by Maju Marfori, Reporter

Growing up during the 80’s,  I watched mecha type anime such as Macross, Voltron, and (if you lived in the Philippines) Voltes V. I enjoyed the battles between people, using robots piloted by humans. It fascinated me to see what the possible future could be. Could we one day be riding in mechas? If you’re just like me, then you need to see this anime, Gargantia: The Complete Series. 

Gargantia: The Complete Series follows the story of Ledo, a young soldier fighting an alien race (called Hideauze) to protect humankind. During a battle in space, Ledo and Chamber (his mecha with artificial intelligence) got sucked into a black hole. When he woke up, he found himself on planet Earth (which he thought no longer exists). What is Ledo to do? Will he be able to go back to space where the war is still going on? While he sends out and SOS signal to his comrades, he needs to figure out what he has to do.  With the help of his new friend Amy and the rest of the crew of Gargantia, he is learning how to not be a soldier.  Knowing that he might not ever be going back, he starts a new adventure discovering the new world and how to survive.

Highlights

Episode 1: On the first episode of Gargantia: The Complete Series, Ledo is fighting the Hideauze alongside his comrades in the Galactic Alliance, until the Hideauze forces Ledo to get sucked into a black hole. Woke up in a strange planet with an unknown human type race.

Episode 2: In a world that he thought had long disappeared, Ledo discovers that Earth is still alive and full of human life.

Episode 7: Ledo discovers that an octopus type sea creature in the planet is just like the Hideauze, which he has been fighting all his life. He confronts and destroys them,  but to his surprise the earthlings worship them as sacred creatures.

Episode 9: The Hideauze (also known as the whale squid) are sacred sea creatures. Without knowing, Ledo discovers that they are more than that. The whale squids are actually genetically evolved humans from the old world.

Audio/Video

The beautiful scenery and colors of the Gargantia: The Complete Series are wonderful. The colors of the characters and surrounding blends well. The music of Taro Iwashiro flows perfectly with the show, giving it more feeling with every scene. The transition of day and night is smooth and clear. You can see every detail of each character and all of the surroundings. The sound is clear, considering it is in standard surround sound. The BD contains dubbed and subtitles (English and Japanese).

Special Features

Gargantia: The Complete Series has two additional OVA (original video animation) episodes. The first OVA (Abandoned Fleet) tells the story of Gargantia’s new commander’s (Riget) past encounter with the crew of the abandoned fleet. The second OVA is the story of what happened to Commander Kugel when he arrived on Earth. The special features also contains both the Opening and Ending video without the credit. This way you can enjoy the artwork of the show without any words. You want to see other anime by Viz? The extra features has commercials from Viz, like my current (mainstream) favorites Bleach and Naruto. On top of that, Viz included a wonderful book of art from Gargantia: The Complete Series, which is filled with character designs and details to each episode and OVA.

Overall

Watching this show made me smile, laugh, and had me wanting more after almost every episode. Gargantia: The Complete Series is not like most mecha type anime. The show is very light-hearted and has a good balance of action, comedy, nature and a bit of love. Unlike most anime, this show is only 13 episodes long.  It is long enough to tell the story in detail and short enough to not make it boring.  Gargantia: The Complete Series is good for all ages. I enjoyed the fact that my 8-year-old daughter and I can watch an anime, without me having to worry about having her see too much violence or any inappropriate scenes. This show reminds of series like Gurren Lagann or Fate Zero, how it makes me feel, that fighting for what you believe in is always the right answer. I truly recommend Gargantia: The Complete Series to anyone, from anime aficionado to newbies. Go to your nearest video store or online and get this anime for your collection!

Rating:
ComicsOnline gives Gargantia: The Complete Series 5 out of 5 Mecha Arms!

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