Enjoyable short anime

octopusvidya

A quite entertaining anime with 13 episodes (plus two OVA side story episodes) about individuality, duty, compassion, the nature of humanity and laser throwing flying mecha of course.

Ledo is a soldier of the Galactic Alliance of Humankind. Born, raised and bred to fight Hideauze, a race of space- faring octopi and the greatest threat to the survival of the human kind in the galaxy. He lives in a quasi- symbiotic relationship with his mecha Chamber. The height of human engineering in the fields of artificial intelligence and warfare.

Ledo and Chamber end up stranded on our earth, the long lost birth place of humanity, after they get separated from their fleet during a flight through an artificial wormhole. They very soon have to notice that the humans left on earth are different than their space warrior descendants. They love freedom, good food, entertainment and most shockingly: they help the weak and old people instead of killing them for the greater good.

The strong side of this anime are the two main characters Ledo and Chamber. Their character development and attempts to cope with the unfamiliar environment make up for most of the weak points of the show. Another strong side of the show are it's art style and ship designs.

What annoyed me the most were the side characters. The three young girls Amy, Saaya and Melty are carbon copies of each other. They seem to have identical personalities, look similar, act the same way and do the same things. Which is especially annoying since one of them is the love interest of the main character Ledo. You could switch them out mid-scene and I probably wouldn't have noticed. Also the elders (or whatever they are called) of Gargantia have severe cases of brain farts every time they show up, they constantly make absolutely irrational decisions and seem to be destined to lead every single one of their subjects into certain doom whenever they have the chance.

Overall Suisei no Gargantia ("Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet" in the English dub) is an enjoyable mecha anime. It's nothing special, but it is worth your time if you like science fiction stories about the human condition and a good portion of mecha battles now and then.

score 7/10

octopusvidya 29 November 2015

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw3363119/