Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet
I'd read mention of the series before. Mech pilot of advanced society is stranded on an ocean world, and some dealing with the implications of his craft being a super weapon. It didn't quite catch my eye back then, but looking through possible series to watch, it came up again. I'm actually rather surprised and impressed.
From the first episode, I was stricken with some similarities to the Gossamer and Shadows character I created. Sure, "mech pilot from space-faring society raised in a time of ongoing war" isn't all that unique in itself. But where I gave her a navigational/support AI that she had refined as part of her techy suit able to project holographic displays and converse, Ledo in Gargantia has a support AI in his mech, Chamber, which has an interface unit that can be removed and connects to his suit. Chamber does translating for Ledo for a while, showing text in an image before him. Also the way Ledo's society has raised him is more extreme, but similar to what I had in mind for Nova - a society at war doesn't have a lot of luxury. Though Nova benefits from having had more time abroad seeing other ways to live before the game.
The plot twists weren't shocking, but were well executed. Mostly, I'm impressed by the themes and how they're put out there by situation and action rather than just dialog. Evangelion got all existential and convoluted. Gargantia holds up different views of society ranging from militaristic totalitarianism to piracy for examination. It raises questions of morality in warfare. It shows the power of dehumanizing "the enemy" in conflict. And while the main cast charts a course through all this, the show isn't really too preachy about what is "right."
13 episodes of "worth watching" in my book.
From the first episode, I was stricken with some similarities to the Gossamer and Shadows character I created. Sure, "mech pilot from space-faring society raised in a time of ongoing war" isn't all that unique in itself. But where I gave her a navigational/support AI that she had refined as part of her techy suit able to project holographic displays and converse, Ledo in Gargantia has a support AI in his mech, Chamber, which has an interface unit that can be removed and connects to his suit. Chamber does translating for Ledo for a while, showing text in an image before him. Also the way Ledo's society has raised him is more extreme, but similar to what I had in mind for Nova - a society at war doesn't have a lot of luxury. Though Nova benefits from having had more time abroad seeing other ways to live before the game.
The plot twists weren't shocking, but were well executed. Mostly, I'm impressed by the themes and how they're put out there by situation and action rather than just dialog. Evangelion got all existential and convoluted. Gargantia holds up different views of society ranging from militaristic totalitarianism to piracy for examination. It raises questions of morality in warfare. It shows the power of dehumanizing "the enemy" in conflict. And while the main cast charts a course through all this, the show isn't really too preachy about what is "right."
13 episodes of "worth watching" in my book.
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