Aldnoah.Zero – “Beyond the Horizon” Review

The Martian’s have begun their attack on Earth, wiping New Orleans off of the map. How will the Earth survive the onslaught? Read on to find out.

The invasion has begun and the Earth forces have begun to scramble to salvage the planet’s major cities. Back in Shinawara, Inaho attempts to evacuate and comes across Edelrittuo, Princess Asseylum’s aide, and a mysterious girl. The three make contact with Inaho’s friend and try to evacuate but are stalled when a Martian named Trilliam begins hunting them down, knocking out Yuki and incapacitating her mech. With Trililam hot on their heels, can Inaho and the others escape?

Picking up right where the pilot left off, the second episode of Aldnoah.Zero fires on all cylinders. Showing us just how vicious the Martians are and how hopeless the Terran survival plans seem. The Martian’s don’t just overpower the Terran’s, they fight smart. They disable all communications networks in a nice bit of tech warfare before full on attacking.

There is certainly a lot more giant robo fighting in this episode and it all looks glorious, showing just how powerful the Martians are and how weak the Terrans are. The Martian mechs are certainly unique, displaying just how different the two world’s technologies are; which probably explain just how outclassed the Earth offensive is. The music, the animation, all of it setting the mood just right.

We get a couple of character moments and revelations this episode as well. First we find out that the princess is indeed alive. When Inaho encounters Edelrittuo and the myseterious girl they tell him that the princess felt sick upon reach Earth’s atmosphere and that a stand in died in her place during the missile attack (called it). We also find that the attack on Asseylum was an inside job when Trilliam reconvenes with, and later kills, the men involved in the attack (called that one too). At this point it’s unknown how many Martians were involved in the scheme or if the princess knew of the attack before hand (although it is safe to say that she did).

We get a closer look at Slaine as he is tasked with following Trillaim to Earth. Triliam is one of Cruhteo’s subordiantes who gleefully kills humans with no remorse and encourages Slaine to do the same, but Slaine is shown to be hesitant about it. This shows that he still has some lingering feelings for the Earth which hopefully will be expanded on later. Inaho on the other hand still remains somewhat disinterested in what’s going on around him, aside from a few moments: when he instructs Inko on how to escape Trilliams mech and when he tells his friends he intends to fight the Martians. Marito also gets some time to shine when he and Yuki take on Trilliam. Not many people believe Marito when he says he’s faced the Martian’s before, but he manages to hold his own before his mech is disabled.

Slaine (Center) & Trilliam (Bottom Left)

As per Urobuchi writing, we see a couple of deaths this episode. From the fighter pilots fighting Trilliam, to Marito and Yuki’s superior officer and comrades, to Inaho’s instructor, and even one of Inaho’s friends. No one is safe and it will be interesting to see who survives in the end.

The second outing of Aldnoah.Zero expands on the set up of the pilot by showing us the power of the Martians and what lengths Earth will have to go to protect itself. With all of the world burning around them, it will be interesting to see how the Terrans can counterattack.