UROBUCHI TIME. I’ve been really excited for ALDNOAH.ZERO, the latest animated work (partially) written by the celebrated, the notorious, Gen Urobuchi, whose other works I’ve had a fair sampling of and developed a taste for. His style is really distinctive and provocative; aside from the title of ‘UroBUTCHER’ he’s won for being apt to callously and suddenly butcher characters in his scripts, Urobuchi has been known to like shoving philosophy into his viewers’ faces, particularly concerning utilitarianism, and employ characters that function primarily as representations of an ideal. I won’t say his style is for everyone, but whatever Urobuchi is involved in seems to stick out in a good way, which does have a lot to do with his uniqueness. I personally love Urobuchi’s brutal, often homiletic tendencies. Anyone who’s able to resist or ignore the pressure of adhering to the norm while still producing something meaningful and well-crafted WILL produce something that deserves close attention. For that, Urobuchi can be relied on.
EPISODE 1
(you can actually see the times from the progress bar in these screenshots, lol)
1:00 – The lighting, shining from underneath, gave the scene a light, heavenly quality for me
1:06 – Bro, I’m pretty sure it’s due to Rayleigh scattering, which isn’t quite the same thing
1:17 – Bending light by itself doesn’t change/split up the colors but w/e. A more relevant point is that the girl seems to be fascinated with the earth’s environment
1:38 – Giving your characters conspicuously significant names 101 – by Urobuchi
So far, this anime is reallly easy on the eyes.
3:26-3:28 – Just what the hell constitutes waking someone up, exactly?
4:03 – whhhaaaa
4:15 – The Aldnoah. Reminds me of stuff like ‘the sibil system’ and ‘the Incubators’ also by Urobuchi.
4:26 – So is this the dopey, cheerful, happy-go-lucky one?
5:04 – Calm down.
5:11 – No one gives a shit, you fucking tryhard
7:24 – Or they think you’re the shit
8:34-8:46 – I’m getting some hints of anti war-preparation-indoctrination from this guy
9:30 – Reminds me faintly of Yossarian from Catch-22
9:34-9:46 – Corollary: bitter cynicism. also pretty crazy coincidence that these two times are exactly 1 minute after the previous ones from this guy I really didn’t do it on purpose it must mean im unconsciously a math genius
10:42 – omgz just the Mother Teresa we need
12:23 – 12:27 – Egalitarian words
14:06 – This bitch tryna throw shade
16:00 – 16:07 – Lol, I love this guy
16:22 – Nooooooooo you don’t know what you’re starting here your terrorist operation will be used to justify something wayyy worse by the royal scumbags
16:53 – 17:01 – I think he was more excited about eggs being on sale
18:09 – God save the princess.. oh fuck
18:31 – Honest and impartial reporting totally uninflammatory
19:13 – Goddamn brinksmanship
21:23 – 21:28 – Chills + Hoooooolly crap… they were vaporized… the music and dynamic of this scene is really powerful
22:05 – Wish upon a falling explosive – brutal irony, VERY Urobuchi
THOUGHTS: Daamn. I was first struck by the episode’s gorgeous visual aesthetic. The lighting, animation, and flow of the scenes are all really good and what I really liked in particular was that although the character designs aren’t strikingly different or anything they don’t seem generic, and I think that is in part due to the fluid animation. My favorite character so far is the seemingly absent minded MC, Inaho, who is obviously much more perceptive than he appears. He’s chill right now, so I hope he doesn’t become overly too cool for school. I also liked the princess, although I feel like so far, more than an character, she is a representation of benevolent good will. I guess her demise, or apparent demise at least, shows how futile goodwill is in the face of spiteful human nature.
Honestly, I hope the terrorists were actually Terran terrorists instead of plants by the Martians with the task of generating an excuse for the takeover of Earth, because the former opens up more relevant things to say about war and revenge. If the former’s true, that is, if Earth terrorists did want to get back at the Martians for being forced into submission, then a step toward peace was actually thwarted by one side’s hunger for revenge, and the whole thing wasn’t just a plot by the evil scheming Martians. I feel like “persisting resentment inhibits humanity’s well-being” is a worthy theme to explore, and I have no idea what the alternative is. Aldnoah.zero clearly has a lot of available paths to choose thematically, as the one lieutenant guy by himself has already made a bunch of loaded statements having to do with war, indoctrination, kind of a stretch but I’m reading Catch-22 right no so even the foolishness of patriotism. Anywho, I am excited for the next episode in this undeniably promising series.
mostly in store 
