Anime Review: Aldnoah Zero

TL;DR:
+ Aliens VS Earth!
+ Nicely designed mechs
- Super/Do-it-all Protagonist
+ Deals with Politics (though simplified) and Racism
+ Story is set in a realistic background (physics, political)
+ Art is pretty good.  CG doesn't look obvious.

Review:
I grew up on Voltes V, Daimos and other giant robot, earth versus aliens themed anime.  I spent my college years devouring (and trying to make sense of) Evangelion and its copycats (RahXephon).  I liked Aldnoah Zero well enough, and while it's hardly groundbreaking, it's very well made and was enjoyable enough.

Your protagonists are high-school kids, though at least their participation in the Earth-Vers (Mars) war is handled in an acceptable manner (they're basically required to go through military training, by virtue of an earlier war with Mars).

The other side is your stereotypical European-Feudal society, albeit one that wields a bigger, higher technology stick.  Truth be told, they all looked the same, despite the fact that they used titles in one form or another (count, maybe a baron or two) and none of them were memorable.

The mechs on both sides are the star of the show -- both the simpler Terran mechs and the more complex Martian Kataphrakts were very well done.  I do feel that combat was a bit... oversimplified, with the Martians trouncing the Terrans at nearly every turn (except when Mr. Protagonist saves the day, of course).

Each of the Martian mechs had a particular gimmick (dimensional barrier, flying robot knuckles, plasma blade, etc. etc.) and that each mech was limited to that particular ability (which was inevitably used against them).  Would've been fun to see how the Orbital Knights (the nobility cum military arm of the Martian Empire) divvied these abilities up among themselves, and how many of them would've died to have the privilege of getting Rocket Punch as their Kataphrakts main ability.

Well, it's no more silly than the robots in Pacific Rim (3 armed mech to for a 3 pilot team?).

Well, plot holes aside, I quite enjoyed watching the series, though the ending was a cliffhanger.  At least there's a part 2 coming this 2015, which I'll definitely be looking forward to watching.

Verdict: Recommended 3.5/5

Details:
Genre: Sci-Fi, Realistic Mecha
Episodes: 12
Aired: July-September, 2014 (Part 2 Coming 2015)