“Let justice be done, though the heavens fall.”

Whose justice?

The justice of the Martians, who wish to smite the Earthlings?

Or the justice of the Earthlings, who want to wipe out the Martians?

Obviously, neither of these options is just. The vast majority of the Earthlings and the Martians have nothing to do with bringing about the current conflict. The Martians who started the whole thing could certainly use some smiting, but otherwise I’d say justice simply consists of the Martians apologizing, leaving, and helping the Earthlings rebuild.

Still, even if both sides bore equal blame for bringing about the conflict, I’d have to sympathize with the Earthlings. Because they’re powerless, and their enemies are powerful. Some of the Earthlings may wish to wipe out the Earthlings, but the Martians are actually doing wiping out an entire planet.

I can completely understand why the Earthlings would have such a hatred. The Martians invaded their planet before. Since then, they’ve been up in the Satellite Belt looking down on them. They don’t even treat the Earthlings as humans. They drop space castles on their planet, wiping out major cities, massacring innocent civilians, all because they murdered their own princess. They then have the gall to declare a unilateral ceasefire, blatantly ignore it, and then officially declare war. The earthlings are completely powerless to even complain, much less fight back. The earthlings had damn well ought to be pissed.

Despite all this, the Martians still manage to claim with a straight face that their cause is righteous.

Rarely in anime do we see such a power imbalance. (Well, ok, there’s stuff like Mahouka, but you know what I mean.) That’s part of the reason I like Simoun and Now and Then, Here and There. Anime like Gundam 00 often take this high-handed view that fighting is wrong and everyone should just knock it off and get along. Both sides are equally at fault. Some smart kids just need to fight a war to end war.

Well, that’s easy to say when you’re sitting on high watching everyone from outer space like Celestial Being. But when your enemies devastate your entire planet and massacre all your friends, well, even the pacifists will start picking up guns.

It reminds me of one my favorite psalms:

By the rivers of Babylon—
there we sat down and there we wept
when we remembered Zion. 
On the willows there
we hung up our harps. 
For there our captors
asked us for songs,
and our tormentors asked for mirth, saying,
‘Sing us one of the songs of Zion!’

How could we sing the Lord’s song
in a foreign land? 
If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
let my right hand wither! 
Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth,
if I do not remember you,
if I do not set Jerusalem
above my highest joy.

Remember, O Lord, against the Edomites
the day of Jerusalem’s fall,
how they said, ‘Tear it down! Tear it down!
Down to its foundations!’ 
O daughter Babylon, you devastator!^*
Happy shall they be who pay you back
what you have done to us! 
Happy shall they be who take your little ones
and dash them against the rock!

To our modern, comfortable minds, this is utterly monstrous. But as a cry of a people enslaved against their captors— I can’t blame their raw, unbridled anger. Maybe before we judge and accuse them for fighting back, we should consider what led them to take such drastic action.

And no, I’m not really talking about Aldnoah Zero.

Best Main Character Ever

 

Nope. You’re just bloody awesome.

About to die. Gives zero fucks.

To make the main character, they basically took the average mecha protagonist, and made this guy the exact opposite. It’s such a breath of fresh air. I love him.

He also has the best pickup lines.

MARRY HIM ALREADY!!!

Further Thoughts

Urobuchi sure loves this type of character… Not that I blame him!

I’m as shocked as you are.

All my ships!