Anime Thoughts: Bodacious Space Pirates Episode 26 - There Go the Pirates

Summary

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.

Anime Thoughts: Bodacious Space Pirates Epiosde 25 - The Pirates' Council Begins

If it's the Galactic Empire, why is the ruler a Queen?

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?

Anime Thoughts: Bodacious Space Pirates Episode 24 - The Wounded Benten

Summary

The Bentenmaru manages to evade the Grand Cross, but suffers damage in the process. Once they reach the pirate station Marika draws up are repair plan that includes comm system upgrades. The specifics are unspecified but apparently involve the ability to command an entire fleet. While the repairs are underway she and Chiaki meet with Kenjo to discuss the situation. News that another ship has been destroyed reaches them during the meeting, and he wonders whether even ten will make it.

After leaving the meeting, Marika encounters a stranger she realizes is the captain of the Grand Cross, who says her name is Quartz Christie. She won’t say who she works for, and when asked why she’s attacking pirates she confirms it’s for trial data and talks about how pirates are anachronisms with no useful purpose. She reveals that there’s a spy on the Bentenmaru and switches on her cloaking device before Schnitzer and his men can catch her.

Meanwhile, Kane is being tailed by Luca, the ship’s navigator, who earlier voiced suspicions about him to Misa. The two of them corner him, but when Misa whips out her gun she shoots Luca, who is actually an android double and the spy – the real Luca doesn’t care about anything other than her work. The android escapes, and Misa demands an explanation from Kane, who is obviously up to something suspicious. Watching from afar, another Kane slips away.

In her room, Marika calls Ririka, who’s just finished her vacation and has boarded a ‘luxury liner.’ It’s called the Parabellum and is headed for the station.

Thoughts

Whatever Kane’s up to, the real one isn’t acting like anything’s amiss so he’s obviously aware that the second one – the one with the lock of hair that’s always sticking up (antenna?) – has been the one on the bridge the last few episodes, so that’s obviously part of what he’s doing. Whatever it is, I’m pretty sure it involves reporting on Marika to someone – probably Ironbeard. He’s clearly significant, whoever he is, and definitely the kind of person who’d want to know about Gonzaemon’s heir given the number of hints there’s been throughout the series that the latter was a great man and a great captain. Kane has shown a considerable amount of interest in her progress and goals over the course of the series, and there’s been enough references about how she’s so much like Gonzaemon lately – (fake) Kane’s remarks about how obvious it is that there’s blood ties, or the captain of the Big Catch saying she looks like she’ll be as good a captain as her father. Heck, if Gonzaemon’s as great a pirate as he’s been made out to be and if his daughter seems to be worthy of that legacy, it almost sounds like there’s a plan afoot to make her Queen of the Pirates. Which would be pretty awesome.

Also, Christie does have a point about the current state of pirates. After all, what possible purpose does legally (or at least legally grey) robbing bored rich people on cruises actually serve – other than the pirates and their insurance companies making money? Sure, every business is about making money, but usually whoever’s on the receiving end of its services gains something, instead of losing it. Then again, no one on the receiving end seems to mind and the pirates themselves get to make a living dressing up in cool clothes and acting over-the-top, so it all works out, I guess.

She’s wrong about the “they aren’t even pirates” (with the implied ‘anymore’) comment, though. Since these pirates have only existed since Letters of Marque started being issued, they were never pirates – they’ve been privateers the whole time. Of course, accounting for that little tidbit would mean none of them would be able to say ‘I’m a pirate’, which would defeat the whole purpose of becoming one in the first place.

Anime Thoughts: Bodacious Space Pirates Episode 23 - Head for the Pirate's Nest

Summary

The second mysterious ship, captained by the masked Ironbeard, identifies itself as the Parabellum, a pirate ship registered with the Galactic Empire. It fires on the pirate hunting ship, called the Grand Cross, which flees despite its shields absorbing the bombardment. The Parabellum vanishes back into hyperspace as quickly as it appeared and the Bentenmaru goes to save the crew of the Big Catch. Everyone is rescued but the ship is destroyed when the fires reach the ammo stores.

Marika asks Gruier to see if her own connections can unearth anything about the Grand Cross, and she manages to find out that it’s an experimental ship being developed by the Galactic Empire. It’s attacking pirate ships because, those that are still active being military-class, it’ll yield better trial results, and attacking pirate ships in a backwater sector isn’t going to draw much attention.

Chiaki transfers to Hakuoh again, but despite Marika’s insistence that she stay so they can graduate together she insists it’s just so she can deliver a message from her father. In light of the current situation, Kenjo believes a Pirates’ Council should be called. To do this, however, they’ll need to find the legendary chef, who first brought the pirates together during the war of independence. There’s a reason pirate ships are so full of outdated equipment. Yes, it’s because the economy sucks right now, but also because they actually need their old radios, so that the legendary chef can reach them when he broadcasts the secret message that’ll summon them to council.

Finding him? Easy – Marika already knows where he is. He’s the chef at the seedy restaurant where she goes to discuss missions with the bridge crew. She figured it out because Ririka always took her there as a reward whenever she learned to do something new as a kid. Ririka clearly relied on the guy, and she’s super-special-awesome, so that must mean he’s even more super-special-awesome and therefore the legendary chef. Solid reasoning, but she’s wrong. The legendary chef was his dad. However, that still means he’s heir to the mantle, and he broadcasts the signal, which also tells every pirate ship the location of the meeting place. Right as the Bentenmaru’s about to head there, the Grand Cross appears.

Thoughts

Yeah, yeah, we get it, Ririka’s a badass, it’s been  sufficiently established – let her show it. Damnit, I wanna see Ririka do something awesome!

Anyways, I like where this is going. Not that the other parts of the series weren’t fun in their own way, but nothing’s ever really been about the pirates themselves, so the upcoming delving into the wider pirate society is much appreciated. Plus, they’re actually in real danger for once! For all that I’ve tried to rationalize my enjoyment of the preceding episodes, much of it was an attempt to mask my disappointment that things were never the former two. Not that I didn’t enjoy any of it, but it still would’ve been nice if more of the show was actually about them.

Also, I’m no longer sure there’s some grand secret the bridge crew is in on anymore. Possibly Kane and Misa are – they both showed signs in this episode that they at least suspect something, but no one else did, so clearly if Ironbeard has some big reveal in store it’s not something everyone was in on.

On another note, it’s nice to see Chiaki back to her old grumpy ‘I’m not enjoying this, seriously you guys’ self. Not that she ever stopped being like that, but it really comes out when she’s interacting with Marika, and there wasn’t enough of that last time she was around a lot, during the Yacht Club arc, which was a shame because it’s what makes her a fun character, and it’s good to have her back. Not that she hasn’t changed (she’s long since given up on objecting whenever someone calls her ‘Chiaki-chan’; I’ll bet she actually likes it), but it’s just not the same when she’s not insisting on taking things seriously or pretending she didn’t do things for more sentimental reasons – no really, she couldn’t just visit to give Marika the message, transferring back to Hakuoh was crucial to ensuring it got delivered.

Anime Thoughts: Bodacious Space Pirates Episode 22 - Pirate Hunting

Summary

The pirate ship Silver Fox is destroyed in an attack by a mysterious ship that’s been targeting pirates. Marika and the bridge crew discuss the situation, and since the Bentenmaru is due to get its licence renewed and Marika wants that out of the way before finals, they decide to go after these so-called ‘pirate hunters’. While driving Marika home afterwards, Misa asks her what Ririka’s up to these days, but she doesn’t know, and the latter is away a lot ever since she got her licence to operate large ships…

At the Yacht Club, Marika has been made president now that Lynn’s about to graduate (she’s even gotten a recommendation to Space University, so she’ll get to be with her girlfriend), even though she thinks Sasha, the vice-president, should have been given the position. Unfortunately, the club is apparently run through tyranny of the majority, so she’s stuck with it.

In order to effectively go up against the pirate hunters, Marika devised the trick of having the Bentenmaru guide another pirate ship, the Big Catch, although the captain agreed to Show’s request that he ask for an escort only reluctantly. During the trip, the bridge crew ponder aloud the implications of two pirate ships working together, and what it could lead to. Although nowhere near the 200 ships active during Sea of the Morningstar’s war of independence, there are still 50-60 pirate ships around, almost all heavily-armed, military-class ships. The Galactic Empire and Stellar Alliance allow them to exist because they operate independently, but if they united they’d have the power to become their own nation and wouldn’t need Letters of Marque to exist. Since they’re an independent lot, however, what are the odds that will happen…

The pirate hunter appears and proves to be impossibly agile for such a large ship, quickly taking out the Big Catch. Then another large, mysterious ship appears.

Summary

Oh jeez, don’t tell me Ririka is the pirate hunter. Sure, we’ve seen enough of the latter’s head to know she has white hair, but that’s what hair dye is for. Then again, I can’t imagine any reason why dying her hair would be necessary. Yeah, logic dictates that that’s a red herring, but part of me thinks this is all part of the grand plan that is clearly afoot. Except, the pirate hunter seems to be actually destroying the ships it attacks, but maybe they’re against whatever’s being planned, and Show’s in on it.

*Checks episode 21* OK, so the hooded man seems to have brown hair, and the guy standing on top of the second mystery ship has black hair, but hey, hair dye. Again kinda flimsy since it begs the question of why there’s any need to dye hair, but I guess I’m too wedded with tying what’s going on to my ‘Gonzaemon is alive’ theory. Except now it looks like he isn’t looking to retire but to become King of the Pirates (sorry, Luffy) and figured it would be better if he wasn’t connected to a particular ship. Or something.

Really, though, having him be alive seems to make the most sense. Sure, they could introduce a new character, but it’s a bit late in the show to bring in someone in whole cloth. Plus, Gonzaemon’s been built up so much through those who knew him talking about him, and mentions of how much Marika is just like him – they just dropped another one of those this episode, no less. ‘Actually, he’s been alive the whole time’ actually seems to make sense after the amount of build-up he’s had. And if he’s alive it might mean there’s still a chance to address the elephant in the room – if he was alive until at least shortly before the first episode, why did he never visit his family?

Nevertheless, the pirates are obviously planning to unite. Just like it doesn’t feel like a coincidence that another mention of how Marika is her father’s daughter happened, the crew clearly started discussing the idea of a pirate nation for a reason. And it’s not just because the preview for the next episode makes it clear this is going to develop into at least something – there’s few enough episodes left that there doesn’t seem to be much reason to not start a final arc. Yeah, I just really want the show to end on a high note, but the evidence does seem to suggest it will, which is only a good thing, so I’ll stop throwing out whatever speculation occurs to me and move on to the next episode.

Anime Thoughts: Bodacious Space Pirates Episode 21 - Final Battle at the Nebula Cup

Summary

Everyone freaks out when the Yacht Club arrives at the planet Calmwind for the Nebula Cup. Chiaki, who’s competing with the Sea of Foreststar team, stops one of the girls from asking another team what’s up, and it comes to light that nobody except Grunhilde and the two who were with her when she looked it up had any idea why. Even Lynn, who was in middle school at the time, is surprised. Sure, some of the club seniors decided the course was boring and had her crack the Tournament’s computers to create a more challenging route (only 2 of 142 entrants finished the race as a result), but she hadn’t realized it was that big of a deal.

When the race starts Marika goes out in a dinghy of her own to observe as part of the Bentenmaru’s role to provide security. In the middle of the race a Bisque Company gunship appears and starts firing on the racers since it doesn’t know which dinghy is Marika’s. She breaks off to draw them away, and the Bentenmaru comes to her rescue. It’s not meant for atmospheric flight and won’t be able to line up for a shot at the more agile gunship on its own, but Ai overheard Marika over the comms earlier and breaks off to tell her about an incoming wind that lets the Bentenmaru align quickly and shoot down the gunship. This costs Ai the race, but the Yacht Club still comes in second thanks to Grunhilde (Chiaki placed first). They can’t wait for next year!

Thoughts

Well, that felt like filler. The only things of note to show up in the last two episodes were the hooded man at the meeting, and that there are others out there who might want to go after Marika, both of which could have been introduced in other ways. And in the case of the latter, I won’t be too surprised if this is the last we even see of the Bisque Company – just another disposable threat. Plus, if the hooded man is who I think he might be, there isn’t any compelling reason why he has to show up or be hinted at before a big reveal later. And as far as things that actually happened in this episode, the only thing of note was the reason Lynn was put on probation, but technically I’m just assuming that, and there’s been nothing to suggest that the specifics behind it matter, so it didn’t add anything.

Not much, but I’m trying to stop forcing myself to write at any length about episodes where there really isn’t much to say. Moving on…

Anime Thoughts: Bodacious Space Pirates Episode 20 - The Captain Rides the Waves

Woo, backlog cleared! Not that anyone knew I had one, but I totally did...

Summary

The Yacht Club talks about entering the 19^th Nebula Cup Racing Tournament, but apart from middle-schooler Ai no one has any experience piloting the dinghies they’d be flying. In the midst of the discussion they meet their new club adviser – Kane, who has renewed his teaching credentials and is now a PE teacher. He seems to think that means ‘drill sergeant’. After putting the girls through a number of ridiculous and/or over-the-top challenges to determine their skill and endurance levels, their entry team ends up consisting of Ai, Grunhilde, and fellow club member Natalia.

At one point, Grunhilde looks up why the club hasn’t entered recently and discovers that after the 13^th tournament they were banned for 5 years for interfering with the race and violating safety regultions. The organizing committee seems to have worries along the same lines with the club now able to enter again. One committee member suggests that if they’re worried about Yacht Club cheating, they should bring in cheaters of their own. Apparently this involves contacting Show, who later contacts the Bentenmaru with a job offer performing security for the race…

Meanwhile, representatives of the various shady organizations who signed the non-aggression pact protecting Marika meet to discuss an outside group, the Bisque Company, who seem to be plotting to go after her. Ririka, whom Kane brought to witness the meeting, recognizes a hooded man sitting in the corner and realizes he’s the reason everyone there agreed to the pact. His presence reassures her.

Thoughts

I was kinda worried when I saw the preview for this episode. Nothing wrong with the yacht club, but we just spent six episodes giving them spotlight time – I was hoping for a return to the actual pirates. And, since this is getting into the home stretch of the series’ runtime, something truly high-stakes and more serious than usual to cap it off would be nice. Sure, the Golden Ghost Ship arc turned out to be fairly high-stakes in retrospect, but it was for two secondary characters who hadn’t been well-developed up to that point, and the stakes themselves never did get developed either. I mean something that’s high-stakes for Marika and the crew of the Bentenmaru – they’re, nominally at least, the focus of the show; they need an arc that’s all about them. Plus, Ririka hasn’t had a chance to do something awesome yet. When’s that gonna happen? I’m probably tempting fate by saying so now that the show’s finished airing, but damnit, I wanna see Ririka do something awesome!

Fortunately, the episode itself mitigated things. Whether it’s the dirty dealings about to go down behind the scenes at the Nebula Cup, or the impending threat to Marika and the Bentenmaru, this is obviously going somewhere.

And speaking of tempting fate, I’m half-expecting this to end up looking like a complete idiot for this since I’m making predictions after the show’s already aired, but in refreshing myself with this episode to write this post I suddenly developed the crackpot theory that the hooded man is Gonzaemon and this was all some sort of elaborate plan to test Marika’s worthiness to be his successor as captain. Because…I dunno, he wanted to retire or something. Hey, it would explain his off-screen, anti-climactic death. I totally expect to be way off-base with this, but if it turns out to be something like this, that’d be totally cool!