Gargantia!

Man, I have been eagerly awaiting this episode. That dramatic finale last week has proven the unstable nature of Ledo and the Earthlings’ temporary peace, as well as given the Earthlings (I should probably switch to “Gargantians,” but referring to them as Earthlings remains funny to me) a much sharper understanding of what they’re truly dealing with. Did his obliteration of the pirates violate some general understanding of acceptable violence in their world? Will they try to use him now, or assassinate him in some way that prevents retaliation? They still don’t necessarily believe in the existence of the AI – I could see that truth become clear to them in dramatic fashion if they try to go behind Ledo’s back. But this is all conjecture, and this show is awesome, so I’m just gonna get right to it.

Episode 3

0:10 – Wow, we’ve never gotten a full pan of the city like this before (probably because the show’s been trying to keep us mentally trapped with Ledo on that crane arm). It’s beautiful

1:00 – I think this is the first time I’ve heard “____ no baka!” in response to pirate genocide

2:32 – God this show is gorgeous. How does Urobuchi always gets these incredibly colorful, very distinctive art pallets? Do talented artists just flock to him?

3:40 – I really like that our heroine is smart enough to immediately recognize her own partial culpability in what happened. “Help us” was something that needed to be translated across cultures, not just languages

4:42 – Consuming carcasses left and right. Ledo’s a champion

6:20 – Pff, everybody contributing to a humane, prosperous society? We don’t need none of that commie-talk here, Bellows

8:28 – Ahaha, my god, those trollish pirate thug designs

13:53 – This is a little weird. I just can’t feel much tension here when Chamber exists as a being of essentially limitless power in their world. And obviously the show knows that – but it’s dragging out this conflict quite a bit considering the context. Perhaps the tension is more supposed to be drawn from him using this conflict to make or break his alliance with the Gargantian commanders? If so, I’m not sure that’s being entirely successfully conveyed

14:48 – This I like. Using Ledo/Chamber only as support, because what the Gargantians really need to convey is the normal fleet’s willingness and ability to fend off the pirates themselves

18:25 – It’s weird seeing Urobuchi’s staple ideas and storytelling get mixed with more lighthearted stuff, like a freaking pirate queen riding a surfing lobster mech

20:30 – And now they’re spinning the lobster in circles while politely asking it to surrender. Okay, I’m totally on board with this

And Done

This show is so great. This episode got much sillier than I was expecting, but it totally worked – at this point, considering how rarely the tone has gotten all that serious, I’m thinking this might be something like Urobuchi’s stab at a Ghibli-esque production – just a wonderful, continuously enjoyable adventure in a vivid, beautiful world

This is what pure entertainment looks like to me. It’s light, and it’s happy, and it’s propulsive, but it’s never stupid – the writing never betrays your trust in the characters, world, or storytelling. This is entertainment done right