Aldnoah.Zero

Episodes 13-14

Aldnoah.Zero ended its first season by (shockingly) apparently killing off two of its three main cast members. Only they're not dead, and if the new opener is not misleading us, neither is Count Cruhteo; in fact, I'd bet money that he is going to pop up again at some point around mid-season when the plot progression makes his re-entrance suitably dramatic. Many didn't believe that the other two were actually killed, either, and in retrospect that should have been obvious, as either Inaho or Asseylum actually being dead would have been a major deviation from the narrative that the series had been constructing so far.

While other things are certainly going on, episode 14 in particular makes clear one plot angle suggested at times during the first season: that this series is ultimately going to be at least as much about a personal struggle between Inaho and Slaine as a Vers Empire/Earth struggle, with the prize being Asseylum. The writing has diligently tried to distract from this point, perhaps in an effort not to look too much like a typical mecha show, but too many factors point in that direction, including that being the only real way so far to make sense of why, narratively speaking, Slaine chose not only to not finish off Saazbaum but also ally with him, as shown in episode 13. The only way that decision makes logical sense is that Slaine knew Saazbaum was deeply committed to honoring what he perceived as debts and so he had little to fear for Asseylum if he made her well-being a condition for saving Saazbaum and working with him. Even if that is true, though, it's thin logic. Him continuing to work with the Vers Empire does make a bit more sense, as he does know them, his only direct contacts with Earth forces to date have been his contentious meetings with Inaho (definitely not the best person to give a good first impression!), and while he knows that Asseylum wouldn't have been in favor of the Vers Empire waging war on Earth, the only pipeline he has for info on how Asseylum might have favorably regarded and trusted the Earth forces would have come from the captured/recovered Eddeulrutio, who had a quite biased and far less trusting viewpoint. Even so, it still seems more like a plot convenience than hard logic.

The other thing that is clear from these two episodes is that widespread displeasure with Inaho as a character will only be amplified by these episodes. In episode 13 Inaho single-handedly saves the day against an Aldnoah-powere Kataphrakt by pulling yet another clever stunt, while in episode 14 he's able to hit targets that others aren't in a space duel via superior calculation ability and is even able to go toe-to-toe with Slaine's Tharsis, whose special ability is apparently some kind of short-term predictive projections. (That's what it takes to get around Inaho's awesomeness, you see.) He also now apparently has the ability to activate Aldnoah devices, which he got from Asseylum (I'll get back to that), and a new cybernetic eye, which gives him improved perception that, according to episode 14, even grants him a measure of lie detection ability. That does lead to the funniest scene in either episode, when Rayet calls him an idiot for being insensitive with Inko and Inaho reads her as not lying, but even as someone who never had a major problem with Inaho in the first season, I have to admit that this is getting quite ridiculous.

Asseylum's situation is less clear. Both episodes show her being held, apparently comatose, in some sort of stasis/healing tank, which is regularly visited by Slaine. While it's hardly unheard-of for individuals to be comatose for 19 months (the duration of the time lapse between the first and second season), that seems unlikely given the advanced Aldnoah tech available, so something else may be going on there. Of course, it could also just be a plot convenience to allow for her younger, crippled half-sister, the Princess Lemrina, to get involved in the story. She is one of two major new additions to the regular cast so far (the other being Slaine's new right-hand man) and episode 14 suggests that she may have been illegitimate, which might explain why her existence was not even referenced in the first season. Clearly she was mostly overlooked in favor of Asseylum, whom she is shown late in episode 14 to be deeply jealous of, but her royal blood still gives her Aldnoah activation ability, which makes her valuable – and she is all too well aware that people probably wouldn't be bothering with her otherwise. Saazbaum would have had no need for getting involved with her while he was trying to pass off Asseylum as dead, but now that he is passing Asseylum off as being alive, he has a use for Lemrina as a stand-in for Asseylum in dealings with the public and Emperor. In fact, episode 14 even indicates that she has effectively taken control of the Vers Empire in that guise.

The other hairy matter these two episodes bring up is the transmission of Aldnoah activation ability from Royal Family members to others. Suspicions raised by some during the first season about Slaine having gained his ability to activate Tharsis from mouth-to-mouth contact with Asseylum years earlier seems to be true, as that also seems to be how Inaho gained it and is reinforced by Lemrina's actions with Slaine in episode 14. This process still isn't clear and there are some inconsistencies (could Slaine not reactivate Tharsis because it was shut down by a Royal Family member other than the one he got his Aldnoah ability from?), but direct contact with the bodily fluids of a Royal Family member is implied to be the mechanism.

An actual story is going on (kind of) amongst all of the speculative points brought up by these two episodes, but it is of secondary importance at this point. In the 19 months since the end of the first season, action on Earth seems to have largely stalemated, with the Vers Empire forces holding the bulk of Earth but some Asian areas still holding out. (This in itself seems improbable, given how badly beat up the Earth forces were at the end of episode 12.) Earth forces, including the Deucalion, are gathering at a base in the asteroid belt above Earth for a planned assault on the Vers Empire's own asteroid base. (That the Earth forces can manage this, and still have such a base left, also seems improbable.) Meanwhile Saazbaum is advancing his agenda that taking over the Earth can be a key to correcting social inequities within the Vers Empire, something which Slaine is more skeptical about but still goes along with, and he is using Lemrina to pose as Asseylum as part of his schemes. A few mecha battles get scattered amongst all of the character and plot development, as if to remind us that this is still an action series. A greater camaraderie also seems to have developed amongst the girls on the Deucalion, as Rayet is now “one of the gang,” a development which may actually make her less interesting.

The technical prowess of the series is still strong, with the battle scenes being nicely-animated and some sharp choices on perspectives in places; one particularly good sequence uses Vers ships aerobraking as they go around the Earth as a backdrop for showing some of the destruction on the Earth. The musical score offers a little more variety and attention to detail is still strong, including showing Earth forces crew and pilots actually wearing full spacesuits when going into space combat and the effect of low gravity on keeping hair neat. The new opener and closer, which both debut with episode 14, are both more notable for their visual than songs, with the closer being a clear downgrade from the first season's “aLIEz.”

Overall, I see nothing in the start of the second season which is going to make this half of Aldnoah.Zero any less contentious than the first season ended up being. Its logic, though present, is too shaky in places and it aggravates common complaints made about the first season more than correcting them. I am giving it a mildly positive grade because I still find the entertainment value to significantly outweigh the flaws, but if you had grown to dislike the series by the end of the first season then nothing here is likely to change your mind.

Rating: C+

Aldnoah.Zero is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.