「謝肉祭」 (Shanikusai)
“Festival”

This ship, friends, sails itself.

Though some of the more troubling aspects of last week’s episode (at least troubling for me) seem to have migrated over a bit into this week, overall this episode marks a return to the more tightly woven narrative that Suisei set out to tell in its first four episodes. As expected, Ledo’s job hunt is no where near solved by this point, but it seems that other than the want to be useful, he’s still having issues understanding the particulars of what it means to work and live amongst the Gargantians. For one thing, he has no idea what to do with the concept of money (can you imagine eating seaweed bread every day; by CHOICE??) or with the concept of enjoyment for the sake of enjoyment. He doesn’t see any need in buying things for himself, or in seeking out delicious food, and clearly we see that he’s never really off the alert despite his somewhat more relaxed exterior.

All of that is natural for someone as conditioned as Ledo is, but you do have to wonder how much of this is PTSD showing up and how much is sound concern. Clearly the arrival of the Hideauze by the end of the episode shows that his fears are not unfounded, but his reaction to the food (octopus or not) nevertheless goes to show that not all is right with his perception of the world. He’s still very much a battle-worn soldier despite the influence of Amy and the others, and though his heart is warming up, his instinct to shoot first and talk later is hardly out of the way yet.

Despite all that, however, Ledo is finding himself slowly brought into the Gargantian way of life. Though the job hunt is not without its stumbling blocks, he does eventually find employment as a fisherman and accepts Bellows offer to work on her salvage crew. His emotions, too, are starting to bleed through his conditioning. He shows renewed interest in playing his flute, for one thing, and for another, Amy seems to be capturing his attention more than usual. I’m not particularly fond of the way she and the other girls have been depicted these last two episodes, and Amy felt especially flat to me this week, but though the first dancing scene is overdone in the use of fanservice and objectification of the girls, the second is not. There’s definitely an element of the sensual here, but in this case it’s much more elegant and tasteful than her earlier performance, and it goes a long way to show how much Ledo’s been changing. That he could find beauty in a dance and be captivated by a girl at all is a huge stride forward, and though things are about to get more complicated by the Hideauze, that’s definitely a sign of change.

Full-length images: 21, 29.

169 Comments

    1. I’ve started to rewatch the series, in case there is some reference to it. Maybe an offhand comment or display in the cockpit would read “solar recharge” etc. lol

      Nanashi
    2. I guess it is something along the line of modern nuke submarines needing refuel like once in 20 years… civilization capable of manipulating friggin gravitation seems to have overcome such simple concerns like fuel dependence. Also, otherwise AI would prprobably give stern warnings against “wasting energy”.

      ewok40k
      1. I would say it could very well be antimatter reactor, by far the most powerful engine the mankind can imagine, which we can only imagine for now and also probably for another century.

        UDoh
    3. There was a quick reference to exotic matter during the first episode. That if the Chambers did not retreat access to it via the wormhole would be lost with the implied lost of power (like tanks and their diesel tankers).

      Side note if their fight was somewhere in the speed range of 10% to 25% light speed. Estimated from time to get in and out of planet shadow and the run back to wormhole. So if we assume the following we can calculate how much power Chamber should have.

      Assume fight at 10% of C to we can use classic way of calculating (yes I’m avoiding calculating Lorentz factor).

      Assume Chamber has a Mass of 10 Metric Tons (little over 11 Tons US)

      Given Chamber has a form of gravtonic drive (no messing with the rocket equation)

      Assume this gravtonic drive is 100% effective and there is no need to counteract tidal forces (this will make our energy estimation a floor or the very minimum energy he would require as to have these two feature would increase energy requirements)

      Assume we only use large movement vectors for the calculation. I will not calculating his dodging or his dogfighting.

      Assume no weapon energy calculated as opposing armor strength is not known.

      then
      KE = 0.5mv^2
      KE = 0.5 * 10,000 * (0.1 * 299792458)^2
      KE = 4.49 * 10^18 J

      then we must multiple by 3 as he did this at lest 3 times.
      1st time: exit from wormhole unload and accelerate toward enemy.
      2nd time: Retreat is called, he must decelerate to zero. So from 10% c to 0
      3rd time: reverse course back to his carrier at 10% c

      3*KE = 3(4.49 * 10^18 J)
      KE= 1.34 * 10^19 J

      Or almost the entire US power generation for 2009
      see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orders_of_magnitude_(energy) for idea of how much juice this is.

      So all the energy usage we have seen thus far may be considered idling.

      T-Man
      1. Was traumatized in Junior High by a Physics Teacher who was a card carrying member of “Using Physics math applied to Real Life”. She destroyed many comic books, video games, cartoons and anime by proving the action scene could not work. Wahh no batmobile can swing around the lamp pole with a cable and jet engine! :p High School teacher similar but not as bad.

        Any who, since then I have been unable to watch an action scene without kinda of working out if it was possible or not.

        T-Man
      1. I think if that was Pinion, he would have shoved him to the ground. But if it was any of the girls or Amy’s brother, he would have done the same.

        Also, he wants sum boobZ

        Taiyo
      2. Well he did try to save his female comrade. Maybe some instincts never change. It have noted in a study of the IDF that male soldiers are more reckless to protect female members of their unit.

        ReddyRedWolf
      1. I disagree. She is showing more and more affection to Ledo, and shoves all the food down her throat just to show off for him. She gives him a private dance and all. This episode was the clincher that she really, REALLY likes him within the half an episode she got that wasn’t taken up by showing how Ledo has developed as a person.

        Then again I also disagree when you say this is objectification of women. Its an imitation of tribal dance, which in and of itself isn’t necessarily objectification at all. It could be seen as both tasteful fanservice as well as world building. Every episode they try to cram in a little bit more about life with the fleet, and this episode was the festival (which, like many festivals IRL, includes dancing). IF you consider this fanservice, this is probably the most tame and respectful it can possibly be.

        Broxis
      2. Flat characterization? I disagree. She is actually showing ever slightly more mutual understanding with Ledo. Her private dance was much better than that on the festival, she really has put a lot of heart into it. If someone can be named flat, it’s Pinion, a stereotypical male chauvinist who actually is worse at salvage than Bellows.

        ewok40k
      3. She shows that she likes him sure, but there’s not much beyond that so far, at least not in the last two episodes. There’s no real depth to her feelings yet; she sees a lost soul and she’s helping him out and being friendly, but we’ve seen far more about Ledo’s side of the equation than hers. She’s not a flat character; her characterization has been flatter than usual.

        The first dance is ANYTHING but tame and tasteful. The second one is what the first one should have been; beautiful, sensual, and meaningful. The moment the camera focused almost exclusively on the girls’ bodies as if they were nothing more than gyrating hips and breasts, there was a crass element to what should have been a much more meaningful scene. The private dance, on the other hand was much much better. THAT was a reflection of Ledo’s growth and Amy’s feelings. The first was not.

      4. We’re not seeing a standard monolithic culture here on Gargantia. It looks like a combination of various island nation cultures. I think the belly-dancing is both Middle East and East Indian. The fisherman attitude is more South Pacific. The salvage is more First World. At least there’s no cargo-cult.

        There’s several cultures where girls are allowed to dress and dance at times, then become more restricted once they are married. Amy’s friends mentioned the Festival, as in holiday activities.

        jhpace1
      5. The dance for the festival almost seemed out of place for me. Almost. I believe what they were doing was world building, but this sort of fan-service doesn’t really fit in well with the feel this series is trying to present to us. In many cultures, women do dance like almost sexually like the girls were, but I don’t see how this sort of dancing entered their culture. Though I should give them props on making the girls seem desirable. It’s weird thought that the way they were dancing wasn’t a little more modern. I mean, shouldn’t some of the more modern dances from previous generations have passed down. It seems less likely to me that they would be dancing in this sort of style, but I don’t really know what would happen regarding dance in that world.

        I agree with Kairi here. We need more depth to the characters overall. I want to get to know Amy. Right now, all we know is that she’s Ledo’s friend, her brother is sick, she likes Ledo, and that she delivers messages. We don’t really know much about her, or why she likes Ledo. Some may argue that love doesn’t really need a reason, but I digress. Though we are only six episodes in, I sort of expected more character development from this show. I’m hoping we will see some sweet romance scenes from Ledo and Amy at the end of this series. I think they would look quite adorable together.

        dytianquin
      6. I personally dont see what has been so distasteful about the fanservice within the last two eps. Yes, when it comes to most shows, id prefer my fanservice to either be minimal or non existent, but in the case of gargantia, in my opinion, the fanservice has not been as distracting as people are making it out to be. It wasnt highschool DXD or infinite stratos or To-love-ru type fanservice. Ep 5’s fanservice in my opinion was pretty subtle; it was just chicks in bathing suits. There were no boobs flying in your face or bikini’s being ripped or so much focus on ass and tits (or the most infamous…tentacle rape). Just women in bathing suits and men in flower shirts (although that ep aint winning any academy awards for its dialogue; the talk the girls had was not the show’s best effort).

        In regards to this ep, i see that many people have been talking about the two dance scenes and how one served no purpose while the other one was much better; and while i certainly do agree Amy’s private dance for Ledo was much more sensual and emotionally connecting (seriously, the physical attraction between them this ep could not be anymore apparent; i was like “where is this coming from??), you really cant compare those two dances in terms of purpose because it’s clear from the get-go that the dances have two different agendas and are brought up in two different contexts. One was for entertainment; i mean it was a festival so of course there was going to be some sort of performance and when you have a sort of belly-dancing like presentation, you cant avoid getting sexual vibes from a dance like that; the purpose of the type of dance amy and co. were doing is suppose to be tantalizing and slightly provocative. To me, I just saw it as something to entertain the crowds of the festival. It was meant to be pleasurable to its audience and it served it purpose quite well even if it did come off as a bit “fanservicy”…it wasnt just out of the blue; it fit the context of the episode and didnt come of as super-objectifying in that music video-type of way (where in those cases you just have a bunch of females around one or two men just staring at the camera, randomly posing trying, or doing something sexual, all for the purpose of looking sexy, but yet it comes off as stupid, pointless, and crass to the point that the goal of trying to be sexy gets lost. Now that is a perfect example of objectification of women and our generation justs eats it up). As for amy’s friends, they are a bit one-dimensional though, but i could have told ya that when watching the promos for the series.

        sonicsenryaku
      7. I think the camera angles were from Ledo’s point of view which means he’s developing interests in girls and boobs. I mean you have Pinion telling him about girls so he looks on stage and is captivated by Amy’s boobs. Specifically Amy’s.

        Taiyo
      8. In reply to sonicenryaku, it’s not distasteful to me. I never really mind fan-service at all. I’m the type of guy who enjoys watching harems and ecchi. Though what I really love is hardcore drama, phsycological thriller, and action. The only thing I didn’t like was the first dance in this episode. It just didn’t feel right to me. It felt weird. It didn’t flow in well with what was happening. That’s all I was feeling. They could have presented the dance in a different way is all I’m saying.

        Though the last episode was not distasteful at all. I enjoyed it. It was quite lighthearted compared to other swimsuit/beach episodes compared to hundreds of other anime we could name.

        dytianquin
      9. @ dytianquin

        Makes sense; you make a good point and i can see where you’re coming from. I just wanted to better understand why other viewers were so keen on comparing the two dances when they obviously served two different purposes and when the first one actually fit the context of its scene without being too overly distracting (in my opinion of course) even if it came off as a bit fanservicy.

        sonicsenryaku
      10. The whole objectification argument is stupid if you take a minute to think about it, all the points of objectification people made here(or in the show for that matter) doesn’t reduce any of her character it simply adds to it, which is kind of contradictory.You could’ve just said that the fanservice wasn’t to your tastes.
        If I’ve any complains about the show character-wise, it’d be Ledo since his character isn’t exactly very original despite being the MC – not to say his character is bad but I think his character could use a bit of an edge(not sure if that’s the right word to use here).

        anon
      11. Personaly I find the culture shown to be rather progressive, then the other way around. The girls are unabashed about looking to get some ‘hotty’. They can also dress enticingly without any males seeming to take that as making them free to grab. Quite a few current countries are a lot less equalitarian.

        znail
  1. As much as I enjoyed the past few episodes of “slice of life,” I am glad the show is on a new tangent. Looking forward to some pew-pew but I won’t complain if we get another slow episode down the line.

    Nanashi
  2. I have a feeling the “Hideauze” or whatever that is shown at the end of the episode is just one of the giant squid. Someone (Bellows, I think) mentioned that if Ledo would react poorly to a cooked octopus, how would he react to a giant squid. I think that’s foreshadowing.

    So… still no threat? No signs of the UroButcher rearing his violent head? I feel like I’m watching this just to see if it goes south.

    sands76
      1. Earlier they did mention that the Light Bugs were caused by nanomachines from the previous civilization… and usually nanomachines cause events like Metal Gear Solid, zombie apocalypse, and other stuffs, perhaps humanity was chased from Earth by Whale Squids that have fused with the nanomachines to create the Hideauze.

        Taiyo
    1. I think there’s a good chance that it really is just a squid that had a common ancestor to the Hideauze and that the cliffhanger ending’s just a massive troll. Who knows, it might even be the key to finally resolving the conflict between humans and the Hideauze- the discovery that both races originated from the same planet leads to mutual understanding or something…

      Zen
      1. What if the Hideauze are actually from Earth? Plenty of science fiction out there, especially from Stephen Baxter, about using squid like monkeys in space to operate equipment. What happens if the squid gets away? Hideauze? Thus there would be Hideauze on Earth, perhaps living peacefully with humans unaware.

        Or else a Hideauze from episode 1 hitched a ride on Chamber and ended up in Earth’s oceans, and here are the descendants.

        jhpace1
    2. Could we be having a Gun-buster 2 scenario?

      Where the Hideauze (Space Monsters local solar system) are defending Earth from Ledo’s people (the real space monsters in this scenario)?

      Watch the giant squid be only 30 feet long (the Space Hideauze squid could eat mutiple Chamber units and the super bomb so much, much larger).

      T-Man
    3. Agree on the ‘not Hideauze’ part. We’re definitely just talking about a giant squid-like or octopus-like creature. But the interesting part is that Chamber identifies it as a Hideauze, meaning the Hideauze might have evolved from these creatures.

      My prediction for the next episodes is that they will actually find out something crucial about the Hideauze, thanks to their exposure to their ancestors. Probably something that will serve as negotiation material in favor of Ledo once the Alliance pops up and wants to enslave/assimilate every Earthling into their system/society.

      SpacyRicochet
  3. I have a theory about the Hideauze.

    Chamber mentions that the galaxy current is actually made up of nano-machines left over from ancient civilization. Ledo mistakes the octopus meal for a Hideauze, then we get to see a Hideauze from in the sea.

    What if the Hideauze are actually creatures from the Earth that somehow got modified by the nano-machines? Notice that the galaxy current produces lightning that branches from the sea to the sky. Remember how the Blossom Sail from ep 1 has an attack that also branches out like lightning?

    Crimson7
      1. By an earth-asteroid collision?
        After the collision with a giant asteroid, fragments of Earth escaped gravity, among with the ancestors of Hideauze. Some of them adapted and managed to live without air in space.(but how?)
        The dust clouded the sky, blocking sun light, so the Earth entered ice age.
        Some people (probably some fat cats and dictators) left Earth and become ancestors of Ledo.
        Those who were left to die but survived the ice age become Amy’s ancestors.
        Oh, this almost explained everything!

        os
      2. Also, the asteroid may be consisted of mainly ice.
        That supplies enough water to engulf all land on Earth, otherwise there ain’t enough water to do that even if all the ice on Earth melted.

        os
    1. I was thinking the other way around. Maybe those Hideauze have already been to earth. And they simply don’t care about the humans here. Maybe Ledo will learn that his enemy is basically acting as a reaction to his people exterminating the Hideauze.

      Moonlight BlackCat
    1. I read somewhere that Commanders get Striker type Machine Calibers which are much stronger than Ledo’s normal Machine Caliber. But if it was an all out attack, why didn’t everyone else use Overlimit on their Machine Calibers? At least in the Gundam 00 movie people used Trans-Am when they had no other choice.

      Taiyo
      1. There was a drawback to releasing the limiters. After a short while of being OP, chamber had to cool down. He was defenseless. That is why Ledo couldn’t save his commanding officer and obeyed his order to retreat.

        Moonlight BlackCat
  4. And so Ledo, a born and bred soldier all his life must now deal with an unfamiliar alien condition he’s never felt before. A boner. Poor Ledo is unprepared for this!

    On the other hand, the reappearance of the Hideauze was inevitable so it looks like **** will get real. Get your Urobutcher checklist out folks and hope that next week we will all be proven wrong and Gen will be merciful.

    fragb85
  5. There was something in that bar/restaurant scene that I found mesmerizing, to say the least. That scene had a bit of everything. It started with two “pals” hanging out, giving us a look at how Ledo seems to be getting more accustomed to life in Gargantia, in his own peculiar way. It quickly turns to business with Pinion and Bellows trying to make Ledo their salvage partner. And while this episode is clearly trying to communicate the fact that Ledo is interested in making himself useful aboard Gargantia, his gaze gets fixed on Amy’s exotic dance, making this the first time that the female form catches his attention in that way.

    The scene includes business talk, humor (the way Bellows and Pinion trying to win Ledo over), sensuality (Amy’s dance) and surprise (Ledo’s reaction to the octopus) at the same time. Combined with the astounding – in my opinion – music accompanying the girls’ dancing, this scene makes itself both believable and “exotic” at the same time, reminding me why each episode of Suisei no Gargantia sucks me in its atmosphere so much.

    One can argue that not much is happening so far in the series. And that’s true, but that’s something that works pretty well in this dropping-out-of-a-war scenario. And I can say I enjoy it just as much as any other show that has… lots of things going on. Sometimes, you don’t need something spectacular to happen. Sometimes, you just need to travel far away, and Gargantia does this for me every week.

    Tassadar
    1. I thought the bar scene was amazingly done, especially how the sound was managed. Initially we’re seeing a conversation between the two guys but as Ledo becomes mesmerized with the dancing and Amy you hear the voices slowly fade into the background and you see Ledo’s expression. Personally I didn’t think the dance was distasteful. Sure it was erotic and it was supposed to be but I have no problem with that. I don’t think it was slutty. You probably see alot worse in a Beyonce concert.

      The second dance though, when Ledo asked Amy to dance for him was perfectly done. To me it wasn’t an erotic dance, it seemed to me very personal .. with Amy basically saying in her dance that she liked Ledo. It even made me tear up! Awesome use of the backgrounds as well.

      Scruffy
    2. Pretty much this. I think the same as you.

      I think I figured out something as to why some of you got displeased at the first dance scene. It’s the fact that the dancers where Amy, Saya and Melty. It felt as if the staff wanted to sexualize them to the max instead of just using random girls. I feel like the feelings the staff wanted to deliver during the scene would have been conveyed to us better if it was a bunch of random dancer girls on scene.

      1. No it wouldn’t, because the whole point of the bar scene was that Ledo finally awoke to his attraction to Amy. He wasn’t just looking intently because it was some random hot girls, he was looking at Amy

        Scruffy
  6. Ledo should have taken Pinion’s offer. All the tasty food, quality booze and rumps to touch a man could want. Bellows is hot and all but that deal is just too good.

    sortedevaras
  7. Man, was anyone else creeped out by that bar scene? So…apparently Amy and her teenage friends just sometimes go and belly dance and shake their asses at a bar for fun while a bunch of drunk older guys leer at them. Kind of disconcerting with how excessively innocent everything’s been played so far.

    As for Amy, I know my opinion is entirely subjective but I’ve just never liked her since day 1. You’ve seen the archetype a thousand times, the genki girl who’s only desire is to make everybody happy and be shyly attracted to the protagonist – she’s just seemed so incredibly flat as a character to me. You could literally pluck any number of girls who are just the same in any other anime and replace her and lose nothing.

    Her enjoyment of older guys perving out at her and her buddies is certainly a change, but that’s not quite what I envisioned!

    Guthrie
    1. You don’t think Ledo is a good enough MC to garner the attention of girls unlike other typical anime leads? Also, Amy was the one that proactively participated in helping Ledo adjust to the new area.

      “You’ve seen the archetype a thousand times, the genki girl who’s only desire is to make everybody happy and be shyly attracted to the protagonist – she’s just seemed so incredibly flat as a character to me. You could literally pluck any number of girls who are just the same in any other anime and replace her and lose nothing.”

      A girl wearing a bikini, dancing in front of the man she likes is considered shy? Besides, could use more open minded genki girl leads that want to “make everybody happy” in anime. Amy doesn’t seem like an incredibly flat character to me.

      Why can’t people just relax, sit back and be healed by Urobuchi? Seriously.

      Anon
    2. Whether Amy and her teenage friends are innocent depends on many factors.
      Nobody said they have to be innocent/not innocent.
      Let’s see how UroButcher will handle this.

      os
    3. Haseo
    4. Well for most of humanities history marriage and optimal child birthing age were for young girls some as young as 12. It’s only recently that the stupid idea of 18 being the legal age for sex and marriage. If anything this new view, which is barely 100 years old compared to the thousands of years we’ve been doing otherwise, is actually pretty weird because it goes against our natural instincts.

      Haseo
  8. It’s probably just the aforementioned whalesquid (but glowing?) and Ledo attacking it will freak everyone out. But the fact that Chamber identified it as Hideauze speaks ways about how mankind’s enemy came to be and I think danger is imminent. It is Urobuchi, after all.

    virox
  9. Possibly the Hideauze was an experiment gone mad a long time back. The Hideauze eat energy. The sea currently generates energy. Might be something linked. Alternatively it might be something brought back in the same manner Ledo

    Zaku_Fan
  10. Oh well, best ship in the whole fleet if you know what I mean. I agree, she relly sails herself.
    What made me interested is connection between Hideaze and Earth naval cephalopods. Ika Musume got her revenge? Jokes aside, it seems Ledo still can find foes to fight. And remember there is Urobutcher hiding out there, waiting to release the Kraken… ORZ.

    ewok40k
    1. Hisako Kanemoto is the seiyuu of Amy, Ika-Musume and Kanata of Sora no Woto.

      I am humored that she plays genki girls in a post-apocalypse Earth. In Sora no Woto a world turning to a dessert, here it is a world flooded.

      ReddyRedWolf
    1. Urobutcher has already been satisfied with his offering of fish paste. All of those fishies gave up their lives so that you can enjoy Suisei no Gargantia-Happy Version for a bit longer.

      Taiyo
    2. I was giddy as a little girl when that alarm went of and the battle music started to play. Something always dies when that music plays. I can’t wait for the next episode for some action.

      Haseo
  11. Has anyone wondered how this earth still has oxygen? From what they’ve said on previous episodes, the world is engulfed in water. Where are the trees, grass, and plants that produce oxygen? It seems like the Gargantians or the humans of earth have been living in ships for more than a hundred years, but if all plant life was no longer on the surface the oxygen in the air would only last a few generations.

    dytianquin
    1. Ocean = Carbon sink
      Ocean fauna / phytoplankton = Oxygen source

      There are many environmental models which support that terrestrial plants are not needed when the abundance of photosynthesizing factors in the ocean

      Basically the earth probably has more oxygen in this scenario

      Nanashi
      1. We’ve seen a little underwater activity, so I didn’t take sea life into consideration when I was thinking about the production of oxygen. Thanks for the help.

        Though, do you think the writer of this series actually took the time to think about this?

        dytianquin
    2. Even assuming no photosynthesis from marine plant life. And also assuming all of the other land fauna that also breathe air somehow exist somewhere still breathing. It would take thousands of years to use up all of the oxygen in our atmosphere.

      pinky
  12. Could it be that the secret to beating Hideauze is by using physical means? Consider the octopus, odds are you are using old school method of catching instead of all the lasers and gravity manipulation and all. If you think of the Alliance as mages and Hideauze as the anti-mage squad maybe bringing in a fighter or berserker would do the trick?

    TQ

    KF
  13. Slice of (Sea faring) Life – definitely called it (unless the director’s going to have everybody close to Ledo die
    horribly somehow). Shame with the romantic story development between Ledo and Amy being so nice that the
    animation was really weak this episode — sometime I couldn’t even tell it was Amy in some scenes.

    The series personifies Chamber much more than I think is given credit for. In this episode, (IMHO) it purposely
    screwed up the fishing so that he would “need” and be reunited with his pilot, Lt. Ledo, to give a morale boost.

    things are about to get more complicated by the Hideauze…

    Honestly, I don’t see that at all. Bellows forewarned about the giant squid during the dance. If the threat really
    existed on Earth, I think the people there would have encountered it at least once. So far, pirates seemed to
    have been the biggest annoyance to the Gargantians. No, I think this is going to fizzle out with perhaps Ledo/
    Chamber over-reacting or something along those lines. The previews seem to show something with the Fleet
    Commander, but the previews are really vague in this series (I kinda like that in a series, too), so who knows.

    You know, one of the things that hasn’t been mentioned at all is when Ledo is. Did he travel back in time? Dunno.

    Like the series – hope it goes more than 12/13 episodes, but somehow I think it might end up being just 1 cour…

    mac65
      1. It’s true though that the way the characters looked was very off in certain scenes. Certainly not the episode where they poured a lot of money.
        And I agree that this is probably a false alarm. If this were real, then the episode probably would have ended with a true Urobutcher moment and Bellows ripped to pieces by the Hideauze. 😀

        boingman
  14. Kairi, consider this observation I made about the first dance in contrast to Amy’s second along with the context of the scene. We have a high-tempo, distorted dance due to angles and close-ups during a tense argument between Bellows and Pinion, ie representing the direction Ledo wishes to go in life, but also we see howconflict oriented his mind is. Could the first dance not symbolize the confusion of Ledo’s mindset at that point, every closeup of jutting hips and arms representing instinct to fight and the swirls of their body the chaos going on inside him? Not a bad device for fanservice in that case right? :p

    KrimzonStriker
  15. Hoho what a great episode! Really nice to see Ledo slowly but surely acclimating to Gargantia. Like the others have mentioned, I don’t find the fanservice and by extension, the dance distasteful.

    The dance was anything but slutty. I treated it as some cultural dance. Heck they even got costumes. The private dance that Amy did for him was really sweet. Amy is such an awesome cheerful character.

    Great to see the Ledo x Amy ship sailing smoothly. Right on Ledo, I was mesmerised by Amy too~

    WildKaiser
  16. am guessing that the second half would be told from amy’s point of view, so we would probably see her character development soon.

    and since are already starting to show what seems to be a budding romance between ledo and amy, let’s see how Urobutcher writes a teenage love story >:)

    flamerounin
  17. Stop it Urobutcher! Just kill someone relevant already! I can’t take the paranoia anymore T-T!

    I was expecting an actual Carnival to happen, but instead I got a loli and two oppai lolis having seizures on a stage.I can’t even remember the other two girls’ names because they only show up for fanservice.

    It’s cool that Ledo finally has some work for himself.Even though he still has to use Chamber to do it lol.

    Where’s the healthy food?!”

    It seems like all they eat is meat.Where is the vegetables?!

    I enjoyed the fanservice even though the last episode was fanservice…fanserviception.

    Magoiichi
    1. Hehe yeah, everytime Ledo spent time with someone else these past 2 eps enjoying a peaceful life full of flowers and happiness., I considered that as a death flag and was waiting for the inevitable death and despair. I wonder how long this will keep up.

      boingman
  18. Oh a somewhat random note, I had absolutely no idea why everyone kept referring to this “UroButcher” person… so I looked him up on Anime News Network and saw his “staff” list. It all makes sense now. LOL xD

    Hopefully everyone survives… Hopefully. I want Amy and Ledo to be a couple dangit! :'<

    lialiakicks
  19. I agree that the camera angle used for the first dance might have overemphasized some aspects of the girls bodies. But I think for a festival, this dance was absolutely fine. Some carnivals in Brazil or belly dances in the Middle East do feature dances that are just a provocative. With the music in the background. I would say the scene was handled relatively well.

    What really took the ale this episode was Amy’s dance for Ledo near the end. The background and the music was just mesmerizing. This will have to e the best dance scene I have seen in anime medium this year,I haven’t seen a lot of other dance scenes in anime and the ones that I have seen (looking at Magi)this year has not been anywhere terrific.

    Interesting cliffhanger. Ledo might do something over the top that might cause problems for the fleet. During the bar scene I was half expecting Ledo to shoot the octopus and accidentally shoot someone else in the crowd. Knowing urobochi, it could have been Amy D:

    Flappy
    1. There is a difference between being sensual and provocative as in belly dancing, and the FOCUS the person capturing the art makes. And the focus here had nothing to do with being exotic. It was in being as titillating as possible. I can see the point about arousing Ledo’s supressed sexuality, but that’s what the SECOND dance really excels at doing, and far classier than the first.

      This second bit isn’t specifically for you Flappy.

      Awaken a shitstorm I might, but if something bothers me I’m not going to keep quiet about it. This bothered me, so I will continue to bring it up. And this is from me, who deals perfectly fine with every day fanservice and loves this show; I just don’t appreciate the crudity and the messages specific to Gargantia. Just because you CAN do something doesn’t mean you SHOULD. Imagine how much more powerful a scene the bar scene would have been if handled less like an ogling show and more like the second dance? Sensual does not equal ass shots every two minutes. It implies finesse and elegance, and that’s not something the first scene was preoccupied with.

      1. Kairi, I put in a response a bit earlier on this subject, I wonder if you could give an opinion on whether my point might be valid on the intention of the animators with that dance scene

        KrimzonStriker
      2. @kairi

        precisely; there is a difference between being sensual and being titillating but the first dance was not meant to be sensual, which is why the second dance works so much better within its context (especially since at this point it has been hammered in that Amy and ledo are attracted to each other; sensual>provocative), but at the same time that doesn’t make the first dance as crude as some are making it out to be…at least in my opinion. It was meant to be titillating like most of those dances are meant for and for that it served its purpose. Belly dancing can serve to be provocative (first dance), but it can also serve to be sensual and beautiful (second dance). If anything, perhaps they tried too hard to make the first dance as stylish and provocative as possible without being distasteful, but it came off as crude to certain people; and while i disagree with those who took that it that way, i can see why they probably did. Either way, your posts are very thought provoking as you can clearly see by the comments and quite an enjoyable read. Keep up the good work

        sonicsenryaku
      3. I dunno.

        handled less like an ogling show and more like the second dance?

        I can honestly say the last time I was at a public performance like that
        and critiqued technique over eroticism was never.

        Here’s an interesting point about Amy’s role in both dances – she was
        a willing participant to be the “object.” The first performance was to show
        what Amy can do, the second personal performance, requested by Ledo,
        was to show what Amy’s willing to do. What’s the difference, you ask?

        This has been happening in all cultures for as long as human memory can
        recall. As far as I can tell, it’s not taught but people seem to respond to at
        a subconscious level. The science of Body Language is pretty amazing and
        fun (I’m definitely no expert) to challenge naysayers about their behaviour.
        A really good actor/actress can fool an audience, but every guy who has
        swore purity can be caught sizing up girls butts (and other parts) and
        they’re mostly unaware they’re doing it. Girls do a similar thing.

        It’s social norms, which are recent in terms of human developmental history,
        which teach us the attitudes of acceptable and unacceptable behaviour —
        (mostly on a sense of misguided moral rules/laws) and yet these things
        continue to “plague” us as a society. It’s funny that the p0rn industry and
        the hair products industry are essentially neck in neck in terms of revenue.
        Everybody (I hope) bathes; does everyone watch p0rn? Can such a small
        percentage of people really be responsible for such a large revenue stream?
        Unlikely. It’s just less embarrassing to admit to having nice, clean, fluffy hair
        than to be a consumer of p0rn (even some of the soft p0rn that’s in Anime).

        BTW, lucky guess which group are the biggest users of hair care products…

        My (ultimate) point is that simple logic dictates that this type of behaviour
        could not continue to exist for The Millennium that is has (apparently)
        existed if it wasn’t beneficial to both sides in some way. Let’s face it,
        it’s probably literately responsible for how we were (all) conceived and born.

        I believe (the makers of) Anime play heavily on these naughty truths.
        But who am I to judge… 🙂

        mac65
      4. My point though, is that it’s NOT okay to accept this as just “oh, that’s the way it is”. Whether Amy wanted to be an object or whatever is not the problem. The problem is that we keep seeing this as acceptable when it’s clearly not necessary to any narrative purpose. If you want to show the dance as arousing Ledo’s sexuality, you can do that without focusing every two seconds on the girl’s asses. That’s what the second dance proves is possible. The fact is that this is unnecessary to get the point across; you don’t need an upclose ass shot to understand that these girls are being provocative. It doesn’t matter if this is the way society has always been. If something is wrong, you speak up, else nothing ever changes.

        And sorry, but that’s bs. There is PLENTY of human behavior that continues to exist today that is NOT beneficial to anyone; ie, rape, murder, extortion, and any other selfish or horrible act you can bring up. Just because everyone does something, it does not make it justified.

      5. You know Kairi maybe you’re right. Between the two dances, the first one definitely lack a sense of purpose – or is it? Perhaps that the reason the first dance was made was to show us that Ledo is somewhat interested with the female sex and the second dance serve as finisher – pointing out that not only is he interested in girls, one girl in particular caught his interest, Amy.

        Granted, I wasn’t exactly confortable with the girls depiction. Sure, one can argue that there exist a deeper meaning to the two dances but it would be foolish to deny the obvious reason, that it serves as fanservice and not only that it was crudely done. Is it really necessary for the costume to be so stripperriffic? I actually think the dances could be a lot more if the girls just cover up a bit.

        TQ

        KF
      6. While I agree that the shots are a drag, I think it does have something to do with Ledo’s sexuality. This entire episode is about desire, and through out the whole entire time of the girls dancing shots Ledo is looking at them. This is not about being sensuous. It is simply sex, one of the most basic physical needs, and one that Ledo has never faced before. Now, imagine that all those shots are actually Ledo’s point of view, what does that tell us about Ledo?

        The second thing is that, in storytelling contrast (I wrote juxtaposition at first, but not sure how accurate that is) is sometimes used to highlight something. In this case it’s the contrast between the public and private dance. Now, if the public dance is done as tastefully as the private dance, both being sensual, attractive, cultured, etc., I would argue that it would lessen the impact of the private dance. So the first dance is ‘tasteless’ by design to highlight the personal (and in my opinion, more sexual) nature of the second dance.

        So that MIGHT be one of the reason Urobachi wrote it in that way. While I have mixed feelings about the man as a writer, I trust him to not do things like this without any reasons.

        Also, a bit OOT but, about your post on the previous episode about girls talking about their weight and attracting men. I work in a company where 80% of the employees are women, and guess what do they talk about? Not all the time of course, but in idle chatter these two topics comes up the most, this is even true with married individuals.

        Jinx
      7. Likewise Kairi there isn’t a reason for them to not add some fanservice either.Whether it was done well or not is dependent on one’s own preference, for me personally, I didn’t find it particularly good or bad, just average.Sure it might not be necessary for narrative purposes, but there’s no rule saying all the things in an anime should be for narrative purposes.

        anon
    1. Time for Ledo to invoke his well-earned Rights of Reproduction. With Chamber as his work partner, he can go into any lucrative career he wants, like salvaging, until he earns enough to buy his own house. Then Amy can quit her messenger job, stay home to raise the kids and be there to greet Ledo in her entrancing belly dancer costume (which I find to be a lot sexier than the overly-used naked apron getup) everyday after he comes home from work. If that doesn’t bring out more of Ledo’s silly smile that we were shown in this latest episode, then I don’t know what will.

      When you think about it, Ledo’s really got it made, doesn’t he? Maybe putting in those 140,000+ hours in the military fighting those giant flowers/squids-of-doom that are the Hideauzu wasn’t such a waste after all.

      vanfokerdumplestein
  20. My four main senarios:

    1) Hideauze are created by earth species that fused with the nano-things and by taking solar energy they led to the global ice age thus forcing humans to migrate from their own planet.

    2) Hideauze are Gallactic Alliance’s creation and they have people fighting them because they got out of control but alliance kept hiding their true identity.

    3)Under the influence of lifetime propaganda people of avalon fight the Hideauze thinking them as the attackers when instead, alliance’s real goal is to take advantage of hideauzes planet’s rare resourses by force or even the planet itself if it is habitable.

    4) (the super crazy science fiction scenario) where the series producers are mind…ng us by concluding to something like that marine life created life on earth (as modern paleodology-biology evoutionary theories claim that water-life was the first -giant squids thought really ancient etc) even leading to the existance of human beeings, but marine life(well a bit alienly buffed up though) will also end it. the main hero gets into earth through the wormhole but also travelling back in time (!) making the hideauze with chambers energy beams and all reacting to the earth marine life which will finally lead to the creation of the monsters and earth evacuation of humans ( which explains why the avalon people have “just myths” about earth although their knowledge and technological advance couldnt locate it- because earth existed no more at their time-same reason earth time chamber cannot locate the alliance) and thus creating a timeseries and logical paradox. or something like that… or even that the grey haired race (ledo’s race) through such an accident created humanity long ago, and by their own fault they also will cease humanity’s existance. (thats even crazier)…

    “or 5th bonus will lead to some hippy lovey-dubby theory about peaceful coexistance with a hippy flower boy ledo completely changed from the macho cold-ass warrior type, trying to hug a hideauze, which instead devours him with a single bite”…nah just trolling with that last one…

    manos
  21. About the first dance, I think it suits the purpose : Ledo started to notice a desire about opposite sex, intensified with camera focus and music direction as someone already posted above. However, he probably hasn’t figured out that his focus are caused by his attachment to one specific girl. That’s where the second dance do it’s job.

    About flat characterization of Amy, well that’s how Urobutcher do his job (and his main weakness) : Characters mostly serve as chess pieces to move the plot. However, she’s still a decent and natural character (only lacks more depth, probably more background story will fix the issue), plus she’s not as flat as how usually Urobutcher create his characters, so I think it could be considered as an improvement for Urobutcher’s standard. Ledo, however, is a very good sample of Urobutcher’s successful character, while in contrast two of Amy’s friends are prime examples of how usually Urobutcher (poorly) treat his pawns.

    Also, possible theory about the end-episode squid… I mean Hideauze have been posted by someone in the first episode.
    https://randomc.net/2013/04/07/suisei-no-gargantia-01/comment-page-1/#comment-957999

    zeroyuki92
    1. Another insight of mine about Amy:

      I think Urobutcher made Gargantia’s plot with only one character in mind : Ledo. Thus, every characters are supporting characters for Ledo’s growth, including Amy. So, Amy actually is a supporting heroine who serves as the main protagonist growth catalyst (most likely love interest in the future), not the main heroine. She isn’t supposed to stand by herself, her role is to give Ledo a background and reasoning to live in Gargantia. A choice which limits the strength of Amy as a character, but still paints needed elements from her for the story execution and enchancement. I think it’s a reasonable decision for 13 eps story.

      However, as a supporting character she is a superb one. I like a lot of details such as wiping a flute, getting flustered when she left clothes hanging in her room, etc. She didn’t stand out, but she’s perfect for a normal girl who happened to be close (and attracted) to Ledo naturally. Plus, all that ghibli aura which is radiating from her is a good bonus.

      That said, I think the opposite example of Urobutcher’s character construction method is Puella Magi Madoka Magica. There he could made a short story with multiple main protagonists with a solid plot, told in only 3 episodes. Probably the only main character who has a limited depth in it is Mami, but it’s understandable (especially due to her short airtime and her big impact on story and character development later on). I hope Urobutcher next time will try something like that again in the future, since Fate/Zero TV series kinda failed on that aspect, probably since the material is too wordy to be adapted well in motions.

      zeroyuki92
  22. Curiously the creature identified as a Hideauze has a 99.7% compatibility, which implies that if it is not a Hideauze, than they seem to be of a similar origin, like chimps and humans. Maybe Ledo came to the right place to learn the truth about the enemy, and possibly to find a way to end this long state of total war that turned his entire civilization into an army with the sole purpose of fighting instead of living their lives as proper humans, just like he is learning to aboard the Gargantia.

    Exukvera
  23. amy’s second dance kinda reminds me of yuna’s dance for the dead sequence in final fantasy x, both in execution and context. both scenes show the protagonist’s growing fascination and romantic affection towards the heroine.

    flamerounin
  24. why is the chamber stuck with carrying shipments, fishing and salvage. Chamber’s AI itself is the holy grail or knowledge, technology, medicine, weapons thousands of years ahead and year the the only thing the ship people can think of making him do low level work. It’s sad that chamber being the most valuable treasure they have is being used to salvage other lesser quality junk. I thought the glasses second in command chick was supposed to be smart. At this rate I really wouldnt feel sorry if one day the galactic alliance does find earth comes and wipe the native population off of the planet.

    wise
  25. Exotic dance has hit home in Ledo and he’s finally fitting in. I can’t say much about the Hideauze except that it may be of earthly origins…

    Or that the Gallactic Alliance has an agenda and conspiracy going on…

    So THIS is the work of Urobucher huh? A “healing” anime?

    The Moondoggie
  26. I agree with you about the fanservice these past two weeks. I was firmly hoping this series would be above that… oh well its a tiny spot on an other wise stellar show

    Annami
  27. Everyone responding about Amy not being “flat” … it’s meant in terms of character not body. Just to get that straight, and to stop seeing links posted of her.

    I’m glad I wasn’t the only one that was a bit uncomfortable and disappointed during the (first) dance scene. There were waaaay too many fanservice-focused shots and wasn’t what I would expect from a slice-of-life show like this. We get it. Ledo was interested, but I don’t think he was literally staring at boobs and butt the whole time??? If that’s what popular opinion is saying for why the camera was focused the way it was.

    I got a little giddy when Ledo was piloting Chamber again. He seemed so happy, too.

    Also, was Ledo a bit more smiley this episode?! So cuuuute. Lol.

    Jel
    1. “Everyone responding about Amy not being “flat” … it’s meant in terms of character not body. Just to get that straight, and to stop seeing links posted of her.”

      Anddd that’s how you miss a joke.

      Young
      1. Just leaning towards the fact that some of those people are disregarding the idea that the show didn’t delve more into Amy’s character/personality this week. That’s all. Like a serious response to the argument.

        Jel
  28. Is it just me, or does the whole culture and atmosphere just remind you of Monster Hunter 3s village? I just cannot shake this out of my brain, everything from the fabric, to them being a self-sufficient worker collective, and their customs just reminds me so much of Monster Hunter 3…

    Bolton
  29. Amy felt flat? First of all, you lucky bastard, how did you cop a feel through the computer screen?! And secondly, that may have been Melty you felt.

    Either way, JEALOUS.

    Dokoduh
  30. I’m just gonna copy-pasta for you moral fags out there:

    Belly dancing has a long and complex history. The use of belly dancing dates back to the nomdic tribes of Arabia and areas of the Middle East and Asia. As many people are aware now women had a different place in society then, than they do now.

    One important role they played was to entertain males (in particular important males) during ceremonies. These ceremonies may be for celebrating visitors, or marriages or a number of things.

    Belly Dancing in essence is the subtle movement of the female body to show and celebrate sensuality and the ‘mother earth’ female. The movement is based around small circles of the hip (on one or both sides) and has multiple variations.

    The crass idea that belly dancing is purely for men to oggle over women is actually not correct. Men would of course ‘show off’ their women, but it was done with sublty and grace. Very different from watching current video clips where females routinely look extremely provocotive.

    Belly Dancing was done in an enclosed area, generally, so only a select crowd could watch.
    It is a very beautiful, very ancient form of female dancing.

    Agnese
  31. Urobutcher I’ve got my eye on you sir!!! Don’t think you’ve lulled me into a false sense of security!

    On a different note, I think that the whole argument over the differing dancing scenes is kind of silly. It seems to me that many people are overly sensitive about the female body. There was nothing crass or distasteful about the first dance scene. As a writer and a visual artist, I can actually see what they were doing with that scene. Step back from your moral compass mode for a second.

    That whole conversation (and the whole episode really) was about Ledo figuring out what his personal wants and desires were, what his likes or dislikes or interests were. So while Bellows and Pinion were trying to convince him and basically draw out what his wants were, you have the music and this festival which was totally about indulging in your desires. Cue the exotic tribal dancing clips between with camera angles focused on the physically desirable parts of a woman to symbolize and build up to Ledo’s awakening to having interests. By using tribal styled dancing, you can go further and say this was also symbolic of Ledo getting in touch with the most ancient and basic part of humans. Then, take into account that he is indeed a male and as much as people would like to pretend, males are stimulated and react most to what they see. Do you see where I’m going with this? It would be different if it had nothing to do with what was going on. But it really did if you paid attention to how everything was centered around Ledo’s thinking about what he wants to do versus what he is supposed to do. The first time he ever expressed his own personal desire? He wanted to see Amy dance because of what he saw at the festival. It wasn’t random or out of place when you consider the context and the symbolism they laid very plainly out for you. The more sensual dance that Amy performed was also purposely done to symbolize the connection they are beginning to build together on a deeper level than just desires and wants. I think they did a splendid job in emphasizing the differences and showing the results of Ledo’s development.

    But if you got distracted and reacted with discomfort over it, doesn’t that speak more about your ideas of sensuality/sexuality rather than the show? I saw it for what it was immediately and didn’t get disturbed or anything because it wasn’t in the least bit vulgar or distasteful. If they were suddenly glistening with oil or sweat, then I’d be disgusted and disturbed. But they weren’t. And the clips of close-ups were rather brief. Why can’t they be a little sexy here and there? Or accentuate the female body for once without it being super perverted? What’s wrong with that? I don’t know, many of the negative reactions to that scene and over the beach episode just feel like slut-shaming to me.

    Axel
  32. Nice Kairi. I expected to find another “any fanservice is good fanservice” review from RandomC (and its commentators), but this was a nice surprise. I like your style, you might just have made it into the top three reviewers on the site ^^

    Anyway, Amy has always been as deep as a puddle, and the way the show is treating her like a piece of meat every now and then is just demeaning. To Amy, but mostly to the show itself. This show has too many flaws for me, so at the moment it’s only a 5/10. I don’t have too many shows to watch this season, so I wont drop this one yet.

    Stöt
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  34. I’m enjoying this show a lot. And for the most part the fanservice really doesn’t bother me at all.

    About episode 5: It’s an island culture and they were having a beach party, I think swimsuits are fine. As for the conversation; while I am definitely a feminist I have lost some of my feminist anger since getting married. One thing I have learned is that one of the main reasons I want to look good is to make my wife happy, and it’s the same for her.

    Wanting to look good for others is NOT what’s bad, that is a misunderstanding of equality. What’s bad is if you let others, or yourself, believe that your appearance equates to your self-worth. If a girl wants to look good and show some skin to attract a guy, she has every right to do so, and it does not make her any less of a person. “Feminists” who believe that such a woman is bad or wrong are just as bad as the sexists they’re attacking, because mentally they’re saying the same thing the sexists are. That a girl who shows some skin to a guy is ‘lesser’ somehow.

    True equality is, among other things, when a man or woman can choose to be eye-candy, and it does not effect what people think about their worth as human beings. And as far as I can tell, Gargantia considers Amy to be supremely capable. The government seems to call her about everything.

    About this episode: I thought both dances were fine. From the standpoint of Amy as a character, the second was clearly better. The first was weird, but IMO not because of the fanservice, but because it was those three girls. The scene did not seem to be about the festival, but rather a single bar.

    WHY is that bar using three teenage delivery girls as their sexy dance number? Had they decided to have a sexy fanservice bell-dance scene with any other three girls and use it to establish Pinion’s personality and that Ledo is starting to notice girls, I would have been fine with it. But using those three girls just makes it seem like Gargantia has a population of 15.

    Beyond that, the idea that this restaurant/bar has teenage girls dance in sexy outfits for a bunch of adult males was a bit weird. I just wish it had been random female characters.

    KaleRylan

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