Enter Aldnoah Zero, quite literally an amazing anime with a strong opening, premise, characters, and heart. It started strong, and ended strong… At least with the first season.
Then, just like the rise and fall of a might empire, the “empire” that was Aldnoah Zero, the second season fell like Goliath being slain by David.
I have one question about that: What happened?
I am not sure about that, folks. But here are some simple ideas from a simple gentleman.
Let’s get into it, shall we?
If I were to review the show, I would give it a zero, literally. At least for season 2. It’s like the Yin and Yang symbol, in that season one is one side — filled with “good” and a little “bad”; season two filled with lots of “bad” and very little “good”.
Most of the strong and captivating characters did a 180, while others just fell off the wayside with their static appeal and lack of arc.
That aside, some of the greatness about the show was its strength in characters. Namely:
The Shinning Star — Princess Asseylum Vers Allusia
**Spoiler Alert: If you have not seen Aldnoah Zero, some of what is stated below may be consider spoilers. You have been warned. :) **
Princess Asseylum Vers Allusia is an amazing example of what it means to have heart. My inner-fandom aside, Princess Asseylum Vers Allusia had depth, conviction, and emotion. She is the kind of character you root for, a sympathetic one, if you will. She believed wholeheartedly in her cause for peace relations between Mars and Earth that she was willing to die for it.
It’s almost as if she was a real person, three-dimensional and all.
And that’s just one example of strong characters, but I believe she signifies one of the best in the show.
Whoever was in charge of creating her knew what they were doing. She is beautiful, she had amazing outfits, and her overall character design rocks.
Proactive and engaging, Princess Asseylum Vers Allusia is the kind of character that immerses you in the story, forgetting reality for a moment as you lean against the edge of your seat and become emotionally involved.
Princess Asseylum Vers Allusia has a passionate attractiveness to her. She’s true to herself, maybe even holding a bit of naivety, yet is so pure and heartfelt that you literally feel for her. She is kind and fair, and wants nothing more than to see Earth and Mars come to peace, even though the Vers (Martians) and Terrans disagree on this wholeheartedly.
The upside of this show is it grabs at your emotional heart strings and stretches them to their limit, leaving you with a considerable cliffhanger at the end of Season 1. Sadly, while Season 2 blows hard, you sorta have to watch it to get everything wrapped up, or forever be left hanging on the cliff edge like that motivation cat poster that claims, “hang on”.
But, I digress. What happened between Season 1 and Season 2 of this show?
Well, in my opinion, one man: Gen Urobuchi.
Enter Gen Urobuchi
Gen Urobuchi is often referred to as “The Butcher” because he literally and metaphorically slices his characters in two. Tragedy and heartache and anger go hand in hand with Gen Urobuchi’s writing and creation.
While tragedy and tension and conflict are sucky things in real life, they are they are magical ingredients in storytelling, which Gen Urobuchi shines at. He does it so well that he makes me want to choke him out sometimes, and that’s how I know he’s doing a good job, because he moves me emotionally, often pissing me off.
What I believe happened with Aldnoah Zero is that Gen Urobuchi was involved in the first few episodes and season one, then he vacated:
“Urobuchi produced the scripts for the opening 3 episodes of the first season, after which Katsuhiko Takayama took over, completing the remaining 9 episodes; Takayama continued in the second season, doing 7, with further writing credits going to Shinsuke Onishi (4 episodes) and Ayumi SEkine (1 episode).”
In other words, once Gen Urobuchi was not involved, Aldnoah Zero died.
Why did he leave? It sounds like, again, because of a disagreement:
“Urobuchi created the mainframe from the story until the preliminary version as Aoki was responsible for the characters; as a result, he does not feel connected with Inaho developed by Aoki, although he stated, ‘Aoki-san is a pleasure to work with on storyboard.”
While he seems like a talented professional that is in some ways, easy to work with, if you will, while also being understanding and diplomatic individual, he left because he did not feel the heart of the story, and a man as passionate and driven and talented as Gen Urobuchi doesn’t seem to compromise on his vision.
Which is why he probably has such powerful creations, because he has something to say.
The absence of Urobuchi from Aldnoah Zero, ironic as it is, led to the cutting down of the story, eventually leading to its death.
If Urobuchi had stayed on, I am sure the show would have continued to have some semblance of good flow and congruent characters.
What Happened to Slaine?
For example, Slaine, a great, conflicted, and confused character in his own right, did a whole 180 — in fact, he did a 360. It was crazy. Everything he had lived for — devoted himself to — suddenly changed. And it didn’t make a lick of sense, at least based on how the character was when Gen Urobuchi was on the scene.
Perhaps it did to some. But to this viewer, it ended up in a bunch of question marks.
My solution (which would pale in comparison to what Urobuchi could have done if he had stayed on the show) would be to have Inaho and Slaine team up, reluctantly at first, and eventually form a tenuous and strained friendship, becoming a beacon of symbolism for the show as a whole, while also putting their relationship in conflict because of their dueling feelings for the Princess Asseylum Vers Allusia.
Granted, that could totally ruin it as well, as I am not a professional script writer, nor a character or story writer.
But you could build conflict elsewhere, because without conflict you just had the dud that was Season 2, or conflict in a way that is more like confusion and question marks and rubbing of heads with blank expressions.
The potential tension and conflict between those two and their love for Princess Asseylum Vers Allusia would have been a great addition to help the story move along with emotionally strong appeal, but instead it just all fell apart, like my love for the show as a whole, which is sad because it really was a good show, at least at first.
And that, as they say is that.
What do you think of the show as a whole? Do you believe it fell apart during Season 2, or was it a diamond in the rough?
Cheers,
Gentleman JSRD