Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet / Suisei no Gargantia

Other Anime
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Episode 12 –

spoiler

Lukkage shows Pinion the stockpile of what she hopes are weapons and asks Pinion to restore them. Pinion gets a little more enthusiastic once he’s told that he can keep whatever isn’t a weapon. That’s a perfect bribe for this guy! Lukkage also tells Pinion her plans to return to pirating.

Ledo tries to talk Kugel out of attacking Gargantia, but Kugel is going to following the principles of the Galactic Alliance and change this world, bringing order to it. He is going to turn this Earth into another Avalon and he warns Ledo not to waver. But Ledo is thinking of Amy.

Melty brings Pinion a message to meet with Flange and Melty secretly. Flange doesn’t like what’s going on and wants to protect the members of his fleet. He’s sorry that he ever left Gargantia. Pinion confides to them that Lukkage is plotting a rebellion and the other two would like to join her, but Pinion tells them that her plan relies on Ledo and he doesn’t think that’s going to happen.

It rains and instead of collecting the rainwater, these residents perform a culling of the weak ones. Ledo is shocked and tries to prevent it, but is held back. Pinion realizes that this group is insane and Lukkage warns him that Gargantia is the next target. Pinion decides that this life isn’t for him. Ledo came here to protect everyone and doesn’t want to see his friends subjected to this life.

Ledo has received his order and Chamber tells him to board and prepare for battle. Instead, Ledo asks Chamber what his strength is compared to Striker’s, but Chamber doesn’t have enough data to calculate an answer. Ledo simplifies the question and asks Chamber if he can fight Striker, but Chamber still can’t answer. Chamber leaves it in Ledo’s hands. Ledo feels a presence and turns to find Pinion there. Both the fleet and the rebels prepare for battle. Melty is tasked with warning Gargantia.

Melty doesn’t quite make it and falls to the sea, but Amy rescues her at the very last minute. She manages to warn Amy that Gargantia is going to be attacked just before she faints. She wakes up in bed with a fever, but her message and a plan was delivered. Ridget reviews the plan with her officers. They will change course and evacuate. However, Amy bursts into the meeting and gives them more information. She tells them that Ledo is going to fight to protect them, as they escape. They are unsure what to do and Dr. Oldham tells them that it’s time to use “Heaven’s Ladder”. Amy is enlisted to help as well.

Kugel declares the beginning of a new holy war and is confident of their victory. He believes that a world of perfect order will bring peace and happiness. What a nut job! As Striker prepares to move out, Chamber comes out of nowhere and blocks him. Ledo tries to talk Kugel out of battle one more time, but Striker attacks him instead. Others move to help, but are stopped, for this is a battle between gods and they should not interfere. However, Pinion joins in the fight. Ledo orders him to stand down, but of course Pinion ignores him. He’s always done his own thing – why should he stop now?

Pinion’s death is ordered, but it doesn’t happen as explosions flare up around the fleet. While the fight between gods goes on, the rebellion is well under way. A move is made to put it down, but Lukkage shows up in her Lobster and gives them a run for their money, destroying a good number of the Yunboros. Nice that she’s changed her opinion of Pinion too! LOL Ledo is losing his fight because he doesn’t want to kill his commander. He can’t have it both ways! He needs to make a decision here. Pinion hits Striker and gives Ledo a chance.

Chamber rams Striker into a wall and Ledo boards Striker. He uses an emergency code to open the cockpit and finds Kugel dead. In fact, he’s been dead a long time, but Striker had been preserving the body and commanding in his name. Striker just can’t comprehend why Ledo is resisting orders. Ledo is in shock that a machine has been ruling these people!

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But it wasn’t time to use this in the earlier fight scene where their opponents were literally coming to kill them? Shenanigans all around.

This also seemed bogus as her opponents had demonstrated that they had technology far, far, FAR more advanced than her clunker and yet she was able to defeat them in a comic “spin move”. That was as ridiculous as it would be if a man on horseback were to attack a modern tank with his sabre…and win.

I can’t recommend lowering your expectations for episode 13, before viewing it, enough. Though no matter how low they are going in, they won’t be low enough.

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Episode 13 –

spoiler

Striker admits that Kugel is non-existent and that she has been carrying on his mission. Striker is following his plan to the letter and Striker explains that she is god. Ledo tries to enlighten her, but how do you argue with a machine? She also wants Ledo to obey her and become one of the mindless slaves that worship her. This is one very misguided machine! Even before Ledo can answer her, Chamber refuses and questions her logic. Striker would welcome Chamber as a fellow god, but again Chamber refuses, preferring to serve humans instead of being worshiped. Chamber concludes that Striker is malfunctioning and must be shut down and destroyed. Not a good thing to tell a god – even if it’s a malfunctioning one!

Of course Striker disagrees and Ledo says they need to take Striker out. But I have a feeling that Striker is a lot more powerful than Chamber, being a command type of unit. Ledo gets back into the cockpit and they attack Striker. Meanwhile, the fight continues with the rebels and Flange refuses to run, although it would be in his best interests to do so. Instead, he orders an evacuation of the civilians. And Pinion isn’t doing well either. Telling his team that they are incompetent, he orders them to evacuate as well. But his people know it’s a ruse and believe that Pinion will be sacrificing himself for their sakes. Pinion tells them that he won’t let anyone have his “castle” and his team leaves, knowing that they will probably never see him again.

Striker and Chamber are battling it out in the skies above the fleet. Chamber admits that Striker is the superior machine. Ledo questions his life up until now, blindly following orders for what he once thought was the good of humanity. But his eyes have been opened since he came to this world. Striker is still trying to get him to follow orders and submit to her. The situation is serious and Ledo calls for Chamber to maximize “neuroplus power”. However, Chamber refuses, telling Ledo that it’s suicide to merge pilot and machine.

Ledo explains his reasons to Chamber, telling him that there is no place for either of them in this world and that they are a product of a long ago hatred. If they can stop Striker, then the sacrifice will be worth it in order to save this “reborn” world from such beings as themselves. Chamber agrees with Ledo’s logic and begins the process. It’s painful as Chamber connects to Ledo’s central nervous system, but it increases their performance which may just be enough to win. However, it will also kill Ledo in a given amount of time. Ledo has less than ten minutes to live and I hope it’s long enough to beat Striker. Chamber attacks Striker and it’s a good hit although it hurt. But now, Ledo sees Amy heading his way. Stupid move on her part for now he will have to protect her as well.

Back on Gargantia, Ridget finds out just what that key of hers is for. Heaven’s Ladder is a weapon of the lost age. The Five Sages tell Ridget some of its history, but it’s taken on more of a mystical meaning through the years it was handed down. Ridget uses the key and activates the “orbital mass driver system”. Amy approaches Ledo and tells him that instead of running, they will be fighting together. Amy also tells Ledo that she wants to be by his side. But it still isn’t a good time for this confession! Silly female. LOL Amy tells Ledo to return with her to Gargantia as Ridget fires the weapon. Amy signals Gargantia the location of the target for the next shot. For such an old weapon, it still works pretty well. Someone must have been maintaining it all this time.

As a ship of the enemy fleet is destroyed, Flange realizes that Gargantia must have activated Heaven’s Ladder. Striker analyzes the data from the missile and sees Gargantia as a bigger threat than Chamber. Changing tactics, Striker heads for Gargantia and Chamber follows. The enemy fleet continues to be destroyed and they make an attempt to capture Pinion’s “castle” and take his weapons, feeling that will give them the advantage, until Striker can defeat the enemy. Lukkage warns Pinion that the enemy is on the way, but Pinion is all ready for them, intending to blow the place up in a suicide move. I had to laugh as Lukkage yelled at him and ordered him to the observation deck. Boy, did he run! Whipped by the Pirate Queen! LOL

Ledo is determined to protect Gargantia at all costs, but it seems that even with enhanced capabilities, Chamber is no match for Striker. It seems that Pinion won’t be able to save his “castle” in the long run and Lukkage saves him in a very daring move. Exciting! Ridget fires again and Pinion’s relic is destroyed, igniting the weapons and destroying the rest of the enemy fleet. The only thing left now is Striker, but Ledo is running out of time and it shows. Chamber gives him a final warning and asks Ledo to confirm his wish to die. Ledo thinks of Amy and he cries, wanting to be with her again. Chamber feels his emotional state and set off alarms. Chamber informs him that his mental state does not match that of a soldier. He announces that he is relieving Ledo of his duties and ejects him. Although a machine, Chamber has some definite endearing human qualities.

Chamber tells Ledo that he will fulfill his purpose, and in his own way, wishes Ledo a good future. It’s a sad goodbye between man and machine. Striker puts in her two cents and ruins the moment, but Chamber stands his ground, determined to complete his mission and ensure his pilot’s survival. Positive that Chamber is malfunctioning, Striker orders Chamber to reboot and gives him a final warning. Chamber’s response was priceless! LOL And possibly the best line in the show! Chamber attacks Striker again and grabbing her, blows himself up. It destroys Striker, but it was such a shame to see Chamber destroyed as well. At least he went out a true hero. Ledo lands in the sea, shocked that his partner is gone, and cries over the loss of his friend.

A new legend is born as the story of what originally happened all those years ago is told and how the war between humans continued so far away. The price the remaining survivors on Earth had to pay was to lose the land and live on the sea. But now the people know their past and where they came from. In the end scenes, it looks like Lukkage is part of the crew and Pinion is caught between her and Bellows. The enemy survivors are incorporated into Gargantia. Bebel becomes a teacher and passes on the history of humanity.

Ledo becomes a Yunboro pilot and continues his salvage career, retrieving more lost data from the past. He’s even found his way around the whalesquid without harming them and Ledo hopes to be able to communicate with them someday. It also looks like things are going well between Amy and Ledo, which is nice. And amongst the relics deep beneath the sea, it looks like Chamber has become a nesting place for the whalesquid, which is also nice. Once he killed them and now he nurtures them. I enjoyed this show very much and I was thoroughly satisfied with the ending. It was a good story and nothing was left hanging. That’s the way I like it!

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I’m pretty sure that Ledo already could communicate with the whalesquid at the end. I thought that’s what my subtitles said that he said lol. When the camera shows Ledo having a certain item on his belt it really screamed to me that he could.

You didn’t think that Heaven’s Ladder was a shenanigan? I still think that they should have left it out.

I’m disappointed by the preview for Episode 14. It looks to take place between the existing eps but it invents characters who were not seen in the existing part of the show. It’ll be really weird to see these cool new guys pop up at the time of ep 6 (for example) and then be gone by ep 7.

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Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet to Get ‘Important Announcement’

posted on 2013-10-09 22:55 EDT by Lynzee Loveridge

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Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet Gets Sequel Green-Lit

posted on 2013-10-10 10:56 EDT by Egan Loo
More details to be announced in the future

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Gargantia Anime Sequel to Be 2-Volume Video Anime

posted on 2014-03-22 23:51 EDT by Lynzee Loveridge

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Gargantia OAV Characters, Story Details Revealed

posted on 2014-03-25 15:10 EDT by Lynzee Loveridge
Website will hold PV contest for 300,000 yen prize

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Another postal worker? They didn’t even develop 2 of the original 3 and now we’re getting a fourth? So many characters in Gargantia are still undeveloped and now we’re getting more…

I hope that this gets Gargantia away from the ham-fisted allegorical stuff and back to the “blowing up Heroic Age quasi-aliens” stuff. Or, if that can’t happen, I’d settle for Pinion/Ledo being made into respectable male characters.

When is Viz going to roll out their bluray of this one?

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http://imgur.com/hloePumhttp://i.imgur.com/hloePum.gif

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I’d like to see some character Dev as right now they’re mostly stereotypes. I’d be more okay with that if those stereotypes appealed to me but…

I didn’t care much for the art of this, except for the Heroic Age-ripoff space battles. Chamber’s cg was really poor IMO. Aquarion EVOL is the gold standard for mecha cg and compared to that poor chamber was iron pyrite.

…if being a kid in Japan is fighting space aliens with your own mech and being an adult is living hand to mouth on a floating junk heap then I can understand why Japan has a NEET problem :slight_smile:

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http://imgur.com/HrMS9aEhttp://i.imgur.com/HrMS9aE.jpg

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It’s not so much the design, though Chamber wasn’t very impressive looking, as it is about the quality of the CG. I’ve played PC games that have real-time CG better than Chamber. Having seen the Unreal Engine 4 tech demos I wouldn’t be surprised if even the modern consoles give us better real-time 3d models. The CG in Gargantia didn’t mesh with the 2D stuff well either. That’s the #1 priority with CG models in anime (only Satelight seems to understand that, and even they haven’t mastered it).

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http://imgur.com/BObLVeRhttp://i.imgur.com/BObLVeR.jpg

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Low detail model (blocky, no fine detail) and no textures (just coloring and simplistic shading, like those old PS2 models).

The hallmark of bad CG is when something can both be instantly identified as CG and doesn’t jibe with the non-CG elements in the frame. There is no doubt that Chamber is CG and he sticks out from the 2d traditional animation like a sore thumb :frowning:

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http://imgur.com/tsCmqDrhttp://i.imgur.com/tsCmqDr.jpg

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…

The environments and art in Gargantia were not high in detail, sure. Are you saying that Chamber’s lack of detail was to fit that motif? If that’s the case, then I believe that it is pretty clear that they flubbed it.

Aquarion Evol is still bad CG. It’s just the best CG-the best bad CG-in town. The only examples of good CG in anime to date have been sporadic and small largely-unnoticeable occurrences that augment the 2d animation, analogous to the only good CG in US live action.

Why the Japanese can’t get CG above the level of dated video games is a mystery. Even in actual movies like Berserk the CG is low quality. I really wish that they’d just draw these things as, even if it did look good now, CG ages extremely rapidly. The best CG of its time looks like death warmed over a few years later while drawn animation is comparatively timeless.

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http://imgur.com/ktaAnrGhttp://i.imgur.com/ktaAnrG.png

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A long time ago, there was a cartoon show entitled “Mike, Lu and Og”. In an episode of it (episode 2), they attempt to build a TV. This TV only displays a “fuzz” of black and white static and characters in the show, characters who had no idea what a TV was supposed to display, thought that the static was brilliance and imagined all of these epic tales being cryptically told by them. The character who was familiar with TV tried to tell them the error of their ways, that there was nothing there but static and that character was dismissed for not being able to “see” the detail that was present in the utter lack of detail.

Your post reminded me of that.

While Gargantia’s 2d art was lacking detail the CG didn’t even have that much. It looked extremely poor in motion (I’m not even willing to bet that it was made entirely in 1080) and, from a quality standpoint, was laughed at by even yesteryear’s video games. If CG is where anime is headed, and I have this sinking feeling that it is, then the Japanese really need to up their game.

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http://imgur.com/64J2HTbhttp://i.imgur.com/64J2HTb.jpg