Suisei no Gargantia 11

Remember Ladies, He's single.

In case you haven’t noticed by now, I really like juxtaposition. It’s the sudden marked contrast thing. Unsubtle as hell, but it works.

This episode gives us one big contrast between Ledo, our kinda lost protagonist, and Kugel, the badass soldier turned cult leader.

While Ledo was learning about this new culture and all that boring stuff, Kugel was establishing himself as a god-type figure, reforming social structure, making a country, and killing a bunch of whale-squids.

We obviously see who manages their time better.

In any case, Kugel, supposedly for health reasons, hasn't gone out of his Machine Caliber. That’s a totally subtle way of saying that unlike Ledo, he was not in any way influenced by the culture of the planet.

That totally subtle is totally sarcastic by the way.

Kugel is pure Alliance thinking and we get a clearer picture of what that means this episode. He changes the government structure to prioritize efficiency above all. Tough but fair. Not really much place for fun though. That's the Alliance way. At least that’s the impression I am getting.

Sidenote, we find out the Alliance definition of happiness, stable leadership.

Kugel wants to continue the Alliance agenda on earth, kill lots of whale-squid the Alliance Way.

How shall Hazard say this? He is okay with the goal but not the form?

You totally should have conquered Gargantia. 

The efficiency above all methods of the Alliance were likely developed as a way to keep up with the threat they faced. The Hideous are strong. The Alliance needs to be strong. How? Eliminate anything that isn't needed.

To Kugel, lots of things on Earth would seem plain wasteful. His answer is to change that and educate people on how humans “should” live by conquering them.  However, what does not occur to Kugel (and it shouldn't. Guy has no other point of reference other than the Alliance) is that the Alliance methods are not needed on Earth.

The Hideous threat is just not that big on Earth. Earth can win and prosper without sacrificing as much.

Whether Kugel eventually understands that or just becomes the final boss remains to be seen. The next episode should clear things up at any rate.

Someone out there will always have a bigger stick

Now on to the other characters.Like Pinion.

His reaction face was hilarious. It really took his head from the clouds. In any case, the humbling thankfully brought him back to normal. I was pleased that he quickly admitted he had done wrong and tried to take responsibility for his actions.  His conversation with Melty hit the right notes for me. He's an idiot. Everyone knows it, but he's their idiot. He's heavily flawed but that's what makes him interesting.

As for Ledo, guy was just so happy to be back. Makes sense. He has been lost. Alone in a way. His entire world view has gone through some heavy shocks. The value of a familiar face is not to be underestimated, especially a superior officer, because as Ledo has been finding out, figuring things out for yourself is hard.

But given Kugel's last orders (complete with overly dramatic zoom on Amy), one wonders how long will Ledo remain under Kugel’s command.

Hazard's side for this episode: Pinion.

Pinion side gets the girls.