Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet – 13 [END]

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Red is ready to own some robots!

spring13-jrowIndeed, the final episode of the Verdurous Planet is among us. Fosh, lvlln, Sumairii and I talk about robots talking like humans and more on this final podcast. As I mention at the end, Fosh & I will be moving on to this season’s noitaminA anime Silver Spoon, so we hope you join us there next week. Thanks to all who listened and commented on these blogs the past many weeks. 🙂
spring13-foshYes thanks for listening to these mini talk episodes on Metanorn and hopefully we see you for Silver Spoon in the summer season!

Extra Gargantia fun 

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Chamber-“I hope you know how to fly.”                   Red-“Uh…”

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Best pirate character ever.jpeg

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Bevel-“Wow these people will believe anything I tell them.”

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You get two hundred points if you high five your monitor

THE END

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Yes this is official ending artwork for the final episode.

Thanks for listening

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.
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59 Responses to “Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet – 13 [END]”

  1. zztop says:

    Did anyone notice the Pixiv Gargantia design contest winners in Bevel’s class during the end credits?
    http://i.imgur.com/u1ZKOmt.jpg

    Comparison: http://www.pixiv.net/info.php?id=1703

    Personally, I’m disappointed most of them only appeared as blobs in the far background. At the very least, the animators should have given all of them close up shots so we could see them in full detail!
    Hopefully this problem is addressed in Blu-Ray releases.

    PS. To Chamber,one of the bro-est self-aware mecha/AI in fictional history!(;_;)

    • Ceyrai says:

      Yeah, I noticed right away because I spotted #5 aka Ahiru-kun (that’s the name of the artist, I think, but I just call him that) out of the corner of my eye.

      I wish they were made to be more detailed though. And were zoomed in a bit. It’s a waste.

      (Though I’m currently running through headcanons for Ahiru-kun and shipping him with Saya lol)

    • Foshizzel says:

      Yeah that kind of blows for the people that won huh? I guess it is better than nothing though and yeah maybe the blu-rays will highlight the contest winners?

      Chamber was the best mecha/AI and I miss him T_T

    • Highway says:

      I dunno, how much can you expect? The characters were recognizable, and a late addition. Yeah, the creators put a lot of detail in them (much more than really any of the characters in an anime get), and showing them with more detail would have cost a lot more in time and animation.

      • zztop says:

        I understand what you mean.

        I just felt since so much love and care were placed into some of the submissions, it would only be fair for the animators to try highlight the designs and their details as much as possible, to showcase the effort the artists put into designing them.

        • zztop says:

          PS. Sorry, that’s the artist in me talking.

        • Highway says:

          Well, I’m sure the same thing happens with the character designers who come up with designs for the characters that are regularly used in the show (designed with a lot of detail that ultimately isn’t used, and really if it were would seem overly busy). I think that’s probably one reason that they use eyecatches and alternatively sourced images like that, to give opportunities that the anime really can’t.

          • zztop says:

            Well, I guess there’s always the Blu-Rays to fix/add in character details(including the winner designs) and other effects, if the animators are allowed to do so.

            Fingers crossed this happens! 😀

    • d-LaN says:

      At least they didn’t turn into cannon fodder XD Hope we get to see more of them in the upcoming OVA/unreleased episode.

      Also #3 kid looks like Lucifer with brown hair to me…..

  2. tatsuya says:

    “Go to hell, Metal head!!”
    Those word make me cry and laugh at the same time~~
    Rest in peace,Chamber!!..God bless you and your wide array of beam weapons!!!

  3. Bonk says:

    Chamber definitely will be missed. I don’t even want to think what Ledo felt when he was ejected. Losing your partner you work with for sixteen years is… quite sad.

    • Foshizzel says:

      Sad but so freaking true and I can’t imagine what he felt after seeing Chamber explode like that to save his life T___T

      • zztop says:

        I really didn’t expect the ejecting to happen.I really thought it would end with Ledo’s death.

        It was a touching scene for me, and I’ve never been touched in such a way(except when watching certain Chinese/Korean dramas.)

  4. crazyo says:

    Aren’t the hideauze on earth different to the one in space? In the video Ledo discovered it said the ones that followed them into space did this because they wanted to conquer space.

    Didn’t Chamber say that Ledo finished his development? And now he was unfit to be a soldier and ejected him for this reason.

    Also without the episodes in the beginning, which you describe as slow, you would complain why Ledo doubts Striker, why he wanted to stay with Amy on Gargantia in the End and why Chamber ejected him.

    By no means this is the best anime, for this season after Oregairu, i think this is the second best. Yes Attack on Pacing is on 3rd for me atm.

    • Foshizzel says:

      I guess you can say that the earth hideauze or “whalesquid” are a different version than the space types or possibly lesser versions?

      Yep! Chamber did mention that he saw that Red reached his development because he spent so much time with the people of Gargantia.

      True without those episodes at the start it wouldn’t have worked as well, but I kind of wish they had more episodes like Lvlln said they could have explored more of the AI and how they “changed” throughout the series? I could easily see this being 25+ episodes.

      Not a bad list Crazyo and I am glad some people stuck with Gargantia till the end even though two fanservice episodes back to back scared a few people away >.<

    • Namika says:

      Gargantia isn’t one of the best shows, you’re right. But it’s respectable and definitely worth to watch, because it has this unique atmosphere to it. Personally, I wouldn’t put it ahead of the Titans, but it’s pretty close.

  5. Ceyrai says:

    Is it bad that I felt more emotion with Chamber “dying” than Amy and Ledo finally getting (heavily implied to be) together?

    Anyway, that was a great series despite the slow start. I wish they could’ve sped up the slice-of-life parts for the more plot-relevant scenes, or at least interspersed them with each other. Again, Urobutcher (despite less Urobutchery) blindsided us again with the plot twists following the kirakira-fuwafuwa, and I think while it has less impact than his previous works it still was enough to make me think.

    (Another thing that blindsided me was the seeming BellowsxPinionxRackage triangle in the end. I mean, sure, I knew Pinion would turn out okay even if he had some lapses of judgment, does he really deserve having 2 women more badass than him fighting over him?)

    (Also I wish there was more Bellows action in the last ep. And the Pixiv contest winners actually doing something.)

    All in all, the climax was cool, Chamber especially (best one-liner in the series, honestly), the denoument was a bit eh, and the series was a good one, cheerful and light by Urobuchi standards. It was the great buffer to a depression-filled SnK weekend, too.

    Congrats on completing the Mini-Talk for this, guys! I didn’t get to comment on every one, but I assure you I listen. 🙂 See you on the next series!

    • Foshizzel says:

      RIP chamber you were a kick ass bro!

      Yeah slow start with all the world building and the whole mess with Red and Chamber getting used to their new home on Gargantia! Yeah I was completely shocked that none of the main characters like Amy, Bellows or Melty died because we all know that Urobutcher could have done it…

      Pinion x Rackage! I kind of saw Bellows as the annoying big sister type but at the same time I suppose a Bellows x Pinion pairing also works <3

      YES MOAAAR BELLOWS please xD

      Thanks Ceyrai! It was fun pulling Highway, Sumairii, Lvlln into the mini talk episodes and of course Jrow!

  6. skylion says:

    Guys….Heavens’ Ladder was a freeking Railgun! Or a mass driver; and it was named Gargantia…and they very much are super advanced. This one was also a water tower.

    Amy was providing recon. Did you see how they waited to fire until they got a signal from her?

    Rakkage was Amore!

    Yeah, Chamber ejecting Red. It was pretty much kicking the bird out of the nest. Yeah, Chamber should have had a JoJo moment. It was a Hollywood sort of action scene moment, but it was restrained.

    Well, we see a moment of an AI taking on a horrific sense of humanity in Striker. But with Chamber we see the decent side. Yeah, AIs are scary.

    They did have time constraints, and Red’s “discovery” that the whalesquid can be avoided. With that amount of time they could have said “Well, they will be trouble, but we can figure it out”.

    I really enjoyed this show, the first half had a very relaxing mood, and the second managed to show great action without ramping it up to ridiculous levels.

    It left off where it needed to…A 2 cour show would have had much more time for development, but really it wasn’t what they wanted to tell.

    Great ‘cast. Good to be with you guys these past few months. See you soon.

    • Foshizzel says:

      Heavens ladder sounds like a epic magic spell that Index would use!

      My heart sunk when I saw Amy pop up during the mecha showdown! I was like NOOOOOO! YOU BETTER NOT KILL AMY! Thankfully she wasn’t in danger…

      RIP Chamber you were amazing and yeah I guess he felt that Red finally leveled up and needed to live on for the both of them.

      These AI remind me of Robotic;Notes which had both “evil” and “good” AI characters xD

      Thanks and I hope you tune in for Silver Spoon for the next Mini-talk <3

    • Highway says:

      I think you guys misread the nature of the “Stairway to Heaven” (I like that name better, actually, even though the song annoys me). I think it wasn’t really a railgun or electromagnetic mass driver. It seemed more like a constant or increasing barrel velocity weapon, with sequential firing along the barrel length to keep the outlet velocity up.

      • Foshizzel says:

        Stairway to Heaven also works as a Index spell xD

      • HannoX says:

        An electromagnetic mass driver does utilize sequential firing along its length to increase the final velocity of the mass it’s accelerating. In fact, a railgun is a type of mass driver.

        • skylion says:

          But does it get Sister’s Noise?

        • Highway says:

          It is, but I don’t think THIS one was an electromagnetic one, I think it was a combustion one.

          • Sumairii says:

            I think this was anime science.

            • BlackBriar says:

              And we all know how easily anime science escapes our understanding. Just go with the flow and accept it lest you want to end up with a migrane.

            • skylion says:

              So…that’s where this buzz was coming from…

    • Namika says:

      Amore… that woman is so cool! 😀

      And the way the mood changes throughout th show is really nice. At first I was really scared that after so many positive, feel-good episodes, Urobutcher would just kill off half of the characters, but he didn’t. However, there were some quite heavy moments that almost made me cry. TT^TT Great anime! <3

  7. HannoX says:

    It’s a toss up between this and Railgun 2 for my favorite show this past season. The art and characters were great and I thought the pacing was just fine. I liked that they took their time with the early episodes, building their world and showing Red slowly starting to fit into it. If they had rushed that the changes in Red and Chamber’s belief that he was no longer suited to be a soldier would have happened too quickly and would not have been believable. Besides, it gave us the chance to explore this new world along with Red. And what a wonderful world it was!

    There needs to be a Season Two. Will Red manage to communicate with the whalesquid? If so, what will the result of that be? What other secrets might Gargantia be hiding? Does the war in space intrude upon Earth?

    Besides, Melty needs to find a hotie of her own.

    • skylion says:

      S2: Gargantia High. Red, Amy, Melty rom com antics. Bevel teaches class.

    • Foshizzel says:

      As far as spring goes Valvrave and Gargantia win for best since RailgunS continues right into summer along with Attack on Titan and Majestic Prince <3

      Yeah I can see the slower episodes give the creators a chance to build up the world around Red and Chamber, I also kind of wish that they had more episodes to work with, but overall 13 episodes works fine.

      S2? I dunno what that would actually do besides Red and Amy eventually hooking up and possibly whalesquid evolving into a humanoid race but that might take a looonnggg time or have more of Red's people find earth? I guess anything is possible...

      Melty needs to find a space boyfriend asap or wait till Amy's brother gets older xD

    • Highway says:

      I wouldn’t want to see a second season that was so closely tied to this one. The only thing I’d want to see would be an ‘after story’ kind of thing, but it would be really tough to go anywhere with it. It would be better to make it be a completely separate property, because a sequel would carry too much baggage from this series.

      I said repeatedly through the show that I would have preferred there never be any other Hideauze or GA or anything on Earth. If it was *just* about Red learning to be ‘human’ in the same way that the Gargantians are, I think that would have been a good show, and that’s what it was for 6 episodes. I was a bit disappointed that it got away from that, especially with the appearance of Kugel’s cult (and then the annoying “OMG Kugel’s actually dead!” Deus ex Machina). In the end, tho, I think it ended up with the right resolution.

      • HannoX says:

        How about a S2 where they skip ahead a few years–Red and Amy married with a child or two of their own? It’d be nice to have an anime focusing on parents with children teaching them the ways of the world (showing them how to salvage, anyone?)and trying to ensure their children inherit a better world.

        But it’d be more likely that if the anime team skipped ahead the main characters would be the teenaged children of many of characters of this show. Which wouldn’t necessarily be bad.

        However, you’re probably right in your comment below that a S2 would involve a resurrected Chamber, possibly crossed with Stryker. That would be awful.

  8. Highway says:

    I think you guys sell the show sort a bit, and maybe miss what the overall point of the show was. It wasn’t about the Galactic Alliance, or the Hideauze, or even the cult and Kugel. I think it really was about finding one’s humanity, and finding what it means to be alive. To me, in that context, Chamber’s actions fit perfectly, and I like that they gave an AI that much latitude in determining the best course of action for his pilot. I think that it took a very deliberate sequence, and really all the parts (save the transvestites) were integral to Red’s growth. Without them, without Bellows excoriating him for murdering pirates, without Amy’s dance for him, her concern for him, his learning the true nature of the Hideauze, the exposure of the moral bankruptcy of the extension of GA policy, all of that, he doesn’t get to the point where Chamber feels that the best support he can provide is to get out of Red’s way and take Striker with him.

    I think that Chamber deduced that he was pretty much the final obstacle to Red’s full integration into Gargantia’s society, because as long as Chamber is there, it’ll be “Red and Chamber”. Plus, he knows he needs to take out Striker, and after Red’s emotional breakdown at the sight of Amy, that’s not going to happen with Red’s piloting (not like it was happening before, why couldn’t Chamber have unleashed all that with the exception of that final blow on Striker long before?).

    • skylion says:

      Good set of calls, right here.

      Yeah, it almost did seem like Chamber was thinking, “Any second now, this kid is going to level up, and I’m outta here in style” Not a very good fit in hindsight.

    • Foshizzel says:

      Yeah I still think the overall message was like “killing is bad yo” and “being human” or something like that, but yes all of the characters help Red become a better human along with Chamber and Amy pushing him along.

      I thought the same thing like why did he have to blow himself up and why didn’t he download his memory into another device? Also the ending shot if that is Chamber what happened to Striker or was that a different mech covered in whalesquid babies?

      • Highway says:

        That was Chamber, although I had to go back and look. I think Striker did explode, but Chamber was probably just damaged beyond repair.

        That’s actually a reason that I wouldn’t want a second season. They’d find some reason to go dredge up Chamber, or they’d put Striker back together or some awful combination of the two, and then we get Robocop 2. And NOBODY wants Robocop 2.

        • Foshizzel says:

          They’d find some reason to go dredge up Chamber, or they’d put Striker back together or some awful combination of the two, and then we get Robocop 2. And NOBODY wants Robocop 2.

          Ahahahahah yes! That would be some freakish frankenstein mixture of Chamber and Striker parts combined into one messed up robot along with the AI? Scary…

    • Sumairii says:

      The thought crossed my mind that this show was all about Red learning to be human. But the show kinda did a crummy job of that among all the other things it tried anyway. I’m not saying Gargantia is a horrible show; it’s easy to misconstrue criticism as dislike for a show. Gargantia had the potential to be much better, but it just fell short.

  9. zztop says:

    Striker: ‘All my actions are in accordance with the colonel’s directives…(He)formed the society of this fleet…around my worship.’

    It’s interesting that the situation with Kugel and Striker is a direct parallel to Ledo and Chamber’s condition. Instead of interacting and discovering with the locals, I believe Kugel deliberately isolated himself and imposed Alliance teachings upon the fleet in form of the cult,believing himself superior to the Earth people and they were in need of higher guidance.

    Together with Kugel’s initial input and his final orders to Striker to uphold the cult prior to his demise, Striker’s singular interaction with the fleet people as the ‘God-being’, unlike Chamber’s interactions, caused its AI to evolve to actually believe it was a God which deserved nothing but full obedience and submission from the people.

    So it’s not so much a AI vs AI fight, but could be seen as a ‘free will’ vs ‘the collective’ ideology as learned by the 2 opposing AIs during their period on Earth.

    • Foshizzel says:

      True that zztop! Striker and Kugel’s life is the total opposite of Red and Chamber’s life on Gargantia and hell ya Chamber was awesome~

  10. BlackBriar says:

    Wow, Striker. Sibyl System, much? You know you’re royally screwed if even a machine develops a god complex. It’s safe to say that since Striker was monitoring Kugel, he probably had the same line of thought about himself given that he had more power than any fleet at the time.

    “Go to hell, metalhead!!” Famous last words from a kickass mechanical supporting character. Requiescat In Pace, Chamber. You will be remembered. He was impressive because for a robot, he was very human, even finding a sly excuse to save Ledo’s life. His level of understanding reminded me of that robot from I Robot that was different from all the others of his kind.

    Pinion and Rackage? Odd but it can work. Given how the credits were rolling, there might be an underlying S&M atmosphere between the two. Pinion is basically letting her have her way with him. Who can blame him? She’s too damn hot!!

    Overall, even though Urobuchi didn’t go all out with his usual brand of storytelling (No human deaths among the leads), I loved every bit of Gargantia. All the characters were entertaining in their own way, some being eye candy: From Amy and her friends to Bellows, Ridget (Those who don’t believe this, think back to her in a swimsuit) and Rackage. Personally, 13 episodes was just right. It doesn’t need any more because of how compressed the story is and slow in the pacing.

    • Foshizzel says:

      I was thinking the same thing about Striker at the end turning into Sibyl!

      LOL “Go to hell, metalhead!” is such an awesome quote for Chamber! I swear for an AI character I always looked forward to seeing Chamber <3

      Pinion and Rackage for the win~

      Gargantia was as you said entertaining even though it was slow at the start I was invested in characters like Red, Chamber, Bellows and of course Amy! 13 episodes works for me but I wouldn't mind another season or a possible time skip OVA? That would work for me.

    • Namika says:

      That’s definitely it. Funny how Gargantia gave off the same vibe as Psycho-Pass at some point. Seems like Urobuchi Gen really likes that concept.

  11. Irenesharda says:

    Well, we have finally come to the end of Gargantia.

    This episode was good, and while not having the really epic ending that I wanted, still was good in its own way. Interestingly, after all that supposed development for Red, this was really Chamber’s episode. He’s the star and has the best line in the entire series! LOL

    His logic battle with Striker was really good, and the battle between them was excellent. The way he and Red began to think for themselves and how Chamber sacrificed himself for Red’s future, he is truly the best robotic, A.I. onii-chan you could ask for!

    Gargantia’s fight itself was pretty underwhelming. After all that buildup, it turns out that “Heaven’s Ladder” is simply an overpowered cannon. Big deal… The fight didn’t take much since the cult people weren’t really fighting back in the first place.

    Indeed, most of my interest comes from the aerial battle and that in and of itself was glorious. Chamber telling Red that’s he’s no longer a soldier is very symbolic and powerful in hindsight of seeing though his journey of the series.

    It was nice to see that Garganita has begun joining forces with other fleets and is pushing to advance themselves now. They have begun to teach the knowledge that once only Bevel and Dr. Oldham wanted to know. I’m glad Red’s happy.

    We leave the stars and it’s eternal war to the GA and the space Hideauze. And the Earth, who it seems it was the inhabitants left behind who fixed if from its iceball status, to those inhabitants’ descendants.

    All in all, this was a good series, not great, but good. It had a lot of good potential, but it seemed to not quite know what to do with it all. The series ended up becoming a bit of a mish-mash of half-finished ideas and in the end only ended up being half as good as it could have been.

    I give this episode an 8/10, and the series a 7.5/10.

    Rest in Peace, Chamber, and farewell Gargantia…

    P.S.

    I’m serious, “Go to hell, you tin can!” is THE best line in this series. Right up there with, “Make my day.”, “Yippee-ki-yay, motherf–er.”, and “Get away from her, you bitch!”

    • Foshizzel says:

      Yeppers! Gargantia is over and I miss it already T___T

      Truth right there and thinking back the fight between Striker and Chamber wasn’t as epic of a battle as I wanted, but it was great to see Chamber save Red’s life because it seemed like it could have ended with both of them dying!

      BEST AI ROBOT EVER! Chamber was truly the best bro-bot ever made <3

      I want my own Heavens Ladder it sounds like a epic weapon...

      Chambers quote will forever be badass xD

      Thanks for leaving all of your epic comments for Gargantia and Valvrave Irenesharda! I hope you stick around for the summer season even though it is seriously lacking in the giant robot department, but I will probably do a series review for Majestic Prince once that wraps up.

  12. Namika says:

    Was this really Urobuchi Gen? *-*

    Chamber will be missed TT^TT he was a robot, how could a synthetic intellect be so cool?? But when he ejected Ledo, I thought “Okay, now he’ll surely die” TT^TT but he didn’t! <3 I'm so glad he didn't kill off Ledo. Though losing chamber was also very sad and tragic in it's own, weird way.

    I liked this show, it was so nice <3 And half of the characters didn't die off.

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