Pachi's Anime Review: Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet

In a far-off future, a now space-faring humanity is gridlocked in a war with an alien organism called the Hideauze. Ensign Ledo is a soldier of the Galactic Alliance of Humankind whose duty it is to eliminate the Hideauze threat and preserve the existence of mankind, one he carries out with strict precision due to a society that has evolved beyond the concepts of emotion and disorder. During a raid on an enemy weapon stash, Ledo and his Machine Caliber Chamber are knocked into an unstable wormhole and sent flying across the galaxy. When he awakens, Ledo discovers not only that he has been in cryo-sleep for several months, but they have been picked up by a group of sea-faring humans on a planet covered entirely by ocean. Chamber's readouts tell him that the planet is Earth, the same Earth that the Galactic Alliance originated from millennia ago.

Spring 2013 was a season of high expectations for Western anime fans. You had the grim, bombastic fantasy realm of Attack on Titan, an action/adventure tour du force which already was widely acclaimed as the new poster child of the genre, the critically lauded and massively polarizing Flowers of Evil, and then you had Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet, an original story from Gen Urobochi of Madoka Magica fame featuring animation by Production I.G. Much like Kids on the Slope's amassed hype over the reunion of Shinichiro Watanabe and Yoko Kanno, this infamous author and popular studio promised an enticing combination. It was also a big season for mecha; sharing the stage with Majestic Prince and Valvrave the Liberator. Those two, however, followed the classic "team of super-powered robots" episodic serial, while Gargantia seemed to be giving us something different.

What we get is a fish out of water story on a galactic scale. Ledo is a soldier - he hails from a war-time future society of rule and rigidity. His world is a well-known cautionary tale of the dehumanization of humanity through technology; depicting a people without emotion or personal agendas and those without physical ability to further the species' purpose for existence are disposed of.  The full story of how Ledo's people developed into this efficient structural force would make for a compelling tale all its own , but that isn't our focus so much as our starting point. After his skirt with disaster, Ledo and his mobile suit companion Chamber find themselves stranded on a planet of vast oceans and great fleets of ships. The culture he discovers on the fleet of Gargantia is the antithesis to his own. They are united for the purpose of continuing their existence, yet individuality and free thinking are valued, and everyone has their own place in society where they can contribute, even if they're seemingly "unsuited" for the long-term betterment of mankind due to old age or physical ailment. Roughly the first two/thirds of Gargantia cover Ledo's attempts to cope with these alien concepts of co-existence and purpose of self against purpose of all.

The first step: communication. And this is an effort that goes both ways; keep in mind that the Gargantians don't have a clue where Ledo and Chamber have come from except "the sky". He's just as much an alien to them as they are to him. Both sides exhibit hostility, but through the natural conclusion that in their situation an all-out war wouldn't benefit anyone, they attempt contact. With Chamber acting as overseeing translator for both parties, barriers are chiseled away and bonds are forged little by little.

The strength in Gargantia is this two-way street; the effort to learn from both Ledo and the Gargantians. Both sides still have their reservations concerning the other's actions, but rarely does this give way to a complete breakdown of relations. Chamber's efficiency in combat is top-notch and unforgiving - the pair thinks little of the consequence to any lives they have taken, which the Gargantians are quick to make a point of. His usefulness as a soldier is frankly overstuffed in this world, and so rather than do what he pleases, he seeks other ways he can be useful to the fleet; learning the values of choice and circumstance along the way.  Yet he never loses sight of himself and his duty to the Galactic Alliance; in this way learning to examine his past record more objectively and create the potential for change. If Ledo were assimilated into the Gargantian society completely and became like them out of necessity, the message would be lost. Maintaining his identity, while learning to adapt, shows that even one brought up in a society lacking individual purpose and drive like Ledo had the potential to think and grow for the good of his own personal existence all along, blah blah blah insert more flowery language here. But I don't sell this message short - it's a powerful one; coming from a vast examination of human relation you don't normally witness in anime.

If you're looking for quality animation, look no further. Production I.G. delivers on all cylinders with a bright pallet and sharp, contrasting colors. Taking place primarily in a giant sea, one would think they'd get bored constantly staring at water. There are limited settings, but the mood and lighting is varied enough scene after scene to keep interest and impress. The scene where Chamber makes a splash landing over the waves in particular is breathtakingly beautiful, and later scenes keep the quality going, but don't up the ante. It's the little touches that make Gargantia stand out production-wise. If you're paying close attention, keep note of Ledo's skin color as the show progress - he gradually develops a tan!

Gargantia has a colorful cast of memorable characters - yet funnily enough, the two with limited emotion stand out the brightest. Beyond the metaphorical and literal cold exteriors of Ledo and Chamber lies an awkward charm - their desire to do what they believe is right always stands paramount. Even when what they believe is undeniably wrong, their firm earnestness is easily relatable as protagonists. The citizens of Gargantia are by no means not charming nor earnest, but they suffer from some poor writing choices and ill-placed fanservice. Eager young Amy, who takes a shine to Ledo and serves as his primary contact with the Gargantians, is designed as if she was supposed to be the heroine of her own show that otaku would like. She's built like someone supposed to entice a male viewership, is what I mean. At the same time the camera takes a bit of a queasy male gaze to her, sometimes lingering a little too long on the seams of her generous rags. In one scene, Amy takes part in a festival as a dancer, which I expected to be cute and sweet, but instead she shimmies and gyrates provocatively before a crowd of primarily adult men (take note, she is a 14-year-old girl). The only thing missing was a stripper pole. A light dashing of elements like this that aren't frequent enough to be a feature but not absent enough to be ignored put a damper on the likeability of the Gargantians. It's not THEIR fault, but the series could really have done without those inappropriate touches.

As I said above, the other way the Gargantians suffer is in the way they're written, and that's actually kind of a problem with the whole series in general. The short version: Gargantia is of an inconvenient length. 13 episodes is too short, but 26 episodes would be too long. Ultimately being of shorter length than necessary for its plot, the show hits the fast-forward button to speed along some events, most notably in the final third. One character in particular - the cocky, knuckleheaded mechanic Pinion - goes through a change in character which should've taken several episodes in the span of one. This is notable of the entire last third of the series. Characters take routes that ARE logical for their personality and the flow of the story, but they jump to conclusions and new stances way too fast to suit the episode count. I can't really take points away from the show for that since it was clearly done under constraints and not out of incompetence, but it's worth noting if you're a stickler for good writing - it definitely wavers at the end.

Gargantia was both a frustrating and a valuable watch for me.  The first two/thirds of the series presents a charming take on culture shock and mutual understanding that goes beyond the spoken word. The whole affair is very TV-anime friendly, to note; I've seen movies that can capture the spirit of a relationship across cultures in a far deeper context than Gargantia ever digs. Still, the heart and drive is present, and appreciated. I loved all of those parts. The last third of the series......well, situations come to a head, revelations are made, and decisions are counter-measured, which places the communication aspect in the backseat and finishes up as a generic battle of good (mutual understanding) versus not-quite-evil-but-depicted-as-such-for-the-story(complete assimilation). The merits for and against coexistence are fought in giant mecha while the Gargantians can do little but watch. So not only was the message of the show transferred into a vehicle that almost every other "deep" mecha series to date has adopted, but a huge cast of characters vital to the message barely have anything to do in the finale.

Here's the thing: that's not objectively bad. I quite enjoyed it - I love generic battles of good versus evil. I love the hokey scenes of characters crying out their ideals in the middle of giant robot combat. And we get all of that at the very end. Is it what Gargantia deserves? For what it offered us at the beginning, no. I find myself frustrated because I really got into the ending even though I knew deep inside that it was not the ending a story like Gargantia deserved. But in all honesty, this is exactly the kind of ending we should have expected, and likely the only one we ever would have gotten given the medium and audience. You can't always tell in what direction a show is going to go, but once the halfway point of Gargantia is reached, the signs are all there. You can tell pretty much where it's heading and how it's going to wrap things up fairly early on. And honestly, I'm fine with that. I see a lot of people express disappointment in Gargantia overall, and I do understand a lot of their complaints. But when I muse over them, I just shrug my shoulders. This is a case where I see no way for the story to have played out differently given the production, so I just move on from the scrutiny. So I look back, and yes, I absolutely loved Gargantia on the Verderous Planet, flaws and all. If you want something a little different from the standard faire of space anime coming out these days (even if it does take a turn for the typical by the end), I heartily recommend checking it out.

You can currently find all subbed episodes of Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet streaming online courtesy of Crunchyroll. The full series and OVAs has been licensed by Viz Media - a home video release is planned for 2014.