Aldnoah Zero-9
The ending will obviously get the most attention, but the rest of the episode was just as great. So this was a character introspection episode along with some background.
The first thing that gets brought up is Rayet's PTSD. So it seems the big motif of the story is the inability of letting go/being scarred by the past. Rayet is clearly traumatized by her father's death. One thing though that this episode cleared up is that she hates not only Martians but also herself. I thought the shower scene in particular made that point come clear across. She was fueled not only by her hatred but also her jealousy. Sort of interesting that she did what her father failed to do and possibly helped the Vehrs Empire but did it for totally different reasons compared to her dad.
I think this episode was great at contextualizing Marito's PTSD. I think his character is supposed to be a subversion of the older amazing pilot in these shows like Roy Focker in Macross and Amuro/Char in Zeta. He's useless and it makes sense that his PTSD won't have a quick fix. Also looking at what he had to go through, mainly seeing his best friend literally cooked alive, I can also understand why he is so fucked up. Hearing a friend's screams and begging to be killed as they're burned alive, would screw up anybody. I really didn't expect Marito's stuff to be anywhere near as gruesome as that.
Then we have the Count. This is the first time where I feel the story has actually tried to make the Martians interesting. We finally have a good villain on the show. Saazbaum doesn't act hamfisted but is still dramatic at the same time. I thought for sure that Saazbaum would either brainwash Slaine or trick Slaine into working for him. Saazbaum however straight up doesn't give any fucks and tells Slaine why he's doing what he's doing. It's a sort of honesty that is pretty interesting considering how backstabby Saazbaum has been to everyone else. He absolutely despises the system he's working under but is trying to excel under it at the same time, similar to Char now that I think about it. His scene with Slaine at the dinner table was really charismatic in that you can see both his distaste for Terrans but also his hatred for the Feudal system the Assyleum's set up. What's amazing is that despite Slaine holding the knife to his throat, something I'm glad Slaine did, Saazbaum had complete control of the conversation. Oh and that was totally a butterknife. You ain't gonna be cutting shit with that. Finally the show is trying to make these characters a bit more interesting than the one-note Counts that we have gotten in previous episodes.
Why the fuck did the storyboarder/director use this camera angle instead of one on the side and closer to the actual action?
I don't think the animation and direction were as strong as it could have been this episode. There were multiple shots with wasted space and certain scenes like Marino's friend in the oven or Rayet's prison-style strangling where the animation could have been much more gruesome. The second one in particular could have been like the church scene in Fate/Zero but it feels a bit too passive. I would have loved something like the Princess trips and Rayet would have kept choking her. Oh and the lighting still sucks balls.
So much wasted space. Why is the main point of interest in this scene to the right in the frame?
Still this was a really great episode that helped to flesh out Rayet and Saazbaum, both of whom desperately needed the characterization. I very much doubt they'll stick the ending, just because that would be a huge fucking game changer. I hope they do though as that would definitely subvert the whole 'finding prototype mecha/ship that is completely badass' trope while also really changing the potential dynamics for character interactions.
