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Aldnoah.Zero
Episode 15

by Theron Martin,

Inaho has been the whip-smart Mr. Battlefield Tactics golden boy all series, but it looks like he now has an intellectual as well as mecha combat and love interest rival, for Slaine may have actually one-upped him in this episode. Granted, his intelligence seems to be oriented more towards big-picture scheming, but the stunt he pulls off here is no less impressive.

In executing his scheme he also shows that there was actually a method to his alliance with Count Saazbaum after all, beyond just possibly guaranteeing the well-being of Princess Asseylum. No, Slaine has far grander ambitions, and he simply needed Saazbaum to set them up. The response he gave to the Count in episode 14 concerning the question about the problem with Vers Empire society was a key indicator of what his true intentions likely are: to gain enough power to reshape the Vers Empire from the top down. After 19 months of sucking up and ingratiating himself to Saazbaum, the Count finally plays perfectly into Slaine's hands when he publicly names Slaine his son and successor in order to stave off the guff that Slaine is taking from other Orbital Knights in the lead-up to the Vers/Earth forces battle. (Mind you, this is only obvious in retrospect, as when that scene comes up Slaine's goals are not so apparent.)

That allows the next aspect of Slaine's plan to come to more efficient fruition. He starts the episode by apparently randomly firing into space, but what he is actually doing is setting up a trap (by firing bullets in such a way that they will orbit around the Earth and actually hit the intended location several hours later). The beauty of his trap is its dual purpose: while it is first and foremost intended to outwit Inaho, Slaine is also open to the possibility that it could be used to get rid of Saazbaum instead. He knows that Saazbaum will also want to engage Inaho in retribution for their battle in episode 12, and he knows that if anyone can disengage the protective shield of the Count, it's Inaho. And that is, of course, exactly what happens, and explains perfectly why Slaine didn't make a fuss about Saazbaum stepping into his battle with Inaho during the big attack sequence. Saazbaum, for his part, remains classy to the end, acknowledging with his last breath how Slaine has outwitted him; while this is a common mecha defeat scene, I have to think here that after all of the machinations Saazbaum has conducted, he truly considers this a mark that Slaine is worthy to be his successor.

But there's another point that can easily be overlooked here: Slaine just used Inaho to carry out his own strategy, just like Inaho has, until that point, been using others to his own ends. (Inaho even does that here as part of that scene, as he needs outside help for a rescue after pulling his latest clever combat stunt.) And the best part is that Inaho does not even aware that he has been used that way. It is a pretty satisfying turn of events for anyone (like me) who has always rolled their eyes at Inaho's indomitable combat brilliance. With Harklight as the ideal right-hand man (he has every reason to whole-heartedly idolize and support Slaine), the only possible hitch in Slaine's plan on the Vers Empire side is Lemrina, whose not-so-idle comment to Eddelrutio earlier in the episode keeps open the possibility that she might try to eventually pull something concerning her sister Asseylum's life support. In fact, I will be very surprised if she doesn't a few episodes down the line.

Other stuff was, of course, going on as well. We get some nicely-animated space battle scenes (whatever other faults the series' production may have, it knows how to animate mecha combats), a parallel is drawn between the way people on both sides of the conflict are wary of displaced members of the other side among their forces, and some minor supporting characters on the Earth Forces side get a little more development. Concerns I had about the wisdom of Inaho being out piloting when he is the key to keeping the Deucalion active are actually addressed, and the Aldnoah activation process is analyzed a bit more; this episode establishes, for instance, that a Royal Family member's bodily fluids alone are not enough to trigger Aldnoah activation, so the mouth-to-mouth thing is apparently a hard-fast requirement. (That still leaves some vagaries to the process, though.) Oh, and Inaho gets likened to Odin because of the whole “giving up his left eye for wisdom” business. So if you didn't already think he was a mecha god, well, now you have no reason to dispute!

Overall, the rating gets a bump this week because this episode provides the first real indicators of a definitive direction in a while and shows that at least some of what has transpired so far has not been happening randomly.

Rating: B

Aldnoah.Zero is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.


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