Suisei no Gargantia - 02
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It may not be Sunday yet but someone got their hands on the pre-air Blu Ray disc containing the first two episodes of Suisei no Gargantia. Luckily my wait was cut in half but now I'm sad because there are no more episode to be gotten ahead of time.
Two episodes in and I'm already beginning to get invested in Suisei no Gargantia. If there's anything the second episode does flawlessly, it's immersing me in the world and unravelling it bit by bit. There's no rush here, as the episode takes the time to paint a picture of where Red has landed and the people who occupy the planet. That's where the point-of-view shift to Amy comes in.
Since the entirety of the first episode was focused on our male lead, it only seems fair that our female lead should get some focus. Through Amy we see the adventurous and light-hearted side of the story. Aside from seeing some of the more slice-of-life elements she brings to the table, we presumably see the beginning of her romance with Red. Only speculation at this point, but I'm guessing that's where the story will head at some point; even Suisei no Gargantia won't escape all the typical mecha plot tropes. Their first official exchange - let's not the kidnapping - had an air of innocence, brought about by Amy who just feel excited to meet someone new and not care about his origins.
Even so, the bigger focus was on Amy as the heroine of the series, and getting to know her has started off well. We get a glimpse at her rather innocent life and get introduced to her life, which gives us a little more background information. Being only the second episode, there isn't all that much to discuss here yet and showing her brother didn't add anything to the plot for the moment. Still, it served as a nice part deux of the series introduction.
In terms of pacing, it seems like the series is committed to taking things slowly. It's pleasant and doesn't rush the plot, whilst potentially signalling that Suisei no Gargantia won't be over-extending itself with a more complex plot. That's not to say the speed of events unfolding won't pick up in upcoming episode. Considering the ending, it doesn't feel like the story will be focused on the pleasant, slice-of-life for that much longer; at least not as the sole focus. And what about that ending?
Urobuchi Gen may not be bringing his usual dark plot to the series, however there is still a little element of it left behind. Red's response to the pirate attack in particular brings up some feelings that our favourite "butcher" isn't done with his morally ambiguous characters. I may be reading too much into it, but Red's ease of using annihilation takes him from being just a stranded war pilot to someone with more complexity and possibly a darker side. I suspect this will be brought up, and to what extent remains to be seen. Does Suisei no Gargantia have the time to do this? We'll have to wait and see.
At this point, I'm still excited about Suisei no Gargantia. It's concentrating its efforts on the adventure side for now, whilst hinting at some radical developments. Completely fine by me, and I'm anxious to find out what the story has in store for us in both character development and action.
Suisei no Gargantia OP
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