Aldnoah.Zero, stylized as ΛLDNOΛH.ZERO, is a television and print series created by Olympus Knights and A-1 Pictures. It presents the fictional story of the Vers Empire's 37 clans of Orbital Knights' attempted reconquest of Earth—enabled by the empowering titular Aldnoah energy/drive technology—following return to Earth as a more technologically advanced people after a human diaspora to the planet Mars. Plotted by Gen Urobuchi with direction by Ei Aoki, the series features principal Japanese voice acting by Natsuki Hanae, Kensho Ono and Sora Amamiya, with animated relational and battle scenes set on or in the orbit of the fictional Earth of 2014, the Landing Castles of the Vers Empire's Orbital Knights, Vers bases on a shattered remnant of Earth's Moon, and occasionally, the Vers palace of its failing emperor on Mars. The series began in July 2014, and as of March 2015, had presented two 12-episode seasons, with Urobuchi, Katsuhiko Takayama and Shinsuke Onishi, and then Hiroyuki Sawano and Kalafina, respectively, receiving principal script-writing and music credits.
Plot
In 1972, during the Apollo 17 mission, an ancient alien artifact named the "Hypergate" was discovered on the surface of the Moon, allowing for near-instantaneous travel to and from Mars and the colonisation of Mars. After settlers discover additional alien technology on Mars, they one-sidedly declare independence from Earth to found the Vers Empire. Later, the Vers Empire declares war on Earth, and in 1999, a battle on the Moon's surface causes the Hypergate to explode, shattering the Moon and scattering the remnants of the Moon into a debris belt around Earth. Cut off from Mars, the remnants of the Vers Imperial Army establishes several massive orbitalspace stations within the debris belt and a ceasefire was established. 15 years later, in 2014, an attack on the First Princess of Vers during a diplomatic mission to Earth causes the Empire and its 37 clans of Orbital Knights to launch a new attack on Earth, this time determined to conquer it once and for all.
Characters
Main characters
;Inaho Kaizuka ;Slaine Troyard ;Asseylum Vers Allusia
The series' soundtrack was composed by Hiroyuki Sawano. The first soundtrack album was released on September 10, 2014 featuring 20 tracks, including vocal performances by Aimee Blackschleger, Cyua, Mika Kobayashi, and mpi. A second soundtrack album was included in the sixth Blu-ray & DVD volumes of the anime, which was released on March 18, 2015. The second soundtrack album features 19 tracks, with vocals by Sora Amamiya for the track "Harmonious". The opening theme song for the first season was "heavenly blue" performed by Kalafina, The ending theme songs for the first season were "A/Z" and "aLIEz", both performed by SawanoHiroyuki:mizuki. The second season's opening theme song was "&Z" by SawanoHiroyuki:mizuki, and the closing theme song was "Genesis" by Eir Aoi, with episode 23 featuring "Harmonious" by Sora Amamiya.
Track listing
Production
Aldnoah.Zero was announced on February 15, 2014, as a project headed by Nitro+, with animation by A-1 Pictures and TROYCA. It was created by Gen Urobuchi and is directed by Ei Aoki, with mechanical designs by Kenji Teraoka, characters by Masako Matsumoto, and designs by Takako Shimura. Aldnoah.Zeros production committee, Project AZ, consists of Aniplex, Houbunsha, Tokyo MX, Nippon BS Broadcasting, Asahi Broadcasting Corporation, MAGES, Nitroplus and Movic. Katsuhiko Takayama has been responsible for series composition, managing the flow and story of the series. Urobuchi created the mainframe from the story until the preliminary version as Aoki was responsible for the characters; as a result, he does not feel connected with the Inaho developed by Aoki, although he stated, "Aoki-san is a pleasure to work with on storyboard." The director of Aldnoah.Zero is Ei Aoki and the original creator is listed as Gen Urobuchi, both of whom had previously collaborated on Fate/Zero. The main cast was announced by Aoki at AnimeJapan on March 22, 2014. Urobuchi produced the scripts for the opening 3 episodes of the first season, after which Katsuhiko Takayama took over, completing the remaining 9 episodes; Takayama continued in the second season, doing 7, with further writing credits going to Shinsuke Onishi and Ayumi Sekine.
Broadcast
It has been broadcast on Tokyo MX, BS11, Asahi Broadcasting Corporation, Gunma TV and AT-X in Japan, with streaming available on Niconico. Aniplex of America licensed the series for a streamed simulcast beginning in July 2014. It was also streamed in Australia by Hanabee.
