Forum - View topicEpisode Review: Aldnoah.Zero
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FenixFiesta
Posts: 2581 |
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Said characters are supposed to be taken as "bad ass" for there actions? yes. Have similar emotional demeanors? not exactly, Tatsuya is practically a hot blooded sentai character when compared to how Inaho has acted for the duration of the series. There is no argument that Inaho is detached, yet only form hearsay is the audience informed that he "gets along well enough" with his classmates, (from what has been presented) Inaho has the same personality of a loner that gazes outside the window and avoids almost all conversion (ie that of the social outcast). Regardless of what the series reveal for the reason of Inaho's stonewall demeanor, it doesn't ring well when the audience has a difficult time understanding his thought process outside of combat. |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18182 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Uh, no, has nothing to do with pedigree (at least on my part, as I while I may note pedigree when I review something, I don't commonly place much value on it). His abject emotionlessness is such an aberration that I was hoping that there was a point to it rather than it being an incomprehensible writing gap. As I said in one of the reviews, he doesn't even have enough emotional impetus to qualify as "cold-blooded" or "stone-cold;" he acts as if he is largely detached from the world around him. If it's not being done deliberately to suggest that he has some kind of mental abnormality (and I'll agree upon reflection that autism does not really fit, even though that had been my first thought) then it's an epic fail of characterization so far.
Is it? We'll see. While it has definitely had its stumbles along the way, I am not at all convinced yet that there isn't a definite plan and direction to what we've seen so far. |
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walw6pK4Alo
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Even if he's not supposed to be autistic or even a savant, he definitely ain't no badass either. He's just some kind of combat calculation machine, like Zero but with a will to actually so some fighting himself, and less flamboyancy.
If you want a stone cold and emotionless super genius mecha pilot, look at my avatar. |
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ChibiKangaroo
 Posts: 2941 |
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Well I think it's quite a bit more than just "some fighting." He seems to be highly skilled (and completely fearless) as a mech pilot, so yea that combined with the genius tactical skills and the fact that he's very good looking and has a lot of girls circling around him now... mmm yea I'd say they are intending him to be pretty badass. |
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walw6pK4Alo
Posts: 9322 |
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Maybe to you, but I don't feel that at all. Where's the muscles, the one-liners, the hilarious disregard for human life? I'll concede, he's Caffeine-Free Diet Badass Lite, if you will. Honestly, I see him as more of a walking plot device than a character, especially one you'd apply the badass label to. He's a very convenient tool to have around. |
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ChibiKangaroo
Posts: 2941 |
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Back in the 90s. I would absolutely agree with you if we were now living back in 1995, when badass in anime did equal big muscles and all of those other things you mentioned (and more). But now we are in the era of bishounen badassery and moe. The super muscular hero is an artifact outside of DBZ and a few other similar shows. Nowadays, muscle-bound characters tend to be support characters (often comic relief) or creepy villains. |
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FenixFiesta
Posts: 2581 |
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Being a muscle bound giant or looking like an "every dude" is just something tied to aesthetics, it wouldn't matter if Inaho was a Kenshiro knock off as far as physical appearance was concerned as he would still be a rather quiet conservative speaker without Inaho's character being rewritten.
Inaho's characterization presented so far is something that is usually applied to a secondary character and not the (designated) main lead, this works out because the audience doesn't need to know the thought patterns of "the quiet (smart) friend" even if such a character is integral to the ongoing plot. *edit* the reason why Inaho is "failing" as a character we need only compare the character establishment of Slaine, we the audience understand Slaine's goal (protect and support the princess), we have become privy to Slaine's past through flashbacks, we know that Slaine has at least "seen" who he thinks are his enemies. Inaho's character is a "mystery" but not in a good way. |
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Doodleboy
Posts: 296 |
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The Vers stuff is actually pleasantly surprising.
It's hey, actually some explanation behind the imperialist attitudes. And it's nuanced and believable, and it's logically extrapolating from the Vers situation. And it's a nice commentary on Imperialism and where it comes from. And it adds some depth to the Princess's characterization too. Her being in that position of privilege and her ignorance the political history that lead to the current war. And they're building to a climax for the first cour. If only the episodes in-between weren't so clunky and Inaho wasn't flat. |
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maximilianjenus
Posts: 2862 |
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It's likely inaho will do a heel turn, if anything he is qb to me, he does not seems to care about "small details" as his dialgo with rayert(?) implied, and especially because of his break up with slayn, he might not be above using and/or sacrificing the princess, which would make any good guy characterization conflictive (I recently finished watching an adaptation of the house next door and it had a similar heel turn).
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Pipoko
Posts: 165 |
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Wow, this episode sucked.
Why not let the adults do the CPR? Give them some more credibility? Of course Inaho gets to do it. He knows everything after all. Plus, this really is going the route of a love triangle isn't it? More repetitiveness with Marito. Rayet basically seemed to be a victim of the good old power of friendship. and then Saazbaum's lecture and the flashback to his fiancee's death was boring as hell. This episode managed to pretty much kill all interest in the series for me. Probably gonna finish at least the first half, though. |
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Eisenmann V
Posts: 212 |
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So you've got Aldnoah.Zero interest? 
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DRosencraft
Posts: 665 |
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I think Inaho represents a more modern badass. Most of the classic badass characters have been very base in intelligence. They just gruff their way through every situation, make nonsensical or contradictroy speeches that just sound good while they stand with some dramatic effect behind them, while launching reckless high-energy and flahsy or OP attacks. Inaho, Tatsuya of Mahouka to a lesser extent, represent chracters that are more badass for being downtempoed, calm, thinkers who don't say much and just focus on getting the job done. I'm gald for these types. We've have many of the knuckle-draggers throughout anime. For a show that is being so methodical in handling more complex topics, having the MC hero being a hot-head chest-thumping type would take you out the story more than I think some realize if you care at all about the rest of the story.
As for the direction, I think it's been very straightforward from a macro view. THey have so much going on each episode, however, I think some people are losing sight of that macro view and taking in the micro, or taking in chunks of the macro, if that makes sense. For example, from the start they've established they would be heading to the Russia HQ to report to their superiors and let them decide what to do. That's basically military protocol. Most anime however would have depicted the entire ship basically doing what Inaho did early on with Asselyum - taking his own initiative in how to proceed regardless of what should be protocol - or at least contemplating about going against the prevailing authority. Again, they're presented as a military unit counter most anime depictions, where they're either actively being undermined by who is supposed to be their leadership, or they are a band of reckless or anarchist fighters doing their own thing. Most series skip the "trip to HQ" part, or fill that trip with internal strife and constant enemy encounters. This series isn't doing those things. I think people are just caught by how unlike most mech shows Aldnoah is. To paraphrase an earlier comment, they're doing things a little different from what people always complain about, yet people are still complaining. Not much the writers can do but stick to their principle for this series and see where it goes. |
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Pipoko
Posts: 165 |
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Took a second to get that for some reason. wow. lol. |
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Doodleboy
Posts: 296 |
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I don't care! I don't care whether he's a badass or not. Inaho can be a badass, he can be not a badass. I care about basic character writing. A motivation, a character arc, some bits of personality to make him seem more real. A back-story. Or some sort of event that causes him to change and grow. What does Inaho want? Does Inaho have some sort of personality flaw? What caused him to be so bad at showing emotion that he expresses nothing at one of his friends getting killed? Kiritsugu, Homura, Mikasa, Levi, Kirei.... Here are "emotionless" badasses who aren't flat pieces of cardboard. Who have back-stories and motivations and character-arcs. We know exactly why each person does what they do, they change and grow throughout their series. The basics of "what a character wants vs. what a character needs" is there. They're dynamic, they're engaging, they either get you invested emotionally or are fascinating enough to be worth watching. |
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FenixFiesta
Posts: 2581 |
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You might have a point if SLAINE was not the other primary protagonist, and as a viewer if I cared about anything in Aldnoah Zero it is Slaine's story and not whatever "heroic deed" Inaho does next. |
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