ALDNOAH.ZERO 2nd Season

One of the most controversial anime to come out these past couple of seasons finally comes to a close. But who comes out on top? Slaine fans get “Slained” and you Inaho dogs, just sit there and don’t smile. Nah, I’m just kidding! Caution: Spoilers for both seasons are present!

Picking up from the first half’s suspenseful ending, silent protagonist Inaho undergoes a surgery that connects some sort of calculating machine into his shot eye. No. He’s not dead, but the thing’s pretty cool. The Deucalion suits up for battle, and while the Terrans celebrate their temporary “victory” / prepare for any Martian activity, the Martians step up their game.

As Slaine, the Terran-born Vers soldier accompanies Count Saazbaum, who seeks revenge on Earth, an “accident” occurs and Saazbaum is killed. In an attempt to restore the Vers Empire and reclaim the blue planet, Slaine ascends to Count status and primitively the throne with a new gal who literally came out of NOWHERE, wheel-chair-bound, lavender-haired Princess Lemrina.

Rather than stand by twiddling their thumbs, the Terrans take the fight to the Martians, and an all-out space war rages! But the fate of the two races ultimately resides in Princess Asseylum Vers Allusia, whose preserved body in Martian Custody slowly reawakens . . . a bullet to the brain and she didn’t die either. Damn.

I’ll admit – I really enjoyed the first season, especially the end. Sure the plot and characters went downhill after the first 6 or so episodes, but it kept me thrilled to see what would happen next.

Season two is a bit different, however. First the pros. The show starts stronger than ever before with the inclusion of Asseylum’s sister Lemrina was probably one of the series’ best moves. While my favorite moments in the first season were obviously the glamorous, high-energy robot battles, season two’s were the drama talks among the Martian hierarchy. The manipulative Lemrina is an essential part of Slaine’s motive for justice, for she can change her appearance to mirror Seylum’s, masking any idea that Seylum had died. In turn, she is a thorn in his side, desiring his affection and secretly wishing that she could replace her comatose sister for good. Though these additions couldn’t save the series in the end, the spicy and dramatic relationships really turned up the emotional dial for this sequel – I only wish I could’ve see more of Lemrina.

Now the cons. The plot is an obvious wreck. Poor pacing, bad balance of characters, and a much different (lesser) tone than the first half resulted in a LACKLUSTER ENDING. Seriously, after two seasons of killer alien robots and explosive combat and emotions – no one died. Not even any of Inaho’s friends took the fall. I’m not saying that death is a good thing in anime; it’s simply that ALDNOAH.ZERO went through a lot of trouble and no one bit the bullet.

Overall, season two values a softer and more emotional approach to a very different story. While the franchise still retains its innumerable plot holes, lacks proper character attention, and frankly sh*ts on its own design, A.Z is still passes as a decent tragedy.

Characters, what’s to say? The sequel drops any supporting Terrans, so you can all forget about Inaho’s friends. Well, maybe besides Inko and his sis. That Marito guy doesn’t even get any follow up to his problems, whatever they were. Just poor balance of characters.

More of the Martian counts are introduced as distinct personalities, which ties back to one of the greater things this sinking ship of a show offered. Their intense qualms regarding loyalty to the almighty dick Slaine made for more interesting views.

Inaho is still pretty meh. He still swoops in to take out the Counts, calibrating all of their weaknesses and eliminating them in the last second. His eye causes him suffering, but he endures the pain for the computer’s benefits. One part of the show really startled me, and that was the smooth transition from Inaho to the eye “talking” to Seylum. Supposedly, the eye grew a consciousness of its own or something cause it carried out Inaho’s last words to the Princess. Just goes to confirm Inaho is nearly no different than a robot, cause I hardly noticed the shift in dialogue – and they even stated it.

It felt really weird when Asseylum woke up from her coma, as if Lemrina’s whole world came crashing down on her – and it kinda did. Too bad Asseylum wasn’t as near as complex as Lemrina, for she remained the same old boring, dutiful Princess. However, she grew some balls in the end and surprised everyone. When that happened, A.Z woke up from its nightmare and ended things right then and there.

Slaine was by far the most developed, but that wasn’t necessarily a good thing. He went from being an obedient servant of the Vers monarchy to a stubborn, stuck up b*tch. I guess it proves once again the power is greed trope. I can distinctly recall him saying that he had pretty much started down the road to hell, and that there was no turning back. His decisions make absolutely no sense; he does retarded stuff, and in the end gets blamed for everything that happened. Humanity will remember that the whole war was because of him. Like . . . wut?

A-1 Pictures’ animation didn’t drop in quality whatsoever. It’s still pretty solid, so if you’re one for the Kataphrakt CGI fights, then you’ll be satisfied. Characters are colored in lighter tints to contrast the black nothingness of space. I love the characters and their expressions! Also, the Martian Kataphrakts are freakin’ cool, even if their design makes little to no sense.

The OP “&Z” by SawanoHiroyuki[nZk]:mizuki mirrors the softer appeal the anime presents while the ED “GENESIS” by Eir Aoi, to me, captures the downfall of Slaine and the ultimate tragedy of the show. Beautiful.

Hiroyuki Sawano continues to impress with touching, somber piano solos and full orchestra tracks. Though the small OST is repeated over and over again to where you can predict what song will play next, the tracks are still great, supporting the mood admirably. His attempt to milk what he could out of A.Z wasn’t in vain; there are several touching moments centered around Slaine, Asseylum, Inaho and Lemrina that were particularly beautiful despite their relevance to the plot.

If you watched ALDNOAH.ZERO’s first season, then go ahead if you haven’t already and finish this thing off. To others, I would avoid this franchise in general for its inconsistent plot, poor distribution of character development, and at times nonsensical scheming. The show is not bad, it’s just messy, and I would only watch it if you are searching for high-energy, well-animated, robot space combat or political drama, though do realize that that part eventually goes down the drain. I’m glad ALDNOAH.ZERO is over. It’s just a shame that the writers couldn’t learn from their mistakes – the show had A LOT of potential.

I guess that’s it. THE ANIME DOESN’T END HORRIBLY WHATSOEVER. If you watched A.Z, please leave a comment below with any of your thoughts. I’m a bit lost when it comes to this show. If you had similar musings, hit the like button for more anime reviews. Until next time, this has been

– Takuto, your host

Negima!? (season two) Review

This anime has a special place in my heart as it is the first I had ever seen, besides random encounters with Sailor Moon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Pokemon, etc. I watched it in the spring of 2012. For those of you who don’t know, Negima!? is slice of life, fantasy adventure, comedy, magical girl, fanservice anime. With that being said, it is an honor for it to be the first that I review! First review – here we go!

Negima!? revolves around Negi Springfield, a 10 year-old genius wizard who had just graduated from the Magic Academy, a school for wizardry and magic. As part of his training, Negi and his talking ermine fairy friend Chamo are transferred from their home in Wales, England to Mahora Academy in Japan, which is an all-girls school. His mission – to teach English class there while seeking out a partner to help in his sorcery. With this partner, Negi must form a pact, or “Pactio!” which involves a kiss on the lips. The partner then may have their contract invoked in order to use magic. The plot rolls along, however, when the loudmouth obnoxious Asuna Kagurazaka, student No. 8 in his 2/3-A class of 31 girls, sees him using magic. From here on out, Negi eventually makes partners out of his entire class, all while encountering twisted fairies, magical worlds and the darkness.

When I first watched this series way back when, I found it to be ridiculously awesome, probably giving it more credit then it actually deserved. The concept is easy, but not astonishing in any way, to understand, as most of the terms are thoroughly explained in the first episode. I found myself always wondering what would possibly happen next, then again I was younger when I first watched it. The surprises Negima!? had in store were nicely executed. This series also has a lot of cultural references, which made the experience a knowledgable one, too.

Negima!? has one of the largest casts that I have ever seen; 31 girls plus a few more is a handful to keep track of. Nevertheless, Ken Akamatsu, the creator, displayed valuable and unique traits for each of the girls. A decent amount of screen time (for a cast this large) was given to each one, which allows the viewer to love more than just the main eight or so. It was silly, at one time, I had all of the girls memorized! Looking back, it was a huge waste of time trying to remember all of them!:D Since it is a comedy, all of the cast members each have their individual quirks that make them stand out. This makes the dialogue for the English dub especially fun to listen, as the voice actors really get distinct in their respective character(s).

While characters in Negima!? made me laugh, they did not make me feel anything else. Aside from Anya, Negi, Nekane, Evangeline, Asuna and maybe Yue, the others were pretty static. I guess if the creator spent an episode for each one, then the plot would never advance. But, maybe a couple episodes dedicated to the side characters instead of useless boobage and banter would have been more beneficial.

I distinctly remember the OST, opening, and ending for this anime, which is a good sign. The OST for this show is small, which means the tracks are used over and over again. However, they are good songs and tend to fit the mood better than anything else. Some themes such as Nekane’s or the Chupacabra Research Society’s are especially easy to recall, for they are breathtakingly sweet and outrageously hilarious respectively. The series’s opening “1000% SPARKING” is really catchy and motivational and is also sung in English in FUNimation’s dub. Personally, I prefer the English one. The same is for the show’s ending “A-LY-YA!” – it is such a fun song.

Previous anime I had seen include Sailor Moon and Pokemon, so Negima!?‘s animation was a treat (no offense to those classics). The artwork was presented in one of the most memorable fashions. Sometimes they would have different camera angles in boxes and these boxes would just be floating and shaking on the screen depending on who is talking. Sometimes the background would be super ornate – like reeeally cool – and during other times it would just be one solid outline color. I recall even a few times they would include real life photos and crop them in. The differentiation in presentation made the show more exciting, as it was more of a show for humor over plot. Characters were drawn with individuality, so you could remember how certain characters acted just by looking at them. These people were also drawn in a simple yet fitting way to match with the background. In other words, the characters were easy to see but did not stick out like black on white. Negima!?‘s unique animation is definitely its highlight.

Overall, Negima!? was quite the entertaining show. Its mix of stupid comedy, quick jokes and decent plot make it a good first-time anime for those who are interested in the culture. I can say that I was fairly entertained. While this anime lacks in individual character development, it makes up for that in its one-liner character descriptions. Each character really does have an individual personality, and part of the experience is figuring out what roles certain characters play. A downside to this, however, is trying to balance this enormous cast with each of the single impacts on Negi Springfield. A tip from me is to just roll with it because you’ll pick up on who Negi hangs out with right off the bat.

As I mentioned at the beginning, Negima!? has carved a very special place in my heart and I will never forget it was my first anime. Whenever I see or hear make a joke with similar wordings, I immediately reference this series before any other. I find myself still drawing Motsu’s face on all of my papers! Motsu and Shichimi were, by the way, the driving forces of comedy!! I love them both so much! This show in particular is one that you could watch a few times over and still have fun doing so, as there is so much detail work put in to the setting, the character designs and the funny dialogue. A warning, however, is to enjoy it the first time through because if you spend your whole time fussing over the details, you will miss Negima!?‘s quick wit and crazy charm.

Currently, FUNimation’s S.A.V.E. edition of Negima!? “balances rather precariously” on my shelf, “In a good way.”

Thanks for reading!

– Takuto, your host