Initially I decided not to watch Gargantia because of the score. But after a personal recommendation from another friend, I decided to watch it through; I'm glad I did. I thought the anime was an enjoyable ride with some forgivable flaws and thus, in light of some of the lower review scores this anime got, I felt compelled to give my take on it.
As a reminder, reviews are meant to guide people's choice, and can be a mixture of personal opinions, biases, preferences as well as critique (i.e. reviews are not always right (including this one), etc). Ill list some personal biases below as an fyi; but regardless if you agree or not; I'm hoping you will consider reading this review in full:
1. I like Gen Urobuchi's works
2. I find detailed, realistic world-building difficult (and thus commendable)
3. I like sci-fi; harder SF when possible
4. Given how hard it is to come up with truly original ideas, I think 'cliche' or 'trope-y' setups are tolerable if they are executed well or have a reasonable amount of twists on the copied formula.
That said, Ill try my best to be fair. But before we get started, also note that there may be 'potential' spoilers, as this is my first time writing a review.
Lets start off on why I believe the show got lower ratings from some reviews:
1. Complex story is too short for 1 cour
2. Characterization and character development was limited to the MC, his sidekick, and one other character. There was a bit of character inconsistency near the end.
3. The majority of sci-fi plot twists were executed near the end, and worked against the story; making it more cliche and predictable.
4. Execution of merging sci-fi slice of life with mecha action is an honorable endeavor, but it was not merged well; the show literally switched genres half way through the series, which could alienate initial viewers who were hoping for one of the two types of shows.
Now some of the good points; and explains of both good and bad points will follow after:
1. I thought the world building was detailed and mostly made sense; the characters' personalities mostly fit the each of their situations; until up to the half of the series and as the series hastened to its end.
2. Sound and art are important too me; but I guess in this aspect, I'm not as picky (as opposed to the story). I also probably lack artistic knowledge and audiophile knowledge. That being said I thought both were ok. The mechs were animated well; and the CG was not terribly distracting. Colors were bright, vibrant and merged well. The ships details were decent and creative, while remaining reasonably grounded in reality or the sci-fi rules/constructs of the show.
In general, the negative first point can be pretty much used to argue the remaining negative points. Whether Gargantia had to wrap up quickly due to money, politics, or other concerns, it seemed clear to me that the story dramatically sped up during the 2nd half of the series. The grandiose story that Gargantia was trying to achieve, cannot fit within 1 cour in my opinion. Slice of life genres generally have a slower pace, and thus the slice of life 'arc' of the first half consumed too much episode time, while only building up the main characters a certain amount and supporting characters a negligible amount. Additionally, some viewers likely saw settled into the mindset that this would be a slice of life; that became the expectation.
When the 2nd arc of the series started, the genre switch was probably too jarring for certain viewers; thus alienating them. Sci-fi action/mecha watchers may have also left the series by this time, thinking it was just a slice of life show. Additionally, by switching to a darker, action mecha setup, a lot of supporting character development had to be 'discarded' imo in order to be able to use the remaining episodes to support/build up/explain the remaining plot twists that would follow. Inconsistencies with certain characters' actions also had to be used to propel the plot at the speed necessary to end the show in 13 episodes. Had the show had more episodes, then there would be more time to develop more characters, and to transition character personalities in a more natural, subtle manner.
In conclusion, Gargantia was OK because it had a decent, done-before sci-fi story with decent plot twists done in a decent manner (albeit a bit predictable). IMO, what prevented it from being amazing was not blending the slice of life and action mecha genres early enough before viewers' expectations of the show hardened and lacking the number of episodes it needed to do realize its story.
