Aldnoah.Zero - generic discussion thread

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by dniv

I care about the show being smart and consistent. Trillam wasn't one-dimensional, but your analysis of him certainly is. Trillam is dumb; that's obvious. Furthermore, you say that Trillam should have obeyed orders after he was grateful that his life was saved, and you say that he should have prioritized a logical decision over his gut emotional reaction after saving his life... NO ONE DOES THAT. Maybe you would, but not Trillam. If this were your show, then sure you could decide if Trillam behaves that way, but he doesn't. Stop acting, as if you know how people should behave when & where... there are many reasons that Trillam's actions make perfect sense in the scheme of things, and you just don't want to agree because you want a reason to hate the show... we get it already.

The guy's dumb as hell, of course, but even then I wouldn't expect him to fuck up so badly just right after he was scolded for his failure to kill all the witnesses a few scenes ago. For me that doesn't make sense, even for someone as stupid as him. But yeah, it's just my opinion.

If the in-universe rules allow that phenomenon to happen then you should just be fine with it.

That's the point. The in-universe rules, as explained by the characters themselves, shouldn't allow that to happen.

[Irenesharda]

So, what does anyone think of out two newest characters, Capt. Darzana Magbaredge and her second in command Kaoru Mizusaki?

While we didn't get much of the second, we got our first taste of the first, who I'm guessing will be our "battleship captain" for the series.

Magbaredge (who, aside from the Martians, is winning the award for weirdest name ) seems like your hard-nosed, no-nonsense, rarely cracks a smile, female captain character. She's cool, though she seems to have an interest in Lt. Marito. Will Yuki have some competition?

Or...is Yuki-nee's death flags so obvious that they've already tossed in the future rebound girl?

[Esclair]

Originally Posted by Vindi89

In addition when the mech was defeated and the barrier was coming down there was a moment where the entire thing turned black save for 4 small openings where light shot through.

I'm guessing they will say that this light given off by the barrier on the INSIDE is what illuminates the frame of the mech and makes it visible to others.

This scene pretty much indicates that the writers did think about the science and tried to come up with a explanation that could work in-universe. The light holes seem to be projectors of some sort. It could be that light of a certain frequency could be projected through the barrier in a one way direction, which would allow the robot to still look like a robot instead of a big black blob. Hence why when the mech shuts off the projectors fail first and we DO see the mech as a giant black shape (except the areas around the projectors, where the light source is still radiating). It'd make a lot of sense for them to use a system to hide the fact that the barrier absorbs all light, since as soon as the knowledge gets leaked counter measures can be created.

Edit: Look at episode 2 when the Mech boots up. It IS completely covered in black first, then the 4 holes emit some kind of particles and it becomes visible again. So yeah, the writers pretty much have thought of it. In fact, it is probably the same power of projection that the Princess uses to transform into her Martian Princess form. It looks like the background tech is pretty well thought out and connected.

Also, it seems Inaho is following in Lelouche's footsteps of blowing up the ground.

Also, DAT TRIGGER DISCIPLINE:

[Irenesharda]

Oh, and thankfully someone finally redesigned the website so things are organized better.

It was weird but okay for me before, though I know that others had some problems. Now, it's much easier.

[Pen3]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

If the barrier has gaps why does this robot even need the flying cameras? I mean, I could understand the cameras as an advantage. You know, some extra eyes. But some of those gaps in the barrier should be used for on board cameras. Blocking the flying ones shouldn't render the whole thing blind.

The gaps are on his back. So a camera watching his rear is a bit useful i guess.

[totoum]

Originally Posted by RRW

does it not bother you. the promotional material kinda give feeling of realistic warfare and politic. when the anime arrived we got "Ha ha ha I am evil villain. here is my super robot DIE!!!!"

especially when you have "realistic" protag side with mass prodecu military mecha and such. it simply to jarring

and consider the "writer" I am not surprised if many people expect more.

it simply case of hype backslash

Well I didn't look at 1 second of promotional material so I came in with no particular expectations.

Also the villain would be your typical 1780s French high ranking military officer, the french army gave positions based more on birthrights rather than how competent you were at your job leading to the high ranks of the army being full of aristocrats full of themselves much like our villain here. So that didn't strike me as particularly jarring.
Also it's not like every Urobuchi villain is a complex multi dimentional character, see someone like Scythe Master.
.

[bakato]

Originally Posted by Irenesharda

So, what does anyone think of out two newest characters, Capt. Darzana Magbaredge and her second in command Kaoru Mizusaki?

While we didn't get much of the second, we got our first taste of the first, who I'm guessing will be our "battleship captain" for the series.

Magbaredge (who, aside from the Martians, is winning the award for weirdest name ) seems like your hard-nosed, no-nonsense, rarely cracks a smile, female captain character. She's cool, though she seems to have an interest in Lt. Marito. Will Yuki have some competition?

Or...is Yuki-nee's death flags so obvious that they've already tossed in the future rebound girl?

I bet she's just interested in the fact that he's a veteran of the battle at Tanegashima.

[RRW]

Originally Posted by totoum

Well I didn't look at 1 second of promotional material so I came in with no particular expectations.

Also the villain would be your typical 1780s French high ranking military officer, the french army gave positions based more on birthrights rather than how competent you were at your job leading to the high ranks of the army being full of aristocrats full of themselves much like our villain here. So that didn't strike me as particularly jarring.
Also it's not like every Urobuchi villain is a complex multi dimentional character, see someone like Scythe Master.
.

is just jarring really. I am okay with 1 dimensional villain of this anime. but the setting and the background make me wonder that are they really originally from earth when they can casually killing terran.

also this is real robot anime. I expect to have slightly more "political" point view of why they have war.

I dont know. it simply out of place. they try to be serious when is clearly silly

[Wandering Soul]

Originally Posted by Irenesharda

So, what does anyone think of out two newest characters, Capt. Darzana Magbaredge and her second in command Kaoru Mizusaki?

While we didn't get much of the second, we got our first taste of the first, who I'm guessing will be our "battleship captain" for the series.

Magbaredge (who, aside from the Martians, is winning the award for weirdest name ) seems like your hard-nosed, no-nonsense, rarely cracks a smile, female captain character. She's cool, though she seems to have an interest in Lt. Marito. Will Yuki have some competition?

Or...is Yuki-nee's death flags so obvious that they've already tossed in the future rebound girl?

She probably wants to know more about his past and the battle he was in. He did say earlier that the higher ups had him cover up something that happened in the battle.

Although I wont rule out the possibility that Yuki has competition

[MeggieMay]

Originally Posted by the one above all

She probably wants to know more about his past and the battle he was in. He did say earlier that the higher ups had him cover up something that happened in the battle.

Although I wont rule out the possibility that Yuki has competition

Well that or he'll end up dead and the Captain and Yuki will end up together (total j/k).

Really, I just get tired of death flag comments on these shows. Yeah, they exist and happen but they often don't turn out correct in the end.

[Esclair]

I actually like that Slaine will be getting this specific Martian mech. It seems like it's far weaker than the other Martian mechs where they don't rely on using the Light of Aldnoah as a super shield. This means that even when they get to use it to fight the other Martian Knights, they're still at a disadvantage as the other Knights would already know of its weakness and thus strategy would still be the primary path to victory.

[Triple_R]

After Episode 3...

The protagonists are largely good and reasonably well-written. Many of them took a big step forward in Episode 3, while others received good introductions. The show deserves kudos for that.

The antagonists, in sharp contrast, are thus far terrible. I'd continue to call them 80s Saturday Morning Cartoon villains, except I'm starting to think that would actually be doing a disservice to some of the better 80s Saturday Morning cartoon villains.

Trillram is like an intentional caricature of a hammy villain. Which might be fine if I was watching a self-aware parody, or if I was watching Dudley Do-Right and Trillram was literally Snidely Whiplash. But in a show that continues to take itself very seriously, the villains are massively letting it down. This show is just crying out for a Char Aznable, a Cain Dressel, or a Li Xingke. I'm definitely not seeing anything approaching that on the Martian side so far, as Saazbaum's "Let's just blow everything up, and who cares if Cruhteo dies in the process!" plan isn't exactly filling me with confidence, lol.

The good news is that Trillram is probably dead, and was just a mid-boss villain, the mecha equivalent to Sailor Moon's very first Monster of the Week, you could say.

But the villains need to get better if this show wants to have even a remote chance of competing with the best of the Gundam shows.


I also have to say that I honestly found Episode 3 a little bit slow-paced, and surprisingly restrained for a Gen-wrote show. It was decently entertaining, but it didn't impress me at an audiovisual level as much as the first two episodes did when it came to that.

[Darthtabby]

The third episode did a lot to redeem this series in my eyes. I wasn't very impressed by the second episode but I guess it set the stage for this much better one.

I do think the series could have benefited from showing the main character's observational and analytical abilities more early on so his turning out to be a tactical genius didn't seem quite so out of the blue. I may be forgetting things but about the only hint of his abilities that I remember was his spotting that missile in the first episode. Did he get involved much in figuring out how to respond to the situation in episode two?

Also its probably a bit late to be bringing this up, but does anyone feel these kids should have been students at a technical college or something? Or that the show should have had them fight on foot instead of with mechs? I know teenagers piloting mechs is common in anime but these machines seem waaaay too complicated for ordinary high school students to operate and maintain.

[Thess]

Originally Posted by Irenesharda

As for Slaine, I'm not sure if it's the killing he's afraid of, or if it's simply killing other Terrans like himself. We'll have to see as his character is opened up more.

It's definitely killing. He even looked pretty affected when he gunned down that slime. He's described as someone with "心の芯に優しさがある" (gentleness/kindness at the core of his heart). That's probably why Trillram didn't expect violence from him, other than arrogance. I doubt he would have lowered his guard around other Terrans.

[Domonkazu]

Originally Posted by Verrueckter

Since when do mecha shows meticulously adhere to physics? I also like the oxymoron "realistic mecha show", you can pick apart the scientific blunders in any science-fiction work. Regardless of these shortcomings this show is quite entertaining, I couldn't ask for more.

actually this, Mecha itself already defy most common warfare logic, it's just huge target, realistic and Mecha don't fit in the same line.
None of Gundams series made any sense nor Pacific Rim, it's pointless trying to discuss the tech/physic holes.

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

Originally Posted by hamazura

i dont like arguing in forum, just giving my impression

It’s a matter of how you can back up your claim and prove the integrity of your statement. But if you don’t like doing that then I guess that’s it.

Anyway, I do enjoy all the fireworks & music in this episode. But not much else. And I lol-ed at Asseylum's transformation-scene considering what Urobuchi did with mahou shoujos in Madoka (don't tell me that necklace she's wearing is from Kyuubey). For now, this show is certainly my top guilty-pleasure of the season because of the production values.

[Esclair]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

The antagonists, in sharp contrast, are thus far terrible. I'd continue to call them 80s Saturday Morning Cartoon villains, except I'm starting to think that would actually be doing a disservice to some of the better 80s Saturday Morning cartoon villains.

Trillram is like an intentional caricature of a hammy villain. Which might be fine if I was watching a self-aware parody, or if I was watching Dudley Do-Right and Trillram was literally Snidely Whiplash. But in a show that continues to take itself very seriously, the villains are massively letting it down. This show is just crying out for a Char Aznable, a Cain Dressel, or a Li Xingke. I'm definitely not seeing anything approaching that on the Martian side so far, as Saazbaum's "Let's just blow everything up, and who cares if Cruhteo dies in the process!" plan isn't exactly filling me with confidence, lol.

The good news is that Trillram is probably dead, and was just a mid-boss villain, the mecha equivalent to Sailor Moon's very first Monster of the Week, you could say.

But the villains need to get better if this show wants to have even a remote chance of competing with the best of the Gundam shows.

Well, in Code Geass we had Clovis who was a complete joke, but then Cornelia came into the picture and finally the Emperor/Schnizel. The next guy is probably far more competent.

I also have to say that I honestly found Episode 3 a little bit slow-paced, and surprisingly restrained for a Gen-wrote show. It was decently entertaining, but it didn't impress me at an audiovisual level as much as the first two episodes did when it came to that.

You mean you expected some some sort of decapitation?

Originally Posted by Darthtabby

Also its probably a bit late to be bringing this up, but does anyone feel these kids should have been students at a technical college or something? Or that the show should have had them fight on foot instead of with mechs? I know teenagers piloting mechs is common in anime but these machines seem waaaay too complicated for ordinary high school students to operate and maintain.

These were THEIR training mechs. They talked about being drafted in the first episode.

[wavehawk]

The ep kind of answers (somewhat) a few questions I had in mind--given what little bit I've seen, all of a sudden a missile barrage to kill the Princess isn't as overkill as I'd first thought. It also does answer why the Martians think of themselves as a superior race. (the cute glowy transformations equence kind of gives it away).

You know, I'm actually quite satisfied that Slaine was the one to kill Trilliam, and in that particular manner. Yes Trilliam, you deserve to die for being an overly large ham.

Now, whether that means Slaine will defect to the Earth side...or be stupid enough to report back to Vers about it, I don't know.

[pagan poor]

I guess Slaine did what any of us would have done to that arrogant dickweed. Now that a proper Darwin has been committed, time for some actual competency from the attacking side.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by Esclair

You mean you expected some some sort of decapitation?

I was expecting something less prosaic given Gen's resume of work, especially given what you're alluding to above.