As we head into the climactic episode on Sunday, I have a few random thoughts on this weeks Gargantia installment.
Because there's just a lot to like....
I'm still amazed at what a total misdirection episode 9 was. That whole storyline seems to have been dropped, though the revelations in that story did likely play a role in Ledo's later decision making.
I was pleased with how they've handled Melty in the foggy episodes. While Melty was originally one of Amy's friends from the first half of the series she was something of a non-entity. Of the three girls, there was Amy, the lead, Saaya the curvy one and Melty...the other one. When Flange took his fleet she went with it, and appeared in every episode usually acting in her capacity as courier (presumably she took over Amy's customers in the detached ships.) She's SO small, and young looking that she doesn't attract much attention and after the conquest is able to transmit messages and parcels between Flanges people without attracting the ire of the cultists. Only when she talks to Pinyon does she get searched and even then she's able to conceal the true message via misdirection. She helps Flange get the big picture of what's going on and coordinate his preparations for revolt, get word to them from Ledo about his intention to assist them and of course is the only one light enough to make the 20 odd hour trek on a flying surfboard to warn Ridget and Gargania of the coming attack....via signal lamp...because radioing them would be right out.
My only gripe was her Icarus/ Pheidippiddes moment which kind of stole Melty's thunder by having Amy save her...of course it was genuinely dramatic and surprising, because after having witnessed that earlier death panel scene I thought they might really have her buy the farm.
Speaking of that scene with the death panel...
...yeah, that was grim, but damn it added a sense pf urgency and focus. Ledo in particular was probably going to go against orders in some fashion anyway, but that scene filled him with resolve to directly oppose Kugel.
The resulting scene involving the delicate negotiations with Chamber to get him on board with rebelling against Kugel was interesting. It would seem to be have been handwaved a bit except for the fact that we'd already established that Chamber had been making his own decisions for a while.
Also, it is possible that the death panel scene, while normal for the spacebound and recourse strapped GAH was perceived by Chamber as quite wasteful in the context of Earth.
I'd figured that the pirate queen Lukkage was going to return in some fashion. I'd not figured on her being the head of Kugel's security....of course they'd flat out stated that she was planing to break away so it wasn't any sort of surprise to see her run interference for Pinyon and Mayta.
It WAS beautifully choreographed though.
I liked that Flange had no illusions about his chances and was leading his volunteers on a delaying action to allow the bulk of his people to escape.
In most other shows someone like Flange would be presented as venal
rather than a decent person who made a perfectly understandable,
eminently defenseable...but due to unforeseen circumstances...bad call.
One thing they drove home in this episode was the disparity in power between Ledos Mech Chamber and Kugel's mech. This is an old mech show trope where the high ranking pilots get custom built high powered mechs focused on combat power (rather than C4i) and the soldiers have mass produced fodderbots. Well,if you're a mech fan Ledo is flying a GM to Kugels Gundam suit...if your not...well, he's outmatched.
Most shows would have the hero win by sheer force of will, but Ledo gains his (temporary) victory in part because Pinyon is manning a railgun (Mayta stays with him to keep the power cables attached and load the weapon). He nails Kugel with a hypervelocity slug at a crucial moment.
Not pictured in the following illustration of Pinyon and Mayta's fight...Pinyon...'cause that's how I roll.
Besides being able to see more of Mayta it was cool to have that neat redemptive moment for Pinyon and it made Ledo's victory seem less contrived than it might have.
The cockpit override feature makes sense in the context of rescue, never anticipating fighting humans, and not having any mechanical means of opening the cockpit that a Hideauze might take advantage of.
Of course the big reveal was, well, unexpected. However, it does imply something that commenter "sqa" over at Steven's suggested. That the computers are in charge of the whole GAH. Chambers actions in this episode would seem to argue against that, but it's not beyond the realm of possibility.
The use of color (or lack of it) is very effective at distinguishing, viscerally, the warm welcoming society of Gargantia from the dystopia in the Mists.
All in all it has been quite well thought out. The show is coming together nicely, I just have this fear that they'll pull a Gainax day after tomorrow.
