Suisei no Gargantia - 04
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I might as well say this now: another fantastic episode of Suisei no Gargantia.
We've already established that each of the three mecha series of the season each have their own style. Where Gargantia excels leaves the competition in the dust is its light-hearted, refreshing fish-out-of-water adventure. A setting that allows for episodes like this one.
It's a slice-of-life episode. Simple as that. It's an episode which lets us get better acquainted with Ledo and explore the reasons for his jaded, Spartan-like thinking. Nothing we haven't seen before - his origins aren't the most imaginative, especially in sci-fi circles - yet it's handled so well, it puts many other series, which have already done this type of plot, to shame.
Ledo's life in space Sparta doesn't come as much of a surprise. This another instance of Urobuchi sneaking in darker plots, to stimulate debates on morality amongst other things because that's just his style. Unlike other times, the darker plot flourishes on its own without imposing on Ledo's current time on the Gargantia. It actually acts as a solid foundation for his identity crisis and his ongoing education of the human society he's not used to.
Just in this episode, Ledo meets and talks to a number of people in order to understand the "inefficient organization" of Gargantia and in the process reveals his deep, long-lost memories. How his deep origins end up being used in the story remains to be seen and definitely has my interest. It could play a big role in the future of the series, though with the way things are going it's hard to tell. Putting that aside, watching Ledo's development continues to be great as it delivers some heart-warming and downright emotional moments.
For all the touching moments of the episode, we had the contrast of the ongoing political chess game between the Gargantia high command and Ledo. Only taking up a small portion at the beginning, it does well to remind us that there is still an issue of mistrust between the two parties and that will definitely have a huge impact on the plot, not to mention Ledo.
That'll be it until the next episode. Suisei no Gargantia continues to be an excellent anime, unlike any other this season. Calling it flawless is too premature, but I must say that in four episodes it has yet to do something wrong.