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Forum - View topicREVIEW: Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet
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Angel M Cazares
 Posts: 5507 Location: Iscandar |
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I agree with Theron's general assessment of Gargantia. It began with great potential, but it ended up being a good, but kind of predictible, story. I did not have many issues with the fanservice, but the sexy dance by underage girls was kind of creepy.
I just have a question for Theron. Which has been the best looking series for you this year? To me Gargantia is easily the best looking series I have watched this year. |
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Echo_City
Posts: 1236 |
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I didn't much like the ending as there was some serious Deus Ex Machina going on and the Gargantians did an "about face" in terms of the moral position that they'd held for the whole series up until that point. It struck me as blatant hypocrisy on their part. |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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The problem with Amy is that she never actually does anything of much use plot-wise. She is simply there to help Ledo integrate into Gargantian society and also to act as a vehicle for fanservice. Nothing more.
A bigger issue with the show is that it is so convinced which society is better that it lacks any of Urobuchi's usual subtlety and thoughtfulness. In Psycho-Pass for instance spoiler[the Sibyl System was deeply flawed but it did work and there was nothing better to replace it, so it was kept for the time being.] Really made you think and look at things from more than one point of view. Same with PMMM and spoiler[how the Inubators' plan was a worthy one, even if it meant screwing over a lot of people.] But in Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet it was simply spoiler[Ledo's society = bad, Whalesquids = good, Gargantian society = good.] Such a cop-out. |
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v1cious
 Posts: 6230 Location: Houston, TX |
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Yeah Theron nailed it. Overall I think it was a really good show, but I feel like it could have been much more. The final twist with spoiler[Kugel] felt tacked on. Instead of making OAVs, they should have just made a 20+ episode series.
Ending on a positive note, it did have my favorite moment of the spring: Warning: MASSIVE SPOILER spoiler[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzf5M9VX6bk] |
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Melanchthon
 Posts: 550 Location: Northwest from Here |
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Gargantia reminds me a lot of Oblivion, that Tom Cruise movie that came out a while back. Both are, in the whole, decent and entertaining sci-fi stories, but when you look at the components that make up the story, everything is unoriginal or borrowed from other sci-fi tales.
The creepy levels of fanservice and the offensive and bizarrely twenty-years-out-of-date caricature homosexuals did it no favors in my book either. I've never been that impressed with Urobuchi Gen--he writes good stories, but there was way too much creepy sexualization and other general creepiness in things I've seen from him.
It's not just Amy, apart from Ledo and Chamber, no other character has more than the most basic characterization and development. To be fair, time limitations probably played a part (would have been better served as a 24 episode show), but still, when your entire supporting cast is pretty much inconsequential, something is wrong. |
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Angel M Cazares
Posts: 5507 Location: Iscandar |
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I would not necessarily call it wrong but rather a reflection on the state of the current anime industry. If you want to sell tons of BD copies, add all the creepy fan-service you can get away with and worry little about good story/plot and characterization. I like Gargantia for what it is: a great looking anime with likable characters and an okay story, and with a potential for greatness that was squandered off by the realities of the anime market, which aims to pander the creepy and pedophile-like fantasies of 40 something Japanese male otakus. |
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belvadeer
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I did enjoy Gargantia enough to finish it. I admit some parts didn't really need to happen, like the middle moments. I wonder, would it be inaccurate to say this entire show could be summed up as:
spoiler[Nature and freedom are good while the military, advanced technology and rigid societal order are bad?] Last edited by belvadeer on Mon Jul 15, 2013 9:15 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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sabriyahm
 Posts: 292 Location: Georgia |
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That scene made it all worth while in my view. I liked this show a lot. It had it's flaws but it surprised me a few times at the end and thats hard to do. I agree with the reviewers comments. It was good but it could have been better. |
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Etrien
 Posts: 525 Location: Tokyo, Japan |
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The show was a great big meh to me. I gave it a C+ overall, according to my records, but it already feels more like a C in my memory - which is a shame, because I was quite impressed with the first couple episodes.
But, when you look at the weekly shows it was competing against - Flowers of Evil, Attack on Titan, and Hunter x Hunter, to name a few - I just couldn't get excited over new episodes of Gargantia. 
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Galap
Moderator
 Posts: 2354 |
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I'd end up giving this one a B on the letter grade scale, but it's more of an irritated B than a 'natural' B, since in my opinion the show could have easily soared to become A material and land its place in my favorites, except it didn't, and here's why:
All the things that were interesting to me were of second order importance, rather than first. As dtm42 said, Amy didn't really do much of anything, and to be quite honest, neither did Ledo really, or chamber for that matter. No, the most interesting characters to me were Bellows, Ridget, Oldham, and Fairlock, and these characters had supporting roles rather than taking center stage. The same goes for the concepts: the Hideauze and the morality surrounding the war was very interesting, but was only touched upon briefly and then abandoned. |
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nechronius
 Posts: 275 Location: So Cal, USA |
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Some rationalizations for some head scratchers.
Collecting rain water - I doubt that rain water is a major source. I am more thinking that rain water is more like a treat. I'm sure they have machines to make water. Desalinization on a large scale would probably yield a lot of distilled water which would be logical to do to make lots of safe drinking water and stored in bulk. Ever had to drink a lot of distilled water? Blech. Plus I bet the water isn't exactly stored for taste, as long as it's "safe." Probably tastes pretty artificial or chemically. It's the elements and minerals in water that give water its "clean" taste. So you collect some rain water, let it settle long enough for the sediments to sink, and enjoy natural, unprocessed water. I'm thinking back to the days when people would collect hail to make shaved ice or ice cream in the days before refrigeration in areas where freezing temperatures aren't common. Similar kind of thing. Young sexy dance - ... Yea it's the fan service angle, for sure. But if you want to give it the rationalization spin a try, I think it's more the portrayal of it than the idea of it that makes it worse. In simpler times you were an "adult" sooner rather than later, so if they had just stated "by 12 most people have a full time job, and by 15 you can marry" in a society where everyone works hard or GTFO, I think most would let it slide, especially if they didn't have that dance. I forget the character's name, the voluptuous female who keeps butting heads with Pinion. I think at some point they gave her stated age to be 18 (Anybody confirm or deny that?). Care to guess how many years she's been a hardened veteran of the deep sea? Anyway obviously if they were playing this from a strictly "primitive tribe" angle most people wouldn't make a fuss. But take the obvious "fan service" pandering angle and yes, objectionable to some. Had to throw it in there to sell more Blu-Rays, obviously. Homosexual chasing - .... nah, I'm not even going to try. |
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zensunni
 Posts: 1294 |
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I agree with your assessments here. Bellows, who is Amy's older sister, is only 18 and she obviously is a veteran salvage operator. Amy, at 15, has a job with a fair amount of responsibility. It is basically a society where you are an adult when you are capable of working like one. The mid-teen girls are working women who are seriously looking for a mate in that society. That may seem a bit odd for us in the 21st century, but it wouldn't have been that odd in the mid 19th century or even the early 20th in most of the world. The extended adolescence of our modern culture is a very recent development. That said, it was written in this cultural time period and did not give any overt explanation of the culture having a different age when one is considered an adult, so it is still a bit creepy... Not to mention the cross dressing prostitutes... I didn't mind the fan service elements personally, but that part was over the line in terms of being offensive. All in all, though, it is a good review and pretty well matches my take on the series. Hmmmm... I haven't finished my blog posts about this series.... Man, I slacked at the end of last season! |
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jojothepunisher
 Posts: 799 |
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I don't see why people are discomforted by the dancing scene. I mean, the highly exposed costume and the style of the dance create a primitive feel to the setting, which is what it should be doing because they are essentially like cavemen compared to people like Ledo.
In terms of the dancers' age, I would argue that they grew up in a society where they are much less sensitive to this sort of thing because they don't have the time to worry about sex-related topics 24/7 like we do in the West. It was probably a girl-thing to do in Gargantia. |
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Echo_City
Posts: 1236 |
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I wish that they had spent more time exploring the society of the Gargantians. They present it as the "ideal" society, out of the choices given, but it seemed a tad too utopian. Was there crime on Gargantia? If so, how do they deal with it? What is the "underside" of Gargantia like? What little they showed of Gargantain society seemed to show a lackadaisical people: from the commanders to the unnamed plebes in the background most everyone seemed content to do just the bare minimum to eke out an existence. Nary a soul had ambition and this was particularly brutal when The Sage shows that they had easy access to knowledge more advanced than their own but failed to employ it. Also, why did the the threat of the whalesquid put "the fear of God" into the Gargantians when Pinion was shown to have a full supply of spoiler[WW2-esque depth charges] and was shown employing them to spoiler[effortlessly turn the whalesquid into hyper-evolved human calamari]? |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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The Gargantians also had bizarre beliefs, such as spoiler[if pirates come and kill your soldiers and steal your stuff and kidnap women for the purpose of raping them, it is wrong to then kill the pirates. It's a pacifism that just isn't realistic in the setting that was created. Resources are precious and people are precious, so they're just going to let pirates do whatever they like without retaliating? I know the Gargantians are supposed to be pacifistic hippies. But for them to act with such stupid and counterproductive idealism when confronted with actual violence and danger just beggars belief.]
Last edited by dtm42 on Tue Jul 16, 2013 1:49 am; edited 1 time in total |
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