Recap: Ledo’s actions have brought the wrath of the pirate fleet down on Gargantia, and now he must set things right.

Iro’s Thoughts:
Killing pirates is bad, kids! Gargantia takes the action scene from last week and manages to spin it into creating some more conflict. There’s a somewhat interesting clash of ideals, with each side having different views on taking life and how to deal with enemies. Anywhere else, this would have been a really preachy moment (and it arguably still is) but making it a conflict that arises naturally from the story’s events mitigates this, turning the scene into a heartwarming moment. I also enjoy the running gag of Ledo being baffled by “animal carcasses”.

The rest of the episode is essentially an extended action sequence, with the pirate fleet attacking Gargantia as retribution. The pirate mecha are pretty cool, especially the lady’s lobster-shark surfboard robot. Not that any of it matters, because they’re all basically children’s toys compared to Chamber. The fight ends up more comedic than dramatic by the end, as the pirates get tossed off into the horizon like Team Rocket. I imagine she’ll return eventually, but whether as an ineffectual villain or not, I’m not sure.

Gargantia continues to be probably the strongest show this season. I expect that next week will involve Ledo running around the fleet being introduced to all the secondary and tertiary characters.

Gee’s Thoughts:
I’m going to be honest, while I still like Gargantia, this episode has definitely soured my expectations a little. The whole “conflict” of how killing to defend yourself from a band of rapists, thieves, slavers, and marauders is somehow a grey area is a little hard for me to comprehend. The idea of brandishing weapons and shooting at each other with the express purpose of not hurting each other is just a little too G-rated considering this show had no issue with Ledo’s comrades being killed by the dozens. I know Gen is trying to do something lighter with this story, but this seems to be the logical extreme of this kind of thinking. I’m not saying that Ledo should be going around brutally murdering people or that the pirates should’ve raped and killed somebody to prove that being idealistic is a dead concept, but a little balance between the two extremes would’ve made this “dilemma” a lot more interesting.

Still, Gargantia remains a relatively strong show thanks to the merits of its world building and character development. Watching Ledo come to terms with the concept of mercy and gratitude is entertaining and if nothing else, his garbled ‘thank you’ was one of the most adorable things I’ve seen come out of a male character this season. Now that he’s earned the trust of the fleet, I think we’ll finally be able to see Ledo adjusting to his new lifestyle. That has so much potential for wonderful world building that the very prospect has me willing to overlook this episode’s stumble.

Zigg’s Thoughts:
I’m going to go totally against Gee here and say the conversation about conflict was a high point of this episode and a great sign of the maturity that has characterised the writing of Gargantia up until this point. I didn’t really expect many repercussions for Ledo and Chamber flying about and being totally awesome, so to actually have to face the music for their rampant blowing-shit-up was actually rather refreshing. It helps that the scene itself is written with a light touch, and that Ledo asks pertinent questions. The morality is broad for sure, but it’s nice that the show treats us like adults and trusts us to be interested in a quieter moment. It’s a sharp bit of character building as well, contrasting the bred-for-war Ledo with the less agressive but more wordly Amy and Bellows.

The flip-side of this is that there’s also plenty of awesome silliness in the episode. It’s one of the things I appreciate about Gargantia, the belnding of good storytelling technique with some slightly more cheesy awesome robot action Here we have sexy lady pirates, mech suits that look like sharkticons, surfing lobster robots and more. It’s all gorgeously animated and smooth as butter and while the ending is perhaps a slight copout, I won’t begrudge them after another superior episode that cemented Gargantia in my mind as the #1 show this season.