Suiseu no Gargantia episode 6: Harem Shake

Okay....so....yeah. I try to blog shows before I read anyone else's opinions. That way I just blog my natural reaction based on knowledge I should already know from the show. People can be spoiler or explain things from the source material that might taint my understanding of the episode. But for some reason...some reason...I thought people were going to be outraged by this insanity. Like I need to make sure other people feel the same way I do. Comfort from the internet.

Beware the strong opinions ahead!

CLEARLY WRONG! Okay there were some people who saw the truth but they were outnumbered by those who see the beauty in "growth". Here is Suiseu no Gragantia episode 6. Fanservice for all.

Smile through the crazy?

Episode Summary: Ledo has received his payment from Chamber's hard work and he is shocked by how much money he has earned. Or tokens as he puts them. However will he spend all of this money? Was he overpaid? WHAT IS REAL?! Amy had showed up to invite Ledo to a festival but tries to help him get over this insane crisis he is having. She has to explain what a festival is but sees that the more pressing matter might be finding Ledo a real job so he can feel more helpful. Since things have picked back up Ledo is able to find work fishing, probably due to Amy and her shiny limbs being so shiny. The crew explains to Ledo that the sea galaxy merges with the ocean currents and forms rings which can trap fish due to the electrode stuff or another. Ledo decides to man a regular mecha and not Chamber to prove that he can do this alone. Only the machine is very simple and Ledo might not be used to doing things for himself. Plus the basics for this machine require swimming skills and Ledo cannot swim. Thus Ledo fails. After Ledo's failure Amy tries to take Ledo out for lunch but he orders apparently boring/gross food. Amy talks to Ledo about the festival and how much fun they are going to have and that he needs to enjoy the food on his face. She would have bothered him more had her friends not run by and told her to hurry up and change. Amy eats beyond fast and runs off with the girls, promising Ledo fun later. Chamber has decided to try the fishing thing by himself, without Ledo piloting him. Chamber uses his super weapons to.....blasts the fish onto the ship. Chamber does not understand why this is unacceptable. Pinion catches Ledo being sad and working on his flute and offers to take him out for more food. Ledo talks about how he wants to return to space but can't and wants to be useful around the ship but can't. Pinion talks to Ledo about how weird Ledo is and that is why he is having a hard time fitting in. Pinion buys Ledo some great tasting food and offers him a job in salvaging. Bellows comes out of nowhere and says to stop cheating. She offers Ledo the same exact type job and the two try to one up each other, Bellows offering to make Ledo useful and Pinion offering...asses.

What is this? Words? MORE BOOBIES!

Speaking of asses.....Amy and her two friends jump on stage and decide to start dancing in regards to the festival apparently. For 5 minutes or forever Bellows and Pinion argue while Ledo looks on at the horror that is fanservice on the stage. Ledo has a brief freak out moment when a dish arrives and it looks like Hideauze. Bellows and Pinion add humor to the situation by saying it is just squid and there are bigger one under the sea. After the freak out Chamber requests Ledo's help as the fish blasting thing has not gone well. Ledo pilots Chamber and they are able to actually bring in a ton of fish using some traditional methods and their amazing fire power. Then...it is after the festival and Amy and Ledo are on the ship's edge looking at towards the water. Ledo shows off his flute and then freaks out over the....sea galaxy breaking down into a crazy light show. There is some tension as Ledo was touching Amy. They break away slightly blushy and Amy breaks the ice....by offering to do a private show for Ledo. She dances again and Ledo can't stop looking at her and the crazy light show. After the dancing they go and visit Bevel and give him some small treats. Ledo explains he used his salary to make sure everyone had a good time. The doctor says that is proof that Ledo is needed by people. Soon after Bellows and Ledo make their first trip, Ledo saying he wanted Bellows to teach him something. They soon find “treasure” but Ledo freaks out. Chamber has identified that there is a Hideauze in the area. A squid with green glowing crap (similar to the sea galaxy) then starts swimming fast towards them. THE END!

I have to rough trying to blog this!

I don't even know where to begin folks. I don't even know. My mind is full of so many thoughts. Mainly because instead of blogging this episode right away last night I went on the internets to see other people's reactions and was shocked at what I read and spent a lot of before sleep time planning on burning bras and taking down the man. All the mans.

99.97 percent of the conversation about this episode is about the fanservice, not this THE MOST IMPORTANT THING!

Fanservice. Not a fan. But Tenchi you love yaoi. You love hot guys being hot with other guys. Or maybe a hot guy just being hot. Yes I can admit that. Objectifying anyone based on their looks is never a good thing. But there is a difference, obviously. Women are more likely to say, wow what deep beautiful eyes or gorgeous hair or a perfectly sculptured face. Woman are less likely to look at a man and go oh yeah what a perfect looking penis, I can't wait for that to be inside me. Look at that ass, I can't wait to spank that hard piece of flesh. Am I really typing this to make a point? Yes I am sadly.

Okay clearly I didn't take enough pictures of the dancing...I wonder why.

So yes while there might be eye candy for us woman it is clearly different. I read someone's response to this episode by posting a picture of Ledo when half of his uniform is off. As if that is the same thing that happened in this episode. Ledo sitting on the ground adjusting to the temperature changes and physical labor of this world is not the same as Amy and her friends doing what they did in this episode. For us woman we either have to imagine the sexy or just accept the pretty face we are only shown. For us woman our “fanservice” is not in our faces and all over the damn place.

THIS was the point. I GET IT!

Before I continue I want to say I understand WHAT the point was with this point mess. I don't need it to be explained to me. Ledo the crazy soldier from space who doesn't understand fun or what it is like to be human is experiencing it for the first time. Like wow this is what girls look at why are my pants getting tighter. I get that was supposed to be the point. I just think it was poorly executed, lasted way too long, and really doesn't make sense in the grand scheme of things and many people are defending “the dancing” at every turn either because they love their fanservice or they really think life isn't full of sexist moments.

See, not romantic. HARDCORE. To get sponsors yo.

Case in point...Ledo. From the limited information we have about his life before Earth...things were different. I think that the show should have showed more people from Ledo's world. It is hard to tell if Ledo is just the typical soldier or if he was really.....harsh and not the norm. Like maybe other soldiers were hoping to live and have a life outside of blowing up aliens, that Ledo read The Hunger Games and Attack on Titans and decided that Katniss and Mikasa weren't hard core enough and tried to take out all emotions. Hardcore!

Ledo should have been saying that about them being half dressed!

What was my point again? Oh yes it was me assuming that every soldier might be like Ledo, it is killing aliens and living in pods til you are freed from service. If that is the case everything was probably uniformed across the board. Everyone had the same uniforms that covered up most of their body. So is there a reason why Ledo wasn't more shocked by everyone's appearances off the bat? I am not saying he should have been having blushing faces and going BOOBIES! Because obviously that would be stupid. But if this show is REALLY about showing Ledo's growth and not random fanservice scenes then there should have been a moment in the episode where Ledo was asking Chamber about what people were wearing. Like Chamber, most of these humans have their bodies exposed to the elements why is that? Whatever Chamber's answer was doesn't matter as Ledo could have still said....then why do the females have MORE of their bodies exposed, especially certain body parts. Then over time Ledo would start to notice it was more about fashion choices, functionality, and maybe a bit of sexuality until the Dancing Amy came on scene. That would make this a bit easier to swallow and not out of place.

And the festival is where?

But that scene never happened. We have had a lot of moments of shiny limbs and girls running around in next to nothing while the men are mostly covered. Sure they are not wearing suits or long sleeve shirts but the men are working in the same elements as the woman are more covered. It would appear to me things are more to the fanservice side. Another point being WHERE the dancing took place. Amy mentioned a festival. Okay that is a place where people wearing things that don't usually don and dancing occurs. I can get down with that. THEN WHY WAS THE DANCING AT A RESTAURANT?! Almost a bar like restaurant?! I am not sure where all the people on MAL go but most bars do not have nearly naked dancers on stage. I mean STRIP JOINTS do and maybe some places in Vegas. But in general bars and restaurants are wear you eat food and social with the people around you. So strike two! If this had been a festival, with a more party atmosphere the dancing would not feel so forced. But since it didn't...there you go.

Just....what the hell is this face?

Let's talk about the dancing itself. I think I will save my rants about the sexualization of young girls for another day, especially on the heels of the movie Brave and the main character Merida being sexyfied. Because obviously the argument that 200 years ago 13 year olds were getting married doesn't fly with me. I am sure the culture was different in such a way that 13 year olds were RAISED to be responsible by that age and aren't like the 13 year olds we have running around being stupid. But yes putting all that nonsense aside..it was the dancing itself that was odd! I mean...I was expecting one of the girls to ask for John the Baptists head with how things were going. Where were the rich men sitting around looking at them and offering to buy them? However...when you looked at Amy's face...her movements did not match her facial expression. I thought the private Ledo show (which was still a giant leap instead of a baby step in terms of his development) was better executed. Her facial expressions matched what she was doing. At the restaurant she was....crazy happy. Like she was riding a fun ride or doing karaoke with friends. Not shaking her ass in front of tons of people. It was just bizarre and I felt Ledo was looking at her out of fear or shock as this seemed so out of character. Strike three and you are out!

OH! Clearly Ledo can see this ass shaking from where he is sitting because there aren't people standing in front of him and this girl is CLEARLY NOT FACING THE OTHER WAY!

Half of my post is about the dumb dance and why it is more useless fanservice than “plot” needed. And that my friends is why I hate fanservice. It takes away from the episode. At least to me. But according to half the people on MAL my opinion doesn't matter as it doesn't cater to me, this show. It is for men. And if I don't like it I should watch something else. You mean...I should watch ONE SHOW A SEASON?! Because obviously (this post was brought to you by the word obviously...) more shows cater to men than woman as they are the buyers for anime in Japan. That means scenes like this happen all the time and I as a woman should accept them because hello it is the year 2013 and aren't I used to fanservice by now. I see it more as it is the year 2013 and maybe men should stop looking at the breasts and butts of woman, that we have pretty eyes and lovely hair and fun personalities and our value shouldn't come from how hard we can make your penis. But you know...that is just crazy talk.

Brain cannot compute!

So did anything else happen in this episode? Before my brain exploded and the fact that people haven't changed much in the past 4983483 years? Well Ledo being concerned that he was overpaid was interesting. He feels as if he hasn't been pulling his weight, that without Chamber he really wouldn't be able to contribute much to this society. And Ledo can understand that value, being a person of worth. So I can see how he would be upset at not contributing enough and then being paid too much on top of that? Woe is him.

At the festival we aren't going to show!

Amy really should have said...well you are paid that much because you need to pay for other things. Not just food and “Air” if you would. In the real world you would need to pay for rent, clothes, household goods, medical bills, ect ect and on and on. Maybe in this world all of these things are already taken out of your pay? Like as long as you do the job you have everyone is paid the same and all of the basic needs are covered and whatever money you have left is yours for whatever, beer or hookers or whatever? But since Amy spends half her time being special and the other half being really observant she went...well buy candy at the festival!

Hurry and hire this kid so we can take more breaks!

The festival we never saw folks! That out of place dancing really should have happened there but instead we saw no festival at all, just the fact that Amy and Ledo went and had left over treats. That is another point for the fanservice side. We just had an episode of fun last episode. Remember the BBQ? Now there is another party? Of course they couldn't show the festival. It seems to me that life on this new Earth is really cushy when it should be super hard. Like look at us having so much fun all day long woohoo! So no festival for us because that would just be too much fun.

Thanks for the help!

I think that Ledo is being set up to fail. This kid WANTS to work but is not really given much direction. Like okay you want work do this now. Like where is the training? I really didn't think that many people on this ship could swim so making fun of Ledo would be...pointless yes? I mean just because you are surrounded by water doesn't mean you know how to swim. They are in giant boats, I don't think swim days come that often. Some people might never leave the ship to go to smaller boats that would maybe leave to swimming. So Ledo..I am sorry they decided that throwing you in the water was a good idea. Clearly it wasn't.

They ask for fish, I bring it to them prechopped. What more do they want?

I am glad Chamber messed up with the fishing. Again no real direction was given to Chamber. I know a bit about giving people a lot of directions for simple tasks because I work with...special people. Chamber did what he was told, he captured fish. He wasn't told what state the fish had to be in. Because he is a robot. He doesn't understand what he did was wrong. Dead fish is dead fish. So that is why Ledo...really any pilots are needed. Because Chamber seems so...amazing why does he need a pilot to fight giant aliens? But there has to be a reason and this scene shows us why. Sometimes you need a human pair of eyes. That answers that.

Eye bleach? Just saying.

I like how this show is supposed to be about Ledo learning and growing in this new world and perhaps the people learning and growing by just being around him. But some of this things are happening too fast. I am pretty sure Pinion wanted to get rid of Ledo and steal his Chamber. But then he is off throwing him parties and wanting him to join his crew. Even if the same principals of fishing look like they are applied to salvaging and I don't know how Ledo would be any better at that. In the end Ledo made the right choice going with Bellows because Pinion is dumb. But I think that Ledo only went with Bellows so he can learn about girls. Hmmm.

Clearly all those scenes of the asses and boobs of the girls shown DURING this scene are from Ledo's perceptive too right MAL?

This show has not been handling serious moments very well. Almost like they introduce the premise of being serious and never follow through. Ledo kills all those pirates and people put on shocked faces...but then it was quickly forgotten. People should still be scared of Ledo. And Ledo....well I like his freak out scene at the restaurant. That felt real. He has been raised to be a soldier and I am sure all those instincts don't go away over night. So when he is scared of rain or octopus or other things...it makes sense. Just that people should be wary around him. Instead the laughing and eating a piece of it in front of Ledo and Ledo being okay with it (or looking okay with it) 5 seconds later isn't really working with me.

Kill the sucker! Then ask questions.

I guess the last 5 seconds of the episode were the most important part. If this show is slice of life, fine. If this show is going to end is a blood bath, I see that too. I CAN READ THE SYNOPSIS. But it probably needs to pick which direction it is going to go soon. Did Ledo fall into a time loop situation? Or did the evil aliens always come from Earth and a few are laying dormant? I am thinking....I don't know. Ledo freaked out when he saw the object, before the squid swam up. Like was it a craft from the Alliance and that is why Ledo knew? Either way this is either the beginning of the end for our happy times or a minor snafu that Ledo will correct later, saving the day so the happy times can continue. I want to know now though. XO Minus the dancing of course.