By Glen Ess (The Cascade) – Email
I’m a simple man, I enjoy watching giant robots beat the crap out of one another, especially if the robots are vaguely grounded in reality. This is a formula that’s been perfected in the Gundam franchise, Neon Genesis Evangelion, and Macross. All of these series included semi-realistic robots fighting wars. It’s a staple of the mecha anime genre. But each of those took a unique approach to that basic, simplistic plot line. They were more than rehashed retellings of each other. Unfortunately, Aldnoah Zero fails to be anything other than a proto-typical Mobile Suit Gundam plot.
All the basic elements for the original Mobile Suit Gundam’s plot are in place in Aldnoah Zero: the technologically advanced, aristocratic, yet resource-starved space colonists invading a corrupt, stagnant earth, and in the middle of all this, a high school student falls into the cockpit of a giant robot and turns out to be a military genius.
While this litany of superficial similarities to Mobile Suit Gundam are present in several other series, from Gundam spin-offs such as Seed, to as other shows like Full Metal Panic! and Macross; it’s most egregious in Aldnoah Zero, which offers practically nothing new to the genre. Right down to characterization: for example, protagonist Inaho Kozukai is just as flat and emotionless as Mobile Suit Gundam’s Amuro Ray, and his rival, traitorous Slayne Troyard, is a cardboard cutout of Char Aznable, just without Char’s iconic mask. The duo constantly feud over a Martian princess, who annoyingly eventually ends up marrying a character introduced in the final arc with no previous foreshadowing.
The only standout feature of Aldnoah Zero is the mecha designs of the Martian military, with no two mecha sharing similarities. However, even this ends up being a weakness, as no matter how different the machines are, they are all defeated by the protagonist in the same rote fashion: new Martian machine shows up with new abilities, supporting protagonists are beaten mercilessly, Inaho comes up with some plan which references applied physics, puts it into play and wins without a scratch.
After 24 episodes, you’d expect the formula to evolve, but even in the series finale, when you’d expect the status quo to change, it really doesn’t. The audience is still treated to the same unexciting routine. In comparison, the original Gundam series, which Aldnoah Zero models itself after, ends on a thunderous note, with characters dying all over the place and political upheaval. Aldnoah Zero does none of those things. But it does look pretty. Which is a plus.
