myrtle.sauer - 2013-09-18 00:18:06

Gargantia was a hit or miss series judging from the reactions I have seen. Personally I enjoyed it - despite its predictability, it was a beautiful and charming story that everyone should give a chance.

On the Blu-rays comes not only improvements to the animation and art, but two unaired OVA's. Those hoping for a continuation of events after Gargantia may be disappointed - both episodes take place before the events of the series. These episodes will not mean much to people who haven't already finished Gargantia, so I cannot recommend that you watch these before finishing the series.

The first OVA (ep 14) is about Ridget's past.

While Ridget does take on an important role later on in Gargantia, we know little of her background besides what is only told to us. This OVA does a good job of filling in some of those blanks, when investigating an abandoned ship colony she realizes she knew some of the people who used to inhabit it. We then spend a good half of the episode in a flashback about Ridget's past and one of her former friends.

It's a little heartbreaking, but also touching. And while I wish for more Ledo and Amy bonding, we do get enough of it that I am satisfied until the second OVA appears next month (according to what I've been told).

I would give episode 14 an 8/10.

The second OVA (ep 15) fills us in on how Kugel - and his Yunboro, Striker - became the leader of the pirate-turned-cult fleet that Ledo and Pinion encounter near the end of the first eason.

The story focuses around the relationship between Linaria, a girl who is visually and behaviorally similar to Amy, and the troubled heir to her late father's fleet, and Kugel, who conveniently appears on earth to save her from certain death from her half-sisters who are chasing and attempting to kill her - assumingly to take the fleet from her.

Linaria prays to the "God of the Sky" in her moment of need to save her, and Kugel unwittingly protects her as the enemy ships fire on Striker. He uses "minimal force" to suppres their attack, and ends up destroying all the ships. Yet, all the sailors survive, with a newfound fear of Linaria's supposed ability to summon Gods from the sky.

This series of events cements Linaria as the leader of the fleet, with Kugel at her side. Her eldest half-sister, Oceanid, however, is skeptical of the deification of Kugel and Striker, and makes an attempt to have him killed. However, it backfires, and it elevates the situation even further.

During this entire time, Linaria is visibly sick, and it is obvious here that we see how Kugel ended up dying later on, as he contracts her illness. Soon after, Linaria's illness takes her life, and from there the situation spirals out of control.

Linaria's last words to Kugel were meant to be heartfelt, but Kugel takes them in the wrong way, and starts to embrace his cult-like reign over the fleet in the vein of the Alliance laws. When Kugel inevitably dies, Striker takes the opportunity to continue leading the fleet in the fashion that the Alliance would have.

While this episode can be touching at times, everything felt very forced, and I didn't feel as strong of a connection between Kugel and Linaria as I believe there was meant to be. Perhaps if there was more than a single episode of development for this story it would have had more impact. It's unfortunate that there was some missed potential here. Thankfully, this is not the end for Gargantia, as if it were it would have ended on a somewhat mediocre note.

I give episode 15 a 6/10.

Still, I would recommend this duo of OVA's to fans of Gargantia. Ridget gets some much needed love in her short and sweet OVA, and Kugel's story, while flawed, does add more flavor and emotion to his story, and the fate of his fleet.