Suisei no Gargantia - 09
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In all honesty, this was what I was expecting from Suisei no Gargantia before it aired. It is indeed an Urobuchi Gen anime.
To say things have taken a turn for the dark would be understating it with this episode of Suisei no Gargantia. Things have gotten so dark, it makes the first half of the series feel like a distant memory. Happy times keep leaving the story in order for the dark sci-fi story to emerge, and let me tell you: it's creepy and disturbing.
Genetic engineering, global warming, religion and weaponized space all form the background of the global situation. A move from a micro outlook on Ledo's life away from war to the macro of the war he's been fighting and continues to do so in a different time. This ties into the ongoing look at Ledo as a character quite well, but more than that it's looking at the bigger picture. Now the focus isn't just on Ledo but rather the actual war he's been fighting and the secrets of the world we still know so little about.
This development was a game changer, no question. Like Shin Sekai Yori's fourth episode, it came as a surprise and shook things up. Bringing Suisei no Gargantia out of it's rut - not the word I want to use, but it's been a little stagnant as of late - and propel it further in the last four episodes. We're going back to the sci-fi roots with this episode and that's a change I'm very open to. The first half was great as an adventure series but now we're faced with the prospect of a more intriguing plot.
As such, this was the set up episode. We were given a big batch of info to process much like Ledo and now we must await for the next episodes to see which direction the story will be heading in. Whatever may come from information being brought to light, Ledo will undoubtedly shape the course of the next episodes. He's already starting to doubt himself and his purpose as we in this episode with his reluctance to kill Larvae and his downright mental breakdown after killing Elaine Matsumoto - or another child that looks similar.
Not what I was expecting from Gargantia but a nice surprise indeed. All the episodes so far seem a little misleading.
Suisei no Gargantia Episode 09 - Extra Screen Caps
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