something a bit different!
for some reason, I found myself reading A/Z fics again hahah I can’t believe how much I missed it.
I decided to resketch a fanart from 2 years ago haha
maybe I’ll draw A/Z stuff again every once in a while
Another element about this scene that people like to complain about is this line:
(From Episode 21)
News flash! Of COURSE Slaine has changed! Of COURSE Slaine is no longer the man Asseylum knew! She’s been in a coma for nearly two years! Prior to waking up from her comatose state, this is the scene where she last remembers him:
(From Episode 1)
Slaine IS different. He’s now manipulative, relentless, and merciless. This, of course, turns out to be very troubling for her. It pains her. You can see it clearly that this troubles her here:
(From Episode 21)
Look at the shape her eyebrows are in, the tenseness in her shoulders, the way her arms are receding back to her. Everything about her body language is saying that she’s hesitating. She’s hesitating because she remembers Slaine as he once was (and as he truly is, in my opinion). She can’t bring herself to shoot him, (or whatever she was planning), because she deeply cares about him. Slaine even easily takes the gun out of her hand in this scene. It’s clear that she’s completely heartbroken. So what was that about the Asseylum haters saying that she doesn’t care about Slaine?
(From Episode 21)
Since this is a screenshot, you won’t be able to note the detail in the way her eyes were animated here. The glisten in her eyes is shaking. I don’t know about you guys, but this looks like a face that’s about to break down into tears.
Let’s move on. The next scene where people criticize Asseylum is in this scene where she and Lemrina appear to be having a really awkward heart-to-heart. Lemrina asks her “who she cares for.” As we all know her response is this, “My heart belongs to the world of Vers and the people who dwell there. This is what I was taught and how I have lived my life.” This is where philosophies may vary from person to person, but for me, sacrificing a world of people for just one person that you care for is not showing love. It’s showing selfishness. Asseylum is the crown princess of the Vers Empire. She has a heavy weight on her shoulders and the fate of many people. Say, she were to completely neglect her duties as princess, abandon her country, and run away with Slaine, what good would have that done in the end? It probably would have made the whole situation even more of a crapfest than it was. But does this mean that Asseylum doesn’t care for Slaine? Of course it doesn’t. I will elaborate about this further in the next few points.
(Side note, look at Asseylum’s expression as she gives Lemrina her answer to the question):
(From Episode 22)
Before I move on to the next scene in which Asseylum is majorly criticized, I want to touch base on the scene where Asseylum and Slaine have a conversation via transmission. At this point she is whisked away by Klancain (I won’t go into much detail on him in this post even though I have a good chunk to say about him, but in favor of not making this any longer than it already is, I’ll spare you from my thoughts on him.) This is where she finally breaks and where she sheds the tears she’s been holding back since the gun point scene and enters a monologue where she is pleading with Slaine.
(From Episode 23)
I don’t know for sure if there were any ulterior motives on Slaine’s part here, but after this plea, Slaine offers to discuss the matter with her. Here is Asseylum’s reaction:
(From Episode 23)
Again, since this is a screenshot, you won’t be able to tell, but her eyes are once again glistening here. The way I interpret this expression from the wideness and light in her eyes is that there’s a small glimmer of hope in her. She’s so desperate to understand Slaine and his actions and why he’s like this and she’s desperate to come to a peaceful conclusion with him. I’m sure she’s most certainly considering his offer. But, as we all know, Klancain went “NOPE” and zoomed away with Asseylum.
Moving on to the scene I mentioned where Asseylum gets a lot of criticism. After escaping from Slaine, Asseylum is nearly hopeless as she considers her thinning list of allies in her hopes to stop the war with Earth and make peace with them. She probably feels alone at this point. The only people she knows that she can trust to make this happen and support her are Eddelrittuo, Klancain, and Mazuurek. Asseylum knows that she’s the only one that can end the war. Anyway, people are criticizing Asseylum for the scene where she further exclaims her confusion to Slaine’s apparent change.
(From Episode 23)
What Asseylum is saying here is not wrong. The Slaine she remembers was indeed someone who loved the Earth and adored nature and wouldn’t wish harm on it. During season 1, his entire goal alongside finding Asseylum was to stop the war. As to whether or not this war is “pointless,” this opinion can vary from person to person. I understand that war may be necessary at times, but given certain circumstances this war could have ended A LOT earlier than it was going for at this point. Keep in mind Asseylum doesn’t know the full details since she was in a coma for a while. However, Eddelrittuo quickly corrects Asseylum by telling her that Slaine cares deeply for her and that at his core deep down, he’s still the Slaine that she knew. Her reaction is the following:
(From Episode 23)
I feel like at this point, the Asseylum haters are just desperate to hate, because they say this is a “careless” reaction. My question is, how in the world does this read as careless? To me, I see this set of gestures as deep relief. Asseylum is relieved that the Slaine she knew is still in there somewhere. If I were in Asseylum’s position I wouldn’t have much to say either. From her dialogue, it could almost be seen as a self-reassurance that there’s still hope on Asseylum’s part. So I really don’t know where people are getting that “Asseylum doesn’t care about Slaine” here. And after this, Asseylum’s resolve is solidified.
(From Episode 23)
So this brings us to the scene where Asseylum has one last exchange with her grandfather, who is on his deathbed. To sum up, she pleads with him to make a proclamation to the Orbital Knights to cease their attack on Earth, to which he says, “nah” and he basically is going through major delirium and starts rambling about Gillzeria and how Earth killed him and his granddaughter. So clearly he’s lost his mind. However, he then starts talking about the power of Aldnoah and how it shall bring about prosperity to humanity and tells Asseylum to nurture it with care and to become a princess that will lead the Versian people to happiness. And here I think, is the moment where Asseylum knows what she has to do in order to stop the war:
(From Episode 23)
(To quote myself from an earlier post that I made) Okay, but seriously, look at her face. Is this the face of someone who is naive? Someone who doesn’t care about Slaine? Someone who is sheltered? No, it’s the face of someone who realizes she can’t sit back and do nothing. She doesn’t want to do what she has to do, but she knows that if she doesn’t do it, nothing will be solved. This is the face of someone who is taking responsibility. This is someone who cares for Slaine so much, she’s in freaking tears.
And from here, we all know what happens. She is tired of being able to do nothing, but now she has all the means at her disposal to make a difference. She knows that simply making a proclamation will do nothing. So, in order to offer a proposal of peace, she undermines Slaine’s authority, solidifies the royal family by taking Klancain as her betrothed, and declares herself as Empress of Vers. This is something she had to do, because if not, Slaine most certainly would have carried out an all-out attack and destroy most of the Earth. And, if I may be so bold to make this assumption, he probably would have further destroyed himself if he had carried that out completely. Further, this illustrates her selflessness—she does this in favor of the people of Vers AND the people of Earth rather than her own future. It’s sad to say, but her life is not her own; she bears a heavy weight of responsibility so she is not as free to do as she pleases. So one could say that she’s in a metaphorical cage.
Why was Asseylum willing to go to such drastic measures as to go against a man she supposedly cared for? The reason lies in her initial goal that she made clear in the very beginning of the series:
She made a promise to Slaine, and she kept that promise. So on the contrary, I don’t think Asseylum “betrayed” Slaine at all. She was true to him until the very end. Her capacity to have faith in, forgive, and love others is something she never abandoned. And, let me make a comparison to a Disney movie you guys are fairly familiar with: Beauty and the Beast. When Belle rushes off to go to her father, Cogsworth asks the Beast why he would let her go. His answer is, “Because I love her.” I think the reasoning between Slaine and Asseylum leaving each other is similar. They cared about each other enough to let the other go.
This is a recent remix of a track I did roughly 8 months ago, another “response” to Aldnoah.Zero’s Klancain. The album this song comes from is still in the works, and will be released when more tracks are added to it.
This is a remaster of a track I did roughly 8 months ago, as a “response” to Aldnoah.Zero’s Klancain as a character. The album this song comes from is still in the works, and will be released when more tracks are added to it.
