Everyone
warps to the site of the battle, only to find that Christie has brought three Grand Crosses that she can operate
in sync. Nevertheless, the coordinated efforts of the assembled pirate ships
destroy the remote-controlled ships and allow the Bentenmaru and several others
to board the main one, where Marika, Schnitzer, and Hyakume confront Christie
on the bridge. Marika brings up the former’s earlier comments about pirates
lacking a purpose and explains that while she’s thought about it, it’s now
clear to her that they don’t need a definite purpose – each pirate makes their
own. Christie escapes and warns Marika to leave before the ship self-destructs.
In other words, capturing the Grand Cross was a horrible failure – but who
cares, they won!
…Before the
Odette II could show up to help, much to Gruier’s disappointment (Mami made her
a pirate outfit and everything…). Leaving the ship in the hands of Jenny and
her fellow graduates, the club members board the Parabellum to get back in time
for their exams. Gruier thanks Ironbeard Gonzaemon for giving them a
lift and asks if he was able to see Marika, but he just says he’s Ironbeard now.
On the bridge, Ririka remarks that staying distant is his way of showing he
cares.
Chiaki
finally gives in and transfers to Hakuoh to stay. Marika passes all her exams,
and it’s time to sail away for more adventures!
Thoughts
Not much to
say about the final battle with the Grand Cross. The pirates worked together as
a team and won; Marika confronted Christie, said pirates make their own reasons
for what they do, and the latter bailed. The Grand Cross blew up. The end. All
told, it was a bit anti-climactic. No desperate reversals, nothing about how or
what the characters are feeling, just the battle, presented in a very
business-like manner. Hardly the grand end-of-series payoff one might expect.
No payoff
for the whole ‘future of the pirates’ thing either. But, like the pirates of
the Galactic Empire, that’s certainly good fodder for the upcoming movie.
But at least
we got somewhat of an answer to the whole ‘why did Gonzaemon never visit his
family’ issue. Sure, it’s one thing to give your kid space so they can become
their own person, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be part of their life. Ririka
was around the whole time, and while there was an element of Marika trying to
live up to her she still became her own person. Sure, she still turned out
alright despite her dad never being around, but just because something works
doesn’t mean you should do it that
way. But anyways, he wouldn’t be quite the mysterious, larger-than-life figure
he was made out to be if he’d been there all along. I don’t feel qualified to
make any call whether he’s right or wrong to be doing things this way, but
there’s definitely the sense that he does
care about his daughter, he just has a unique way of showing it, just like
Ririka said.
That being
said, it actually wasn’t all that unsatisfying. This show was never about grand
battles or epic space opera – as cool as that would have been. It’s about the
characters themselves, their growth, and why they do what they do. So while
there was none of the spectacular end-of-series payoff one might expect, but it
still had a character-based one, both in terms of Marika showing that she’s
become confident in her role as a captain and a pirate, and the wider pirate
society proving that they believe in what they do enough to stand up for it.
Not sure if that makes sense, calling the final episode somewhat anti-climactic
and then saying it delivered exactly what it was meant to, but if there’s one
thing this series has consistently done, it’s leave me satisfied with what was
given (most of the time at least **looks at the filler that was episodes 19-21**),
even if it wasn’t what I expected. Granted, sometimes I’ve thought that the
latter was just me trying to cover disappointment, and I was to some extent,
but now that I’ve finished the entire show it’s much easier to appreciate what
it was going for all along and reassess how I feel.
Like I said,
it would’ve been cool (and I may even have liked it a little more) if it was
more of a space opera – I was definitely expecting more of that going in – but as
the character-driven show it turned out to be, I think it actually succeeded
rather well. Even without any kind of over-arching narrative, looking back, it
was consistently enjoyable to follow Marika’s adventures and her growth as a
person and a pirate. I certainly never felt the need to stop watching; heck, I’m
darned sure I’d keep watching if they
made another season or two and not just a movie. That alone says something –
maybe not that the show’s necessarily good (though I think it is), but
certainly that it’s a lot of fun, and I’m pretty sure that was the main goal in
the first place.
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