Suisei no Gargantia

Frequently Asked Questions

Hey flomu, I’ve noticed you haven’t posted much recently. What have you been watching this season?

I’ve been watching a gem of a show called Suisei no Gargantia. It disregards your usual mecha anime stereotypes and instead goes for a more slice of life feel, emphasizing moral battles over physical ones. It’s also a coming-of-age story masked under a “Stick it to Authority!” theme, but it accomplishes this without seeming cheesy or dwelling so long on the moral of the story that various fallacies pop up.

And the visuals aren’t half bad, either!

Gargantia has slowly been slipping down simply because of one and a half things:

1. Bevel

   The main “moral” that Gargantia pushes is that of civil disobedience, or simply breaking free from the strict laws that Ledo’s old Alliance tried to impose. The more natural lifestyle of Gargantia contrasts sharply with Ledo’s old life, as well as the life of those people with psi on their foreheads. I don’t remember their names.

   But the moral hasn’t developed slowly and gradually over the eleven episodes. Instead, it sputters along, sometimes leaping out so far ahead that it’s painful to watch. Bevel (Amy’s sick brother) is a great example of this. He’s basically the teacher figure of the story, flat out telling Ledo about the way of life on Gargantia. No holds barred, man. This isn’t just storytime. It’s storytime with a moral. And it’s boring as all hell. I really hated whenever Bevel appeared because I just couldn’t imagine a sick young kid lecturing this freaky space dude about life, the universe, and everything. Too contrived for me, no thanks.

2. I’m scared of the ending

   To be honest, I’m just trying to drop my expectations a notch. Besides the deal with Bevel, this show has been solid, but not amazing. The revelation that the Hideauze are actually human lends more weight to the story, and I thought that was a really nice element. But when the Corporal showed up? Eh…

   It’s been obvious from the beginning that something from the Alliance/Ledo’s old life would show up again at the end. After all, it is a mecha anime. It can’t survive on slice-of-life alone… we need some sort of enemy. But how cool would it have been if there weren’t an antagonist? Why not just a moral battle within Ledo’s own skull? This need to materialize the conflict and the subsequent change of heart by Ledo can be seen as character development, but I would have much, MUCH preferred Ledo by himself on the planet.

   Or at least leave Ledo be until he’s figured out the conflict within his own heart before sending in the Alliance.

   This is heavily speculative, though, so who knows? Maybe the ending will be better?

…nevermind.