Summary
When android
Luca was killed her internal computer reformatted automatically, so the only
thing Hyakume can glean from it is that she was built by a Galactic Empire
company called Human Torch. Everyone wonders what happened to the real Luca,
and right as they decide she was a pirate and knew the risks she walks through
the door. Ostensibly, nothing worse than men hitting on her happened during her
vacation, but she decides not to mention that actually, Kane and Ririka saved
her life.
Christie
suddenly appears in the throne room again, wearing a cloak fastened at the
shoulder by a golden skull. The legendary chef’s brother, who runs the station,
orders everyone to stand down – pirates may not kill other pirates at the
Pirates’ Nest. When one of the captains dissents, since Christie’s not a
pirate, but the chef says she is – her cloak-and-skull mark her as a pirate
registered with the Galactic Empire. Apparently the Letter of Marque idea was
actually copied from them. Marika proposes that Christie take on the other
pirates in a fair fight, which is accepted
Ironbeard
arrives, his own cloak-and-skull reminding Marika why she recognized
Christie’s. He says he’s here on orders from the Queen to take Christie back.
While the other captains feast Ironbeard leads Christie away. The captain from
before still tries to kill her but is thwarted by Kane, Misa, and Ririka. It is
revealed that Other Kane is actually his older brother, Ironbeard’s helmsman;
Real Kane switched places with him for a while to report to Ironbeard. The
latter did this because he wanted to see if the pirates of this sector will
choose to remain pirates-for-hire with their Letters of Marque, or strike out
on their own and becoming real pirates.
With the
upgrades to the comms complete, the Bentenmaru sends a call to arms to the
other pirates, using the song that was broadcast when they were called to the
Pirates’ Nest. This time it’s a new version, recorded by Marika and Chiaki,
much to the latter’s chagrin. She hated every minute of it – no really ;). Everyone assembles and
prepares to confront the Grand Cross.
Thoughts
Y’know, it
might’ve helped to establish that Luca had gone on vacation sooner. As it is
it’s just out of the blue and makes it looks like no one questioned why she can
back early from her vacation when the android showed up, or that she went on it
without telling anyone. Not to mention the ‘actually, she’s fine’
bait-and-switch. If the Grand Cross wasn’t clearly destroying the ships it
attacks, I really would be convinced nobody’s in any danger whatsoever, period,
in this show. It’s one of its weaknesses, but I’ll get into that more in my
final review.
Well, at
least we got to see Ririka in action a little bit, even if it wasn’t of the
awesome variety. It’s a silly thing, really; the show’s isn’t about Ririka at
all, I just felt that the middle-aged, not-so-former badass getting her own Big Damn Heroes
moment, or come up with a perfect plan that leaves everyone stunned and a
little scared at her cunning, or something like that, would be a lot of fun to
see. Eh, maybe they’ll let her have her awesome moment in the upcoming movie.
Insofar as
the actual meat of the episode, it raises an interesting question. Christie’s
contempt for the pirates in the region is centered on how they ostensibly
aren’t ‘real’ pirates anymore, dressing up and putting on silly little shows
(I’d make another The Pirates! Band of
Misfits joke, but there aren’t any good YouTube clips of Queen Victoria’s
rants). Ironbeard talks about whether they’ll decide to become, again, ‘real’
pirates, but it turns out the whole Letter of Marque thing was copied from the
Galactic Empire, and both Ironbeard and Christie are registered, so doesn’t that
mean they’re just as much privateers, not pirates, as anyone else? Nobody we’ve seen is actually a pirate.
There’s no answer, it just makes me wonder what pirates in the Galactic Empire
proper are like. I have no idea what the upcoming movie is about, but that’d be
an interesting thing for it to focus on.
Also, there’s
a ninja pirate. Isn’t that an
oxymoron?
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