Review of Schwarzes Marken

Aldnoah Zero with less BS but more baggage. First off, mecha is a a rough genre for me as I think fighting in giant humanoid robots sounds like nonsense. That said Schwarzesmarken is a step above most mecha in that it doesn't involve a genius high school boy who defeats the enemy with a brilliant plan one one in the entire world's military thought of. The action is exciting and fun, the geopolitics and history is fascinating and the characters have understandable motivations. However, the main flaw is the anime trying to juggle too many things at once and not entirely succeeding at all of them.Trying to fit in the harem romance, intrigue, warfare, deception, etc is difficult and drags what could be an excellent anime to merely pretty good.

Mecha Octane Rating: 8/10 The attempt at using actual tactics and teamwork instead of last minute bursts of understanding and guts make this better than most mecha anime.

Harem Development Index: 1/10 It's hard to even argue that it is a harem, but the MC is surrounded by beautiful ladies and there's brief scenes of possible romance that go nowhere.