Forum - View topicEpisode Review: Aldnoah.Zero
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Mirri
Posts: 313 |
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So uh...
This is kind of a big deal. Might wanna put in some line breaks or something. |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18223 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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The WARNING message was an attempt to fix that. The bottom line you have highlighted isn't showing up when I look at the front page.
This is being done with a system different than we've used in the past for reviews, so I was caught off guard by the what showed on the front page. Will definitely be writing future episode reviews with that in mind. |
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DRosencraft
Posts: 666 |
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My post is not meant to change your mind, I've already learned that is extremely unlikely in the comments here, at least among those who are most likely to comment. I am merely offering another perspective, so that you've missed the point of my post is unfortunate. That you note you don't care if he is a badass yet go on to argue how he isn't a badass is not only contradictory, the initial assertion suggests my point wasn't even relevant to your understanding of the show. Nevertheless, you note other characters who you deem more of a "proper" emotionless badass. I would suggest that they are not "emotionless" as much as they are reserved. Even the often heralded Tatsuya is not as emotionless as the story tends to insist of repeating. They are reserved, which is different. They do have emotions, and can be prompted to act out on those emotions. It just takes more for them to do so. They're non-expressive. It's a subtle difference, but a real one. Inaho is much different thus far. He retains complete control over his emotions to the point that he isn't rattled by virtually anything. I will note that this is an idealized vision of the warrior in many Asian cultures - the hero who shows neither fear nor love nor hate no matter the situation they face. The point of my post is that unlike most anime that state this is the mold of their hero when it really isn't, they follow through here. Slain follows the more classic mold anime hero. He's got the popular view, says the right things, gets the cool moments, and rushes off to action, usually to disastrous consequences for himself or others. In real life, that thing usually gets you killed, so wanting both a "real" character and one who acts like that is the sort of contradictory taste I noted. It sounds great, looks flashy on screen, but it's the crazy plot armor that end up infuriating most viewers by the end. I will note that there are those who have gotten fed up with how Slaine's efforts keep going awry. But to me that is again the authors not affording him the plot armor that would normally be in place to ensure that he never got caught, made it to the princess's side by now fighting the heroic battle. Motivation? What more are we expecting short of some canned "let's save the world" angle? He's a student of a military school training kids to be soldiers when a war breaks out, his town gets wiped out, and he finds himself aboard a military transport. Having a constant reminder of what should be obvious, that he's trying to survive and end this war, would be overly litigious. It's not like he started as some un-involved civilian, so his motivations should be rather plain. Real? I will take that as a personal taste angle. I have no idea how anyone can ever relate to an MC in a mecha show. The circumstance and events are almost always so beyond reality in even the best laid stories that I personally can't see how to relate to such characters. That Inaho isn't bombastic or anything like that, as I stated in my original post, personally is a relief for me, so I suppose that would mean I find it more "real" or easier to relate to. Change and growth? They are literally only a few days into the story. There hasn't been any time at all enough to even approach that angle yet. Overall we're barely a third of the way through the series as a whole. Wanting a whole personality growth trend already is unfeasible given how much actual story there is left to be told. If that's a problem, then a two-cour series probably doesn't suit your viewing tastes. I will restate my assertion that this series thus far has simply chosen to go the other way on some of the bigger complaints people tend to levy against most mecha shows. However, those conventions have been so ingrained after so many years, now that it's being challenged not many are too happy about it. Feel free to disagree, but that's how I see this series and at least some of the criticism. |
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Mirri
Posts: 313 |
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The amount of text shown after the warning changes depending on the zoom you use in your browser- try ctrl+mousewheel up/down over the area with the article. Wasn't trying to be too mean, just thought that it'd be useful to note because it could upset some people if they were spoiled. Good stuff, hope that this doesn't happen again 
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Barbobot
 Posts: 460 |
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The issue he was bringing up is that Inaho at this point is just a completely boring character to watch. He's completely emotionless and doesn't seem to react to anything going on around him in any human way. He's very robotic in that way and is just not an interesting character to focus a show around. The show is far more interesting any time it's focusing on someone other than Inaho. |
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One-Eye
 Posts: 2261 |
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I think Inaho's emotional distance from things could be a character flaw, that is if the writer's take advantage of it particularly at some critical junction. He only seems to follow what he considers the logical route at times. I mean if they aren't setting him up for something down the road then yea he is gonna be pretty boring. But hey, maybe they will leave him like a robot for the whole show with no explanation as to why he acts as he does (I hope not).
I'm a little disappointed that Inaho's sister has kind of turned from a somewhat competent soldier into a bit of a ditz though. I also didn't buy previously that Count Crotch (whatever his name was) would ever feel anything for Slaine. The guy was a hardcore racist who got off on beating people he considered subhuman. His little change of heart was a little too sudden, but hey anime you know. I think there might be a possibility that he could still be alive. Showing his inactive mech made me think must you be dead for the Alnoah drive to turn itself off? Seems like a waste of energy for it to be on all the time. I'm surprised you can't turn it off at least to prevent others from using it? I mean if the princess wanted to stop the flying ship for whatever reason (got boarded and taken over by hostiles, etc) she'd have to suicide? Really? Rayet was slowly becoming my favorite character until she blue screened. I'm not sure I like how the whole thing with her and the princess was handled. It felt too...conventional? Why does the princess forgive her? Oh, because she's princess goody two-shoes. Yawn. Maybe if the princess was a good person that was actually a fool (I think she calls herself that) that made some poor choices, and perhaps continues to do so, then that might be interesting to me. Instead they want me to feel sorry for her and have a good cry with her and Rayet? Sigh. The battles have been fun, even though I think they needed to be spaced out more and perhaps address Lt. Marito's issues a little sooner, and overall I'll continue to watch because even with its issues I don't think its that bad as some others feel. I am waiting for something to really surprise me instead of the twists they throw in that don't make me feel surprised but annoyed. |
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Doodleboy
Posts: 296 |
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Ok the Asian warrior culture thing sounds... silly. Anyways I'm going to assume that this is your genuine opinion. I like talking about this stuff anyways. First let's agree that Inaho's a badass. He destroys super-robots that entire armies haven't been able to. Inaho's a badass. A military genius. You can be a crappy character and be a total badass. Character motivations, realism, etc have nothing to do with how badass a character is. My point is that he's still a piece of cardboard. You can describe Inaho in one sentence "He is anything but passionate, and he operates on logic, rather than emotions.". And ten episodes in, that's all he is. Ten episodes is plenty of time to develop a character. If you're entire world has been turned upside down within several days, if your daily-life has been completely destroyed, then I imagine your worldview also changes with it. The point of the other character examples was to show that having a emotionless badass doesn't mean you can't have a complex character. As for being unable to relate in characters in a science fiction setting... The entire point of reading any piece of fiction is empathy. I've never been a high-school teacher or a drug-lord, or a sociopath, I can still understand Walter White. I've never been a slave, but Solomon allows me to emphasize with that in "Twelve Years a Slave". The point of science fiction is to show what it means to be human by placing humans in a different world. What if humankind were on the verge of extinction how would they react? That premise is used in Attack on Titan. What if we lived in a world where cybernetics have been integrated to the point where humans start to become a hivemind? That's Stand Alone Complex. If you can't relate or emphasize with anyone who is living a radically different life then you? Man, why are you watching anime? Why are you consuming fiction in general? Inaho doesn't have to be realistic, but he needs to be a character you can emphasize with. |
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FenixFiesta
Posts: 2581 |
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The last battle was Episode 7? yeah, that is a good reason why I am having issues with the show at this point, the strong point of the series is the "dynamic, eye candy mecha fights" Inaho has been removed from his "best attribute" as a fighter and is as exciting as a bag of potatoes when on stand by. |
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JacobC
ANN Contributor
 Posts: 3728 Location: SoCal |
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Damn, I think this episode executed every single cliche in the anime cliche book it possibly could have inside of eight minutes. It was somehow anticlimactic and without real buildup all at once, I don't even know how you do that.
Someone teach the other Nitroplus guys how to write a meaningful story and characters. Maybe hold a seminar or something. |
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sainta
 Posts: 989 |
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I don't have much problems with Inaho. However, there is one exception. When he finally meets Slaine he just attempts to kill him five minutes after the two had become allies. That seemed like weak writing used to avoid progressing the plot and have Slaine be tortured.
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princess passa passa
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^Thank you! I keep waiting for this show to show up but it hasn't and they keep sidelining the more interesting character which is Slaine. I'm crossing my fingers that when Slaine interacts with the characters on Earth again the show will pick up and maybe he will be the one to make Inaho more than "a bag of potatoes" |
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DRosencraft
Posts: 666 |
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The warrior thing, all I can tell you is to read up on it. Most heroes in anime are crafted either in the mold of the classical ideal of a hero, or a counter to it. Look at Kakashi compared to Naruto. Kakashi is the classical ninja - quiet, subdued, not showing much emotion, percise, while Naruto is the "modern hero" being loud, flamboyant, reckless. Focusing on episode/page/chapter count rather than events is a bad idea in any context. As I said, this might not be the show for you if you're hoping that ten episodes that covers at most a handful of days will beget a sea-shift in a character's personality, then you're looking for a much faster paced show than this. Again, most anime abbreviate this process. In real life such changes take a long time - weeks or months, not days. That's why most people don't survive disasters. As it applies here, they were at war ten years ago, have been in an uneasy lull for those ten years knowing the war could start up again at any time. It's not as though Vers and Earth were having friendly relations the last ten years. They were eyeing each other, Earth mainly terrified of having to fight again. What's more, Inaho and company have been in military training. The start of a new conflict is not exactly a surprise, and shouldn't be something they are unprepared for. There was no world changing event for them, no destruction of their normal lives. This is exactly what they've been training for. For all intents and purposes they're not civilians, which while easy to forget as they run about in school uniforms, but is important for their characters. It's emphasized by the fact that none of the other students have shown themselves to be out of depth or exceptionally panicked either. This is what they've spent at least months preparing for, even if they didn't know when it would happen. My point is that I can empathize more with Inaho than most heroes who I personally see as just running about like fools, their only differentiation from anyone else being their title placement in the story as the MC/Hero. Most stories force the issue, having the MC act out to force a reaction. You clearly think differently, but I don't think that a character that just doesn't devolve into such antics is boring. If you don't agree, fine. I personally think he's a good character, and my only intent is to invite others to think about it a little more before condemning this show for him not falling into the routine of anime MCs. High school teachers, drug lords, sociopaths, slavery, death/extinction, even hive minds, are all things that exist or are close enough to existence that they are easy to relate to. Aliens, so far as we know, don't exist. If they do, we've no idea what they look like, what they act like, how they think. The ability to relate to characters in such stories is born from, as you note, forging a humanistic or demonstrably/determined non-human persona. I find it much weaker for a character to be pouring out a mass of emotions that merely strike a "cool" factor, are there just to be interesting, only entertaining, not something to relate to. I can easily find a show entertaining without relating to a single person or thing going on. Can I relate to someone who is sitting in a ship on a planet in another universe waiting to face an enemy fleet of aliens? Only in so far as I know they probably don't wanna die, and they probably have someone they care about they don't wanna die, and probably rather not have to fight but know the do have to anyway. I don't need them to spend an eternity restating this fact or showing off by screaming it to everyone all the time and running about like a lunatic trying to end the war single handed. I know that's not reality. It may look nice on screen, but that's about as "real" as the 'Real World". A quiet, studious type using what is really not all that complex or superb intellect, to face off against enemies chasing him while remaining calm without needlessly flying off the handle or devolving into a caricature of what is supposed to be "human" is fine for me, and apparently many others. You and many others seem to see it differently, so fine. You think he's boring and flat. I think he's a perfectly fine character for the story he's in. Sorry for another lengthy post everyone, but this is the last one I'll be making on this topic in this forum. For all those that are enjoying the show, I hope you continue to. Those that aren't, I hope you find something more to your liking. |
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AsherFischell
 Posts: 327 |
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A massive spoiler right in the headline picture. Thanks.
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ChibiKangaroo
 Posts: 2941 |
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To be honest, I don't think the strangulation is THAT big of a spoiler. We all know that she's a target for assassination. The more important question is whether she dies and who is the culprit. Neither of those is revealed in the visible headline.
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Twilightmaster
 Posts: 129 |
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I feel like I'm the only person who likes Inaho after reading a lot of the comments here. It feels like there's some kind of personal trauma to his back story which is why he's so cold and collected all the time, maybe having to do with the fact they've never talked about his parents? Maybe that's grasping at straws, but at the very least I think a lot of people are forgetting some things about him, for instance spoiler[he basically straight up told Slaine that he had his own ambitions for the princess before throwing him away to the enemy.] I think there's more surprises in store with him.
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