Susei No Gargantia is about the adjustment of a solider from space war time, to the easy going life of the remnants of now flooded Earth. Of which he is at first confused about, but learns to adjust and live with them. It’s a story about a battle a torn man (teenager) moving on with his life. This type of story has been done multiple times, but in anime it has only happened in comedic situations successfully. (I.E: Gintama (sometimes serious), Full Metal Panic). This is the first anime of this story type that I have seen in not a comedic light. Personally I had very high hopes. I thought Gen could do this very well with a dark story, with PTSD, ghosts of the character’s past coming back to haunt him and the main character learning the true value of peace in this manner. Yet, Gen goes a somewhat carefree route. The main character Ledo tries to get a Job, adjust to life, and he can’t manage to do it. He just looks plain bored. Morales of society, what it means to be happy, and the human condition are presented throughout the story. Yet, it fails to leave any impression. The Morales tend to be barely audible. Gargantia’s story seems never to leave a lasting impression, and never really makes you think as it should. This coupled with a predictable plot brought down by near ridiculous characters results in a driveled mess of a story.
Story: 6/10
Art is done well. Production I.G always does a “good” job. Not really much symbolism in the art, a little here and there, but not much. The color pallets used in Gargantia are vibrant and bright. This is trying to show the brightness of this happy life. This couples with interesting designs of ships and weapons results in some good vibrant scenes in terms of art. The one greatest flaw was the mecha design. Which was… sub-par and does not look as a viable design. It would have been forgivable if they had looked cool. Yet, alas the mecha just looks odd. I see they tried to do something bold, yet as many agree it fell on its face in mecha design. Overall beside’s this mecha design, Production I.G does a great Job on the art.
Art : 8/10
Sound:
it was virtually unnoticeable. Very rarely was an Ost good (no Ost choice), but nothing bad. Very safe on sound and OSTs. Weapons though I will say had very satisfying sounds when fired. I enjoyed the Railgun blast sound effect. The Op is standard J pop and same with the Ed, nothing great, nothing bad.
Sound: 7/10
Characters are where Gargantia is insanely hit or miss. The general design for guys is typical, but looks really good. On the other hand Every girl under the age of 20 in this show seems to be a loli and has a perma blush with mid drift to boot. Any girls in the 20 to 30’s seem to have allot of “plot” on their chest. Our main protagonist is a boy named Ledo who was once a solider in a Spartan like utopia in space. Who I might add has less personality than his Mech AI and basically barely changes. That would be bearable if it hadn’t been for Amy and her lolies always after Ledo… it truly ruined any hope of me taking Gargantia seriously. The hands down greatest Character in Gargantia is Pinion. He is the show’s greatest saving grace. He is a Mechanic who has a tragic past and wants to bring forth the dreams of those who died in his past. Not to spoiler, but he is witty, brash, and lovable, a real Han solo …. Who on top of this is also an engineer. He bumps up muddled characters from dismal hate to a…
Character: 7/10
Overall I didn’t Hate Gragantia… didn’t like it either. It had one thing to keep my attention. “When will it be Gen Urobuchied?” For you who have watched Gen you know what im saying. When the world turns upside-down for the main characters and everything goes to hell. This never truly happens in Gargantia, it hints and almost looks like it, but lol nope you get nothing. Garagantia I would not recommend to anyone, it really is only worth watching if you want to see what Gen Urobuchi’s “healing” anime looks like (not good in my o- Pinion bad pun is bad). The only enjoyment was hope enjoyment for everything to go to hell, which sadly never came. The greatest saving grace was Pinion, which made my score jump from my lowest score ever (6/10 )to a…
Overall: 7/10
-Raptor
