Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet - Wikipedia

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Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet
Key visual of the series
翠星のガルガンティア (Suisei no Gargantia)
Genre	Mecha[1] Science fantasy[2]
Manga
Written by	Wataru Mitogawa
Published by	Kadokawa Shoten
Magazine	Newtype Ace (January 10–July 10, 2013) Kadokawa Niconico Ace (July 16, 2013–January 28, 2014)
Demographic	Shōnen
Original run	January 10, 2013 – January 28, 2014
Volumes	3
Anime television series
Directed by	Kazuya Murata
Written by	Gen Urobuchi
Music by	Taro Iwashiro
Studio	Production I.G
Licensed by	NA: Viz Media UK: Crunchyroll[a]
Original network	Tokyo MX, YTV, CTV, BS11
Original run	April 7, 2013 – June 30, 2013
Episodes	13 (List of episodes)
Manga
Mizuhana no Bellows
Written by	Hiroki Uchida
Illustrated by	Shū
Published by	Enterbrain
Magazine	Famitsu Comic Clear
Demographic	Shōnen
Original run	June 7, 2013 – January 30, 2015
Volumes	2
Original video animation
Directed by	Kazuya Murata
Written by	Gen Urobuchi
Music by	Taro Iwashiro
Studio	Production I.G
Licensed by	AUS: Hanabee Entertainment NA: Viz Media UK: Crunchyroll
Released	August 28, 2013 – October 25, 2013
Runtime	24 minutes
Episodes	2 (List of episodes)
Original video animation
Far Beyond the Voyage
Directed by	Kazuya Murata
Written by	Gen Urobuchi Daishiro Tanimura
Music by	Taro Iwashiro
Studio	Production I.G
Released	November 21, 2014 – May 27, 2015
Runtime	55 minutes
Episodes	2 (List of episodes)
Light novel
Haruka, Kaigō no Tenchi
Written by	Daishiro Tanimura
Illustrated by	Hanaharu Naruko, Makoto Ishiwata
Published by	Enterbrain
Imprint	Famitsu Bunko
Demographic	Shōnen
Original run	August 29, 2015 – March 30, 2016
Volumes	2

Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet (Japanese: 翠星のガルガンティア, Hepburn: Suisei no Gargantia) 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.

In the distant future, humankind has taken to the stars and formed the Galactic Alliance of Humankind (人類銀河同盟, Jinrui Ginga Dōmei). The Galactic Alliance is engaged in a perpetual war with a squid-like 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 mecha, which he refers to as "Chamber". After a failed attempt by the Galactic Alliance to destroy an enemy super-weapon, Ledo is knocked into a wormhole and loses consciousness.

When he awakens, he discovers that he and Chamber have been "salvaged" by a rag-tag band of "primitive" human scavengers aboard the Gargantia, 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 Galactic Alliance were only familiar with from stories and believed was a myth. Ledo must adjust to the language, culture and lifestyle of the planet, while finding his new purpose in life aboard the Gargantia.

Ledo (レド, Redo)

Voiced by: Kaito Ishikawa (Japanese); Alan Lee (English)

A 16-year-old Galactic Alliance ensign. Trained as a soldier since birth, Ledo finds himself shipwrecked on Earth following a failed attempt by the army to destroy the Hideauze's home planet. As he interacts with his new surroundings and gets used to the crew of the Gargantia, Ledo is exposed to some concepts of human society long forgotten by his civilization (or at least obscured from its soldiery) due to its permanent state of total war against the Hideauze, like entertainment, cooperation and tolerance. Ledo gradually grows attached to his new friends on Gargantia.

Chamber K6821 (チェインバー, Cheinbā)

Voiced by: Tomokazu Sugita (Japanese); Matthew Mercer (English)

Chamber is Ledo's masculine mecha and artificial intelligence assistant; a mass produced robot used in great numbers by the Galactic Alliance of Humankind. Chamber describes itself as a program designed specifically to ensure that its pilot excels at his or her assigned task, which in the case of Ledo is a soldier. Upon meeting the people of the Gargantia, Chamber manages to analyze and decode their language to act as a translator between Ledo and the people on Gargantia.

Amy (エイミー, Eimī)

Voiced by: Hisako Kanemoto (Japanese); Cassandra Lee Morris (English)

A 15-year-old messenger who meets Ledo when he wakes up from hibernation and serves as his guide. She becomes Ledo's first and best friend, and from all the members of Gargantia, she is the one who gets closest to him, usually keeping him company and encouraging his efforts to fit himself into the fleet's environment. She eventually falls in love with him.

Striker X3752 (ストライカー, Sutoraikā)

Voiced by: Ayumi Fujimura (Japanese); Karen Strassman (English)

A Galactic Alliance feminine robot designed for higher ranked soldiers originally used by Ledo's superior officer, Kugel. Off-screen, they also crash-land on Earth and join a fleet, but assume totalitarian militaristic control over it. After Kugel dies from illness, Striker assumes his identity and continues to command the fleet, serving as the series antagonist in later episodes.

Ridget (リジット, Rijitto)

Voiced by: Sayaka Ohara (Japanese); Laura Post (English)

A 22-year-old high rank officer at the Gargantia, she is Fleet Commander Fairlock's second in command and daughter of his predecessor, Chevron. Following Fairlock's death, she takes over as Fleet Commander, following his wish.

Bellows (ベローズ, Berōzu)

Voiced by: Shizuka Itō (Japanese); Julie Ann Taylor (English)

The 18-year-old leader of the Gargantia's excavation team.

Pinion (ピニオン, Pinion)

Voiced by: Katsuyuki Konishi (Japanese); Patrick Seitz (English)

The head of the Gargantia's repairmen. His older brother was killed by whalesquid, and upon learning of Ledo's intention to exterminate them due to their connection to the Hideauze, he decides to assist him with the pretense of exploring the whalesquid territory for salvage work. After Ledo clears the area of the whalesquid, Pinion claims the technology salvaged by his crew to establish his own fleet, which is later annexed to Kugel's fleet. In the occasion, Pinion is appointed to be chief technician of Kugel's fleet in charge of developing weapons for it.

Bebel (ベベル, Beberu)

Voiced by: Yuka Terasaki (Japanese); Michelle Ruff (English)

Amy's 10-year-old little brother with an illness that compromises his health, thus he is usually bedridden, and only moves by a wheelchair. He befriends Ledo, who treats him as a younger brother.

Fairlock (フェアロック, Fearokku)

Voiced by: Hideaki Tezuka (Japanese); Geoffery Chalmers (English)

The fleet commander of the Gargantia, who despite being sick, refuses to relinquish his post. He appoints Ridget as his successor just before he passes away.

Saaya (サーヤ, Sāya)

Voiced by: Ai Kayano (Japanese); Natalie Hoover (English)

Amy's friend and a reserved 15-year-old messenger.

Melty (メルティ, Meruti)

Voiced by: Kana Asumi (Japanese); Janice Roman Roku (English)

A hyper 14-year-old messenger who is also Amy's friend. She leaves Gargantia along with the many who decide to follow Pinion's plan.

Reema (リーマ, Rīma)

Voiced by: Inori Minase

A new character from the OVA series, she is a former member of Kugel's fleet who moves to the Gargantia and becomes the newest member of Amy's messenger team. She is later revealed as a spy for an unknown party, ordering a machine which resembles Chamber.

Grace (グレース, Gurēsu)

Voiced by: Ai Kayano (Japanese); Michelle Ruff (English)

Amy's pet flying squirrel.

Flange (フランジ, Furanji)

Voiced by: Eizō Tsuda (Japanese); Doug Stone (English)

A major shipleader in the Gargantia who agrees with Pinion's plan and secedes from the fleet to accompany his efforts to reclaim technology from ancient civilizations. Later he is forced to join Kugel's fleet along the rest of his crew.

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.^[3]

The anime was 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 aired on Tokyo MX from April 7 to June 30, 2013. It was streamed by Crunchyroll.^[4] 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.^[5] 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.^[3] An OVA 14th episode was released along with first Blu-ray Disc box set on August 28, 2013,^[6] and another, 15th, was released with the third one on October 25, 2013.^[7] The sets also include subtitles in English.^[8][9] 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.^[10] On January 14, 2014, Manga Entertainment announced that it has licensed the series in the United Kingdom.^[11][12][13] The two-part OVA sequel, titled Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet: Far Beyond the Voyage (翠星のガルガンティア ～めぐる航路、遥か～, Suisei no Gargantia ~Meguru Kōro, Haruka~), was released in Fall 2014 and Spring 2015.^[14] A planned second season was unable to be produced; however, the scenario was turned into a pair of novels.^[15]

Development of Gargantia 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.^[16]

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.^[17]

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.^[18][19]

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.^[21] The sequel would instead be published as two novels, titled Suisei no Gargantia ~Haruka, Kaigō no Tenchi~ (翠星のガルガンティア ～遥か、邂逅の天地～, "Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet: Far Beyond the Chance Meeting of Heaven and Earth"), which were published on August 29, 2015 and March 30, 2016 in Japan.

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,^[22] and after the magazine's final issue, July 10, 2013, it continued in Niconico's Kadokawa Niconico Ace web magazine.^[23] The manga has also been collected in three tankōbon volumes, published between April 8, 2013, and March 7, 2014.^[24][25] 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.^[26] and ended on January 30, 2015. The series has been collected in two tankōbon volumes.

In April 2014, the series was nominated for the Seiun Award.^[27]

• Official website
• Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia