Anime Thoughts: Does he also have a map with an 'X' on it?

Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet [ep. 7 - A Soldier's Fate]
That’s more like it. Ledo’s seen how Gargantia differs from his old life, and now that he has an opportunity to go back to what he knows, the two have to butt heads. Not that it would make sense for him to have come around already. He’s spent sixteen years being told the Hideauze are the enemy, black and white – the Galactic Alliance doesn’t even have a word for coexistence – whereas he’s only been on Gargantia for what? Days? Weeks? Months? Unless I’m forgetting something, they never actually gave us any kind of time frame for how long it’s been since he came out of stasis. There’s no way he’d be able to go against what he’s been taught to believe his whole life after so short a time.

And speaking of how long its been, how much friggin’ data does Chamber need to calculate their position? His constant ‘insufficient data’ responses are starting to feel like a plot convenience. For that matter, wouldn’t it be easier to get what he needs with a quick jaunt into space?

Meanwhile, according to Chamber the whalesquid are Hideauze. And I believe him. Not only does dramatic convention pretty much demand it, but thematically this wouldn’t work unless it wasn’t true. If Ledo’s to learn that coexistence with others, even those you once considered enemies, is possible and it was with something other than Hideauze, he could say ‘yes, but the Hideauze are different, we can’t coexist with them.’ But if it is the Hideauze, he’ll sooner or later have to face the reality that such a thing is, in fact, possible. That taboo against attacking the whalesquid probably arose from people in an earlier time realizing it was dangerous to antagonize them, but because humans have left them alone since, they aren’t bothering them. There isn’t active cooperation, but there isn’t mutual antagonism either.

Not that that’s going to last much longer, now that Joe’s about to exploit Ledo’s willingness to attack them for his own ends. If he just said ‘someone told me the treasure exists just before he died, really, honest’ I would’ve assumed he was making that up to justify going after old legends or rumors, but with what he said about his brother, it’s obviously the latter who saw whatever there is to be found and told him. So this is about greed and revenge. Not the healthiest of combinations. But yes, there be treasure down there, probably exactly what they’re looking for and not what they expect. Ledo wonders if the Hideauze followed him, but not attacking the whalesquid is an old taboo, so clearly not. Which means they’ve existed on Earth for some time, and seemingly confirms that there’s a deeper connection between humans and the Hideauze than Ledo realizes, and I believe we’re about to get some answers.

Anime Thoughts: Fifty Shades of Wrong

Attack on Titan [ep. 6 - What the Girl Saw: First Battle of Trost, Part 2]
Um, ouch. No wonder Mikasa is so emotionless (well, most of the time), so dispassionately focused, when she’s had to experience shit like that at a young age. And I thought his mother’s death was traumatic for Eren! It totally was – it was about the worst thing that could happen in that situation. But Mikasa not only had to see her mother (not literally, but close enough) be killed a second time, but in a way telling her that even if you become stronger, there’s always a bigger fish. Now, she could’ve been ‘I have to be stronger, or I’ll be killed, nothing else matters’ and that’s it, but they didn’t, since she still sees the value of having a home, somewhere she’s wanted and there’s people she cares for, which is much appreciated.

Then there’s Armin. His best friend sacrifices himself to save him, only to have someone else talk shit about him, not saying it but clearly implying he must’ve survived because he chickened out. Not a helpful, hearing something like that when he’s in the middle of thinking about how he’s weak and only the strong can do anything.

They’re wrong, though. Strictly speaking, Mikasa isn’t, but there’s a difference between a mantis eating a butterfly, or even her dad shooting a duck for dinner, and the murder of her parents. The former were killed because living things need to eat in order to survive. Perhaps it wasn’t strictly necessary with the duck, but it was still done for the same reason. The same isn’t true of the slavers killing her parents. They were undoubtedly desperate and doing what they did because they could find no other way to survive, but the forces that pushed them to that were flaws in human society, not a biological imperative. And what else isn’t biologically necessary? The Titans eating humans. Sure, they do, in fact, seem to have a biological compulsion to eat people, but they can clearly survive without doing so. Whoever – or whatever – is responsible for them made them that way, for reasons that have nothing to do with survival.

Armin may think he’s weak, and it’s true he isn’t as assertive or skilled as Eren or Mikasa, but that’s not the only way to be strong. He’s hurt and shaken by what he saw – and the snide remarks of fellow soldiers who have no idea what happened – but he’s still able to pick himself up and keep going. Unlike poor Hannah, who can’t accept that she’s giving CPR to half a corpse. Not blaming her for being so traumatized, but it’s a counterpoint. They both lost someone close to them, but Armin can still function is spite of it. He may feel fear easily, but he still joined the army, and despite having many opportunities to back out he saw, and no need to join the Survey Corps, chose to do so. That’s more than the bullies who used to beat him up can say – they were opportunists who bailed whenever Eren and Mikasa came to his defense, or ones like the guildmaster, who throw their authority around like a weapon but can do nothing in the face of actual threats to their person.

The point is, and it does seem to be what this episode is saying, there’s more than one kind of strength. Despite Mikasa believing she needs to be strong so that she can kill those who’d try to kill her, she’s still channeling it in a productive way – to protect what she cares about as much as herself. Armin is afraid, but he’s able to conquer it. They’re both strong, even if it’s in ways they don’t realize.

There’s one thing I want to know, and that’s how Eren was able to kill the slavers. It’s not that kids aren’t capable of things like that – if they weren’t, there wouldn’t be child soldiers, but it doesn’t feel like something a kid raised in normal circumstances would try, let alone think of doing. Granted, Eren’s been born in a time where humans are facing extinction, and has a father who, between hints that he has some secrets and the flashback with the syringe, seems to be channeling a little Gendo Ikari, so I suppose it isn’t fair to say Eren’s circumstances are normal.

Also, part of me honestly hopes he is dead. Not because I didn’t like him, but because it was genuinely surprising when he got swallowed. It’s clear lots of people will die, often rather pointlessly, but he’s the main character, and we’re probably all at least somewhat conditioned to the idea that the protagonist has some amount of guaranteed safety. What better way to reinforce how desperate the situation is and that literally no one is safe than by killing off the one whom we’re likely to assume has contractual protection from it? Plus, unless he somehow manages to carve his way out of the Titan’s stomach, I can’t think of any way he could possibly survive that. But I still have a lingering feeling that he’ll come out alive, and if he does there better be a damn good explanation or it’ll feel like a cheat.

Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet [eps. 5-6, Calm Day & Festival]

I called Dr. Oldham Dr. Ohm for some reason; probably because I was reading Railsea by China Miéville at the time (it has a god called That Apt Ohm; I guess that last bit sounds similar to Oldham or something).

Not much worth saying about these episodes. They were mostly Ledo trying to find a job; that and fanservice. The former isn’t so bad, because Ledo’s training is of no use 99% of the time in his new surroundings, so he’s bored and, more importantly, feels useless; whenever he ‘helps’ it’s Chamber doing all the heavy lifting. It makes sense, but that’s basically all there is to it – he’s too specialized to be of much use, but he still wants to help out. I didn’t have any problem with it, it just wasn’t very interesting. At least it brought about a decent cliffhanger.

Then there’s the fanservice. Really, what can I say – it’s fanservice. If you go for that you probably won’t mind; if you don’t, it’ll depend on your tolerance for it. At least, that’s all I’ll say about episode 5, since it was a pretty standard ‘beach’ episode (minus the literal beach because global warming), but then there was Amy and her friends dancing in episode 6. Seriously, what was up with that? The cheering was mostly coming from a bunch of middle-aged men. The Gargantians thought this was a good idea? The writers thought this was a good idea? What was the purpose of that dance anyway? Yes, yes, the purpose was to have shots of teenage assets, but what was the in-story reason? The second time Amy dances it at least makes sense, since she wants to show off for Ledo. I guess the festival dance was the only reason they could think of to get her in an outfit like that.

I just hope things start to pick up soon. There’s only half the series left – we can’t have Ledo meandering about on Gargantia forever. I suppose it’s possible they don’t intend to tell the complete story in thirteen episodes and will end it with room for more seaons, but still, we’ve learned about Garganita and watched Ledo figure out his place in it, it’s time for bigger things to start happening.

Flowers of Evil [eps. 5-6]

I kinda have to call bullshit on how Saeki “never got a chance” to talk to Nakamura; I’m pretty sure she could’ve done that at any time. OK, yeah, she does have things like cram school in the evenings, so she is genuinely busy much of the time, but why did she only have to approach her at lunch now, or never did so in the washroom like Nakamura did? And I sure didn’t see her coming to Nakamura’s defense when she was being accused. But nevertheless, she sounds completely sincere in saying she was worried about Nakamura, and that she didn’t leap to the conclusion she stole the money, so she’s still got a major leg up on the rest of the yahoos in their class.* She’s not perfect, but she’s a genuinely good person.

Now, if only Kasuga would recognize the former. I meant ‘not perfect’ as in she doesn’t always do the right thing, at least not right away, but that’s something everyone is guilty of at some point. With him I mean ‘not perfect’ as in she isn’t the reincarnation of the Virgin Mary, whom he literally compares her to. Nakamura actually has a point – if he likes Saeki he should be willing to accept everything about her. I have no idea if she actually wants to have sex with him or if that’s just more of Nakamura’s mind games, but he’s going to run into serious problems if he clings to this notion of a ‘perfect’ romance – which apparently means ‘sex free.’ In a sense, he doesn’t like Saeki, he likes his idealized, ‘pure’ image of her, and that does both of them a disservice. It denies her agency and depth as a person, and sets him up for disappointment when he finds out it isn’t true.

When you think about, he actually has something in common with Nakamura here, in the sense that they both project onto others. He tries to impose his ideas of a proper relationship onto Saeki, and Nakamura’s insistence that he’s the “king of sickos” is an attempt to fit him into a mold. Since she’s the one who taunts him with accusations of perverted thoughts and comes up with ideas like making him wear Saeki’s uniform during the date, it seems that she’s the truly perverted one, only she’s ashamed of it and is trying to externalize it, or needs someone else to be the same way so she can feel validated. And since she caught Kasuga doing something perverted, she’s targeted him for it. Which is something else I suppose they have in common – both are ashamed of their sexual feelings and inclinations. For someone who acts appalled at the idea of having sex with Saeki, Kasuga sure manages to get rather fixated on the idea. Plus, there is still that whole ‘picked up and handled her gym uniform’ thing. Taking it home like that was still panic, not a consciously perverted action, but still, he’s in denial. Plus, I totally expect to find out in an episode or two that he still has the damn thing. Say, Kasuaga, didn’t you say you were going to throw it into the incinerator a couple episodes ago? And why did you have to put it in a box and promise you’d never take it out, instead of, say, throwing it in a dumpster when nobody’s looking? If you really want to get rid of it and move on, then why do you still have it? Guilt complex, maybe?

*Except Yamada. Sure, he started shunning Kasuga like the others, but he seems willing to drop it and move on if Kasuga is. Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve had something similar happen to me before, and I’ve been more than willing to forgive the people who did it if they’re willing to move beyond it. Plus, he was still willing to sit with the group after Saeki invited Nakamura. I have no idea what’s going to happen next, but so far I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Anime Thoughts: So what I'm saying is, I'm going to need more food/eating euphemism

Attack on Titan [ep. 5 - First Battle: Battle of Trost, Part 1]
Not bad, not bad at all! OK, no, things are bad, very bad, but being safely in the viewer’s seat, I was impressed. It’s not like it hasn’t already been made clear the Titans are a serious threat – how else do you interpret a seemingly-mindless horde of giants that eat people and shrug off cannon fire? But then Eren realized the Colossal Titan was sentient, and now things have taken a more unsettling turn. It’s bad enough to find out they can not only withstand cannonballs but will actually regenerate their head if it gets blown off, let alone that they only have one weak spot, but between the training exercises and how Eren kills one in the opening, the latter was already obvious. Then you realize they can make further progress whenever they want, with the resultant implication that humanity is still alive because they’re letting it, and it’s easy to feel the ‘Oh God! We. Are. Screwed!’ right alongside the trainees. Sure, most of them are just scared they’ll be fighting Titans for the first time, but the things the viewer realizes make it easy to empathize. Yeah, if I wasn’t puking or breaking down crying myself in that situation, I’d probably be feeling how much I wanted to. It’s more than enough to make the despair and hopelessness they feel palpable, especially when they’re about to become an afternoon snack. Seriously, that part where Thomas gets swallowed whole – just ugh! Getting bitten in half or something is one thing, because at least you’ll pass out fairly quickly, or if it’s your head you’re already dead, but to be swallowed whole, meaning you’re conscious the entire way down and get to feel yourself getting dissolved by stomach acid – definitely not the way to go!

And to make it even worse, the more we learn about the Titans, the more it looks like there’s nothing natural about them. Mostly one sex? No visible genitals or known means of reproduction? Seemingly incapable of communication or reasoning? Utter disinterest in anything besides humans? Not known to eat anything besides people but have survived for over a century despite no access to them, so they clearly don’t eat them because they have the munchies? These things are weapons, ones that exist solely to destroy humans. Their appearance only makes it more effective, since they look so similar to humans while being eerily not, especially the perma-grin from the lack of lips, are too big to challenge on even terms, and kill by eating – a very disconcerting form of death for a species that’s vulnerable to others in isolation but otherwise used to seeing itself as top of the food chain. Suffice to say, whoever’s behind this is hella sadistic.

We also got a bit of a surprise at the end. I don’t really expect Eren to just die like that, but I certainly didn’t expect him to start taking Titan Digestion 101 either. Plus, he’s just lost an arm and a leg; even if he does survive, how’s that gonna be dealt with? Or has he been a decoy protagonist this whole time, and it’s actually Mikasa or Armin who’s the main character? I haven’t read the manga, so I don’t know (though that likely won’t stay the case unless things really go off the rails), but it would certainly be interesting. At the very least it looks like we’ll get some character development for Mikasa. It’s mildly amusing that she’s apparently such a badass without even trying, but otherwise she’s been pretty bland up to now. That we saw she isn’t just looking out for Eren because it’s his mother’s dying wish but because she actually cares about him, gave her a little bit of appreciated depth. Hopefully there’ll be more and I won’t have to feel hesitant about using that term.

But if Eren survives, will he get prosthetics or something? Because that would definitely make him more Guts-like. Just sayin’.

Anime Thoughts: Phase 1 - Defeat Hideauze, Phase 2 - ???

Attack on Titan [ep 4]
For the previous post, I originally wrote some stuff questioning what happened with the Colossal and Armored Titans after the fall of Zhisanga, because as big as the territory inside Wall Maria is, it presumably isn’t large enough to take them years to reach the next wall. Now I’m glad I didn’t bother to keep that, because it looks like we just got an explanation. The regular Titans do seem a bit mindless (so far…), but it looks like the non-typical Titians only show up at specific points to sow terror and bust down some walls. The attack on humanity is far more calculated and deliberate than it seems at first, and it’s as much psychological warfare as anything. Humanity’s had five years to get their hopes up, only to have them crushed again when they’ve reached an apex.

Relatedly, of course everyone is going to be proclaiming the glory of the Survey Corps now. Five years ago they were ‘those idiots suicidal enough to go outside the walls.’ Now that the Titans have gotten inside that the Corps is humanity’s only chance of retaking what they lost is a lot more meaningful. That one guy who sneered at the cheering seems to be cogent of this. When your choices are ‘hope the Survey Corps can accomplish something’ or ‘om-nom-nom,’ you’re probably going to go with the former.

Despite that, humanity still doesn’t seem to have learned its lesson. Everyone may love the Survey Corps now, but in the barracks there was still bewilderment over why anyone would join them at the cost of passing up safe, cushy Military Police postings far away from anything that considers them Purina Titan Chow. There’s still a belief that as long as they stay within the walls, they’re safe. New flash: they aren’t. But that’s probably a hard thing to shake, after it held true for a century. Which is probably why the Titans or whatever’s behind them waited so long before breaching the walls. That or it took them time to develop the wall-busting Titans, but if we’re going with the premise that this is also about taunting and demoralizing humanity while exterminating them, I think it’s the former rather than the latter.

Then there’s the oddity of only the top scorers being allowed to join the military police. Like Eren observed, that means the only ones allowed to take behind-the-lines posts are those who’d be best suited for actually going out and fighting the Titans. Wouldn’t that kind of non-combat post be more appropriate for the lowest scorers, those more likely to be a liability in battle? Since the king, and presumably most of the high and mighty as well, also live inside the third wall, furthest from danger, it sort of sounds like the intent is for the best fighting men and women to hopefully stay behind the lines where they can be of more use to those at the top. It has an air of the elites shutting themselves up in bunkers during a nuclear holocaust while the masses are left outside to die. And when you think about it, this is basically a fantasy version of that scenario – just replace nuclear bombs with the Titans.

Also, Sasha is hilarious(ly awesome). Just sayin’.

Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet [ep 4]

Having read a little of what the show was about before watching it, I’d assumed the opening battle would be more of an attempt to convey that humanity is part of a desperate, ongoing struggle, in contrast to the more peaceful life on Earth. And that probably is the case, to an extent, but now I’d say it was more about contrasting the monotony and blandness of Ledo’s life up until now with the more colorful and vibrant environment he’s currently in. Consider the predominance of blacks, whites, and grey in the Galactic Alliance, and how everything is streamlined, practical, and pristinely new-looking, versus the bright, multi-colored Gargantia, with its cobbled-together, blocky, used appearance.

That’s much easier to see now that he’s had a chance to describe life in the Galactic Alliance to Amy and Bebel. It’s run like a machine, with its people reduced to parts. You don’t think twice about replacing a defective motherboard or broken bike gears, for example, and people in the Alliance have been put on the same level. But, the need for unity and precision of purpose makes sense, since this society is mobilized entirely towards a very specific task. Everyone needs to be useful or they’re just a drain on resources. Dr. Ohm is right – Ledo’s definition of ‘efficient’ is too narrow. What he’s known until now is only one kind of efficiency – the kind necessary for total war. Gargantia isn’t fighting a total war, so its concerns aren’t the same. The opening battle wasn’t so much about the conflict itself as it was about highlighting this. Ledo’s old life was one where everyone was geared towards the same thing, whereas on Gargantia everyone contributes in different ways, allowing even the impaired like Bebel to have a place.

The differing outlooks have really been the point of these first episodes. It’s been slow-paced, but it allows the show to explore this in different ways. There’s things like how people are regarded, and how to handle conflict. Ledo killed the pirates attacking Bellows’s ship because in his experience that’s just what you do. But while the Hideauze, as far as we know*, trying to wipe out humanity, the pirates are opportunistic and out for plunder, not destruction. They’ll respond in force when there’s a perceived threat to their strength, but wiping people out is counterintuitive. There’d be no one left to pillage, otherwise. The Gargantians don’t want to fight either, because they believe in cooperation, not intimidation, and because even if they did, wiping out the pirates would be too costly to be worthwhile. The goal is simply to convince the pirates they’re too much trouble to bother with.

Plus, it’s obvious they’re not so different as Ledo thinks at first. He’s puzzled at Bebel being allowed to live, or that the affection he and his sister have for each other is itself reason enough. But even if he doesn’t consciously think that way, his flashback suggests he understand it better than he realizes. Meanwhile, the kid in the capsule looks suspiciously like him, and family is something that’s apparently not done in the Alliance. Given that, Ledo’s just one of a given model of clone, isn’t he?

*We know next to nothing about the Hideauze; Chamber only says they are the enemy and “coexistence [is] impossible,” which doesn’t necessarily mean ‘they’re trying to wipe us out,’ just that humans can’t exist alongside them. The opening narration makes similar assertions, but it’s being given by a member of the Galactic Alliance, so we can’t assume it’s unbiased. They may very well just be inconvenient, or humanity considers them abhorrent in some way. There’s hints early in episode 1 of an attack on the homeland of Avalon, but we don’t know the circumstances behind that either.

Flowers of Evil [ep 4]

Ah, classroom politics, so horribly wrong. But I have to say, I’m not so sure about my earlier comment that Kasuga might not have defended Nakamura if she wasn’t blackmailing him, because that doesn’t actually make a whole lot of sense. The whole thing was directed entirely at Nakamura and had nothing to do with him, and standing up for her was never one of the expectations she had of him. That he knew she was innocent definitely informed his reaction, since he dwells on how he normally wouldn’t have said anything, but he didn’t do so because he was afraid of what she’d do to him if he didn’t. And even if he did only stand up for her because of their existing relationship, unhealthy and destructive as it is, he still took the high road and spoke out against his peers, something that’s never easy to do regardless of age or context. Much as I’d like it to be otherwise, I can’t say with confidence that I’d always do that now, let alone 9-10 years ago when I was his age. For once his holier-than-thou attitude feels justified, since seemingly everyone else except Saeki took him defending someone they’ve labelled as undeserving of respect as a licence to shun him and go ‘hurr durr, you like Nakamura!’ Y’know, because there’s no other possible reason why he’d stand up for her. That took a lot of guts on his part, and he even got some deserved recognition for it.

And that’s what’s frustrating about all this. On the one hand, Kasuga does something like this, but on the other, he also did something inexcusable, and his thumbing his nose up at his peers is usually hypocrisy because he’s rarely better. Then there’s Nakamura, whose circumstances should make her sympathetic, but then she does things like blackmail, assault, and in the case of making Kasuga wear the gym uniform on his date with Saeki, taking what he did and rubbing it in because of jealousy. Because you’ll have to forgive me if I don’t believe her when she says she’s not.