Gargantia 5:
Mecha nyotaimori? Gross. I wish that someone would throw me a party because I can't find a job. Given my current prospects I'd probably be at the party for the rest of my life.
You know, for all of the swimsuit episodes where the world seems to grind to a halt solely for the sake of getting in some ostensible exposure, I never thought I'd see a swimsuit episode where the characters' world literally grinds to a halt to facilitate this :lol At least we were mercifully not subjected to shitty designated beach activities--no volleyballs, no watermelons, no yuri groping orgies. The Gargantians, in spite of their technological regression, are in actuality a highly enlightened culture when it comes to recreational beach activities; their first inclination after stripping down to their undergarments is to consume copious amounts of grilled meat. I can get behind this.
Still, there's no avoiding that this was a waste of an episode. I appreciate that there was actually a narrative and that, if it had to be a swimsuit episode, there was a compromise in that events continue to happen and the girls simply remain in their state of undress through events. It's the anime equivalent of equipping the sexiest outfit in the game to female characters in a JRPG where costume equips still reflect in cut scenes. Even so, the overarching "clash of cultures" and, consequentially, Ledo's growth were sidelined this episode for a fuwafuwa series of events that could have been transplanted to any setting in any show with a few alterations. This would be more forgivable if the show was twice its length, but at only thirteen episodes, every single one needs to deliver something meaningful.
