Aldnoah.Zero: The Beautiful and Damned (Neighbors from Different Planets)

January 17, 2015 2:51 PM - Season 1, Episode 14

Earth and Vers forces prepare for a major confrontation in space. Inaho and Slaine encounter each other in the initial skirmish. Lemrina vows to take all that is Asseylum's.
posted by needled (3 comments total)

We get a proper OP and ED in this episode. I think I preferred this to the 1st season OP, the visuals are more expressive and the song feels more melancholy.

OP:
- is that blond guy Cruhteo's long-lost brother? (Or Cruhteto after some plastic surgery?)
- interesting scene contrasting Inaho and Slaine, Inaho with the bleeding eye and Slaine with his torture scars

ED:
- aww look at Inaho's orange coat!
- I hope the shot of Slaine with his father means we get some backstory regarding Slaine's dad

We get reminded of Slaine's torture in ep. 8 both through the OP and when Slaine shows his torture scars to Lemrina (who I've been seeing referred to as "Princess Garlicbulb because her hair looks like a pair of garlic bulbs attached to her head ... ).

Interesting that the new Vers kataphrakt on Saazbaum's craft (landing castle?) appear to be mass-produced models, and are piloted by regular soldiers, not members of the nobility. This may be another twist for the Earth forces, as Saazabum's troops will not be fighting in the manner they had come to expect from the other Vers Knights. (Also interesting contrast in the treatment of Slaine between the personnel in Cruhteo's landing castle and ones under Saazbaum's command, the latter do not appear to exhibit the same degree of prejudice against Earth people as had been exhibited by Cruhteo and his underlings.)
posted by needled at 8:25 AM on January 18, 2015 [1 favorite]

The Vers space fighters looked kinda like Starfuries.

Aldnoah is definitely transmitted by kissing, and apparently can also give you heightened perception a la Action Man. Now both Slaine and Inaho have magic eyes, powered by computers and Mars magic respectively.
posted by Small Dollar at 3:58 PM on January 18, 2015

The first thing I thought of when I saw the new Vers kataphrakts were the mecha in Knights of Sidonia that link up for increased speed when traveling across space.

Kissing seems to be one way to transfer Aldnoah, although from what Lemrina said it might only give you a one-time activation power? Perhaps blood gives you a higher degree of Aldnoah activation power.

The Tharsos's key ability seems to be prediction or perhaps time manipulation. Wonder why they didn't try to put this into all the mass-produced Vers kataphrakts.

I'm curious to know if the Martians are aware of Inaho's Aldnoah capability.
posted by needled at 4:17 PM on January 18, 2015