The second episode is a bit of a step back from the first episode, but I’m still liking where this is going. It mainly consists of a number of characters fleeing before the invincible onslaught of the Martian invaders. It has some exciting action sequences, but isn’t overdone. We see the horror of war but it doesn’t feel like it’s fishing for cheap pity.
As anyone who’s ever watched anime before would have already known, the princess isn’t dead. She conveniently runs into the main character in a back alley and jumps on top of him. They get down and dirty under the bridge.
As we were led to expect from the previous episode, the Earthlings don’t stand a chance. Their bullets literally whiz right through the enemy’s mecha. I suspect their only hope is to reveal the truth behind the attack on the princess, and have the princess reign in the aggressors on Mars. I can’t really imagine that succeeding though. They’re screwed.
E Minor suggested last week that Aldnoah Zero is an analogue for Japan’s imperial aggression, and I have to agree. The Martians originally came from / admired the Earthlings, just as the Japanese imitated Chinese culture. But then they discovered a new technology (Japan’s industrialization after the Meiji restoration / arrival of Com. Perry in Edo) and felt they became a new, distinct people, favored by the gods (embodied in the emperor). Once you have a fancy, shiny military, you have to use it, and both the Martians and the Japanese did, fabricating an excuse to do so (the murder of the princess / the Manchurian incident). It helped in both cases that the military was more in charge of the civilian leadership than the civilian leadership was in charge of the military.
Anyway, next week the students will counterattack. I think they’re screwed but probably they’ll somehow manage to survive at the very least.
I’ve seen a ton of people complaining about the main character, but I actually like him. Unlike every other anime main character ever made, he doesn’t completely break down when confronted with a difficult situation. He barely even breaks his stride when one of his best friends dies by slipping from his hand. He just calmly proceeds to check on his sister. I don’t find this hard to believe either. People react differently to adversity.
I agree with you with regards to the protagonist. By the looks of things, aside from him being more or less stoic or a “nihilist” (if we’re pushing assumptions), his calm during the attacks can be more or less shock which is seen most especially when his classmate slips from his hand to the Martian Kataphrakt’s disintegrating body. In the counter-attack, we might see him either planning the assault or charging.
Nevertheless, the series is going great but as you’ve said it isn’t as impactful as the first episode. We still have to see how the Butcher does his job as the series unfolds.
Yep, can totally buy his calm. Can’t wait for the slaughter to begin in earnest. 🙂