Other Titles: Suisei no Gargantia
Original production by Production IG
Simulcast on Crunchyroll

Premise: A mecha pilot from a generation spaceship is caught in a wormhole mishap and sent to a planet covered in water.

Iro’s Verdict: Gen Urobuchi’s Waterworld

This is probably the show with the most expectations piled on its shoulders this season, and the first episode mostly managed to live up to them. The first half is a crazy space battle to get our attention (taking clear influence from classics like Gunbuster) and filled to the brim with technobabble, and the second half does a fair job introducing us to the setting that the show will (presumably) mostly take place in. The art is nice, the premise is interesting, and I suppose we’ll all just have to see how it goes from here.

Marlin’s Verdict: A World of Possibilities

The technobabble in the beginning was a bit of a put-off, but I understand that that was necessary for world-building to see how Ledo lived his life before getting shipwrecked. I really dug the Brave New World vibe I was getting from that society, where subliminal education and hormone regulation seemed to be the norm. Now that he’s on the planet, I’m sure the boring parts will fall to the wayside as we explore this world. The biggest appeal to me is seeing what kinds of creatures inhabit this world. I do wish the female character designs were a bit more inspired though, it seemed like they were just made for maximum sex appeal and it came as somewhat off-putting.

Lifesong’s Verdict: Gorgeous

Naruko Hanaharu + Urobuchi is something instantly appealing to me. This first episode was gorgeous. I am probably more excited about the artist than I am the writer, but both are worthy of hype. The first half of this episode starts in a typical mecha in space fashion which is honestly boring, but even that manages to look good. The second half of the episode is where things really begin to shine. Everything about this anime looks and feels gorgeous. Honestly it doesn’t have much else going for it off the bat, but for now that is enough to keep my attention.

Jel’s Verdict: Gargantuan Expectations

OK bad pun, I don’t think “Gargantia” has anything to do with the word “gargantuan”, but I do have high expectations for this show. Not only is the art direction and animation stunning, it has this grand sense of scale and wonder that you just don’t see very often. The story itself almost reminds me of an old Western with a mysterious gunslinger drifting though a sleepy town – except in this case the drifter is a battle hardened mecha pilot who may or may not be from the future and the sleepy town is a city built on a giant boat. Pretty much the same thing, right? I’ll admit this first episode was a little slow and heavy on the technobabble, but of all the shows this season I think Gargantia has the most room to grow.

Gee’s Verdict: Apprehensive Potential

As a guy who loves sci-fi stories about different worlds and clashing experiences, I think Gargantia has a lot of potential to be something great. Fish out of water stories always lend themselves well to great world-building so I’m pretty excited about that. The first half was honestly pretty generic, but the second half, which introduces the far more interesting planet-dwellers gives me hope that Gargantia will do some really great things. In addition, Gargantia is definitely giving Attack on Titan a run for its money in terms of which can be called “prettiest anime of the season.” The character designs themselves make me a little worried though. The fanservicey outfits definitely have me wondering about the kind of tone this show is going to take. That said though, there’s a lot of potential here so I’m gonna stick with this one.

Zigg’s Verdict: Ready to Launch

A very encouraging debut and possibly the strongest of all the first episodes we’ve seen. The opening half’s space battle was visually stunning and though I’m not a superfan of real robot stuff the very cool tech on display helped soften the dryness of the military babble. It’s the second half that really grabs me though – I’m a big fan of the whole ‘man out of time’ story and this one was executed with an unusual amount of care, such as the initial language disconnect. It’s a damn pretty shopw as well, and not just in the obvious technical ways – mech design is pretty great and character design is pretty top notch all round as well, particularly Amy, who is adorable (though there’s something a little uncanny about her too – the eyes?). There’s also some interesting thematic elements deftly woven into the background, such as the hints of the dystopian future society contrasted against the more rustic Earth folk. I’m hoping Urobuchi can bring his smarts without the baggage that sometimes accompanies them – if so, this is surely going to be a real winner.