Aldnoah.Zero - Episode 8 Discussion / Poll

[arkxkra]

so now possible Slaine trusted the wrong guy since Slaine thought Cruhteo is the one, and Saazbaum can twist the story to Slaine, hopefully Slaine don't so easily fall for the trick.

i believe Cruhteo wont die like that... possible later come back as modify mask super knight that protect princess.

[Irenesharda]

Originally Posted by Thess

You bring a good point, however I can't see Slaine and Inaho as rivals. They might be a foil for those two knights. As you'll note, Saazbaum and Cruhteo were "apparently" in the same side, but really weren't: their comradeship was based on lies. If you want to dig deeper the "similitude", don't look at their haircolor. Cruhteo was A bloodtupe, while Saazbaum is the only other aside of Inaho who is AB (marking him with the Villain Type).

On the other hand, Slaine and Inaho I think have a misunderstanding, thinking they are in opposite sides which can be clarified if they talked.

I think Inaho and Slaine will eventually become rivals, depending on what Saazbaum does or says to Slaine. Slaine already feels that he must protect the princess against both Terrans and Martians, and he and Inaho already don't have the best opinion of each other, even without actually knowing each other. I think they will be rivals/enemies across the battlefield at least for a time.

As for Cruhteo and Saazbaum, the two are definitely foils. We'll have to see if that changed to enemy rivals or not, depending on if Cruhteo ends up coming back from the "dead" or not.

[Ultraviolet X]

Originally Posted by Irenesharda

I can understand some saying that Cruhteo's turn around being sudden, and it was. However, I'm thinking it was less about Slaine, and more so his excitement and disbelief that the princess was alive, that was talking, more so than his admonishment of Slaine. But whatever it was, I was okay with it. I was more annoyed with Calm's complete flip-flop over a pretty face, than I was about that.

That was just an example since I didn't want to mention the whole list of nitpicks, but anyways, Ep 1 it mentions something about Calm's homelands devastation, ep 2 and onwards he's been cursing Martian's anytime he can get, ep 2 also features his friends death.

[jordantenney56]

Its goes to show to how stupid cruhteo and slaine are compared to inaho and saazbaum. Emotionally driven people are so easily manipulated by smart people saazbaum was two steps ahead of him. i love how saazbaum told cruhteo to stop beating slaine in front of him. Cruhteo was blinded by his need for justice and his grief because of his loyalty to the princess and his hatred for slaine and terrans blinded him before he had show any initative to do something about it and saazbaum took the initative and retrieved what he wanted. I totally see slaine's desire to protect the princess being used by saazbaum against him and so he ends up being another tool going into saazbaum's toolshed.

[Dr. Dahm]

Originally Posted by jordantenney56

Its goes to show to how stupid cruhteo and slaine are compared to inaho and saazbaum. Emotionally driven people are so easily manipulated by smart people saazbaum was two steps ahead of him. i love how saazbaum told cruhteo to stop beating slaine in front of him. Cruhteo was blinded by his need for justice and his grief because of his loyalty to the princess and his hatred for slaine and terrans blinded him before he had show any initative to do something about it and saazbaum took the initative and retrieved what he wanted. I totally see slaine's desire to protect the princess being used by saazbaum against him and so he ends up being another tool going into saazbaum's toolshed.

It's not they're demonstrably stupider (at least not as much as most of the rest of the cast) so much as the show is set up to enable the amoral cold blooded characters like Inaho and Saazbaum. It makes things kind of predictable in the long run though. It feels like the show is trying to make some grand point about how emotion and investment is a bad thing that has no place in the battlefield (which in the case of Aldnoah are represented by small skirmishes) and will only ever deal a bad result (again though it's contrived so it happens this way less so because it's the only possible recourse and more because it has to which kind of sidesteps the whole proving the point through proper testing and application part), but in doing so it's sacrificing just about any other potential direction it could develop in.

I think it's pretty likely that it'll be used against him though and this is what will finally break his plucky streak while Inaho goes on to save the day. I wouldn't even be surprised if events don't transpire (I feel like I should almost be saying conspire at this point) so that they even end up somehow opposed to each other in the long run in some sort of misunderstanding that leads to tragedy.

[hamazura]

Originally Posted by arkxkra

so now possible Slaine trusted the wrong guy since Slaine thought Cruhteo is the one, and Saazbaum can twist the story to Slaine, hopefully Slaine don't so easily fall for the trick.

i believe Cruhteo wont die like that... possible later come back as modify mask super knight that protect princess.

like Orange-kun?

[Dauerlutscher]

Originally Posted by Thess

He certainly is. As he outsmarted and fooled Cruhteo several times.

That changes what again?

So you deny the fact that Slaine brought almost everything to himself?

Why are you so frustrated?

Am I frustrated? Can you explain why?

[AverageFan]

Poor Slaine. That was a bit much. He was about to die, but saved by a conveniently timed interruption revealing the existence of the ship. Causing Cruhteo to call for a ciese fire But then Saazbuan came in and unceremoniously killed him off. We had Cruhteo for 8 episodes, its such a waste to kill him of after so much time. So I am expecting him to maybe come back.

Saazbuan’s mech is far by the most cool looking of the series. Hope it it changes things up from the one gimmick mech before.

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by Irenesharda

I think Inaho and Slaine will eventually become rivals, depending on what Saazbaum does or says to Slaine. Slaine already feels that he must protect the princess against both Terrans and Martians, and he and Inaho already don't have the best opinion of each other, even without actually knowing each other. I think they will be rivals/enemies across the battlefield at least for a time.

Slaine will get manipulated and become an antagonist, and from there will spiral down to insanity and become completely deranged by the end, when the princess will have to put him out of his misery herself.

It's the natural path for him considering what we seen. The only way he could avoid this fate is if the writers suddenly decide that he isn't as dumb and doesn't have such horrible luck anymore. But we all know that's not going to happen. This series is a one trick pony. What we seen so far is all there is, so there's no hope for Slaine. He just will keep suffering till he breaks.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

Slaine will get manipulated and become an antagonist, and from there will spiral down to insanity and become completely deranged by the end, when the princess will have to put him out of his misery herself.

It's the natural path for him considering what we seen. The only way he could avoid this fate is if the writers suddenly decide that he isn't as dumb and doesn't have such horrible luck anymore. But we all know that's not going to happen. This series is a one trick pony. What we seen so far is all there is, so there's no hope for Slaine. He just will keep suffering till he breaks.

If Gen had nothing to do with this project, I'd be pretty skeptical of your assessment here, but since Gen is involved...

Gen has done character arcs much like the one you're describing here. I think a good comparable for Slaine at this point may be Fate/Zero's Kariya.

Spoiler for Minor spoilers, Fate/Zero comparison:

Slaine has suffered for Asseylum in a way pretty comparable to how Kariya suffered for Sakura.

I sincerely hope Slaine will have a better fate than this, but my expectation is that you're probably close to right, if not entirely right.

[orion]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

Slaine will get manipulated and become an antagonist, and from there will spiral down to insanity and become completely deranged by the end, when the princess will have to put him out of his misery herself.

It's the natural path for him considering what we seen. The only way he could avoid this fate is if the writers suddenly decide that he isn't as dumb and doesn't have such horrible luck anymore. But we all know that's not going to happen. This series is a one trick pony. What we seen so far is all there is, so there's no hope for Slaine. He just will keep suffering till he breaks.

Maybe when Slaine starts using his head to get him out of situations, he will have better luck. It's been what the show has been saying thru out. Inaho and Saazbaum are thinking one step ahead at the least, and that's why they are surviving. Cruhteo and Slaine have been reacting to everything and that's how they got into trouble.

[juve]

I noticed while Inaho did mention to the princess about Slaine, never told her that he shot him down Why not just tell her if he thought what he did was right?

[orion]

Originally Posted by juve

I noticed while Inaho did mention to the princess about Slaine, never told her that he shot him down Why not just tell her if he thought what he did was right?

He got interrupted and couldn't continue the conversation. He did tell her to be careful since the word is out now. At least he knows that Slaine was a Terran so maybe he'll start digging into the backstory and we'll find out more info about his dad.

Or... the pendant contains the info on how to give Aldnoah to the Earth military. His father went there to study Aldnoah. No one said that he defected to the Martians. It's quite possible that Slaine's father got killed to protect a secret.

[erdii]

I think despite his suffering slaine protected princess in his own way. If he had met the princess with his carier saazbaum would have found princess and kill her for real this time. Well ı am only saying this to find a good thing in his suffering. I wonder what will happen to inaho, does he have only pure emotions or does he want a revenge. Like destroying vers empire. I really hope he has a plan of his own or he would be really a boring character

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by orion

Maybe when Slaine starts using his head to get him out of situations, he will have better luck. It's been what the show has been saying thru out. Inaho and Saazbaum are thinking one step ahead at the least, and that's why they are surviving. Cruhteo and Slaine have been reacting to everything and that's how they got into trouble.

It's up to the writers. If they're setting up Slaine for a world of pain and a tragic end, the easiest (and cheapest) way is to make him stupid. They're not running a theme ("being smarter will likely make you more successful" is not a theme, it's a fact), but it's like they think it is a theme.

So asking Slaine to get a clue is like missing the point. After all, not being smart enough to succeed seems to be the point of his character, albeit a pretty pointless point.

Originally Posted by Triple_R

If Gen had nothing to do with this project, I'd be pretty skeptical of your assessment here, but since Gen is involved...

Gen has done character arcs much like the one you're describing here. I think a good comparable for Slaine at this point may be Fate/Zero's Kariya.

Spoiler for Minor spoilers, Fate/Zero comparison:

Slaine has suffered for Asseylum in a way pretty comparable to how Kariya suffered for Sakura.

I sincerely hope Slaine will have a better fate than this, but my expectation is that you're probably close to right, if not entirely right.

Spoiler for Fate/Zero comparison:

I haven't watched Fate/Zero, but from what I heard, the example you provided seems like a better effort at a tragic route than what whoever is writing Aldnoah.Zero is doing with Slaine. There is a different between a character who makes poor choices because his views don't match reality and a character who makes poor choices because he's just not smart or competent enough. I think Slaine's case is mostly the latter, and it's a pretty good example of bad writing, because it's like there is no point, thematically-wise, to his fall from grace. It's just suffering porn.

[Arya]

Wow, just wow. I didn't think when I first read about it, when it was still a speculation, they would really have gone there. I was expecting a more common route with the reunion of the three MC. Instead they went all straight on the Slaine suffering path.
All in all the episode was good, despite I didn't like they went that far with Slaine. But I have to agree with who said that the writing is a mess. I mean, the transition from the Inaho/Slaine confrontation to Slaine's tortures could have been handled better. Giving at least an insight of how Deucalion handled the matter. Instead it looked like they simply didn't care.
This coupled with the feelings that the Earth cast, starting with Inaho, need to be developed, because at this point it's starting to become an issue even for me. At least they cleared out Calm role, killing him off, definitely this time

Now I wonder how they will develop Slaine actions from here on. I mean, it's most likely that Saazbaum will use him. But will he be used? Because despite all I don't think Slaine is stupid at all. He is quite smart. It's just that when the princess is involved he loses his composure. Saazbaum on the other hand has all the cards to deceive him, Princess included. So he will be. But when the time will come that they meet the Deucalion he will have to do something. The only task I can see Slaine could easily agree with is rescuing the Princess. But from that point onward things could escalate quickly. So he will have to take action basically against the princess. But from this episode I can't see that happen. I don't see how he/they can conciliate this two opposite interests without making Slaine take the enemy/rival path.

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by Arya

Because despite all I don't think Slaine is stupid at all. He is quite smart. It's just that when the princess is involved he loses his composure.

I disagree. He loses his composure when it comes to the princess for sure, but he's generally not that smart either. Most of the time he acts by instincts, mostly reacting to situations as they come. He doesn't think things through, and never has a clear course of action so he doesn't know how to react when things go south. The guy's really not smart at all.

[Ryuga]

I think people are being harsh on Slaine. He's a well meaning kid who's alone and hasn't got a lot to work with, plus he has perpetual bad luck. Yeah, he refused to play ball with Inaho which cost him, but taking that many licks from Cruhteo, hardly anybody's gonna be thinking that optimally lol. But seriously, with everything that's been happening to him, I'm surprised he hasn't completely broken down, which goes to show he's got a lot of fortitude. Inaho's still my main man though.

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by Ryuga

I think people are being harsh on Slaine. He's a well meaning kid who's alone and hasn't got a lot to work with, plus he has perpetual bad luck.

I don't think anybody denies he's well meaning, but that doesn't seem to matter in this series. Here if you're smart you live, if you don't, you better run lol. As simple as that. And it seems poor Slaine didn't luck out on the brain department.

Originally Posted by Ryuga

But seriously, with everything that's been happening to him, I'm surprised he hasn't completely broken down

Don't worry. That moment will come soon enough.

[Dauerlutscher]

Well, I'm sure that sooner or later Slaine will die if he continues like this.