A sequel that was suspected…and then became very suspect…
What They Say:
The year is 2016 a year and a half after the assassination of Princess Asseylum. Despite his status as a Terran, Slaine has been granted the title of Mars Knight, is now served by his own personal subordinate, and has been taking part in battles against the United Forces of Earth. Meanwhile on Earth, the Deucalion is finishing up its repairs as, one by one, the ships former crewmembers return in order to proceed to a new battlefront.
Contains all 12 episodes of season 2 with both the English dub and the original Japanese track with English subtitles.
The Review:
Audio:
For a Blu-Ray release, surprisingly we only have a 2.0 Stereo release of English and Japanese – nothing wrong with either track (actually was fine on the default settings, watched the first disc in English and the second in Japanese – no problems with the synching or with the subtitles, also able to easily select subtitles with the English dub which is surprisingly rare), just a bit surprising there was no 5.1 track. Very straightforward release quality wise, no glitches I noticed with music, foley, background noise, etc – just with the very nature of the series a 5.1 release would have been great. (That amazing opening song…)
Video:
Set with the original 1.78:1 aspect ratio, we have HD quality with combining CGI for the robots (sometimes it’s obvious, other time it isn’t) with the gorgeous colours of combining mother Earth with the gritty Martian environment – the animation feels loved as it feels that despite incorporating certain technology it keeps to its roots and a magnificent palate emerges – this flows well because there is so much action intermixed with the amount of talking, plot twists and action on screen it still is clear what is going on and transfers well onto the small screen. A quality release.
Packaging:
There was no packing for this test release.
Menu:
Very basic menu on all four discs – we have alternate discs of images of several of the characters on a white background on the left side, whilst on the right-hand side the selections are on a black trapezoid like grid of Play All, Episodes, Set Up (Discs 1 and 3) and Extras (Discs 2 and 4) – all are easy to navigate, quick to select both from the main menu and pop-up menus in show, but nothing eye-catching – very basic and simplistic.
Extras:
We have the clean opening and promotional video on disc 2, and the clean ending on Disc 4.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The ending of the first season of Aldnoah Zero ended with a big cliff-hanger that screamed sequel. Inaho getting shot by Slaine, Princess Asseylum apparently dead and Slaine’s future undecided, the three core characters all been warped and you wonder what is going to happen to the Deucalion, is Inaho still alive and what Slaine, persecuted in the past for his Earth heritage is going to do after killing one of his own but also choosing to play for the Martians. In Japan, it took just 4 months before Season 2 came out with questions needed to be answered. I enjoyed the 1st season of Aldnoah.Zero because it took a unique twist on two sides with both sides having likeable protagonists and the whole race angle combined with the likeability but also naivety of Princess Asseylum and the fact both guys were in love with her gave some emotional twists combined with the battles it gave.
The second season gives us some twists indeed – but do they manage to be as engaging?
Set 19 months after the end of Season 1, Slaine is now in control of the Tharsis- and the Vers Empire under his now promotion as a Vers Knight AND the power of Aldnoah is strange enough. What adds to it is that Princess Asseylum not only is alive but supports his beliefs to conquering Earth. However, Inaho is also alive and during an attack from some Martians he is able to defeat a bay of them – it is here we see a flashback to what happened at the end of last season – Slaine didn’t kill Saazbaum and escaped with him (hence how he got his power) and the apparently dead Asseylum, whilst Inaho was shot through the eye – which would normally be death but miracously some of Asseylum’s blood has been splattered on him and ingested (she has the power of Aldnoah remember) and now he can activate Aldnoah Drives too (though doesn’t explain how he still survived…) – because of this, he can reactivate the Deucalion whilst Asseylum gives war speeches…
…and then you realises it isn’t Asseylum. It is in fact the cliché of not quite twin sister but another princess named Lemrina disguised as Asseylum whilst the real one is left alive in a medical tank, which only Slaine, Saazbaum, Lemrina and Eddelrittuo are aware of. So whilst the fact everyone is alive isn’t a huge surprise, Inaho who was already near invincible now has even more power is going to make this a pretty much similar story to Season 1 with just the addition of an out of nowhere ‘twin’ in Lemrina.
Lemrina in all honesty is the most interesting character but at the same time it is almost a convenient plot device – she is clearly scheming to take over from Asseylum (even considering killing her life support at one point) and her relationship with Slaine as Slaine has to wonder to keep on her side or remain loyal to Asseylum. Slaine and Inaho’s rivalry also continues with Inaho’s new eye to have pinpoint accuracy but Slaine’s Tharsis with the Aldnoah Drive able to see when shots will be hit and able to dodge. With the two sides in constant combat, sadly most of the cast seem to be put by the wayside even worse than in Season 1 (fan favourites such as Rayet, Yuki and Marito get a few moments but sadly nothing major). They do recycle the whole ‘Slaine is a Terran’ angle now that he has power but Saazbaum adopts him as his son to avoid potential harm…
…which of course Slaine takes full advantage and kills Saazbaum for trying to kill Asseylum, suggesting Slaine’s intelligence showcased in Season 1 is now full on plotting and now a Count of the Vers Empire much to the chagrin of many of the higher ups. This brings us a number of the upper echelon to try and go against him, and one of notices is Count Mazuurek who actually wants to preserve Earth’s natural resources – he is however defeated but captured, whilst Slaine earns the respect of the Vers Knights via singlehandedly destroying one of the main bases. The key is Mazuurek was loyal to Princess Asseylum and Inaho actually sneaks him out to get to him and find the real Asseylum (Inaho realises through some of Slaine’s words that the girl portraying Asseylum is fake) whilst Slaine’s goals are furthered as more respect him, and a duel involving one of the more racist knights Marylcian doesn’t end well for him…just as Lemrina nearly shuts off life support for Asseylum after using Slaine as a marriage chip…but just then, she wakes up…
Slaine is caught between two worlds and girls, and it is worse when Asseylum has amnesia but remembers moments of Inaho and not him. Mazuurek also works it out and helps out Edelrittuo which allows Asseylum to recover her memories.
After some battles (with Inaho using his abilities to the upmost but it now seems to be affecting physically), a big twist hits when Lemrina confronts Asseylum, and it leads to them appearing to team up to arrest Slaine. However, a loophole due to him now an honorary Vers makes that not happen….just as last minute plot twist hits with the son of Crutheo, Count Klancain arrives…and boy does this twist make most of the series seem redundant.
You see, outside the political story and the in depth battles, the other key thing this series had was a good love triangle between Inaho, Asseylum and Slaine. And whilst it seemed in favour of Inaho it was never cut and dry. The introduction of Klancain…basically screws over the fans of this. So whilst Inaho’s eye slowly begins to control him, yet still goes to save Asseylum, Klanclein, a defender of the Emperor evacuates her against Slaine’s orders, she returns to her peaceful ideologies…and announces she will marry Klancain.
…..O.K……
It ends with both sides unsure what is going on (pretty much like the audience) with Slaine going for one last free for all battle with Inaho, which Inaho barely wins, but saves Slaine’s life and he apparently is killed as he was used as a scapegoat as the original assassination attempt – whereas he actually is in a secret prison facility as Asseylum spares him as the care is still there. It ends with apparent hope for all three…
…which is why this series is a lot weaker than the first season.
The ending is just one of several issues this second season has. The hope is basically Slaine pretty much imprisoned for life, Asseylum’s feelings for him and Inaho disregarded for a peace treaty which whilst not uncommon, comes out of nowhere for a last 3 episode character (especially for those who were interested in the love triangle) and Inaho pretty much returning to normal after an intense control of himself which just resolves…just like that. It feels really flat especially considering the focus of the entire series is with these 3 characters. Even Lemrina, who at least gave an interesting and alternative point of view, is pretty much left in the cold – she doesn’t die but it’s like ‘oh, her role is now over…well, that was anti-climactic…’ Basically, the ending feels like a broken mess and really hurts on Slaine.
The battles are still good but as most of the cast involved are barely in it aside from the above, it basically feels like mecha porn until Inaho arrives to say the day. Asseylum is written out of it for most of the part, and when she does get her memories back (in one of the few clever segments with the character of Mazuurek) a lot of her character development was shelved, to the point that her treatment of Slaine at the end seems very out of character (yes, she wanted him to live but you get the feeling the ideas were forced on her outside of she saying those words herself) – it doesn’t help that Inaho, already seemingly invincible, gets even stronger and his only issue is the eye controlling him (which only occurs near the end and is quickly written off shortly after) – and whilst you could have predicted all 3 surviving, that plus the addition of the dreaded evil twin mechanic out of nowhere AND the fact Asseylum is marrying someone introduced in the last minute, it feels like ‘what a twist’ was the name of this 12 episode arc, and it REALLY feels like a mess.
There are some good moments – Slaine for example actually IMO becomes the most interesting character – able to get into power despite his Earth nature yet still in love with Asseylum and willing to be with her, but even she can’t stop his ideals which does hurt him – plus he has some conflict when Lemrina vs. her half-sister which makes him easily the most fleshed out character in the series. Plus he is responsible for not just some bad-ass moments with his new skills, but perhaps the best magnificent bastard moment in the series where he does get revenge on Saazblum after following a plan to be on his side…and then screwing him over at the last minute because you hurt the princess, you are going to be eventually suffering a lot of pain. Combined with the feel good moments he gets against the racist Counts who try to demean him, Slaine definitely upped his character in this season to the point he feels much more of a protagonist than Inaho does.
Maybe that’s why I felt this series was more disappointing – because the switch was to Slaine and the fact that his ending is presenting as happy yet is clearly not, makes his a hard to watch series – it can get confusing and with so many characters relegated to the background, the focus is just on Slaine, Inaho and the princesses. The explanations of how they lived combined with how Inaho gets Aldnoah powers, whilst kind of makes sense still is quite illogical – and whilst you can argue Slaine was a character you could not like after the end of Season 1, the fact both sides have good reasons for what they do makes the finale really cheap as whilst Asseylum gets what she wants, it wasn’t the way you expected…and dare I say…not the way the fans wanted it. Combined with a lot of battles which whilst look good are all for the sake of showcasing Inaho and Slaine, it is sadly a rather disappointing second season to what looked like an impressive series.
In Summary:
I looked forward to the sequel of Aldnoah.Zero after the cliff-hanger at the end of Season 1 – however whilst some of it was predictable, the changes and swerves they made…didn’t help much. The only real plus is Slaine’s character and how he changes the system after being spat upon due to his race, but even then that ends up for nought considering the rushed finale. Combined with an unsatisfying conclusion of a love triangle, and some new characters whilst bringing some things to the table are also cast by the wayside, Inaho’s invincibility and quick dismissal of the few times he can get hurt, makes this a sequel that needed a lot more care to it.
Features:
Japanese Language, English Language, English Subtitles, Clean Openings, Clean Endings
Content Grade: C
Audio Grade: B
Video Grade: A
Packaging Grade: N/A
Menu Grade: B
Extras Grade: C-
Released By: Anime Ltd
Release Date: January 9th, 2017
MSRP: £39.99
Running Time: 300 minutes
Video Encoding: 1080p AVC
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Widescreen
Review Equipment:
Playstation 4, Sony Bravia 32 Inc EX4 Television, Aiwa 2 Way Twin Duct Bass Reflex Speaker System.