Aldnoah.Zero - Episode 5 Discussion / Poll

[Hollownerox]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

But Lelouche had some supernatural powers besides his brains. That made all the shit he pulled more believable. It's harder to suspend your disbelief with Inaho because he's trashing all this advanced mechas with his roboto brain alone.

Honestly if you think about it Inaho didn't actually do anything all that smart. He used trial and error to figure out that the blades detonated explosive rounds, hence he decided to used reactive armor to counteract it. He grabbed the mech once before hand, so he knew the mech wasn't equipped with weapons other than the swords. And he figured the blades were made of plasma, so dumping them in salt water would have created a steam explosion.

Not really rocket science there, it's really just him using the scientific method along with some high-school Chemistry. And before you say anything, yes high-school students do learn stuff like steam explosions. They are possible hazards plus teachers enjoy teaching kids about explosions since they can be lazy and show Youtube videos.

[hamazura]

how many grunts died before inaho take off?
meh their death are pointless, better make inaho the "l-elf" position a.k.a strategist and train those useless grunts with science and KAPOW, get rekt mars ^_^

[MartianMage]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

Science that no one else besides him seems to know. Really, if he can beat these idiots so easily, what's the point? Fire the whole army and let him fight alone. The grunts are totally useless anyway.

When you think about it, this show is painting a pretty dumb narrative. I can only hope whatever happens with Slaine will give us something beyond brainless "cool" moments, because right now that's all this series amount to.

I don't see why it's a problem if Inaho knew that particular reaction... Lulu also won fights using science that no one else seems to know about...

Also... this is the first fight where Inaho was actually alone in the plan... and even then he still needed the crew to tilt the ship for him to finish the job.

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by Hollownerox

Honestly if you think about it Inaho didn't actually do anything all that smart.

Which would make things worse, because it means everyone else is even dumber than we thought. The series needs some balance here. As long as he trashes these idiots so easily, there's no tension whatsoever to these fights. They're just a exercise of pretty animation, but we can't get invested in it.

[Random Wanderer]

...Well crap. That went downhill at the end.

[Darthtabby]

Originally Posted by Hollownerox

yes high-school students do learn stuff like steam explosions. They are possible hazards plus teachers enjoy teaching kids about explosions since they can be lazy and us Youtube videos.

Plus teenage boys pay more attention when explosions are involved.

During one of my high school chemistry courses we got to set small quantities of methane gas (I think it was methane anyway) on fire.

I think Inaho's figuring out all this stuff in combat situations is pretty unusual though.

[BPD Renegade]

Originally Posted by leongsh

I have no problems with Inaho being able to outsmart the 2 Martian Knights so far. Basically, those 2 Martian Knights have relied too much on their technology and had too much arrogance and ego that they were blinded from it. That Sir Vlad was just gunning for Inaho wanted to deal with his wounded pride.

I personally think that some people here are feeling a bit put-out and jealous with regards to the main character, Inaho, and hence, the derision shown to him and the series. Seriously, how many of you had any effective idea of how to overcome that Martian Kataprakht on the ship? I daresay most of you guys were just as lost as the rest of the military on the ship wondering how it would play out. If you tell me that the answer was obvious in throwing the Kataprakht off the ship, that's the obvious end result but how to do it?

So.. maybe some of you guys have wounded pride or ego, like the Martian Knights?

Call it plot armour that Inaho will always win if you want. He is after all the main character. He is different from most main characters/protagonists in that he is not one that wears his emotions on his sleeve. He is about the opposite being the quiet, calm person that thinks very much differently. This is not to say that there aren't any calm collected protagonists, e.g. Setsuna F. Seiei of Gundam 00, but his skill is not so much with a mech handling nor the use of an overpowered mech but with a mind good at tactics.

This is an entertaining show for me so far and I plan to watch it to till the end to see what other surprises are in store.

Dude, I like Inaho as a character as well, but your accusations are ridiculous. So Kazu-kun and the others who have problems with him are jealous? Their criticisms are perfectly legitimate. Right now, we have an entire ship full of soldiers, and every episode, they all charge into battle without thought, only to get one-shot killed by the enemy. It takes some suspension of belief to accept that absolutely everyone in the military charges in blindly, even after seeing its ineffectiveness, and that there's no one who can strategize. Even I will admit to being annoyed by the writing, despite supporting Inaho from the start.

[Kazu-kun]

I'm surprised that ship still has grunts in it, considering how easily they die.

[Hollownerox]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

Which would make things worse, because it means everyone else is even dumber than we thought. The series needs some balance here. As long as he trashes these idiots so easily, there's no tension whatsoever to these fights. They're just a exercise of pretty animation, but we can't get invested in it.

I'll give you that one, it is a bit disappointing that the actual military forces only know how to stand, shoot, and stare as they get slaughtered. I suppose it could be justified by the fact that military grunts don't really pay attention to those kinds of details, and they had never fought before. But still, it is a bit jarring that Inaho is the only one intelligent enough to come up with these plans.

Originally Posted by Darthtabby

Plus teenage boys pay more attention when explosions are involved.

During one of my high school chemistry courses we got to set small quantities of methane gas (I think it was methane anyway) on fire.

I think Inaho's figuring out all this stuff in combat situations is pretty unusual though.

Yep, the power of explosions is what brings all men together after-all, they're what keeps Michael hired as a director. I remember my class ended up making a hole in the school parking lot when playing around with magnesium. Fun times.

Also on a more on topic note, does anybody know why they just abandoned the Nilokeras after disabling it? Is reverse engineering a superior enemy Kataphrakt not a thing or something?

[larethian]

The kiss was weird as hell, but man, this must be the show I look forward to watching most every week now. I can't wait to see how Nao-kun is going to overcome all the orbital knights with just his trainer MS. Oh wait, he lost it this episode...

[BPD Renegade]

Originally Posted by Hollownerox

Also on a more on topic note, does anybody know why they just abandoned the Nilokeras after disabling it? Is reverse engineering a superior enemy Kataphrakt not a thing or something?

I also thought that was weird. Usually, we would see Nilokeras taken and either used by the MC or reverse engineered, but they just left it for further possible use against them. But I let it slide and figured they were putting more emphasis on rescuing everyone. Plus, it might have had some sort of tracking device on it that would lead the enemy to wherever they're fleeing.

[XeroFyction]

The emperor is a fucking moron. I haven't logged in a while. Is cursing legal?

Spoiler for Story speculation:

I'm hopeful Slaine finds a way to the princess somehow.

[GN0010 Nosferatu]

Man these Martian Knights are dropping like flys. Only 3 more to go, with the mechs that is. Good episode, setting the state for more mass Earth curbstomping. Too bad about Spain's failure. I don't think he has much longer.

[leongsh]

Originally Posted by BPD Renegade

Dude, I like Inaho as a character as well, but your accusations are ridiculous. So Kazu-kun and the others who have problems with him are jealous? Their criticisms are perfectly legitimate. Right now, we have an entire ship full of soldiers, and every episode, they all charge into battle without thought, only to get one-shot killed by the enemy. It takes some suspension of belief to accept that absolutely everyone in the military charges in blindly, even after seeing its ineffectiveness, and that there's no one who can strategize. Even I will admit to being annoyed by the writing, despite supporting Inaho from the start.

There will always be some who charge in to the frontline. There will be some who will hang back. The previous episode had the Martian Kataprakht surprise the Earth forces at the supply port and they had no idea of its capabilities. Not all Kataprakhts went charging in. In this fight when the carrier's guns have been taken out and we see the Earth Kataprakhts go in as a second line of defense. They did learn too and were not using explosive-tipped bullets. As to whether all of them charged in blindly, soldiers are trained to engage the enemy and defend their post when all they had is on that boat.

Yes, it is a bit annoying that no one seems to be able to strategise (except our main character, Inaho). The instructor Lt. Marito has spoonfed us one of the reasons behind it - that nobody has seen real fighting for some time. All this while the show has been covering its grounds - e.g. the shooting out of drones to provide the views by the first Martian Kataprakht we saw, and the blacking out of that Kataprakht when it switched on its shields and regenerating the image. The show does pepper in a number of explanations which if you pay attention seeks to address some of these questions.

What we do get from the show is that it pays to be calm and observant to think things through to work out a means to succeed.

So, back to the main couple of questions I asked which are waiting to be answered. Restating them:

Seriously, how many of you had any effective idea of how to overcome that Martian Kataprakht on the ship?

If you tell me that the answer was obvious in throwing the Kataprakht off the ship, that's the obvious end result but how to do it?

[PreSage]

I'm not surprise Slaine would think that he can trust the Emperor after the ceasefire declaration but it's unfortunate that someone else possibly got to the Emperor before he did.

But I do wonder what the Emperor is thinking; I mean, he seemed very reasonable and logical at the beginning questioning the events of his granddaughter's assassination, then unexpectedly turned around accepted in all lies that were thrown at him by that last Mars Knight (can't remember his name), especially when he didn't even listened to Cruhteo moments before. Is that really the Emperor or is he drugged at that time? Something just doesn't seem right here. I'm seriously wondering if the Emperor is using the guise of war (and the expense of millions of lives) as a means to uncover the conspiracy within his kingdom? If so, that's a pretty bastardly way of going about it.

...or maybe he's the one who wants his granddaughter dead?

[Sheba]

I shall now call Inaho's orange training unit: GIANT DAD!

[juve]

Inaho showing off is bit much now. I just want Slaine in a damn robot already.

[jpwong]

Originally Posted by Darthtabby

The character of Vlad seems like a missed opportunity. He may be an antagonist but they could have made him one of those "I want to fight worthy opponent" types who primarily respects strength. He would still have been an antagonist, but it would have helped with the "all martians but Asseylum are Terran hating racists" problem.

I don't really think that he thinks Inaho was worthy of his respect, more like he wanted to avenge his honour since he got pushed back by probably what he considers "cheap tricks" last episode.

This is a show where it seems like there's too much backstory that needs to come out, and not enough minutes in the broadcast. There are so many things that feel so incomplete. I'm really wondering when they're going to get around to doing Inaho's backstory (knowing how these things go, he's probably going to reveal it all to either the princess or terror girl when they get stranded together on some deserted island ). He seems really book smart (is teaching the Leidenfrost effect normal in Japan? I had to look it up since I'd never heard about it before last episode), which is translating into his tactics, but it seems so ridiculously abnormal to have that much theory knowledge handy.

Have to agree with everyone about the emperor, so I'm really hoping they'll flesh him out some more so we can get a better idea of what's going on over at Mars. The weird attitude change certainly points to something happening behind the scenes that we haven't been privy too yet.

The whole pyjamas thing was just weird. You could see it threw his sister off too, though I suppose his sister probably is holding onto whatever he had packed into his backpack when he left the house and this is probably the first chance he's had to sleep since leaving the school...

[Arya]

Well, well, this episode went more or less by the book, a bit more of politics from the Mars front, pinches of shipping here and there, a full mech fighting again, everything blended together with epic music I can take that, definitely. But yes, if they decided to go a bit deeper with the characterization of the cast I would be grateful.
I have to say that Inaho is fun in his own way. It was fun seeing him salute LT Marito with such a lag.
Finally we saw the emperor, what to say, I don't buy yet that he dismissed Slaine's report just like that. His whole portrayal was odd to say the least. That or what was implied by that count about his father, whatever it was, made the emperor untrustful of him either. But the cease fire call and the sudden resume felt a bit, let's say odd. Glad in any case to see someone on Mars side with some working brain. If he is that smart he could approve Slaine's request just to give him a mech set up to be traced, so the moment he will defect they would be able to find him and so the princess.

Last note, I took Rayet rescue boat like a way to tell us that if she didn't trust anyone the previous episode, now she clearly embarked on Inaho's boat. That is obviously the safest one. And yes, I agree that they share some similar traits.
All in all I agree that the earth side of the show seems to be waiting for the plot to pick up.

[Esclair]

They just wanted an excuse to put that kiss in there didn't they?

It looks like the Emperor really is too sick and tired to really do much at this point. Slaine's fate is really up in the air now. His plans to 'uncover' the conspiracy is pretty much impossible at this point. If Trillram's boss doesn't get rid of Slaine immediately, he might be thinking of using him to get rid of Crutheo.

Also, they need to introduce some stronger opponents, because if they're all as terrible as the first 2 Knights we got Inaho will win the war singlehandedly. Trillram's boss seems pretty capable in the political arena, let's see if he's as capable when it comes to the battlefield. Well, if we go by the Code Geass similarities:

Trillram = Clovis
Vlad = Jeremiah

So we should get Cornelia next!