Suisei no Gargantia: 04-05 - Swimsuits and a Reason to Live

For a slow paced show with minimum action and suspense, I think the character development overall has great pace to keep the show feeling fresh and entertaining as Ledo slowly gets use to his life on the Gargantia.

With Ledo showing his hardened fighting mentality, it finally dawns on him that he cannot fit in with the Gargantia fleet's lifestyle. I love how subtle and casual Ledo's personality and expressions are changed by small things in the show. While his direct interaction with those around him don't do much to sway his personality, witnessing how people on the Gargantia live their lives in contrast to Ledo's opens up a new world for him. We actually experience Ledo's constant change in behaviour and expressions and I really appreciate how simple everything presented. Ledo's chat with Babel was something unexpected, and despite Ledo explaining how people like Babel are culled in space, Babel strikes a nerve in Ledo and turns Ledo's view on life upside down.

Using Chamber as a grill = GENIUS!!!

We don't need massive plots full of action or mystery to invoke change in a character, Ledo is a great example of how realizing and accepting a change of environment can work wonders for shaping a character. Aside from Ledo, Pinion's behaviour is always entertaining as he tries to skip out on important work to throw together a barbecue, showing that he is quite entertaining to watch.  

While Chamber can serve an infinite amount of use as a working robot to lift objects and help the fleet's constructions, Ledo is sidelined showing how useless he is. The relationship Amy has with Ledo isn't about feeling sorry for him, which I for one am glad this isn't turning into a mental drama about being useless and not fitting in. Instead Amy genuinely appears to be interested in Ledo and simply wants him to accept the changes to his environment and fit in as a member of their society. It is interesting how her delivery friends really show Amy's personality.

While one of these other messenger girls feels sorry for him, the other one only seems to be interested in his looks and having fun with him. Comparing these two to Amy really shows how Amy is the better of them and that she actually tries to understand Ledo and wants to help him become part of the Gargantia.

With that being said the rest of the events that followed were purely fan service, which stuck me as odd since the other characters that randomly show up in their swim wear haven't had much character development. I guess they tried to blend character development into fan service but overall I found it funny to see Ledo encounter a group of cross dressing hookers on a mission to purchase sauce for their party.

~Djr7