In the past, I didn’t really care for shows containing humongous robots fighting each other. However, when Gen Urobutchi revealed that he is working on a new anime original called Suisei no Gargantia, Based on his previous works, I decided to take a look. (Image Source)
The overall story involves a young lieutenant named Ledo who is part of the Galactic Alliance. They are at war against the Hideauze. They use special robots to fight against them. During the alliance’s retreat, Ledo gets separated from everyone else. When he wakes up, he discovers that he is on Earth, specifically on a series of ship called Gargantia. From here, Ledo with his robot named Chamber has to adjust to the ways of life on Earth and deal with any impending threats.
As for the plot, the world of Gargantia was very interesting because it took a unique approach to science fiction instead of focusing on space battles. The first half basically showed life on Earth after the ice caps got melted, leaving the surface with only water. Instead of relying on advanced technology, people live a mostly simple life where they collect water from the sky and get entertainment from other people. Even though Gargantia is not perfect as some of the people had disagreements, they try to live peacefully. The second half shows the inconvenient truth about the Hideauze as the conflict intensifies between the Evolvers and Continental Union with different ideologies for the survival of mankind is taken to space.
I feel that the main focus is to show the difficulties Ledo faces on adjusting to life on Earth. While he gets some help from Amy and her friends, the life style on Gargantia is different compared to the Alliance where people is trained to fight against the Hideauze. This eventually causes him to commit questionable actions such as killing squidwhales and evaporating pirates, which led to harsh consequences such commanding officer for Gargantia dying from a heart attack.
In the second half, Ledo started to redeem himself after watching the hidden videos he found in a squidwhale nest revealing the truth behind the war and witnessing the immoral practices by an Aliiance-like cult such as killing off the weak and elderly. As a result, he was able to get accustomed to life on Earth and learn that peace is better than fighting. Of course, Chamber pretty much takes a role as a parent since he gives helpful advice and steers Ledo in the right direction where he can live on his own. Even so, I respect him for the fact that he remained loyal to the end.
Overall, I think Suisei no Gargantia is an excellent show even though it had a few flaws. The setting and overall premise was very interesting as it’s shows the different views of peace and war along with the differences of leadership as seen with Pinion, Ridget and Chamber. However, I felt that Amy didn’t get much development after Episode 7. Hopefully the original animation, it will develop her character even further. While it’s not a traditional science fiction where space battles are the main draw of the story, I think people will enjoy setting, the characters and the emotional build up to the happy ending of Gargantia
Overall Rating: 9.0/10, A, Very Good.
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