Written by Wataru Mitogawa Demographic Shōnen | Published by Kadokawa Shoten | |
Genre Social science fiction, Adventure, Mecha, Romance Magazine Newtype Ace
(until July 10, 2013)
Kadokawa Niconico Ace
(since July 16, 2013) Original run January 10, 2013 – January 28, 2014 | ||
Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet (Japanese: 翠星のガルガンティア, Hepburn: Suisei no Garugantia) is a Japanese anime television series produced by Production I.G and directed by Kazuya Murata, and aired between April and June 2013. A manga adaptation began serialization in Kadokawa Shoten's Newtype Ace magazine in January 2013.
Contents
Plot
In the distant future, mankind has taken to the stars and formed the Galactic Alliance of Humankind (人類銀河同盟, Jinrui Ginga Dōmei). The Alliance is engaged in a perpetual war with a tentacled alien species known as the Hideauze (ヒディアーズ, Hidiāzu). Sixteen-year-old Ensign Ledo is a soldier in the Galactic Alliance, piloting a Machine Caliber (マシンキャリバー, Mashin Kyaribā), an artificial intelligence-automated, humanoid-shaped battle suit, which he refers to as "Chamber". After a failed attempt by the Alliance forces to destroy an enemy super-weapon, Ledo is knocked into a wormhole and loses consciousness. When he awakens, he learns from Chamber that he has been in cryo-stasis for six months while his wounds were healing. Ledo learns that he and Chamber have been "found" by a rag-tag band of "primitive" human scavengers. Ledo discovers that he is on board an ocean ship named the Gargantia, that is part of a massive fleet of ships on an ocean-covered planet. Chamber tells him that local star charts reveal the planet is Earth, the birthplace of humanity, a place that members of the Alliance were only familiar with from stories and believed was a myth.
Main characters
Gargantia
Machine Calibers
Highly advanced mech used by the Galactic Alliance of Humankind which was established when the humans in space joined forces against its common enemy; the Hideauze.
Other characters
Production
Gen Urobuchi explained on the official website that the message of the story is aimed towards those in their teens and 20s, who are either about to enter into society or recently have, and is meant to cheer them on and to encourage them that "going out into the world isn't scary". He also said that the feeling of this work will be different from others he's been involved with.
Development of Gargantuan on the Verdurous Planet began around November 2010, according to producer Nao Hirasawa. Mechanical designer Makoto Ishiwata said that he began his design work about two months in, and that the mechanical designs were focused on bringing out aspects of the plot. The roundness of the Machine Caliber's design was meant to bring out a sense of gentleness and familiarity. The difference between the personalities of Chamber and Striker were to represent a sense of a child and a grown adult.
After about a half year's worth of production, Kazuya Murata was brought in as the series director. Murata had been harboring the desire to work on a story involving people living on ships atop a world of water about ten years before the series started. Some of the story had already been arranged, but he introduced the concept of people living on giant boats, and Urobuchi liked the idea a lot, and quickly worked it into the story. According to Urobuchi, as they revised the plot further, Murata tended to have a very good sense of judgement as to what to put in and what not to put in, and was clear about what he was looking for, so the organization went a lot more smoothly than he thought it might have. Urobuchi was put in charge of writing the first and last episodes once the green-light was given for a thirteen-episode series in order to set the theme for the other writers.
Some weeks after the series started airing, a character design contest related to the anime series was announced. It was hosted on Pixiv, and Murata and staff members of Production I.G judged the entries submitted until the deadline of May 12. Originally only one among the submitted designs would be chosen, however there were twelve entries which impressed the judges to the point of announcing all of them as winners. The twelve chosen characters made an appearance in the series finale on June 30, 2013.
Novels
Starting a few months before the series aired, the official website began updating on a monthly basis to include short stories that further expand on the Gargantia universe. On April 3, 2015, at an event in Tokyo, Bandai Visual revealed that a sequel for the anime was planned, but due to "various circumstances", was scrapped. The material intended for the sequel was instead adapted into two novels, which were published on August 29, 2015 and March 30, 2016 in Japan.
Manga
Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet received a manga adaptation, drawn by Wataru Mitogawa. The series' serialization began in the 17th issue of Kadokawa Shoten's Newtype Ace magazine, released on January 10, 2013, and after the magazine's final issue, July 10, 2013, it continued in Niconico's Kadokawa Niconico Ace web magazine. The manga has also been collected in three tankōbon volumes, published between April 8, 2013, and March 7, 2014. A spin-off manga series, titled Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet: Mizuhana no Bellows (翠星のガルガンティア 水端のベローズ, lit. "The Headwaters' Bellows"), drawn by Shū with story assistance by Hiroki Uchida, began serialization in Enterbrain's Famitsu Comic Clear website on June 7, 2013. and ended on January 30, 2015. The series has been collected in two tankōbon volumes.
Anime
The anime is directed by Kazuya Murata and produced by Production I.G with character design by Hanaharu Naruko. Gen Urobuchi supervised and wrote the first and last episodes of the series. The anime premiered on Tokyo MX on April 7, 2013, and is being streamed by Crunchyroll. A web short titled "Petit Gargantia" (Puchitto Gargantia) streamed on their official site for each episode. On March 30 and 31, 2013, at the Anime Contents Expo Bandai Visual's booth gave away 8000 copies of the first two episodes on Blu-ray Disc. The opening theme is Kono Sekai wa Bokura o Matte Ita (この世界は僕らを待っていた, "This World Has Been Waiting For Us") by Minori Chihara while the ending theme is Sora to Kimi no Message (空とキミのメッセージ, "Sky and Your Message") by ChouCho. An OVA 14th episode was released along with first Blu-ray Disc box set on August 28, 2013, and another, 15th, was released with the third one on October 25, 2013. The sets also include subtitles in English. At Anime Expo 2013, Viz Media announced their license to the anime, as well as plans to stream the series on their website and Hulu and release it on DVD and Blu-ray Disc in 2014. A two-part OVA sequel, titled Suisei no Gargantia ~Meguru Kōro, Haruka~ (翠星のガルガンティア ～めぐる航路、遥か～), was released in the Fall 2014 and Spring 2015.
Reception
In April 2014, the series was nominated for the Seiun Award.