A lot of people (including me) have noted a lot of similarities between Aldnoah.Zero (AZ) and Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans (Gundam).

  • Mars vs Earth conflict (albeit different sides — AZ is Earth trying to be liberated from Mars while Gundam is Mars seeking liberation from Earth).
  • The mechs from Mars, while using older technology, are more advanced than the Earth mechs
  • The main characters both end up losing their sight in one eye in the respective 1st season finales (Inaho gets his eye shot out, Mikazuki loses his sight and use of the right arm due to overusing the Gundam Barbatos (and can only regain function while connected to the Gundam).
  • Both have blonde haired political princesses as potential love interests in Season 1 (Elysium in AZ, Kudelia in Gundam).

Is this more than coincidence? Do we know if Gundam took these elements from Aldnoah.Zero?

  • Copyright protects the expression of the idea, not the idea itself. Things like you listed get copied all the time. – Shaymin Gratitude Mar 30 '16 at 3:43
  • nah, if you watch the glorious Gundam history, martians-earth war (with whatever their reasons was) is an overused concept. – Bagus Tesa Jul 26 '16 at 4:30

I think both series are just drawing upon many common tropes and most prominently ∀ Gundam, which sports a very similar plot to both series and also predates both. Although in that case it's the Moon instead of Mars and it's more about an ongoing invasion than trying to be liberated from anything.

More examples include, the majority of the rest of the Gundam Franchise.

  • 3
    You could strengthen this answer if you mentioned a few more works that had used the same tropes to back up your claim that they're very common, and maybe give some analysis of how these other works are as similar to Aldnoah Zero as Tekketsu no Orphans is. – Torisuda Apr 5 '17 at 23:20

protected by Community Oct 7 '18 at 9:17


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