Suisei No Gargantia is the new series from acclaimed writer Gen Urobochi. As a large fan of his previous work, Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica, I was immediately intrigued. So far I have watched 3 episodes, and all I can say is I hope to god this gets better.

Suisei takes place on earth after it has been flooded by water due to the polar ice caps melting, and centers around a mysterious man with great power, in this case via a giant robot, shunned because of these powers, being befriended by a native girl and helping to save the girl and her community from evil pirate raiders. So basically Mecha Waterworld. The world is interesting, with some cool science and great detail on the ships; seriously, I can almost FEEL the rust on them; the designs are that great. The character designs, however, are a little too cute. I’m sorry, but the main girl perpetually rosy cheeks. That’s either forced moe or foreshadowing a high-blood pressure subplot.

Suisei actually only has the first and last episodes written by Urobochi, with the other episodes being written by other people and the director having a larger part in the creative vision. In fact, the second and third episodes were not even being written by the same guy. Why do I make a point of that? Because it is very evident in the show’s subpar writing. Put simply, so far I like maybe one character, the giant robot. The rest I am either indifferent toward because they are just a little generic or I actively dislike because they act like jerks. Of special mention is the entire group of people in charge of the ship, who constantly talk about how the character with unspeakable power and who has said that he is willing to help them is “such a nuisance!”. Also, Pompadour Guy (he has a name, but you’ll remember his hair more) constantly talks about how they should just dismantle the robot and throw the kid to the sharks, which is both stupid and assholish. I mean, this guy is in the OP. I can tell I’m going to love him already!

The end of episode 3 made me a little bit more optimistic about the course of the show, as some of the characters were actually grateful, but I’m not getting my hopes too high. I’m going to keep watching this show, but I doubt it will end up being anything above an 8.