You maniacs! You blew it up! …Oh, wait.
What They Say:
Ensign Ledo is a Machine Caliber pilot in the Galactic Alliance of Humankind, fighting a seemingly endless war against the Hideauze out in the far reaches of the galaxy. But after an accident during the latest battle he and his robot, Chamber, end up on a mysterious planet filled with a seemingly primitive tribe of humans…
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Ensign Ledo accidentally crash lands on a strange planet while evacuating from a battle against the alien race known as “Hideauze.” (Nice name; what, do they feed on Unobtainium?) Since this is a TV show made by humans, the verdurous planet is, of course, Earth. Ledo and his mecha companion “Chamber” have to adapt to the unfamiliar surroundings while also trying to figure out how to get back to their own corner of the universe.
This was a solid first episode. It set up a lot interesting themes and premises which will be easy to build upon later. Amy is an impulsive, cheerful, down-to-Earth (hehe) girl, while Ledo is an emotionless, highly logical soldier accustomed only to intergalactic warfare. I’ve seen enough anime to know that she’s intended to be the main love interest, so it’ll be interesting to watch how they warm up to one another while at the same time learning about each other’s vastly different backgrounds. In a more traditional narrative sense, Ledo is the prince who has never left the castle, and Amy is the common town girl who introduces him to the wider world. Well, except that all of space is a bit larger than the Earth’s surface.
The visuals are impressive, despite the lack of a 1080p option. Everything is colorful and the action is smoothly animated. Backgrounds are given far more detail than is necessary. The music is decent, but it’s also fairly understated, and never calls much attention to itself. That’s fine, though, since there’s more than enough going on already.
Gargantia seems to have a penchant for realism. When Ledo reaches the Earth, he realizes that everyone is speaking an unknown language. The show demonstrates this by having the characters speak gibberish from each other’s perspective, but Japanese when the scene is following them around. We always know what the central character is saying, but we also experience their confusion at hearing others try to communicate. That sort of attention to detail is exactly what a mecha anime needs to set itself apart from its innumerable competitors.
Personally, I’m looking forward to seeing more creature designs for the Hideauze. There’s nothing “hideous” about flying neon space snails! I want one. It’ll also be interesting to see Gargantia’s explanation for what exactly happened to the Earth. Hopefully they’ll go into more detail than just saying “global warming did it.” Also, since the Earth is mostly submerged and it’s unclear how far into the future this is, the door is left wide open for huge, awesome sea creatures.
In Summary:
Episode 1: Castaway accomplished everything a first episode should. We know the characters, we know some main themes, we know what to look out for and what to look forward to. There’s some tension between the new guy and the old world, but not too much; just enough to make the new few episodes more interesting. No one is in any real danger (since Ledo owns a giant robot, and has no reason to hurt those who do not have giant robots), so Ledo is as free to investigate the living fossil of humanity as they are to learn about him. That is, until the Zerg eventually show up to start more trouble. Should be fun.
Grade: B
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Insignia 1080p TV, PS3 with Crunchyroll App; Occasionally 17” Toshiba Satellite Laptop, 2.13 GHz Core i3, 4GB RAM, Windows 7
