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Aldnoah.Zero
Episode 19

by Theron Martin,

While watching episode 19, one observation became inescapable: no matter what else happens, Lemrina is screwed. That she didn't kill Asseylum when she had the golden opportunity to do so last episode – in other words, her actually valuing family and not being fully ruthless – has sealed her fate. With Asseylum waking up, and Slaine entirely deceiving Lemrina about that, she is now firmly entrapped in the role of being merely a convenient tool, and unlike before, she now has no recourse to climb her way out. It isn't for lack of effort on her part, either, but a random comment from Slaine about how accidents can happen all but assures that there is no good ending for her. Is she better or worse off for not knowing that yet?

And yes, as expected, Asseylum does fully wake up this episode, complete with an undoubtedly genuine display of tears from Slaine. That the scene is beautifully contrasted in alternating shots with the beginning of Slaine's big offensive on Earth is possibly the series' most bitter irony to date. He seems to be keeping her entirely in the dark about what's been going on, too (that Asseylum has apparently not asked any troublesome questions yet is being implied by a foggy – but not entirely absent! – memory of her time on Earth), which means that he is now juggling two princesses and keeping them unaware of each other on the same ship, and all on top of completing his big power play, which aims to draw most of the Vers Knights under his allegiance. That's quite a heady load of stress he is piling on himself, and he is already starting to show the pressure; his repeated efforts to reassure himself that he is on a path of no return only reinforce how conflicted he is over what he is doing. In a sense he is getting himself every bit as entrapped into his role as Lemrina, only in his case it is entirely of his own doing rather than his fate being at the mercy of others. While not a novel angle to play, it is nonetheless an interesting one.

Speaking of emoting, Inaho is incrementally increasing his, as he shows (gasp!) both happiness and concern in this episode. The latter comes because this episode finally addresses a long-standing complaint against the series: that even though the Vers Knights are competing with each other as well as the Earth forces for honor and glory, it is not getting them anywhere. If they want to be certain to defeat the ornery Earth forces, they have to pile on the pressure – in other wordss, finally bring multiple Aldnoah-powered Kataphrakts into a single battle. The series' logic is doubtless that it took a unifying force like Slaine to make such a team-up effort feasible, but really this just came down to the creative staff saving an Aldnoah team-up for a suitably dramatic turning point. Should be amusing to see how Inaho thinks his way out of this one, especially when he's stopped just as he seemed ready to nail yet another Martian Kataphrakt with his smarts.

That's not even all, either. Mazuurek is back in his landing castle and finding that even people once opposed to Slaine are buying into his rhetoric now that the princess has given him her voice and Aldnoah powering-granting authority, so he faces a difficult road. Captain Magbaredge now seems to be trusting Morita to have her back (a point which the rank-and-file cannot help but speculate about) and Lemrina also gives us a rare (for this series) dose of fan service, too.

All-in-all, the episode is loaded with meaningful content and developments, with a meaty dramatic side, more character development than most previous episodes, and even some action skillfully shoehorned in. While the series may still have its problems, it is firing on all cylinders here.

Rating: B+

Aldnoah.Zero is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.


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