Suisei no Gargantia

[Kraco]

"The story begins in the distant future in the far reaches of the galaxy. The Human Galactic Alliance has been constantly fighting for its survival against a grotesque race of beings called "Hidiaazu." During an intense battle, the young lieutenant Redo and his humanoid mobile weapon Chamber are swallowed up into a distortion of time and space. Waking from his artificially induced hibernation, Redo realizes that he has arrived on Earth, the planet on the lost frontier. On this planet that was completely flooded by the seas, people live in fleets of giant ships, salvaging relics from the seas' depths in order to survive. Redo arrives on one of the fleets called Gargantia. With no knowledge of the planet's history or culture, he is forced to live alongside Amy, a 15-year-old girl who serves as a messenger aboard the Gargantia fleet. To Redo, who has lived a life where he knows nothing but fighting, these days of peace continue to surprise him." -ANN

Links: AniDB | ANN | Official
Genre: Action, Mecha, Post-apocalypse, Sci-Fi
DL: Episode 1 - UTW-Vivid | HorribleSubs






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A very good looking show, was my first thought. It reminded me immediately of Macross Frontier. The fancy, shiny technology and all the technobabble only made it still better when they suddenly switched to the rustic and rusty island ship. The contrast is so huge. I can't help but like the setting of the dude finding himself in such an alien place, surrounded by people whose lifestyle couldn't be much more different. I liked the designs immediately. The battle looked really chaotic, which is kind of nice, because realistically that's how it would appear. It would take a big budget to keep the visuals at this level till the end, so I'd expect this ep to be a special case.

This is written by Urobuchi Gen, so I can't honestly say I'd have any idea how it's going to develop and end. The setting gives a very traditional kind of feeling, with a lone guy separated from his society and thrown into a totally different society perhaps permanently, but who knows with Urobuchi. And no, I'm no worshipper of this man's shadow, but I do think I don't know what to expect from him, that much credit I give him readily.

Ledo (Redo) is voiced by Ishikawa Kaito (uhh... no previous roles worth mentioning) and Amy by Kanemoto Hisako (Ika Musume, Kotoura). They both seemed to perform well enough.

I'll certainly keep watching this.

[KrayZ33]

I like the setting, but its always a facepalm moment when I see them shooting a bazillion rockets or lasers at the same time
that attack "formation" was painful to watch too and what were these little shields they carried even good for.
and I can't say I'm a fan of that mecha-design, looks like a chibi version of what could've been a fearsome mech. the very last scene was over the top too if you ask me, what kind of artifical intelligence would show off with flips and screws like that (and it looked kinda horrible too)

aside from that, the stuff going on in general...and MCs rather clever approach to analyze the situation got my attention, I'll keep watching this too

[David75]

I liked that first ep for its visuals and overall shiny appearance.
But as Kraco mentionned, we won't get that till the end. I'm even wondering if we'll have much of the space humans, maybe to see them lose to the plants...
And if it's a slice of life, I wonder what we'll get on a rusty ship

Regarding the space fight, it's true that their all out attack was idiotic at best.
With their hyperspace technology, you'd think they'd be able to wipe solar systems with some kind of time-space bomb.

I was also surprised they didn't anticipate the regeneration speed of the giant canon. Sure you can always be surprised by a sudden leap in technology your enemy might have had, but an all out attack needs at least an alternative that should incapacitate your enemy enough so that you can at least retreat and organize the next battle.

[animus]

I kinda liked it. Will follow for now at least.

[MFauli]

I´m not even 5 minutes in, but I´m about to drop it. Bland and cheap artstyle and animations. The cockpit scene was a poor man´s EVA copycat.

Will give it another try if it gets lots more positive feedback from other Gotwooters.

[shinta|hikari]

This show is horrible, so please drop it.

[Archangel]

Only thing you'll be able to judge from this episode is that it has good visuals, and even that might not be something they'll be able to deliver on a constant basis.

It didn't do anything so terrible that would turn me off from it so i'll just keep watching and form my opinion eventually.

[David75]

There are some trully appalling subs for ep2, did try a French one since I won't be home tomorrow. Worst idea ever.
Friendly reminder, do not make the same mistake

[David75]

12 hours later, proper subs:
[UTW-Vivid]_Suisei_no_Gargantia_-_02_[h264-720p][739A99E9].mkv

[Kraco]

This is shaping up to be one of the very top shows of this season. I was happy with the first ep already, but this made it even better, since this is actually already fully in the setting that's probably going to last till the end. Because I doubt the dude is getting back to space any time soon.

There are so many good things to say about this. Chamber is one of the good individual details. An advanced AI as lost among the barbarians as the pilot himself, making things funny with the detached, logical attitude. I also like a lot how the relations have developed so far. These people are somewhat primitive in their limited hunter-gatherer societies, and it was pulled off quite well how they were balancing between viewing the mecha as nothing but a treasure to be turned into cash and raw knowledge (and feeding Ledo to the fishes) and on the other hand being very cautious, not knowing what they were dealing with. Ledo, being as lost as he is, wasn't making any progress either. Naturally it would then take some busybody like Amy to crack the stalemate.

I'm looking forward to seeing how completely eliminating the pirates will change things. It does reveal something about Ledo's background and the Alliance's situation that he was so utterly ruthless. If it's a society in a life and death battle with the aliens, then there's little room for lenghty trials or other peaceful methods. Ledo doesn't really seem like a violent person, though, which makes this even more interesting. However, I got a feeling these natives never intended to slaughter them, even if they could have by some means.

I really like this so far. I could barely hold back laughter during the "carcass of a marine creature" scene. Chamber's method of flying looks quite novel compared to the usual engines making mecha fly, though it might not end up making any larger difference in practice, aside from the looks.

[KrayZ33]

I didn't expect that... *poof* and they were gone, thats both badass and heartless at the same time

no words for this other than "cool"

[David75]

I know (hope) they won't tell us the bad guys were teleported somewhere since we've had ep 1 with what seemed to be real deaths.
Also, the pirates really did some killing during their assault.
Amy, as young as she is, has a gun. Etc.

Maybe the only real gripe is how you vaporize 60-80kg of matter making it look like a very nice light effect... instead of a gorry hot explosion of meat/bones and body fluids.
I guess we also need an explanation for lasers that seem to change directions.

Then, I too subscribe to the idea that Ledo probably has been too rough. His stunt is a double edge sword as he can be seen as a great asset, as much as a great danger.


Rest of the ep, except the negotiations for communication, was mostly slice of life, not much to say, just a different society that lost losts of techs and R&D and never really recovered.

[Kraco]

Maybe the only real gripe is how you vaporize 60-80kg of matter making it look like a very nice light effect... instead of a gorry hot explosion of meat/bones and body fluids.
I guess we also need an explanation for lasers that seem to change directions.

Under different circumstances that would have bothered me as well, but since the very beginning of the show is still so fresh in mind, I don't really care. Or actually care at all. After all, these weapons were totally useless against the aliens. They used some far bigger and terrible weapons as well, but even those didn't deliver sufficiently.

[Inazuma]

God this was glorious. Fuck you beams that instagibs everything from squirrels to battleships, Anti Gravity Directional Townsend field(?), sleek mecha design, Ai on par with Al (FMP), good animation, ...
This is going to be a real contender for best Scifi anime for sure.

[Archangel]

Complete dominance doesn't even begin to describe it, it's like cavemen trying to fend themselves off against a tank.

[shinta|hikari]

Understatement. An entire planet with Gargantia's technology could not defend itself against that kind of force.

[Ryllharu]

Personally, I'm most interested in the Gargantia crew's reaction to his cold, utter brutality. He probably thinks nothing of it at all, it was clean, completed his objectives, and allowed for minimal effort and minimal casualties to his own allies. Ledo and Chamber will view it as perfect success.

Amy is going to think of it as overkill, and even Bellows is likely to be horrified, considering that she and the other female members of her crew were about to get used as sex slaves and then murdered.

As for how you vaporize someone to sparkly dust? A controlled molecular bond disruption laser, similar to the device from Ender's Game. Maybe one specifically tuned to only break carbon-hydrogen-oxygen bonds, so it stops from chain reacting with the atmosphere. Or, since it blew up the boats but vaporized the people, it is a dynamically-tuned Convenience Beam to keep unnecessary gore out of the series.

[Kraco]

considering that she and the other female members of her crew were about to get used as sex slaves and then murdered.

Are you sure about that? I got a feeling the pirate captain wanted Bellows to join their clan, but since that wasn't likely, he was just trying to shake her up a bit until they are ready to depart with the loot. All in all Bellows & Co's reactions seemed like it wasn't necessarily the first time they got robbed by pirates, even if not these exact same ones.

But who knows, they didn't really get to talk overly long before Ledo paid a visit.

Amy gives so innocent and happy-go-lucky vibes that it will interesting to see her reaction in particular. Will she be able to repeat her friendly approach now that she knows this starman isn't against blowing it.

[Ryllharu]

Depends on how you take that line. Usually we see the scenario where a bunch of thugs walk up to an unescorted girl and ask her to, "hang out with them for a while." If they are with a male companion, they get asked if they want to hang out with them instead of their "loser" companion. Their intentions are fairly clear, and they don't usually rip off another girl's shirt when they first get rebuked.

But, I guess their pirate leader is a woman too, so who knows. Still, ripping off the other girl's shirt settled it for me.

[David75]

My guess is that everyone on earth is like a big familly and the difference between a pirate and what Bellows does is very thin.
They probably even were childhood friends or know well most of the pirates.
So even if there are fights and some deaths, it's not like it's an all out war.

Somehow, AI simple words just enhanced how different it is for Redo: Their enemy is dangerous and there's absolutely no room for coexistence.
I would not be surprised Ledo's action backfire on him.