New Anime Aldnoah Zero Is Anything But

Quite a few anime styles catch my interest, from horror, to comedy to ecchi (of course) to even romance if it is written well. But my main interests are fantasy and — top of the list — science fiction. So when I find a really smart, well-written science fiction anime, I just have to share the news.

Aldnoah.Zero is an alternate history mecha anime set in 2014, but a 2014 with a major twist that started in 1972, when the last manned mission to the moon, Apollo 17, discovered a hypergate that was an instantaneous transport to Mars. Human colonization began quickly, and in short order the colonists discovered a whole pile of technology left behind by the aliens that built the hypergate.

That prompted them to declare independence from Earth, establishing the Vers Empire. Naturally a conflict arose with Earth over the technology and in 1999 war broke out which resulted in the destruction of the hypergate (and part of the moon). Ever since, a large number of “knights” of the empire have been living in enormous teardrop-shaped space stations they call “castles” in the new debris ring around the Earth, fighting among themselves.

Until the princess of the Empire, on a diplomatic trip to Earth, gets killed in her motorcade, and then these skyscraper-size castles start dropping out of orbit, becoming kinetic missiles to wipe out many major cities around the world. And war is back on.

The director is Ei Aoki, and the creator is Gen Urobuchi, who worked together before on Fate/Zero (not connected despite the similar “Zero”). The direction is sharp, the pacing is exciting and very well done, and the animation is superb. But what stands out is how smart the writing is. Once the obvious exceptions of science fiction staples like teleportation and indestructible materials are accepted, the writing doesn’t ignore the basic principles of science, or logical science fiction.

The closest anime to that kind of logical extrapolation from a science fiction premise I can think of is Sword Art Online. That of course isn’t anything like Aldnoah.Zero from a world or plot standpoint, but the intelligence of the writing is very similar.

If you like mecha anime, science fiction anime, or just very well written anime, watch Aldnoah.Zero.