YESSSSS i got this one in before episode 3 airs. A few hours before, admittedly…
SO. Aldnoah.zero. Gen Urobuchi. That’s what this was gonna be about.
The first episode of Aldnoah.zero was dedicated primarily to exposition, but it was exposition I enjoyed all the same. We have two ‘races’ at odds with one another, with one of them really being a group of humanity that had branched off to living on Mars after chancing upon an enigmatic and potent alien technology called the “Aldnoah.” The Martians, under the title of the ‘Vers Empire,’ have just declared war against Earth, provoked by a terrorist attack on the Vers Princess Asseyleum during her embassy. The act of terrorism may have truly been the work of the earthlings (‘Terrans’), but it just as well could have been a Vers plot to vindicate an all out assault on planet Earth. I personally prefer the former, because it puts the Terrans at fault as well for overzealously seekingrevenge, instead of the more one-sided scenario of the Vers masterminding everything. But w/e. Let’s get into the episode to find out what did happen!
0:37 – I guess we’re off to an explosive start
0:52 – I like this opening song. Reminds me of the Madoka soundtrack, and Fate/zero openings at the same time.
2:04 – Love this ending to the opening. The Princess swerves to point the gun at the screen, and then the cryptic inscription (SO Urobuchi), “LET JUSTICE BE DONE, THOUGH THE HEAVENS FALL” cuts in. This is definitely going to be addressed in a significant and compelling way. Love it.
2:28 – Holy mother of op missile barrage
2:59 – They used the missiles to sever Terran communication. Clever Marshinz
3:05 – And, apparently, blow up satellites!?? DAmn, they’re good. Also, a scary prospect to face in our world
3:22 – Not a happy ending at all for that squadron of Terran fighters. Seriously. They were laser-obliterated in an instant.
3:42 – Literally lemmings jumping off a cliff one by one or actually all at once since the Vers’s overpowered technology can probably explode all of them simultaneously
4:08 – … Is this what the conquistadors said in Spanish when they landed in the Americas? Also why does the mecha look so insectoid
Great montage, shifting from location to location to show the global extent of the annihilation
5:10 – yeah, you are
6:20 – Damn, the Vers thought this out ahead, with what the whole cutting links to everything so the civilians don’t know what’s going on. They’re just milling about, totally oblivious to the peril they’re in
6:45 – Neither do the kids have any idea about the scope of what they’re facing
7:30 – Fuckign Inaho is chilling at home while everyone’s being evacuated
7:38 – His gut instinct is literally to disregard everything to check if there’s a sale on eggs
8:11 – zomgzomgzomg hes gonna run into the Vers ambassadors
8:22 – TECHNICALLY….
8:39 – My token of gratitude is incapacitating you (painfully, it looks like)
9:33 – OMGOGMOGMOGMOM THEYRE GONNA MIX WITH THE EARTHLINGS SO INTEREST
9:48 – LOL I CAN ONLY THINK OF SLAINE TRYHARD
10:30 – A princess can only take such debasement for so long…
13:34 – This guy seems like a dicklord
13:53 – woooooooooow
15:07 – Treacherous guy
15:22 – This girl better fucking live there has to be a reason she was standing apart from all the other Vers in hiding who got crushed other than to make it more sadistic and distressing for the viewer when she dies 1.5 minutes later I would only need to be this paranoid when it’s Urobuchi
15:25 – goddamn, LOL thiis guy has issues
16:07 – he knows nothing in his heroic naivete
16:36 – OK GOOD SHE GOT SAVED … now spare her pls urobuchi, AT LEAST FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE EPISODE
17:06 – The vocal melody breaks in, full force. Powerful soundtrack/use of it. This guy realizes how callow he was, and it’s the last thought he’ll have. War, anyone? This shit was in Catch-22
17:27 – If he’s openly sacrificing himself you bettter fucking run immediately
17:37 – That’s gonna work
17:37 – …. please run
Actually though, it is an entirely plausible reaction in that situation to hesitate, despite the fact that doing so may be throwing away your comrade’s sacrifice. It seems unthinkable to just abandon someone to their certain death simply after being told to do so. Even though the rational conclusion is that you can do nothing to help them, that’s not one that’s supported by human impulses
BUT PLEASE JUST FUCKIGN RUNN BITCH!!!
18:12 – ok now you start running
18:34 – YESSS that girl’s probably safe at least
19:20 – Sounds fucking cool when the MC says brake in Jap English, “Burayke.” Plus hes in a position where he’s basically the shit right now, telling everyone how survive this ordeal
19:23 – cool af
19:28 – HOOOOLLlLLLY shit they braked so that the legs of the mecha being towed by their truck would come into contact with the pursuing Vers mecha, whose overpowered technologies disintegrate whatever comes near. Result: Legs vaporized. Lighter Load. Can go faster now. So ballsy. If they weren’t precise they could have all been eradicated
19:30 – Apparently Japanese for “hit the gas” is ‘AKKUSELLU!’
19:51 – GODDAMNIT UROBUCHi
20:07 – U playin games Urobuchi
20:26 – Urobutcher*
20:30 – An ordinary reaction to your friend getting vaporized right before of your eyes
21:30 – I strongly suspect this specific request will not be heeded
22:11 – BADASS, DESPITE EVERYTHING
WHOA. Aldnoah.zero has just kicked into high gear, and as early as episode 2 at that. We have the Tokyo and the rest of the planet completely decimated by the overwhelmingly powerful Martian forces, we have a group of high school kids who have no idea what they’re doing, except one bizarre ass detached ass still badass ass MC, a fugitive princess and her butler, a Vers double agent girl who was supposed to be killed, that other blond MC who has to suffer being the pilot of a giant cockweed, the giant cockweed and a bunch of other royal cockweed, and probably a whole bunch of other shit. I’m super excited for what the MC seemed to promise in the final frame of the episode: taking down the Martian Kataphrakt. By the way, the denouement to this episode was on par with that of episode 1 of Zankyou no Terror, which is to say it was breathtaking and left me immediately pining for the next episode. The music is great and complements the dire scenes of destruction depicted thus far perfectly. At this point I’m too caught in the flurry to have room left to contemplate thematic direction, but the obvious signs point to antiwar, facing the reality of war (new platoon captain getting owned horribly, high school students in for some PTSD, etc) messages. Knowing Urobuchi, he’ll spin something emotionally and intellectual engaging… butchering numerous character victims along the way, of course. If you don’t know Urobuchi, I have something to say to you: THESE CHARACTERS ARE SENTENCED. They are sentenced to suffer cruel and horrible fates at the hands of their creator, who is a sadistic genius.
Btw http://geekorner.wordpress.com/ caught the actual meaning behind Slaine’s last name, Troyard, which definitely isn’t tryhard. It’s referring to Troy, specifically the Trojan Horse, which Slaine pretty much is right now in the cockpit of that giant Vers cockweed. Nice one
mostly in store 
