Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet (Suisei no Gargantia) Quick Facts
- Episodes: 13 (+ 2 additional episodes that take place years after main story, 2 one-hour OVAs)
- Animation Company: Production I.G
- Source Material: Original (no manga/novel/game/etc.)
- Genre: Sci-fi, Mecha, (some) Action
- Year Aired: 2013
This review is: spoiler free!
Even for those unfamiliar with anime, some tropes are synonymous with the animation style, some of which scare off non-anime fans by the sight alone.
Cute girls. Huge eyes. Weird outfits. Giant robots. Balloon boobs. A lot of yelling. Ridiculously choreographed fight sequences. More yelling.
Gargantia, on the surface, seems to fit all of these tropes.
It’s set in the far, vaguely-defined future, starring a human boy whose whole life is spent fighting alien monsters bent on destroying the entire human race.
They have epic battles. In space. While piloting giant robots. Sounds a bit like every other mecha anime, right?
But Gargantia takes a turn very quickly when our hero, Ledo (or, Red, depending on who’s translating) goes crashing through a wormhole during such an epic battle and ends up on the other side of the universe, so far away, he has no hope of ever seeing anyone he’s ever known ever again.
Where did he end up?
Earth, of course. A planet that no one believed still held life. It was a frozen wasteland, and its last ice age was thought to have wiped the entire planet of inhabitants, both animals and people.
However, what Ledo finds instead is a thriving water world, where humans live in colonies on ships, working and fishing and doing surprisingly well for themselves… even if their technology isn’t nearly as advanced as those humans on the other side of the universe.
The series starts with these Earth humans fishing up Ledo and his robot from the bottom of the ocean, completely at a loss for what to make of either him, or his vessel. Or his language, for that matter.
Breakdown
Characters – 10/10
I was pleasantly surprised by many aspects of the way the characters are handled in this show. The initial interactions between the ‘alien’ Ledo and the Earth humans felt unusually realistic. Someone really thought through what it would actually be like when writing out the screenplay. This is only further cemented as the story progresses, too.
I cannot stand the stereotypically useless/bubbly anime girl, and at first, this show appeared to be overrun with it. But fear not! Even the ones that appeared on the surface to be stock characters or lacking in brain cells have time, somehow, over thirteen scant episodes to develop into strong characters that have every right to every ounce of their screen time.
Seriously. There is a girl with pigtails named ‘Melty’. Even she has a shining moment that made me like her.
I also appreciate that the lines between ’bad guy’ and ‘good guy’ are so easily blurred in Gargantia. Friends become enemies. Enemies become friends. For such a short show, the writers did an incredible amount of work; even side characters get developed. And some don’t stay side characters.
And, as mentioned before, I adore the character development.
There is a ton of it. No one is 100% who they seem on the surface, and our main character does a lot of learning and growing as he adapts from constantly being in war mode to his new life aboard the Gargantia fleet.
The robot he pilots also begins to blossom into his personality, slowly becoming willing to make decisions for himself. It’s rare in a mecha anime for the robot to be wholly sentient, and it was quite a narrative blessing to this show. It allowed for a subtle dip into what consciousness and humanity is, without making it a huge, distracting focal point.
I also am grateful that there is no forced romance between the main two characters, just because they are a ‘cute guy’ and a ‘cute girl’. It’s refreshing to see their relationship develop naturally, and there’s no awkward love confessions for miles around! Are we even sure this is an anime?
Story – 9.0/10
I docked a point here because for the first half of the series, there is a lot of time spent animating sequences that could have been condensed or done without.
This type of story takes set up and exposition, but content creators have to take pacing and time constraints into consideration when drafting episodes. I don’t need a solid twenty minutes of a robot moving ship cargo (at least, it felt like twenty solid minutes).
There is also your stereotypical, trope-laden, infamous Beach Episode, and while they did try to give it meaning and have it add to the overall plot by the end of the episode, it felt very out of place, considering the otherwise (mostly) serious tone of the show. I know they just wanted to draw the main characters in swimwear for fanservice. Yawn.
The reason Gargantia still gets a 9.0/10?
Make it into the second half of the show, and be prepared for a very sudden awakening. This show lures you into a false sense of security, painting a very curiosity-inspiring, philosophy-driven, scenery-porn-heavy setting with cutesy characters and tiny squeaking animal sidekicks.
Then, out of nowhere, it’s GO TIME.
I felt things. I felt many things. Gargantia started asking the questions every sci-fi work seems to, be it movie, book, or otherwise.
Questions such as, what does it mean to be human? When is science going too far? What happens when there is a resource struggle? What is the right way to ‘live’ in general?
And this show’s way of asking, and its answers, are not what you are expecting.
Be prepared for a nosedive into darkness that will rattle your brain. (It rattled mine, at least, in the best/worst possible way. Yeah, I cried. Maybe a lot.)
What makes it really scary, is how utterly realistically it portrays its scenario, from the science, to the psychology. Sure, it’s a cartoon, but some of the characters feel almost eerily human, in their interactions with others and how they handle conflict.
Don’t worry, though, I’ll assure you now that the ending is satisfying and ties things up. It’s very fitting. You won’t punch your television/tablet/computer/etc. or be tempted to swear off anime forever. This isn’t Devilman Crybaby. :’)
Art – 9.5/10
Production I.G is a company known for many amazingly animated works – things like Blood+, Psycho-Pass, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, and Attack on Titan.
So it’s no mystery as to why overall, Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet is eye candy.
The ocean is beautifully rendered, the machines and robots look gorgeous, and the scenery is exquisite. There’s not much low-budget about it, honestly, other than a few semi-lazy sequences scattered throughout the show.
My only major complaint is that, like I said, some of the episodes are lazier than others in terms of between frames, but the bigger issue for me is that all the younger girls have blush bubbles. Not just your run-of-the-mill blush bubbles, either.
It’s on their faces. On their shoulders. ON THEIR KNEES. And sometimes the girls’ eyes are so big, they look like they are gonna slide off of their faces entirely. I’m not the biggest fan of this art style, no matter how polished or rendered it looks.
However, I made it past all of this to see it to the end, and I am so glad I did.
Then again, this might be your thing and not bother you at all. It’s a matter of preference.
Other Points & Thoughts
First off, I love robots. I love robots so much, and there is a serious lack of good robots in the realm of anime. Usually, I avoid mecha anime like the plague and stick to good old Western work for my robot fix. I, Robot, anyone?
Also, with Gargantia, I was hooked from the first episode and kept waiting for it to do something so catastrophically awful in terms of plot/writing that I would hate it immediately. This happens all the time with anime for me, especially towards the end – shows like No. 6 and Psycho-Pass being the biggest recent offenders.
And yet, that never happened with this one. I only fell more in love, the longer I watched.
This show is a surprisingly fresh story, considering how many trite, overdone places it could have gone with such a relatively simple plot. The characters grow on you, and I’d even say there’s a (little) bit of rewatch value here. It explores themes that my soul is hungry for and are hard to find elsewhere, and for me, this is one of the best animes I’ve seen in a long time.
This show is like some crazy love child betweenTitan A.E., Waterworld, and the Gundam series, but is definitely a beast all its own.
Bottom Line
A highly recommended, surprisingly impactful sci-fi with a lot of heart and philosophy that never gets tiring or too eye-rolling, featuring a varied, developed cast and some pretty amazing art.
For anyone that already likes anime, what have you got to lose? It’s short and won’t eat up too much of your life. It might even give you renewed faith in sci-fi anime, like it did for me.
For those that don’t, while this wouldn’t be my first choice as a place to start, it certainly isn’t a horrible one. There’s a lot to love here and very little to complain about… especially if kawaii desu-desu girls are your thing.
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