Summary
An urgent message from Gruier sends the Bentenmaru rushing back to Serenity, but it turns out they just wanted to give Marika a medal. Back home she’s become a minor celebrity, and her uniform is given some tweaks (the debut work of aspiring fashion designer Mami). At school she discovers that Gruier’s time as a visiting student had been extended, and that Grunhilde has enrolled too. The yacht club has some trouble recruiting new members, however. Mami says that’s not surprising – the president (Lynn, now that Jenny’s graduated) is a hacker, one member is a space pirate, and who knows what those other girls get up to in their spare time... They do eventually get four new members, including Grunhilde.
Gruier meets up with Marika as she gets off work one night. She tells her a little more about the situation on Serenity. It was on the brink of civil war, conservatives who supported the royal family pitted against reformists who wanted reduced royal power and greater autonomy for the vassal planets. The return of the golden ghost ship salvaged the situation and restored royal prestige, although reforms are still being carried out. Gruier regrets that she and Grunhilde allowed themselves to be manipulated by both sides, but Marika reminds her that sneaking aboard the Bentenmaru was her own idea. Gruier expresses her personal gratitude by giving Marika the ID ring she used to sneak aboard the Bentenmaru; it was given to her by Marika’s father.
Marika decides to invite Gruier and Grunhilde to dinner. Other than Grunhilde eating an entire spoonful of hot mustard it goes well. Later, as the Bentenmaru prepares for its next job, Ririka submits her application exam for a starship licence.
Thoughts
So that’s what was going on with Serenity. Well, I’m satisfied; it was pretty simple, but it gave us the context behind Gruier’s actions, and that’s enough for me. I’m no longer sure it’ll come back into the picture again, but the show isn’t about Serenity, it’s about Marika and the crew of the Bentenmaru. What was important during the golden ghost ship’s storyline was that it’s the first time Marika’s abilities as a captain were put to the test in a real, dangerous situation. And she succeeded spectacularly, even if she’d rather downplay that bringing the golden ghost ship back to Serenity – which turned out to be the best solution – was her idea (it just seemed like a good thing to do is all…). She’s famous now, but it doesn’t sound like she’ll let it go to her head.
Which is just another way of saying this show isn’t about the situations but the characters. Whether it’s Marika’s humility relative to her newfound fame, Gruier looking to balance becoming her own person with her responsibilities as royalty, Grunhilde learning that such a thing can be done, or Ririka deciding that because her daughter’s far more independent now it’s time for her to look to her own ambitions again (becoming a pirate again seems a bit too obvious, but whatever she’s up to, it’s bound to be good), characterization was definitely the point of this episode.
Which is fine; it’s great really. It’s different from what you’d expect from a show called Bodacious Space Pirates (although that’s a good thing in…some ways, at least in my opinion) and a nice change of pace. It’s just that sometimes I feel like the show’s focusing on it a little too much at the expense of having a little more of a story. Which kind of feels like a silly thing to say – Marika becoming captain of the Bentenmaru and learning how to handle her newfound responsibilities is the story. And she’s a well-developed, likable main character with a fun and colorful supporting cast, so that’s hardly a bad thing.
I guess it’s just that I was still expecting it to become a bit more focused on the straight-up pirate side of things once Marika made her decision. Oh well; if you’re patient with this show it usually turns out to be worthwhile even if the pay-off wasn’t what you expected. I’m still having fun watching it and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.
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