inaho was capable of NTR-ing her feelings away from him.
Slaine is then presented with a shambles of her attempted assassination. He is in a massive defensive yet aggressive situation – control saazbaum as well as exclusive rights to the princess. He is constantly worried and highly upset by the princesses regard/feelings? for inaho – he kinda turns into an overprotective boyfriend-type character. He tries to set up a world where he can have her all to himself (hence the false engagement etc). I believe that was his over-riding plan, largely banking on the princess accepting him. It’s quite a pure, yet desperate love being portrayed here.
Inaho is extremely pure as well in his pursuit. Whilst he may not understand his feelings for the princess like slaine does, he’s all about the bottom line: what’s best for her (ie what she wants) and what’s best for us (ie earth federation). He’s a definitely autistic character (it lends to his brilliance) so it’s difficult for the emotional state to make much sense. I think at the end he’s just happy that he was able to serve out the princesses last wishes and allow her to live in the peaceful world she so desired (most of us would have been rooting for an end as such right? i know i certainly was).
The lack of feeling at the end of this show has many contributing factors as listed above, however I think it was extremely appropriate: 2 ordinary guys try to get their hands on something very much beyond their reach, and ultimately in a competition against you and the world: bet on the world. The princess needed a figure with power and respect – cruhteo jr fits that bill – if she ever wanted to unite Vers under her properly. If she had chosen either one of the boys, she would be embroiled in hostile politics and potentially civil war – Vers won’t accept a Terran crown prince/emperor at this point in time.
Maybe slaine should have died, maybe he should have gone out with a bang? But at the end of the day, the first season setup did not lie – Slaine was a boy with nothing and his emotional/mental state certainly suggested it. Pure devotion, submission to power, inadequacies in his ability and capability in a heirachial/monarchial system to name a few traits. Whilst his time in badass/power mode was certainly incredible and fresh and strong; he was really only kept going by the potential of scoring with the princess; when he realised that was not going to happen as she would not allow it, he lost all his motivation/drive. Last ditch effort to take out Inaho to make himself feel a bit better and there we have it.
Logical and somewhat realistic i guess? not a fanfare finale that was in the hopes of fans and critics alike, but one that was supposed to happen going by the rest of the story.
Ahhh, and it’s over.
I’m a bit biased with my hate here a bit, because I truly despise 300% stoic gary stu main characters such as Inaho. Tatsuya had way more personality than him – heck, Mahouka would’ve probably been more fun if they’d just let him take the spotlight even more & show a bit of self-awareness(I thought there was a bit of it, too ridiculous otherwise). But back to Aldnoah.
Asseylum…You know, if she wasn’t a princess she wouldn’t have been such a bad character. Actually scratch that, she shouldn’t have been a character in a leadership position. Actually, when I think about that, it might’ve actually made for some interesting development for her – you know, the “I never wanted this but it was forced upon me” thing, not the most original thing I know but better than what we got – or what we didn’t get. Too bad the show prolly never even thought of that so welp. Moving on.
None of the side characters are worth talking about.
Slayne! Oh Slayne, winner of the best shooter of the year award, in recent years – stormtroopers would be proud. Ah, this character man, this character. He’s like, the only decently fleshed out character in this entire series and that’s not to be taken as a praise towards him as much as it is to be taken as an idea of how poor the rest of the cast is. I won’t lie, his suffering & deluded rise to power was the only other aspect of the show I slightly enjoyed besides the visuals & music. It’s badly written, don’t get me wrong, but at least IT’S THERE. It’s something to hate, facepalm for how deluded he is, how bad his decisions are & how forced the suffering he goes through is in it’s attempt to make the audience care. I know, this is not something to be praised but when there’s nothing else on the table, you take what you can get.
But it was not planned by Slaine, he gave up everything, e wanted to die on the Moonbase, Slaine then backtracked and decided to fight because of Harklight speech, even during the fight with Inaho in no time Slaine thought or wondered that his death would would by end to the war and bring.
When he lost the battle and Tharsis was falling, Slaine just thought of dying, after in beach when Inaho pointed the gun at Slaine, again he asked to Inaho kill him, Slaine of cowardly way and egocentric was not thinking that his death, would end with war and bring peace, Slaine only wanted to put an end to their suffering, and get rid of their mistakes, crimes and sins of the easiest way, like a coward choose through death. Even in prison he questioned why he was saved.
UFE used the same tactic that was used in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Involving the use of the image of the death of Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden, to put an end to war and establish peace.
Just as Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden are not Considered Heroes tragic, Slaine can not be Considered a tragic hero also, as their fans try to paint your image.
Slaine is the classic villain Generic, one that of egocentric and cowardly way, after his defeat, give up everything, even giving up his own life.
Feeling that death is the easiest way to put an end to their suffering and erase his crimes, mistakes and sins.
Slaine spent the entire anime making mistakes, but never learn anything from them and tried to improve through them.
Slaine never recognized their mistakes, sins, crimes and guilt, he wore the easiest and cowardly way to get rid of them, which is blaming others for them, as did killing Saazbaum and nearly killing Inaho.
MgMaster you are conscious that Aldnoah.Zero is a action/mecha anime.
It seems that you watched Aldnoah.Zero thinking it was an anime drama/shoujo,
you rate a mecha character, as if estivece evaluating a shujo manga character that has a barto drama focused, é totalmente ridiculo, is totally ridiculous.
Slaine is the classic villain Generic, one that of egocentric and cowardly way, after his defeat, give up everything, even giving up his own life.
Feeling that death is the easiest way to put an end to their suffering and erase his crimes, mistakes and sins.
Slaine spent the entire anime making mistakes, but never learn anything from them and tried to improve through them.
Slaine never recognized their mistakes, sins, crimes and guilt, he wore the easiest and cowardly way to get rid of them, which is blaming others for them, as did killing Saazbaum and nearly killing Inaho.
MgMaster you are conscious that Aldnoah.Zero is a action/mecha anime.
It seems that you watched Aldnoah.Zero thinking it was an anime drama/shoujo,
you rate a mecha character, as if estivece evaluating a shujo manga character that has a barto drama focused, é totalmente ridiculo, is totally ridiculous.
Slaine typical antagonist, Generic villain found in qualque anime mecha for the worse your cheap drama is based on shoujo manga drama
Learn to spell.
Perfectly logical and ok ending. For a mecha anime though, this was boring.
So apart from the sudden indolence in story-telling (leading to lack of tension and excitement), NTR, and the overall “wtf that was it?”-esque ending, what other faults am I missing?
Seriously, I never really felt this show was making any special effort to drag me into the overall flow of the story. It is a happy ending, but boring like many have said….expectations were high, but an average boring finish made the show look like below average in the end.
It’s really frustrating how the creators of the show were so lazy and unkind to the audience.
Well, the ending did defy expectations in that no important character died, actually, almost no one died (those who have a considerable amount of screen time). It was a cop out and my biggest irritation was that Slaine’s crimes amounted to nothing in the end. Overall, a Season 2 was better than Season 1 in many ways and a decent show to say the least.
Boring ending. Barohcruz’s loyalty was unnatural, Slaine’s sense of guilt was not expressed clear enough to warrant a suicide at moon base, and Harklight’s suspiciously loyal behavior betrayed my expectations by truly being loyal.
Slaine vs. Inaho wasn’t particularly exciting,
The fact that the orbital knights gave in to asselyum’s speech so easily was anticlimatic, compared to their previous motivations to occupy the earth.
In the end it is fate of planet-nations that matters. It is good to see most of the crew has survived to enjoy the peace, but the most important thing is that Vers and Earth can co-exist with peaceful harvesting of Aldnoah power. I presume Earth offered some of the bountiful resources to exchange for it – make trade not war!
Great post. I think it laid down what I was generally feeling about this series. My excitement for it went from “this is awesome” for the 1st episode of the first season to “meh” for the last episode of the 2nd season.
It was very anticlimactic. I didn’t feel a god damn thing and indeed Inaho and Slain being NTRed is a very apt metaphor considering what happened. It was literally the worst ending (from an emotional standpoint) that I’ve seen for a long time.
The series started with a bang but ended with a whimper.
I might’ve missed it, but I didn’t see what eventually happened to Lemrina. She got taken by the other ships when Slaine was trying to commit suicide along with the moonbase, but I mean, what happened after that?
So for the first time it’s not Slaine who makes the worst decision in the episode. It’s Harklight.
Loyalty doesn’t mean “disobey your leader’s orders and stop protecting the person he told you to protect just so you can save the leader when he doesn’t want it and manage to get yourself and some other guys killed and their valuable mechs destroyed.” Oh well, the Martians really aren’t the most logical bunch.
Slaine’s fate is just cruel. Imprisoned for life, dead to everyone and watching the world he wanted being created without him. Maybe he deserved all of this, but what does it really say about Asseylum’s character? Not asking about Inaho’s since there’s a chance he doesn’t really understand.
An award for “most wasted ending possibility” goes to Lemrina’s arc. Rayet’s is a close second. Marito’s too, maybe, he needed some closure with Magbaredge.
Rest in peace, best wingman Eye-kun.
Overall, this was rather unsatisfying, but it’s not like I was expecting much.
@Enzo
Although I’ve already expected it I’m still happy that you and Zeph have a reasonable take on the series finale. Although personally regarding the point that the series was pointless and has no deeper meaning to it… well for me the show wasn’t really trying to be poetic? For me it’s like a hollywood blockbuster(heck even it’s OST is for a hollywood blockbuster). You enjoy the ride and take it for what it is! Sure there’s no moral gray area to be explored here. It’s just black and white! Good guys vs. bad guys! I had a lot of fun with the ride so I don’t see what’s wrong with that! 🙂
I get that, believe me. But even without poetry I still think you need a point. And I just don’t see it.
Yep… The ending was ‘appropriate’ but hardly ‘satisfying’.
This needs a season 3 or even just a couple of OVA’s to give some happy endings to those who sacrificed their very lives and happiness to attain this shaky peace.
And is it really okay for Seylum that Slaine takes all the blame for the misconduct of the OK and her grandpa? I’d rather have Slaine be killed in his fight against Inaho or by even just a stray bullet than see him live a life in prison. Seylum and Inaho didn’t show mercy, they just threw him into despair unless of course Slaine is given a second chance to redeem himself.
@Seylum and Inaho didn’t show mercy
Erm, he did nothing to deserve mercy, but he was shown some but not being killed. For what he did, he deserved to be killed, but given that both Inaho and Asseylum are good people, they imprisoned him. That’s how a justice system works. We don’t kill every bad person out there.
Asseylum and Inaho didn’t save Slaine?
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2024%20-%2038.jpg
I’d say that picture alone shows that they did. He was smiling at the end when he realized that Asseylum wanted to save him.
Fat lot of good their “mercy” did to him.
What are you expecting? That he don’t get imprisonment? Obviously he would. He needs to atone for his crimes but at the very least Slaine can smile now and know for a fact that even after all the things that he did he was still Asseylum’s friend. You need to lay off the salt and realize that this is the best thing he can get.
No, death is the best thing he can get. At least let him die like a man instead of forcing him to live like an animal.
Prisoners don’t live like animals, they just have their freedom restricted until they’ve served their sentence.
But that’s exactly what they are doing to Slaine. They are forcing him to live like an animal, when it would have been kinder to just shoot him in the head and put him out of his misery.
Dying and feeling like shit in the end is better than living and happy at the thought that Asseylum is still his friend?
It’s really hard to understand the thought process of some Slaine fans… really…
She threw him under the bus and made him a scapegoat because “world peace”. Some friend she is. He’s probably smiling because he’s trying to accept that he will be miserable forever.
Seriously lay off the salt. You’re acting like another deluded Slaine fan and refuse to see how Slaine was at peace in the end.
No, I won’t “lay off the salt”. He got the short end of the stick from beginning to end, and now he’s supposed to be grateful for that? Fuck that, I go with my own interpretation.
And fuck ASSeylum and Inaho Stu, while I’m at it.
Sure you can have your own interpretation… except it only serves to show that you’re just another deluded Slaine fan. Have fun being salty 🙂
Pretty much this entirely. He’s not beyond redemption. The kindest thing they could have done for him was to lock him away. She didn’t want him dead, she cares about him too much for that. Time can heal all wounds.
that’s wish full thinking 🙂 but we can all have opinions on this, you have yours
Wishful thinking, eh? That’s a fact. She cares about Slaine enough to not want him dead, see the episodes that have aired.
Yeah, by condemning him to rot in prison forever. I agree that he deserves punishment (leaving aside the fact that Slaine’s descent into evil was the most contrived and poorly written I have ever seen), but he didn’t deserve to have his dignity taken away.
We have no way of knowing if its a life sentence in that prison. He may serve the rest of his punishment on Mars in the future, away from Asseylums reforms on Earth and in a location where he can simply live out his life in peace.
I’d rather kill myself than accept the “mercy” of an hypocritical princess and an emotionless automaton.
wow such big words especially from someone claiming that dying is better than being in prison… if you ever get into trouble and get into prison… let’s see you ask for a death sentence instead =/
Yes, dying *IS* better than losing your dignity and being doomed to eternal misery.
Actually no, it really isn’t. Society doesn’t work that way. And I hope if you’re ever arrested that you don’t have that line of thought.
Piss off
That’s what I believe, and I stand by my belief. Better to die than to lose dignity.
They played Heavenly Blue at the end so I forgive them everything.
OK maybe not, that was not how I expected things to go down at all.
Everything is far too neat to be satisfying, no-one important died despite the hugely disadvantageous final assault, all the Orbital Knights obediently stopped on a dime, there were no consequences to the sudden usurping of the throne, there was no political counterattack from Slain, there were no consequences for the Terran assassination teams etc etc etc.
In fact I’d go so far as to say that, plot wise, the best thing was that the Vers occupied land was still an issue and that they hadn’t solved universal Aldnoah activation yet.
Yeah, Slaine the bastard got what he deserved. Rotting in jail for the rest of his life.
Asseylums political marriage mad this war end.
Inaho and Yuki-Nee can live in peace together.
https://randomc.net/2015/03/22/aldnoah-zero-23/comment-page-1/#comment-1740648
And I was right! Well mostly right.
Asseylum had to give Aldnoah tech to Earth to appease them fo all the shit her country did. Some knights won’t want to part with captured territory and Lemerina is still out there. We don’t know if Slaine’s loyalist all died too. We also don’t know the opinion of nobles back on Mars. So war is still a possibility in this fragile peace.
Earth does not have any noble POW but Slaine is basically a scapegoat. Sazzbaum and his fellow conspirators have not come to light publicly. It would tear the empire apart if a witch hunt starts. Meaning while punished Slaine won’t be tried in a court of law.
Lemrina is with Doctor Yagarai. Although it wasn’t really clearly shown… I believe that at around 17:22 the patient that Doctor Yagarai was checking on is Lemrina.
Realistically the Counts who refuse to hand over captured territory or work with the Earth in a peaceful way will likely eventually be wiped out. They’ll likely take the Aldnoah tech apart and re engineer it to work with their own mechs and attack the Counts with significant force who don’t play nice.
Inaho’s new look had me thinking: “He truly is a Big Boss.”
There are surprisingly few characters who wear military uniforms and have an eyepatch.
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2024%20-%20Large%2022.jpg
“Now I am going to meet my two fathers.” is what I interpreted.
Slaine realize your dream caged The Seagull.
While the princess remember why the sky is blue, correctly.
And three free birds out of the cage, while the gull is caged
Great show
Awesome plot twists
Overall very enjoyable action, strategy, battle scene set up, characters
Interesting story
And quite surprising ending like everything else in this show.
While I feel like this show kinda failed to deliver that world class invasion and war-crisis and conflicts felt a bit local, second season felt a bit too rushed…
I know kids will argue that ending needs to be all lovely happy and kill bad guy. Marry princess and live lucky after but THIS IS NOT SOME FAKING SHOUJO!
Awesome show my favorite in this season.
(not like lame Log that had only 1 good episode and that was ending and yeah tokyo ghoul kinda got rekt with last episodes.)
What a safe ending.
This writer is entirely afraid of killing off anyone in the cast, but he has not one issue poking fun at the possibility and making people so morally bankrupt that they deserve death.
Give me a break.
So anticlimactic, watching Slaine literally just give up initially only to go balls to the wall with fighting.
Slaine being saved, etc.
Sigh
Bland ending, though I agree that a lot of it made a rational bit of sense, except the kamikaziness of the Moon Base forces, though that brings up some questions…
Did Slaine’s people know about fake princess? She spent so much time rolling around in her wheelchair undisguised, that I have a hard time believing the people on the Moon Base didn’t know, and yet, that’s a lot of people privy to a secret…
But, if they did know, then their loyalty was borne out of a dislike of the ruling monarchy/social system, which might help to explain why they’d rather die than return to a royal monarch.
Slaine is the most interesting “ending” in that if there is going to be a season three, keeping him alive allows for him to complete the obvious arc of his character (he almost redeemed himself-at least in terms of animeland-but a third season where he ends up being sprung and saving the day after having spent time in the black site coming to peace with everything seems almost a forgone conclusion if there’s a season three).
And thus the pissing contest has ended.
Reading any more of “NTR” or related words makes me want to kick someone in the shins. There was no NTR. The Empress wasn’t taken from either of the leading men. She formed warm friendships with both of them and decided to grow up by making the right decision by marrying someone mature and of true royal blood. The end.
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2024%20-%20Large%2039.jpg Three Birds huh….I’m reaching, but is this a season 3 foreshadow? Not that I want a season 3, I’m done, I hereby declare AZ the Guilty Crown of Mecha anime.
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2024%20-%20Large%2026.jpg “This is my design.”
Bizon 2.0 – 70 years in the future
Holy crap yes! I agree to this statement. Guilty crown was another story that had such an interesting idea and plot line and just choked. They had a great plot here and it would have been cool if they hashed out the story and characters much better. Even if they come out with a 3rd season i kinda feel done too. I sorta felt cheated at the end of season 1 and now at the end of this season its like why bother. You can have an interesting story and even have an enjoyable ride from the story but if you dont end it well, with some meaning its all pointless. The princess in the first episode if she didnt have any assassination attempt placed on her then it would have been the same as what would have happened in the last episode. Mars would make a treaty and trade with Earth as if this whole season was pointless.
Anyone else notice Slaine regained his pupils in the end? The only other times I recall him having them was when he crash-landed on Mars and very briefly when he was tortured.
You’re right! Maybe pupils = innocence. Or sanity.
Or a different animation team, without proper supervision!
That’s exactly my point. The otaku are so detached from reality, even unhealthily so, that they can’t process a character who lies, deceives and kills people as a bad person. No, they wanna give him a get out of jail free card just because they happen to sympathize with him for whatever reason. If the basis for apologetics is that this is fiction and they’re just wallowing in the twisted morals because they are virtual, some people really took Slaine’s bad end badly.
Pretty much, I’ve noticed this too. Some people implying that Inaho was wrong to save him just to imprison him, and others mention that Slaine being imprisoned is somehow wrong, and how it was somehow wrong that Inaho didn’t just kill him.
When it comes down to it, anyone who has committed a great evil will always end up being imprisoned if they are not killed in the process of being captured by the good guys.
I thought the ending was pretty good, I would be happy if things were left where they are.
Yes, he was wrong to save him. He should have let Slaine die, that’s better than condemning Slaine to a whole life without dignity nor hope.
He doesn’t deserve dignity or hope, what are you talking about? He’s a war criminal.
EVERYONE deserves dignity and hope.
Being imprisoned doesn’t rob someone of their dignity. Prisons have been around for a VERY long time to punish criminals, like Slaine who have committed crimes. Prisons aren’t meant to be a super fun happy place to live out your life, if you break the law you get punished. That’s how society works.
In this case, it did rob Slaine of HIS dignity. Just put him out of his misery, instead of torturing him for the rest of his life.
He’s not being tortured though. He’s serving a sentence for his crimes. How he feels about being imprisoned is irrelevant, he caused the death of a great many because of his actions.
Yes, he is. Maybe not hysically, but there are many forms of torture. Just kill him and be done with it. He pays for his crimes, and gets freed from the torment of his life.
That’s not how prisons work, you don’t just kill criminals because of the effect confinement has on their mental health lol.
So basically you’re telling me that killing a person is bad, but stripping him of all rights and dignity as a human being is right? I’ll never agree with this bullshit.
As I’ve said numerous times now, that’s what prisons are for. If you commit a serious crime you go to prison, no exceptions.
Yes. But prisoners have a chance of being released and start over with their lives. Slaine doesn’t, he’s just going to be kept in that cesspit for the rest of his life. That’s why I say he’s being tortured, and that death would hav been better.
Oh, and prisoners still have their rights as human beings, so there is that too. They can’t be abused or tortured, and they have a chance to rebuild their lives after serving time.
You talk as if life sentences are a fictional thing. Life sentences are very real and people who are sentenced with life sentences aren’t stripped of their dignity as you’ve been implying.
The show hasn’t really made clear on how long Slaine will stay there but sure let’s suppose he got a life sentence… did he not deserve a life sentence? He certainly did. It seems you’re having trouble processing how grievous the crimes Slaine has committed.
So yes, obviously he would be imprisoned and rightfully so. Was this better than death? Of course it was. Instead of dying miserably now at the very least he can reflect on his actions and find solace in his heart that the person he cared for the most still looks at him as a friend.
You talk like they imprisoned him in some dump but the fact of the matter is he’s in a special detention facility probably getting way better treatment than the average thug. Hell I wouldn’t be surprised if he had some gaming consoles in there.
I know life sentences are a real thing. But even those who get them at least get to retain their dignity as human beings.
I *know* that Slaine did terrible things. Which is why I say, kill him and be done with it. Keeping him in torment isn’t going to make things better for anyone.
No. At this point, Slaine is so broken that death would be the only release. And Asseylum’s friendship really means nothing if she was willing to let him become a scapegoat for the crimes of everyone AND for instigating the war. Sorry, I don’t believe in this cold-blooded “sacrificing one for the good of the many”.
As if any kind of treatment could make up for the fact that he’s left with nothing.
I mean, at least have EVERYONE who was behind the war pay.
And they made him lose his dignity? How? By blaming Asseylum’s assassination plot on him? That only shows how shallow you’re looking into this episode. Even if they didn’t blame Asseylum’s assassination plot on him it would have made no difference. He was still the person perpetuating the war and that alone besides his other crimes are enough to give him the life sentence. Adding the blame on Asseylum’s assassination plot on him only served to simplify matters for the peace process to push through.
Saying that Slaine is broken that only death would be his release is only your own deluded interpretation. The way how the final moments played out shows otherwise. As people have pointed out, including me, Slaine was shown smiling with his pupils “returning” signifying that he was happy to be alive.
Whatever. We will never see eye to eye, and I was in Slaine’s place, I could never be happy to be alive in those conditions, and I’d rather hang myself.
@MartianMage
I think we’re fighting a losing battle explaining this lol.
But you’re not Slaine so please spare us your deluded views of the show’s ending.
Don’t forget that this is a story, though – and memorable stories end with a bang, not a whimper.
Shakespeare didn’t send everyone to jail in Hamlet. Nope – he right-out murdered the whole cast. And that’s why we love him. He didn’t pull punches. Or should I mention a more recent classic, Game of Thrones? Or how about the mecha genre – Gundam? Where nearly everyone dies, sooner or later?
So far, I haven’t seen most people complain about Slaine losing. He was fated to lose, and most (me too) are fine with that. Sending him to jail isn’t the ending most were waiting for, however. A character of his importance is “expected” to fight and die for his ideals – or to atone for his sins. Sending him to jail is a cop-out, and shows that the writers were too afraid to kill their characters.
Sending him to jail is atonement. He’s paying for his crimes by losing his freedom, that is justice. I’m sure the families of the people who died during the war would want that(Well death most likely for him) at the very least. Killing a bad guy is an easy way out.
@ Lyfe
Well if you want your hero Slaine to live the rest of his life in solitude and being considered by many as the greatest despot next to Hitler by attempting to assassinate Seylum and instigating the war (way back in the first episode of season 1), then go ahead.
For all the suffering that he have experienced in the last two seasons, why does he need to suffer more in solitude and become a scapegoat for the deeds that he did not commit?
While yes he did rally the Orbital Knights to wage war in season 2, the thing is, he had a noble cause. But now he is being pinned down of war crimes that dates back in season 1 when he was just an unwilling victim of circumstances that time.
Why does he need to live a life burdened by insurmountable guilt brought by the fact that despite of all of his misgivings that tainted Seylum’s name while she was asleep, the princess still find a place in her heart to forgive him and even requested Inaho, the very man that he hated and shot at the end of Season 1, to save him?
This show is all about Slaine’s suffering, past, present and future. There’s no escape. I pity the guy.
At the very least, the only character that was really fleshed out in the story should have gone out with a bang.
But I digress, the writers seem to have read too much of TV tropes that they always try to break all if not most of the TV trope conventions which was a bit groundbreaking at the early goings. But it fell flat on the finale.
It doesn’t change the fact that he’s a despot that deserved to be imprisoned for his crimes against humanity. What he feels, how he was treated is entirely irrelevant.
Heroes never kill the bad guy in stories unless they have no choice. The moment a hero acknowledges the bad guy is unable to fight, they almost always spare their life. As seen in pretty much every TV show or movie, book or any piece of literature out there. Bad guys that are beyond redemption never surrender and pretty much die right then and there. But even so, the studio took a classic heroes vs villains route with this series.
Sometimes, killing a bad guy is the ONLY way out.
Not really no. A hero never kills a bad guy in cold blood who has lost the will/means the fight. The moment Inaho rescued Slaine, was the moment he was going to live.
Yeah. For all the “life” he can look forward to…
Tbh, I think the real question here is: why is Slaine the only one who has to rot away in prison for “war crimes”? What about the other counts/ knights etc who have also committed said “war crimes”? Pretty sure Slaine and his dead merry bunch weren’t the only lot. Also, it’s kind of obvious it’s going to be a life sentence, given he’s been used as a scapegoat for the one who instigated the entire war right from episode 1 season 1, so I’m finding the comments where people say he’ll be released in the future a bit “….”.
For all accounts this ending was pretty “meh”, even though they did attempt to wrap it all up. The flashiness was nice, but it just honestly felt very underwhelming.
Barely any world building
Suddenly there’s peace, everyone’s happy, earth has apparently accepted mars with open hands even though they kind of blew it up.
Secondary characters with unresolved storylines (not that the mains got any better in the development department either…)
Some of the Slaine fans have a really weird moral compass…
So do some fans of ASSeylum and Inaho Stu.
Otaku is liking obvious audience projection wank that is Inaho. Let’s see: Logical, rational and socially distant, yet he has a heart of gold. But Inaho shows he’s a bad ass genius who defeats powerful opponents through his brilliant observations and planning. Inaho’s a robotic Gary Sue to project on, perfect for the self diagnosed Assperger’s laden socially maladroit otaku’s that plague the internet.
http://www.reddit.com/r/AldnoahZero/comments/30otxx/did_you_like_az/cpv5u9w
A little perspective if you will.
My general summation for disliking Inaho:
http://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/2z5fje/fanart_aldnoah_zero_who_are_you/cpgl840
Regardless of whether you fill in the blanks or robotic, emotionless characters exist. He was poorly written. Tatsuya and Lelouche handle the robotic and genius tropes more effectively, in part due to their interaction with other characters. Through the supporting cast they prevent themselves from descending into the Gary Sue wank fantasy that Inaho falls into.
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2024%20-%20Large%2035.jpg
Next in Aldnoah Season 3: Inaho the Big Boss.
Disappointed in the poor use of the cast, half the relevant characters from the first season could have been removed from the second and it would not have changed anything.
I hope there is at least an OVA to tie up some of the loose ends.
It’s funny, the (more minor) events in the finale was some of the most unrealistic turns that inevitably ends in the more realistic epilogue. Though I think the ending was literally announced last week when Asseylum announced herself the Empress (and sinking everyone’s two favorite ships in the progress).
One thing’s for sure for myself, the dream was nice while it lasted.
Okay, so in the end I did get that sort of empty feeling, which kind of sucked. I really was unsure which side I wanted to win throughout the second season, I was torn. I really liked Slaine in the first season and I truly loved his evil development throughout the second, but I just couldn’t come to terms with him being a complete twat. It was unfortunate it came to that in the end. Back to that empty feeling I got at the end of the second season, it wasn’t like I really wanted Slaine or Inaho to die, both characters really pissed me off at one point or another but that’s just a given.
Ultimately, I was glad to see that peace happened on earth and whatnot, also that Slaine lived, even if it is a life of loneliness and despair whete the only person he really see’s is the one person he hated for such a long time, and the one that locked him up. Also, I did like how Slaine looked in the end, the long hair was pretty cool.
The whole show is about slaine suffering.
They left enough open ended questions for either a Movie or OVA.. Then you know it’s truly over!
Hmmm… did someone had the feeling that Inaho and Slaine’s melee battle was reminiscent of Lancelot and Guren’s melee battle in ending of Code Geass?
What do you think Inaho’s rank now within the Earth Forces? And I find it a bit funny that Yuki-nee is now serving like a PA.
Ending was bad, because marrying main heroine to random guy who was introduced 3 episodes to the finale is not a good idea. This made the last battle basically pointless: Slaine hated Inaho only because he thought princess liked him, but she married another dude.
And there is no way 3 season happening when main heroine is married for this target market. This ir not dram or slice of life.
I don’t really know how to describe what I felt about the ending, but to me it was boring and somewhat annoying. Inaho lives, and Slaine repents(sort of, what with him feeling guilty and asking to be killed and stuff). Which sounds good and all, but the way it was done left me wishing it was done differently somehow. I liked Slaine even when he was going against Asseylum’s wishes, because even then he had his reasons and it wasn’t too unbelievable(it didn’t mean what he had done was right, but at least it didn’t leave me going ?_?) But suddenly he’s smiling creepily and acting as if he finally understood what he had done wrong, which really annoyed me for some reason because all along I had thought he fully understood what he was doing and wanted to achieve, even if he had to resort to terrible means. I don’t really get the whole Inaho vs Slaine fight as well, to me it felt like it was just done so that we can finally decide who was stronger and allow for a chance for Inaho to save Slaine.
At least the music was nice =x
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2024%20-%20Large%2034.jpg
Darzana: Kaoru, do you know why you cannot get a date.
Kaoru: Why?
Darzana: If you eyeball your “target” like you are going to murder them it will freak them out.
Kaoru: But this is my seductive look….
It’s a bit late for character development. Sucks to be her. 😛
Nono, Someone it touching her Butt. But she suspect Marito, because he is a Men. But perhaps it is the Captain plaining a prank again
I’m just gonna say it, Slaine and Inaho should have both died. It would make Asseylum ending up with someone else feel a lot better. What better way to end this series than to have the two people who have itching to get at each other for both seasons and then have the princess watches helplessly as she loses both of them because of the whole mess that started with HER. It would be an ending Urobutcher (as well as I) would approve of. Peace with earth and sharing Aldnoah would then feel so much better.
I still cannot wrap my head around this ending. It was nice and tidy but i don’t feel good about it at all. First things first, it doesn’t even seem like the princess goes to see Inaho who apparently holds a place in her heart. To be reduced to a “happy memory” in the end seems like a huge slap in the face. Doesn’t Inaho have still the Aldnoah activation key? Did that suddenly not become important? Where is Princess Lemrina? Is this faction of Orbital Knights going to try and break Slaine out? What about the commanders of the UFE? I seriously thought they were going to order the Deucalion to do something CRAZY like fire upon Count Truteoh’s Landing Castle. They’ve been known to make stupid calls before, why not now in the last episode where everything was thrown into the blender by Asseylum at the end of the previous episode?
So many possible endings and we got the safe one where somehow, everyone is happy because the Princess wanted it that way. I don’t know, i think Urobutcher should have stayed on this project.
Happy ending don’t last forever. We get the real series cause this one is called Aldnoah Zero. So Aldnoah where the real thing begins, I see Slain becoming the main protagonist for that sequel.
The character was created Slaine to be the villain and antagonist of Aldnoah.Zero.
Takayama and Aoki changed the personality que Gen created for Slaine.
Slaine is ambitious, Inaho and Asseylum fall in love, Slaine steals the princess.
The personality he had in the first season, did not exist in version Gen.
Invented a good boy personality, poor thing, innocent.
Slaine had one of the worst I’ve seen Developments in anime.
Appeared that he had multiple personalities, every three episodes he changed his personality, very repentido artificially.
Aw Poor Slaine
“He has suffered so much, therefore he can do no wrong”
“Everything he did was in the name of luuuve, therefore he can do no wrong”
There are some pretty crazy defenses out there lol
My reasoning is simple – he was the only decently written character aside from Saazbaum, and his descent into evil made no sense.
Decent to evil? What are you talking about? I thought everything he did was justified and good by default because he wanted “luuuve and peace” lol
Amusingly enough when Slaine plans go smoothly and down a path his fans like: “he is the most amazing character ever”. When it doesn’t: “Those goddamn writers” lol. Even thought writers are responsible for both case scenario.
I’m not dellusional. I know that Slaine became evil in Season 2. I just don’t think his turn to evil was written well. In fact, I think it was horribly written. He was made a villain for the sake of having a villain – which Saazbaum would have been more than adequate for.
You know what’s weird? Inaho decided not to see Asseylum at the opening ceremony of the Aldnoah Reactor, to visit Slaine Troyard is his secret prison instead. Maybe, just maybe, these two can eventually be friends! =)
Perish the thought. If I were Slaine, I’d hate Inaho forever. Actually, scratch that, I hate Inaho all the same.
I agree except I hate Slaine. 🙂
Can’t blame you for hating Slaine. But I do think that the show did a piss poor job presenting him as the villain.
If I remember correctly, UroGen did not participate in this anime at all except the first few episodes, can anyone remind me? I am pretty sure he wrote the universe but not sure about the development.
He only did the first 3 episodes. He probably bailed because he knew the rest of the anime was going to be shit.
The surprising thing about the comments so far is that I find myself much more happier for Slaine, that in the end he still saw redemption, than some of the hardcore Slaine fans who seem to be hellbent on interpreting the ending as a never ending misery for Slaine.
Even his fans want him to suffer endlessly I guess…
But this ending *IS* never ending misery for Slaine. He’s going to rot in prison forever, everyone abandoned him, his (admittedly insane and extreme) dream has been crushed, and he was even denied an honorable death in battle. What good is redemption if you will never be allowed to do anything with it?
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2024%20-%2038.jpg
Clearly the show disagrees with your deluded interpretations. What was that BS you were saying?
“He’s probably smiling because he’s trying to accept that he will be miserable forever.”
Yeah whatever…
And clearly, I have the right to disagree with what the show wants me to believe.
But whatever. Enjoy your “happy ending” where peace is built on a lie and one person is made a scapegoat in the name of the “greater good”.
Of course you do just don’t be surprised if people dismiss you as another delusional Slaine fan. Stay salty and keep it up with your fanfiction!
@MartianMage
I agree completely. That being said, one of the very basics of storytelling that’s used in virtually every TV show, Movie etc out there is that heroes aren’t killers. They don’t set out to kill the bad guy, they set out to stop the bad guy and if they’re faced with no other option, kill the bad guy. The moment a bad guy is unable to fight and offers no resistance he’s already lost. By this point a hero would never kill in cold blood.
Your scope of shows is very limited, then.
Gundam UC (pretty much The Mecha Show to be honest) has no issues with this practice, for example. Amuro fought Char until Char was forced to eject; then he grabbed the ejection pod and took Char along for the ride, most likely aware that he was doing a kamikaze run anyway. Kamille had Siroccco’s mobile suit immobilized, but he still impaled the cockpit with extreme prejudice anyway. He also had no issue shooting mobile suits during re-entry, when they were essentially defenceless and couldn’t even maneouvre. And these are main heroes. 🙂
Moving on… Full Metal Panic had Sasuke shoot Gauron, when the latter was already on life support and barely clinging to life; in Break Blade the protagonist turns the enemy general into taco sauce after the latter’s Golem is inoperative and he is forced to dismount, etc, etc.
A lot of things go in war; killing people in cold blood is one of those. Especially when it’s dramatically appropiate for the show.
Actually no, it isn’t. Virtually every TV show and movie on this planet follows the same formula.
Tell you what, I’m going to do just that. I’ll find a fanfiction where Slaine gets a better treatment, and I’m going to enjoy it. And if there aren’t, I’ll write one myself.
A delusional Slaine fan? I can live with that.
Goddamn,seems like that ending touched you deeply…You should check those http://www.aliexpress.com/item/2014-November-13th-Sexy-Anime-Life-Size-Pillow-BZ-X-ALDNOAH-ZERO/32236632539.html
It’s only $32 and should provide you with much needed relief lol
There’s also the self-destruct route for the ‘bad guys’.
What’s up with some people complaining about ALL the war responsibilities being dumped on Slaine? lol The man used deceit/lies profusely himself and it was deemed “okay and justified” back then. But now that he is victim to it, it’s unfair? That’s just poetic justice to me.
“live by the sword, die by the sword.”
The “good guys” are supposed to be better than Slaine, you know. It was unfair when he did it, and it is unfair when it’s being done to him.
To Satyr,
I agree with you. Seriously, I cannot think of any other better ending for Slaine. Look, he got to live, he got back his humanity and, from what I can see, his hope to live on as well. Yes, he got locked up and almost gone nuts from long-term confinement but at least he isn’t broken yet.
Look, Slaine is a war criminal and he brought it upon himself. One could say locking him up while ‘faking’ his death may be a little harsh but if you look at it from another angle, this faking death is, in fact, protecting Slaine from all the angry victims from tearing him apart.
For Inaho, I cannot see he is not ‘better’ than Slaine. From a hind sight, while Inaho did kind of reconciled with Slaine, it’s not a full reconciliation. I would say Inaho still hates Sliane to a certain degree. Just like Inaho said, he didn’t save Slaine, Asseylum did. Yet, Inaho still spend time to pay Slaine a visit (obviously on multiple occasions). I would say it is a proof that Inaho is a true hero who is able to reconcile with the enemy after the fight is over.
Well, that’s it. This is our ending of Aldnoah Zero 2nd cour.
Should I be happy? Yes, the ending is not bad, not bad at all.
However, it’s just not bad– not excellent, not great and,
somehow, not even very epic. That, is an issue.
OK, let’s don’t be depress and talk about the good things
first. The part I liked the most is none other than Inaho’s
side. It’s not just because he is my favourite
character/ protagonist, but also because there is no
issue at all. I mean, ok, TERMINATOR INAHO is not going
to be court martialed. Instead, he’s obviously been promoted
and is offically Earth’s Number 1 war hero; he’s kind of
reconciled with Slaine and fulfilled his promise with
Asseylum. Unfortunately, HIME-SAMA married to poilitics
and their relationship became nothing more than a lovely
memories of their teenage adventure.
And who’s staying by the side of our Terran hero? OH MY
GOD! IT’S ONEE-SAMA!!!!!!!!
OK! OK~! They are FAMILY! Right? So, it’s very normal. It
doesn’t mean Inaho became a ‘sister lover’ after stopped
being Terminator.
Slaine’s part is nice, too. FINALLY, THE GOOD OLD SLAINE
IS, KIND OF, RETURNED. He regrets and feeling of guilt
fianlly gave some humanities back to this controversal
character. His confrontations with Inaho in space and
in orbit are beautifully done; FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THIS
ENTIRE SEASON, I HAVE NOTHING TO SHIT ON SLAINE! THAT’S
GOOD.
I will talk more about Slaine later. Probably in another
post.
Other than these, the entire ending is, actually, quite ok,
but just ok. We got to know what’s happend to other
characters; we got to know what’s happened to Earth and
Mars after the cease-fire. Even the post-war politics
are acceptable, especailly the part that some Orbital Kinghts
are refusing to give back the occupied territories and
a new VERS-Terran economy based on Aldnoah Tech (just like
someone on our forum sugguested). All these are good–except
they are not enough.
Just like many elements of this story, all these are just
‘touched upon’–literally just touched. There is no deep
development whatsoever. And it seems Studio Toryca wants
to rub more salts on the wounds, as THEY ACTUALLY REMEMBER
TO REMIND US THERE IS A LONG-FORGOTTEN HIDDEN PLOT ABOUT
DR. TROYARD’S (SLIANE’S DADDY) RESEARCH ON ALDNOAH
TECHNOLOGIES! Guess what, all this time during this 2nd
cour, I have been wanting to drag this up EVERY EPISODE!
Wasn’t it the very reason Saazbum wanted to recurit Slaine?
What’s happened? OH! RIGHT! SAAZBUM’S DEAD A LONG
TIME AGO, AND THIS PLOT IS FORGOTTEN! WHAT EXACTLY ARE THE
THEORIES THAT DR. TROYCA FOUND? WHO KNOWS!
Seriously, evern if I put this issue aside, I would still like
them to make our finale more like an epilogue. That is:
LEAVE THE FINAL SHOWDOWN TO THE 2ND LAST EPISODE, AND USE
THE GRAND FINALE TO BE THE CULMINATION OF EVERTHING AND
TELL US ABOUT WHAT’S HAPPENED TO OUR CHARACTERS IN
DETAIL. THis is not as action-packed as what we got, but it
can give the story deeper depth.
And this, is probably a monument of what a waste this
entire season is. It seems to me that Studio Troyca/
Olympus Knight didn’t develop the foundations laid down by
Gen Uboruchi at all. Just take a look how shallow the
elements were used in the entire season and you will
notice it: all those meaningless weekly mecha
battles are nothing more than fillers, a way to ‘delay’
the developments to the last few episodes in order to
create an ‘epic’ finale; whenever something was explained,
the explanations usually won’t exceed the level of a short
dialogue; there is no detail world-building at all, especially
if you compare it to ‘MUV-LUV ALTERNATIVE: TOTAL ECLIPSE’ and
‘Aim for the Top! GUNBUSTER!’
This is wrong, SO FUCKING WRONG. That’s not how it should be
done. What the production team should have done was using the
developments in the last few episodes as starting points
for this entire season rather than as the end. ‘GUNBUSTER’
only has six 30-minutes episodes with six minutes-long ‘
science lessons’ and it managed to portrait its universe
in far more details than the 24 episodes of Aldnoah zero.
If you look at it this way, you know how wrong it is.
Last, but not least, I don’t think the possibilities of a
3rd season is lost. Remember Harklight and that Ortibal
Knight? While their last stand is definitely a reference of
the final moments of ‘AREA 88 THE MOVIE’ back in 1980s (
down to the dialogues and scenairos, actually), it didn’t
hint at the characters’ death like AREA 88 DID. So, if
Studio Troyca really wants a 3rd cour, I will guess this is
where it should start from.
AND I HOPE STUDIO TROYCA/ OLYMPUS KNIGHTS WILL LEARN FROM
THEIR MISTAKES IN THIS SEASON.
Thank god I’m not the only one who thought that last scene was too much like an X-Men/Magneto joke.
I understand the empty feeling of the final episode. I too felt that way. There were too many questions left unanswered. IMO it was done intentionally. What happened to Lemrina? How many of the obital Knights are against the cease fire? Did Harklight and Slain’s other loyal followers survive somehow? This all sets up for a possible season 3 and/or movie. If another A/Z project gets greenlit, I predict Lemrina and her faction will break Slain out of prison and together will challenge Asseylum for the rights to the throne. The story will then be about a Sibling rivaly, Kataphrat vs Kataphrat, bigger epic battles, a rematch between Inaho and Slain and possibly Slain’s redemption. From what I hear, A/Z is pretty popular in Japan and all indications point to the BD’s selling very well. I think it would be hard for the execs to pass on the oppotunity.
To CoJo,
I think the biggest obstacle to A/Z 3rd cour or a move of it is that the hype of this franchise may die down pretty quickly.
Just like I said, the possiblity of more sequels exists. However, I got a feeling that many people only stuck with this 2nd cour simply because they want and ending. Now, they have their ending. So, personally I think an OVA in the form of side story or ‘AFTER STORY’ may be more possible.
To TOMA,
You make some valid points and I agree that sustained future popularity will ultimately decide whether they make a sequel or not. In rebut you must never underestimate the fan boys/girls. As I’m sure we can both agree, fandom can be a powerful force that can get stronger as time passes :D. For example, I’m still waiting on my Deadman’s Wonderland sequel, although I Know the possibility of it ever getting one is slim to none. All the while High School DXD is on it’s 3rd season. Even Durarara got a second season after a few years. What many fans forget is it’s the Yen/dollars that drives the anime industry. No matter how good we think an anime is or whether it deserves a sequel doesn’t matter especially here in America. What matters is, will it sell and many will it sell. For the A/Z fans like myself who are hoping for more are at the mercy of those who only care about it’s profits. If the profits reflect it’s popularity, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a 3rd season announced in a couple of years or even sooner.
As I said earlier I believe they left some plot holes open intentionally for the possibility of a continuation, whether it be a 3rd season, movie or (your suggestion) some OVA’s. I also think they have set it up to where if the execs don’t feel it’s worth doing a 3rd season, the story still feels finished with atleast some closure. It may not be the closure we wanted or expected, but it’s still closure unlike some other anime that will not be named.
To CoJo,
I totally agree with you. Yes, it’s a money matter. I guess that’s why Full Metal Panic season 3 is still no where in sight. 😀
In the case of A/Z, here is my prediction (i.e. just an educated guess at best):
1. A/Z will be profitable to a certain extend:
While I agree with your explanation of those plot holes, I can’t shake away the feeling
that all these plot holes, together with the fanboy/ fangirl war about Inaho/ Slaine is are
all part of a even more evil marketing startegy of Studio Troyca. It goes like this, while
the fanboy/ fangirl war pits the fans against each other and creating hypes and popularity,
the plot holes prevented us from getting a feeling of satisfactory, leaving us ‘hungry’ for
more ‘Light of Aldnoah’. You know the later one has tried by the famous (infamous) ‘Neon
Gensis Evangelion’. These two factors will gurantee both profit and market, hence, more
profits.
2. There will be sponsors:
it is rather obvious now that A/Z is mimicing ‘Code Geass’ rather
than making a take on it (in season 1, it did seem to be that way from time to time). While
in the old days ‘over similiar’ to famous titles could lead to doom of your own title,
it’s often proven to be the opposite. So, if STUDIO TROYCA propose a 3rd cour/ movie/ ova,
they should be able to attarct enough sponsorship. After all, sponsors want profits, not
arts. What’s more ensuring than telling your sponsor that you are using a formula that’s
been tried and proven to be successful?
With these two points and consider how obviously that STUDIO TROYCA has been running the whole show with fandom in mind. I would predict the chance of having more A/Z in the next one or two
years is pretty high. After that, it would be very slim. After all, cases like ‘Durarara’ and ‘Slayers’ are rather exceptional, and I am not sure how many fans would remain loyal after two years.
@Lyfe,
That’s exactly the problem I have with Cruhteo Jr.’s role in the story. His position in the Vers Empire is extremely ambiguous. All we know is he is the son of Count Cruhteo Sr. We all know Cruhteo Sr.’s landing castle was destroyed in season 1. Although title and rights fall to his son, he is still at a disadvantage from military stand point. How I interpreted the Vers Empire Hierarchy was that those of noble blood were granted the ability to use Aldnoah. Being elevated to Count status granted you the ability to control a landing castle while acquiring personal military might(I.E. Soldiers,aldnoah based weaponry, Katphrats, etc…). Simply being a Count does not demand respect from the the Orbital Knights. Remember it was said in season 1 that the Orbital Knights were in constant competition for military power. That says to me that military power is the true sign of power between counts. We can assume Cruhteo had those things, but the story doesn’t hint or confirm any of the sort. I can also assume that his rescue of the princess was a sly attempt to elevate the diminished and military disadvantaged Cruhteo name. Once again we are left with assumptions. I loved the journey of A/Z but some of the final decisions and events challenge my suspension of disbelief.
God damn it but I love Slaine
And I was suppose to marathon this series once it ended only to find out an unsatisfying end.
I’m more of a “hero gets the princess” as well as “going out in a blaze of glory” ending type so the ending basically sucks for me.
You have just mentioned a point that I forgot to include, Hagiri. If the ending they are looking for is ‘peace for Mars and Earth through Asseylum’, wouldn’t it be interesting if Inaho, Earth’s number one war hero, stood by the side of Ver’s empress, be it marriage or not?
Not to mention from a hindsight, the political marriage between Asseylum and Cruteo Junior doesn’t seem to be necessary. I mean, it can be a plausible political move, but story-wise, unnecessary.
This is also what puzzled me. Story wise wouldn’t it make more sense, politically, that she claimed Inaho as her husband. I thought political marriages where to insure peace between two foreign lands, contries or families. Her sister did the same thing as to create peace between Slain and the Orbital Knights. I don’t see how marrying Cruhteo Jr.would be necessary in her claim as empress and her proclamation for peace. Marrying Inaho would have truly united Earth and the Vers Empire, therefore it would create a sound and logical reason for a cease fire. Those who opposed the Princess would have opposed her regardless and would be labeled as traitors.
P.S.
I know this sounds like I’m an InahoxAsseylum shipper but I’m not. I don’t care who she ended up with as long as it made sense. Her marrying Cruhteo Jr. Just didn’t make sense to me from a story standpoint.
Asseylum was forced to marry Klancain to get a firm grip of power. She needed to marry someone that has power and influence even among the orbital knights. Why? Because Saazbaum and Slaine pretty much destroyed her image. It was Slaine’s engagement shenanigans that pretty much necessitated this without revealing the existence of Lemrina.
Why not reveal Lemrina? I personally think it’s Asseylum’s way of protecting Lemrina from being used further. I believe some of you asked where Lemrina is? She is with Doctor Yagarai. Go back to 17:22 you can see hints of Lemrina in that scene.
@MartianMage
Wow, good spot. Didn’t notice it all.
haha yeah it’s really hard to notice but it’s there.
To MartianMage:
Thanks for the heads-up. It’s really hard to spot Lemrina in the ending. I almost want to include her whereabout as one of the possible starting point for 3rd cour. However, back then I remembered Slain had issued orders for his troops to surrender to the nearest UEF units. So, I supoosed Lemrina had fallen into UEF’s hands as she has no command over the shuttle.
And, it seems it really turned out that way. Otherwise the Doctor won’t be treating her.
As for HIME-SAMA’s political marriage, what you said is right, that’s why I said it’s political plausible. However, story-wise I would prefer Mazurek to fill in that role rather than having a Cruteo Junior who literaly pop up in the last three episodes with almost zero build-up and development.
I have nothing against Cruteo Junior but it just feels wrong to see a story ‘creating’ characters so suddenly and just for such a (kind of) minor role right before the finale.
To CoJo,
Thanks for your support and replies!
About who would marry Asseylum and the ‘Asseylum X who’ ‘shipping’, well, as a fan for TERMINATOR INAHO, I can’t help but root for him. However, trust me, back in season 1, when I saw Slaine being tortured while Inaho is enjoying the seaview with Asseylum, I feel bad for Slaine, too. Too bad Slaine became a bad boy so soon.
But then, I guess Studio Troyca had been worrying about the effect of this ‘shipping’. That’s probably why they created Cruhteo Junior and ‘ship’ him out in the thrid last episode. Whether this is a clever move, I guess it depends on personal taste. I for one would prefer either let Mazurek fill in that role or introduce Cruhteo Junior much earlier.
P.S.
I still couln’t find time to write my final judgement on SLAINE VILLAIN and it’s already Thrusday. >_<
Well, Slaine had fianlly stopped being a villain, just like Inaho stopped being a Terminator. I guess postponing my judgement until the finale wasn't a bad decision after all. Still…
@MartianMage
Excellent points there, I also think perhaps she took him to be her husband because he seemed like a genuinely nice person. With most of the other knights being war mongering, it makes sense to have someone who seems like he genuinely wants peace.
@MartianMage,
Good job on noticing the scene with the Doctor and unrevealed patient with familiar leg problems. I had to go back and rewatch it for myself. It could definitely be assumed that is Lemrina receiving medical treatment.
In response to the marriage of Cruhteo Jr, my problem is what political power did he really have. Outside of his name and Lineage, he didn’t really have any real powere. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t remember him even having a landing castle. The only thing he had was complete devotion and loyalty to was the emperor/empress. Militaristically, he posed very little threat. If the Princess had to marry a Martian, wouldn’t Murezek be the most logical choice? He had a Landing castle, the very same landing castle she made her engagement anouncement on. He was the one who passed the pendant from Inaho to EL Dorito to give to the princess. He was also one of the few martians who was against the war. I guess we can assume Cruhteo Jr. had more of a personal relationship with the princess in the past, but that was never hinted at in story. It was presented that he was just another loyalist, which made the sudden engagement kinda shocking and seemingly contrived. Like TOMA said, they should’ve introduced him ealier with some added character development. That would’ve been much easier for the audience to swallow.
Cruhteo Jr did travel to the Earth on his own spaceship, that suggests he has wealth. He also has his position as Count. He likely also didn’t bring his machine because he had no intention of fighting and simply came to check things out for himself. I would imagine back on Mars he has his own subordinates etc
@CoJo
While the show doesn’t really show Klancain’s power and influence I believe it’s pretty well implied the the Cruhteo’s are influential and close to the royalty considering that Asseylum was with Cruhteo at the start of the show.
@Lyfe,
That’s exactly the problem I have with Cruhteo Jr.’s role in the story. His position in the Vers Empire is extremely ambiguous. All we know is he is the son of Count Cruhteo Sr. We all know Cruhteo Sr.’s landing castle was destroyed in season 1. Although title and rights fall to his son, he is still at a disadvantage from military stand point. How I interpreted the Vers Empire Hierarchy was that those of noble blood were granted the ability to use Aldnoah. Being elevated to Count status granted you the ability to control a landing castle while acquiring personal military might(I.E. Soldiers,aldnoah based weaponry, Katphrats, etc…). Simply being a Count does not demand respect from the the Orbital Knights. Remember it was said in season 1 that the Orbital Knights were in constant competition for military power. That says to me that military power is the true sign of power between counts. We can assume Cruhteo had those things, but the story doesn’t hint or confirm any of the sort. I can also assume that his rescue of the princess was a sly attempt to elevate the diminished and military disadvantaged Cruhteo name. Once again we are left with assumptions. I loved the journey of A/Z but some of the final decisions and events challenge my suspension of disbelief.
P.S.
I had to post this response twice because I accidentally replied to another comment link. I really with there was a way to edit these comments after I submit them.
Yeah, in this 2nd Season the hidden Star was Slaine, in how he began his Dark Path and walked it, killing his Mentor to reach his Goals, use Lemrina to cover for Asseylum in her Blood power and appearance. Yes, Slaine know that he is Deep in Darkness. He bet on it, in the end he lost. But with the News that Asseylum do not want him to Die, he saw a faint Light in his Dark Heart. But now he can only watch from afar this nice and warmly Light.
This scene
https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2024%20-%20Large%2038.jpg
Sure we saw some Inaho ace shining moments in analyze the weakness of the Enemy’s. But this time, the Kill counter was lower then in first Season. Slaine got more Love here. They focused more in his Way became Darth Vader
Inaho is not alone, he still has his Friends and Yuuki-nee. Even our Wardaddy Marito survived and our Mars Girl
Perhaps they run out of time and made this sudden cut from capture Slaine on the beach to already peace on Earth wit Mars and Technology sharing. But perhaps they wanted to save us from these boring negotiations. But i wonder why they hide our Princess Lemrina. Sure, the only Person that know she is a Princess is Asseylum and Edelritto and the Moonbase Personal that evacuate with her (Slaine speaking with her in the Spacedock Hanger and inside the Shuttle). So i do not see a real Reason why they hidden her. Perhaps to protect her against Persons on EDF site. or to have her Sin’s (She gave Slaine her Power..) keep clear
In the end i found the ending reasonable, just this Jump was a bit to ahead for me. But i am happy with it
Let’s see. soon my Next TOP WATCH Anime is about to Air. Knights of Sidonia. I just hope the Animating Studio got more experience with Sanzoku no Musume Ronja Production
And yes, somehow i got a feeling that the A.Z. Studio was listen to their Fan base. it’s a Win-Win. So they got new ideas, or in what direction they should move. And we got our Anime that got some of our Ideas. So in a way both supported each other. But sometimes you should do what is right, because with Fan Base there could be to much cooks to destroy the Ramen!!
Yes. If there should be an OVA annoucment, i just wonder if there is a time skip and surly it will begin with Slaine’s prison break. Remember the remaining Count on Earth Orbit or already on Surface has now Empress Asseylum as Boss. And without support, they must now see where the Wind blows…or EDF has new “City fight” training grounds
But i also could imagine, that Peoples on Mars could begin a New War, for a simple reason in beliving the Empress have forgotten them or betrayed them.
Thats way Empress Asseylum must be strong. For her Peoples, for these WarDogs (on Both Sides) and to control the A.Z. Power. Remember, official she is the Only one in Activating it.. or do the Earth know about Princess Lemrina?. They can use her as an Fail Save securing. If A.Z. is used for the Wrong purpose or in danger wreaking havoc. And they are still researching in that A.Z. could be activate from anyone.
So some blood ampules stolen from a Medicine checkup. Somehow stealing a Kiss of one of both, and voila = illegal Knight is born like Inaho
or if you want to go that far in Future. some of their Children’s get seduced to the wrong path
stealing the kiss:
Inaho doing CPR on Asseylum inside the Deucalion
Slaine receive CPR as a Kid on Mars from Asseylum, but with time this Activation lost his Power. So Lemrina’s Kiss was just fresh (So in a way Slaine is double lucky kissed from both Princess)
So, the Kiss must not be on free will. it also work with force it seems. But i prefer not to use violence
@why they hide our Princess Lemrina
She’s mostly irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. She was Slaines puppet to masquerade as Asseylum when needed but beyond that no one really cared about her. I could see her returning to Mars or finding a nice quiet area on Earth to continue being irrelevant. She might have feelings for Slaine but I think to be honest she doesn’t have the ability to do anything significant.
Nice post as ever, WorldwideDepp.
Yes, there are so many losse ends in the ‘ending’ that I think is safe to say that STUDIO TORYCA has left A/Z ‘open ended’. I also agree that they must be gathering Fan’s feedback all these time and, obivously, sometimes ‘too many cooks destroys the ramen’. If the studio dares to stand their ground and deliver a story they really want to tell, be it ‘Slaine centred’ or ‘Inaho centred’, A/Z will be so much better now.
At least, we won’t have the disappointing feeling of this not-so-bad ending.
Well, it’s all late for them to turn-around now except making a ‘Aldnoah Remake’. I am already looking forward to ‘Fate/ Stay Night UBW’ and ‘Knights of Sidonia’ season 2. Let’s hope they flare better.
actually nothing special for ending, i knew this kind of ending will happen someday, author wasted his energy for creating the whole story for both side, at the end it is just too ordinary story, just to get it more complex story but truly nothing more, nothing special or nothing happen to hold my breath…, so this anime is just another plain ordinary anime, that’s it.
So now Klancain will need to figure out how to put it in. Poor Asseylum.
i think it is the opposite here. She is a Strong Woman, knowing what she needs to do
I wonder if this finale is enough to push this show into most disappointing show of the year.
I think it’s not just the ending, but the overall development of the plot of this entire 2nd cour made this season disappointing in comparison to season 1 of A/Z.
Now, finally, I can write my final judgement on this 2nd cour and SLAINE VILLAIN and, after using the time during the delay to re-consider, I decided it’s a MUST to put the ‘SLAINE ISSUE’ and the final verdict on 2nd cour together.
I know it’s late, but late is better than never.
First, let me clarify one thing before we start: this post is NOT ABOUT SHITTING ON SLAINE. Yes, I critized him a lot but this time I decided to do it diferently for reasons, which you will know if you continue reading. And so, if you are looking forward to some heavy hammering on BAT-KUN…well, there will be some of it, but not as much as usual.
Now, let’s get start. It is obviously and undebatable now that ‘Aldnoah Zero 2nd cour’ is focused on Slaine more than everything. And by everything I really mean EVERYTHING. All other elements of A/Z are sidelined in the entire season just for making ways for ‘Slain’s Tale’. So, the big question is: AT THE END, DO WE HAVE A ‘SLAINE’S TALE’?
My answer is: ‘NEGATIVE’.
Reasons? Think about the following questions and see how many of them has a satisfactory answer FROM THE SHOW ITSELF:
a) How does Slaine changed from a flyboy who was always one step behind to a Kinght who is
always one step ahead?
b) What’s happened in the 11 months between the two seasons? What had Slaine gone through
during that time?
c) How did Slaine meet Harklight? What’s the story between the two?
d) What kind of life did Slaine live before he went to Mars? What’s the story about Dr. Troyard
and Slaine? Did Slaine has any friend or relatives on Earth? In another word, what is the
‘ORIGIN’ OF SLAINE?
From what I can see, the show never answer any of these questions.
To make it worse, this SLAINE VILLAIN is basically a new character as he is so different to his old self (the ‘GOOD, OLD SLAINE’) in season 1. IT NEEDS A PROPER TRANSITION TO MAKE SLAINE VILLAIN INTO A CONVINCING CHARACTER, BE IT VILLAIN OR HERO. Also, with such a drastic change in the character, Slaine’s ‘origin’ must be properly portraited. Otherwise, all we get is a villain pop out form nowhere with the face of an existing character and It will make everythings about Slaine un-comprehensible. Not to mention that if OLYMPUS KNIGHTS really wanted to make Slaine into a ‘hero who changed the system’ they MUST LET US KNOW ABOUT SLAINE, JUST LIKE HOW WE GOT TO KNOW ABOUT A REL PERSON.
Put simply: WE NEED TO KNOW WHAT’S THE DEAL OF THIS SLAINE CHARACTER.
In fact, the same problem applies to EVERY CHARACTERS IN A/Z. However, in the case of Inaho, this issue is circumvented–NOTE, IT’S JUST ‘CIRCUMVENTED’, NOT ‘REMEDIED’. The reason is simple: INAHO IS A SIMPLE CHARACTER. Everythings about our TERMINATOR is clean-cut and straight forward that even little explanation will look adequate. AT LEAST, I DON’T FIND MYSELF ASKING ‘WTF’ OFTEN WHEN I WATCH INAHO’S STORIES.
To make matters even worse for Slaine, INAHO IS SURROUNDED BY FRIENDS AND FAMILY WHILE SLAINE IS ALL ALONE. We got to understand about Inaho’s origin through the eyes of other characters on the Terran side or their actions; but this isn’t possible for Slaine’s development. THAT MEANS THROUGHTOUT THE ENTIRE 2ND COUR WHAT WE GET IS A SLAINE TROYARD/ SLAINE SAAZBUM IN THE EYES OF PUBLIC. All the way until the last three or four episodes, WE DON’T EVEN GET A CHANCE TO SEE HOW DID SLAINE SEE HIMSELF. Thus, the SLAINE that this show portraited for more than half of the season 2 is just masked man–SLAINE BECAME NOTHING MORE THAN A MAN IN MASK WITH NOBODY KNOWS WHAT’S THE DEAL OF HIM.
Just like the handling of characters’ development is not bad enogh, THE PRODUCIONT TEAM TOTALLY IGNORED THE DEVELOPMENT OF HARKLIGHT! Who’s this guy? Where did he pop out from? Why is he so loyal to Slaine to the point he will assist Slaine in seizing power? Why would Slaine trust Harklight that much? WE WERER NEVER TOLD ANYTHING ABOUT HARKLIGHT AND THIS GUY BASICALLY HAS ONLY ONE THING TO SAY IN THE ENTIRE SEASON: ‘YES, MILORD SLAINE’!
Harklight should be the one who guided us to know about Slaine; Harklight should be a fully developed character who, through his development, allows us know more about Slaine and even the VER’s society. Unfortunately, he ended up as a mere ‘YES MAN’ for Slaine and a sorry excuse for Slaine’s so-called ‘charisma’–YOU KNOW, YOU CAN’T WAGE WAR ALONE.
To make things even worse, the entire story was dumb-down just to make way for Slaine’s accendance to throne. There are no real challenges to Slaine; Everytime when Slaine win, the only explanation we got is ‘he knows it will happen.’ or ‘he predicted it’; Even that ‘future prediction’ ability of Thasis so obviously an excuse made for allowing Slaine win the battles without any sound reason.
Of course, Inaho’s actions faced similiar issues but at least WE KNOW HOW DID INAHO CAME UP WITH A STRATEGY.
Even Lemrina’s ‘love’ of Slaine looks quite odd and unconvincing. At the end, Slaine’s climb up to the height of power among the O.K. didn’t look like a climb to me. IT LOOKS LIKE SOMEONE STUFFED SLAINE INTO A CANNON AND LAUNCHED HIM ALL THE WAY TO THE THRONE IN ONE GO.
No wonder SLAINE CRASHED AT THE END. His power basis is nothing other than lies.
How come it all happend? Well, my guess is that OLYMPUS KNIGHTS/ STUDIO TROYCA NEVER CAME UP WITH A DETAIL, PROPER SCRIPT ABOUT SLIANE’s ‘TRANSFORMATION’ TO BEGIN WITH. That’s why we never know how did Slaine do this and that. i.e. when you have no tale, you have nothing to tell.
When this ‘Slaine’s issue’ propagates to the entire story and compound with other issues like the FANBOY/ FANGIRL WAR, Fanservices, insistance on weekly-mecha-battle with no good reason and the need to keep telling the Terran side’s stories, the result is disastrous: A/Z 2ND COUR BECAME NEITHER AN ‘INAHO’S STORY’ NOR A ‘SLAINE’S STORY’, NOT EVEN SOMETHING IN-BETWEEN, BUT A MESS WITH EVERYTHINGS IN IT EXCEPT ‘FOCUS’. The progress of the entire story looks like a man trying to walk on both paths at the same time. He did not choose the right or the left and not even the middle–‘middle’ means he found a way–And so, his progress degenerated into a struggle towards the end.
THAT STRUGGLE, IS EXACTLY WHAT WE GET IN THE FINALE AND THAT’S WHY ‘ALDNOAH ZERO 2ND COUR’ TURNS OUT TO BE DISAPPOINTMENT–IT ALL ROOTED FROM THE FAILURE OF DELIVERING A COMPLETE AND SATISFATORY ‘SLAINE’S TALE’ THAT WE DESERVE.
The effect is stark: at the end of season 1, I was so moved and touched that I have to listen the theme song, ‘heavenly blue’, and the song from ‘Metal Gear Solid’: ‘When Heaven’s divided’ for THREE DAYS!
For this finale of ‘2nd cour’? Honestly I don’t feel moved or touched at all, it just feel like ‘THE END’.
So, that’s how I felt about this whole season. FOR MY FINAL JUDGEMENT ON SLAINE, IT IS:
SLAINE IS VILLAIN, BUT HE IS NOT A PROPERLY PORTRATIED VILAIN. BUT!!! THIS VILLAIN IS NOT TOTALLY HOLLOW AS WE FINALLY GOT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT HIM ALMOST RIGHT AT THE END OF THE STORY. UNFORTUNATELY, IT TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE.
That’s it. That’s the end of ‘ALDNOAH ZERO’–until the next installment, if it materialize.
I can imagine the AZ doujins now: Cruhteo Jr. giving Asseylum the dicking of her life. Junior’s junior is the cause of this sudden turn in romance.
http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost.php?p=5501550&postcount=2123
and so it’s official! My take on Slaine’s ending was correct after all!
I still think it’s a cop-out ending, and if I were Slaine, I would have turned to hating the shitty princess for the rest of my life.
I found the finale illogical and unfulfilling. The creators clearly went the Tom Sawyer route and backed themselves into a corner with the plot while determined to end it in one episode. As far as even average anime finales go this was barely half of one. There wasn’t even an afterwards because they abandoned all the character development they’d been steadily developing for two seasons. The ending is effectively a future with no place for the characters. But it was also illogical. Slaine had imprisoned Asseylum, he was totally committed and certainly wouldn’t have been willing to go down when any hope of victory remained. What they seem to have forgotten is that Slaine’s greatest strength isn’t calculating odds like Inaho and he certainly isn’t the type to give up just bc there’s a chance of losing Clovis-style. Slaine’s greatest strength is in manipulation and he passed up his best chance to utilize that skill in the finale. It has been directly expressed that Asseylum cannot convince the knights to sue for peace after spending years supporting the war and the more extreme the claim the more insane she will sound. Slaine simply needed to sell her as mentally unstable since her trials on Earth, not only would this be exceptionally convincing coming from him but it would also offer the orbital knights the excuse they’d wish for to continue the war. The vast majority knights don’t care about the royal family they simply seek to conquer their own fiefdom on Earth. The only logical resolution of this conflict would have been a war of attrition ending in the destruction of Earth or Vers. Asseylum may have developed a following but it wouldn’t have been enough to overcome Slaine and the Earth government would never trust her. Literally every aspect of this show that they developed was abandoned in one go! The worst part of ending the war with one broadcast isn’t even what a dull concept that is but that they literally did this in season 1 and it was stopped by interception. At the time the message was clear, this conflict will not be ended by something as superficial as a statement from some far away head of state. Both sides are extremely intelligent and skilled they will not be overcome by something something as simple as a call for peace but then that’s exactly what happened one season later. In art things don’t always need to be logical, there’s some leeway for getting the results you want but art loses it’s relevance when it violates it’s own themes. This conflict should have been far from over, Slaine defeated Saazbaum because he’s brilliant and resolute. Be was supposed to be the height of the antagonist ideology that passed from one character to another in this series. It was an ideology so resolute in it’s purpose that it could never be swayed regardless of the means necessary to achieve it. However, in the end, Slaine simply proved that he lacks the resolve of the man he succeeds, in the moment of truth he failed to fully embody the will of the Martian Knights and was not a worthy antagonist in the end. The most disappointing aspect of this finale that literally all of the character development we experienced with Inaho was undone by Asseylum’s marriage to Klancain but it is also disappointing that his final battle was so standard. It’s true that the battle was quality in terms of a standard battle anime but Aldnoah is unique in it’s highly tactical physics based battle sequences so it’s impossible to justify ending such a series with a battle that was so incredibly sub-par. It’s as if Slaine’s lack of resolve has robbed the viewers of the entire potential of the series. As things were headed I think the certainly had the ability to move the story into a Vers arc which would have allowed more knights to be introduced and novel challenges to overcome and Inaho could still be salvaged as a character since Slaine should have had the capacity to slay Klancain and crush the rebellious factions and taken the position of Emperor himself by virtue of his accomplishments in the war because fyi that’s how an imperialist nation functions. The season could have ended maybe with the destruction of the moon base, maybe with a partial retreat under the combined pressure of Asseylum’s faction and the Terrans and maybe with a temporary decommission of Inaho caused by his eye allowing his allies more screentime and his enemies a better chance. The series shouldn’t have ended until the royal family was eliminated, with the possible exception of amnesty for Asseylum aboard the Deucalion, and the knights. It feels like somewhat of a betrayal also to have had Vers referenced so often without actually seeing it and I’d want an actual afterward in which the character actually achieve a future. I think it would have been great to see Slaine as a mad king figure with new abilities. If the creators intended to abandon the potential in this series they should have at least wrapped it up in a more skillful way that is honest to the series, the only thing I can think of as a suitable explanation for this mediocre ending to such an incrededible series is that all the creators and associates suddenly died before creating the storyboard and the finale was constructed by a temp who was barely familiar with the names of the characters.
The fact that there was no peace for the MC at the end came as a real disappointing. This new Count Cruteo comes out of literally nowhere and she ends up marrying him? What a joke! The MC on the other hand fought for her, almost died for her (twice), gave half his brain up to a cybernetic eye that was killing him, and even had a final death match with Slain at the end (even though neither of them died). Yet he got nothing. He gets to ride in the fun-vee with his older sister and his Nick Fury styled eye patch – seriously lame. There really needs to be a third season to even this show out but I don’t think there can be. What would the topic be? There’s no reason for a third war and even if the hold out counts occupying land on Earth rebel they still won’t be much of a threat versus the Vers and Earth military’s combined. So we’re left with this really bad ending. Great show…but they screwed it up at the end. Fumbled at the 5th yard line with no time left on the clock. Seriously disappointing.
Well, the ending for me is fine. But I just want to say, or rather, predict, that if there will be a season 3, Princess Lemrina will surely be involved again. Well, if you’re loved one is imprisoned in a planet of your enemies, I would say, I would go rescue him and incite revenge upon what happened before. That’s just my prediction. But, two, no, three thumbs up for Aldnoah.Zero, though like the others I wish for a season 3.
if there is a season3 I hope that inaho endsup with asseylum and slaine is set free