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.
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