Anime Thoughts: Another Episode 11 - Makeup

Summary

Sugiura (she hasn’t been important until now) tells Akazawa she remembers going to elementary school with someone who looked exactly like ‘Misaki.’ But this girl didn’t have an eyepatch, which makes no sense since Mei lost her eye at four…

Teshigawara asks Kouichi and Mei if they know who Kazami (the other class rep and his best friend) is; they do, so…crap. He thought Kazami was the extra; when questioned he said he didn’t remember their childhood together very much. They got into a fight and Teshigawara ended up throwing him off their balcony. Kouichi points out that a two-story fall won’t necessarily kill someone.

The three rush to see if Kazami’s alive, but Kouichi spots the dining room door ajar and finds another classmate bleeding on the floor.  The dining room is on fire, the landlord stabbed to death inside. Akazawa comes to see what the commotion is about, and Teshigawara says Kazami was gone. They hear a scream from Akazawa and Sugiura’s room but find it deserted, blood on the bed and outside the door. Mochizuki asks what’s going on and says Kazami just came to his room and listened to the tape. Both are gone when they investigate.

They split up to look for Kazami and Sugiura. Teshigawara and Mochizuki stumble into the landlord’s wife, covered in blood and wielding a cleaver. She cuts Teshigawara’s leg and Mochizuki is forced to drag him down the hall while the latter stumbles after them.

The others run into Sugiura. She tries to attack Mei but Kouichi drives her off. Akazawa reveals that she and Sugiura have listened to the tape; they heard about what Kouichi has been doing through one of the students he met on his way to search the old classroom. Sugiura plays the tape over the P.A. system and declares that Mei is the dead one – her missing eye is proof she came back incomplete. The other students emerge from their rooms and prepare to kill Mei. Ms. Mikami tries to get them to back down but one of them accidentally kills her. Kouichi and Mei flee, and another student is killed while chasing them.

The fire in the dining room causes an explosion, collapsing part of the wall in the stairwell Kouichi and Mei have hidden in. Sugiura appears and tries to kill Mei again but accidentally hangs herself with the cables protruding from the collapsed wall. Akazawa appears right after, and seeing Mei with Sugiura’s scalpel in her hand, assumes she’s responsible. Mei realizes this will stop if the real dead one is killed and runs off.

Thoughts

Well, either everyone’s lost it or I need to revise my earlier statement about well-adjusted people being reluctant to kill anyone even in circumstances like these. I get that everyone’s pretty desperate by this point and that, quite frankly and unfair as it may be, Mei’s the obvious candidate, but still, are Ms. Mikami and those two students Kouichi warned about the fire the only ones who didn’t immediately reach for the nearest sharp object after Sugiura played the tape? With Akazawa it makes sense since she’s currently predisposed to dislike Mei, due to the latter, in her view, showing insufficient guilt over her role in failing to stop the curse (thus why she’d not draw the obvious conclusion that if Mei and Sugiura couldn’t have gone to elementary school together, maybe the latter is remembering a different Misaki). Sugiura has clearly gone off the deep end (not that we ever saw any evidence of the emotional instability Akazawa refers to) and nodded along to her accusations in episode 10, so again, I can believe her reaction; same with that girl who told Akazawa about Kouichi’s visit to the old classroom and died by falling out a window (at this point, I really can’t be bothered to look up her name) since her brother was killed because of the curse (at the end of episode 9, about 30 seconds after his only (faceless) appearance). Everyone else though…well, that goes back to the problem that we know absolutely nothing about any of them and have no real basis to even judge their reactions. I dunno, part of me can accept that they’re scared enough to act illogical by this point and this is a case of believing what you’re predisposed to believe, but another feels like is just an excuse to have a final ‘us vs. them’ showdown.

Also, Mei, I’m sure they aren’t likely to believe you (‘that was actually your twin sister? How convenient!’), but you could at least try telling them. Her earlier reluctance not to talk about her sister’s death made some sense, but it’s clear by now she’s realized the consequences of not speaking up, so she gets less slack from me this time for not making the attempt. She’s hardly the only one at fault here, but still. Way to go right back to the main problem we had at the beginning – characters simply not sharing information they know when there’s every reason to. Both are cases where the recipient may not believe it – Kouichi did assume Mei was just getting bullied at first (I wish they’d made that clearer sooner so his interest in her didn’t come across as plot convenience), and this time the opinion leaders (namely, Akazawa and Sugiura) are almost certainly won’t listen, but that doesn’t excuse not trying.

Anime Thoughts: Bodacious Space Pirates Episode 11 - Wanderer of Light

Summary

The lead ship in the fleet is the Queen Serendipity, flagship of the Serenity Defense Forces; clearly whoever sent them is serious about this. Marika sends Gruier away with Misa to learn how to put on a spacesuit then asks what the situation is. The other ships have surrounded a defined area, meaning they have a good idea where the ghost ship will appear next. The crew ask Marika what her plan is, and she says that while she wants to help Griuer as much as possible, the ship and its crew are her top priority and they’ll pull out if things get bad.

The Bentenmaru makes a jump into the target area, and after riding out the shockwaves of a space quake they see the ghost ship emerge from subspace. As soon as comms are restored they get a transmission for Gruier from the Queen Serendipity, sent by one Grunhilde Serenity. She demands that Gruier leave, but the latter accuses her younger sister of being manipulated, which she denies. She threatens to use force if Grier doesn’t do as asked.

The ghost ship suddenly launches an omni-directional scan and begins to wake up, living up to the ‘golden’ part of its name. The doors on one side start to open, and some hot-shot flying by Kane lets them beat the fleet to the ship. Once they’re in the doors close again and the ghost ship returns to subspace. Gruier means to go into the ship alone, but Marika says she’s coming with her; a captains needs to look out for the safety of both crew and passengers. The former knows she won’t be able to sway her and agrees.

Commentary

So I guess the fact someone or somebodies on Serenity really don’t want anyone else to find the ghost ship, including a member of the royal family, just isn’t that big of a deal to the Bentenmaru. But still, someone didn’t want Gruier to get the records and is serious enough to send out a top-of-the-line battleship for this mission, and if Gruier’s claim is true it’s not her sister. They haven’t even asked what Gruier wants to do on the ghost ship. I get the feeling at least some things are going to be explained next time, and a power struggle within the ruling family of Serenity, as this seems to be, probably isn’t that important to them so long as they get paid, but they’re taking this quite a bit in stride given how serious their opponents are and they consider actual combat to be a possibility. Schnitzer is seen getting the regular crew prepped for just such an occasion, and Marika makes an announcement to that they might have to fight the Serenity ships. When that level of risk is involved these just seem like questions they should be asking in advance.

Not much else going on this time, just Marika becoming more comfortable with her role and starting to think like a captain. The crew looks to her for decisions, she recognizes whom she has to put first, even if it might not make others happy, and understands that she has to look out for everyone on her ship. There really isn’t anything more to say.

Anime Thoughts: Another Episode 10 - Glass Eye

Since it starts with Akazawa having a dream about meeting Kouichi, and memory alteration would probably happen if someone's met the extra previously...

I dunno, that seems a bit too obvious.

Summary

The class arrives at the lodge at the foot of Mt. Yomiyama. Mochizuki has fixed the tape and our investigators listen to the rest. At the foot of the mountain Matsunaga got into a fight with a classmate and accidentally killed him. The latter’s absence went unnoticed that night, and when Matsunaga went back into the forest in the morning his body had vanished. When he asked his classmates about the other boy they had no idea who he was talking about, and as he makes the recording he’s sure he’ll soon forget too. No one died afterwards, and what happened is clear – that boy was the extra student. Killing him is what stopped the curse.

During dinner Akazawa stands and asks to say a few words. She apologizes for her ineptitude as head of countermeasures, declares that Mei is to blame for what happened since she didn’t avoid contact with Kouichi, and demands that she apologize. Kouichi, Teshigawara, and Mochizuki stand up for her but she relents and does so anyway. In the process Teshigawara almost lets slip how to stop the curse and an asthmatic classmate has an attack. His inhaler is empty and the phones are down, so Chibiki takes him to the hospital.

Kouichi shows Mei the class photo from 1972, which he finally found. She takes off her eyepatch to look at it and asks Kouichi to describe the 1972 Misaki; he describes him as looking blurred. Mei then tells him more about the other Misaki, her recently deceased cousin. The latter was one of twins. When Kirkia’s daughter was still-born Misaki’s parents were having financial trouble and decided to give Kirika one of their daughters. Misaki and Mei weren’t cousins – they were sisters. Mei was not allowed to see her birth mother, but she secretly began spending time with Misaki, who suddenly died this past April, before Kouichi joined the class, becoming the first victim of the curse. Mei didn’t tell anyone because she was unwilling to admit it had happened. That’s one reason she says Kouichi isn’t the extra student.

The main reason, however, is her artificial eye. Specifically, by ‘things that should remain unseen’, she means the color of death, and she doesn’t see it in herself or Kouichi. It’s clearest in dead people – she could see it in the 1972 Misaki – but it is also visible in those who are about to die. That’s why she wears an eyepatch, but when Kouichi presses she admits she knows who the extra is. Before she can say who Teshigawara bursts into the room – he says he may have done something horrible….

Thoughts

Now this is more like it. Akazawa’s reaction isn’t excusable, but it is understandable. Everyone is scared and that’s causing them to look for a scapegoat, something or someone they can decisively point to as the reason for everything. Since Akazawa got some nodding heads from her friends when she made her pronouncement she’s clearly not alone in putting the blame on Mei. Not everyone agrees with her conclusion, and as Mei herself asks, what purpose would apologizing serve? It’s not going to undo what’s happened, and, while this may not have been what Mei was getting at, it’s just a way to mask the class’s collective responsibility.

Whether or not what happened was inevitable, as Teshigawara tries to argue, the fact remains that multiple people could have done things differently, Akazawa not the least of them. At least she admits she didn’t perform her job (but, and since I haven’t brought it up yet, what, exactly does the head of countermeasures do anyway?) even if that doesn’t extend to admitting she bears some of the blame. This kind of conflict, dividing the class when they should be working together, with both sides reactions being understandable, is much more interesting than Kouichi blundering around wondering why people keep dying.

Even finally finding out how to stop the curse isn’t without possible tension. Just about any well-adjusted person would balk at the idea of killing someone, even if they’re supposed to be already dead and everyone will forget what happened in due course, and as long as there’s no way to find out who the extra student is, there’s the risk of killing the wrong person, which is definitely murder and not something that’ll be forgotten.

Unfortunately, that got undermined a little thanks to Mei having a way to find out all along, but at least her reasons for holding things back make more sense that any reason offered for why the class didn’t just tell Kouichi what’s going on in the first place. Or maybe I’m just more sympathetic to her because I was similarly reserved at that age. She’d just lost her best (and probably only) friend, and that just sucks, never mind that it may herald a year of watching your classmates die; nobody wants to go through that, especially when they’re already dealing with grief. Nor is seeing dead, or about to be dead, people a particularly welcome ability in that situation; without knowing how to stop the curse it’s only going to freak out the affected people, so it doesn’t do much good by itself. Maybe not airtight reasoning given what’s at stake, and how certain people got blamed, but the former at least is a highly emotional response, and those aren’t always logical.

Anime Quick Thoughts: Bodacious Space Pirates Episode 10 - Battle in the Storm

How can the Barbalusa cover for Marika when it was also hired to hunt the ghost ship?

Summary

While Chiaki poses as Marika, the Bentenmaru searches for the ghost ship in the midst of a stellar storm. Marika and Grier are eventually kicked off the bridge – the Hakuoh Academy rules forbid students from working more than eight hours – and while eating supper Marika notices the similarity in their situations, both wanting to be taken seriously but still treated differently by the adults. The next morning she isn’t happy to discover that the rest of the bridge crew pulled an all-nighter without her, but Coorie rebuffs that things aren’t so bad they need their teenage captain staying up all night.

In the past Serenity has sent out seventeen search teams looking for the ghost ship, which left behind search buoys that have this region covered extensively. The Bentenmaru was able to gather the accumulated data by transmitting Grier’s name, genetic information, and authorization code, which worked even though the last search team was sent fifteen years ago and Grier’s only thirteen. Their probes have also picked up a fleet of ships in the vicinity, undoubtedly after the same thing they are.

The probes pick up a large anomaly and the Bentenmaru makes a hyperspace jump to its location but discovers that it’s moving. But the other ships have followed them, and are scanning the area from multiple directions. Marika orders the ship to turn around and break through the rear group, which has only two ships, firing a dispersal shot to damage their sensors. The ships were from Serenity, and Grier asks to contact them. Marika refuses - since Grier is, of course, on a practice cruise with the yacht club right now that would give away the Bentenmaru’s trump card too early. Meanwhile, it’s time to outwit the fleet and claim the prize first!

Thoughts

Yep, this is more like it. Nothing says pirates like a treasure hunt (OK, there are plenty of other things that say ‘pirates,’ but that’s one of them), and this time there’s no stage show in sight (except, um, the stuff Chiaki’s doing; not that she’s having fun or likes wearing the uniform or anything…). The stakes are real and much higher this time, and it really gave Marika a chance to flex her skills and show her crew how she handles herself in a tight spot and her ability to take a long-term view of the situation . It’s not anything new – it’s well-established that she’s capable of making quick and sound decisions, but unlike on the Odette II they’re outnumbered and the opponents aren’t small-fry. It shows how much she’s growing into her role, and thanks to her enthusiastic declaration that they’ll act like pirates and outsmart their opponents, how much she’s really starting to enjoy it. The crew certainly appreciates it.

Of course, that doesn’t mean she isn’t running into other problems. One thing I like about this show is how it accounts for the fact Marika’s age and inexperience. In episode seven it was the consequences of her taking on the responsibilities of a full-time job (that requires heavy travel no less) on top  of trying to maintain her more typical commitments, not realizing just what she was getting into; now it’s how her age affects the way she’s regarded by others. She’s old enough to take on greater responsibilities, and as her reactions show, quite willing to do so, but she’s still bound by rules and expectations that don’t apply to the adults. Like just about every teenager she wants to be taken seriously but still needs to earn that respect, which isn’t always easy, especially when it involves being excluded from things that, as captain, she feels she should be part of. To be fair to the adults, she is trying to handle a lot for a fifteen-year-old and it’s quite sensible for them to see that she doesn’t push herself too hard, and they can clearly see that she’s gaining her sea legs (so to speak).

And as for Grier’s personal information working (and probably what would make the ghost ship “come to [her]” as she claims) despite her existence post-dating the last search team; methinks there’s a certain…redundancy in Serenity’s royal family.

Anime Quick Thoughts: Another

Episode 9 – Body Paint

Summary

After Nakao’s funeral, Chibiki tells Kouichi, Mei, and Mikami that he talked to one of the police detectives about what happened. The latter said that upon examination, Nakao had a head injury that occurred before he was hit by the boat; he was probably dead already when that happened. His family confirms that they heard a loud noise that morning, and when they investigated they saw him running out the door. In other words, he died of an injury that occurred in Yomiyama.

After a nightmare where the dead tell Kouichi it’s all his fault, he makes plans with Teshigawara and Mochizuki to investigate the old Class 3 room, the one where Matsunaga would have left the clue. They meet at the art club room the following afternoon, only to find Mei there. Since they can’t talk her out of coming along the four sneak into the old classroom, which is on the sealed-off second floor of the old school building. After a few close calls they manage to find the clue, a cassette tape hidden in a closet.

They sneak into the A/V room to play the tape, which is a recording done by Matsunaga. He says he is both confessing a sin and giving advice to future Class 3 students. Fifteen years ago, Class 3 cleaned up the old shrine on Mt. Yomiyama and prayed there together. The teacher asserted that this had freed them from the curse, but then it started to rain and two students were killed as everyone hurried down the mountain. At this point the group barely avoids getting caught by one of the teachers. In the process Teshigawara accidentally rips the tape, but Mochizuki thinks he can fix it.

Elsewhere, more people related to Class 3 die.

Thoughts

Well whadda ya know, there was actually a tiny bit of suspense this time. It helped that the ones putting themselves at risk were the interesting characters (well, Mochizuki’s still pretty bland, but I’ve gotten used to him being around), and with the two girls who were seen splitting up and walking home, each set up a possible opportunity alongside those exploring the classroom, so there was some uncertainty as to when and where something was going to happen. Granted, the former was more of a good setup than anything truly suspenseful (I strongly suspect I was just tense about something unrelated when I was watching the episode), and with the latter keeping us guessing was kinda moot since something happened in both cases, but it’s a step in the right direction.

Really, this episode was basically a lot of hints at things that should’ve been the case from the start. In addition to the above there’s the guilt Kouichi’s feeling over his role in what happened – hence the nightmare and why he only asked Teshigawara and Mochizuki to help him, to minimize the number of people at risk – and the glare Akazawa gave Mei after the funeral, hinting at the exact kind of resentment she’d warned her and Kouichi about. Emotional responses and interpersonal conflict like this would’ve made it much easier to get invested in the characters and done a better job of creating tension and ambiguity. Characters keep referring to how senseless the curse is, and that’s true. It seems to target people purely because they’re in or connected to Class 3, not because of anything they did, which is hardly fair. What can you justify doing to fight that – does it make ostracizing someone to the point of denying they exist okay, if it saves everyone else in the process? Is it better to hunker down and try to weather the storm or actively try to find out what’s going on and maybe stop it, knowing that doing so might put a lot of people at risk?

Questions like these and the potential for ambiguity the show’s premise has, like any emotional conflict on the characters’ part, has only been hinted at so far, and while it looks to slowly be coming to the fore I’m not sure how much can be done with them when there’s only three episodes left. Hopefully it can at least pull off a good finish.

Anime Quick Thoughts: Bodacious Space Pirates

Episode 9 – A Beautiful Launch

Summary

The Bentenmaru sends a transmission to the Serenity ships wherein Grier, dressed in Marika’s uniform, orders the pursuers to stand down. Afterwards they dock with the ship carrying the records, which are handed over by Grand Chamberlain Yotof and Catherine, captain of the royal bodyguards.

The next day Marika finds Chiaki at the yacht club. She’s only there to do some research (really). She tells Marika the Barbalusa was hired to hunt the golden ghost ship. It was done through an underground channel, so she doesn’t know who the client is, but they’ve also been ordered to destroy anyone else hunting the ship…

The club’s next guest is Grier, whom Jenny already knows. Her family’s shipping company has business dealings with Serenity. Grier came to them because Mami told her it was the best place to find someone well versed in “the illegal skill of ‘faking attendance.’” She wants people to think she’s still at school after she leaves to hunt the ghost ship. Jenny says that’s no problem since they’re going on a practice cruise during the post-exam break as a send-off for the graduating members – yes, she just decided that now, what of it? Grier is made a club member so she can go.

Marika gathers with her mother, Grier, and the bridge crew to review the data on the golden ghost ship. Two hundred years old, it was the first colony ship built, in an era before faster-than-light travel when putting passengers in cold sleep was necessary. Based on reported sightings they’ve been able to plot a map of its course, which will take them close to hazards such as black holes, nebulas, dwarf stars, and proto-planets. Marika insists they can’t be deterred, and a few days later the Bentenmaru begins the search.

Thoughts

A set-up episode; that’s basically it. One that wasn’t completely satisfying either. It was hinted at that something shady is going on behind the scenes, and that’s not really a problem – you don’t want to give away everything too quickly – but I do wonder why Marika and the crew haven’t deemed it prudent to ask Grier if she knows anything given what’s happened recently. Not only was the ship carrying the records being pursued, they deduced that Yotof and Catherine may have stolen it; isn’t anyone the least bit curious as to why they felt the need to do that? Then there’s Chiaki’s warning to Marika – obviously somebody doesn’t want anyone to find the ship before they do; doesn’t anyone want to know who it might be, even if it’s only theories or speculation? Maybe Grier genuinely doesn’t know – but she wants to hide her whereabouts, she must suspect something is up.

More than the lack of some prudent questions, though, the exposition felt incomplete. Why does Grier want them to find this ship; what’s on it? Why is it considered a ghost ship; did it never reach its destination? That map they plotted out gives the ship a course that looks like a circuit, albeit a weirdly-shaped one; why is it travelling like that? And why does it pass by so many dangerous phenomena? Again, there’s no need to reveal absolutely everything right off the bat, but it still felt like key and very basic information was missing.

Oh well, there’s still 17 episodes to go; plenty of time to make up for a lackluster one and pull of something truly good. This show hasn’t turned out to be what I expected, but so long as the pacing doesn’t keep staying so slow there’s a rushed ending or it ends up feeling incomplete it still has the potential to tell a good, solid story.

Also, I knew something was going to strain Marika and Chiaki’s friendship. OK, maybe this isn’t it, this looks like a likely time for it to happen.

Anime Quick Thoughts: Another

Episode 8 - Hair Stand

Summary

Kouichi and the others go with Reiko to the resort where Matsunaga works, but he’s away when they get there. In the meantime, since they’re outside Yomiyama, it’s summer, and the sea’s right there – beach time! By coincidence (totally!), Mei’s summer house is right nearby, so she turns up as well. We learn that her father is rarely in Japan, and these trips are mostly so the family can put up a pretense of normalcy.

After a day of horsing around and having fun, Matsunaga gets Reiko’s message and comes to see them. Kouich, Mei, and Akazawa question him about what he did fifteen years ago, but neither he nor Reiko is able to remember much. They remember that someone died on the mountain, that they went to the shrine, which is apparently rather run-down, and everyone joined hands, but not much else. Then Matusnaga realizes whatever he left behind is actually at the school. The wind suddenly picks up and blows the beach ball out into the water. Nakao (the guy who glared at Kouichi that one time) goes to get it but suddenly loses consciousness in the water. Before the others can get to him he’s killed by a boat propeller. Matusnaga suddenly remembers where he left a clue – it’s in the classroom.

Thoughts

Forget Yomiyama – this curse kills when people start to look too deeply into what’s going on. It’s that or leaving Yomiyama is as much of a crapshoot as making someone nonexistent.

It didn’t help that the whole setup for the episode – everyone having fun at the beach because they’re safe from the curse – was basically a giant neon sign flashing ‘somebody’s gonna bite it at the end!’ And, unsurprisingly, it was one of the two people there who’ve been background characters until now. As usual, I’m not saying that anyone who died deserved it, but in a series where the main source of tension is supposedly worrying about who’s going to die next, having bland characters isn’t going to make the deaths meaningful or shocking.

Really, it’s starting to look like character development is actually a sign that a character is safe. Which is odd, because if the curse really doesn’t want to be stopped you’d think it’d kill those who are showing an active interest in figuring out what’s going on. Akazawa says on the way to the beach that she volunteered to become head of countermeasures specifically to put a stop to the curse, and Kouichi has been showing initiative lately by being the one most actively seeking out additional information. Wouldn’t killing them make more sense? At least it make them more active characters, and Kouichi’s earlier curiosity less of a plot convenience since it’s still in evidence even after he’s been brought up to speed.

Still, neither compares to Mei, who’s easily the most fleshed-out character in the series. She started out as this mysterious and enigmatic girl, but we’ve since gotten some insight into her personal convictions (although being accustomed to isolation may have played more of a role in her acceptance of the non-existence role than I gave credit for), and this episode, especially her sullen expression when the mound of sand she was building got washed away, showed her emotional side. That and freaking out when a tiny octopus bit her hand showed a vulnerability that contrasts with the air of detachment she usually has. All told, I’d say she’s rather stoic about her situation – given her family history she’s clearly used to it – but she still feels lonely, and one can only bear so much of that. More than thinking she was being bullied by the others, that’s why Kouichi’s been reaching out to her; at this point it’s obviously because he likes her, but before that he just wanted to be her friend. She may be a little uncertain how to respond, but she can tell that’s what he’s doing, and I think she appreciates it.

Anime Quick Thoughts: Bodacious Space Pirates Episode 8

The Princess and the Pirate

Summary

The stowaway is Princess Gruier of the Serenity royal family. She has a request for the Bentenmaru – she wants them to find “the wandering golden ghost ship.” As they converse Hyakume, the ship’s radar specialist, finds a notice on the ‘net that Gruier has gone missing, although she insists she’s here of her own will. Their employer on this job was the Harold Lloyd Insurance Union as usual and the escort ships were Stellar Alliance, probably there to protect the Princess, so everything seems to add up, but Misa tells Hyakume to contact the Union and see if they ask any suspicious questions.

Until they figure out what to do, Gruier is enrolled in the middle school at Hakuoh Academy (under her real name) and instantly becomes popular with the students. Shortly afterwards Misa calls Marika to the infirmary and tells her that the Morningstar government received a secret document from Serenity right after the Bentenmaru returned and their call to the Insurance Union. They both agree that seems fishy.

They aren’t supposed to have any work for a while, then a job suddenly comes up (I sense a recurring motif). The Alliance navy wants them to investigate an incoming ship that Gruier says is from the Serenity Royal Fleet, bringing palace records on the golden ghost ship. Serenity isn’t hostile, so the Bentenmaru was hired to keep the investigation unofficial. However, Hyakume picked up more than one ship, and they were engaged in combat. Sure enough, when the ship comes out of hyperspace it’s damaged, and the pursuers are from the Serenity fleet as well. Something’s going on here…

Thoughts

Isn’t ‘The Princess and the Pirate’ the name of a children’s book? If not it probably should be.

I like where this is going. The whole thing about making a living as basically a stage show for tourists made a certain amount of sense (although I really have to question if all those people are really OK with all their valuables being stolen at the end, even if it’s covered by insurance – seriously, don’t some of them have personal value?), but it’s not enough to carry a story by itself. Ok, you probably could make a story out of that, but you’d still need some sort of backstage plot or character development to move the story along. Which is what the last two episodes were, but would it really be a show about space pirates, not just actors who play pirates, if they didn’t get involved in a real adventure at some point?

And this, this looks like the real deal. We’ve got a ghost ship that’s not just a passing mention this time, an independent-minded princess whose cheerfulness is clearly hiding something (not that she’s not like normally, we don’t know enough to tell, but Misa mentioned that she looks a bit unhealthily thin – stress, perhaps?), obvious court intrigue in the background, and a friendly crew of pirates about to get caught in the middle. There’s probably treasure somewhere in there too – seriously, this is about pirates, how can there not be treasure at some point? But even if it’s not what’s expected, this show’s still good at giving us something worthwhile anyway. Either way, whether this is just another story arc or the start of an actual plot for the series, it looks to be a good one.

Also, Misa’s driving has officially put alongside Lisa from Ponyo in the listing of ‘Anime women who are clearly related to Yukari-sensei.’

Anime Quick Thoughts: Another Episode 7

Sphere Joint

Summary

The teacher kills himself, spattering the class and students with blood. The uproar draws Chibiki, who quickly takes control of the situation. Everyone glares at Kouichi and Mei as they leave the classroom. Later, Akazawa warns them that the others will blame them for what happened, and possibly her as well.

Kouichi and Mei ask Chibiki about what happened fifteen years ago, when the curse was supposedly stopped midyear. Together they establish that two key things happened that summer: Ritsuko, Kouichi’s mother, died in July, and the deaths stopped after the class took a trip to a shrine on Mt. Yomiyama in August. Why, or if, the latter had any effect is uncertain. Shortly afterwards Ms. Mikami, the assistant teacher, informs the class, those who haven’t already fled town, that they’ll be taking a trip in August.

Teshigawara calls Kouichi, Mochizuki, and Akazawa together at a restaurant where Mochizuki’s sister works. She tells them that a regular customer named Katsumi Matsunaga was in Class 3 and insists he saved it from the curse by warning everyone, that’s why he “left it there.” What and where, he doesn’t remember. Somehow they figure out he was in the same year as Reiko.

Kouichi asks Mei if she’d like to meet Matsunaga with them, but she says she’s going with her parents to their summer house for the week. She gives him her cell number just in case and asks if he found the graduation photo his mother had, which his dad mentioned was at her parent’s house. He says he hasn’t. Lately he’s been wondering if he’s the one who’s dead, but Mei assures him he isn’t.

Thoughts

It wasn’t much, but there were some more nice snippets of character development this time around. With Akazawa in particular we got some insight into how the situation is weighing on her, seeing her worried about the repercussions of her failure to carry out her duties and learning that she often talks with Chibiki to help her deal with the stress. She tries to act like she’s on top of things, but she still feels the weight of her responsibilities.

Teshigawara said he was uncomfortable with ignoring Kouichi and Mei, which is supported by him breaking silence long enough to tell Kouich “sorry” when everyone decided to treat him as non-existent a few episodes back. He’s not the only one either – there was Takabarashi obviously, and even Mochizuki telling Kouichi to talk to Mei about what’s happening suggests he felt some guilt about leaving the latter in the dark. So what happened this time wasn’t the first glimpse we’ve had of how people in the class feel, but it looks like (or at least I’m hoping) that’s starting to become more of the focus now that everyone’s realized they can no longer try to avoid what’s happening and have to confront it.

It’s just too bad we didn’t get that for Mr. Kubodera, the teacher. It makes sense in hindsight: he tried to keep his distance emotionally but these students were still his responsibility and his seeming failure to keep them safe (that we didn’t see any real evidence of that notwithstanding) finally got to him. His death had the same problem as the previous ones: there was no reason to care about him beforehand – we didn’t learn so much as his name until after his death – so, gruesomeness aside, it had no real impact.

On the curse side of things, is this honestly the first time the class has tried recreating what happened fifteen years ago? Chibiki’s been around the whole time, and he keeps an eye on the records – did it honestly not occur to him that going to the shrine in a large group might have been key until now? True, there’s no way of knowing if that even affected anything, but like creating a new Class 6*, surely it’s something that would’ve been tried sooner? People’s lives are on the line, after all.

*because I totally didn’t misremember how many other classes there are and say Class 7 a few episodes back