Aldnoah.Zero EXTRA DAY teaser 2

I’m afraid that my report on EXTRA DAY probably won’t be showing up before this weekend, given a few things I have to do here in Japan—there are a tonne of reports in Japanese, though, for those who can’t wait—but I did want to quickly clear up some misconceptions I’ve seen over the last few months.

First, although some people seem to think the event was announced after the 24 hour countdown that showed up after the last episode aired on March 28, that’s most definitely not true. EXTRA DAY was announced on February 15 on all official sites (see e.g. this announcement on Sawano Hiroyuki’s webpage). And English-only viewers have no excuse. At the time, it was also noted that special priority ticket codes would come with BD/DVD vol.6, which was released on March 18. That’s actually how I got my tickets, courtesy of a generous friend in Japan who helped me place the order.

I can’t remember if they made the banner prominent on the website before the anime ended, but the information was definitely there by early March…

The countdown on the website was simply a final treat for fans that had been following the series since July 2014: rather than the 60 minute window we previously had for downloading key animation frames from each episode, they gave us an entire day (according to your timezone). And the countdown showed up again on Thursday, April 2, after the episode was broadcast on Osaka’s ABC Asahi network.

This one from episode 17 was one of my favourites.

Second, there were no pre-recorded skits played at EXTRA DAY itself. The ‘Cinderella AU’ that I’ve seen mentioned here and there was just an idea that a listener sent in for a corner on the radio show (#37, which aired after episode 21). What we did get was Episode 24.5, a ‘live drama’ set during the rainy season in 2017, and Extra Episode 6.5, a continuation of Aldnoah Gakuen with just Inaho, Slaine and Asseylum. Just quickly on 24.5 for the moment: I personally liked the skit, as I found it completely in keeping with the realism that runs through the series–even though I’d kind of been hoping for something a little more light hearted. But that’s what the other extra was for! Speaking of which, I still haven’t listened to either Extra Episode 6–out today with BD/DVD vol.9–or 6.5, because I don’t have a CD player with me at present, so please don’t spoil them for me!

EXTRA EPISODE 6.5 came with the event pamphlet

p.s. And yes, one of the reasons I haven’t written my own report is that I’ve been busy reliving what happened through all the Japanese reports. Some of those fans were really amazing, taking one full notebook of notes per session in the dark! And that person had one of the standing room tickets, IIRC!