Suisei no Gargantia 12

Finally Relevant

Like usual, I am divided on this episode.

As far as Hazard is concerned, Ledo and Pinion (and Chamber) are the stars of this episode. Ledo finally take the reins of his life and makes a stand against Kugel. 

The fight itself was pretty damn good. Seeing the two robots duke it out was great and something that was really needed. Good fight scenes are kinda scarce in this anime, courtesy of technological superiority.

The talks between Chamber and Ledo in general are something I really enjoy and this episode did not disappoint in that regard. 

Chamber is a kind of an older brother figure for Ledo and their talk can basically be summed up as “I am the robot. You are the human. I can do whatever you need me to do, but I need you to choose.” In his own way, Chamber tries to push Ledo to stand up for himself and that's nice to see.

Hair Style Change = Maturity

As for Pinion, after seeing how crazy the evil cult is, he joins up with Lukkage (or is that Rackage?) for some rebellion, complete with the obligatory hair style change.

Hazard will miss the pompadour, but will admit the way Pinion backed up Ledo with the big cannon was awesome.

Hazard also can't take Pirate Queen seriously after the way Ledo send her flying off Team Rocket style.

But enough of that, let’s talk about the big thing.

Kugel is dead.

The Big Bad is a crazy A.I…. which is disappointing. A few episodes earlier Chamber talked about extreme existences. This is as pure example as we are going to get, really.

Something is Missing but What?

There is a reason why the Machine Calibers have pilots is what I am saying. The very fact means the Alliance recognizes the existence and importance of a human free will. The AI has protocols to follow but the final decision comes down to the pilot (with some kill the squid exceptions). The AI is at the service of the pilot, not the other way around.

Therefore, the problem with having Striker as the bad guy is that it sidesteps the ideology conflict entirely. This is not the Alliance way Striker represents. Striker represents an extreme of the Alliance way. The way the Alliance is without a human will guiding its actions.

Basically, the letter of the law vs the spirit.

The result is a crazy cult.

This is lazy. The show is taking the easy way for Gargantia to be in the “right”. Granted it is better than portraying the Alliance as mustache twirling villains, but it is still wasting a lot of potential.

Oh well, guess we will see what Gargantia’s super duper key does next week.

Hazard's side for this episode, Ledo and Pinion side. This show should have always been about the bro tales of Ledo, Pinion and Chamber. 

Final Thing, no update tomorrow.