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It's almost unsettling how quickly things became sombre in Suisei no Gargantia.

In the previous episode post, I noted that the honeymoon phase was over but I didn't expect things to get so melancholy all of a sudden.  As far as transitions go, I'd say Suisei no Gargantia handled itself pretty well when it moved from the carefree slice-of-life plot to the more serious one.

With the change in tone, came a change of character focus.  Unexpectedly, Ridget ended up as the main character of the episode as the successor to the Gargantia admiral rank.  For once her role wasn't being Ledo's enemy, but that of a grieving adopted daughter who inherited her fathers 11th hour problems.  Personally, I couldn't help but think she got what she deserved after she treated Ledo like unpaid labour and forced him into an alliance of no good-will.  Ridget had it coming after the way she treated him and rest assured she got what she deserved and then some.

Pinion on the other hand, became the new target of my hatred.  Ignoring the tragedy and manipulatively recruiting Ledo, he's gone from being the harmless bum on the Gargantia to taking what Ridget did one step further.  It'll be interesting to see how long he remains the new bad guy, which could potentially be for the remainder of the series.  Now that Suisei no Gargantia has a set goal with its plot (Pinion's treasure hunt), that possibility increases.

Speaking of Ledo, he more than anyone faces a conundrum.  Seeing as how he's learned about his stranded situation - 6,000 plus years away to get one communication with the Galactic Alliance - he's got a detailed roadmap to the future and what it holds.  This information, which only he holds, makes him the one admirable person in Gargantia at the moment.  He's willing to sacrifice his own happiness, and let's face it he was getting friendly with Amy.  A girl who just doesn't understand anything about Ledo and that is quite irksome.

Amy's own attitude towards Ledo's actions are bordering on the annoying.  The way it's being handled right now is somewhere between a girlfriend worried for her guy leaving for war/sea - in this situation, you could say they are one and the same - and a girl who is just being selfish.  From where I'm standing she's leaning more towards the latter.  She doesn't get much sympathy from me.  None of them do, except for Ledo.  As for the romantic development between the two, the way it's being developed is fine by me though I can see it causing frustration for some.

A fairly different episode of Suisei no Gargantia to say the least.  I myself wasn't expecting to see Ledo being the only admirable one of the bunch, and it comes at a time when Ridget's redemption is about to get underway.  What we'll have to see now is how Suisei no Gargantia plans to split the screen time between the Ledo and Amy, as we enter what I presume to be the second half of the story.

Final Note: MAL tells me the series will be 13 and not 12 episodes long.