Gargantia Episode 7

In this episode we learn a few things.
Though its area has been reduced considerably by the grinding and pressure the now thawed global glaciers exerted as well as the rising sea levels of the now completely melted icecaps, there IS dry land...just not much.

We find out who the staff are that surround Ferrock most of the time. They are the leaders of the three other major fleets that have signed contracts to join with Gargantia. They signed a renewable contract submitting their external affairs to Gargantia, acknowledging the associated policies and the fact that Ferrock is in overall charge but they directly run their own fleets.



We find out that Whale Squid are held in high esteem by the populace of Gargantia and attacking them is considered a faux pas on the order of killing an albatross and is sufficiently bad luck to have anyone that does it risk becoming a pariah.

If you saw the last episode you can probably guess how we found that out......oops.

We learned some other things too....

 
After Ledo (convinced that it is a Hideauze) attacks the whale squid, he crawls up onto a barge covered in whalesquid guts....I was previously under the impression that the whale squid was just a big ass squid, but a close inspection during this episode revealed that it had too many eyes....and then there is this amongst the squid chitterlings....



THAT is something I never bothered to screencap. But we've seen them before. It's a Hideuze tooth much like the ones our hero had carved into a flute for Amy and her brother.



Ledo and Bellows are interrogated by Ridget due to the gravity of the situation.

Attacking, let alone killing a whalesquid is deeply frowned upon, not only because of folk tales, but because they are extremely dangerous animals that can devastate an entire fleet.

Ledo tries to  explain that the Hideauze are a transcendental threat and the fleet must take action.
He explains through his auto-translate that he is duty bound to destroy this Hideauze outpost. Ridget points out that Whalesquids have been around as long as anyone can remember and are in general only a threat if molested. They are extremely powerful creatures however, and killing one could endanger everyone under their charge.

It seems that Bellows and Ledo were salvaging equipment in an area with a lot of Whalesquid activity Before the Whalesq...HIDEAUZE showed up and Ledo engaged it there were indications (unconfirmed) that the area was a treasure trove of pre-cataclysm tech.



Knowing this, Pinyon attempts to put together a crew to explore the wreckage and tries to hire Bellows to dive for him in whalesquid territory. She refuses, mocking him and his dreams as childish and prideful....She perhaps goes too far as it is revealed to be common knowledge that Pinyon's brother was killed by a whalesquid. Pinyon nearly looses it and almost hits Bellows before he leaves.

We also find out that Ferrock is indeed in poor health and he is advised to take time off and stay in a wheelchair.

Ledo stops trying to speak the language and goes around trying to explain to people the peril he believes they are in.

To remove any doubt for him, Chamber, Ledo's Giant Robot confirms that a genetic test he ran came back positive for Alien Enemy of Humanity.

Ledo decides he has no choice, he suits up and prepares to go battle the Hideauze to save the people of Gargantia.

At this point a HUGE pod of them is detected heading for the fleet. Ferrock orders silent running and has all ships cut power. To assist morale he (with GREAT difficulty) stands up, walks to the con, grabs hold of a railing and remains standing for the duration of the crisis.

Ledo fears that if the creatures get within striking distance of the fleet, they will annihilate it before he can stop them. However, he is stopped short of his mech by Ridget and several armed Gargantians. Ridget says that if the fleet is attacked she'll have no objection to him cutting loose, but she threatens to shoot him to prevent him from attacking first. 



The Hideauze pass directly under the fleet causing some eerie vibrations but no fatalities.

 
 
Ledo stands down.

EPILOG:

Pinyon meets with the council of captains and formally requests to be released from his contract.  Pinyon wants to attempt to salvage the advanced tech he believes is in Hidaeuze territory he's assembled a volunteer crew to that end and Ledo has agreed to work for him.  If they are lost it will be away from Gargantia and Gargantia will be under no contractual obligation to get involved at all.



At this point a bombshell is dropped.

Flange, the leader of one of the largest fleets joins Pinyon in asking to be released from his contract. He states that the technology of the great lost age is worth great risk for the benefits it could gain humanity. He makes clear that he harbors Gargantia no ill will and hopes one day to return.

Ferrock os horrified at this for a number of reasons. The loss of Flange's ships will gut the fleets defensive capability. Unstated, it probably occurs to Ferrock that Squid aliens will not be impressed with the legalities of severing contracts should they come bent on revenge. If this HAS occurred to Ferrock he's not saying because as the episode is ending he's suffering a massive heart attack.






Wow.

What's neat about this is that there don't seem to be any real villains. Even Pinyon's motivations while certainly ambitious are not entirely without merit. If the ruins/wreckage pan out then it could indeed be a boon for all humanity. Ledo is actually trying to save everyone and Ferrock and Ridget have perfectly reasonable reasons to doubt him.


It does raise some questions:
Given that the Hideauze tend to attack whenever people come across particularly advanced tech it may be that they are keeping humanity down as if they were in a zoo or something. 

How advanced IS humanities tech and how much was lost?

How did humanity survive the cataclysm, and where did the ships come from?

Are the nanomachines the fleet draws power from HUMAN tech or Hideauze?



This is a very well thought out story so far.  I'm really, really enjoying this show.
more...

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Episode7 Attack on Titan

After the horror and flashback to yet more horror in the previous two episodes this one begins with a somewhat upbeat revelation...As far as is known there were no civilians eaten by the giants! Everyone made it through the gates before they were closed except the soldiers fighting the delaying action. The military, however has suffered mightily and as the episode begins Mikasa is going back to rejoin her friends  and assist in the survivors in an orderly retreat.  She arrives to find Sasha Potato Girl trying to rally a bunch of thoroughly demoralized troops, which include Armin.


And then,  Mikasa's eyes...just sort of die.



I must say this about the artists in this show. They really have the portrayal of dead, soulless eye's down pat.




I mean they've nailed it. The stills don't quite do the effect of this justice. While not particularly graphic the dead thousand yard stares in this episode are haunting in a way that really stays with you.


Of course, in MIkasa's case this is due to her leaning about Erun's fate. As one would expect she does not handle it well...



Here is the situation.

Their martial art involves a harness that includes power operated cables, grapling hooks and ascenders all powered by natural gas cylinders and supplemented by very short bursts from a rocket in the small of the back.  This allows them to swing about like fighters in some Xia brothers film and get to the vital spot on the back of a giants neck.

Well, after all that fighting, their gas cylinders are running low and without them they cant hope to make it to the wall, let alone scale it to reach safety. There is a facility with a recharge facility, but it is overrun by giants and most of the logistical command staff have fled.

Potato Girl and a male recruit named Connie Springer are  trying to organize an assault on the place to get at the natural gas depot and relieve those trapped inside , but no one will move.

At this point Mikasa of the dead eyes motivates everyone by the straightforward method of calling them all cowards and not worth saving and that she'll kill all the giants herself and abandon them...but they can come if they want.

It's unclear if motivation was her intent but it has that effect.

On the way Mikasa is separated from the group when she runs out of gas. Armin and Connie detach to find her but she has crashed in a heap at the foot of a giant in the wrong end of a dead end alley. As she contemplates why she is continuing to resist the inevitable, another giant shows up and rips the giant menacing her asunder....Armin arrives and scoops Mikasa up to the roof. He gives her his (barely used) cylinders   and blades. He, Connie and Mikasa watch the bizarre spectacle of the Aberrant Titan vanquishing others while ignoring them.





This episode ends with our protagonists pretty much in the same position as when it began, but a lot happened in between their making little progress. This battle is in it's third episode, and yet it doesn't seem to be dragging yet....which is unusual.

Mikasa had a moment of introspection that was interesting in that it had two aspects. On the one hand she determined that she is not going to give in to despair and she will fight to the bitter end. This is pretty straightforward and while well stated and inspiring it's not really unusual. What was unusual was the other thing she concluded. She reflected upon the fact that she's in a defacto leadership position and reflects on how this entails a good deal of DOWNWARD s well as upward loyalty.

 Mikasa has been portrayed throughout the show as a very decent person, but she really does grow in this episode even as she dies on the inside. There aren't many shows where this has come to the fore and off the top of my head I can think of only three other fictional fantasy female leaders who have had this virtue. Meia Gisbourne and the Captain in Van Dread, and to a slightly lesser extent Bellows in Gargantia.  This may not be a focus of the series but it is was refreshing to see this ethical point addressed.

There was also plenty of dystopic horror, and gruesomely gruesome gruesomeness, so the show hasn't had a sudden shift in tone...it's still hard to watch. But it remains intelligent and I note that nothing in this show has been extraneous...so that crazy ass giant means something.



Also, for those who've been watching the show : what happened to the key?

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Well This Was Surprising

Surprises:
Attack on Titan has lots of them,. Gargantia on the Verduous Planet has surprises too, but they are usually of an entirely different sort....
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Attack on Titan (Updated)

One day, long ago, the world ended.
Huge giants just showed up and started...eating people. This seems to have coincided with a near complete technological collapse as society is now sporting renaissance era tech.

Society, furthermore now consists of a walled area of Europe that looks to be a bit smaller than Andorra. The walls, over 150 feet high seem impervious to the giants. As a hedge, there have been built two secondary walls protecting progressively smaller areas. For 100 years there have been no breaches and humanity has developed a sort of pleasant if neurotic normalcy within its' prison.

Within this womb of denial reside these three young misfits. Left to right we have...

  Armin, a bookish nerd who dreams of seeing the outside world.This heretical notion as well as his socially unacceptable belief that humanity is becoming too complacent about its tenuous hold on existence gets him beat up a lot. Fortunately for his longevity he is friends with...
  Erun, an athletic young man, who excels at fisticuffs and hangs out with the wrong sort of people (see above). As a result of this antisocial influence he has read the forbidden geography book Armin has squirreled away and dreams of seeing the ocean. When he gets old enough, he wants to join the Reconnaissance forces and explore the outside world. His parents do not approve, as the recon forces have a horriffic attrition rate. He's something of a hothead with a bit more idealism than sense. fortunately this is often tempered by his close proximity to...
  Mikasa, an orphan who is his adopted sister. Her parents were refugees from some mysterious, far away land called "Asia" so naturally, this being anime, she is cool as a cucumber and good at everything.  Having suffered through great loss, she does NOT want to loose her adoptive family and she strives to assist in extricating Erun from his many self-inflicted challenges with a fervor that borders on co-dependency.

Well, as you can see from the expressions on our protagonists faces, in the course of the first episode things go downright pear shaped. 


OK,  the end of episode 1 and most of episode 2 involve a particularly large giant 3-5 times as big as any others showing up and kicking in the gate to the walled territory. The smaller giants then swarm into the city where they begin devouring the populace. Meanwhile, the military, who would find this situation tough in the best of times, is very nearly useless due to having become complacent and confident behind their walls.  The soldiers are routed and most that are not devoured flee. A few take the time to to assist the civilians  like Hannes here.



We first saw him in episode 1 drunk at his post and generally not displaying a good military bearing.  In episode 2 he runs in to engage a giant, takes one look at it, realizes he is drunk, unfit to fight and heads for the hills. However, he somewhat redeems himself when he returns  to save the kids, wrenching them from their mother as they attempt to extricate her from the rubble of their house. He pulls them out kicking and screaming as the giant he did not engage devours their mother in front of them*.  (I'll spare you the screen cap).

As mentioned before there are 3 walls. They are called Rose, Maria and Sina...in the course of episodes 1&2 the territory between Rose and Maria is overrun. The gates of Wall Maria have to be closed to save those inside and 1/3 of the human population is lost.


^{* We see Hannes later in episode 4. He's still the same friendly guy, but he's gotten his act together and has become the very demanding captain of the gate guard for Wall Maria. Hannes is determined to never repeat his mistakes and ensure others don't either. An interesting theme of redemption from a frequently dystopic show.} 

 Attack on Titan actually has had quite a bit to say about the dangers of complacency,  the utter contempt ruling elites can develop for those in the hinterlands, the necessity of freedom in healthy human development and the cancerous rot that results from its absence...and it often says them in the most graphically unsettling ways possible.

This show has has some extraordinarily disturbing visuals. If it were a live action film it might get an NC-17 rating. There is just something nightmarish on a primal level about people being eaten by big, naked, implacable giants that look like otaku.
Actually, nightmarish doesn't begin to describe it.

This is a gut wrenching show and difficult to watch but it is actually pretty interesting.
With a  structure, that evolves into something very much like a war story, it successfully captures the horror and dread of going into combat in a way that few shows have. The show is full of surprises and there's already been some decent character development. I do like the fact that Erun, while very much a shonen lead arch-type is NOT possessed of some awesome power and is not really the best at anything...getting by instead on his wits and tenacity. 

Episode three has a 5 year time skip. There is a brief flashback revealing that due to most of the croplands being between Maria and Rose there was a famine. This was alleviated by the straightforward method of organizing the adult males fom the overrun portion into a militia and sending them out with a small military force and some engineers to retake the occupied territories...and then locking the gate.
Other than that 3 and 4 are boot camp stories. Our heroes have enlisted and the cast triples in size as they deal with basic training and exposition on the shows signature martial art, a complex ballet involving swords and swinging through the air on wires. The other takeaway is that while one can apply for any position one wants.  only the top 10 percent can get into the military police, only those with the best academic scores can get into the gate guards (it involves engineering) and the lowest performing  end up in either the scouts or the regular guard force. This, as Erun points out is in fact ass backwards as everyone is striving to hone their giant killing skills to get as far as possible away from the giants in the interior compound. The front-line troops are set up to fail.

Erun, to the astonishment of everyone (except Mikasa and Arun, who know he's a loon) signs up for the Recon forces he strove so long to join. When questioned on the sanity of this he gives an impassioned speech that inspires several others to do so as well. Graduation day comes and the cadets are running about their duties on the wall in anticipation of their new assignments, when a 60 meter giant just...sort of...teleports in and kicks down the gate to Wall Maria.

And then things get bad....
 

Be advised that Attack on Titan does not shirk from showing women perishing in combat with all the same gruesomeness as the men.  However, the series has several likeable and strong female characters, including Potato Girl here.

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Tankery in the US

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Tankery in the UK

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Old Meets New

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