This episode finds our heroes standing by to make ready to review procedures for initiating steps to set in motion preparations for beginning to consider actions necessary to lay the groundwork for thinking about getting ready to do something.

We'll see eventually if that something involves resuming this shows heretofore excellent pacing.

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I'm pretty sure this is one....

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AOL and Juno it seems can't be used for ones E-Mail address. The issue seems to be with AOL and Juno blocking E-mails from Pixiv for some reason.

I couldn't access my old G-mail account as I've long forgotten the password, but I was able to get a new one and join up.

Of course, with Deviant, this makes two art boards I'm a member of, despite having artistic skills a few notches below Randall Munroe....but without the medical insight.

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Between, recent bad news and the fact that I was offline for a bit, I've been surfing and playing catch-up on current events.

In the process I blundered into the two most important posts in the history of everything:

Moe Lane has a solution for what is increasingly beginning to look like a mistake.

Scott Lowther demonstrates that what many assumed was a mistake, may not have been.

The implications of these ponderings are indeed profound and will require much thought from great minds to have their meanings fully grasped.

Much like this will...

 

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Oh my...

^{"That was...harsh."}

It was a dark and foggy sky
Into forbidden seas, they did ply
For Pinyon knew where great treasure lie

To damnation they did sail



Into the depths did Ledo go
To fight the Whalesquid Far below
Through the fearsome beasts his lance did mow

To damnation they did sail



Pinyon's brave crew performed his plan
One he had devised since he became a man
Tons of explosives and many a can

To damnation they did sail



For Pinyon knew. He'd been there before
His brother'd seen knowledge upon the floor
before he'd perished in the nests dark core

To damnation they did sail



For the best of reasons
For the betterment of man
For knowledge and not treasons
Did Flange embark upon this plan

And so he watched and with trepidation waited
Not comprehending quite how much Ledo hated
the fearsome beasts his noise had baited

To damnation they did sail.



With great persistence
for the salvation of man
For honor and not remittance
Did Ledo embark upon this plan

When Ledo found the monsters nest
He slew the larvae and did his best
To end the threat to all the rest

To damnation they did sail



In Chamber (Ledo's mighty mech)
Ledo saw, amongst the whalesquid dreck
information he felt he should inspect.

To damnation they did sail.

But Chamber said "I cannot say"
"To have this secret is the proper way"
But Ledo asked "Whose top ranked today?"

To Damnation they did sail



And so Ledo read
and hung his head
as he drifted there amongst the dead

To damnation they did sail.

To keep man alive forever
There had been two schools of endeavor
and they did not agree (not ever)

One school had sought to survive in space
forging metal and carbon mesh
The other foresaw a slower pace
and they forged their very flesh

Both sides pursued their favored arts
Their arguments they exchanged like darts
and both sides did grow hardened hearts

To damnation they did sail



The ice age came the snow fell more
The two schools began to fight a war
And earth was rendered terribly poor

To damnation they did sail.



The Hideauze were but tweaked men
Ledos forefathers were their kin
They locked in a battle they could not win

To damnation they did sail


Ledos forfathers did build a gate
and some Hideauze became consumed by hate
in wrecking it they did seal Earths fate

To damnation they did sail.



The Hideauze that were filled with rage
and the forfathers Ledo once thought were sage
went through the gate and turned the page

To damnation they did sail

The Hideauze that went into space
had believed they were a master race
The noble ones...they'd stayed in place

To damnation they did sail.

And Ledo wept amongst the gore
in the nursery where he'd brought his war
..and then he spied something along the floor.

To damnation they did sail.

A child without her living shell
Swam up to Ledo and grinned so swell
And Ledo realized he was bound for hell.

To damnation they did sail



As Ledo fought back guilty tears
Chamber did seek to allay his fears
by reducing the naive child to smears

To damnation they did sail.

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This was a transitional episode, poignant with a very "on the precipice" undercurrent.




Fairlock does not survive his heart attack. He regains consciousness briefly and lingers long enough to declare Ridget to be his successor.

Ledo gets some bad news as well. It seems that Chamber has finally gotten a good enough parallax on the requisite stars to deduce there position relative to Ledo's home. By his calculation their first distress beacon is...



 Well suck...

Now without ANY hope of rescue, Ledo tries to explain via his very imperfect understanding of their language why he feels he must go. He has better luck with Bebel, her brother to whom he reveals that he fears the boy who gave him the Hideuze flute before being recycled might have been his brother.



...and all the while, the people of Gargantia deal with separation and loss. This is portrayed very eloquently throughout the episode, most of which is in the shadow of Fairlocks funeral, which is itself a very touching ceremony.



I like the fact that Flange (the fleet captain who is leaving) does not seem to be a jackass. He's doing what he thinks is right, and his eulogy for Fairlock seems sincere and heartfelt.

The fleets separate and their world is forever changed.

 

This was a well done episode. A bit downbeat, but it does stress the overall decency of most of the characters. We learned some things too.

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I had no idea this existed when he passed earlier this month.

It's the test footage for Ray Harryhausen's War of the Worlds project which was being pitched in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

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Attack on Titan Episodes 8 & 9 seem to have largely wrapped up the 'Battle for Trost'. The show continues to surprise. It continues to have its characters develop in unconventional, but interesting ways. The nightmarish imagery continues as well and they really outdo themselves in that regard with some truly horrific visuals...

On the other hand, it is really nice to see someone who thoroughly enjoys her work.

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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.

 
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.

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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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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....
more...

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1 As they say on Twitter, "Gargantia: even if you have no marketable skills, you can find love with an underage exotic dancer".

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Wed May 15 10:49:34 2013 (RqRa5)

2 Yeah.
Regards the latest episode.
That whole bit in the restaurant was...odd. I actually did a double take wondering if it really was them because it seemed to make no sense that it was.

They did mentioned earlier that they were doing a dance 'for the festival' but I'm still not seeing how that cameo makes any sense...

...unless Pete's assessment is correct.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Wed May 15 12:20:00 2013 (F7DdT)

3 OK I just rewatched it...It's a cafe in a food COURT and the stage act IS part of the run up to the festival. (God knows what the main act was). I was confused because most of the actual festival takes place off camera.

It was still a bit gratuitous.

Though not as gratuitous as the "SEE!? WE'RE HIP! WE HAVE GAYS!!1!!  AND THEY'RE ALL OVER THE TOP QUEENS BECAUSE....GAAAY!!. LOOK AT OUR CRAZY GAY PEOPLE. THE'VE GOTTEN OUT OF THE GAY CAGE!! WE'RE EDGY!  IT'S NOT ASSAULT BECAUSE...THEY'RE GAY...SO THEY CAN'T HELP IT. IT'S FUNNY. AND IF YOU DISAGREE YOU'RE  A H8ER UNLIKE US BECAUSE
"

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Wed May 15 13:13:39 2013 (F7DdT)

4

"Amy has a pet flying squirrel"

...are you sure it's not a sugar glider?

I mean, a sugar glider?  The stripes look like it.

Posted by: Mikeski at Wed May 15 20:14:46 2013 (Zlc1W)

5 It's Otou-san's quip, not mine. He's referring the popular screencap of Ledo saying "I had no idea it was so hard to find a job".

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Wed May 15 21:31:10 2013 (RqRa5)

6

...are you sure it's not a sugar glider? 

No I am not.

The series is set so far in the future it could be an evolved chipmunk or a gene modded chinchilla. It looks more like a cross between a Delmarva fox squirrel and a flying squirrel given the pointy ears.

I probably should have said flying squirellish indicator of female lead status.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Thu May 16 07:54:45 2013 (F7DdT)

7 (B)Riget has those glasses again.

Posted by: Mauser at Fri May 17 05:03:05 2013 (cZPoz)

8 Indeed -- red half-rims. How did I miss that? (probably because I was concentrating on the dancing girls.)

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Fri May 17 11:13:30 2013 (+rSRq)

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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...

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.} 

^{"Why yes. My name actually IS Potato Girl. You gotta problem with that?"}

5 episodes in the show has really caught my interest and has a lot of potential. I intend to keep watching in the hope it lives up to it. I'm certainly looking forward to episode 6 because episode 5 seems to be taking the show in a very unusual direction.....
.No really...I GOTTA SEE EPISODE SIX!

Unfortunately, as I type this Crunchyroll has announced that...

Due to a materials delay, episode 6 will be delayed

Ghaa!

UPDATE: Well they finally showed number 6.
That was downright Wheadonesque.
This show is brutal but it is genuinely surprising me. At this point things have progressed so far that a more detailed & spoileriffic summary is really needed to discuss the show.

The reason for the stress regards Episode 6 was that Episode 5 ended on what I assumed was a cliffhanger.

In episode 5:
The Giants began flooding the city, but this time the military engaged with great determination and discipline albeit to little effect. However, Erun's team was completely green. When one of them was eaten, he rushed in rashly to avenge his fallen comrade, and his team followed him in support. Things went south very quickly as they ended up surrounded. Armin saw something particularly horrific and his brain went into BSOD mode. Erun was gravely injured and several of the likeable characters we'd come to know got eaten....including Armin...however Armin is a Player Character, is in the credits and that just cant stand so Erun overcame the pain of his missing foot and did a completely improbable rescue from the closing mouth of the Giant pulling Armin free!.....

 However, this left him in a rather tenuous position...



Of course Erun is the main character. He has dreams and aspirations. His shirt is not red and....oh.



...and  then our hero was bitten in half and swallowed. (Roll Credits)

Thus the anticipation of...
Episode 6:
I expected a cop out of some sort in this episode but...no...To my astonishment it appears that the protagonist is still quite dead!
The episode begins with some other soldiers who have stumbled upon the random crumbs of Erun's team which consist of lots of blood, Eruns hand and a catatonic Armin. Armin recovers enough to travel but is haunted by survivors guilt which is further fanned by one of the less likeable rescuers.




He advances to the rear and along the way finds progressively more disturbing imagery that forces him to confront the do or die nature of the world.

The rest of episode 6 is mostly a Mikasa story and between her kicking ass and dispensing justice....


...there is also a brief flashback to the murder of her parents*. This was an incident in which Erun had saved her when he was 9 years old. She immediately returned the favor. At the end of the episode she volunteers to assist the units that are left behind and runs to check on Erun and Armin's unit, unaware of the grim news she is about to receive.


Wow.

That was QUITE unexpected.

The closest thing I've seen to this was the opening episode of Gai Rei Zero  which was an intentional misdirection, but that was only one episode. 

This drives home a point that does not get enough attention in movies....

Those rows of crosses at Arlington and other war graves, the people under them were not supporting characters or supernumeraries. They were human beings with dreams, hopes ambition and just as much to contribute as anyone.

Erun has been the lead, the focus and the glue for the cast for 5 whole episodes. This is a remarkable decision and potentially quite interesting. The secondary characters are all quite quirky and this presumably means that Potato Girl and company will have more of a chance to shine.

This IS Studio IG so I assume that Mikasa will be the lead if anyone is. However I'm through assuming with this show.

_{* We also learn that even when the entirety of humanity is at the absolute end of it's rope and restricted to one tiny corner of the planet, there will still be pervy white guys willing to pay top dollar for an Asian chick.}

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^{Though I've heard conflicting reports regards their veracity.}

^{Still...do want.}

UPDATE:  OK. After some digging and the rather belated realization that Miyata is an anagram of Tamiya (thanks to Rick in the comments)  I've determined that a company called  Platz,  IS releasing some Girls und Panzer kits.

However, this epic "box art" is unofficial and produced by a PixiV artist who goes by the handle of sdkfz221.

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1 That is some gorgeous artwork - thank you for posting it!.

These look like well-made parodies though (I'll give them the benefit of the doubt, that they're not pirate-kit boxart from certain places that shall go nameless).  The kitmaker is Tamiya, not Miyata, and the stars are flipped upside-down compared to the real company.

The good news is that there are GuP tank kits out there... if an $80 model kit appeals.

Posted by: Rick at Mon Apr 22 22:03:53 2013 (e3hYu)

2

They placed the crew members correctly in the Panzer IV, but they blew it for the Lee.

Aya, the meganekko with twintails, is the 37mm gunner but they've put her in the sponson, not in the turret. (Aaaand, another catgirl bites the dust)

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Tue Apr 23 15:25:49 2013 (+rSRq)

3  I'm pretty sure that the 75mm gunner is normally at the other end of her gun. (I don't think they're actually at battle stations.) With a six person crew I'll cut the artist some slack

Also:


^{"For your cruel indifference to our well being...you must face the ChenSaw!"}

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Tue Apr 23 16:16:25 2013 (F7DdT)

4 The one sitting on the 75 is the driver, Karina.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Tue Apr 23 16:51:49 2013 (+rSRq)

5 FWIW, Tamiya has had their own kawaiiko mascot for decades now.  Back in the 1980's, they would run full-page ads in RC car magazines, with their spokesman spokesgirl Moko-chan and her bunny rabbit sidekick giving "lectures" about how to get the most from your radio-controlled model car, and how to upgrade with all the latest Tamiya gizmos.  You could even get limited-edition decal sets of her to decorate your RC car.

Posted by: Peter the Not-so-Great at Tue Apr 23 19:01:26 2013 (ElBzz)

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While perusing the comments at Chisumatic, I recently discovered that this internet thing is even more awesome than I was previously aware.

You see, Pete Zaitcev and others have compiled a surprisingly comprehensive meganekko database.

^{Image not in the database}

How did I miss this?
Oh well. This is why it's important to scroll through Steven's comments.

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Via Crunchyroll and Anime News Network comes word that XEBEC has announced that Yamato 2199 is about to be aggressively marketed internationally.


The title of the international version will be Starblazers 2199.

Oh Fabrijous DAY!

This is interesting as Star Blazers was the release name of the show in the US and Canada. Several of the name changes in the US version like renaming the ship itself ARGO were actually done by the Japanese creators. I 've gushed excessively about the old show and the remake several times before but it really is good.

Yamato 2199 has managed to remain quite faithful to the original while adding quite a few surprises for those familiar with the show. 

 The premise of the show is straightforward enough.

Earth discovers that it is not alone in the universe...8 years later the aggressive interstellar empire Earth encountered has brought humanity to the brink of extinction. The planets surface is rendered uninhabitable by a combination of constant bombardment, radiation and invasive alien plants that have absorbed most of the oceans...and still the aliens attack. At this dark hour, the earth is contacted by another alien race which offers them a device that can restore their planet. Unfortunately, it won't fit on the blockade runner and apparently can't be made from local materials, so instead the aliens sent plans for an FTL drive so the humans can come get the physical device. The humans install the FTL in the hull of a sublight starship ship they were constructing to carry a few survivors off planet. To conceal it's construction, the ship was being built within and below the hulk of the old battleship Yamato which accounts for it's appearance. Now, this jury rigged ship with an FTL drive that the crew barely understands must break through the blockade of the solar system, travel 168,000 light years to the greater Magellanic cloud...and back,...and do it in a year if they are to have any hope of saving Earth....and the aliens will fight them every step of the way.




With such a large cast and sweeping story it might seem unlikely that the show would have much character development, but the writers really have managed the ensemble well thus far.  In contrast to the single female crew member in the old show, several women have been added to or re-imagined into the old cast.  This has actually added a good deal of depth as they are, for the most part interesting and well written. Yamamoto, for instance is one of the best realized female military officers since Van Dread's Meia Gisbourne from over a decade ago. Several of the enemy characters are quite interesting as well.

  While it is not hard sci-fi by any means, the show also throws a good deal of actual science into several stories.  The exact physics of their FTL is handwaved (by the fact that the crew really doesn't understand how it works), they work in bits of recent astronomy news and make a real effort to keep their non-FTL techno-babble grounded in actual physics, biology and IT speak.

Despite it's bleak premise, '2199 thus far, has managed to be remarkably optimistic and even inspiring. It has been quite intelligent as well, much more so than most sci-fi TV. Additionally, the show has done a far above average job of conveying a sense of service professionalism and even the ethics of command and leadership.

About halfway in, Yamato 2199 has been superb, I'm crossing my fingers that they don't muck it up in the end.

Assuming they don't, I'm  genuinely looking forward to seeing what the US version is going to be like.

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...that despite the otherwise satisfying ending of the show, we never did get an explanation for this.

So perhaps that is the hook for any Girls und Panzer sequel, the dark truths behind Miho's plushy cabinet.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 09:48 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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