Aldnoah.Zero

Episode 17

For the second straight episode, Aldnoah.Zero has shown that it has not abandoned previously-established characters after all. While this is mostly a good thing, it does also smack a bit of being an afterthought.

Last time around it was Martio and Inaho's elder sister Yuki, and each of them gets a little additional time here. Marito gets a scene with Colonel Magbaredge which suggests that her icy attitude towards him may be thawing, while Yuki finally gets to spill at Inaho over her worry about him being dragged into the life of a soldier. Other minor characters also get some time, with Inko, Nina, and, in the episode's one (somewhat lame) humorous scene, getting to ponder how Rayet keeps her figure without dieting. (Inko has little to complain about, though, as one later fan servicey scene shows that she is doing all right herself.) On the Vers front, Lemrina is finally starting to show more will and independence, with Counts Marylcian and Bahroucruz (entirely at Marylcian's instigation) scheming to put Slaine in his place like the lowly Terran that he is, Vers Count or not. Even Inaho shows just a little actual character, as we see that the notion that Asseylum got shot down while trying to help him really perturbs him.

The big resurgence, though, is for Rayet this time. As well-adjusted as she seemed to be, resentment and subsumed anger on the level that she had doesn't go away so easily, and the discovery that Count Mazuurek, who had, indeed, been captured by the Earth Forces after the events of last episode, was being questioned by Inaho, brings that back to the surface. Her own confrontation with Mazuurek, who is more reasonable than most but still arrogant, only stirs up that resentment, which leads her to an admission that had always been lightly implicit: that when she says that she hates Martians, she isn't excluding herself. Her scenes with Inaho at that point and again towards the end of the episode are interesting, as someone as straightforward as Inaho is not going to sugar-coat things: she was in the wrong before, in that she let her hatred overcome common sense, but she has changed for the better since then. If the series keeps this track going then they can be forgiven for largely ignoring her for the past few episodes, but if we don't see it playing a continuing role going forward than the one-off nature of it will ultimately seem forced.

But there are other interesting things going on, too. A ton of allusions to both the princesses being birds in a cage get thrown around both directly and more implicitly, which is doubtless going to lead to more than just Lemrina being a little more proactive – much to Slaine's consternation. (As sharp as he may be in his scheming, he seems to be underestimating the women in his life.) Inaho's “interrogation” of Mazuurek also sets up some juicy plot twists as it becomes apparent that Mazuurek has been left in the dark about a lot of what Saazbaum was up to and is the Vers Knight probably most sympathetic to Asseylum's outlook. Given that, Inaho secretly freeing him to find out the true Asseylum's status is a predictable (though still ballsy) move, one that should test the leeway that Inaho has been given so far, as what he has done easily qualifies as outright treason, no matter the logic behind it. (It also raises serious logical questions about how the security for such an important prisoner could have been so lax.) What will Inko do about what she has seen concerning it, since this will definitely test her loyalty, too?

So with essentially no action, this episode ends up being all about character and plot development. While the episode is finally clearly trying on that front, the way it plays out also shows that there may be a good reason why the series hasn't done more focus on character development before: its writers are just not all that proficient at it. Not addressed at all is by far the biggest and most distracting issue with the series at this point: with Slaine now being a Count, why the hell hasn't he done something to correct that ugly mop of a hairdo? If Slaine is truly utterly inferior to Inaho at anything, it's that.

Rating: B-

Aldnoah.Zero is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.