RE: Why and How you should watch Aldnoah.Zero: Review + Analysis + Love letter and personal thoughts
First off, your breakdown and analysis of the anime is superb. I very much agree with it as well. Although, I must admit to being a fan of a few of the Gundam animes if only for the sheer visual spectacle of their battles.
However, Aldnoah was indeed a refreshing take on the mecha genre. The protagonist and company were, for the most part, fairly average in terms of power to their enemies' almost unfathomable technology. It was interesting to see how a clear mind, intellect, and stronger tactics of a protagonist could overcome much more powerful opponents. That was what really piqued my interest in the anime.
Overall though, you really hit the nail on the head regarding the many draws of Aldnoah amid its genre. I look forward to more of your posts on other animes.
Sunrise really does put ΛLDNOΛH.ZERO to shame with its latest works. That is to be expected as A-1 Pictures is just mostly a group of contractors instead of a solid in-house staff like Ufotable etc.
For a non-anime recommendation I urge you to check out The Admiral: Roaring Currents which features a one hour historical recreations of one of the greatest navel battles ever (12 ships vs 333) and it's kept very much historically accurate.
Also try Ender's game which is basically 12 year old Inaho with more leadership personality fighting a space war.
It doesn't come as a surprise that Sunrise has outdone Aldnoah in its wake. Once one sees what works and stands out, it always makes sense to stay with those aspects and build upon them especially given the ability to go with a more quality driven aspect that was previously left to contractors.
As for your recommendations, I have seen Ender's Game which was a mesmerizing visual treat and such a fantastically enthralling story and characters. However, I will have to check out your other recommendation since I haven't heard of it before now. I look forward to it and thank you for the recommendation.
You can find few more good recommendations from my discussion with @feenix on this post. It really sucked to see Ender's Game become a flop. I still thank my friend for recommending it. You can also check Heroic Age. The fights were sub-par but the story, themes, philosophy and drama was top notch. And the ENDING!!!! THE ENDING!!! It was just perfect and sublime.
If you like Urobutcher you'd also like Confession of Murder (which is about a serial killer becoming a celebrity and the action scenes were well made) and Oldboy.
I will definitely check out that string to find more recommendations, but that Heroic Age, I have seen it! What astonishing anime. The fights weren't top-notch, but the sheer scale of the battles and the thought-provoking nature of the notion amid the story were amazing. I only wish there was more of the anime! I have seen the original Old Boy too. That movie was surprisingly good. Much better than I anticipated. Never heard of Urobutcher though. It has a fascinating premise to start. I will have to look it up for a viewing. Hopefully, it's reminiscent of "I Saw the Devil". That movie was great, and the star of Old Boy was in it as the antagonist. It was very much the essence of antihero and revenge movie tropes taken to an extreme.
I Saw the Devil was really good. But both Confession of Murder and Oldboy was better than I Saw the Devil IMO. Lady Vengeance and Joint Security Area from the Oldboy director were also really good.
If you like martial arts you should try Man of Tai Chi (for the story/themes) SPL trilogy because it's so damn good and Raid and Raid to because the following scene was actually cut out of the movie to make it a better movie.