Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet – 06

gargantia (7)

Time for a mecha fishing adventure with Jrow and Fosh!

spring13-jrowIndeed, we hope you’re ready to listen to us talk about Gargantia. It’s just Fosh & I for this episode, which is a bit of a letdown considering the festival theme of this episode. Enjoy the podcast, and play it before you see on Fosh’s gifs, because once you see those, we’ve officially lost you! btw… we did this while on Google+ Hangout, and if anyway to gather more people for a discussion, that might be something I’m willing to explore.
spring13-foshYes! Time for another awesome mini-talk on more Gargantia and just like Jrow said we are exploring ideas to use more Google+ hangouts in the future! Anyway I hope you enjoy listening to the episode.

Extra Gargantia fun 

gargantia (2)

Hopefully she can maintain her cheerful personality~

gargantia (6)

Amy for the win~

gargantia (8)

Red protects his future waifu!

gargantia (9)

I hope Red gives her some money for that private dance.

Extra dancing gifs

Show ▼

Preview

gargantia (10)

Ika Musume sure looks different…

Squids vs giant robots!?

About

We live, laugh, enjoy and strictly believe on "more the merrier". When together, we usually come up with very chatty, conversation-based episodics and interesting posts.
Blinklist BlogMarks Delicious Digg Diigo FaceBook Google MySpace Netvibes Newsvine Reddit StumbleUpon Twitter

55 Responses to “Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet – 06”

  1. Irenesharda says:

    While this episode was better than the last, I’m getting slight vibes of “He-Man Movie Syndrome” here. Unfortunately this is the pitfall that happens to a lot of “fish out of water” stories. We bring a stranger from a interesting, strange environment only to put him on Earth and have most of our story happen there. Gargantia life is not much different from how it is on Earth now, except of course for the fact the they all live on boats. And the thing is, I live on Earth, I really don’t need to learn about it!
    It would be different if half the time we could learn about Gargantia and half the time about the Alliance, but no. I am just beginning to get bored watching Red go from one set of hi-jinks to the other as he adapts to Earth life. It would be different if he took Amy to the Alliance and she could experience his world too, but we’re just stuck on boring dull Earth.

    However, this episode does show that no matter how Red has adapted, he’s still a soldier. Seeing the octopus dish (which looked disgusting by the way, yuck! Since when do octopii have large spikes on their tentacles? (And yes, I love calamari and octopus, but I for sure ain’t eatin’ that!)) caused him to shift right back into soldier mode, and the part with the lights at the end when he pulled his gun, sealed that. Also, no matter how much time he spends learning earth life, he doesn’t forget about his responsibilities to the Alliance or all the people dying out there on the front line, and that his desire and priority is to go back home. I think it’s like with people who are career military and have been in it for a long time, that even when they retire, there is always that readiness about them. They will still get up at the crack of dawn, always sit up ram straight, and they always remember their military code. 16 years in the military is a long time, and I don’t think any amount of time on Earth will rid Red of that.

    The stinger at the end that the Hideauze might be on Earth has piqued my interest. I hope this is not a red herring and that the iridescent squid is not “just” a squid. That would be very disappointing. However, I would find it strange if it isn’t since Chamber matched it 99.7% which is pretty darn close. I mean, there’s a big difference between your regular giant squid and an intergalactic sized squid that can eat ships whole, is able to survive in the cold vacuum of space, can fly, and is predatory enough that has developed laser beams strong enough to destroy space cruisers.
    I mean it could be a mutated squid that was enhanced by those nanomachines they spoke of, that are the predecessors of the Hideauze. Maybe all the plants and sea creatures became predatory because the earth people experiments of something. Or perhaps these ARE Hideauze and they leave Earth to join their species in space? That would be a big problem, especially if the Alliance were to find that the Hideauze have been coming from Earth. And yet, it could just mean that the Hideauze caught a ride with Red to Earth, and during those three months that Red was in a coma, they spread out a multiplied. Perhaps the “whale squid” and the Hideauze are the same thing?

    Well anyway, I’ve been waiting for some time for something to happen in these episodes, and I hope they don’t take it away from me. We’re halfway through this series, it’s really time for something to happen more than just culture hi-jinks and having Red learn about Earth life.

    Oh and also, the gratuitous fan-service? Just as unneeded this episode as it was in the last. It’s kind of weird and uncomfortable watching 14,15, and 16 year old girls dance in a bar like that for older, sweaty, most-likely inebriated guys. I just feel as if it wasn’t necessary and could have been easily done better if they had made it a cultural affair and had older women dancing with them as if teaching them to dance as in most cultural festival dancing. But for the three of them just to dance like that, and with those camera angles. It was just uncomfortable for me. (I know my parents would have made sure I never saw daylight if I ever did something like that. o_o )

    I was talking with others on a forum and they seem to think as I do that there was a hiccup in the PR demography department. I’m really beginning to get the feeling that this anime didn’t quite know who this show was supposed to cater too. The beginning attracted the mecha crowd, but then they tossed in some slow world building, and then some slice-of-life/romcom , and now a little ecchi fanservice here and there. It just seems like it’s trying to have something for everyone, but I’m afraid that as it’s trying to do that it will please no one. If they go back to the action and darker storyline like the mecha fans want, than the SoL fans will be displeased, and vice versa if they continue on they way they’ve been going, totally ignoring what was going on in the first two episodes.

    Since we’re already halfway through, I might as well continue a hope for the best. I do agree with Fosh that Red growing more lax and a hint of something more happening between him and Amy is sending up death flags (mostly in Amy’s direction). I hope things will change for the better and last few seconds of this episode as well as the preview makes me think that it will. I give this episode a 5.75/10.

    • Highway says:

      IMO, there’s been a lot happening in these episodes. It hasn’t been wham bang action, but it was movement, sure and certain. Especially this last episode was a beautiful and touching.

      Something to remember about the dance sequence: Most of those guys were probably 16, 17, 18, 19 years old. Pinion is a senior mechanic, and he’s 20. Bellows is a Salvage captain and she’s 18. Much like most of human history, people in this time “grow up fast”. There’s not a lot of time to live, so you make the most of the time you have. I have much more of a problem with the infantilization of current society, forcing children to stay dependent and unprepared for the world. It’s far more likely that Saya and Melty’s parents, if they’re still alive, are wondering why they haven’t found a nice boy yet than scandalized that they’re dancing at a festival. Amy, at 16, is taking care of her younger brother with no parents alive (apparently).

      The biggest thing to remember is that this isn’t our world. They are living in a way that they’ve found works.

    • Jrow says:

      I’m coming more to your side from last week. World-building is good and important, but until the end of this episode I felt there really hadn’t been as much gained from this episode as the previous episode, maybe other than the building of friendships and such I mentioned on the ‘cast.

      Interesting thoughts about who the anime is supposed to cater to. I think it’s generally ok to try and get a sprinkle of different genre types in a show, but I do prefer that shows that have many different genre elements to have that one genre type that stands above the rest.

      • Irenesharda says:

        One of the first rules is writing (especially for a business or professional) is to know your audience. Even if your book has multiple genres built into it, know what the major overarching one is and stick to it. If you try to go all over the place, you will please NO ONE (least of all, your publishers).

        Writing for TV and film isn’t that much different. Even if you want to try different genres in you story (which is a good thing!) you should know what audience you’re trying to attract and how to keep them interested. And though there is a “general audience” most people know what they want out of a show and expect that. Even those shows that are trying something daring (like Aku no Hana) know they are trying to attract the avant-garde crowd.

    • Highway says:

      I was talking with others on a forum and they seem to think as I do that there was a hiccup in the PR demography department. I’m really beginning to get the feeling that this anime didn’t quite know who this show was supposed to cater too. The beginning attracted the mecha crowd, but then they tossed in some slow world building, and then some slice-of-life/romcom , and now a little ecchi fanservice here and there. It just seems like it’s trying to have something for everyone, but I’m afraid that as it’s trying to do that it will please no one. If they go back to the action and darker storyline like the mecha fans want, than the SoL fans will be displeased, and vice versa if they continue on they way they’ve been going, totally ignoring what was going on in the first two episodes.

      I wanted to pull this out. Like Jrow starts at, I think there’s nothing wrong with a complete mix of ‘genres’, but at some point, I think people need to relax a lot about what ‘genre’ something is. Just watch the show. It doesn’t hurt some fictional cred if you like mechs to watch a show like Gargantia, or Rinne no Lagrange (I think these two shows have a lot in common, not least that I really like both). It doesn’t make you a pansy to like cute things, or slice of life. Action can be anywhere, it doesn’t have to be all slam bang go-go-go.

      I think a lot of people set up expectations, and then judge things against those expectations, not against what they really are watching. I think it’s fine to like or not like something. But one should like or not-like something on its own merits, not because it doesn’t fit into a pre-conceived notion or genre. There are plenty of people who are pleased by a mixture of things. I like S-o-L, Romance, Comedy, Action, apparently some mechs, apparently some thrillers. It matters more that the components are done well, not that a box is ticked off. And not liking something just because it doesn’t tick a box off, to me, is a personal failing. It’s an ‘elbows too pointy’ argument.

      • Irenesharda says:

        Oh no, I’m not saying mixing genres is bad. I love to mix them up all the time. However, what I was saying is that when you watch a show, you expect certain things out of that show. If the show goes two much one way or the other, it seems off. I guess what I mean is balance. If you are going to start your show off with action, the plot can supplement that with some comedy, romance, etc., but they need to be in balance. If a show for example is all slapstick for 10 episodes and then suddenly goes grimdark horror in the last 4, then it throws everyone off because they weren’t expecting that and it’s jarring. Now, sometimes such writing like that can work if you have good writers, but it’s risky, because most times it will fall flat on its face.

        Gargantia seemed to begin one way and then changed almost completely to be something else, and at first it’s okay, but now the show’s beginning to get imbalanced. And instead of having a little bit for everyone, you are catering a lot to one genre and ignoring the other. The slow parts of this would have been my anthropology professor’s dream, but my chemistry professor’s nightmare. The beginning parts would have done the opposite. It’s really a matter of knowing your audience and having a balance there.

        • Highway says:

          Hmm, I haven’t really found it to be a mood shift. I mean, they’ve still worked in some ‘action’ parts in the last few episodes, like the fishing sequences and the race to the top of the tower. Yeah, it started with a huge battle, but I think it’s something you can’t expect to continue unless they stayed in space. It’s hard to call the first encounter with the pirates a ‘battle’, since it was more of a shellacking. And the rest of episode 2 was them kind of standing around yakking at each other. I think there’s been plenty of balance.

          I guess it comes down to perception. But there’s always going to be some of that changing around, or you get something like Star Driver (which I just finished last night, and really liked) where what, 23 of 25 episodes had almost the exact same rote battle.

  2. skylion says:

    Well, this is me, and I’ve found that I never grow bored learning more about life on my planet, even life 1000(?)s of years later. The sociology buff in me is really grooving on nearly everything here.

    Storytellers tell the story they want to tell.And they tell that story…and if they suggest something, it’s obvious. With that much work going on, they don’t want you to miss part of the story. I can see where the festival dance could give the suggestions that make people uncomfortable. Provocative? Yes? But is this any different from any culture active today, baring the most suppressed.

    And I am opening a big can of worms (for me, this morning) by say, this wasn’t in any way fanservice. A term, much like tsundere and loli, in that is often gets used and missused at a drop.

    I’m enjoying this show to pieces. It seems like it was made just for me and my tastes. The need to understand the value of work, life, and all of the facets involved have been very well orchestrated.

    Goodness, Amy, you don’t hold back do you? Her private dance was awkward, and engaging and deeply personal, and very much a courtship, thou neither she nor Red realize the full extent of that.

    Ah, the Hideazu. I still don’t know what to think. GenU does like to troll his audience, but I don’t think he is awkward enough to do a bait and switch foreshadow; with Red’s mistaking the octopus, then hitting us with that squid. If the show’s pacing is anything, we have something new to learn about life on the Verdurous Planet.

    Good podcast guys, sorry to hear that people pooped your party.

    • Foshizzel says:

      To me fanservice = sexualized anime characters just like Vividred Operation last season, those girls were what 14-16 wearing those tiny shorts and for the most part yes you are 100% right Skylion anime fans do throw the term fanservice around quickly.

      Amy x Red is the best ship <3

      I am curious to see what other underwater dangers Red and Chamber will discover when they go on salvage missions with Bellows xD

      • skylion says:

        Fosh, two episodes of Gargantia is hardly equal to 12 of so much in your face Vivid.

      • skylion says:

        The Spam Meister is loving me tonite….no Spammy, that’s my glass of Pinot Noir…go way…

    • Jrow says:

      I think it’s a stretch to say it wasn’t in any way fanservice. I get the point you’re making, but I don’t fully agree here. Dancing is ok and showing close-ups is usually ok, but I think a shot of Saya’s ass covering almost the whole screen would qualify as such.

      • skylion says:

        For me, Saya’s ass doesn’t qualify because it didn’t fall full on into a Accidental Grope/Pervert moment. Little bit of booty is all it is.

        • Jrow says:

          I still don’t agree. Just because it wasn’t a tropey moment doesn’t mean it wasn’t fanservice. We’re just not gonna agree on this, so it was what we thought it was and we both still have a liking of this series.

          • skylion says:

            And this is what I love about this forum. We can disagree and still enjoy what we enjoy. And, if I may say, you are one of the many that keep it that way. Thanks, my friend.

  3. HannoX says:

    I was wondering when someone on Gargantia would figure out that Red and Chamber would probably make great salvagers. As for the giant squid at the end, I think it’s a whalesquid. However, it’s possible that Hideauze evolved from whalesquid, perhaps because of human expirementation. Which would make for a nice bit of irony–humanity’s greatest enemy in space is also from Earth and humanity created them.

    I didn’t get creepy vibes from the girls dancing. Maybe it’s because I’m a guy, maybe it’s because it seemed to fit the cultural setting of Gargantia or maybe it’s because the girls were clearly enjoying themselves. I thought Amy’s private dance for Red had more sexual connotations. And given the way he was staring at her when she was dancing with her friends and alone for him, I wonder if Red is starting to think about how the Alliance has given him permission to “procreate freely.” I think most guys watching this series would like to procreate freely with Amy. However, I do think she should be older first. But maybe early marriage is acceptable in Gargantia. For most of human history a girl of Amy’s age or even younger would be considered very marriageable.

    I’m enjoying this series greatly. I don’t mind the lack of action for the most part. The world building has been great so far and Gargantia is a place I’m enjoying visiting and exploring. I’m sure the war in space will come to Earth and it’ll be more shocking when it does after we’ve gotten to know Gargantia and its citizens so well and see the destruction and death the war brings to it.

    Does anyone know how many episodes this is scheduled for? If it’s 24 or 26, the war might not arrive until the end of the 12th or 13th.

    • skylion says:

      Myanimelist states that the show will run for 12 episodes.

      Yes, procreate freely. I am also enjoying how this show is able to bring the different perspectives to it. Some see a fanservice vehicle, some see a slice of a culture, and none of us are wrong.

    • Highway says:

      12 Episodes, and I really don’t think there will be war in this series.

      • skylion says:

        I’m thinking that there might be something of a war showing up. But, much like the episode two Pirate massacre, it will be rather short, sharp, shock, with the clean-up afterwords being the story.

      • HannoX says:

        12 episodes now, but if it’s popular in Japan there could be a second season. There could already be plans afoot for it now. If so, I’d expect the end of Ep. 12 to be about the war coming to Earth. I just can’t see them introducing the war between Humans and the Hideauze in Ep. 1 and then never doing anything more with it. S2 would be about the war.

        • Highway says:

          Well, showing the fight at the beginning has set us up for this current story that was introduced at the end of this episode. If we hadn’t seen that battle, and the forms of Hideauze, the impact of Red’s seeing the monsters in the forms of earth would be lessened. We’d just think ‘he’s loony’.

          • skylion says:

            ..or he’s really really adversely allergic to cephlapods.

    • Highway says:

      As I said above, lifespans seem to be compressed in this show. I would imagine that Amy is on the edge of being considered a spinster, given how old everyone seems to be. Ridgett’s second-in-command and she’s 22? How old is the commander? Probably not as old as I am.

      • Foshizzel says:

        Amen to your above comment

      • BlackBriar says:

        It probably has to do with your aptitude for the job. In the Naruto universe, before he went rogue, Itachi Uchiha was the chief of the Leaf Village’s ANBU Black Ops squad when he was only 13 years old.

        • Irenesharda says:

          LOL. I don’t know if Naruto is a good example of realism, saying the characters there are able to do things that no normal human could do no matter what the age. They also go through wayyyy more drama and tragedy than most normal human beings in their short lifespans. Also, they would be expected to grow up fast in a society made up of only ninja and samurai.

          On top of that, despite their ages, those is Naruto often have an adult maturity about them that separates them from the modern-day teenage stereotype of characters like Melty, Saya, and Amy. I think it would be different if they had the mentality of adults, despite their age. However, they act and think like modern teens, and so I can’t help but judge them by modern teen standards.

      • skylion says:

        With that much grey, he’s my age.

    • Foshizzel says:

      I know right? Salvage work seems perfect for Chamber and Red, I think you might be right about the creature at the end being a whalesquid that Bellows mentioned because I was thinking the same thing! Your idea of it being a result of a possible experiment sounds GREAT <3

      True I guess in the world of Gargantia we don't really know much about their culture as of now towards young girls dancing or running around with revealing clothing! Also agreed on Amy's private dance for Red lol

      Nice! I am happy you are enjoying it along with the world building and character interaction, but for me personally I am just looking for some story progression before the end comes >.< Sad but true only 12 episodes T_________T

      • Gecko says:

        I think it’s probably good that this show is only 12. It’s quite a bit of worldbuilding with little plot, and that cannot be stretched out unless it’s something like Aria and has a magical aura of wonderful around it. (I’m biased.)

    • Highway says:

      Yeah, I don’t think that it’s an actual Hideauze that they encounter, I think it’s a precursor, just as the humans of Gargantia are descendants of precursors to Red’s lineage. The interesting question it brings up is which came first: the Hideauze or the sea life on Earth? Are Squids, Octopus, Nautilus (you noticed those guys in the first ep, right?) etc. ‘fallen’ Hideauze, or branches?

      Or perhaps were the Hideauze uplifted by humanity in their trek through the universe to become a massive enemy? The time frame seems awfully short for that, but stranger things have happened.

      • skylion says:

        I like your second suggestion best. It cuts deeper into the better elements of science fiction, a warning of sorts, hopefully without the derpy Chriton faceplants…

      • Gecko says:

        I would love to see either of these 2 happening!

  4. Highway says:

    Aww, if you guys had folks bail on you, you should have given me a call (I’ll admit I don’t have Google+ on my anime account, tho). I would have talked about how great this episode was.

    Because it truly was. This was an episode of anime that at about 18 minutes, I just thought “This is absolutely beautiful”. The Gargantia lit by the aurora, two people sharing intimacy, both learning about life.

    I had some disagreements with some folks yesterday about the nature of these episodes, in that I agree with Hannox and skylion here: This is not just fanservice or “pandering” (and come on, I’m blogging Photo Kano and Samurai Brides, I think I might have a handle on what fanservice and pandering is). I truly feel this is worldbuilding of the highest order. Is it male gaze? Yes. That is undeniable. But what is the show presenting? A society that is different from ours. A society where lifespans are shorter, where people are rougher, where life may not necessarily be “brutal, nasty, and short” but it’s definitely not the relative picnic of our current world. They struggle against shortages of food, fresh water, motive power. They don’t have our technology, and they don’t have the excess productivity to develop it.

    And we’re seeing that world. We’re seeing that there are a lot of people who are working hard to make it successful. And they’re human. Men like looking at women. And women like looking at men. I think that that doesn’t necessarily mean ‘objectification’, it isn’t always salacious. I’ve complained (so much so that you’re probably tired of it) about the terrible attitudes toward sexuality, and I think this idea of exploitation comes out of that. I saw nothing of non-consensual exploitation in this episode, and really the only real misstep that I think the show’s made was in using the transvestite joke, mocking and playing that for laughs. But even in that, it was for the point of showing that there is a not-so-clean part to human existence.

    And that’s something I think the show needs. If all we ever saw was Red and Pinion and Bevel, and guys working up on top, in the light, in the relative clean, the show would be VERY Star Trek. Sterile, boring, dismissive of a good part of humanity. The elite trying to help space-boy become a ‘real human’ with moralizing and effort. That kind of story world was tapped out in the 80’s.

    But this show is giving us more. It’s showing the way they live, warts and all. Things we might consider scandalous, because we’re, frankly, overly repressive of our natures. And do not misunderstand me. I will never condone people taking things past consent. There’s no excuse for that, no mitigating circumstances. But the responsibility for that lies with every individual to not do it.

    • skylion says:

      …overly repressive of our natures, and if I may declare, without them thought of giving insult, to darn quick to jump on it and voice it. Thou I will give credit to the need to voice it.

    • HannoX says:

      I agree that this is a world where people grow up fast. Amy, Saya and Melty have jobs and nothing is said about those being part time jobs after school. I imagine formal schooling for most is quite short and apprenticeships is how most learn. And there was also the emphasis upon Red finding a job (both he and others brought up job hunting) so he can be a productive member of their society.

      Amy, Saya and Melty could be at the age where they’re actively husband hunting and the dancing could be part of that. In our society, too, people dress to attract potential mates and high school and college dances, parties and festivals are all opportunities for hooking up.

      • Highway says:

        Well, they certainly were saying that they were looking for cute guys… and oh! here’s one! I think you’re right on that they were using the festival and their performance as a way to generate interest.

        As to the formal schooling, I agree on that, too. Look who the ‘smart’ people are. Ordum-sensei – essentially the designated wise man of Gargantia, and Bevel, the boy who has to become productive through the use of his mind. They’re the ones who have been presented as ‘book smart’.

    • skylion says:

      I saw nothing of non-consensual exploitation in this episode, and really the only real misstep that I think the show’s made was in using the transvestite joke, mocking and playing that for laughs

      You do realize, that that was a “down low” brothel…

      • Highway says:

        Yes, but I don’t really care about that aspect. The part I didn’t like was the bad stereotype of the falsetto voices, the beefy guys in dresses, and their comic chase. Playing it straight (not that kind of straight) would have had more impact to me.

        • skylion says:

          …from my limited, and indirect, experience, they played that rather true to life….almost to true to life, really.

          • Highway says:

            I also kind of get the feeling that no matter what they did with that part, they were going to get a lot of flack. Maybe the only thing that they could have pulled off without someone in their grille was a bishie host club. I still don’t care for the representation, but if it was women, it likely would have been ‘zOMG exploitation’.

            The world seriously needs a better attitude towards prostitution.

  5. BlackBriar says:

    Learning so many different things from Amy that it’s a bit daunting thinking this is supposed to be the same planet we all live on.

    For Fosh’s question about the fish. Since humanity’s activity on the planet was put on hold for who knows how long, the fish and other sea life had time to recover their numbers and since the remaining humans are all on ships with what seems to be a small number of them (If you compare that to the population of today), there would be enough fish for everyone yet it might not even be a fraction of the entire school. Also with that squid at the end, new species may have surfaced during all that time.

    The dance from the three girls was awesome. Seems like they want to knock Magi’s Morgiana off her pedastal as the sexiest exotic dancer. For now and to be fair, it’s safe to say they’re all on the same level.

    Willingly taking any advice from someone like Pinion is walking on a land mine knowing full what will happen if you do. I knew nothing good would come of talking to him about money. Good thing Ledo picked Bellows who’s a hot girl and he can actually learn something.

    At least we have an idea what the enemy Ledo fights looks like. However, in a way I can’t explain, I was expecting the enemy to be human-like.

    • Highway says:

      Well, they did show us a whole battle with the Hideauze at the beginning, so it’s not like we didn’t know they looked like flowers and squid and nautilus. It might also be interesting to note that Nautilus are some of the most ancient creatures still on the planet, considered to be mostly unchanged from 500 million years ago.

    • Irenesharda says:

      That was an awfully strange squid having multiple eyes and bioluminescent. However, if this thing IS in fact a squid but also very close genetically to the Hideauze and if the Hideauze is from Earth, how did they adapt and evolve so thoroughly to be able to live and travel in the cold vacuum of space? The Hideauze are easily ten to twenty times the size of Earth cephlapods, can survive and travel in space, and I guess have adapted to a new source of food as well. Not to mention that they have changed to the point of having lasers and weapons capable of destroying several “Chamber-class” mechs and space cruisers.
      That is quite a bit of change, if in fact the Hideauze did originate as earth cephlapods, snails, and flowers.

      • skylion says:

        With the things we are pulling from the sea, I have no doubt that that sort of squid as shown is a possibility in our oceans. The eyes are the interesting thing as cephalpod eyes are given to polarization of light with a single eye capable of mapping in a near 180 degree fashion.

        In short, this squid is tasty to many, and is incredibly averse to being eaten.

      • HannoX says:

        If the Hideauze originally came from Earth cephlapods, I think their changed state is the result of human expirmentation, as I said earlier.

  6. HannoX says:

    There is a way the war could intrude on Gargantia without actually coming to Earth. Red eventually establishes contact with the Alliance and a way is found for him to return. Then he’s faced with the biggest decision of his life. Will he be the good soldier who returns to the front having had his R&R or does he stay with his new friends?

    The former would allow Urobuchi to hit the viewers with an emotional punch to the gut, especially if Red returns to the front only to die. Even if he doesn’t die there’d be a great sadness in his having left a relatively peaceful life and the life he could have had with Amy to return to an endless war.

    • Irenesharda says:

      That is a choice that I think Red will have to face. However, I think he would return to his people. It would come from the fact, that despite the fact that he’s become more laid back, he is in fact still a soldier. This episode showed that perfectly as even when he was eating at a restaurant or simply relaxing with Amy, he’s always ready to fight.

      I think as a soldier he would feel a responsibility and duty to his fellow soldiers and the Alliance to return and help defend them. He can’t just leave them to die. I think it would go against his very nature to go AWOL, even if he actually would rather stay there with Amy.

      And don’t forget, he has sent a distress signal to the Alliance, and we have no idea if the Hideauze will eventually find their way to Earth. Even if they ARE related to today’s earth creatures, the Hideauze have long since adapted into extremely dangerous and predatory creatures that will actively attack humans and their homes. There’s no bargaining with an enemy like the Hideauze.

      • HannoX says:

        I agree that I think Red would choose to return to the Alliance and the war.

  7. Gecko says:

    I think overall, the progression of Amy and Red’s relationship showed itself a bit more here. We got to see that Amy does more than deliveries to make a living, which I think is acceptable. And Red finally found a way to make a living too, which is great. And maybe he’ll eat more now, although I do think that he will probably not. I’m not surprised they didn’t suggest new clothing or anything, although I would have liked to see a character with more than one outfit.

    I’m guessing the squid thing isn’t really that much of a danger, and Red will learn through salvaging that not every foreign creature is an enemy, although I’m certain that his soldier side will stay strong and keep him on the alert about everything.

    • skylion says:

      In societies such as this, I think the “one outfit per character” thing seen in anime is rather justified. Clothes were made to last with the thing we call fashion given rather short shift. Durability over a great period of time is the thing…

      • Highway says:

        Yeah, exactly. That’s again the ‘excess productivity’ I keep harping on. And Amy, Melty, and Saya had at least a second outfit, and bathing suits.

  8. skylion says:

    Laver bread Is ridiculously easy to make, as I have in both a bread maker and rice cooker. As cited, it is high in iron, iodine, protein, and A and C. For a soldier is does the work of being both filling and easy to eat in one go. I’m thinking of early military rations in the form of matza, hoe cakes, and hard tack.

Leave a Reply to Highway