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Aldnoah.Zero (TV) (both seasons).


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Souther



Joined: 22 Feb 2015
Posts: 602
PostPosted: Sat Mar 28, 2015 2:00 pm Reply with quote
EP 12 Aldnoah Zero, season 2 end spoilers:

spoiler[I don't really have much to say about the ending, it was pretty whatever really. Slaine realises he's messing up, gets his forces to surrender, goes to confront Inaho for the last time and gets sparko'd. Was an excuse to get them to fight, but the action was pretty nice so I'm happy.

What I do like's that in the end, Assyelum had the right idea all along and the war never needed to happen. VERs and Earth are benefitting from negotiations. Overall, I enjoyed the series.]


Last edited by Souther on Sat Mar 28, 2015 2:01 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Vaisaga



Joined: 07 Oct 2011
Posts: 13224
PostPosted: Sat Mar 28, 2015 2:01 pm Reply with quote
I think it wrapped everything up pretty nicely. It kinda sucks spoiler[Asseylum is stuck in a loveless marriage but learning to make such sacrifices was what her arc was about.] Also I guess it means spoiler[Inko no longer has competition.]

Overall the series was pretty good. I think people judge it too harshly because they set their expectations too high when hearing Urobutchi is involved. But as a long time mecha fan it delivered on the action and some nice characters. Inaho is a competent grunt pilot who never whines and does what needs doing which automatically puts him leagues above the usual relucant whiner with overpowered robot types.
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Mr. Nescio



Joined: 13 Jul 2011
Posts: 165
PostPosted: Sat Mar 28, 2015 2:49 pm Reply with quote
About episode 24 I want to say that spoiler[ the show ended.]

More importantly, as a lurker I want to give my thanks for the amusement I have received from this thread. Parts of it reminded me of this Internet classic (see for example the passage about Churchill).
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FenixFiesta



Joined: 22 Apr 2013
Posts: 2581
PostPosted: Sat Mar 28, 2015 3:06 pm Reply with quote
If one takes a moment to think of the drama that was set up in series, the ending was pretty null.

Cruhteo Jr. is a huge waste of time unless there is some sort of official sequel in the future, the problems of Mars having aristocracy still persist even if Asselyeum has taken the official throne.

There is a large disconnect between this final battle and the character arcs, if this is the "end" of Aldnoah then that was a great load of nothing.
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EmbraceMe



Joined: 17 Dec 2010
Posts: 2013
Location: Growing old and jaded.
PostPosted: Sat Mar 28, 2015 9:53 pm Reply with quote
Yea. . . even as a fan of the show, I found the ending to be kind of disappointing. Well, more underwhelming than disappointing; I did enjoy the fights and stuff but spoiler[Asseylum seemed to have no role at all this season besides waking up and adding more drama/tension.] It's not a secret that the character development of the show has been lacking but it feels a lot of the background from Season 1 (Marito's PTSD, Rayet's development, etc.) seems to have been put aside to develop and flesh out Slaine's goals. But in this process, it seems like a lot of the information from Season 1 has been undermined. The entire focus on Slaine in Season 2, while interesting, seems to make whatever development of the Terrans disappear. I don't think the characters are bad. . . but looking back from the first episode of Season 2 makes it seem as if the writers didn't know what to do with the characters who had interesting backstories.

At best, I think I'd give the second season a Good rating but this last episode just made the whole buildup look rather disappointing.
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Ohoni



Joined: 10 Jun 2003
Posts: 3421
PostPosted: Sun Mar 29, 2015 3:43 am Reply with quote
Quote:
Well, the fight itself was okay but they overused the OST. It almost feels like the same songs played every episode.


Well, Inaho had his "hero song" that got played every time he was rocking it like a boss, so yeah, it got played a lot. Wink

I do really like how in the end, they let spoiler[the villain back down from his megalogmania. Too often in these things, once they cross the Rubicon, they refuse to come back no matter what. In this one, Slaine realized the error of his ways and backed down only returning to the field on personal grounds. I also liked the nobility of the Vers final charge, they had moved past their feelings of inherent superiority, but were still willing to take the Terrans on as respected equals.]
Now sure, maybe they didn't spoiler[wrap every plotline up into a neat bow, but I'm fine with that. I can just assume that everything worked out for most involved, that Seylum is married to her job, that the various characters found a place in the world moving forward, there's no reason to assume otherwise. Even Lemrina probably landed on her feet, so to speak, perhaps even within Seylum's faction.]

I think that any attempt at a more drawn out epilogue, as seen in Parasyte or Build Fighters this season, would only water down the ending, not enhance it.
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15433
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Sun Mar 29, 2015 8:42 am Reply with quote
Season 2, Episode 12 (finale)

I think that the show ended the best way it could. Asseylum took the throne from those who wanted it for power, and she used it to try and reach peace. Slaine was spoiler[shaken and it seemed to be when Lemrina told him how his people were still relying on him that he seemed to come to his senses]. Slaine spoiler[realised that he was in the wrong and ordered everyone to surrender], only it looked like to me that he was spoiler[taking the coward way out, he was going to going to kill himself along with the moon base]. His people go spoiler[back because they don't want to feel like they abandoned him and really a really waste of life war continues, Slaine decides to end himself in combat and gets beaten by Inaho]. But Inaho spoiler[saves Slaine, and to everyone else Slaine becomes, a man who died at the end so that people can work together again].

This season did not deal with a lot of what was big in the first season, perhaps because there was such a big jump. Rayet had her allegiance decided, Slaine was already in a fairly strong position, various character had a lot of time to think through their trauma. And Inaho really had no time but to be the hero that his people needed, from what had happened to him he was no longer just some kid who could save the day, but a driving force of his own mission. Personally I quite liked Inaho, people get pissed because he looks emotionless and saving the day should be for the hot blooded heroes, but was mostly expressionless and without needing to be angsty he knew that he needed to save the day. Inaho did spoiler[not get the girl, but Asseylum's decision was out of stability and it helped people].

I think that people are going to feel about the ending what they expected from the show. If you wanted Slaine being a hero, you are not going to be happy. If you wanted the spoiler[hero saving the princess from the castle and becoming a couple], you are going to be disappointed. If you wanted characters to spoiler[wrestle with politics and choose a path of peace], you might be happy. In my opinion the goal was always spoiler[that peace that Asseylum wanted from the first episode, so for it to be realised], I am happy. It is not some of the other things that did not get a huge part of the ending did not matter, but they were indeed important parts that made up that did have narrative on the way here. I guess I might compare this to a controversial event which was the Mass Effect 3 ending, many people thought that all the challenges and choices should have had a strong part in the ending, but I did not have much of a problem with it because I felt that challenges already had their limelight on the way up, and in the grand scheme of things the final objective largely came down to one decision.

I rate season 2 as Very good, it might have strayed a bit from what made up the first season, but it had its own journey and was largely quality. Also the series has been quite interesting on splitting the audience on events. I thought the spoiler[reversal of Slain and Inaho's position] was perfect.
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Sun Mar 29, 2015 5:06 pm Reply with quote
Gina Szanboti wrote:
Well, it's just that in this last episode they troubled to show us again that he used to have pupils and now doesn't, and in anime language that generally means something. If this series decides to never explain that, well, I gave up on Aldnoah making any narrative sense episodes ago, so c'est la vie. Smile

Aaaand, c'est la vie. Unless there's an OVA, I guess we'll never find out what he was doing in that rocket, or what the hell they were trying to tell us all along with this, even though they shoved it in our faces one last time. Smile
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Key
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Joined: 03 Nov 2003
Posts: 18137
Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
PostPosted: Sun Mar 29, 2015 6:40 pm Reply with quote
I think they did clarify at some point that it was some kind of escape capsule.
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Sun Mar 29, 2015 7:33 pm Reply with quote
What was he escaping from?
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EmbraceMe



Joined: 17 Dec 2010
Posts: 2013
Location: Growing old and jaded.
PostPosted: Sun Mar 29, 2015 7:46 pm Reply with quote
As far as I remember, Slaine was sent to Mars by his father, Dr. Troyard. However, I don't really recall why he was exactly sent there besides the tidbits of information that Dr. Troyard was researching Aldnoah and working for the Martians. I think we can only guess it was to protect Slaine/give him a home before Dr. Troyard passed away.

Back to my last post, it feels like a lot of this information got sidelined and never really. . . bore much fruit in the show. Also, with the way how the show ended -- specifically ambiguities on the status of some characters, namely spoiler[Lemrina, Harklight, Barouchuez, etc.] -- it feels as if the show may have potentially have some followup in the form of maybe an OAV/movie. I could imagine a spoiler[rebellion from these leftover characters, especially since Lemrina has huge influence over Aldnoah with her imperial blood.] I do think the show ended on a logical note but the all the hype for the finale made it feel unsatisfying. I was expecting a spoiler[civil war between factions but y'know budget/time restraints.]
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getchman
Space Cowboy



Joined: 07 Apr 2012
Posts: 9117
Location: Bedford, NH
PostPosted: Sun Mar 29, 2015 8:16 pm Reply with quote
So, anyone think spoiler[Mizusaki has a chance with Marito]?
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FenixFiesta



Joined: 22 Apr 2013
Posts: 2581
PostPosted: Sun Mar 29, 2015 8:35 pm Reply with quote
getchman wrote:
So, anyone think spoiler[Mizusaki has a chance with Marito]?

It is all but outright stated that Mizusaki has a thing for Magbaredge,
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Sun Mar 29, 2015 8:46 pm Reply with quote
EmbraceMe wrote:
Also, with the way how the show ended -- specifically ambiguities on the status of some characters, namely spoiler[Lemrina...]

Might be reading too much into it, but I think spoiler[the wheelchair patient Dr. Yagarai was examining (during the news broadcast voice-over) was likely Lemrina.] Otherwise what was the point of showing spoiler[the chair]? Then again, they made a lot of apparently pointless decisions in this. (yes, I'm bitter. ;D )
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Galap
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Joined: 07 Apr 2012
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 30, 2015 11:44 pm Reply with quote
So we finally come to the end. I must say that I was a lot more enthusiastic about this when it started, and ultimately I became much less so. I think with things that start out strong and then don't quite come out like I'd have hoped I can be a little too hard on in memory because I mostly remember the decline, but all in all, I think this show was pretty good, and it for the most part went to some pretty good places.

To be honest, the main thing I could have done without was that it liked to sacrifice some realisticness in its chain of events for spectical, for example spoiler[, It had to try pretty hard to force this last fight between Inaho and Slaine, and I don't really think it was necessary.] Since this show's strengths were always the character drama and personalities and to some extent political machinations, sacrificing that for spectacle I don't think was quite the right move.

All in all, I'm not saying this show isn't good, but it could have very easily been a lot better than it was. Maybe I'm being a little unfair, but hey, I really want to see the spectacular stuff.
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