Recap: Ledo focuses on his mission to destroy the Hideauze, drawing the ire of the entire fleet. However, Pinion sees an opportunity…

Iro’s Thoughts:

Whoa, an episode that spends its time on actual plot instead of parading around scantily-clad ladies for half the episode! I was beginning to think we had no chance of such things after the last two episodes. Turns out the whalesquids/Hideauze are considered sacred to the people of Gargantia, and Ledo has done goofed up by murdering one, regardless of his soldier programming and whatnot.

Everyone with sense is suitably freaked out about this, which of course means that Pinion is excited about the opportunity to grab salvage from whalesquid territory. But apparently all he actually wants is to kill them because they killed his brother. I could argue that’s an unnecessary simplification of his motives (an actual rejection of old traditions in favor of new horizons is more interesting than GRR REVENGE!) but I suppose I can’t hope for much else.

The more important conflict here is between Ledo’s mindset as a soldier and everyone else’s more passive views. We’re clearly meant to side with Gargantia’s people on this, played most ham-handedly when Bebel dramatically whispers, “You’re your own person, Ledo” as our hero storms out of the room. While Ledo is clearly obsessed with his mission, he isn’t to an unbelievable extent considering it was his literal purpose for living until at most a few weeks ago. He brings up good points during his tirade: if the Hideauze do begin to attack, what exactly is their plan to not get wiped out? How exactly do they plan to progress their civilization? I predict all of these issues will go entirely ignored at the same time Ledo decides that the fleet was right and he was wrong.

As for Pinion and Flange’s plan to secede from Gargantia, the Fleet Commander suffering from a presumably fatal heart attack right before he can lay down the law is probably the single most contrived thing that has happened during the entire series. The next episode preview clearly shows a minor exodus of the fleet’s citizens, so there’s hardly any guess as to what happens next. It really feels as if they just came up with the first stupid solution they had to remove any actual obstacles to the plot, and left a bad taste in my mouth. My hopes for the next episode of this show are at an all-time low.

Gee’s Thoughts:

Well well, plot! And actual plot too, not PLOT plot, if you get my drift. So, in as series of events I’m sure didn’t surprise anybody, the hideauze/whailsquids are sacred animals among the Gargantians and killing one is considered an extreme taboo. Based on the theme of the show so far, it’s clear we’re supposed to side with them on this one against Ledo’s military indoctrination. To be fair though, seeing as that’s pretty much all Ledo’s known until the beginning of this show, one can’t fault him too much. Props to him for actually sticking to his training and his rather sensible concerns than capitulating just because Amy wants some of that spaceman dick.

That said, I do have two concerns from this episode. Pinion, oh Pinion, for a guy voiced by the same man who voiced Kamina, you sure lack his inspiring ability. To be fair, you do make up for it in daring. That said, you also seem to be tripping as much death flags as he was. I will honestly be surprised if Pinion survives more than 2 more episodes. The kind of brashness he’s displaying right now is only found in two kinds of people. Shonen protagonists and side characters about to die.

In addition, having the fleet captain suffer from a sudden heart attack right before making an immensely important decision is quite possibly one of the most contrived situations I’ve ever seen. It’s as if the writers needed to add drama, but realize that the structure of the very universe they’ve written wouldn’t allow it, so they just resorted to whatever tribulation they could pull out of their ass at the 11th hour. Seeing as the preview for the next episode flat out shows some sort of exodus, I can only assume things do not go well for the Gargantia. Here’s hoping the next few episodes go about it in a slightly less ham-fisted way than this episode.

Zigg’s Thoughts:

It was nice after a few episodes of relaxed goofing off to get back into an episode with some teeth behind it. I think that the conflict in this episode was very well constructed and it came off as a genuinely worthwhile, rather than the very laboured misunderstandings that series often pass off as tension between characters. After seeing Ledo emerge from his shell gradually over the past few episodes it’s a nice shock seeing him devolve back into the robotic warmonger he began the show as, and it’s to the story’s credit that he isn’t immediately overcome by THE POWER OF WUV and actually stays his course past the end of the episode.

It’s also the first time we’ve seen genuine disruption to the rhythm of life aboard Gargantia, which up until now has resembled some sort of storybook hippy commune. There’s a certain attraction to that of course but I’m glad we get a little dose of reality here. The people’s belief in the Whalesquids is partially a reminder that this is still a relatively primitive and superstitious culture, but also a genuine tactile fear. The sense that the Whalesquids could really damage or destroy Gargantia is well communicated and makes the shutdown scene very tense.

There’s a number of intriguing plot wrinkles thrown in here too. I genuinely expected Chamber’s analysis of the Whalesquid to confirm they weren’t Hideauze, instead we have something of a mystery on our hands. They aren’t playing it up too much yet but I’ll be interested to see how they’re going to link the two. There’s also the burgeoning political conflict inspired by Pinion, who finally gets a bit more to his character this time round. Granted, the hints of ‘they killed my brother’ are eye-rollingly cliched but his concerted attempt to get one of the major ship-owners on side promises further undermining of Gargantia’s image as a floating paradise.

In fact, the only real mistake the episode makes is ending on the near-unbelievable trope of the commander having a heart attack right before he’s about to give a critical order. This is such a ridiculous, overused scenario I trust i don’t even need to comment on why it’s a bad thing, and it leaves the episode on a dangerously silly note. That said, I’m still excited to see what’s going to happen as Gargantia cranks the pace up.