Aldnoah Zero
I liked this (a lot, most of the time) but not unconditionally. The protagonist is aggravating in his indifference and the fact the war effort depends almost entirely on this kid who wasn't even well set up to be a supposed strategy genius doesn't make it any better. To add insult to injury, most girls in the show want a piece of this guy because of reasons. It's annoying in the worst possible way. That the show will sometimes throw "babby's first Wikipedia article" your way in extremely unconvincing ways doesn't help its case.
With that out of the way, and knowing that Urobuchi's involvement was quite limited (to concept and the script for the first 3 episodes, if I understand correctly), it wouldn't surprise if he was the one who came up with the setup that dictates the way battles are fought.
It's kind of reminiscent of the setup he came up with for Fate Zero in which an assassin faces mages and servants with little to no help from his own and no true magic powers (time manipulation, which he uses twice in the series) and the protagonist in Thunderbolt Fantasy which has the equivalent of a nuclear-powered arsenal at his disposal but decides to fight demons and overwhelming forces with a literal stick.
It's that kind of, at first glance, handicapped situation where the protagonists should be disposed of fairly quickly but are actually the ones to control the flow of the battle. My point being that the concept, by itself, is infinitely interesting.
The first season is almost entirely great and flows well. I liked the ending even if the changes promised to the status quo never come to fruition. I'm not entirely sure on the time-line of events and how in so little time, so many people could form an empire on Mars from what was a scientific expedition but I'll look it up eventually.
The second season has some high points and the focus shifts more in the direction of Slaine which was a good thing because it's fascinating watching him go down a path he can't deviate from, for better or worse. It's got some great fights and moments, but it kind of loses itself in melodrama at points.
It's peppered throughout with some endearing mecha tropes and I spotted at least one mecha design that felt like a straight homage to Xenogears, specifically Weltall-Id.
Worth your time, if you can put up with the tropes I mentioned.
I don't know about scores, 8 for the 1st season and a light 7/enjoyable 6 for the second.
Children of the Sea
You are not ready for the OST on this thing. The Joe Hisaishi hype is extremely real. It is deeply affecting for the entire duration of the movie. That caught me off guard.
The movie itself feels very grand and conceptual with little in the way of traditional character development. I love the link established between Ocean and Cosmos and there are several shots that will stay with you.
I won't hide that there are some details that I didn't fully understand concerning a couple of characters and events, but it didn't stop me from enjoying it with what I did understand. I will re-watch this eventually, anyway.
One of the things I love about anime movies is marveling at the most mundane things that you know in real life are boring but to be depicted in animation needed an obsessive attention to detail, like staring at a can of Asahi and how lovingly it's depicted or how the light passing through a glass door reflects on a plastic bag; the textures and colors in a kitchen, the steam coming from freshly baked bread. This movie has that but also so much more; so many daring, stunning bits of animation.
If enjoy animation, watch this.
Light 8/strong 7.
