Saturday, December 21, 2013

12 Days of Anime: #5--R.I.P. Squid Girl

12 Days of Anime Gargantia Screenshot 1

Otherwise known as the episode that made Anime Twitter yell about Urobuchi for the first time since Madoka Magica. A/N: Spoilers for the entire series are in this post.

12 Days of Anime Gargantia Screenshot 2

Despite making my Top 12, Gargantia had more than a few problems narrative-wise. It dropped character arcs all over the place while still expecting the viewer to care about them, went off on random tangents that didn't pay off in the main plot, and framed its final showdown in black-and-white decision where the "right" answer was obvious. The reveal that the Hideauze were once human is also one of the more criticized points in the series, with people claiming that it was thrown in for shock value.

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I'm not going to claim that it was "deep," but I did like how it finally shook Ledo's convictions. When he discovers the truth, he's in a situation of his own making; he's warned repeatedly to leave them alone and told that they don't bother anyone unless provoked. One of the tenser moments in the show is when a whole school of them pass by the ship while Ledo is convinced that they're going to attack. And nothing happens. Yet, that's still not good enough for him to let go of the hatred that's been drilled into him since birth. Even before the reveal, the carnage is pretty bad. Ledo destroys a nest of eggs simply because he's convinced that they'll be a threat someday.

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Totally not foreshadowing
So when the curtain finally drops, Ledo has to deal with the consequences of his actions. Acting as a soldier doesn't fit this world, and he finally has to come to terms with that. While the actual plot twist might be a bit hard to swallow, I do love stuff that causes characters to question who they really are, and why they're doing what they're doing.

12 Days of Anime Gargantia Screenshot 5
Good luck with that mental trauma, Ledo
Images from Crunchyroll.com.

11 comments:

  1. I dunno, pretty sure we were all yelling at Urobotchi at one point or another during Psycho-Pass, I mean all the exclamations of "HYPER OATS" had to count for something right? XD

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  2. I was definitely yelling about Hyper Oats, but the amount of "UROBUCHIIIIIII"s I saw were higher when this episode came out.

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  3. Hmmm, point made. XD Tangently related, seeing this post has made me remember just how much I liked the "squid people" designs and, while others will surely disagree, I actually liked the revelation that they also came from Earth because I had been trying to figure out what fucked up biology otherwise had creatures naturally evolve to live in a vacuum. XD

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  4. I remember this one.

    I did a sketch of it: http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=36447533
    'STOP IT, CHAMBER!!'

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  5. What kind of biological horrors do you expect for Season 2?

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  6. On another note, Chamber proposes to Pino, Prue is not happy.

    http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=36692933

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  7. Not sure, although I'm kinda hoping that they'll address the space conflict more? Although I have no idea how they'll do that, seeing as how they're stuck on Earth.

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  8. I felt the same! It made a lot more sense than what we'd been given, and I'd been suspicious from the get-go about the validity of Ledo's information, considering that there was obvious propaganda going on.

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  9. I was surprised that the show didn't end with the rest of the empire re-finding Earth and trying to take it over, maybe they'll actually make that the plot for the second season? (still grumpy there's going to be one since I rather liked the tone it ended on here)

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  10. Yeah, I think that would be good to explore in S2. (And I also like how this season ended, and was really confused when they announced S2)

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