ALDNOAH.ZERO / First Impressions

「#12 たとえ天が堕ちるとも -Childhood’s End-」 (Tatoe ten ga Ochirutomo -Childhood’s End-)
“Even the Heavens Can Fall -Childhood’s End-“

Well – never let it be said that Aldnoah.Zero didn’t end its first season with a bang…

A couple of thoughts just to start with…

  • Yes, I believe she’s really dead this time.
  • She better be, or credibility destruction is complete.
  • As I said once already – Slaine shot first. Just remember that.

For the second time this week (it must be a new rule for shows I cover at RC) we got a sequel announcement right after the first season ended. It’s even less surprising here than it was with Tokyo Ghoul, given that Aoki Ei had all but announced that this show was split cour, though that was informally – and until there’s an official announcement (Aldnoah got this one right, doing it in the end card rather than 18 hours later on a Chinese website) you can never be certain. As such, as is my normal practice with split cour shows I’ll treat Aldnoah as a single series and thus save the full series review for after the end of the second cour (assuming that’s the last one).

To be honest, I think – like much of the last several episodes – that finale was a pretty big mess. In fact, it was a clusterfuck of epic proportions, but one can’t deny it those epic proportions. Aldnoah goes big, and when it needs a change-of-pace it goes bigger. Stuff doesn’t always (or often) make sense, but it’s always a spectacle. And as season-ending cliffhangers go, even if this one wasn’t especially logical it was certainly memorable (and curiosity-inducing).

We had the blockbuster battle Aoki-sensei had promised us for the final episode, though for the most part it followed the standard Aldnoah script – a Martian landing castle that seemed ridiculously overpowered, but had an obvious flaw that (along with the arrogance of the pilot) gets it defeated by Inaho (at least that last part seemed destined to change). Frankly I was hoping for better from Saazbaum, who may just have ended up as my favorite character in the cour. But he wound up being struck with the same stupid stick as all his comrades when the chips were down, and met a similar – though it’s too early to say identical – fate.

The first 18 minutes of the episode are entertaining enough, but quite straightforward – there just isn’t much to talk about until the ending, where things get really interesting (and crazy). We do get what amounts to a statement of purpose from Inaho, who declares that wars – like everything else in his worldview – are driven by practicality. We get Saazbaum pulling off a pretty interesting gettai move, though we’ve seen the flying fists approach from Kataphrakts already. Lots of shots of wounded on the Deucalion, but no one with a name seems to be dead. It’s all there, really, to set up those last four minutes.

So what do we get there? We get Saazbaum pledging that he intends to “stop the cycle of hatred”. We get Inaho using Inko as a decoy. We get Slaine arriving and being saved from Terran soldiers by a Martian, who’s promptly snuffed out as reward. Slaine rides to the rescue of Saazbaum, who’s on the verge of being killed by Inaho. Why was Slaine able to power up his Kataphrakt in the first place – was he granted the power by Asseylum and didn’t realize it? Is it somehow connected with his own bloodlines? Most of the real intrigue here in this finale surrounds Slaine, though a lot of it is never really justified or explained.

This is indeed a highly confused situation, at least on moral grounds. Inaho is a pure consequentialist, Saazbaum is declaring noble intentions intended to be carried out through assassination, mocking his own prejudices while acting on them. And Slaine is a complete mess, certainly from a narrative standpoint. I could almost see Slaine having some sentimental regard for Saazbaum, who’d at least saved him from Cruhteo and freed him to choose his own fate. But this is the man whose professed and practiced intent was to kill the girl Slaine is in love with, so to say Slaine’s actions at the end are confusing is perhaps generous. Charitably, I think the interpretation would be that they’re the confused actions of a confused young man.

Being Slaine is certainly suffering, of that we can be sure. He finally sees Asseylum again, but as she’s ministering to the wounded Inaho in an unnervingly tender manner. Then he sees her shot by Saazbaum, who he’s just saved – first through the chest, and then in the head (so congrats on causing Asseylum’s death there, Slaine). Slaine shoots Saazbaum repeatedly, but before he can deliver the head-shot Saazbaum is asking for, Inaho crawls from his cockpit and stops him. He drags himself towards Asseylum’s body, a strange little smile on his face, but Slains stops him and points a gun at his head. Naturally Inaho pulls out a gun of his own, and Slaine kills him. The end, for now.

Status check, then, shows Inaho and Asseylum dead, Saazbaum possibly close to death, and Slaine… what, exactly? In the first place if Inaho and Asseylum aren’t actually dead, that’s going to amount to a serious breach of faith with the audience. If indeed they are, where does that leave us for the second cour? This ending frankly doesn’t make sense to me – it plays as if it was set up for dramatic purposes with no regard for logic or character consistency – but it does leave some fascinating questions hanging over Slaine. What did he do with Asseylum’s body (please, let it not be some kind of Aldnoah-based resurrection – or improper activities. Anything else I can live with). Does he step in as the new MC? Does he become the new top boss, driven over the edge by what’s happened? Does he continue to stand on the precipice between the world of his birth and the world of his upbringing, everything riding on him? Obviously no one can say for certain, but it feels to me as if Slaine has thrown his lot in with the Martians by his actions here, which favors the “big bad” option. And I smell a fairly lengthy timeskip looming, too, though that’s strictly a guess on my part.

I for one don’t think anyone can argue that the first cour of Aldnoah.Zero wasn’t well-produced, great to look at and listen to. And I think most would agree that it was entertaining on a superficial level. But it would probably therefore be fair to ask – what separates this series from the likes of Guilty Crown, which its detractors have compared it to from the beginning? It’s not all that easy to refute that charge, honestly, based on just how scattershot things got over the last few episodes. I think for me the difference is that Aldnoah.Zero has a core of interesting characters and a sound premise, whereas once you got past the frosting on Guilty Crown I don’t think there was any cake. Things may have degraded substantially in terms of logic and believability, but enough of a foundation was laid that I never lost my buy-in (at least not totally). If you never have that buy-in to begin with, stuff like we saw in these recent weeks is pretty much a deal-breaker.

Even if I do have major issues with the way Aldnoah.Zero developed, I’ll still look forward to the second cour with a good deal of interest. I’m banking on Saazbaum being alive, since even when you’re dead in this series you’re not necessarily dead, and we never saw him die (in fact he pointedly didn’t die). As Saazbaum and Slaine are considerably more interesting than anyone on the Terran side, that might be a good sign for the second season. I have no idea if Gen Urobuchi will be involved in writing the second cour – I would guess minimally at-best – and for all his faults and the fact that Aldnoah followed the usual Gen pattern of shows that falter near the end, I do think his touch was missed once he ceded creative direction to the rest of the staff. It’s pretty much a crapshoot at this stage trying to predict what might happen, but there’s a certain appeal to that. I think the only things we can with certainty are that Aldnoah.Zero will be a spectacle and that Slaine will suffer.

Zephyr’s Finale/Overall Impressions:

What does it take to end a war?
Well, if both sides wish for peace and set aside their hatred…
No. Warfare is nothing but a means of negotiation between states.
Wars break out even when there is no hatred.
Territory, resources, or interests that you are determined to own.
Ideology, religion, pride.
Wars are fought over those objectives all the time.
Meaning that when those objectives are met, the war will end.
That, or the war will end when the human cost outweighs the gains.
Anger and hatred are only tools to tilt a war in your favor.
I’m not interested in those emotions.

The first cour finale is here and I think the aforementioned quote really summarizes a lot of what’s gone on this series as a whole. Episode-wise, you knew this finale was going to be epic—the only question was how epic—and I think it exceeded even the most extreme of predictions. Saazabaum proves himself to be the most boss of all villains so far—literally taking parts from all their Kataphrakts and spouting lines like “Oh? I would gladly hate on a Terran for that reason alone.”—and it was pretty fun to watch him strut his stuff. He doesn’t end up defeating Inaho by himself as expected, but given a timely assist from Slaine, does manages to at least kill Asseylum—now she’s pretty dead—before meeting his maker.

And really, I can side step it all I want, but that Slaine. That. Slaine. At this point he’s clearly the walking symbol of Murphy’s Law and the amount of suffering that he endures is probably the most I’ve seen of any character this year. Not only does his decision to save Saazabaum (I could swear Saazabaum left the communications open for this sole purpose) backfire, he ends up not being able to exchange even a single glance or word with Asseylum before she dies, AND goes off the deep end by both killing Inaho AND hiding Asseylum’s body. No amount of “I don’t even…” could fill the void here, and I just hope he didn’t do anything to the body in his crazed state.

Looking back, the first cour of ALDNOAH.ZERO really passed by quickly didn’t it? It wasn’t the strongest of narratives in terms of its story or its characters, but it was always a joy to watch week in and week out. The soundtrack was absolutely superb (the OP/ED themes were also some of this year’s best), the action sequences adrenaline rush inducing, and the weekly count of how many faces Inaho makes always a fun activity. I don’t think it necessarily met the hype put upon it and I wish that the development of Rayet and Marito was handled a bit better than it was, but ultimately, hype’s something you take with a grain of salt, and the flaws present weren’t anything that really hindered ALDNOAH.ZERO’s watchability in any serious way for me personally. I can however, see where others may have found much fault with the aforementioned aspects to the point where the series didn’t do much for them, and this is just one of those cases where the subjective experience and personal preference really comes into play. Needless to say, the polarization of this series is high, but the fact does still remain that everyone should be watching the series—if not only to see what the hoopla is all about.

And that’s about it really. Thematically, much of what needed to be touched upon was already broached with the discussion between Inaho, Asseylum, and Saazabaum (the notion of breaking the cycle of hatred among them), and I will say that I quite look forward to a winter season that should not only boast ALDNOAH.ZERO’s second cour, but Sidonia no Kishi’s second season, and the third cour of Jojo Stardust Crusaders while it’s at it. Talk about an explosive season filled with series I wish I will have time to cover! In any case, the usual thanks goes out to those of you that come in every week to view and comment on the dual posts here by Enzo and I. I’ll likely be taking a hiatus for the fall season personally (and possibly the winter), but I hope you’ll enjoy the ongoing weekly coverage from other writers. In the meanwhile, I’ll see about getting the occasional ALDNOAH ARCHIVEZ-isque post out. Thanks! See you guys around.

Obligatory tribute full-length: ASSEYLUM!

 

End Card

443 Comments

  1. Inaho got Slained
    A tribute of the very few smiles our egg loving main character had to offer.
    May he rest in peace. (I hope not)
    But seriously Slaine…..WTF? ლ(ಠ_ಠ ლ) From helping out Saazbaum, the person who was trying to kill Asseylum in the first place…. to going full Suzaku-mode on Orange-kun, who yet again shot at Inaho first. My remorseful sentiments towards Slaine up until this point have been shifted to outright disgust.

    All in all I’m still locking towards January 2015.

    Nadester
    Reply

    2. Imagine all the rage if Slaine pulls off a Suzaku. He ends up joining the Vers Empire to “change it from the inside” for the now dead Seylum’s sake while claiming that what he is doing is just.

      Seriously, I would have liked it if he just let Inaho crawl up to Seylum and just let him die beside her.

      The Story You Don't Know
      Reply

      1. As if Slaine would ever allow Inaho to die next to his beloved princess! I’m surprised the show didn’t end with Slaine finally picking up the princess into his arms, touching her still beautiful face, feeling her body which was still warm but pulselessly still, kissing her soft lips–lifeless except for the hot tears streaming from his eyes before screaming into the heavens in anguish (but that would probably be too reminiscence of Code Geass.)

        Tragedia
        Reply

    4. Slaine’s downward spiral into the dark side is now coming to it’s completion.

      He killed his one and only love.

      He killed Orange.

      He gave into the sweet trappings of Saazbaum.

      His journey is now complete.

      Question is, will he redeem himself in the 2nd cour?

      cruiser2710
      Reply

      2. https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2012%20-%20Large%2030.jpg
        “Asseylum is dead…good, I can feel your anger. I am defenseless. Take your weapon. Shoot me down with all of your hatred!”

        https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2012%20-%20Large%2038.jpg
        “No.”

        https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2012%20-%20Large%2030.jpg
        “Slaine, Inaho is your Sourbum!”

        https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2012%20-%20Large%2031.jpg
        “NO!!!!!!!!!!!!”
        BANG!

        https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2012%20-%20Large%2039.jpg
        https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2012%20-%20Large%2030.jpg
        “Your journey towards the dark side is now complete!”

        Impel Down Hippo
        Reply

      1. if s2 has slaine as mc im gunna be mad
        if s2 doesn’t have slain die first ep im gunna ragemad
        if slain’s death isn’t atleast a horrible messed up death im dropping
        some kind of mars barrier keeping him from bleeding out, so we can slice him millimeter by millimeter from his feet up with a jagged butter knife, all while maggots eat his eyeballs

        p.s.
        what was up with the ‘power ranger mecha’ transform sequence that took longer than it should have

        Aapjuh
        Reply

    6. as everyone here has rightly said, what in the holy fuck was that Slaine?!

      first you save Saazbaum, then you kill him, then you kill Inaho cause he was crawling towards Seylum because she was shot dead by Saazbaum, who you helped save then kill! smdh.

      Inaho is right, blind as a bat.

      Impel Down Hippo
      Reply

      1. While I enjoyed a lot of this first cour, i was a little frustrated by the way that plot aspects seemed to veer from the genius to the downright ridiculous… I mean why bother powerrangering up your (already vastly superiour mecha) with a bunch of boss add-ons that you know the orange whizz kid has already worked out the blind spots for….

        and am i supposed to by the inaho emotional montage at the end as if he’s secretly been surpressing his deredere side…

        I didn’t realy feel like there was any death danger until after Seylum got shot, then i was still like, well she’s probably gonna make it… boom headshot. So the dissolving of Slaine’s sanity has been reasonably well done at least…

        All in all, will i be back for cour2, yeah i reckon so, just to see whether they’ve got the balls to run an entire cour with Slaine trying to blow up both Earth and Mars from a Vers / Klingon Bird of Prey… whilst listening to Beethovens 9th Symphony and muttering about third impact

        defunkt_bots
        Reply

      2. yeah, that Voltron-esque mech merging just seemed a little unnecessary once it revealed that he just had the powers of the old bosses. Very contrived and video game-like. I was also confused when every now and then Inaho would land a shot that sounded fatal to Saazbaum, but then it’d show Saazbaum still alive and ticking. and when Seylum got shot, I was like, definitely not Saline, probably Saazbaum.

        Can’t say I’m looking forward to next season, but I am fascinated at where they’ll pick it up from.

        Impel Down Hippo
        Reply

      3. Saazbaum is a Count while the others were Knights. If anything, the knights mech abilities probably stemmed from Dioscuria, which allowed Inaho to have a chance at fighting it.

        …12 hours later, I still mad.

        MrSmith
        Reply

    1. Let justice be done though the heavens fall

      Piso’s Justice.
      Show Spoiler ▼

      So the person supposed to have been murdered (Asseylum) is now dead(?).
      The person (Terrans in general) condemned to be executed for murder (Inaho) is now dead(?).
      Will Slaine play as the Centurion or Piso in season 2?

      The Story You Don't Know
      Reply

    2. Piso’s Justice,
      Just my obviously nonobjective biased opinion; Piso should get death sentence also for passing the wrong sentence to an innocent man. So should the dead man’s lawyer. Fiat Justitia!
      Lol.

      Azure
      Reply

      1. I got a bad feeling about timeskip.
        Especially beacause of the narration in the end.

        Just as long as it doesn’t have a Immortal regis/Cavalier of the Abyss timeskip story >_< or makes Slaine the MC i think i'll be able to handle it 😛

        .Mero
        Reply

      3. Show Spoiler ▼

        That aside, I’m having a hard time imagining Slaine as having any kind of serious role from here on out. Without Inaho or Asseylum around, where’s his motivation to do… well, anything?

        That’s assuming, of course, that he hasn’t gone completely bats**t crazy, in which case who knows what the hell he may do now?

        Ryan Ashfyre
        Reply

      5. Crazy theory corner: if there’s a time skip, Saline will be hailed as a hero for helping stop the war, since he’ll probably lie about it, saying Inaho was shot by Saazbaum trying to save Asseylum, so he had shot Saazbaum and he’s been a Martian captive. He’ll live on Earth with Eddelrittuo, but will eventually be racked with guilt and tell Eddelrittuo what really happened, and she will kill him. Or forgive him?

        Well, if that doesn’t sound formulaic…

        Impel Down Hippo
        Reply

      6. @kabayongtao: While true, it’s not relevant here as Slaine never had much of a cause to begin with. His whole existence revolved around Asseylum, and now that she’s gone, what does he have left to live for?

        Now, yes, it could be argued that Slaine could try and carry out Asseylum’s will to put an end to the conflict between Earth and Mars, but I’d honestly be disappointed if it went down that route. Not only would it be terribly cliche, but it wouldn’t make for a very interesting second season either.

        Ryan Ashfyre
        Reply

      8. Yeah, there should be a time-skip of some sort. I’m thinking there’s going to be some cessation of hostilities following the sheer amount of lives lost in the operation against United Earth HQ and the fact that even Saazabaum was defeated. The whole discussion about that and the cycle of hatred at least seems to hint at that.

        Zephyr
        Reply

      10. @Summer Kat

        There are 37 orbital knights. Saazbaum, Cruhteo, and Femieanne have been taken out. Vlad and Trillram were sub-knights under Cruhteo. That means there are 34 knights left that have taken up residence all around the world. This war isn’t going to be over anytime soon. Also, while the Earth forces got a victory with Saazbaum, it was a Pyrrhic victory at best. No matter how many of Saazbaum’s men were lost, that means nothing for any of the other castles. It’s all but a drop in the bucket for the Martians. Meanwhile the Earth Forces’ HQ has been totaled, the Deucalion has been wrecked and won’t work after the princess’ death. They lost a whole lot of men and refugees, and Terrans are on the brink of becoming endangered anyway. Hopefully a timeskip can do us some good. The Terrans really need to regroup and recoup their numbers for a little while.

        Irenesharda
        Reply

      11. that’s why i said before, how ? there’re still 3 Orbital Knights on earth ( as we’ve seen before ), the one with Ohwezome Laser, with Magnetic barrier and Plasma-hentai-tentacle, and war is not over just because Saazbaum was killed , by using time skip , i see only 2 valid conditions :
        – Earth lost, depopulated, people got captured, Vers ruled over it -> time skip
        – Slaine taking Princess body, show it to her Grandfather, and tell the truth to him about Orbital Knights, asking to stop the war, peace -> time skip

        SummerCat
        Reply

    4. Yep, Inaho was probably the best thing the show had going for it. He was our little Ender Wiggins (see Ender’s Game). Only he could save us from the martians.

      That ending was pretty troll though. I’ve never seen not one anime kill off the main character and keep going. Now if this were ‘Game Of Thrones’, then only then I would truly expect the unexpected

      Rick Anime
      Reply

      1. He would love them and then utterly destroy them? Then write a book about the one surviving queen he keeps in a bag for 3000 years? Then fine other planets inhabited with ramen and settle down with a girl he falls in love with when she’s a girl but is grown up with kids by another man that is not her dead husband? Then in his attempt to prevent destruction of that planet he recreates his sister and his brother outside the universe? Then decides to die and have his soul moved to his brother body because he’s bored with his life? Who then marries a Chinese girl on a planet of geniuses who’s really just a descendant of his original bodies jeesha back from when he destroyed the martians?

        That’s fucked up man. Your name should be Graff.

        KoroshiyaKi
        Reply

    5. that’s why i said before, how ? there’re still 3 Orbital Knights on earth ( as we’ve seen before ), the one with Ohwezome Laser, with Magnetic barrier and Plasma-hentai-tentacle, and war is not over just because Saazbaum was killed , by using time skip , i see only 2 valid conditions :
      – Earth lost, depopulated, people got captured, Vers ruled over it -> time skip
      – Slaine taking Princess body, show it to her Grandfather, and tell the truth to him about Orbital Knights, asking to stop the war, peace -> time skip

      SummerCat
      Reply

  6. God bless that Slaine, he got ntr-ed, tortured, given contempt by most Martian, and at the end, had the person he adored shot, and to make matter worse, by the dude the just saved, before even get to see her face or said a single word to her. The writer must be into torture porn i would say

    Bách
    Reply

      2. I wonder if it was even an UroGen thing here. He hasn’t been credited for anything past episode 3.

        He gets the rep as the guy who constantly kills off characters, but honestly, I think he wasn’t particularly involved in what happened here. Maybe he had a chat with the guys and suggested something along these lines way back when, but I don’t know. Gen has a certain set way of having characters killed off and this doesn’t seem like the way he usually does things.

        Zephyr
        Reply

  7. Inaho got Slained
    A tribute of the very few smiles our egg loving main character had to offer.
    May he rest in peace. (I hope not)
    But seriously Slaine…..WTF? ლ(ಠ_ಠ ლ) From helping out Saazbaum, the person who was trying to kill Asseylum in the first place…. to going full Suzaku-mode on Orange-kun, who yet again shot at Inaho first. My remorseful sentiments towards Slaine up until this point have been shifted toward outright disgust.

    All in all, I’m still looking towards January 2015.

    Nadester
    Reply

  9. Seee ?, they will give you hope first, then take it off and leave you in despair 😀

    SlainexHime ? AHAHAHAHAHA
    InahoxHime ? AHAHAHAHA
    Slaine ft Inaho protecting Hime ? AHAHAHA
    Love triangle ? AHAHAHAHA
    Gundam Seed clone ? AHAHAHA
    Inaho using Aldnoah Power ? AHAHAHA
    Inaho so OP ? AHAHAHA
    Inaho got a lot plot armors ? AHAHAHAHAHA
    Opening scene with Hime ? AHAHAHAHA

    Gen Urobuchi : And i told them, i will write for 3 eps only… AHAHAHAHAHA
    https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2012%20-%20Large%2033.jpg
    https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2012%20-%20Large%2034.jpg
    https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2012%20-%20Large%2039.jpg

    SummerCat
    Reply

      1. Sry for spoiler but i got this info long time ago, even for this episode 😀
        Slaine will taking the lead on Season 2 as Anti-Hero 🙂
        Yuki nee ? oh ya ya , we should kill her too later, dont forget Inko ! rofl

        SummerCat
        Reply

    4. https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2012%20-%20Large%2031.jpg
      “YOU BETRAYED ME!”
      “HOW COULD YOU!?”

      https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2012%20-%20Large%2028.jpg
      “What are you saying Anakin Slaine? You’re going down a path that I can’t follow.”

      https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2012%20-%20Large%2038.jpg
      “If you’re not with me, than you’re against me…”

      https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2012%20-%20Large%2016.jpg
      “Yes… Yes… I will have a new apprentice… One far more powerful than anything before him…”

      cruiser2710
      Reply

    1. Haha, I hear a lot of people were reminded of Voltron/Power Rangers. Personally I like it better if the transformation was more minimal, but hey, with Aldnoah anti-gravity super sciency ball thing, might as well go for over the top.

      Azure
      Reply

  15. So to all those Slaine fan boys, do you still like and root for him? I never did and I probably never will even if he returns as the MC for the second season which IMO he certainly doesn’t deserve.

    On a side note it seems that all side characters who give awesome speeches (Mustang 33 and the Martian soldier who helped Slaine) ends up dying. An ironic death flag.

    The Story You Don't Know
    Reply

    1. Yup, I’ll always root for the character who has the better looking Mecha. That and Slaine’s action were all very logical from his point of you, he mostly got unlucky when his charge on Inaho led to the Aldnoah chamber where the princess was.

      Inaho’s “You are my enemy” at the end of episode 7 led to his downfall, as I expected it to, he could’ve just accepted Slaine’s treason, let him aboard the Deucalion with his sky carrier and asked questions afterwards. Instead, he mistook him for one of the assassins, and almost killed him when he shot his plane. He payed for it.

      I don’t care if everyone down votes me because I affiliate more to Saazbaum/Slaine than Asseylum/Inaho, but just so you know, people are allowed to have different opinions. I hope they are dead or else the show will lose in credibility, but even if one of them turns out alive, it won’t stop it from being one of my favourites. I liked them, but I believe their deaths made what they tried to achieve stronger, and makes war look more cruel, which is one of the main points of the show.

      Can’t wait for the second part. I hope we’ll see more nice mechs designs in it.

      Chirisazame
      Reply

  16. Neither Inaho nor the princess are dead. Admittedly there are a lot of drunken writers ( and spectacularly drunken people of all professions ) over here, but they did not kill two out of three main characters in a cliffhanger episode months before the continuation. To be honest it is absolutely obvious. Shower scene all over again.

    You saw them being shot, you saw them bleed, and you will probably see writers drop all pretense of actual plot development and plausible storyline when they explain how they were so close to death but saved and back later in winter.

    Toriaezu
    Reply

    1. Na .. they’re both dead. She got hit with at least one in the head and Inaho got shot point blank in the head. It may be possible that the princess survived (but very unlikely) as her shooter was shooting from a distance but Inaho… na. Slain has given us all a lesson of how to deal with NTR .. a bullet to the head!!!

      The questions that remain are; who hid her body (Slain??) and who gains advantage from it? and why can Slain activate the Aldnoah. ATM Slain is a completely free agent with no allegiance with Earth or Mars .. so very much a loose cannon.

      Scruffy
      Reply

      2. I doubt he hid her body. At the end during the ending narration, right at the point where Yuki talks about the princess, you see a light flying off from the castle. Slaine probably took Asseylum’s body and Tharsis and left. He probably went to bury her away from all this.

        Irenesharda
        Reply

      4. Bullets to the head are not always fatal. If Slaine were smart, which he isn’t, he’d double tap, and finish Inaho off with shots to the chest heart & lungs.

        However, much more likely and in-line with this series is the writers’ ass-pull of magical revival.

        There was no specific statement the princess or inaho were dead, only vague ‘casualties’. We’ll know next season, in the meantime watch out for voice-cast credits of Season 2.

        Drasca
        Reply

    3. You’re free to believe otherwise, but honestly if they’re still alive, it’d be the worst possible development. There’d be a massive amount of credibility loss for the second season because they’ve essentially used their main characters as plot tools, and if they did come back in some way to influence later events, I’d be loathe to watch the second season because that’d be plain malarkey. I didn’t go through this finale just to see them magically appear again later. The impact of the finale was because of what happened to them, and erasing that would null that.

      Not to mention this time they’ve actually shown the bodies and a healthy amount of blood. It ain’t no shower scene. At least that one you can see some obvious chance of revival. This one is a lot less likely. Could it happen? I guess. It better not though.

      Zephyr
      Reply

      3. Imho the better option would have been to just show Seylum wounded, and Inaho presumed dead.
        Seylum already ‘died’ 2 times.

        So they should have just let Slaine ‘dumbdass’ bat take off with wounded Seylum, leaving Inaho for dead.

        .Mero
        Reply

      4. Im completely with Zephyr here; if they end up retconning all this ill be a bit dismayed if not very. Regardless of how they do it, i feel that it would be very manipulative to kill both characters off as a cliffhanger meant to be this truly shocking, what-now type of scenario, just to write them back into the story instead of capitalizing on it. In some shows, yes something permanant and shocking does get reversed sometimes but the audience can buy it because the writing does not feel manipulative. The build-up to the shocking moment as well as its resolutions develops organically and intelligibly, and sometimes, like with death, the story has already established that there are ways to revive characters. The mystery, drama and suspense comes from how those mechanics can reverse the death and whether it is even possible to do so in those moments. Aldnoah Zero has not once hinted that there are any ways to bring characters back from the dead which is why it would feel like an asspull if they did now, and it would only feel like an asspull because it is clear that this was meant to be super shocking.

        Aldnoah’s finale’s buildup was not organic, not intelligent, and overall quite messy, which means (at least in my opinion) the only way to redeem such a clumsy development is for the writers to stick to their guns and show some writing prowess in being able to continue their story without their two main players. It would be far more interesting and the appropriate response to their daring conclusion instead of them backpedaling. If the writers backpedal, then it proves that the finale was done solely for shock value, and that’s no fun or interesting; not in my book at least. By moving forward, the writers will give this finale narrative purpose and weight (if they dont move forward it would be a dumb move in my opinion). I personally want to see how things develop without our two mains and witness someone else take the mantle as main character. A timeskip would be preferable.

        sonicsenryaku
        Reply

  17. Slaine if you had just stayed put, Inaho would have properly killed Saazbaum and Seylum need not be shot. Moreover, you can’t have it both ways in helping both Saazbaum and Seylum. Now look what you’ve done.

    And then he had to shoot Inaho out of frustration and jealousy as well.

    RIP(?) to the most badass mech pilot in a long time.

    I cannot see Slaine as anything besides a tragic villain now in the second season now.

    echykr
    Reply

    1. Slaine had no way of knowing his actions would result in Asseylum’s death. He only rushed in to save the guy who once saved his life before, and had just shouted that he wanted to destroy the chain of hatred. Logic: save a life first then try to negotiate or listen to reasoning vs idly watching someone get killed? How convenient they all had to end up in the Aldnoah chamber where the princess was. Asseylum’s death can partly (if not mostly) be blamed on herself since three kataphracts come crashing in, one obviously the enemy, and she ran to help Inaho without considering about the danger to herself. Inaho had no way of predicting that either (he had no idea where the chamber was). Saazbaum did what can be expected of him. The screen writing is even more tragic than Romeo and Juliet.

      And no, Slaine did not shoot Inaho out of frustration or jealousy. For those reasons, he held back. Once Inaho drew his gun, Slaine fired out of self defense and logical reasoning based on a past experience with Inaho.

      Tragedia
      Reply

      2. Okay. I know you meant to point out the irony. But I wanted to point out that Slaine’s actions were well justified of him doing it and that there are other factors that would’ve changed the situation just as well as Slaine not doing anything. And that even if Slaine had done what he did, the princess wouldn’t be dead had she not exposed herself to the enemy and not forgotten that guns don’t need Aldnoah power to kill her.

        Tragedia
        Reply

      3. I’m very confuse why someone said Slaine shoot first for self-defense while they skip THE WHOLE REASON WHY HE POINT THE GUN AT INAHO FIRST. Slaine already know that Inaho is princess allied and princess care Inaho so much to the point that SHE DIDN’T HEAR SLAINE CALL HER NAME. Not to mention that Inaho is the one who keep protecting princess and help her to accomplish her ideal for peace while slaine accomplish NOTHING and MAKE EVERYTHING BECOMES WORSE. and this is just like the first time they met Slaine POINT THE GUN AT INAHO AND SHOOT HIM FIRST and NEVER ANSWER THE QUESTION PROPERLY.
        Inaho HAVE A LOT OF REASON to point the gun and shoot Slaine since he is the one who keep STALKING THE PRINCESS and CAUSE PRINCESS TO MET HER DEATH BY HIS OWN HAND. The rational judgement at Inaho at that time should be letting Slaine do anything he wants but nope, Inaho want to KILL THE ONE WHO KILL THE PRINCESS that’s why he lost his cool and met his own death instead

        fufu
        Reply

      4. Basically POLICE Standard Operating Procedure… You shout “freeze! hands on the back of your neck” while pointing a gun. The moment they try to do something ass pull such as drawing and much more aiming a gun at you then it is JUSTIFIED self defense to shoot.

        Fraye
        Reply

  19. Ohh hot damn look who called it, Slaine has the power of Aldnoah; the doubters can all be damned 😛

    Like the previous one this episode at its core was a chaotic mess, but the kind you get when watching an over-the-top action flick at the theatre; it’s the kind of jaw dropping “WTF did I just see” experience that may not stand up to critical retrospection, but certainly leaves you wanting more. Not one dead MC, but two in the span of a single episode? Aldnoah may not have been what many of us were expecting going in, but it does now how to up the ante, and quickly at that.

    The real question of course is what the hell happens now. Both Inaho and Asseylum dead leaves a gaping hole that Slaine by himself will not be able to patch over. Saazbaum is likewise dead (not verified but can be assumed) so it removes a key antagonist if Slaine is to become the main protagonist. Certainly Slaine has the capabilities for it now (possessing Aldnoah and now an enemy to both Earth and Mars), but it then makes for a particularly stale story about a war not really going anywhere that almost screams Argevollen in space. Nope I’m guessing either Asseylum or Inaho will survive, with Inaho being the more likely candidate. Slaine needs a mortal enemy and Inaho fits the bill perfectly (especially considering Slaine did not shoot Inaho in the head and that since Slaine possesses Aldnoah, it’s not a long shot that Inaho does as well).

    Overall I’d say Aldnoah more than accomplished what it set out to do: entertain. Was it overhyped? Yes. Were people expecting too much? Certainly. Whatever one may think about the strength of its story or characters, it cannot be denied that Aldnoah was never boring nor monotonous. Although it’s going to have some serious competition in Sidonia no Kishi I’m personally looking forward to the next cour; winter 2015 is going to be one hell of a season 😛

    Pancakes
    Reply

    2. Actually, I don’t think he necessarily has the power of the Aldnoah. It was mentioned this week that upon activation with the Aldnoah, the mechs are only operable by those given the proper rights to do so. It may be possible that his dad merely did something to all the mechs to make sure his son had those rights. It’d be a bypass to the system more than anything. I don’t think it’s confirmed he has that power at this time (though of course it’d be certainly possible).

      Zephyr
      Reply

  20. Slaine is clearly a necrophile ! Bet he joins the martians. As someone pointed out, “Who do you think you are pointing our gun at?”
    The state he was in, I doubt he would take the body back to “his highness” o report the incidents.

    Marito was used for the sole purpose of explaining how awesome and terrible the martians were. Utterly unused character. The diving down operation was complete crazy. Inaho and co could have died any episode before this and I would have believed that. I hope they bring in new characters.

    Screw you guys, my waifu – inko is still alive 😀 suck it team inaho/purincess losers !

    shensu3
    Reply

    1. Inko really was best girl. Despite all that happened, she was just a normal teenage girl with all the fear, anxiety, jealousy, and love that comes along with it. Her reactions were cute, and she was weak yet strong enough to fight despite her weaknesses. Too bad she didn’t get as much screen time as I would’ve liked.

      Rigelin
      Reply

  21. when that transformation sequence started with Saazbaum, all i could think in my head was “go go power rangers, dunnnnn, dunnnn, dunnnn, duuuunn, duuuunnn go go power rangers”….but anywho….this time around Slaine did fire first and the reason why i saw that is because he was clearly the antagonizer this time around unlike before where Inaho was the antagonizer, which then set up a sequence of events where it was a matter of who got the drop on each other first. This time around, Slaine had the drop on Inaho and there was almost nothing he could do in his battered state to retaliate. So yes, Slaine fired first.

    Now as iffy as i feel about how things lead to our shocking finale, im glad that the series had the balls to go through with this and to be honest, i sorta saw Inaho’s death coming since the last ep. I dont know; there was just something about the way Yuki was constantly complaining about how Inaho always does crazy stuff that felt like forshadowing to me, almost as if it was saying “One of these days Inaho is going to get himself into a situation he cant gary-stu his way out of” and boy was that the case. i was jsut that i was skeptical as to whether the staff would actually pull it off. Apparently the staff was like “You dont think we’ll do it, just watch us!!!”

    As for the deaths of our characters, i really hope this series stick to what is has done. Dont back out on what has happened. They could pull the whole “the bullet escaped the skull without damaging the brain severely” route, which would leave me a bit disappointed i have to admit. Some shooters will use hollow rounds in their guns when making head shots because that way, the bullet doesnt escape the skull; instead it bounces around and annihilates the brain. If they end up pulling that as some sort of excuse to have inaho be alive, who looked like he was bleeding out anyway, that would be quite disappointing. Either that or use some sort of magic to bring the characters back.

    Someone should just take over as the main character of the second cour: either Inko (she has combat experience as well as watched how Inaho fought martain mechs and who knows, taking the seat of MC could make her character more interesting and relevant to the plot), Yuki (also has combat experience with martain mechs), Rayet, or Marito; I dont see Slaine being the main character

    sonicsenryaku
    Reply

    1. >when that transformation sequence started with Saazbaum, all i could think in my head was “go go power rangers, dunnnnn, dunnnn, dunnnn, duuuunn, duuuunnn go go power rangers”

      I kind of wish I still feel that way, as that was one of my favorite shows as a kid. But unfortunately adulthood had change my thoughts from that to, “Gotta sell those action figures!” 🙁

      baubo
      Reply

  23. I would be laughing hysterically at this episode because of how absurd it is if I wasn’t emotionally attached to the show. I knew the plot had some holes in it and that it never really built up and executed any of its story moments properly; but it was still an entertaining show that I looked forward to watching.

    Like seriously? Did the writers actually believe that killing the MC’s and flipping every table in sight would do any justice to the story? I could see this being an incredible ending if the story properly built up to it, but it did none of that. It’s almost as if the writers wanted to troll the entire fanbase for the hell of it. Well good job, it worked.

    Tldr; What the fuck?

    Rigelin
    Reply

  25. Very confused by Slaine and where his allegiance lies. I did like the episode. Not sure if I’ll return for the next cour though. Princess got killed, ugfh…

    Urobutcher clearly has a hand here (even tho he was only signed for 3)

    Rick Anime
    Reply

    1. Reading through these posts, I feel I might be the only person who finds Slaine’s actions incredibly normal and quite simple. People are complicated and have conflicting feelings. People can desire to not want the person who saved his life to not die, even if that person may want someone else you love dead.

      Heck, even while watching I did not expect Slaine saving Saazbaum to end up having him kill the princess. And I was a neutral observer who didn’t care whether Saazbaum dies or not.

      baubo
      Reply

      1. I really have no problem with Slaine at all. I find everything he did pretty normal from his point of view and from his mindset. The entire battle Slaine was reacting on emotion and instinct. He had unknowingly formed a bond with Saazbaum who saved him and knew his father, even though he knew in the back of his head that Saazbaum wanted to kill the princess. So when he saw Orange-kun, who was his enemy, fighting Saazbaum, the princess wasn’t even on his mind. He made a split instinctual decision to save the man who had saved his life and take down the Terran who had admitted to using the princess for his own gains, and had left him to die. However, as with many of us, it’s only in hindsight that we see the consequences of our actions. His saving Saazbaum, of course, led to the death of the princess. Slaine, goes over the edge emotionally and mentally, and by the time he’s standing over Inaho’s he’s pretty emotionally unbalanced.

        As for Inaho, I think he wanted Slaine to shoot him. After having seen the episode about 3 times, I have to say that I think Inaho was dying before Slaine shot him. When Asseylum tells him that they should escape, he changes the subject as if he knew he wasn’t coming out of there alive. He crawls out of the mech and collapses to the ground and then gasps in pain as he drags himself to the princess. He’s not thinking about plans, escaping or anything. He’s just trying to be by her side. I think that impact on top of his injuries with his battle with Saazbaum had severe internal consequences and he knew he was at death’s door. That’s why he’s smiling with resignation. Slaine’s bullet was just the coup de grace.

        Irenesharda
        Reply

      2. So Inaho’s last thoughts were: Oh, it’s Komori. Well, I’m not going to listen to you. I know I can never shoot you down with these injuries but if you don’t shoot me first I’m gonna shoot you and go die next to Seylum. I don’t care if you shoot me, I’ll get to meet Seylum again in the afterlife anyway and thanks for sparing me from this pain. I’m gonna die and everything is ok. 🙂

        Pretty cool guy huh.

        WinWin
        Reply

    2. Don’t worry about being confused of Slaine’s allegiance, cause he’s the one confused of who he ‘wants’ and ‘should’ support. Note that want and should may not coincide.
      Slaine’s fault lies in the fact he followed his emotions and instincts too strongly, and didn’t think of the long term effect. This is pretty normal human behavior.
      Inaho’s fault lies in the fact he follows logic too closely, thus he tends to not realize and not take the chance to develop his relationship with Asseylum. Pretty normal behavior too.

      Azure
      Reply

  26. The show largely suffered as a result of Urobochi’s departure. I’m not saying it would have been a masterpiece or even close had he stayed, but it probably would have been a lot more solid.

    Eugene
    Reply

    2. Urobutcher didn’t go anywhere. He’s in charge of the scenario which means that he has control of the overall plot. Up until Madoka he had never written actual scrips for anime. It’s not his strength.

      Scruffy
      Reply

      1. Gen was the original creator and script writer for episodes 1-3 for ALDNOAH. He hasn’t been involved for a while now. One could say he played a part in giving various ideas for recent developments, but that’s far from certain.

        Zephyr
        Reply

  27. I don’t agree that both Inaho and Asseylum need to stay dead for whatever logical-reasoning you feel like this show needs. We’re missing an insane amount of character development from Inaho and we only saw a glimpse of it at the very end of this episode. The right thing to do would be to find a way to bring back both of those characters in a way that will bring more development to the series and (might I say it again) Inaho’s character.

    Besides, most of the people who actually love this anime would hate it to see BOTH of them actually stay dead.

    It would be an entirely wrong direction for the show if Slaine suddenly gets promoted to some sort of protagonist. I see him as a big antagonist in season 2 with redemption (BY DEATH) at the very end. I can see Rayet playing a bigger role next season, though, accompanied by our beloved Loli.

    We’ve seen too many mecha series with emotionally unstable male leads who go through fits of anger, sadness, psychological trauma throughout said series that it’s REALLY refreshing to see a logical and calm main character. Even though he’s a bit too calm for the things he’s done – if you can take for face value that it’s at the core of his personality then Inaho is actually a very good MC. I was really happy that I didn’t have to sit through 12-24 episodes of another male lead going through the same pattern of “omg war is so traumatizing (depress for days)” -> “but slowly I feel like this is my duty” -> “well I’m actually used to it now” -> “now I can kill no probs”.

    This series isn’t perfect, but it’s been thoroughly enjoyable so far, and I’m looking forward to Season 2. And yes I do think neither Inaho nor Asseylum are really dead and out, because then we’d really be back to the same old rehash of mecha-anime with emotionally-unstable characters.

    S.
    Reply

    1. May I add that none of the 3 people who were shot at the end were confirmed to be dead. Every single significant death in this series has been made very clear so far by story development and/or confirmation by other characters. But only we as the audience saw Seylum and Inaho shot, laying in a pool of blood (not even visually confirmed that they were shot in the head – with how much liberty they took in showing that there was a wound on Seylum’s back, if they had really wanted to confirm her death, they could’ve just showed a wound on her head as well).

      Yuki’s narration towards the end said Seylum was missing, and no mention of Inaho.

      S.
      Reply

      1. From a narrative point of view it is exactly as you say. And from a real life point of view neither studio nor writers would provoke a backlash reaction ( wouldn’t be the first nor the last ) from fans coming back in winter to be told “oh yes, we did kill them, just wanted you to wait a few months to confirm it” — after which I bet one or more writers would be forced to spit a public apology, as is the custom when you alienate people in this society. And beware of criticizing a critic fan, job is on the line. ( Recall 天元突破グレンラガン… )

        Toriaezu
        Reply

      2. Inaho was shot through the head, you can see the bullet exit through the back of his skull if you slow it down enough. Asseylum it’s less sure since she’s looking at Saazbaum when she is shot in the head, and her head turns sideways from the impact. However, she was also shot in the back which can be fatal too. And if neither got immediate medical attention, they’re both definitely dead.

        Irenesharda
        Reply

  28. Missile strike, strangled in the showers and HEADSHOT!!! The “princess” was killed 3 times this season.

    Let’s us guess how many more times she’ll be killed in the 2nd half! (If she’s really dead then that’ll really be a twist)
    My money’s on 7 more for a perfect 10.

    ofislacker
    Reply

  29. By the way, not only this episode is terribly clumsy in using another near death drama scene in a zig-zagging senseless plot, it also telegraphs loud and clear who is being pointed with a gun by the princess in the opening animation : Slaine.

    Toriaezu
    Reply

  30. So tragic.

    We can all hate Slaine but let’s all remember that he played a big role to the development of Asseylum as a person we kind of like to empathize with. I think she wouldn’t had the desire to go to Earth if Slaine didn’t tell her stories about how birds soar through the blue sky.

    As others have pointed out, when the Princess got shot the very first Inaho did was to care for her. But Slaine reacted very possessive. Like a child who lost his toy. It speaks volumes. Such a pity Inaho has to die from the hands of this person.

    Though I’d like to jest that I still have my hopes. AFter all, He’s a T-900 that likes to cook eggs. He even said “COME WITH ME IF YOU WANT TO LIVE” to Seylum at 2nd episode.

    kabayongtao
    Reply

  35. If slaine is the only MC from the remainder cast, im dropping this show. period. while i dont deny slaine has gone through a lot, but the actions he takes simply disgusts me. To save a person that you know is going to kill your most beloved person is absurdly dumb. On the other hand, i hope that inaho and seylum lives, esp not after seeing inaho smile while crawling toward the princess!!! I’m rooting for their romance here, call me naive or whatever, i don’t care!:p overall this series has been a joy ride and the last episode undoubtedly left me thinking “WTF is this ending, don’t do this to me! I need MOAR, no code geass pls!”…I hope next season we get the more MC development and slaine gets more torture screentime for being a retard.

    8/10 overall.

    Celestine
    Reply

  36. Eh, for me the thing that separates it from Guilty Crown is that the protagonist isn’t a whiny kid and goes in a “Hero BSOD” mentality. Because for me, having a really whiny protagonist like Shinn from GSD makes me cringe.
    ill have a stoic, emotionless and smart character instead thank you.

    sithstormjedi
    Reply

    1. I actually don’t know about that, because with how Inaho crawled toward her those flashbacks made me confused whether he actually fell in love with her and it was more confusing than depressing for me (though I was devastated when Asseylum was killed…Slaine cannot catch a break). I wished that Inaho showed some more facial expressions, just to make him stand out as a person and to make it more understandable why he acts the way he is besides following logical reasoning.

      Dualash
      Reply

      1. I don’t agree if you’re trying to say that it came out of left field. I mean you would have to have constantly tried to block it out of your head if you didn’t notice how much foreshadowing this has had since something like episode 2 or 3. It started off as eye contact between the two right before Inaho does something that his friends or Yuki nee clearly state is “very unlike him” and progresses until it is even blatantly stated by all characters except Inaho himself. Perhaps he wasn’t aware of it or was denying it but as a viewer you should have been able to clearly see that they were setting it up in that direction

        Juan
        Reply

  38. I think the princess may still be alive, given that none of the shots look absolutely fatal. Not sure about Inaho. Both are probably dead, but you never know. I was shocked for a moment, but then remembered Urobutcher and the rest is just meh.

    As for the future of his show, there’s like a huge time-skip which makes sense because there really wasn’t any plausible way to end the conflict. Maybe plausible way to end this particular attack, but the overall conflict comes from the imbalance in military power and natural resources, which has received no resolution.

    Personally, I was never really THAT attached to any character, beyond Slaine and his getting back the princess. Otherwise the characterizations felt rushed overall. The plot moved me through the series, and I have no doubt it will once again next year. Inaho, Asseylem, just cogs in the overall plot that I’m interested in.

    baubo
    Reply

    1. A shot in the back is dangerous and fatal if nothing is done since it pretty much hit either the heart, lung, or blood vessels/arteries/veins. Her head shot all depends on how it hit.

      However, what would be necessary in all cases is immediate medical attention. If Slaine didn’t get that for her, then even if her wounds weren’t fatal, she’s dead. Pure and simple.

      Irenesharda
      Reply

      2. Immediate attention based on modern technology, but Aldnoah technology? :p

        Anyway, I guess I’m thinking about the end of the OP. Hf she’s really dead, then I’m not sure what’s the point of her pointing the gun at the end. Even from a metaphorical standpoint, she has never exhibited any wish to harm someone where she would point a gun at them.

        baubo
        Reply

    1. It wasn’t. Since episode 4 it’s Takayama Katsuhiko that’s done the script.

      In case you haven’t noticed, Takayama is most famous for writing the screenplay for Ga Rei Zero. This last episode has signs of that notorious first episode.

      echykr
      Reply

  40. Seriously, without Inaho, I just can’t see how Terran going to win this. Maybe in Season 2, it is all about Martian violating the Terran from beginning episode 1 to the end of 12 while Slaine was watching afar manically.

    ANother
    Reply

    1. An antagonist has to be against someone. Slaine doesn’t have anyone left to be against. He’s going to be a protagonist, but he might just be an anti-hero or even a villain protagonist by that point.

      Irenesharda
      Reply

  43. I’d be happy if Inaho stays dead! But sadly that most likely won’t be the case.

    You can see the bullet went through the Head!! If you Pause you can see the blood coming out from the back of his head! *Time to celebrate*

    He was always such a boring character.. I’m glad to see him and the princess killed off.

    prince
    Reply

  44. https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2012%20-%20Large%2002.jpg
    Marito “Hey, Cap, they’re playing our song”
    Darzana “Huh?”
    Marito “It’s so hard to keep this smile from my face ♫”
    Darzana “Shut up”
    Marito “Though I’m bleedin’ out all over the place ♫”
    Darzana “Shut UP”
    Marito “Kats to the left of me, Martians to the right, Here I am, stuck on this warship with you ♫”
    Darzana “When I get over there you are dead.”

    celebrinen
    Reply

  45. Well since it has already been stressed enough by other people how badly Slaine screwed up this episode I’m not gonna go into that…

    I’d just like to comment how badass it was for Inaho to beat Saazbaum like that. He even taunted him! lol

    Also that last crawl to Asseylum’s body… Inaho you will be missed… you were the better protag.

    MartianMage
    Reply

  46. Poor Slaine. All he wished was for his princess to be happy but luck was never on his side; he gets both physically and mentally tortured to the extreme to the very last minute. Then he gets hated on for killing Inaho. The reason for that wasn’t because of jealousy, as Slaine was holding himself back not to shoot him for that reason. The reason Slaine shot Inaho was because Inaho raised a gun as an answer to his threat “don’t get any closer to the princess”. Flashback to how Inaho had announced to him that he was an enemy to Slaine and had shot Slaine down before (resulting in the loss of his best chance at meeting the princess, now no longer possible), anyone would deduct that if Slaine hadn’t shot first this time, Inaho would probably have shot him instead. It was self defense backed up by past experience with the enemy. So he doesn’t deserve any hate. The guy walked away, alive but in living hell. Will he ever get any happiness?

    A moment of silence for Inaho and Asseylum. Asseylum did nothing wrong. Nothing. Inaho’s logic about war was wrong, his attitude towards Slaine was wrong but he was doing his best. Saazbaum was the coolest guy in the series and honestly I’m more upset that he didn’t put up a better fight against Inaho. Inaho shouldn’t have been able to lay a scratch on him without a much more desperate and drastic move. Anyway, I’m sad all of this three probably won’t make it to the next cour. At least, they aren’t going to have to suffer anymore.

    Tragedia
    Reply

    1. If you re-watch the part where Inaho raises his gun. You might notice that he deliberately choose not to fire(he could have easily pull the trigger when the gun was aimed ). Judging by his injury I doubt he would have been able to make it out alive anyway. So you can say in a way Slain did him a favour by ending his suffering.

      TOmT
      Reply

      1. I honestly don’t think Slaine gave him any time to finish aiming. Anyone still conscious even with grave injuries but with a gun in their hand, could just as easily drag you to hell with them. I do think it was quite unlike Inaho to attempt a shot with those injuries plus with Slaine ready in aiming position. If Inaho really had hesitated, then I would assume he raised his gun to make Slaine mercy kill him to end his pain and to follow his princess. It would be the first time ever Inaho hadn’t acted on calm objective logic.

        Tragedia
        Reply

  47. UROBUTCHER!!!!!!!!

    Damn you to hell!

    You awesome twisted creative mindbreaking magnificent dreadful fantastic director! Way to make me want to want to see the second season as soon as NOW! I dont know if i want to kill you or enshrine you and call you god!

    All in all, I want the second season NOW!

    Ginobi47
    Reply

  48. That last scene totally had me like “WTF Code Geass R1 ending-slash-cliffhanger style?!” but then the tactician-MC got shot and I was like “So on A/Z R2, only the Suzaku lives? Nah…”

    I felt trolled. That’s all. Even the smiling Inaho during the ‘death of (Euphemia) Seylum’ moment felt unnatural and… ugh. just gotta wait till winter and on to PsychoPass 2 & F/SN

    Red HeartGold ZX
    Reply

  49. I have to admit after seeing this I lost nearly all will to watch the next season. Inaho’s death would mess up a lot of development as without him some characters just seem unnecessary.
    For instance, what about his sister? That character wouldn’t have much point now. What about Inko’s love they started showing us, just a 10 seconds comedic subplot? What did Marito achieve exactly in this season? His character is tied to Inaho’s sister.

    Alpha
    Reply

  50. I’m glad that in the end, Inaho realized that all the risk he made was a manifestation of his emotions and not just driven by self-preservation. This he accepted wholeheartedly that’s why he can smile when he cherished his moments with her.

    Asseylum’s last moments on the other hand, you could see clearly from her eyes that she didn’t have any kind of hesitation to protect him, even at the cost of her life.

    Both of them could’ve been a great couple. They gave up their lives for one another, but like Romeo and Juliet, we won’t be seeing anymore than that. (That is why doujins are great.)

    chimpgoat
    Reply

  51. The finale although explosive, didn’t amount to much even for shock value. What I find incredibly annoying though is that the show thinks we should care for Inaho x Asseylum, that “Inaho is in cloud-9” scene was probably the weakest implication of any romantic interest in anime to date.

    T.K.
    Reply

    1. I agree with that.. I was kinda laughter when they showed a close up of there ‘kiss’ at the end.. I really didn’t so the point”..

      It was like “I’m dying..but its ok because you saved me last time!” What the…

      prince
      Reply

  53. About all these ‘bullet through the head’ etc arguments that supposedly will prevent them from surviving… They could have their brains splattered through the floor and would still be back in January.

    It’s ANIME ! There are Martians born and raised on different gravity, walking and moving on Earth, there are giant mecha powered by people granted biomechanical-energetic activation… There’s a whole ’empire’ that apparently developed several generations in a few decades.

    θ＼(；￢_￢)

    Toriaezu
    Reply

      1. They’ve cornered themselves with this “ending”… I don’t think anybody would care that much either way if they are dead or they aren’t as long as it made sense and it was clear. It didn’t and it isn’t. ( Well, to me and others it seems obvious they aren’t, but anyway. )

        If they are dead, they should have made it obvious and definitive. If they aren’t, then the hope for a decent / better storyline for the second part of the series is.

        Cowboy Bebop, this is not.

        I don’t think Enzo has been particularly prejudiced when blogging this show. Wouldn’t use the word myself, but clusterf*ck indeed.

        Toriaezu
        Reply

      2. I’ll say I should’ve expected this, but I didn’t. The more cynical side of me is wondering if some of the events in this final episode were done purely for impact value rather than narrative support. But I guess we’ll see how it goes once the next cour comes along.

        Zephyr
        Reply

  55. Maybe the entire show is a doctor who fanfiction and Seylum has the power to regenerate due to Aldnoah. I’m grasping at straws here, but I’m hoping that Asseylum survives just for plot reasons. The Earth forces would be sorely outmatched if Asseylum wasn’t around to give them more options.

    Slaine is moron. He might as well have shot her himself.

    CannonBeast
    Reply

  58. Didn’t that happened in Stardust Crusaders as well?

    Show Spoiler ▼

    It might be plausible for the princess due to the distance but not for Inaho. The distance is too near to miss.

    Izzard
    Reply

  60. Yeah, well. That finale is a definition of “trying too hard to be edgy”. You basically could hear the death metal playing in the background and see the director biting off a chickens head on stage.

    I am not so sure about Asseylum being dead. It was not clear if she got a headshot or was just grazed. Inaho, though… pretty much. Point-blank, in the face.

    Hopefully we’ll get another reviewer for the second cour than Enzo. He seemed determined to hate the show from the beginning and has carried that sentiment through the entire season.

    magnuskn
    Reply

    1. Yeah, seriously. Have the balls to stop reviewing the show. Other writers have done it. There is even a second writer already writing reviews for this show that doesn’t hate it. Why did he keep doing it?

      It wasn’t like he was presenting anything resembling a fair and balanced opinion. Maybe early on when the first few episodes annoyed him, but by the end of the series he was just going into every review repeating the same stupid complaints he had made the episode before.

      KaleRylan
      Reply

      1. I feel he does a fine job of describing the show for what it is. He’s even more generous than I would be honestly since he gives the show points for things like blockbuster style thriller action moments while I just find it to be lacking a coherent direction and sets of character motivations and that nothing can really make up for it. Heck to be honest I really don’t even find the action stuff all that well done for a mecha series, just kind of mediocre really. It’s all just very bare bones when you actually sit down to think about it Aldnoah.Zero. I mean while most people are standing around discussing whether they think Inaho and Asseylum or whoever are alive or dead I’m just kind of thinking like who really cares? None of them are interesting to me in any way so if they live or die it doesn’t make a difference and that’s a pretty damning thought to have. I don’t know about Enzo but at the very least I sure won’t rushing back for more of this one right away when the second cour starts or possibly at all cause it’s clear just nothing about it is ever going to really come together if it can’t stabilize it’s narrative enough to have a proper debate about anything other than just who lives and who dies and which character is the idiot or asshole or not in the first cour. At this rate it just feels to little too late for it to ever amount to anything more than it is now (12 episodes is plenty of time to do much more than this show managed to accomplish) or has been since about the 4th episode.

        There’s just no saving this cast or making this conflict more compelling at this rate the way it’s handling everything so simplistically and they can totally try for a new cast and start over to an extent but I just don’t see it leaving enough time or turning out any better cause they’d basically be starting from scratch though really considering I never felt the current cast ever really got rolling it might just be the same as picking up where they left off.

        John Hunt
        Reply

  61. Second season we find out inaho made babies with himesama. Slaine has taken her away and she survives…and inaho v 2 becomes new mc after time skip and we’ll eventually see the scene where hime shoots Slaine fulfilling the prophecy of s1 op…clusterfuck hell yeah.

    Ngai
    Reply

  62. Just can’t see Slaine becoming anything other than main villain/antagonist. I mean, how are you gonna write a story with him as main character in his mental capacity now?

    Assuming Inaho has taken the bullet (pun intended), who will be the most suitable candidate to replace him as main character on the Earth side?

    1. Rayet – Acts as a foil opposite to Slaine. She’s a Martian exiled to Earth. Slaine’s a Terran exiled to Mars. Rayet earned her redemption from Seylum forgiving her. Slaine fell into despair at leading to Seylum getting shot and making a mess out of things.

    2. Inko. Only other surviving pilot in Inaho’s age group. (We’re not seriously considering Calm, are we? I like him, but he’s a sidekick at best. Ditto for Nina and Edelrittuo. )

    3. Yuki-nee. To carry on her brother’s legacy, but lacks Inaho’s tactical acumen. Plus she’s too “old” when all along the main characters are high school age.

    4. Marito. Gets over his PTSD and starts kicking some ass. Again his age may prevent him from taking the main character spot.

    IF Seylum remains alive, then the Deucalion may still be salvaged. And it will become ironic as Slaine cannot bring himself to kill Seylum in order to stop the Deucalion, now his enemy.

    echykr
    Reply

    1. Well, he’s suffered the most from the war, he has seen the hatred that fueled it, he shot Saazbaum out of,revenge and he had to shoot Inaho to protect himself. He can probably figure out that Inaho had helped Asseylum and could’ve become an ally but it was the situation (war) to blame that they had to point guns at each other. If he had lost all hope to life once he lost the princess, he would’ve hesitated before shooting Inaho and Inaho would be the survivor in this, with Slaine smiling in his last moments that he can finally meet his princess. If anyone had to take the responsibility to end the war it would now be Slaine, for taking Inaho’s and Saazbaum’s lives. He’s alive now and he killed them.

      Oh, but that doesn’t mean I think Slaine should become the main protagonist for the next season. Just I wouldn’t cut the possibility. He could equally well go wacko and set out to destroy everyone, becoming the new antagonist. Anything could happen. One thing is sure, he can’t not have a role since he’s the only one with The possibility to possess princess level Aldnoah power left other than Vars Regalia unless Asseylum somehow survives to shoot Slaine herself — which I … I hope doesn’t happen. And he’s the son of Prof. Troyard.

      As for the side characters, I dont think they can step up to become mains. New characters are more likely.

      Tragedia
      Reply

      1. Right, your Slaine-tinted glasses is showing this time. I wasn’t even dissing Slaine the slightest and you’re so quick to jump on me yet again to his defense over a few remarks I’ve made.

        I’m not even discussing about Slaine here, I’m discussing about Inaho’s replacement here.

        echykr
        Reply

      2. I didn’t think you were dissing Slaine and I just simply answered to the discussions of the questions you raised. One of those was about Slaine and I admit I think a lot about him so that’s why his part was long. I also properly answered the part about Inaho’s replacement, even if it was only a line or two.

        Tragedia
        Reply

  65. This was a good episode. Congrats to the anime staff for daring to do something different and explore possibilities of outcome.
    What I like most is:
    The 2 MC’s died, but almost all the side characters survived. This is always the other way around with other series which is cliche’ ending.
    No OP mech for the MC, and he won the last battle with all the tricks and tactics we are familiar with, thus no deus ex machina (cough-SAO-fairyarc).
    Technically the MC lost the last battle, thanks to the interruption of a certain ‘wildcard’, thus no good guys always win trope.
    Slaine and Inaho didn’t get together and be all nakama-4-life taking down bad guys, like all other series.
    Slaine’s Stockholm syndrome and Inaho’s first illogical move (pointing gun at Slaine) was the cream topping of their character development.

    There are much more, but these are what I felt mentioning.
    Also, for perspective:
    Inaho: I’m half dead, Seylum shut down the Aldnoah, we succeeded so the others should be ok… but she’s dead… kill me already *points gun, slowly* Shoot me like you shot me before
    Slaine: God! Hime-sama’s dead! And I shot Lord Saazbaum… You, the one exploiting Hime-sama, and shot me down (then torture). Get away from my Hime, I’m not in the mood. Don’t give me a reason…
    BANG!

    RIP.

    Looking forward to S2.

    Azure
    Reply

    1. Killing off the MCs is a big gamble especially as how Inaho and Seylum seemed to drive the plot more than Slaine did here in the first season. They are MCs precisely because the story tends to revolve around them and we are only given glimpses of the Side Characters when they contribute to forwarding the story of the MCs.

      Killing off an MC isn’t really that uncommon now a days but I believe this is the first time I’ve seen them kill off the 2 MCs who really seemed to be driving the plot. It opens up interesting possibilities but at the same time it kinda puts us the viewers in Limbo since the MCs also are the anchor on which we view the series.

      While it can somewhat give the writers free hand to control the direction, it also gives a certain sense that makes it seem like all the “development” in the past 12 episodes have gone to waste. I am not discounting the importance of Slaine to the plot but his contribution to the plot seems to pale in comparison to the other 2 at least during this first cour

      Juan
      Reply

      1. True that, it is a big gamble. I feel however they have plans to make it work, seeing how they carried the show so far. I won’t get too hopeful though. 🙂

        Nevertheless its nice, and that no important side characters is dead. Probably they might flesh out the side characters into the spotlight? Just to point out the lasting effects Inaho and the Princess had on all of them? Coupled with Slaine’s neverending suffering, it might be interesting maybe?

        I know the side characters never really got much chance to stand out, and they have a lot of potential. Eg. Marito, Rayet, Inko, Yuki, and others.

        Azure
        Reply

      2. I’m not so sure either character drives the plot in the way it’s normally understood. It’s more like Inaho’s genius and princess’ status drove the plot, but the characters themselves were very plain and simple. You can replace Inaho’s talent with someone just as smart and able to find ways to destroy martian gundams. And you can replace the princess with some other Martian royalty or knight who’s still in the middle of the fighting.

        It’s the war that’s truly the central plot, not the characters.

        baubo
        Reply

  67. It makes me so sad for a character that I root for a lot would just die.

    Or maybe she isn’t?

    It is a huge cliffhanger, while I’m very sure she was hit on the head (or was it on the side of the head?) it is really difficult to know, because their could be a slight chance that she could be alive as well as Inaho.

    I really hate this split core, one of the worst invention in the anime industry in recent times, I have to gruelingly wait for another 3 months!

    Ghostalker
    Reply

  68. It’s still entirely plausible medically that both Inaho and Asseylum could survive. Even with our technology today many people do survive headshots depending on the damage and how quickly they are treated.

    In the Aldnoah.Zero universe Earth has medicine that’s at least 25-50 years ahead of us (going by the exoskeleton cast and other stuff). That doesn’t even could Vers tech. While I doubt there wouldn’t be damage, definately with Inaho’s near point blank hit, it’s still within reason that they could live.

    Personally the opening still suggests to me that they eventually work together so I would not be surprised if all three MC’s return.

    smokex365
    Reply

  69. [previous recording]
    Wow… Dat ending. It actually drove my blood cold.

    -The guys over @ Animesuki predicted on only 2 unknown sub-units from Dioscuria. But were we all mistaken… 3 sub-units riding on 3 other sub-units…GG guys.
    –Also, classic combined mecha transformation ftw.
    -The running fight between Inaho and Saazbaum was entertaining for a bit, but Tharsis holds more interest now, since it has some insane dodging abilities (when compared to Dioscuria’s usage of ALL of the previous VERs kats’ abilities. ie. the reasons for its descruction).
    – Slaine… he’s pretty much got mind-screwed to the end by Saazbaum to the end. Which makes the count’s “I win” plausible (he got to “kill” Asseylum himself, objective complete for him)
    – So the princess is heavily wounded and disappeared from Saazbaum’s landing castle, Inaho’s pretty much dead (unless VERs uses some other metals for bullets). All of the other named support characters’ fates are all up in the air. That’s one way to end the first part. Bravo, A-1, bravo. *slow claps*

    ps. anyone want to guess if there will be a completely new cast for s2? (save for Slaine.) I’m guess 50% new.
    [/previous recording]

    @ Enzo: The way things a looking at this mid-poiint, A/Z is currently better than GC (just barely) because of the plausibility of the situations being played out here is better than GC. Still, YMMV with this opinion.
    (That is if you really have to compare the two shows right now.)

    info600
    Reply

  71. Have to agree, the episode was a mess. Specifically, Slaine’s scenes were really poorly edited. First he was in his plane, then he was already on the landing castle, and then he was in the castle getting into his Kat (I thought it was a flashback to when Saazbaum freed him). Then he’s saving Saazbaum for some reason, then he’s already out of his Kat. Then Saazbaum climbs out, after what looked like serious damage he sustained, to shoot Seylum. I get they needed to cut the segue scenes out, but it felt really clumsy.

    and I think this would have been a much better end right here rather than have another season. Thematically, this makes a lot of sense.

    Impel Down Hippo
    Reply

    1. So you want the show to end with two out of three MCs that we have heavily invested into(emotionally) to just die in a seemingly meaningless death (other than shock value)? Cause I don’t exactly buy it (yet).

      …that or I still can’t get over the 2 MCs’ deaths in rapid succession.

      info600
      Reply

      1. Structurally, it feels more cohesive ending there, and quite grim, but maybe they should’ve upped the ante and had Slaine finish off Saazbaum, scream after realizing his actions lead to Seylum dying, and then turn the gun on himself. That’d be a real gut punch to the audience, as it feels like it would make more sense then going into a season 2. Certainly dark, but it’s a path Slaine’s actions could lead to.

        Impel Down Hippo
        Reply

  72. Wild Mass Speculah Taim!

    Unexpectedy, Aldnoah, in form of Glowing Orbs…Are Actually Dragon Balls! Everybody Lives!

    Dr Troyard was taught by a Japanese Neurosurgeon who saved a East German Kid from a Headshot successfully, and now passing this skill to both Earth and Martian Doctors.

    Inaho, his body is saved, but his left eye was taken from him, replaced by Cybernetics. Awaken, he dons an Orange Mask, and Pilots an Orange Mech…

    Slaine is a Necrophiliac.

    Warrant Officer Kaizuka, in grief of losing her dear little brother, descend to the lower levels of UFE Siberia Headquarters by Lift Rides that took long minutes…There, she found a Massive Tank of Orange Fluids with multiple Inaho suspended inside…

    kittyraider
    Reply

  73. Seriously, Slaine is a pathetic crying bastard. He couldn’t pick up a side and ended up getting the princess killed and the other parties involved too. I can’t believe he gets to walk away scott free(well, beside psychological scarring that is) from this. He makes me sick lol

    Satyr
    Reply

  74. Slaine took the Princess Body back to Mars, in his Aldnoah Mecha. It is still under Power. Because in the END Speaking, there it was said that her Corpse was missing. Nothing about Inaho

    Germanguy
    Reply

    1. and…
      This is a indirect prove again, that she is Alive. Well, this time i think we can use the Coma idea i had. Because of her Wounds, she is now in a Coma, and Slain can use her Aldnoah Drive Power.

      Perhaps Slain will be the Dark Hero. But Guys, there are still Mars Knights surrounding Earth in their Castles or wreak havoc in other Countries. Perhaps they will use the Red Line of “Take Earth back!” Starting from the Russia HQ

      Germanguy
      Reply

  75. I’m sad that the last scene of the OP did not come true. Was hoping the story to develop into something like the relationship of Delita and Ovelia in FF Tactics. Something like Inaho managed to use Asseylum to end the war and treats her more as tool even until the end, then deprived Asseylum shoots him after realizing it. Something like that…

    echo
    Reply

  76. Although I was shocked and surprised at what Slaine did I can understand why he did it.
    He saved the count because of the sense of family that he feels towards martians, because the count is one connection to his father, because of the foot soldier that protected him and died, because its also Asselyum’s home, even if they are traitors now, they are still family, her people, his people.
    He then kills (or tries to) the Count because he kills the thing that surpass all the other reasons, the Princess.
    He shot Inaho because he was jealous, because he thought Inaho used the Princess, because he thought Inaho wasn’t worthy of touching her, because he was mentally distressed from everything that happened.

    chad28
    Reply

  77. Wow. That ending…….was HILARIOUS! It was obviously trying to tug at emotions and make us want to watch the second season, but it was way too over-the-top in execution . The entire sequence a of Seylum, Inaho and Saazbaum getting shot was such a massive application of Murphy’s Law that I find it difficult to be taken seriously. Even Muv-Luv applied this with more craft and artistry! And it all requires Slaine to suddenly have a massive brain fart and forget that Saazbaum is a mass murderer and lead to this entire cluster****. Because the writers can’t give Slaine a break (Seriously, writers leave Slaine alone!)

    Not to mention I do not even buy that either Inaho or Seylum are dead. At worst they would probably mostly dead. I’ve never liked meaningless character deaths as twists. It’s narratively cheap, especially when they are in they are barely through their character arcs. I’ve been enjoying Aldnoah more than others, but it never struck as to have enough balls to kill primary characters this early. But what compounds it is that the writers can’t even commit to it. The Yuki narration outright says Seylum is missing instead of saying dead. Might as well have the narrator wink at the audience.

    Now leaving the narrative side, I do like how the battle with Dioscuria went. Dioscuria channels a video game boss, literally having ALL “powers” of the previous Martian Kats. Which is convenient for Inaho, since he has experience with all the flaws, and could exploit all of them. Sad that Slaine had to interrupt the fight, it would have led to satisfying defeat.

    fragb85
    Reply

  79. I can imagine that the next season will move either towards the fall of the Vers Empire or the continuation of the battle for earth. Just because the landing castle is dead (asleep) doesn’t mean the war is over.
    Likeliness of Inaho and the princess returning…highly unlikely but unfortunately not enough is known about the Powers of Aldnoah to be 100% sure.

    ? What is Required ?
    Reply

  80. The time skip can be a go. Based on the title of the last ep itself that says ‘childhood-end’, it can be predicted the there’ll be a time skip coming ahead in the next season. I think Seylum is alive especially that Inaho’s sis said that her body was missing. It could be that Slaine hid it for his eternal love for the princess and preserved it or something. There’s a 50-50 possibility that Inaho is alive or dead. Let’s hope, he lives. I still want to see his expressionless face.

    haruhime
    Reply

  81. Season 2: Seylum has a hidden older sister that was disowned and sent to earth during the moon-fall incident. Now she’s back and wants revenge against her father and the Holy Vers Empire for killing her sister. Coming soon Jan 2015…

    ? What is Required ?
    Reply

    1. This just in : and Inaho turns out to be some experimental new super soldier developed by the UEA to fight off the Vers threat. Inaho was the prototype and with the success of the Prototype the UEA has invested in the project spawning an upgraded version of Inaho. Can now display some emotions xD

      Juan
      Reply

    2. I believe it, the way this show is written so far it pretty much instantly kills or torments anyone that makes any sort of gesture of good will. That one guy that saved Slaine and made that comment about fighting on the same side in spite of them being from different planets only to die seconds later for it was a hilarious application of said rule. It’s really really blatant and obvious and makes a lot of things in this show predictable. I think it’s absolutely drawing influences from Game of Thrones and the like only everything is handled much more simplistically than a Ned Stark type of storyline and many circumstances some within and some beyond his control resulting in the outcome he got. In this show bad shit happens to decent people or people that make decent actions just because and pretty much on the spot. It’s almost Final Destination tier how quickly the universe seems to react to this sort of thing.

      John Hunt
      Reply

  84. I only noticed this after watching it about ten times, but when Yuki is talking while we see the Castle in the Snow, you can see a small light leaving the castle, if you watch the upper left part of the screen.

    This either means:

    1 The Tharsis can fly long distances and Slaine left. (we saw it fly a bit at launch, but it didn’t look like it could go very far)
    2 Saazbaum is alive and left with his Dioscuria, probably going to the moon or at a friendly Knight’s castle.

    Either way, I think all of Slaine’s actions were totally logical, Inaho tried to kill him and said he was willing to exploit the princess, so Slaine saw him as an enemy. There was no way he could know that ramming into the Sleipnir at that moment would lead to the princesses death by Saazbaum.

    I don’t understand the whole “they killed the MCs” problem many have here. This is a story about war, and in war, people die for no good reason, so I think it’s fitting that characters who you empathize with die, it makes the connection to the show stronger. I know I’m the weirdo who will always root for the character with the better Mech (In this case, Slaine with his Lance… I mean, Tharsis), but I think what the team is doing is very appreciable.

    Finally, I hope they make a scale model of the Tharsis, because I absolutely love the way it looks and moves.

    Chirisazame
    Reply

      2. However, you have to take into consideration that when Crutheo wanted to pursue Slaine with his Tharsis in EP6, he said “I’m going out in the Tharsis. Prepare me a Sky carrier!” which would imply it cannot fly alone.

        I doubt Slaine could attach the Tharsis to a Sky Carrier and simply leave with the amount of danger going inside the castle.

        Also, regarding your argument, I don’t believe the Kataphrakt’s Aldnoah Drives are linked to the Castles. It wouldn’t make much sense when you consider that the Dioscuria can function very far away from it’s castle. If it were that simple, they could put all the Aldnoah drives on Mars or the moon and wreck the Earthlings with no risk of a pesky princess or somebody else shutting them down.

        The goal of the operation was to shut down the Castle itself, in order to neutralize the things like missile batteries, AA guns, communications and radar that gave the martians a big edge.

        Can’t wait for season 2!

        Chirisazame
        Reply

    3. Yes, I see your point but Inaho is a character that has barely been develop, we know next to nothing about why he{s the way he is, it would very wrong and a huge waste to kill him off like that. And besides, if the MC is going to die you let him die at the end of the story not at the freaking half with so many questions left unanswer.

      haseo0408
      Reply

    4. Comments about killing the MCs has more to do with the story telling side of things. As the MCs are the reference points of the story for the viewer. So when you kill the MCs you also lose your reference points. This can possibly lead to the viewers getting lost so to speak or a complete story feeling like it is not whole. There is no problem if this was at the end of the series but we know already that there is a 2nd cour

      Juan
      Reply

  85. Reasons why I belive that both Inaho and Asseylum are very much alive:

    1.-We need a good protagonist for the second season and Slaine is nowhere near that, he{s pretty much the guy we all want dead.

    2.-Asseylum is needed to power up the aldnoah drives and it´s impossible that Slaine could help Earth after all this mess.

    3.-Slaine looks to me like the most likely candidate to antagonist of season 2, so we need Inaho to kill that bastard for good.

    4.-Almost nothing was revealed about Inaho{s background and reasons for his strange personality.

    5.-Asseylum never got the chance to make a difference in the conflict between Mars and Earth, she´s the only that could make peace in this mess after all the Orbital Knights are dead.

    6.-Who could stand Slaine as a MC after all this? The guy is monster and he deserves every bit of suffering for what he has done. How could the audience symphatice with a monster like him!?.

    haseo0408
    Reply

    1. 1. A timeskip can do wonders for a character. Slaine has had a lot of character development in just this episode alone. Imagine what some time, training, more characters to interact with, and more scene focus could do? Slaine has always been a main character, it won’t take much to take that foundation and build on it. Plus there are many of us who like Slaine just fine.

      2. Slaine is no enemy of Earth and no one of Earth even knows he exists. Asseylum’s can power drives but she’s served her purpose. She was at first a person whose presence could potentially stop the war, but that didn’t work. Next she used her power to give the UFE their first victory. However, after Slaine was able to have his power over Aldnoah, Asseylum’s importance dropped immensely. Slaine is now the one non-knight that has this power. Asseylum is no longer needed.

      3. Slaine’s allegiances are not known at this time. An antagonist has to have someone to go against, and right now there is no one else left to be protagonist. Slaine will become protagonist, but that doesn’t mean he won’t be some sort of anti-hero either.

      4.It was revealed in ArchiveZ and it’s pretty boring. His parents died during Heaven’s Fall and he grew up with his sister as well as hand outs from their other relatives. Nothing special.

      5.Asseylum would never have had the steel and resolve to face and rule a bloodthirsty people such as hers. She’s too innocent and naive. None of the other knights we know so far are going to listen to her and they too will probably try to kill her. She finished her point in this story. She got the Earth Forces this far. It’s going to take quite a bit to take down all the other knights and as Inaho suggested, this war isn’t going to end anytime soon.

      6. Umm, there are a lot of people who still like Slaine and who actually are kind of glad Inaho is dead. To me, Slaine was completely emotionally unbalanced by that point. His actions were normal for someone with his point of view and mental processes. Also figuring in the fact that Inaho pointedly turned his gun on Slaine even though with a concussion and one eye closed there was no way he could shoot straight, he wanted Slaine to kill him. Slaine’s no monster, he’s a very troubled young man who’s gone through hell, just like a lot of other characters in the show.

      Irenesharda
      Reply

  86. My own theory 🙂
    Slaine hides Princess body and escapes as we’ve seen in the last minute of this episode, the reason why Slaine get to hide Hime’s body,
    he wanna proof it to her Grandfather, with this i believe, he will regard Slaine as Loyalist for vers, a Saviour, a Martian Hero, and grant Slaine with power, honor and authority higher than any Orbital Knights ,
    being filled with power and hatred towards everything, this will lead another misery for him, for earth and for vers empire itself as he wants to protect Princess dream, different with Saazbaum as he wants to revenge, Slaine’s last resolution is to protect Princess dream
    ( look at the lyric of Heavenly Blue on the Opening )
    So Princess dream is A peace between two world, then by what Slaine can achieve it ?

    Total control them by himself.

    SummerCat
    Reply

    1. That makes a lot of sense Summer-san but there is little problem, Slaine is incapable of such intelligence, up until he has acted on emtion only, destroying everything he wished to protect. It´s more likely that Asseylum is alive somehow or he wants her body as sick token of his love for her; it could be possible that the Aldnoah tech has some way to revive her, after seeing the capacity for destruction of this alien technology I won´t surprise at all if it could resurrect a person if the body is not too damage.

      haseo0408
      Reply

      1. My theory is, Hime-sama is in Coma, and Slaine take her to his Grandfather place. There they have Life extensions Machines. I think they will not heal her out of the Coma. But there she can life inside a Lifelong tube, until someday she awake from her Coma.

        Well, the Rule only with the Death of old King and Hime-sama, the Aldnoah shuts down. i dont think he took a Sky Carrier to flew away. The Ship is power dead. No it must be the Mecha, alone the Color. it was a yellow like light, not a red one like the Counts Mecha

        Inaho? Well, he could have a deep scratch on his head, but you know. Human dies of bloodloss, too

        Germanguy
        Reply

      2. Slaine is not protagonist from the start, and i wont call him antagonist for later, Anti-Hero suitable for him,
        remember War is not over yet, only Saazbaum got killed (?), those 3 Orbital Knights ( Laser guy, Whipping guy, Magnetic barrier guy ) are still on Earth no status

        SummerCat
        Reply

      3. I like how your mind works, a coma scenario is very possible and we have to remember that as crazy as t sound people survive wounds to the head and chest that could have killed us for sure.

        haseo0408
        Reply

      4. Im not saying Slaine will be an MC, but at least taking the lead on season 2, a guy who will do everything in order to achieve his goal, even destroying, killing without any hesitate. perfect Anti-Hero, not antagonist, not protagonist, doing wrong thing for the sake something. so the story will focus on him
        But dont forget there’s still Rayet, Yuki-nee, Inko
        and it’s time for Marito to shine , pls no more wasting screentime lol
        vote Rayet for new MC

        SummerCat
        Reply

  87. I HATE that f****g blond ningen! Useless human! F*****g bastard!
    No Asseylum and Inaho = No party (Asseylum will be resurrected two times in a week?)
    This is the end of Aldnoah for me, with the princess and Inaho dead and the bastard alive this sucks.
    I expected the end of Trollard, and the rebelion of the humans against the martians with Asseylum/Inaho in charge…
    F**k!

    Abyss
    Reply

    1. The Trollard cares for the princess? I only watched Inaho go with the princess while the bastard does nothing.
      The bastard don’t catch the princess body, the bastard leaves her, the bastard don’t check the vital signals of the princess, the bastard is a complete asshole!

      My theory is that Crutheo is alive, (tha activation of the Tharsis) and he buried the princess body somewhere…

      Now I beleve that Crutheo was too soft with the bastard, he deserved to be hit harder and a lot more!

      Abyss
      Reply

    2. Well, I don´t belive for a second those two are dead, season is going to start with the two stars of the series dead and the monster who killed them in charge of all, forget it. Slaine is very lacking in the intelligence department to stop the conflict and the political machinations behind it all, that{s a jobe for Assyelum. As for Inaho, he has so much more room for development that I can´t belive he could die like this, hear my wars: Inaho shall have his revenge on Slaine and that bastard will regret to eeven being born.

      haseo0408
      Reply

      2. That would make a lot of sense, Slaine is already a monster after all of this so Asseylum shooting him in order to stop his madness sounds fiting as end of all this tragedy. Being shot by the peraon you love the most but could not protect, the person you love the most but you hurt the most. If I´m correct and Slaine saves her live then it would also be more than karmic.

        haseo0408
        Reply

  88. To be fair, Inaho was the dickhead that shot down Slaine, even though Slaine saved his arse on more than one occasion, leading to his torture for several hours, and the death of Crutheo. Plus the whole jealousy thing, and being emotionally distraught; Inaho pulling a gun was probably the trigger that gave Slaine a legitimate reason to shoot him, so fair enough.
    I’m more annoyed about how he unjammed the gun, but didn’t mercy-kill Saazbaum; unless he wanted him to suffer?
    And frankly, whom would you tackle? The guy that shoots down your aircraft after helping him pretty much for only his benefit, or the guy that explained his noble intentions, but immoral methods, and is the one remaining connection to his father? After all, he shouldn’t have known the Aldnoah-drive cave was in the very next room, let alone Asseylum being in that room; it shouldn’t have lead to her death, but a screw over of the guy that stabbed him in the back. Even if he did shoot first.

    John
    Reply

    1. ALso, judging by that trajectory, the bullet that went through Asseylum’s chest should have also gone through Inaho’s head. And there’s no way she’d still be standing after that first shot.

      John
      Reply

    3. It’s funny how it always goes back to that scene. All I can tell you is that you should go back and watch that scene again. In that scene Inaho questions Slaine and Slaine refuses to answer the legitimate question of why he was looking for the Princess considering the Vers army says she was dead. Instead of answering he (Slaine) points his guns at Inaho and questions Inaho. After the stand off Slaine fires at Inaho and Inaho returns fire.

      The follow up argument is usually why didn’t Inaho take him hostage? Well if you think about it 1) he could assume that Slaine was dead already given that he did crash and 2) do you really think they had the luxury to go and investigate or go on a manhunt for some random pilot when they were already on the run from a superior force?

      Anyway, granted then pulling out the gun might not have done Inaho much good this episode but I won’t say it’s a wrong decision either. For Inaho, Slaine is an enemy already (determined in the prior incident). Also his threatening Inaho to “stay away from the princess” doesn’t do wonders in terms of appearing to be a friendly. In fact, the opposite is true. It’s Slaine whose actions don’t make much sense. The whole saving Saazbaum has been mentioned a lot already and to add to that Slaine actually saw how Seylum treated Inaho. From that at least he should know that she views him as an ally if not more than that. So Yandere Slaine is Yandere

      Juan
      Reply

  90. actually anyone noticed when the princess was shot in the “assumed” head, the helmet safety thing went off? also inaho’s blood could be from the injury he sustained from the previous battle, not necessarily from a headshot. so still have SOME chance of them surviving

    rainbowbutt
    Reply

    2. yes, i think most of us saw, that this head protection went off. It was a feedback that something hit her head with a strong force, that this protection went off

      But, with this Protection and “spoiler saving”, this wound if shut tight, like a pressure bandage?

      Germanguy
      Reply

      1. so, the blood we see on the floor. Is from her back wound. Ans Slaine could stop this bleeding with a bandage, too.

        But i dont think he cares for Inaho. He is strong bleeding, and 2 Girls are just outside the Door, to save him somehow. But then there is still the Count, lying in the corner.. Perhaps dieing a slow death

        Germanguy
        Reply

    3. correct me if I’m wrong but that protective gear for me has always seemed like an anti whiplash or airbag like thing. I don’t think it’s a Helmet that can protect against a blow but more for something like banging your head when you crash.

      That being said, if it indeed an airbag of sorts don’t expect that to have bullet protecting properties. If it was really some kind of protective helmet (like the kind soldiers wear to war) Isn’t it silly that they don’t activate it sooner?

      Juan
      Reply

      1. I compare it more like this Neck Protection, of the Formula 1 Car Drivers. Sure it was more Designed for a Motorcycle or Bike Head Airbag Protection, but the protection trigger point must be the same

        Germanguy
        Reply

  91. Inaho’s logical, calm and collected personality was one of the main reasons why I loved Aldnoah so much…

    I was getting sick and tired of all those “Shounen” mc types who just scream their way to certain ridiculous victories. Those overly self righeous brats who do things “they” think are right while putting their allies in harms way. *cough*Argevollen*cough* One of the reasons why I stopped watching that show, tried to stick it out since everything else seemed interesting. Was hoping he’d become less annoying later on but after 5-6 episodes of “Maybe he won’t be a dick this episode.” I just kinda gave up…

    Back to Aldnoah… I really do hope the dead stay dead. As much as I would’ve liked for them to survive. I just feel like people pull the “Oh they actually survived because [insert bs here].” card waaay too often. I do hope that they move on and make the story develop into something more than just “Yes blah blah is definitely MC and bleh bleh is 2nd most important” or whatever.

    On a side note, I kinda wish Bandai would finally introduce a Gundam series with a female as the “main” protag and Gundam pilot… Like a full series and not just OVAs/Movies like War in a Pocket or Stargazer… which to me didn’t really count anyway. In War in the Pocket the story follows Bernie and Al, Chris just felt like the token heroine. And even when Selene pilots the titular Stargazer, Sven is pretty much the “main guy”.

    Azuma
    Reply

  92. Looks like I’m in the minority here as I think Inaho and Asseylum are actually dead. Yuki’s narration about Asseylum missing just indicates that Slaine took her body, though who knows for what reason (please don’t let Slaine be any creepier and just let him bury the body). It will be too much of an ass-pull if those two are still alive, especially Inaho who was already suffering from some major injuries. If Asseylum hadn’t been almost killed two times already I probably would’ve cared more about her death, but Inaho’s death was pretty shocking. Even with the big romantic flashback and that smile, I was rather disappointed that this was the end for him, since Inaho never got fleshed out beyond being a rational character in the face of danger for no apparent reason.

    I understand that killing off the two MCs with the most screentime does leaves us with a “What now?” scenario since Inaho was the only person able to defeat any of the Kats and we need hime for the Aldnoah drive. Terrans are pretty much wiped out anyway, so all that’s left is for Vers to settle down. I’m hoping this means that the new season can move over to the Martian side of things (since that’s always been the most interesting part of this show anyway). Besides, I can’t really see any of the other Terran characters taking up the MC role.

    While I can’t logically reason with Slaine saving Saazbaum, I do understand emotionally why he did it. Saazbaum is the only Martian aside from Asseylum that’s shown him any respect and he’s seen how much this war made Saazbaum suffer and understands why he’s fighting. I wish AZ had taken more time to develop Slaine outside of “I must save the princess” but I’m hoping with season two that he takes Saazbaum’s words to heart and starts changing the Vers Empire. We really don’t know the extent of Slaine’s Aldnoah power, but I’m guessing that it might be like the royal family’s and he can give it and take it away which could leave to some interesting things on Vers. Slaine really fucked up in those last two minutes though and it doesn’t look like a lot of people are willing to get behind him as the sole MC, but maybe this could be a road to redemption for him?

    dmohican14
    Reply

  93. And the princess dies again..poor girl can’t catch a break.

    I was expecting Saazbaum to be OP, but then his mech was just a conglomeration of all the previous aldnoah-powered kataphrakts’ abilities, so it was pretty obvious Inaho was going to obterate him. The battles with the prev. knights now seem like set-up practice for Inaho.

    I actually don’t hate Slaine that much…probably because I never really got attached to either the princess or Inaho (btw am I the only one who thought the CPR flashback was funny? Inaho acted all professional about it back then,but here it’s revealed that he does think of it as a kiss lol). I’m just glad that Yuki-nee and Inko are still alive, and I guess I do think it’d be a shame if Inaho doesn’t return to continue to wreck mechs of epic powers using his observational skills and physics knowledge.

    Yukie
    Reply

  94. Wow, Slaine is just a completely inane plot device.

    He basically is just a walking ball of failure that the writer unleashes any time he wants the show to go back to being ‘edgy’ and ‘dark.’

    Frankly, Enzo’s random complaints aside, if Inaho and Asseylum aren’t alive somehow I probably won’t watch season 2. I like them, I’m curious what they would do. Slaine I have no desire to follow. He doesn’t deserve success and he doesn’t do anything useful. The problem with playing a character as ‘confused’ or ‘crazy’ in a work of fiction is nothing is actually random in fiction, it’s all actively decided by a writer. So the more random a character acts the easier it is to see the will of the writer in what’s happening.

    KaleRylan
    Reply

  95. Yes.

    YES.

    YES!

    I’M F*CKING ENTERTAINED! NOT SATISFIED, BUT YES I’M F*CKING ENTERTAINED FOR SURE.
    Thank you whoever done it at the A/Z Committee for the last scene between Inaho & Aseylum.
    Thank you Zephy-chin for the final impression. Wish you can cover the 2nd season too.
    And thank you Enzo for always bashing Inaho undeveloped character every damn week so I can love him even more. Good luck with your future review on the “gift to anime”, anime; and stay away from reviewing this super-blockbuster-generic-flawed-genre.

    And yes. I hate Slaine.
    There. I said it.
    I’ve had enough of my seasonal dozes of whiny-reckless or train-wrecked or emo-distorted main protagonists that everyone always love. I’ve had enough of those in EVERY season of anime.
    So thank you very f*cking much for Inaho’s existence.

    *exhale*
    I need a break.
    Now where’s my cup of tea…

    Long Live The Queen!
    Reply

  97. I have maintained this from the start and I will repeat myself. I do not think Inaho is human. I believe he is one of the original Martians that created the technology that Vers uses. With that in mind I am certain he will be able to Deus Ex Machina his way out of a bullet wound to the head.

    MartialBob
    Reply

  100. No idea why everyone is hating Slaine for shooting Inaho. Ever hear of self defense? Did people not see point his gun at Slaine?

    Also: Piso’s justice. Fiat justitia ruat caelum. Look it up. The naming of Heaven’s Fall in this show isn’t coincidence.

    Judis
    Reply

    1. Why to hate Slaine? –> Slaine saves Saalzbaum from Inaho –> all enter the room where the princess is —> Slaine saves from Inaho the man who alwais claimed that wants to kill the princess —> Obviously Saalzbaum shoots the princess –> Slain dont’t check the princess condition+ Slaine don’t kill Saalzbaum + kills Inaho who is no a thread form him…

      And don’t forget that Inaho draw the gun for the only purpose of being killed, to die without pain, with the princess dead and bleeding he can’t scape alive…

      Abyss
      Reply

    3. People aren’t hating on Slaine for shooting Inaho. People are hating on him because he saved Saazbaum which started this chain of events that resulted to both Asseylum and Inaho dying.

      Funny you bring up this self-defense point when Slaine fans bash Inaho for using self-defense on episode 7. Also Inaho wanted to get shot in this episode.

      MartianMage
      Reply

      1. Good observation ! I also thought Inaho kinda wanted to die. He keeps remembering about events he had with the princess- seylum/asseylum and he probably just wanted to die by her side or something. If he was calm and acting as usual, he would have shot first. This time he smiled.

        shensu3
        Reply

    1. The same can be said for Seylum but I think they are going to find a way to explain the survival of both of them without the Aldnoah. If Inaho was trying to die I don´t know, maybe he lost it after seeing the girl she loved wounded and possibly dead so he tried to kill the person responsible with no regard for the consequences.

      haseo0408
      Reply

    2. Somethings tells me that Tharsis has time manipulation ability which explain its ability to dodge
      those bullets so easily, Slaine was probably going slow-mo bullet dodging during that time, so if
      my guess is true he will use Tharsis’s ability to either reverse the princess’s condition or literally
      go back in time to save her

      lol
      Reply

  102. Urobutcher strikes again!
    Well Played, sir!
    Giving seemingly plot armor to both Inaho and Princess, then shooting them both with
    “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” (that Shakespeare guy was brilliant…).
    So, even if Salzbaum has survived, he has no castle, no Kat, and is bereft of his power base in the Vers society. Princess and Inaho are 99% sure dead. Slaine is going to be definitely crucial person in the second season, though I am not predicting him long life – after all, EVERYONE can die as it has been shown. But while he lives, he is crucial to solving the mystery of how to power up Aldnoah drives (a bunch of them now have been captured by Earth forces).
    And all the while the Princess was the only hope of peaceful solution, now the war will rage “until the cost outweighs the gains” – in that case, Earth force will fight to bitter end with nothing less than survival on stake. Vers has enormous prize to gain in the resources of Earth. I expect long and bloody conflict…

    ewok40k
    Reply

      3. Honestly I don’t know about that. Gen gets a rep for killing off characters because he’s done it multiple times, but that’s rep’s over-exaggerated more than anything, and the fact he hasn’t been credited for anything past ep 3 makes you wonder if he was really intimately involved.

        Maybe he briefly hinted at some potential outcomes to the guys working on it, but even then, you have to consider how the events here compare to how he usually does them. It’s not a significant difference, but I’m not sure if Gen would’ve been the type to use his main characters as tools like they were used in this instance. The brutality of the events here match what he would do, but I would be hard-pressed to say the circumstances and scenario match up to how he usually does deaths, having experienced all of his previous works.

        I wouldn’t go ahead and chalk all of this to Gen in any sense, especially the lead up to it.

        Zephyr
        Reply

      4. @ “the lead up to it”

        Actually, there was no lead up to their death whatsoever. They just killed the main two characters in the last minute of the show for no reason.

        Watched anime for over a decade, and saw many characters die. But killing off characters at the end, without any buildup or purpose is a trait of anything but a successful author.

        That’s what you get when studios develop their own scripts. Same problem we had with Guilty Crown (as much as I loved it, and still).

        Watching anime I expect characters to be treated with the slightest respect (unless the show is meant otherwise). For me, this was disrespectful for the characters as much as for the viewers who hanged for 12 episodes.

        This show is over for me. Not interested in a second season.

        P.S. Shows like Madoka had a dark theme and nice/cute characters getting killed, but it had a purpose. But this was just a spit in the face.

        vladrin
        Reply

      5. Just to clarify, by “lead up to” I only meant the moments immediately preceding the death. The way it turned out was far from what Gen would’ve done, basically. (And he confirmed as much with a recent comment regarding the series).

        Zephyr
        Reply

      6. To vladrin,
        I agree with what your point as well. Seriously, I don’t like seeing the two major characters to die off like that–just like that– right at the end of season one. I mean, they both survied countless ordeals (for Inaho, single handly), it’s just absurd in terms of story-telling that having them both killed just like that right at the end and left it hanging until season 2.

        If someone say: ‘clffhanger’, I would reply: ‘remember “Code Geass R2″‘.

        Oh, for god’s sake, that seaon’s firt two episode is so fucked up that all the ‘bang’ from seaon one became a whimp! I don’t think ‘Urobither’ will make such a mistake but…let’s see what we have in season 2.

        Like I said in my post: It’s game over, MAN! What should we do in seaons 2?!

        TOMA
        Reply

    2. I totally agree with you, ewok40k.

      If this story has to keep going, the most reasonable path with be one with Slaine as the
      protagonist. Although I believe the statmenet that Princess Alusia is missing is kind of
      a hint for something.

      Of course, the simplest reason for that is: Princess Alusia was wearing an UEF uniform when
      she died and others (both UEF and VERs personels) mistook her as a fallen, unidentified UEF pilot, and buried her. Things like that happened a lot in wars and I would guess that’s
      what ‘Urobither’ is plotting.

      Of course, I kind of hope the Princess survive as it can spice up the season 2 in the way of a wild card.

      UEF is battered and beatened to a state that would make UNSC in ‘Halo 3’ looks powerful (hey, they still have the Master Chief and Sergeant Johnson in Halo 3!), if this war drags on, even with abundant supply of Aldnoah drive, it can hardly make any different.

      Hang on, isn’t that why the Princess has to live? ^_^

      TOMA
      Reply

  103. I’m fervently hoping for NO resurrections. The princess is missing? Slaine probably hid her body to raise doubt. The amount of bloodloss makes it highly improbable either she or Inaho could be revived without invoking Clarke’s law.

    After such a wonderfully bleak ending that would be a cop-out of the worst kind.

    Wondering if the next series will follow after the Martian conquest with the survivors of Earth force as a resistance force fighting guerilla actions. That could be interesting.

    Dop
    Reply

    2. SLaine is on the borderline of being two types of guys now. He can be the obsessive creepy guy that you’d see in anime like Buddy Complex or any other mecha show pretty much, it’s like a rule that there has to be a creepy obsessive guy to go along with the crazy psycho bitch when it comes to Mecha anime.

      The other option is for Slaine to pull a L-Elf, which he already did a lot of, and help out the Terrans. Hell he might pull a Lelouch too.

      magoiichi
      Reply

    3. With Inaho and Asseylum both death, the human faction has lost his “ace” and the ability to activate the aldnoah devices, earth has little to do against the Martians, who would do something? Yuki? Marito ¿? Bah …

      On the other hand we have the Martians, who will continue attacking the earth, from the point of view of the Emperor nothing has changed.

      Then, and finally, the bastard, just crazy and deranged.

      The only thing left out is the mystery of aldnoah … and I could care less, how will survive the planet earth against the Martian threat without Asseylum … now I don’t care … And the emperor without Inaho and Asseylum, also I don’t care.

      Slaine had shot in the head the show himself.

      Aldnoad.Zero is finished.

      Abyss
      Reply

  105. https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2012%20-%2031.jpg “Nobody tries to NTR and gets away with it! NOBODY!”

    https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2012%20-%2035.jpg “Her lips were like strawberries. So Good!”

    https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2012%20-%2038.jpg “She kissed me first”

    https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2012%20-%2037.jpg “No waaaaay!”

    https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2012%20-%2039.jpg “…”

    Epicness all over my body! SLAINEEEEEEE! FINALLY! SLaine has unleashed his L-Elf and now he is ready to play some Call of Duty! Not only does he have his own kataphract, he might have some bloodline that lets him power up Aldnoah drives, which means that landing castle and the crew will probably now belong to him. So Slaine right now is most likely in charge of the military or the forces Saazbaum controlled.

    Speaking of Saaz, WELL DONE! Before anyone gets pissy at me, I don’t hate Seylum so don’t get mad at me, but I’m glad she died. I’d rather have her die than for her to hate Slaine for killing Inaho or feel some other kind of way about it. I hate the situation where people that trust you and you trust turn on you like it’s nothing all because of some misunderstanding or whatever similar reason. It happened in the Mass Effect series, it happens usually in anime with drama and slice of life stuff. I fucking hate that shit.

    Now I absolutely do not want to see any Dragonball Z Shenron Wishing Ressurections or Naruto Pain Jutsu Ressurection bullshit. If that happens I’m going to lose my shit.

    https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2012%20-%2015.jpg “I shot first”

    https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2012%20-%2022.jpg “Look at me, look at me, I’m the main character now. Nobody else gets hurt if you don’t play no games!”

    Slaine ftw, Justice WAS Done and Heaven’s Did Fall!

    magoiichi
    Reply

      1. A living Crutheo, acting behind Saalzbaum, and for example, rescuing Inaho with some healing device, instigating together against the Emperor … or against Slaine / Saalzbaum (we do not know if he’s alive or not …) would be pretty good …

        Abyss
        Reply

    3. It said this episode that once the Aldnoah drives are activated, there are specific people given the right to pilot that particular mech. I would not be surprised if Slaine’s dad made it so that Slaine was given those rights for all the Kataphrakts during his research.

      Zephyr
      Reply

      2. There aren’t many Kataphrakts if you get down to it. And all you’d need is access to the base technology/software that would be put into all the Kataphrakts anyway, which isn’t that hard if you were involved in developing them in the first place.

        As for Cruhteo, the ALDNOAH drive was clearly deactivated following Saazabaum taking down Cruhteo, so I’m pretty sure he’s dead. It only re-activated once Slaine got in, which would be explainable by the aforementioned. Chances of Inaho, Asseylum, or Saazabaum being alive are much, much higher than Cruhteo being alive.

        Zephyr
        Reply

      5. Plot twist : Her grandfather activated it and he’ve planned this all long time ago, aldnoah, heavens fall, Saazbaum’s hatred, even sending Asseylum to Earth. He looks so weak and tired, actually he is not

        SummerCat
        Reply

    4. Any person that has the Aldnoah code in their DNA carries all rights to Aldnoah. So, say the Princess could activate and deactivate any Aldnoah device she wanted too. Slaine probably has these same complete rights but never knew it. Either his father found something with his research or the code was burned onto his genes just as it did Rayregalia. Or…Slaine just happens to be a missing member of the royal family from somewhere. It’s not too far-fetched since he shares some of the same features that Rayregalia and Gilzeria had, such as the blond hair, green pupiless eyes, and same skin tone. But we’re all just guessing right now.

      Irenesharda
      Reply

      1. they should make 1 or 3 OVAs for this, about Dr.Trollyard, Heavens Fall event 15 years ago, about Inaho ( his parent & background story ) and Slaine ( who sent him to Mars ? for what mission ? ), 😀

        SummerCat
        Reply

      2. @ Summer Cat
        Inaho’s story is in ArchiveZ and it’s not really anything special. His parents died during Heaven’s Fall and he was raised by Yuki and they got some handouts from other relatives. Dr. Troyard would be an interesting story to look at though. ArchiveZ says that he and Slaine lived a nomadic lifestyle going from place to place for years until they both traveled to Mars for Dr. Troyard to study Aldnoah 5 years prior to the start of the show. Dr. Troyard died on Vers sometime between their arrival 5 years ago and 2014.

        Irenesharda
        Reply

  109. Fiat justitia ruat caelum is a Latin legal phrase, meaning “Let justice be done though the heavens fall.”
    and this is from wikipedia :
    In De Ira (On Anger), Book I, Chapter XVIII, Seneca tells of Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso, a Roman governor and lawmaker, when he was angry, ordering the execution of a soldier who had returned from a leave of absence without his comrade, on the ground that if the man did not produce his companion, he had presumably killed the latter. As the condemned man was presenting his neck to the executioner’s sword, there suddenly appeared the very comrade who was supposedly murdered. The centurion overseeing the execution halted the proceedings and led the condemned man back to Piso, expecting a reprieve. But Piso mounted the tribunal in a rage, and ordered the three soldiers to be executed. He ordered the death of the man who was to have been executed, because the sentence had already been passed; he also ordered the death of the centurion who was in charge of the original execution, for failing to perform his duty; and finally, he ordered the death of the man who had been supposed to have been murdered, because he had been the cause of the death of two innocent men.

    In subsequent versions of this legend, this principle became known as “Piso’s justice”, a term that characterizes sentences that are carried out or passed from retaliation — whose intentions are technically correct, but morally wrong — and this could be construed as a negative interpretation of the meaning of Fiat justitia ruat caelum.[citation needed]

    The phrase fiat justitia does not appear in De Ira.[citation needed] though Brewer’s attributes the story to Seneca.[4] The phrase is sometimes attributed to a different Piso, Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, possibly a confusion with this case.[citation needed]

    Now even the staff tell you the ending from the start. And you keep being dumb, until that moment come wkwkwkkwkwkw. Slaine become a new Piso, an angry Judge.

    Dimas Satrio
    Reply

    1. Clearly this is masterpiece anime, but only a few ppl know about this, Gen Urobutchi is awesome right,
      ohhhh bad writing ? what ? say it again 🙂

      But Piso mounted the tribunal in a rage, and ordered the three soldiers to be executed

      He ordered the death of the man who was to have been executed, because the sentence had already been passed;
      The first death is Seylum; her sentence had already been passed. from episode 1 ?

      he also ordered the death of the centurion who was in charge of the original execution, for failing to perform his duty;
      The second death is Saazbaum, the executioner who failed to fulfil his duty the first time.

      and finally, he ordered the death of the man who had been supposed to have been murdered, because he had been the cause of the death of two innocent men.
      Last Inaho, he is the reason those two died, as he endangered the princess and defeated the count.

      This scene was really masterfully done. Inaho was away from the Princess to hold back Saazbaum while she turned out the lights.
      The first to arrive in the room (Princess) killed by Saazbaum. Saazbaum then killed by Slaine, and finally Inaho as the person had been the cause of death of two innocent men

      Let’s see for Season 2 ~ who will be the first, the second, the last

      Fiat justitia ruat caelum
      “Let justice be done though the heavens fall.”

      SummerCat
      Reply

    2. So they foreshadowed this all along? i checked at wiki page, they even stated this “The anime series Aldnoah.Zero features the phrase as a tagline alongside the show’s logo.”
      If this is true, that would confirm that the count, princess, and inaho are all dead. Holyshet!.

      as for seylum, her sentence had already been passed, i agree from episode 1 they are trying to kill her
      as for saazbaum, the executioner who failed to fulfil his duty the first time, i agree too, not only first time, but multiple times
      as for inaho, because he had been the cause of the death of two innocent men, somehow it’s true, inaho attract princess, wants to use her at the beginning, inaho is the one who prevent them for killing seylum, this is means inaho is the one who made the executioner failed to fulfil his duty

      i agree… wtf..
      but i dont think Slaine is the piso here, but merely executor
      piso is gen urobutchi lol

      Slaine helps Saazbaum ( he let the executioner to do his duty )
      Saazbaum kills Seylum ( executioner do his duty )
      Slaine kills Saazbaum ( he sentences him to death after doing his duty )
      Slaine kills Inaho ( he thinks he is the reason their deaths, he blames him )
      also in Slaine’s eyes, inaho is the reason those two died,

      i agree that was Inaho & Seylum’s character arc, their smile at the end completed it. :<

      Zeal
      Reply

  110. I can almos picture both Inaho and Asseylum coming back to life, Aldnoah got transmitted by the Miracle kiss to Slaine so maaaaaybe they will take that excuse to do that. Obviously it will knock credibility out of the park farther more but either way I’ll go along for the ride nevertheles.

    And, you know, it’s all because… ALIENS (tech)! XD

    FSLightbringer
    Reply

  111. Aaargh. I was a fan of Slaine due to how much suffering he endured. But… I think I’m done with him. He’s too emotional. The funny thing is, both time his encounter with Inaho, he is always the first one to pull the gun. The first time, Inaho responded by shooting the wing which was clearly intentional not to kill him. The 2nd time, Inaho simply just pointed the gun at Slaine to provoke him and Slaine kill him. Slaine Slain Slaine… what can I say.

    It’s clear Hime cared for Inaho but since Slaine is too emotional, I don’t think he even noticed that since he killed Inaho without hesitation. Why don’t he do that with Saaz? He hesitated when shooting Saaz, the guy who actually killed hime.

    I’m so confused and upset now…

    Silver
    Reply

  112. an Urobutcher strikes again!

    what else to say mmm : huge disappointment.

    i won tho.. i did say that 3-4 of the main cast would be killed before the end.. i was thinking on princess + onechan + officer + random friend (inko) .. it turned out to be princes + Inaho + Cruhteo + random friend.

    soo Juda.. erm i mean Slaine is the protagonist of the next season?

    inanis
    Reply

  114. Yep judging from this episode Aldnoah is indeed a glorified Hollywood flick. I found it pretty funny how many cliches they threw in there.

    “Forget us just go on!”
    “This isn’t even my final form!”
    “I’m a stupid villain who will reveal my weakness even though I don’t have too!”

    Seriously…………..you have a GIANT FREAKING PLASMA SWORD! with nearly INVINCIBLE ARMOR! Why the hell would even need the rocket arms? You were handling everyone else just fine moron! Who cares if they are shooting at you when non of their bullets matter?!!!
    God even the final villain had to be a fucking baka. Guess it’s in line with his race though.

    I expected either Inaho or the Princess to die but I can say I truly didn’t expect them both to die. Still found it hilarious how they referenced back that episode where Inaho shot Slaine down. That’s what you get fool! Payback is a bitch! By the way I’m pretty sure this an obvious Star Wars reference which makes it even funnier.

    Summary:

    Alnoah is a good movie……………..wait it’s not a movie?

    Because everything about this anime just screams Hollywood action flick. Lots of action, over the top villains with lots of dramatic twists and turns. So in hindsight if you just watch Alnoah as simple popcorn entertainment where you can turn your brain off and have a good time then I’d say it’s pretty good. I won’t deny that it’s rather entertaining when watched in the right mood.

    However since I’m obviously a professional critic who wants to feel important about himself I’d say I’m very disappointed in it overall. The only characters that go through significant development are Slaine and Rayet and I’ve already explained how horribly they fucked up everything as far as the latter is concerned. Her redemption was even worse due to the fact the EXTREME convenience of the situation allowed her to help out immediately as if the writers never cared about her as a significant plot point in the first place. Slaine on the other hand has gone through more shit for his princess than any loyal knight I’ve seen in a while. It’s a real shame he just ends up being a running joke in the series which cheapens his involvement. Slaine about to meet the princess? Not if the supposedly logical when the plot calls for it Inaho has to say about it! Ain’t it funny how this character keeps getting screwed over? No Aldnoah……….it’s not.

    Afterall who is the one who shot him out of the sky and left him to fucking die even though he saved his life in the ocean? Inaho.

    So honestly I would be surprised if Slaine didn’t shoot him. Inaho made it seem like he was merely exploiting the princess when he and Slaine talked. If he had simply decided to not be a prick and told Slaine “Alright I will let you see the princess” none of this would have happened. Payback is a bitch son. Inaho directly said “You are my enemy” so it seems fair that Slaine would be the one to take him out having said that. Inaho has always been the instigator in their relationship so I have no idea why he pulled his gun in the first place. He reaped what he has sown. It’s his own fault.

    Also in my opinion Slaine merely had a moment of weakness because he had started to sympathize with Saazbaum’s motivations. He should have expected this outcome but he was hesitant in that particular moment and it lead to the princess’s death. I don’t think he intended for Saazbaum to be able to kill her but he didn’t think either him or the princess should have died. I don’t really blame him for being sympathetic but it was indeed a stupid thing to do. As naive as it was for him to do that I think it’s in line with his character since he isn’t just a “I use logic in everything I do” Gary Stu like Inaho. He made a mistake and he payed for it. I don’t think that makes him a bad character. If anything it makes him a bit more human.

    Speaking of Inaho……………yeeeeeeeeeeah even by the end of the series I didn’t like him just because at every waking turn his dick has to be stroked as he is the only competent person in the series while everyone else are useless cannon fodder. He never really develops past the bland Gary Stu that he was at the beginning (aside from having obligatory feelings for the princess). People hardly ever question him or his choices which only serves to add to how utterly boring he is. At least with Tatsuya him being like this is the point of the series. But here? It just really lame. Marito has the most battle experience but he ends up getting shafted in favor of Inaho as well. A shame how everyone is just left in his shadow with no room to grow because we need more Inaho doing everything! I suppose you can enjoy Inaho in the way I mentioned above if you aren’t thinking about the series to hard. But if Inaho is truly gone from the series it would only be an improvement in my opinion especially if Slaine takes over.

    To summarize is Aldnoah a good anime? Depends on the person. It’s certainly watchable if you are in the right mood for it. I won’t say my time was wasted as I think the show is a lot of fun despite how stupid is sometimes. Expecting to much from it will definitely lead to disappointment though. The story is about as basic as basic gets. Aliens want resources with some political issues……….yeah not exactly the most original thing in the world. But the fact it keeps things short and simple makes it a bit more enjoyable if you don’t want something to heavily convoluted. You can end up liking a character one second and the next completely hating them. That’s just how this plot twist train rolls.

    As for me? I think it’s a piece of shit……………………but i had fun with it…………………don’t judge me!

    Popcorn entertainment?: 8/10
    Complex Mech Story?: 5/10

    leatherhead333
    Reply

    2. Who the fuck is Gary Stu, and why should we care? That’s right we shouldn’t, for someone who hated the series you sure fucking wrote a lot. Lmao in all honesty someone who writes so much about a series and still says something stupid like, I was laughing the whole time, I hated it and/or it was full of “cliches” can only be viewed as someone saying, “blah blah blah, rant rant rant.” Newsflash, every story ever written is full of cliches, there is no such thing as original, everything takes pieces from something else.

      Kingcity
      Reply

      1. Calm down there oh ye of great butthurtness. Did you even read my comment? I said I liked the series in a certain mode but looking at it critically makes it complete shit in my opinion. The same would hold true for shows like Kill la Kill but hell I enjoyed that show too. But with Kill la Kill it always has the atmosphere that you shouldn’t be taking everything seriously. With Alnoah it’s hard to tell. Whether it’s just shooting to be entertaining or not is sort of a mystery to me. I tried to take it seriously and as I and others have pointed out it’s riddled with flaws. So in order to enjoy it I think one must turn their brain off.

        Despite what I say about it I don’t think it’s all that bad of a show. It just depends on how much you are expecting from it. If your expecting Eureka 7 or Evangelion your at the wrong place. I just didn’t WANT to be in the wrong place you know?

        Also Aldnoah has been taking the “stupid villain” cliche WAY to far. I actually question the intelligence of the Martians since their pilots have walnut sized brains. Inaho should not have won this last fight if the final boss had an I.Q. The “leave us behind” cliche was funny but the show ACTUALLY acknowledged it (since you didn’t seem to notice that).

        News flash bub. Originality is indeed dead but creativity isn’t which Alnoah has almost absolutely none of.

        leatherhead333
        Reply

  115. What separates this from Guilty Crown?

    Every week I was eager to watch Aldnoah Zero.

    Guilty Crown after 3 episodes, it was a struggle to stay interested.

    Aldnoah may not have had perfect realism, but it knew how to maintain drama and tell a story. And in the end, that’s what matters.

    DP
    Reply

    1. That “airbag hood” is to protect their head and neck from injury and whiplash while in the kataphrackts. It’s triggered by a violent jerking of the neck. Asseylum was looking directly at Saazbaum after he shot her in the back. he shot her in the head, her neck snapped back from the force and triggered the hood to inflate. It didn’t inflate until after she was hit. It also didn’t absorb any of the force from the bullet since she was sent flying.

      Irenesharda
      Reply

      2. @Germanguy

        If it really worked as a pressure bandage, she wouldn’t be bleeding so much. Also, you can see the hood is rather loose around her head. It probably got knocked off with the force of the impact of the bullet.

        Irenesharda
        Reply

  119. Inaho is a complicated character. While he tries to stay level headed and look at the world through objective eyes he’s a very considerate person.

    Why did he go as part of the first group to drop? – To give his sister and friend a higher survival rate.
    Why did he go out on a limb and stay behind when he was facing the super mech saazbaum was piloting? – To ensure the success of the operation and let everyone else live.

    He clearly cares for the princess, and his friends (he hates the people who killed his friend) but verbally he stays cool and level-minded.

    On top of that. He’s COMPETENT!
    ————————————————————————-

    Slain is not competent. He acts and then lives with the consequences of his actions. That’s why he got Asseylum killed… In no situation should he EVER sympathize with Saazbaum. Saazbaum wants to kill Asseylum, and even went to kill any chance she has at returning to Mars. Saazbaum = Enemy.

    Princess Asseylum is a good character. She’s aware of her role and she’s always trying to act and… be useful. She’s also kind and forgiving… I mean… she doesn’t hate the girl that tried to kill her. If Slain had any of that in him, he wouldn’t have killed Inaho.

    Saazbaum is selfish and irresponsible. Martians killed his wife, but he wants to take his hate out on earthlings. His lines, “The envy and hatred towards Terrans that had been planted in us…The resentment of having that hatred ingrained in you.” … How does that not sound like he’s blaming someone else for his problems? Summary: I act this way because someone planted these emotions in me? That’s SO irresponsible.

    —————————————————————

    I can’t understand why anyone likes or sympathizes with the martians who are trying to invade. They brought/bring upon themselves the misery they feel. I can’t feel sorry for someone crying if they shot their own foot.

    TitanAnteus
    Reply

    1. Not as a form of understanding as in empathizing with him but it would make sense if Vers was really out to conquer Earth to gain natural resources. That at least makes sense since wars have been fought before for that very reason. That at least I can understand as it makes sense

      The problem with Saazbaum’s line of thinking is that while he professes to hate the conditioning done by the Royal Family he actually carries out their wishes. That makes it ironic and not to mention a self defeating arguement.

      Juan
      Reply

  120. I’m rather unsatisfied to be honest, mainly about the ending since I was never that hyped about the series in the 1st place so my above average expectations were actually surpassed, much to my enjoyment.

    But back to the ending…I dislike when main characters are killed off in the last few minutes. Such an endings just scream SHOCK VALUE. I was all “Woah! This show deserves praise for having the balls to pull this off!” when I was a newbie to anime but that’s hardly the case anymore. I’m fine when shows kill off main characters at the end when it’s been foreshadowed for a while and it would actually feel like a cop-out NOT to do it, like in

    Show Spoiler ▼

    but not when it’s done in the last few minutes like here(last 5 mins) or in

    Show Spoiler ▼

    I guess now I’m actually glad that Aldnoah Zero’s characters weren’t very good, and especially that they weren’t the show’s main appeal. That being said, I’m still a bit sad about their deaths though…

    MgMaster
    Reply

    1. Personally I don’t really mind if they died at the end. As far as I’m concerned they got a rather decent death scene if this really was the end. The problem is that this is the middle (assuming it’s 2 cour only) which leaves us grasping on where the show will focus.

      While there is Slaine as the sole standing MC at the moment, he seems rather apart from the Earth side of things which the story has followed more. In the first season he has pretty much been the way by which we sneak a peak at the Vers side of things but the story seemed to revolve more on the Earth survival, in particular crew of the Deucalion. If indeed they are dead and Slaine becomes the MC what happens to all the development done to the crew of the Deucalion?

      That for me is the real problem and at the same time the point which I want to see how they will address in the 2nd cour

      Juan
      Reply

      1. what happens to all the development done to the crew of the Deucalion?

        There was barely any character development though but that’s not the show’s main appeal anyway. But even without compelling characters, having main characters get killed right at the end after fighting to survive for so long can make the journey feel less meaningful for some people. They FOUGHT for a good cause but there was no reason for them to die. I know it’s always possible for anyone to die in a war but it’s rather frustrating nonetheless and I can’t shake the fact that it was done for shock value. I don’t consider it terrible but it feel’s like we could’ve done without it.

        But S2 might prove me wrong and I am quite curious myself to see what direction it’ll take. I don’t think I’ve ever watching an anime where 2/3 of the main characters died half-way throughout the series.

        MgMaster
        Reply

  121. Totally shocked they did what they did. I was honestly expecting, you know someone to die (the Princess), but was entirely caught off guard by Inaho getting shot a second time and possibly being dead. Having Inaho alive could still be a thing, simply because Slaine returning the favor for not killing him way back when. After all, that exchange would seem to be a call back.

    But the Princess? I think this time, she’ll be dead. The only way she wouldn’t be is if she becomes a healing tank slave and only able to issue out rights for people to be able to use the powers of Aldnoah, that Slaine grants out to the Terrans so that they can fight on even terms and thusly turning the Terrans into the bad guys and becoming the top bad guy for the second sea…son…

    Aw bloody hades.

    Dorian
    Reply

  122. I never liked Inaho, the princess was too naive and Slaine an idiot, so for me is simple, since the series couldn’t have been what it is right now without Inaho and princess, I think they are somehow alive, comatose but alive with Slaine going to the yandere route. Expecting to see an older slaine, two years or so, going all “Fuck everything I’m the Boss Now, OBEY or DIE”. Inaho wakes up, saves princess from mental unstable slaine and…. don’t know, but princess “death” waaas waaay too expected actually, The opening screamed it a looong time ago.

    ohgod
    Reply

  123. There is still no guarantee that the shots on Asseylum and Inaho were kill shots. It seems a bit off that they showed side camera views of the shots and never showed the holes in their heads. I get the feeling Inaho was shot in the eye and Asseylum might have been shot in the neck, non-fatally.

    Goodwill Wright
    Reply

  124. Welp, didn’t see that coming. All I know is they’re going to bring back Inaho somehow in second season. Well, to be fair, it’s not uncommon for people to survive bullet wounds to the head. Either get lucky even though the brain got shot (Or the skull’s fragmentation lacerates it), or the bullet goes straight through the eye socket and misses the brain entirely (Though you’re still liable to bleed out.)

    Incoming eyepatch Inaho.

    By the way, I find it interesting that Slaine leaves Saazbaum to bleed out painfully instead of committing a mercy killing like the count wanted. Slaine’s so bloody all over the place mate.

    SerRompalot
    Reply

  127. *CRAZY THEORIES*

    No one really bothers to question why the kissing scenes with the martian princess to both Slaine and Inaho are constantly reiterated by flashbacks (prev. episodes feature more of slaines kissing scene flashbacks as a child with sylum), and lastly the final scene before INAHO gets shot (flashback shower kissing scene)…

    This could very well mean something IMHO, as one of the blood descendants that can activate an aldnoah, remember it was never really shown/discuss in detail how the emperor bestows to the chosen Versian elite the right/privilege to use the aldnoah energy. This can very well be a kiss or other biological contact made with an ordinary versian with the emperor/emperors kin etc… with these also mean that the privileged to activate aldnoah by the chosen versian nobles can be passed of to their offspring as well?

    begs to question….. and what other effects does the aldnoah power have to ordinary Terran if ever granted access/privilege e.g. (regeneration,healing etc. )?????

    since so much questions are yet to be answered regarding Slaines father and his work on aldnoah research… he might have discovered how the emperor can/delver aldnoah or infact discovers the true secret of aldnoah’s energy activation etc… which is may be in a form of a biological key..(virus,bacteria etc) anything that is genetically passable…. e.g. emperors bloodline

    IF indeed the use/activation of aldnoah energy’s right/privilege is biologically passable to offspring then

    *THEORIES*

    Versian BLOODLINE

    INAHO and Yuki’s mother could ideally be the then woman which supposedly died in Heaven’s Fall. ( if she really died then why is her Kataphrakt still intact after the explosion years later, which would mean her body would have been safe/recovered if the Kataphrakt was still in one piece , why is the ship Deucalion in that island too? hmm…. get the point? to convenient for the Terrans to create/copy the Aldnoah into Deucalion or master Kataphrakt tech if there was no source……Saazbaum fiancee…..

    THEORIES on Saazbaum fiancee

    Probably she never died, she could have suffered head trauma gets amnesia forgets everything etc…. then is a test subject for the tehrans in copying the martian Kataphrakt tech, somewhere along the way falls in love with a teran scientist or whoever (father of inaho and yuki) then boom has a family.

    If this theory holds out, I’m not going to be surprised if INAHO(if his still alive) or yuki in the 2nd season can activate Aldnoah.

    Slaines father could have discovered the secret to activating/transferring etc.. aldnoah and tested it on slaine etc… to much mystery on slaines father / family…

    KISS transfer Theory

    Again if biologically aldnoahs key is passable, then Seylum could have transmitted it unknowingly to both slaine adn inaho when they kissed via saliva.

    AGAIN ALL ARE JUST MY CRAZY THEORIES & OPINIONS…….

    lipitwa
    Reply

    1. “eh Kiss to transfer…? my… grandfather.. also did something like that ? ”
      https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2012%20-%20Large%2027.jpg
      “heh heh heh.. yes My Highness, and here Slaine, i’ve recorded it for all sessions, i will send it to you”
      https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2012%20-%20Large%2016.jpg
      “can i see it too ?….im curious about grandfather sexy time..”
      https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2012%20-%20Large%2005.jpg
      “heh heh heh.. yes My Highness, here i will send it to you”
      https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2012%20-%20Large%2016.jpg
      “heh..heh..heh.. dont forget to extract the folder on your desktop, name it ‘Dora & Friends’, no ones will open it, profit ! ”
      https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2012%20-%20Large%2007.jpg
      “Uhh.. what’s this, Saazbaum ?.. i see only animal rumbling around.. a horse eh??”
      https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2012%20-%20Large%2005.jpg
      “FKKK WRONG FILE, FKKK ITT.. I SENT MY ANIMAL PORN COLLECTIONS TO HER !! ”
      https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2012%20-%20Large%2024.jpg
      “Saazbaum-sama, what’s this ? i hear voice a guy ? moaning…. ”
      https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2012%20-%20Large%2022.jpg
      “OHHH FKKKK, FKKK ITT.. IT’S MY SEXY TIME WITH CRUHTEO !! ”
      https://randomc.net/image/ALDNOAH%20ZERO/ALDNOAH%20ZERO%20-%2012%20-%20Large%2024.jpg

      SummerCat
      Reply

    2. Well, Orlene’s body was never found, her kat was intact and her Aldnoah core seemed to have been copied or at least attempted to.

      When it comes to Orlene, I’m of the opinion that she managed to eject out but lost consciousness therefore her memories as well due to impact upon landing. She might have been picked up by a good samaritan and lives hiding in plain sight. Eventually she marries her samaritan and has both Yuki and Inaho possibly?

      Alternatively, this is really crazy, Orlene lost her memories and past identity and right now is living as Yuki…..

      cruiser2710
      Reply

    3. Orlene had no Birth right Gens to use the Aldnoah. It is only giving to her like the others. Only the Emperor Bloodline has the birth right Gens.
      You can say, these Knights are just Employers of the King. Granted with the Will of the King to use this Power.

      Germanguy
      Reply

      2. Then to add Drama, it was Slains Daddy, that saved both. The Young Count, and unknown to him, Orlene

        Then Inaho must from a close friend family of this Slains daddy. Yuki grown up, knowing Inaho is his little brother. To have a goal in her Life

        Germanguy
        Reply

    5. I really want to know who created the Aldnoah tech.
      Aliens? Future humans?

      I want to know why Rayregalia started all the anti-Earth stuff suddenly.
      Greed? Possession?

      The truth to the beginnings.

      iron2000
      Reply

      1. Mars is dieing out of natural Resources, that small Land that produce Food is growing little by little. The Peoples will riot of Hunger and Thirsty!!

        And how’s head would roll first?

        so the King took the despair of his peoples and with some lies he blame the earth for all of this. perhaps “they dont send us Food or Water, not enough for all!!. But fear not brothers and sisters, we shall take Earth with our food and our Water!”

        Despair= Hunger, Thirsty, Jobless, plague and other things.. Like Inaho explained, War and Hate are just Tools

        Look at North Korea. it is the Outside World!, that is to blame for all!!

        Germanguy
        Reply

  128. @Zephyr
    I agree. I’ve watched a lot of Urobuchi’s works and I’m a big fan of them, but the deaths here didn’t feel like something he would do, or at least anything he’s done before. The deaths in Urobuchi’s works have build up to them and aren’t used for shock factor and by the time it actually happens, you have a sense of why they died and how it fits into the narrative. I won’t disagree that they might have ended up dying anyways if Urobuchi was at the helm, but it would have definitely been done in a way that would reaffirm my respect for Gen Urobuchi.

    Dfog
    Reply

  129. So after this ending I’ve come to the conclusion – the only consistent explanation for Slaine’s actions is that there is no actual room in Slaine’s heart for anyone but Slaine. He is, metaphorically, the person who invites two of his friends that he knows hate each other to a party, dithers endlessly siding with first one then the other when the inevitable argument happens, then feels resentment when someone else at the party walks up and gets the two arguing people to leave each other alone. I’m fairly certain at this point that his defining character trait is actually that he wants to be loved and needed, to the point that long-term planning never enters into the equation. In that light, all of his actions do in fact make sense – it’s just that they’re all emotionally driven self-justifications. In terms of his actions, in fact, he is thematically the second most major perpetrator of the ‘cycle of hatred’, short of Saazbaum himself.

    Speaking of Saazbaum, in fact, his character ended up being the most inconsistently written, sadly enough. There’s always been the conflict between his disdain for Vers and his hatred for Terrans, but here you have the additional inconsistency between his supposed better grasp of the superiorist ideology of Vers, and how he actually acts once he gets in a cockpit. And there’s how in blazes he managed to salvage and incorporate the gimmicks of every other knight up to now while up in orbit.

    All things considered, this season’s quality was mixed at best. After the first two episodes, the show never again captured the kind of scale it needed – when it’s commented that if UEF Headquarters fell, Terrans might be well close to extinction, it’s completely unconvincing because you see none of it, not even hints of it. It could never decide whether it wanted to tell a character story or a large-scale theatre, and swung schizophrenically between the two like Slaine on an average day, with the result being less than coherent in many ways. It was entertaining enough, yes – and I’ll be watching the next season just to see what the heck they do – but it’s not the best work even for its anime season.

    Regarding Season 2, I would actually like Inaho and Asseylum to actually be dead – much like Cruteo, they’ve served enough of a narrative purpose. A new protagonist or one of the current side characters stepping up would fit better. The Chekov’s Gun is already primed, though, so I can see this not happening, which would be a pity. It would, however, take some rather extreme literary dexterity to turn Slaine into any kind of convincing inspiring figure at this point, given how he seems to be literally an avatar of the ‘cycle of hatred’ creating nothing but mutual destruction.

    Corin
    Reply

  130. I don’t understand what everyone is complaining about… I really loved this show… It’s a joy to watch… the soundtrack is superb… animation is great and the way it is written is really good… It doesn’t remind me of GUILTY CROWN… It reminds of of CODE GEASS.. and now I am just speechless… there’s a void inside me after that ending… and you know ot’s a good show when it leaves you ike this… I am empty until the next season.

    bossarvin
    Reply

  131. I don’t know if anyone has caught this yet, but remember the scene when Slaine, in the Tharsis, was dodging bullets from the Terran Cataphracts? The Terrans made some comment about the Tharsis dodging bullets like it knows where they’ll be hitting.

    I’m betting this is some sort of Aldnoah-powered future-sight. The deaths of Inaho and Seylum is just a vision of a possible future… or not.

    We’ll see next year.

    Crimson7
    Reply

    1. nope, some sort of mayfly. His sense get boosted or this Mecha has some sort of automatic evasion of this Bullets. In a short of time, his reaction are boosted 100% or so, so the bullets fly in slow motion to him. No Time travel miracles..

      You can say, something like in Matrix, when he dodged the bullets. Or Code Geass, in this tight Tunnel with this White Knight

      Germanguy
      Reply

  134. Regarding the fresh dead characters… All the aldnoadh devices only serves for military purposes? No healing coffins (like stargate) for Asseylum? Who resurrect Inaho too… Giving him some secret Kat for killing the emperor, stabilish true pace, and slaining the bastard? No?

    Abyss
    Reply

  135. Besides… I know this comment is late but any mecha series that doesn’t use the “boy stumbles upon a robot and pilots it like a badass for the first time” scenario is okay with me…

    bossarvin
    Reply

  136. Coming January 2015: The end scene from a different angle showing how both headshots only grazed them, or some other twist showing how nobody actually died.

    No matter how much you don’t want it to be true you know they will do it.

    dustandechoes91
    Reply

  137. In the last minute of Hamatora first season end, we saw Art shooting his friend Nice. Then, in Re:Hamatora, Nice returns alive. ALDNOAH.ZERO can make Asseylum going back to life, after a coma period or anything else. Inaho is completely dead and I can´t believe that Slaine killed him, but he was terrible jealous when he saw Asseylum worried about Inaho.

    Inaho was cold, but in the last seconds of his life, all that he recalled was his time with the princess, his sister was right about after all. My only concern about this strange romantic triangle is which one was the real love of Asseylum, her friend or her savior. I´m intrigue with the second seasons, I don´t know what to expect.

    Experticia
    Reply

  138. Aldnoah.Zero was definitely a summer popcorn series and its finale lived up to that notion! I shouted “form feet and legs…form arms and body” during the gettai sequence. I can live with Inaho being alive; the scales would be balanced because Slaine finally got his pound of flesh! I would not be surprised if Inaho does not end up with an activation factor.

    @Juan LOL…Aldnoah.Zero definitely has shades of Gundam Seed.

    doctormo
    Reply

  140. http://yaraon.blog109.fc2.com/blog-entry-27068.html

    虚淵さん「アルドノアのラストは俺のせいじゃねぇから！ｗ」
    Urobuchi: Dammit, stop blaming me for the last episode! I didn’t even write that!

    Pretty much what I’ve been banging on since episode 4, the writer is Takayama Katsuhiko of Ga Rei Zero fame. Go watch the first 2 episodes of Ga Rei Zero and compare it with the twist in this finale, and you’ll find Takayama’s traces of signature in it.

    Credit where credit’s due, please.

    echykr
    Reply

    1. Heck, all you had to do was take a look at the writing to see this was just a game of telephone with Urobuchi and the production crew. This show as not the work of Gen, which severely hurt the show in my opinion.

      J_the_Man
      Reply

    3. This misconception is everywhere too, like literally everywhere. Forums, Blogs, Facebook, Reddit. There was this episode 12 “analysis” on reddit where the author thought the series was written by Gen Urobuchi and said it would be interesting where he takes the series in the second half. /facepalm

      Dfog
      Reply

  141. Somehow to me Inaho is like effortlessly genius and Slaine is like ganbatte normal guy.

    Ok finally end of cour.

    Mid boss fight!
    Saazbaum still value his Vers Oribital Knight status.
    Now his mecha looks like a Quebely X Gesphanst mix
    Ok, so it combines to the Shogun Gorilla Granzon form (SGG :P).

    Man! Inaho should just attack while it combine!
    Defy anime logic, Inaho!
    Anyway it seems like all barriers only come up after combination.

    Looks like the Dioskuria is the prototype of the other Vers mecha?
    Since its already like that in the flashback in episode 10.
    The official site only says that it has form change and combination abilities plus it can control multiple Aldnoah Drives.

    Yup, no one points a gun at a comrade.
    On the other end its the enemy, one deemed to be by the holder of the gun.

    Dioskuria powered up Tharsis?
    Or did Slaine do it?

    What if Inaho goes MIA with Saazbaum?
    And leave early cour 2 to Slaine?
    The fall of one Castle is only a small part of some large scale invasion, right?

    Saazbaum just isn’t cool enough 😛
    Its as if Inaho has seen through Saazbaum.

    Never know…but to me the Vers brought it to themselves.
    At least they are not diseased like the Mars settlers in Gundam AGE.

    Oh no!! Saazbaum!
    Slaine indirectly kills the Princess.
    Tainted, sinned, guilty, panic, disbelieve, angry, sad.

    Inaho dead!? Slaine conquers!

    Saazbaum has what he wanted.
    Inaho and Princess bleed lying on the floor.
    No confirmation of death?
    What will come January? Time skip?

    iron2000
    Reply

  142. http://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/2h4d4s/spoilers_urobuchi_aldnoah_zeros_ending_isnt_my/

    Apparently there was a live-streamed Gargantia event on Nicovideo today, and twitter posts quote Urobuchi Gen as saying:

    “Aldnoah Zero’s ending isn’t my fault!”
    “In my original outline, Inaho and the princess have fallen in love, and Slaine takes her away, ending the season!”
    “Don’t blame me if people die in Psycho-Pass 2, that’s Ubukata’s doing!”

    ANother
    Reply

    2. Well if that was the original then what actually happened wasn’t too far off of that. We do know that Slaine took Seylum away. The only question is whether one or both of them have actually survived this episode.

      Given that Urobuchi actually stated that, it’s likely that both of them are gonna survive even if it’s not really that credible if they both do considering the other events that took place. Not to mention it’s really gonna take some Deus ex machina or ass pulls for it to happen

      From the perspective of looking at the plot, it’s probably better for them to survive because it will make the series seem more whole with Inaho chasing after Slaine to rescue Hime sama

      Juan
      Reply

    3. “Aldnoah Zero’s ending isn’t my fault!”
      “In my original outline, Inaho and the princess have fallen in love, and Slaine takes her away, ending the season!” – Gen Urobutchi

      Inaho and Princess have fallen in love – check
      Princess smiles to inaho – check
      Inaho smiles to her in the last of his life – check
      Slaine takes her body away and escapes – check

      rofl, what did you expect ?
      lovey-dovey NTR scene ?

      SummerCat
      Reply

      1. @Summercat

        Them not both dying – uhhh, not check

        Having them not die there is a pretty huge difference even if it’s only one thing. If they come back to life in the second season, then that is just bad writing.

        Dfog
        Reply

  143. Asseylum Hime probably is still alive, while injuried by the first bullet in the right side of his back (no heart involved), the second one the one suposed to the head was deflected by the necklace slaine gave to her
    Probably slaine took her… her corpse was never found as said in the finale, and she will return soon or later in Cour 2.

    What about Inaoh? Dunno if he could survive, btw as shown he was really romantically involved in Hime sama, if he survive probably we will se a new Inaoh less cold an more emotionally (rage/ resentment/vengeance/hate)

    iIf he will not survive i really can’t see a new MC, Asselyum aside, no one else could be the Mc in this show
    Slaine will never be a MC: in the last episode he become absolutely a villain/nemesis

    Hypes
    Reply

  145. I don’t think that was the ending anyone expected, and one that no one wanted.

    This series was more fun then i’d expected. Inaho was a refreshing change from all the screaming and crying mc’s that usually appear. He did seem way too smart for a young boy. He instantly knew all weak points of his enemies, he defeated them with a training dummy and has these insane tactics. If there was some back story like him being a genius, some crazy wargame nerd or something it would make some sense.

    And Slaine…poor poor Slaine. Never saw the princess once, though she’s the love of his life. She falls in love with some other dude. Next time he sees her she gets shot and lies in a pool of blood. Damn man, that hurts.

    Praise must be given to this series because I did look forward to the next episode each week. Knowing this ending, it would depend on the second season if I would recommend this series. As it stands..no.

    Think i’d rate this like a 7 minus.

    PS: Thank you Guardian Enzo for your weekly effort. You the man.

    The shizard
    Reply

    1. Awesome show indeed, i can’t wait for more. I hope inaho and seylum lives! In regards to the comment of Inaho for being too smart for a boy? Have you ever met a prodigy in your life lol…they’ll send your high school/college professors to shame any day:D

      Celestine
      Reply

  146. Check wikipedia aldnoah.zero article go to episodes and in 12th episode in the plot u see that it says
    “After the explanation of the battle u can hear inaho ask the princess ”
    Can anyone confirm this probability it says that it’s a original version of episode 12 aired in japan

    Nischal
    Reply

    1. I don’t know if it’s real or not but what you get from the subbing groups is basically what is aired in Japan so if you didn’t hear anything there, they meant to cut it out (assuming there was)

      Second, wiki honestly isn’t really the best of sources and I had a look even they state that it came from an “unknown source” so it’s a bit hard to tell. For now what you got in the episode is what we have.

      Juan
      Reply

  147. Yang Wen li, the MC of LOGH Show Spoiler ▼

    While on the other hand, Inaho already bleeding from the katfight, got his head shot, lost more blood. – I doubt he’ll manage to live.

    Think about it, they are probably far from UEF base to treat his wounds. There might be medical facilities in the castle, but it wouldn’t work because there is no power. The battle must be still on-going after the castle shutdown so it might have took time for them to subdue all the remaining enemies. They can try to travel using kats to save his life but I bet Inaho is not the only one who’s injured, it would be more appropriate to prioritize other injured soldiers who have better odds to survive.

    mopi
    Reply

  148. Spoiler alert
    Show Spoiler ▼

    Show Spoiler ▼

    Warmonger13
    Reply

  150. I don’t know about this ending, I was kinda just going “what the actual fuck” in my mind for the last 4 minutes of the episode. I knew someone was going to die, but not Inaho. I’m not so sure if I like this development. Inaho is a genius tactician and has nearly no emotions, but the show hasn’t explained his circumstances or made him a compelling lead. Losing him here seems like a waste, perhaps he could of benefited from more exploration or character growth. At the same time, if Inaho comes back to life, the show really would lose a lot of credibility.

    All I can say for certain is these 12 episodes have been a fun ride, and while Slaine was an interesting character, I felt the show was able to maintain some excitement due to Inaho being a badass and defeating enemies with pure tactics and skill. Without him, Aldonah Zero might be losing an integral piece of the puzzle, but we shall see what the show has in store for us.

    chromenova
    Reply

  152. Slaine’s actions doesn’t make sense because;

    -Saving Count Saaz will cause the princess to be killed later on. Count Saaz already made clear on it and asked Slaine to pick a side. Slaine’s had been super loyal to princess for years since he was young, but he picked Count Saaz over it.

    -Slaine saved Inaho first, and Inaho trust him enough to work together. When Slaine was targeted by Hellas, Inaho saved Slaine back. But then when Hellas is defeated, Slaine turned his guns and shoot Inaho, Inaho shot back in self-defense. Slaine then asks if Inaho is his enemy which doesn’t make sense because you don’t shoot your friend and THEN ask them if they’re still friends after. Of course Inaho will say they are enemies.

    -Also Inaho never admitted he was using the princess. He only asked if Slaine was ok with it. If Slaine had just said he was not ok they might still be friends. But Slaine shot first without discussing further.

    -Slaine have no need to pull a gun on Inaho at the last scene. Inaho never pose harm to Slaine, he only move to the Princess who is wearing the same soldier uniform as him while totally ignoring Slaine. All Inaho might know is Slaine might be the one who shot the Princess.

    Azure
    Reply

  154. Looking back, the one thing that made an immediate impression on me and made me stick around was that scene about 2 minutes into the first episode. It was so ominous and the soundtrack there was amazing. Those ships in Earth orbit.

    Everything about this series has been amazing. I cant wait for more.

    Lyfe
    Reply

  155. Just watched the last episode of Aldnoah.Zero…… it was a real train wreck. The serie alway used a lot of tropes from the start but was still entertaining because it had relatively good execution then it became just a mess.

    It tried way to hard to shock the viewer while throwing what little plot it had out the window in the process. The characters were also very dull and received very little character development .

    What character development they did have however felt forced and was badly handled so the characters ended up feeling more like plot devices then anything else. So yeah….pretty bad show overall which is a shame because even if I did not think much of the first two eps the 5 episodes after that I did enjoy but after that….what a mess.

    Inaho was the worst characters of this show for me, cardboard is more interesting than mr perfect , wish fulfilment MC incarnate, rin clone mark 100000* ,born this way Inaho.Many say he’s Cold? not for me his not, for me to think of a character as cold it takes that character consciously removaing their emotions from their actions e.g Kiritsugu Emiya from Fate zero, however Inaho shows no sign of having those emotions to begin with which makes him a very shallow character in my eyes.

    Calculating? as are artificial intelligence programs and just like when they show this ability when inaho does so i’m not impressed by this so much as I accept it honestly for me he felt like a mouthpiece for the author and nothing more.

    I do agree with people on the fact that we need more mc’s who think with their heads rather them their hearts problem is Inaho does not have a heart to begin with and that’s a massive issue. 

    ikramit
    Reply

  156. born as an Terran, rise as an Martian, traitor of the Martian, Enemi of the Terran. doesn’t know who or which side to fight for, only goal is to protect the princess. -Slaine

    i love this character.

    justin
    Reply

    1. Sadly he failed at that one thing also. Actually he even assisted in her eventual death.

      I’m tempted to point out something from another show that ended at the same time that applies so well to Slaine in this episode. As Rize (Tokyo Ghoul) pointed out

      “You pretend to choose both but in reality you are forsaking both.”

      “There are times when you have to give up on one thing to preserve the other. Your mother couldn’t do that. That isn’t kindness. That’s just being weak”

      Juan
      Reply

    2. I’m not sure if she is dead but if she isn’t then it will be her third near death experience in this anime have you heard the final words of the series The location of the princess is unknown she must have crawled out or slaine cared her to a infirmary or to a morge

      Henry Barton
      Reply

      1. Granted her final fate is unknown at the moment but all that was said was her “whereabouts” were unknown. Given that, it just means that her body was not found so it doesn’t really say one thing or the other.

        If you read Urobuchi’s comment denying involvement in the final episode he explains that in his version of the story (he was part of the original concept design) Inaho and Asseylum fall in love and Slaine takes Asseylum away setting up the 2nd season.

        So there is a chance that she is still alive. But that is pretty much speculation all at this point because the current writers could easily have decided to go another path different from the original intended story. The comment stems from what we are shown in the final episode. That is that both Inaho and Seylum are apparently shot in the head each. So for now until January where it may be stated otherwise, they are both dead.

        Juan
        Reply

  157. The newest info i got, this ending isnot what urobochi wantsw. He actually wants inaho to be lover of asseylum. But at the end, slaine take her awaybfeom inaho. What you saw on the tv is not from urobochi thanks.

    Alzio
    Reply

  159. Inaho unemotional and autistic genius character doesn’t fit him in the military unit and not a true soldier using his classmates as bait for the enemy with no single word of planning.

    Its better to create a real human military ranking officer in the season 2 rather than a teenager highschool running on lost command and doesnt listen to his senior officer (Inaho sister).

    Private
    Reply

  160. “It’ game over, man! Game over! What should we do now!?”

    From ‘Aliens’

    “What should we do in seaons 2 now?!’

    From me

    Fuck you, Gen Urobuchi, fuck you! How dare you
    make such a devilish good story that almost made me
    cry yet made me have to prasie you? Damn good job there
    and damn you!

    The death of the princess and Inaho is definitely
    heart breaking. Especially after we have gone through this
    one hell of an adventure with them all this way in season
    one. I felt really bad for Inaho. You know, this hero,
    this war hero on par with commander Shepard in ‘Mass
    Effect’, has to die right at the moment when the job is
    almost done. Damn it!

    In fact, ‘Alnoah Zero’ is full of moments like this:
    everytime when we think the job is done, there is a twist.
    Except this time the twist is more like ‘heart twisting’.
    The death of Princess Alusia is just like a prologue to
    tragedy, right after that, we actually saw two, not one,
    of the key characters die.

    Yes, I consider Slaine is KIA. It is becuase he will no
    longer be the same–no longer a loyal servant to the
    beautiful princess, just a broken mad man on a killing
    spree, and Inaho is his first victim.

    The ‘rivalry’ between Inaho and Slaine is not very clear
    at this stage. The best I could understand (other than
    jealousy), is that the torture Slaine received after he
    was shot donw and captured kind of scarred the boy and
    made him angry at the ‘Oragne’ who shot him down.

    Talking about Orange and Bat, that final exchange of names
    between the two boys is just awesome. For a moment, I have
    my hope held high, wishing a better ending that could at
    least save Inaho. Too bad, it’s just a final recognition between
    two warriors who met each others on the battlefield, something like
    ‘now, you know who I am’, and then go straight to the inevitable.

    All is said, it’s a damn good show. Still, the usual
    traits of Gen Urobuchi is still here: those tendecy to
    kill off fans’ favourites; those tragic ends to the most
    beautiful female characters (the death of the princess
    is definitely an argonizing one, remember that); and
    those demonstration of ‘hatred from love’. Seriously,
    if all these only happen in just one show I would never
    mind, but it’s getting too frequent, to the point of
    predictable already.

    Now, season one is end. With bascially all key characters
    died, captured and broken, I don’t know what’s left
    for seaons 2. I hope it will be at least as good as this
    one–I’ve given up of any good ending already– I just
    hope it will not become another ‘Mass Effect’. You know,
    tell you to buy DLC, novel, Manga or look forward to
    next season, with a paragraph of text right at the end to
    ‘tell’ you about it.

    Wait, didn’t they do it already?

    Well, anyway, that’s it:

    It’ game over, man! Game over! What should we do now!?

    TOMA
    Reply

  162. What if Aldnoah is not just limited to the royal family but anyone who comes across the ruins? Slaine’s father was a researcher right? What if the Terrans somehow find a way to access the Aldnoah drive too? What if a revolution against the feudal system will start?

    Michelle
    Reply

  163. I like the speculation that Inaho is Orlene’s child, but logistically that doesn’t make sense UNLESS he is adopted into the Kaizuka family, and Orlene was very pregnant during Heaven’s Fall. In Inaho’s character bio, it is stated that we has born on February 7th, 1999. We also know that Heaven’s Fall occurred 15 years prior to the arc that just ended. Seeing as the arc ended in December of 2014, that would put Heaven’s Fall to be most likely after February 7th, 1999. Who knows, maybe Orlene was basically ready to give birth to Saazbaum’s kid and went to war prior to Inaho’s birth date…

    Also, we are forgetting a few things for a possible protagonist for the second season. Assuming they keep Inaho dead, I would think that Rayet would be the most likely candidate to be the new main character. She’s probably the only person on the Terran side that actually got character development outside of Inaho and Asseylum. Are we forgetting she’s a character just because she only appeared for a few seconds this last episode? She definitely has the motivations to fight against Vers. It also puts us into the interesting, but probably thought out paradigm of Slaine being a Terran, but fighting against Terrans and Rayet being a Versian, but fighting against Versians. This arc, they were not the main characters, but they could step up to the role of main characters in the second season: most likely with Slaine as the antagonist, and Rayet as the protagonist.

    I would actually be interested to see if that was what they tried to setup all season, and I was actually very satisfied with Asseylum and Inaho’s death scenes. The way it ended, seems to be a good end for their arc as mains. Of course I noticed the death flags all episode (and last episode as well for Asseylum), but I never really expected them to actually go through with killing the pair. Well, at least for now. Kinda hoping they actually are still dead in the second season, but I under stand if they are alive somehow seeing as Urobutcher didn’t write them off in his original story plans.

    Annyms
    Reply

  164. There is no reason to watch part 2. You wait 12 episodes just to see the princess get killed. The next one will be wait 12 episodes to see what happened to her body. Every character except Asseylum and Slaine were one dimensional.
    Part 2 will have more on the Aldnoah tech explained, more alien terran hate, and one dimensional characters….. but the music will be good.

    Sorry, not worth a 2nd season.

    What does it take to end a war?

    The war will end when the human cost outweighs the gains.

    I didn’t gain much so you can keep your war torn story.

    The Spoilier
    Reply

  165. The ending made no sense. Slaine’s entire motivation throughout the show has been to save the princess. He knows Saazbaum’s goal is to kill the princess. Knowing that, there’s no way he’d help Saazbaum. It makes zero sense, and kinda ruined what was otherwise a cool show.

    Hoshimaru
    Reply

    1. And what’s more, after Saazbaum killed the princess, it makes no sense that Slaine reacted with murderous rage, as if it was a surprise. He knew that’s exactly what Saazbaum wanted to do, he enabled it by helping Saazbaum, and then when it happens he goes crazy with rage?

      Makes no sense.

      Hoshimaru
      Reply

      1. Saazbaum treated Slaine with a degree of respect after he captured him, despite Saazbaum being a jerk and a traitor who wanted the princess dead, Slaine was pretty much beaten by Cruhteo whenever he expressed an opinion, and treated like just a worthless human. He was never made to feel like he was valued. Remember in the finale when a random vers soldier shoots dead an Earth guy who was about to shoot Slaine ontop of the landing castle? Slaine had a wtf someone cares reaction.

        Lyfe
        Reply

  166. Inaho was such a bizarre character im glad he died, He raised a gun to someone who had a pistol pointed at his head what an idiot.
    I like Slaine he is a human and not some magical god person with infinite skill and knowledge decades beyond his age and no feelings.

    Too bad Aseylum probably died, i liked her, shit happens.
    Inaho caused all this when he shot Slaine’s bat for no reason at all a few episodes back, making he look like the bad guy in Slaine’s eye.

    Gilberto
    Reply

  167. I agree with someone who posted here that the robot Slaine powered up is going to play in some way in the next season. Otherwise why introduce it so late, complete with some random going “we can’t hit it, it’s like it knows where the bullets are going to go ahead of time” (sorry for the terrible misquote). The way that whole sequence happened screamed plot device. In my opinion, the animation on everyone’s “deaths” was also pretty hinky. Asseylum definitely sustained serious wounds but the way it was portrayed definitely leaves it as an open question. Inaho seems more likely actually dead but I would say that could be questioned too. Why did Slaine’s robot start up? Maybe it can control time, thus not being hit by bullets. Another thought it maybe he DOES have the right to start it up, because it was made by his father. Who was a doctor. I don’t wholeheartedly believe any of this but this series goes wherever it wants, character motivations and logic be damned. So anything is possible.

    As to the last episode, I was very disappointed with Saazbaum’s metamorphosis into a completely standard Versian dumbass with a huge robot. I was really hoping for an interesting reveal which would put his motivations in context, instead he’s a smart and interesting character when they want that and a big-robot malevolent egotist when that’s what they need.

    Bo James
    Reply

  169. I personally would like to see more of Cruhteo next season if he’s alive. I mean… he’s a huge jerk and his pleasure in torture and war and his incredible pride are annoying to say the least but I think he still hasn’t received much development as a character. I kinda hope there’s more to him than that.
    Princess might be really dead and it might be “empty” Slaine leading the second season. But I do hope she comes back to life and Inaho as well. As much as it would make a nice ending if they died, I’d prefer to see them again rather than tons of new characters.

    Btw, I’ve Aoki’s interview somewhere and he said that Marito will get more focus in the second season. Cruhteo’s death was ambigious to entertain his female fans. And there was something else, important, but I don’t remember.

    Kanade
    Reply

  170. Spoiler Alert:

    Tharsis has time manipulation abilities and Slaine uses this to wind back the clock and save Asseylum. Afterwards, stuff happens and he becomes the big bad, and Inaho has to find a clever way of defeating him. Since Tharsis can manipulate time, this will involve Inaho purposefully killing Asseylum to force Slaine into using Tharsis’ ability, putting him in a vulnerable position which enables Inaho to defeat him. These events take place over the course of 12 episodes because….Tharsis can manipulate time.

    herpderp
    Reply

  171. Am I the rare few who think the ending makes sense. Slaine once questioned if Inaho was exploiting the princess. Inacho gave an answer ambiguous but would actually be considered an indirect “yes” in my book. As story progresses, Slaine became more and more convinced that anyone attempting to exploit the princess deserves to die. At the climate, when Saazbaum shot Asseylum, Slaine probably blames himself as it was due to him saving said knight. Killing Inaho seems appropriate as he too was believe to be exploiting the princess.

    Personally, I doubt Asseylum died. Her head was covered by the helmet after the shot, making it hard to confirm whether it was lethal. The pool of blood could be from her shoulders plus she was not found as announced during conclusion. As reading from some other speculations, season 2 may have a big part being Asseylum’s revenge for Inaho. I feel it is likely as it is pretty clear cut that Inaho is certainly dead. Though whether he’ll be somehow brought back to life by martian magic, I’m not sure.

    The story was not well conveyed and the characters not fleshed out fully, sure. However, I think the story is still interesting and mech well-designed. Still interested!

    area0404
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  172. Just watched trailer 2. Both Asseylum and Inacho seems to live for some reason and it was just a simple case of going from ground to space. Well, slightly disappointed. Not a fan of pretending to kill main character just to add tension. But well, I guess I’ll give it a few episodes to see whether it is good. Feels a little like a well-animated and slightly more interesting gundam seed now… At least he doesn’t win by sheer birthright plus too powerful a mech (with a strike freedom, you can’t lose unless reason is stupid).

    area0404
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  173. just marathoned the 1st season and…..I don’t see why its being declared a fabulous trainwreck by the bloggers of RC. IMO, its definitely not on the same level of ridiculousness as shows like Code geass r2, Valvrave or guilty crown.

    nexuszero
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