It's been a few weeks since I saw the end of the first season of Aldnoah Zero, and I decided that it's an anime worth talking about. At least, it's an anime people should be talking about, regardless of how they feel about it. Personally, I find it's characters bland and altogether non-unique. The romance is not cared for, there are story elements that fall flat, and the characters even make uncharacteristic choices. The mechs are 3DCGI, something that is happening more and more frequently much to the disdain of many, and it falls apart toward the end into a silly, obvious set-up for season 2. However, at the same time, I feel like Aldnoah Zero is almost everything a modern mecha anime should be.
The setup is simple. It's classic, and fits perfectly in the genre it represents. Martian seperatists who feel as if they are a class above normal Earthlings start to war with Earth. It really feels like Zeon vs Federation a la Gundam all over again - and the similarities don't stop there, of course. We have two main heroes to this story, which the show divides a majority of it's time between: The teenage Earthling student, Inaho Kaizuka, who is a genius at piloting mechs at a level far above anyone else, including all of Earth's military, for no explicable reason. And the blonde short-haired teenager from Earth, Slaine "Not Char" Troyard, who resides with the Martians. Both are the main focus in the midst of opposite sides, and they both fawn over the same girl. However, these are all things that have been presented in uninspiring ways in most mecha anime made after Yoshiyuki Tomino's original masterpiece; This is all nothing new. What elevates what should be just another amorphous blob of everything that has been done several times before is the work of Gen Urobuchi added to the Mecha formula.
Some call Urobuchi a hack, others praise him. Personally, I hold that he is a talented writer who unfortunately holds tightly to his own tired cliches and stylizations. Play Butcher Bingo sometime to see what I mean, it's a hoot.
Though, in all honesty, I find his Mecha to be a fascinating remodel of the genre that feels like it was made to work. You see, in most Mecha, our heroes fight overwhelming odds with the super-secret Mech project weapon that is, for one reason or another, extremely powerful. However, in true Urobuchi fashion, Aldnoah Zero cranks the "suffering" lever to maximum and portrays the invading Martian faction as supremely powerful beings, able to wipe out the entirety of Earth's population without losing a single unit. Earth has no reserved alien technology, no super robot project of any kind, and simply no hope of survival. Yet, a select ragtag group of civilian earthlings fight back (Another hearken back to Mobile Suit Gundam) - with logical deduction and tactics.
Every Martian robot has it's invulnerability and destructive capabilities far beyond anything present in Earth's arsenal, and the teenager hero's mech is only his school's training robot. The thrill of watching the battles between these two opposing forces is amazing, and I'd recommend the show for only that - and still there is more to it: Politics, death, betrayal, conspiracy, peacemongering, warmongering, tragedy, and all things to which a Mecha fan is no stranger fills the stage, and in ways any Urobuchi fan would be proud of.
This is the first time since the acclaimed Fate/Zero that Gen Urobuchi worked with director Ei Aoki, and although I have yet to experience their first collaboration, I wasn't disappointed with the pairing. Urobuchi stated in an interview that he likes working with Aoki on storyboard because with him, "The vision of these animations will be perfect." and I've got to agree with the sentiment. They really put together an engaging show that holds tight to it's vision, until the aforementioned set-up at the end.
Aldnoah Zero is far from the best of anything, however. Urobuchi is, of course, exempted from my gripe with the characters, as he didn't write them, but that doesn't excuse anything: Inaho is a Gary Stu. Yuki "Not Misato" Kaizuka, Inaho's onee-chan, is a boring mush of a cliche, and does nothing of use except to draw attention to Inaho's character - something that he is thoroughly incapable of showing himself. Inaho's school friends are completely useless, unless you think taking space and drawing contrast to Inaho's Gary Stu powers is a a major part of storytelling. There are only a few characters written with any amount of intrigue, but they are given comparatively little screen time, and their arcs go nowhere by the end of the season with the exception of Rayet's and Slaine's.
But I'm done complaining: Aldnoah Zero was a fun ride, and it proves that there is still more left to tap in the genre. I'm glad it exists, and we even got a Season 2 out of it, airing next year, which will hopefully bring satisfaction to the character arcs left unfinished, or at least make use of some people. In any case, I'd like to end this article with the aside: Kalafina always works great with Urobuchi anime. Keep it up.
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