At last, we’re are at the end of the summer anime season, If I had to pick which shows I’ve enjoyed this most out of everything I’ve watched this season it’d have to be the following:

• Space Dandy
• Zankyou no Terror
• Barakamon
• Captain Earth

While Aldnoah Zero has constructed some tolerable characters, an ample musical score, and a fairly straightforward plot about two factions waging war against each other is great but where the problem lies is how often it connects each episode with a shock value that sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t.

This was definitely one way to end the first half—  what a cliffhanger here!  There is no way I can see Inaho coming back from that one, let alone the Princess!  Seeing as this show will be returning in January 2015 it’s going to be difficult to leave with the plot so open as it was here.  IF they do decide to bring these two back to life somehow it will completely ruin what the first half has built this series up as–  a war struggle.  I will say that the creators still have very much to develop in its huge cast with the second half along the horizon.

Eery bit of this episode was action that had never really let up!  It was refreshing to see this angle of the Terrans that were fighting for their lives and the counteraction of Saazbaum’s declaration that the Vers had just wanted to be more human than anything else.  A war based on ideals and it’s here that we get this reversal of not just the Count but the ingrained hatred that has been built up for so many years against the Terrans.

Ei Aoki did a fantastic job at directing this show, in that he and Urobuchi have designed two distinct viewpoints spanning across different backgrounds only to converge by fighting amongst themselves for this level of distrust that poses a very strong question:  who are we really?

Not one of my favorite conclusions to the summer season but it wasn’t too terrible. Would have been much better to pull the cards straight out the bag– are they dead or not?

OVERALL IMPRESSION: 6/10

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