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「決断のとき」 (Ketsudan no Toki)
“The Decisive Moment”
The coming of this week’s episode of Suisei brings with it a new sacred duty for Pinion—restoring the treasure (weapons) that have been recovered—and it’s just another commentary on society to start things off. Indeed, what the beginning of the episode seems to bring is the notion that there are people out there whose loyalties are easily bought (and whose desires are easily satisfied)… and it’s something that admittedly applies both in someways to Pinion and to people you’ll probably meet in the workplace at some point as well.
As it turns out though, not even Pinion likes what ends up happening here—of course, you should never judge something entirely by its cover—and that ends up sowing the seeds for a revolt. And who but the GREAT PIRATE LUKKAGE to start things off!? Ultimately though, even her plan ends up relying on Ledo/Chamber…
…the former of which finds himself pleading for the cancellation of the planned attack on Gargantia at the beginning of this episode. His plead ends up going on deaf ears, but it’s an important sequence that notably ends up at the conclusion I discussed last week: the fact that what Kugel Striker is doing is essentially recreating the Galactic Alliance—a second utopia—on Earth. To this end, Ledo finds himself struggling to decide between all that he’s ever known (the Galactic Alliance and its views) and the things he’s learned/experienced since coming to Earth, and it’s not a great situation to be in for him to say the least, but one that really powers the impact of this week’s episode…
…something which the flying squirrel’s appearance here also helps with greatly as well. In many ways, its appearance is symbolic of Amy, Gargantia, and of what Ledo should be doing… and it’s something that is compounded by the rain, which both triggers various memories of Gargantia and the ceremony where Ledo witnesses “people who serve no use to the greater good” being nonchalantly tossed into the ocean by the dozen. Generally, it’s amazing how this sequence of events played out, and it’s just a spectacular use of various storytelling devices here—especially so when you consider how it all culminates in the rain literally washing off the markings on Pinion’s forehead. To say that all of this made this episode really representative of its title (“The Decisive Moment”) is an understatement…
…and it’s a key moment that gets Ledo to realize what exactly he’s been doing all his life—which is rely on Chamber and others to make decisions for him. In this context, he realizes that he’s never once made any significant decision by himself, and it’s something that’s exceptionally significant as he finally breaks off his chains this week and asks Chamber whether or not it would be possible to fight Striker. And notably, it’s here where I can’t help but feel that even Chamber has acquired some kind of new autonomy as a result of his time on Earth, as his authorization for Ledo to fight Striker, his non-committal reply regarding his fighting the commander himself, and his asking of Ledo’s decision rather than just telling him this is something he has to do just reeks of some kind of change in Chamber. Admittedly, I could just be grasping at straws here… but if it is indeed true, there’s really a lot of commentary here about the potential of people changing as well, and it combines with the squirrel being present at this decisive moment to make this a truly spectacular episode.
Indeed, you know an episode’s spectacular when I’ve gone through so much words and haven’t even discussed:
And in the end, it’s just a testament to how much we’ve gotten with this series in terms of build-up and proper development, and how much we got in this one episode in particularly too. Really, it’s just an absolutely superb episode of Suisei no Gargantia this week, and I think at this point I’ll just leave things to you guys to discuss amongst yourselves.
LukkagexPinion
All aboard! The ship is setting sail…
luckily made it in time
I’m willing to wager Pinion isn’t quite Lukkages type.
Maybe if she chained him up in a slave outfit for a bit he would grow on her?
Why no? Someone as boss as her might have multiple different types, if you know what I mean.
I am down for RackagexPinion.
UROBUCHIGENNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!
Never disappoints… Also Full-armor chamber! Bandai make it happen! Last episode next week? :/
Wow props to the writers. The last bit explains everything perfectly. Striker was programmed as a commanding officer’s unit, and by the Galactic Alliance method of commanding, it means that it will bring order to the people, exactly like what Striker has been doing. The reason for Striker to fake the existence of Kugel is the fact that Kugel is a bridge between the people and Striker’s ‘philosophy’. The fact that Kugel is not piloting Striker, also explains why a lower ranked unit can take down a high ranking officer’s. The story control is amazing. I was worried when they introduced commander Kugel that it would cause a lack of character development for him with the few episodes remaining, since from the reaction of Redo, there’s obviously a strong connection between these two comrades, far beyond a relationship between a higher and lower ranking officer, but after this episode the gap of how Redo see’s Kugel and the Kugel we are seeing in the last episode has been filled.
However, I do have to express my disapproval of the pacing in this episode, I feel that last episode lacked a proper setup for this week’s episode. For me, it was just too flashy, the scene were changing at a pace that’s twice as fast as any other episode we’ve faced. The animation quality is also a little bit disappointing. Compared to the first couple of episodes , I feel like the animation quality has dropped, even for this week’s. I feel that the animation team is just rather not as experienced as I hoped for an anime that has such a genuine and amazing concept. Though i do give props to the angle changing scenes that we saw multiple time in this episode.
Can’t wait for next week plus the bonus episode 14!
I have to agree with an earlier statement while I enjoyed the episode the pacing was too fast. I really like this show but in twenty twenty hindsight, I am not sure in the big reveal for the Hideauze was necessary. It introduces a moral dilemma that is never resolved. At this point of the endgame, it barely registers as a factor. I think it would of been interesting to flesh out Kugel’s (Striker) fleet a bit more and the various moral conundrums that arose from its introduction.
I was leaving it till the finale to point out what you just said. It quite unfortunate that this anime is so short. It feels like they’ve created such a great world, but never got to explore it 🙁
^This is my main complaint. I found the topic of evolutionist faction vs. technological faction to be vastly more interesting than where they are wrapping the series up with.
To be honest, there is so much depth that could be explored with this series that there was never any time to do. The fact that Kugel is dead does improve the likely hood that the entire technological faction is now actually ruled by an AI system, since striker and chamber both knew about the “big reveal” before hand. I have my doubts that the real kugel knew about it, and more than likely all humans are in the dark about it now. Maybe they do have in the back of their mind the possibility of a second season to explore these issues.
I was hoping for them to at least try to tie in the hideauze reveal by somehow having them help out with the “final battle” against the fleet that has been hunting them down. Maybe that is what the key is going to be on Gargantia. Some type of resonator that lets them communicate or summon all the whale squid, though I have no clue how *that* will help with their limited power.
^That’s a great idea you pointed out of the fact that an AI could be controlling the alliance. I also agree that Kugel does not know about the Hideauze. It makes logical sense, since Kugel is only a couple of ranks higher than Ledo. A secret this big, there is no reason for a front line soldier to know about.
Kugel was already dead as predicted. Striker trying to create the Matrix, but Ledo won’t have none of that. Chamber seems to have went back to being a brobot instead of going HAL on Ledo.
Jesse has finally found James XD.
I was wondering why Melty just passed out, I can see if she was flying for days, but it looked like she reached Gargantia in less than a day. Of course, time skips within an episode is possible. That or Melty forgot to eat something before she left ;p.
Try hang gliding more than 12 hours. It’s just beyond imagination how hard it could be.
This isn’t hang gliding, it’s motorgliding, it’s a machine with a motor that helps acceleration alongside the wind caught by the glide, and how do you know Melty was flying for 12 hours?
Tried hang gliding, 1st in the giant partner sock then I just had to take the lessons to do it myself. Its hard as hell, period. Like trying to steer a car from the roof with just your weight. The wind has a mind of its own. It makes the whole contraption heavy as hell – & you always have to fly with the wind currents. Going against heavy winds is suicide.
So yeah, doing that all day could do in anyone.
Maybe striker didn’t let Kugel out or maybe he himself decide not go outside.
The Glider is not made for Long Use. Because the User will get Tired. You need Muscle to hold and control the Glider in the Wind. Perhaps exhaustion is here the mostly culprit, combined with “get sleepy”, the Sun arise. We dont know how long she was in the Air, because it was Foggy. But it must have been Daylight. so, at last one Night Turn for sure, she was in the Air
The mechaxmecha action that we’ve all been waiting for!
It was kinda creepy when Kugel’s head fell off….
Head fell off again… Sasuga Urobuchi. (“I can’t help but feel that even Chamber has acquired some kind of new autonomy as a result of his time on Earth.” – yes, I found his actions this episode… very sweet.
The way I see it , it might be that AIs are actually managing and “ruling” the alliance(after all they were created to look after humans in long-distance space travel).
So maybe the outlet is not Striker…but CHamber, who, for some reason, after being stranded on earth, developed a different opinion from the rest of them, believing humanity being worth of free will and not having the need to be “looked after”?
If that is true then not only Ledo grew as a character through those episodes but Chamber did too – someone we did not think of as a character, was actually character without us knowing
I think your view is very valid, we can definitely observe a lot of character growth in both Chamber and Ledo while they spent their days on Gargantia (exactly what makes both of them my fav characters in the show)!
Chamber’s AI is not in the Commando Line. Perhaps that helped here
I love this ep.
– Ledo re-do his thought
– Melty didn’t get melted by beam when she took off.
– Pinion changed his opinion on Kugel (Striker) force.
– LUKKAGE lurked under water and attacked.
– Striker get struck by Chamber.
– Amy is redy to go to save Ledo.
– Kugel turn into gel…. (oh! )
True, “Melty is soo dead” is what I thought when she took off.
What was with Kugel’s body just disappearing like that? Was he real in the first place?
Why was only Pinion’s mark drawn in water-soluble ink?
He’s been dead for a very long time. His body was preserved by the sterile airtight chamber, but once Red opened it, the exposure to the air caused the corpse go rapidly decompose. His skull completely detached from the neck and fell off. He’s mostly dust and bone now.
Which considering the time it takes for body to reach that state in sterile environment, really puts a BIG question mark on Chamber’s assessment on how long their “hibernation” lasted.
Yet he manage to survive the high-G manoeuvres and the pounding into the pillar…
OK it is good for dramatic effect but meh…
in response to this they arrived on earth through a wormhole accident meaning they could have arrived in diferent times with kugel probably a lot of years before chamber.
Yup, to get this Cult with so many Peoples, and even build a “Ship Lighthouse” for him. he must came to Earth long before Leo. Or Leo stand a long time sleeping. Dunno, only Chamber has the Time line in his memories. How Long they was under Water, when Gargantia found them?
So, now it is up to this Key. What function will this Key have? Open a Black Hole drive? Someone said, Heaven’s Ladder. It must be something with Flying. Or take some part of Gargantia into the Air. Perhaps the Biggest Part are Planes or so in Disguise or underwater
. The Water Turbines, look like some Jet Engines…
In the very first Planet of the Apes, there was a similar situation. Charlton Heston woke up in perfect health after a very long sleep. But one of the other astronauts suffered an error in their stasis chamber. And they never woke up, but decayed and mummified over time.
It’s possible that the cockpits have some inertia dampening features. That may be why Kugel’s body was not smashed by the crash into the Pillar. If you think about it, Ledo musta hit that pillar at 100 mph too! That’s like one of us driving into a cliff at 100mph. He should be dead too. That sorta makes you think there is some sort of inertia dampened at work.
probably orbit satellite weapon (kinetic bombardment) 🙂
Nope, i think it could be this:
They turn the Key around on some device. The Water Syringe we saw (where they Fly on Top). Is a disguised Satellite Com Antenna. This will send a Signal up to Space, to a Satellite that send it back to a special Place on Earth (Island or Underwater) and something “arise” from there, or the Signal just Hit the “target” right in Space, and it will awake of his “over thousand Years” of Slumber. Perhaps a Survived Space Station of the Pre War, and it can interfere with Striker and sadly with Chambers Functions. or EMP Weapon. Perhaps we get a “terminator 4?” Ending, where Chamber will sacrifice himself to save Gargantia and Ledo
But the EMP Pulse could explain, while they lost so many Wisdom of the Past. because… Just look on us today. Our Wisdom are written in 0 and 1 bits. Not on Paper. If we lost the ability to read our “memories” in 0 and 1 Bits. What will a future race find about us? our old Paper books?
This is some straight terminator stuff right here, the machines taking over
Did anybody else think that Pinion looks 10x hotter with his hair down? There was several times that I actually had to keep remembering that the character I was looking at was Pinion! The guy had done a total 180 and looks quite different with his new hairstyle. Somehow he has has suddenly made me like him a whole lot more.
^This!
He strongly reminds me of Kamina from Gurren Lagann, their attitudes, spirits, and methods of approaching situations are vastly similar.
Not to mention that they both share the same voice actor ^^
Had the same vibes as well
Lol! I thought of Gurren Lagaan too when Pinion ripped off that visor! I didn’t realize it was the same actor. Wow!
I hope he keeps that hairstyle, oh my gosh. *v*
A change of look for a change of view eh?:P Rakkage approves as well.
Yeah and i wanted the guy to die early on what was i thinking.
Find it a bit strange how Striker itself is able to concoct its world domination plan, involving religious cults, though after everyone started throwing around the dead Kugel theory, it started to become really obvious. Also find it amazing how this episode can have a noticeable drop in quality on anything that isn’t a battle or a close up on Amy, but still look good.
In any case, good episode, and can’t wait for next week.
That depends on if the AIs of the Machine Calibers have the ability to adapt and learn. If they do, then basically we just have a case of “Evil AI trope” 101. You know, your Skynets, Hal 9000s, ARIAs, VIKIs, that have actually adapted to the point of being able to use subterfuge and other such acts to accomplish what they believe is their prime directive. They basically observe human behavior and then make use of it for their own purposes.
In the previous episode, Stryker defined “happiness” as raising your efficiency in contributing to society. Not sure if that fansub was accurate, but that makes perfect sense. That is how a machine AI might view Happiness. That fits with what Stryker was doing. It was fulfilling its purpose in the best way it could by making the most people Happy. But Happy as a machine defines it. After its pilot died, it chose to support all humans on earth and make them all happy!
UROOOOOOBUTCHEEEEER!!!!!
wait< i though this was only 12 episodes long?
interesting development. now i wonder what that key given to amy would be. if it;s for a hidden warp gate, then it means that this is a sad ending for both ledo and amy 🙁
Wow. I thought Kugel being dead would be too obvious to use, but I guess not. Does his death fulfill Urobuchi death of the series though, or will someone still die next episode?
Wondering if Chamber will run out of power and Ledo will finally lose all ties to the Galactic Alliance. It could turn out to be better for this to transpire, considering Striker’s worrisome autonomy.
Looking back over this series, the pacing feels a little off, with most of the action happening in the last few episodes. It didn’t have a typical storyline either, being mostly about Ledo’s self-discovery with a hint of slice-of-life peacefulness. It’s a good show, but it lost out on some potential, and I doubt episode 13 will bring satisfying closure.
Chamber I’m impressed! You left the decision to Ledo.
In a way Chamber is a master manipulator. He had doubts with the disease and “happiness” Striker was spewing but ultimately left the choice to Ledo.
He would support his pilot over somebody who does not act rationally.
Striker it seems ultimately lost its marbles. Ledo and Chamber fight her to protect humanity.
I wonder what exactly Kugel died of…
Judging from the state of his preserved corpse, it doesn’t seem to have been violent(unless proven otherwise).
I’d say, probably a broken neck, maybe? He probably died either on impact or during travel. There’s several ways that one can break a neck that would kill instantly and not be very noticeable outwardly.
Hm, that’s possible.
But could Kugel also have died after reaching Earth? If the long hair and stubble on his corpse are any indication, of course. (Since back in EP 1 Kugel was still clean shaven with short hair.)
The way Kugel looks implies one of two things:
1. He refused to leave the cockpit out of paranoia.
2. Striker refused to let him out and ended up starving him to death.
I mentioned this above, but it’s possible that Kugel’s hibernation system was damaged and a large amount of time passes for Stryker and Kugel. Last we saw, Kugel was in battle, so he could have suffered damage to the hibernation unit easily.
In the first Planet of the Apes movie, one of the astronauts never woke up. Their hibernation system malfunctioned and they simply rotted over time.
maybe he refused to go with Stryker’s ways and Stryker had to eliminate him for the sake of his plans, maybe.
Lost of Oxygen? Without Oxygen a Body can hold forever. And Striker hold this Vacuum, but after Ledo open a Crack in his Suit. Air went in, and the “Dust to Dust” started instantly
Dont forget he stayed back to let Ledo escape into the Black Hole. Perhaps somehow he got pulled into the Black hole. But how then they came in the same “Destination”? Or the Carrier experience the same Fate and got on Earth. Perhaps they are in Orbit of Earth… Or the Carrier arrived long before them, and the Key. Let the Carrier arise from the Deeps of the Water or a hidden Island… in the End, Gargantia are the Descendants of the Alliance Carrier Crew. Perhaps a Crash Landing… But they dont have Clones…
That could fit very Well, i think
The Key, give me Xenogears Vibes. Nearly the End, in the Game you will find the wreck of the Crashed Gigantic Spaceship of the Intro. Well the crumbles.. Perhaps we have here the same Base..
A theory I’m wondering why it hasn’t been mentioned much yet (though touched on by Germanguy) is that Striker didn’t get flung onto Earth like Chamber, but into space. The habitable planet was close enough to identify and make a course for, for survival’s sake, but they didn’t arrive in time before Striker’s oxygen supply ran out.
Granted, there’s one flaw in this idea, in that Kugel could have been kept in stasis like what was done with Ledo. But there there are various possibilities to necessitate keeping him conscious. Hypothetically.
I wonder what is that stairway to heaven thingy?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pPvNqOb6RA
I believe
my bet is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fl37UZvFsz0
SLBM
anyone who watched Crimson Tide remebers the keys?
But what kind of weapon could be properly called a stairway?
Japanese give literal names to things 99% of the time, Heaven’s Ladder, meaning the ship is going to take off and fly in the sky next episode.
Well, when i see this “logo” on this Key. A Black Hole, it can be. The Arms. are the Tools around the Hole, Hold it open. And the Green Point, are the Hole Center. And the “Feet” can be a Spaceship
Picture link: https://randomc.net/image/Suisei%20no%20Gargantia/Suisei%20no%20Gargantia%20-%2008%20-%20Large%2002.jpg
Key to Transform into Voltron now????
I’m betting on some weapon in orbit leftover from ancient times.
I call wormhole.
I shed manly tears during for the bulk of the episode and Melty’s mission, knowing Urobochi’s style, was a GARGANTUAN death flag.
In fact almost all of the characters on the Utopian vessel had GARGANTUAN death flags.
Save your tears for final episode, written by Gen himself 😛
I get the feeling, that “Thin can” will not survive the Fight, with Striker. But Ledo will survive
Flying squirrel is best squirrel!
Makes one wonder how long Striker has been on Earth before Ledo. Presuming it’s around the same time, Striker wasted no time in getting some humans to mold into an entirely different culture and lifestyle. No six months in trying to preserve energy and saving Kugel; probably went straight to business as usual. Was Kugel already dead inside Striker and all the robot was doing was preserving a mummy? Or did Kugel just slowly died while Striker continued on without him?
But just as Chamber started to change and given autonomy, it’s just as probable that Striker changed as well. It could be that it and Kugel was found by a particularly superstitious ship and the crew there went onto a lot of conclusions, calling Striker and Kugel a god, and probably all of that influenced Striker.
Which would be another way to comment on society forming impressions onto “tabula rasa” sort of people who are impressionable and are getting influenced by the people around them.
we don’t actually know how much time has passed since their landing on Earth to where the story is now. we don’t know the amount of time that’s passed between episode 2 to 8, but i’m willing to bet it has to be at least a few months, considering how much Ledo has changed, along with the fact that he’s now somewhat fluently speaking an entirely new language.
Ledo was also in an induced coma for about half a year by Chamber’s reckoning. Assuming that he spent 6 months of that time in Earth’s ocean, it could be that he spent a whole year on the planet. We can also assume that Striker landed on Earth at around the same time that Ledo did, but instead of being in stasis like Chamber did, Striker could have gone right to work.
It could be that Striker’s influence is a recent feature, since it’s not as though Gargantia started hearing rumors about a fleet that’s overly religious. But the fact that Striker completely changed a ship’s entire culture and way of life right down to the aesthetics and having people suddenly okay with dumping the elderly and weak into the ocean would suggest that she’s been doing this for some time.
my reasoning for that is that the fleet was probably already overly religious from the start, and Kugel/Striker simply inserted themselves as a deity figure to suit their needs and proceeded to impose a few more rules.
another possibility was that the wormhole in episode 1 could have thrown Kugel/Striker back in time, but that’s just cheating :I
I was questioning last week when Kugel never left Striker… where does he get his nutrients and where does all his body wastes go…
Ledo also stay in the cockpit for 6 month before Garguntia salvage him
But Ledo was inactive and in a hibernation state, while Kugel was out creating his own society with him as the god.
In episode one, it was implied that the machine calibers supplies and controls the nutrients of their pilots, especially while they are in the cockpit for a certain amount of time. Red went into stasis for 6 months, so Chamber had to be the one feeding him intravenously or some other such way. I’m guessing there are ways they can expel waste the same way, like astronauts do.
Can’t Ledo just order Striker to stand down as the highest ranked officer on earth. Maybe striker got damaged?
Considering the it was ordering Ledo, a human, the highest ranking officer around, by pretending to be Kugel, a human ranked higher that Ledo… a dead human…
I don’t think it’s going to obey orders now…
P.S. This is why you HAVE to put the Three Laws on those stupid robots/AIs
Yet somehow I doubt we will ever be smart enough to Correctly define those three laws :[
Ask Dr.Asimov. Oh Gosh he’s already passed away.
Asminov’s 3 laws are flawed.
“1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.”
That very first law means the end of our society right there. Humans harm humans all the time. We kill, we steal. Harm can be defined as financial harm, losing money. Or emotional harm, such as your girlfriend dumps you. An AI by Aminovs law would have to prevent all that.
@Moonlight BlackCat, that’s why Daneel theorized the “Zeroth law”, and went on to… well do a lot of things.
The Laws, in this case the First Law works inside the robots field of vision/perception, so there is no risk that a robot run to the other end of the world to stop a war.
And as normal Robots can’t read minds, they can’t see/perceive damage being done so the First Law doesn’t force them to take action.
As a matter of fact Asimov did write a short story about a similar situation that you describe, involving a robot that due a defect was able to read minds,the robot in question broke.
@Moonlight BlackCat Asimov knew this, that is why he is so good. He invented the three laws, and then wrote stories exploring their flaws.
funny how nearly all of us saw that coming a mile away
The hints were not so subtle.
am i the only one that that thinks the fight between chamber and striker was awesome not only animation wise but also the ost accompanying the clash was definitely great!
Did anyone notice the angle work at the end? They used a few nice camera angles in the fight of Ledo vs Striker. Those angles simulated a battle in 3 dimensions perfectly, really gave a good feel of how it works. I must say, well done on that, and well done on all the character developments!
Oh well, this episode was epic on so mnay levels…
First, the seeds of the revolt. Note to myself, if I ever go to become Evil Overlord, never employ pirates. Though they are efficient in combat, their lust for treasure, oversized egos, and anarchic tendencies make them first to rise against you when opportunity arises…
Then comes the “disposal of the unneeded”. Leave it to Urobutcher to massacre background characters… But here it serves a purpose indeed, everyone not yet brainwashed into the cult gets their “heel face turn” (T). Even Pinion, seemingly easily bribed by access to the tech beyond his drams is shaken enough to join the rebellion.
Then we get Melty’s dramatic flight to warn the Gargantia. I must admit I went into despair when saw her falling from her kite. Fortunately Amy was there to save the day in a display of completely non-Urobuchilike sparing the character with deathflag.
We then get a dramatic plea of Amy, wanting the Gargantia to take a stand and help Ledo. I am suspecting the key Ridget got from her precedessor is launching key of some ancient superweapon… Anyone who watched Crimson Tide will get my vibe. Hey, does Gargantia include any submarines?
Finally we get an epic mecha fight between Ledo and Kugel… or rather, between Ledo and Striker that has gone into autonomous AI mode after Kugel died. Many of commentators here has expected that but to see it shown in such dramatic way was still impressive.
I could imagine Gen when Melty was falling towards her doom:
” – Yes,yes,YES!!!I can finally have a noticeable character who had more than just a few lines & appearances die!Almost…just a little more…just a tiny bit – Amy save’s Melty – DAMN IT MURATA KAZUYA!You think the deaths of these guys that no one care’s about is going to please me?
Oh well…time to sneak into Sunrise’s office again and get off on putting holes in,raping or killing the parents of some known character in Valvrare.”
The assumption that Striker was malevolent from the beginning may be flawed.
Maybe Kugel really was ill, and upon landing on Earth, was afraid for the people’s
safety and chose not to expose them to his “disease.” So, like in Ledo’s case, they
didn’t know the unit was actually occupied. But Striker landed in the middle of a cult
(remember the girl yelling to kill everyone), and tried to “fit in” while he (Kugel) died.
So after his death, the AI simply continued to “enforce” the cult philosophy.
So what I’m saying is that the cult existed before Striker arrived (as with the other
Earth communities – Gargantia, the Pirates, probably others not in the story line),
but Striker’s appearance gave the cult the power to grow and expand their reach beyond
what they would have been able to do on their own (through recruitment, internal population
growth, capture).
IMHO, So the real darkness in this episode was to underscore that there are many dark
philosophies out there, and usually they are kept in check because they lack real power
to exploit more than a few dozen rabid followers, but if they acquire enough power,
their corruption can infest the rest of society. Great examples in real life are all
around us – religion, politics, and sadly they’re not too difficult to find.
If the director meant this to be the message, it was well played in this episode…
– whay happens to kugle ?
– what that key mean ?
Kugle died, Striker was controlling everything the whole time
The key is revealed next episode (Maybe a secret weapon?) Who knows.
oh – really
Kugle not exist from start 🙂
hhhhhhh – Striker will be an anmy of the earth ?!
This is sci-fi anime. The key obviously operates an orbital space weapon platform.
What kind of sci-fi superweapon/tech could properly be classified as a ‘Stairway to Heaven’?
Anything that teleports the user to said weapons platform.
Stairway to heaven, can be a Catapult. Or, my idea. It sent a Signal to an Island or Deep Waters, and something emerges there. Something from the “Lost Time”. A Weapon? a Carrier? startup a Black Hole? Dunno
or, something that Deiced the Frozen Planet? But then, how long they are on Earth?
‘Stairway to Heaven’ just means it sends the target to the afterlife. A simple naming process like the BFG or even Railgun(the Electromagnetic Cannon not Misaka Mikoto).
Lol.
Anyways, Ledo has captured another girl or was Melty captured a long time ago? That makes how many women for a loner, space pilot? Amy, Melty, Saaya(?), Rakkage (wants Chamber though), Bellows(?). Don’t know if more women are interested in Ledo.
He chose poorly.
https://randomc.net/image/Suisei%20no%20Gargantia/Suisei%20no%20Gargantia%20-%2012%20-%20Large%2039.jpg
Zephyr, I really hope you’re right as well that Chamber himself is learning along side with Ledo. Though it was quite a quick change, Pinion really did bounced back and had quite a significant amount of character growth. Heck, this whole episode showed growth for Pinion, Ledo, Amy, and even Chamber (hopefully we’re not reading too much into it). Really love how this is going. Sadly, I really wanted Ridget to redeem herself for the past episodes, but it really seems like they’ll just leave her as she is. Come on, if Pinion can make a come back so can you Ridget! Don’t be the one and only disappointing character of the show (though her lack of initiative can be a some sort of representation as well).
Finally, go Lukkage~!
The way Chamber is handled, it almost feels as if he is testing Ledo himself, not just learning.
Ledo:I decide, and you(Chamber)execute(my decisions)…
Assuming Striker operates on the same principle as well, could it mean that all of Striker’s actions in commanding its fleet and enforcing the cult was due to some dying command given by Kugel himself?
Perhaps Kugel started the cult himself, and handed full responsibility to Striker before his death(if the long hair and stubble on Kugel’s corpse was any indication, I’d say he and Striker were out and about on Earth for quite some time before he died, given he was clean shaven and short-haired way back in Ep 1.)
Or was Striker acting independently on its own, falling back on Alliance protocol and tradition to enforce order with the loss of its pilot?
I have a distinct suspicion that Striker might have cut off Kugel’s life support if he has become too independnt thinking…
Good theory.
Although Chamber never killed/attempted to kill Ledo when Ledo started questioning things…
Maybe this is a feature unique to robots of higher-ranked Alliance soldiers?
Chamber seems to be an outlet in the whole situation. he almost seems curious at the concept of free will and so far allowed Ledo to make every decision he wanted, finding a loophole to justify it and observing Ledo’s reactions.
Striker is acting completely different from Chamber. Chamber still seems to hold to his parameters and programming in most things, and honestly I think would have a hard time understanding human deception and subterfuge. He thinks and acts like a machine that can mut meaning to human actions, but does not employ them himself. Striker is acting pretty independently, going so far as use the commander’s voice and image to fool others, going along with the “god” persona, lying to Red and Chamber about Kugel’s condition, she’s acting like a devious human, with the mentality of a machine.
Striker’s seemingly un-robot-like use of ‘deception’ is a fascinating one, especially considering the writer and a certain popular magical girl show. If a non-human being who doesn’t look at things from a moral perspective finds certain actions/statements result in a desirable response from humans, what’s ‘truth’ got to do with any of it?
To all those who are pointing to the stubble on Kugel’s face.
Facial hair actually continues to grow even after death…..
Actually it doesn’t. That is a myth.
I fixed the link for you. 🙂
That’s true that it doesn’t grow, but it is possible that the skin receded a bit before Striker made the cockpit completely airtight and stopped the flow of oxygen.
Still dissappointed :/ this episode is definitely better than the last but nowhere near the potential that was seen just a few episodes ago.
I hope this isn’t exactly a spoiler, but it seems we’ll be getting a bunch of cool characters for the next ep.
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2013-06-24/gargantia-character-design-contest-winners-unveiled
Nice way, to let the Fans make their “own” Appearance. In this Case their Drawings
Darn, mine wasn’t chosen!
http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=35652463
nice entry, though… gratz on drawing skills!
Was it just me or there was a brief shot in the early conversation between lukkage and pinion, where pinions cult mark on his face completely vanishes and then comes back in the next shot?
I wonder if the disease data that Striker sent was legit.
If it was, then maybe now Ledo is contaminated with whatever killed the commander — and, if he brings that back to Gargantia, then they’re all dead too.
Well, the thing is it was a native to Earth disease, so it’s likely that it won’t affect the Gargantians at all.
To that end, I always found it odd that it affected Kugel at all, considering how advanced their medical science is likely to be… so it seems highly likely that the disease is fabricated (either literally made by re-sequencing a disease detected on Earth and making it different enough so that Chamber thinks it’s legit even though Kugel never had it or some variant).
Question answered in this episode: “Schrodinger’s head: is Kugel alive or dead?”
This series has me hyped over Chamber. He’s incredible.
Now I’m looking to buy a figure of him online but I don’t see anything. No market for him yet?
Good Smile Company is working on a figure.
http://myfigurecollection.net/item/144370
It’s quite retarded how that ‘society’ of theirs appears to kill the elderly, and it’s not even due to morality – I couldn’t care less about that. No sane individual would be eager to serve in a society that will kill him once he reached an age of reduced physical usefulness, it would probably come to a rebellion long before it becomes a custom.
Generally yes. But there in lies the catch. One of the big things here is that most of the people here seem to have been forced to join and then separated from one another to prevent any real act of rebellion. It’s notable also that we don’t know if there have been any rebellions before, actually… as it’s highly possible that it could’ve been attempted, but with no way to counter Striker, it could’ve been quelled/erased with out a trace.