Aldnoah Zero

Synopsis

I will never trust them. Every last Martian is the enemy to me.

The discovery of a hypergate on the Moon once allowed the human race to teleport to Mars. Those who chose to settle there unearthed a technology far more advanced than that of their home planet, which they named "Aldnoah." This discovery led to the founding of the Vers Empire of Mars and a declaration of war against the "Terrans," those who stayed behind on Earth. However, a battle on the moon—later called "Heaven's Fall"—caused the hypergate to explode, destroying the moon and leading the two planets to establish an uneasy ceasefire.

Their peace was a fragile one, however. Fifteen years later, high school student Inaho Kaizuka witnesses the plotted assassination of the Vers Empire's Princess Asseylum Vers Allusia, who had come to Earth in hopes of repairing the relationship between the empire and its homeland. The ceasefire is shattered, and the Martians declare war on the Terrans once again. In the face of this insurmountable enemy, Inaho and his friends must now fight against the Vers Empire to settle the war once and for all.

Summary

CloverWorks (A-1 Pictures rebrand of Kōenji Studio) has come out swinging with having 3 hit animes since its founding in Oct 2018 (Darling in the Franxx, Fairy Tail and now The Promised Neverland). And scored another home run with this beautiful masterpiece. Its very rare for an anime to get such hype without some major plot holes or discrepancies within in continuity, however the neverland delivers on all these fronts.

Without giving to much away Kaiu Shirai has created a elaborate yet satisfying dark world which is bursting with great characters, chilling atmosphere and plot twist that leave you feeling hollow and satisfied at the same time. What is remarkable about the show is the perspective in which information is delivered to the audience. Following a group of kids ranging from 3 to 12 year olds delivers a sense of childlike innocence to the dark twisted world. This in itself creates at atmosphere quite new to the anime world.

This combined with the outstanding soundtrack and accomping openings of Uverworld (used in OP's for Blue Exorcist and My Hero Acadamia) and you have a masterpiece in the works. The pacing of the show could annoy a few however this centres around building the tension to the epic season finale which sets the show up to so much possibilities and after conferring with our manga readers (no spoilers), this is the set to up multiple 'brilliant' storylines and action sequences.

Conclusion

We at Phoenix Soul try to take every anime with a pinch a salt. Anime hype trains can lead to vast levels of disappointment. This will become more apparent as the anime industry grows internationally with other cultures playing influence to settings and tropes within our shows. Sometimes this works like we saw with Vinland Saga, which stays relatively truthful to the culture surrounding medieval nordic civilization. However The Promised Neverland creates its on culture with its superb characters and premise. Unfortunately there is not much more that can be said without risking possible spoilers however, if there is ever a show to trust our recommendation on it would this.

The Promised Neverland being a early contender to the 2019 anime year smashes all contenders and take the top spot with ourselves on our 'Anime of the Year'!