1 Duckeez gettin' bizzy, yo!

2 Woah, for a second I thought I was on the wrong blog! *grin*

3 Wonderduck is just looking for "living space" for his growing flock.  He assures me that blogs annexed into the Pax Anatis will enjoy a degree of local autonomy...

1 You can tell the age of a computer keyboard by whether the key says "Return" or 'Enter" on it.

But yes, a touch-typing class in high school was one of the most valuable classes I had there.  Although spending countless hours on BBS's and later on a text-based MUCK really refined my skills and speed.

(I still need to break the habit of backspacing multiple words out of existence to fix a typo rather than using the mouse).

2

Even in the earliest ASCII iteration, though, a carriage return was kept separate from a line feed, and with the various text editors using CR, LF, CR/LF, and LF/CR to represent different things almost at random, I guess questions about it were inevitable.

Just be glad you can provide that knowledge to the next generation. Otherwise we might get ubiquitous word processors that use VT to mark paragraphs.

3 I too, consider the touch-typing course I took in high school to be the single most useful class I ever took in public school.

...but I learned on an IBM Selectric ("the electric typewriter with the little type ball" for those born after 1990) rather than a full-manual.  But I had used full-manual typewriters before that, so I knew what "return" was doing.

4

Back in my school days, I had to take typing on electric typewriters.  Before that, I had a manual typewriter and later an electric typewriter, and had to replace typewriter ribbon.  The latter was drafted for several years to do my reports, even after I got a PC, because the serial port on the hand-me-down PC did not work (Thus no printers - and back in those days, we used serial ports and not USB for connecting the printer to the computer.).

Last month, after I posted about the Kickstarter campaign for Wasteland 2 and Shadowrun Returns CRPGs on the Fandom Post, I had someone ask what a CRPG (Computer Role Playing Game) was.  Sob...

C.T.

 

5 Typing was the only course I failed in high school.
It was also the only course I took that would have been of any significant use to me in life after high school (computer programmer, then writer).
Figures.
I still hunt and peck (at about 40wpm, though).

6 I failed it too. Although in my case it was because I got roughhoused at school and my finger was broken in the altercation.  Even though it was only a couple of weeks after the beginning of the school year, they wouldn't let me change to another course.  I still managed to get enough out of it to be a ten-fingered typist, but not a good one.

That was my last year at that school; my parents pulled me out and sent me to private school (at great expense) afterwards.

7 I took the typing class in seventh grade.  I'm fairly sure it was on electric typewriters; while the school was in a poor neighborhood, that the gifted and creative arts programs were contained therein made sure that it was well-funded.

I don't remember what grade I got in it, though I'm fairly sure it wasn't a good one.  To this day, I type in a unique, Wonderduck-centric style that typing teachers would loathe.  Still effective, though: 80wpm last time I was tested. 

8 We actually had an old typewriter. Didn't work very well, which was actually great, since that meant it was "a thing the kids can play with" rather than "an expensive thing kids don't get to play with".

Got replaced by an actual word processor. Remember those? Then that got replaced by a 286...

By the time I got to typing class in middle school, I was proficient enough to test out of it. Just as well, I would have been rather bored...

9

When I was in grade school, my mom liked to visit places like St. Vincent de Paul, which collected junk and sold it cheap. I guess they were in the same business as Goodwill back then.

She didn't mind if we bought junk and brought it home. My brother and I did a lot of that, buying old radios and tearing them apart to take out all the resistors and capacitors, for instance.

One time I bought a manual typewriter which wasn't working properly, and took it apart (somewhat!) and put it back together.

And it worked afterwards, but I had a couple of pieces left. I never noticed anything that didn't work, so I still wonder just what those pieces were for?

10

And it worked afterwards, but I had a couple of pieces left. I never noticed anything that didn't work, so I still wonder just what those pieces were for?

I can think of many, many situations where 'a couple of pieces left' after reassembling a machine would cause an immediate scramble for the exit.

Strangely enough, I do not remember using word processors.  I probably did in my typing class, since I remember sessions where I typed the lesson and only after I was finished did everything come spitting out in one long chatter of type.  Which reminded me of the tractor feed printer I had once upon the time for my Commodore 128.

C.T.

 

11 Oooh, there's a common experience.  I once found an old manual Underwood with a cracked upper frame, and I fixed it up and used that to type school reports.  I'm not sure what happened to that giant hunk of cast iron, but I think my folks ended up with it and eventually threw it out.  I also used to desolder all the components from failed electronics, including a tube-based color TV.  I think I still have a box full of that junk somewhere.

The one place where typing class has done me a disservice is that I end sentences with a double-space, and whoever the douche is who specified it in HTML decreed that all whitespace collapses together, thus you type two spaces, it displays as one, and whether it's stored as one or two is up to the gods.  DeviantArt tries to help, replacing double spaces with two   (non-breaking space) strings, which inflates the hell out of my file sizes and plays hob with the line breaking.

(ooh, and typing that escape string for nbsp and hitting preview shows it as unescaped text in the preview, but converts it in the edit box below the preview.)

12 I hate the double-space. Hideous.

13

Typing class in high school was on selectrics, but I started earlier than that with an old cast-iron fully manual monster (Mom's from her college days.)

I'll break with tradition and say it was not the most useful class I took...  Because I became an EE and had taken 3 years of vocational electronics in HS.

And I'm cursed to forever be a double-spacer.  The concept has hung around in strange places... on the iPhone, space-space converts to period-space, so you don't have to switch to the "numbers and punctuation" screen when texting.

14 I heard that the engineering term for when you take something apart, put it back together, there are parts left over and yet it still works is "adding lightness."

15 In software development, we call it "refactoring".

-j

1 Well, my thoughts of why the government kept the privateers around just shot down. I thought the government was using them as a nucleus of a secret revolutionary fleet they were building.  But since the real revolutionaries had nothing to do with them, it now appears that the pirates are acting in support of the stellar empire.

2 I always find it a bit weak when the command crew has time to sit around a table and brainstorm while they're actually under fire.  It would have seemed much more believable (to me) if it had been presented that there was sufficient time between their initial escape and the reappearance of the H&D Fleet for the bulk of that planning/conversation to have occurred then.  Other than that one gripe -- excellent episode.

3 Dave, one of the hallmarks of Marika is that when she needs to make a major decision, she takes the time to get it right even if she's under threat. She did the same thing in episode 15 when the Stellar Navy was bearing down on her ship. She closed her eyes, bent her head, and thought about it before making the decision to make an FTL jump.

4 Siergen, that idea isn't dead yet IMHO but it's taking on water and sinking.

5 Mercenaries have always existed.  In a legalistic age, you get legalistic mercenaries.  That's what the pirates are.   Though the Pirates started out as more of a bureaucratic accident after the War, they seem to be well managed at this point to work the Gray Areas for their rough home ports.

6 I was a bit surprised by where they are berthing the Silent Whisper.  I figured they'd just leave it on board the Bentenmaru, but instead they are keeping at the station.  After they made a big deal about what a sophisticated piece of military hardware it was, they are going to let the yacht club members use it?  I can only assume that an episode plot later this season requires that it be available somewhere other than where the Bentenmaru is located. 

7 Siergen: That's what Marika said, and I interpreted it as being "for now".

For Now, when the entirety of my crew are still in the hospital, and the Bentenmaru is locked up and empty. But Later, once my real crew is back, and they've done all the checkouts on the main ship, and we're ready to start working again, I'll probably take it back and put it in the cargo bay of the Bentenmaru so that I can use it if I need it.

...that's how I read it. One thing is, I bet Marika starts using it to commute to the planet's surface.

8 Wasn't Marika piloting the Silent Whisper in a dream in an early episode? A very bad dream?

9 Brickmuppet, I went back and looked at that, and she was flying something that looked like one of the "skiffs" they have simulators for at the school. It didn't look at all the same as the Silent Whisper.

10 On the Silent Whisper:

While, given the value of the ship, it should probably be sold back to the Military or another legal owner and the money reinvested into the Bentenmaru, I wonder if there wouldn't be an insane amount of paperwork to pull that off.

Though, I don't know if they keep it around to use it in later Light Novels.  There's a very nice utility to having a FTL-capable recon fighter in your hangar.

On the next episodes:

I've seen some listings for the episode titles and it appears we are getting an anime-original ending.  But, the world is big enough that they can do that without hurting canon or putting themselves in a box for a second season run.

I really hope we get something like 3 episodes devoted to bridge crew backstory and some sort of interesting job arc.

11 I'm sure one thing we're going to get is Ririka's new job. Cook on the Bentenmaru, now that she isn't a lethal chef? I bet that's what she ends up as.

12 Over on The Abandoned Factory website, a sharp-eyed commentor pointed out that in the opening stll frame of the Yacht Club members, Jenny and Lynn are holding hands.  It's subtle, but it's there.

13 But does a cook need a space operator's license?  Besides, I think something that puts her mom on an opposing ship would be more fun.

14 Siergen, that would be out of character.

15 I think something that puts both of them on the same ship would be out of character

16 I'm not so sure, Ubu. The problem is that if she's on a different ship, even if it's Barbarossa, then she's pretty much out of the story.

It's not really so much a question of "character" given the kind of series storytelling we're seeing. The series would be more interesting if Ririka were on Bentenmaru, under Marika's command. Plus, the image of Marika and Ririka boarding a cruise liner side by side is irresistable. I don't think the author could resist it.

Having said that, I'm not really sure I think it would be out of character. Having Ririka be a cook might well be, but having her on the Bentenmaru wouldn't be IMHO.

17 What you're describing are fanservice reasons for it to happen, not character, and what I said was "out of character."  It would appear that Ririka has always encouraged Marika to be as independent as possible.  To hash some metaphors, now that Marika is out of the next, Ririka has cut the apron strings.  She's not going to follow her daughter around at this point.

What I think may happen is that she ends up serving in the Barbarossa's bridge crew... as an experienced first officer, backing up soon-to-be Captain Chiaki.  She may feel a debt to Chiaki's father for helping her daughter succeed as a pirate, and that would be one way to honor it.

18 Going back to Siergen's first comment about the relationship between pirates and the government, considering the Insurance industry angle...


... they're doing it all for Show.

*grin*

19 Regards Dave Young's Comment #2: I agree. What that reminded me of was the "spectacular insanity" breakdown in Crest of the Stars. Now in fairness, the corporate fleet was firing warning shots and attempting to hack the ship and not firing at them, but that could change at a moments notice. The CO does NOT leave the bridge during battle. There i a similar bizarre moment in Summer Wars.

Stevens remark that she methodically makes her plans is a virtue only if time allows. This may be a cultural thing. Against the Russians and Americans the Japanese did very well with complex meticulously thought out plans, but did less well when initiative was called for.

The episode would have been improved if she could have gotten away for a few moments or hashed it out on the bridge like she did earlier. 

20 Oh God...The refrigerator...it's TALKING to me.
The moment I hit "post" It dawned on me that the most likely courses of action open to Marika involved calling in favors from the princesses, using any dirt Jenny might be able to offer and brainstorming some quasi legal options as well. Neither the Royalty nor the Debutante would be comfortable discussing these things in front of a bunch of teenage girls and Marika did not want to involve the other students in grey areas any more than the situation already had.

Thus it does make sense that she hold a quick conference of war out of earshot of the others.

21 Thank you for figuring out a rationale, because that was really bugging me too. 

22 You also didn't want the crew of schoolgirls to find out just how deep the doo-doo they could be in was.  That might have come up during the discussion.

23 Okay...I'll buy that for a dollar.

24 On a more general level, it isn't good for a crew to see their commander being confused and worried. When she comes back to the bridge, she's strong and she has a plan and she starts issuing orders -- and you can see all the other girls buck up and start to look happy. If they were to watch Marika saying, "What in hell can we do now, anyway?" that could shatter morale.

25 I predict that household appliances will soon have voice-capability similar to the latest iPhones.  When that happens, one of the most popular apps will be one that explains away plot holes in the show you just watched...

26 OT: latest Pirates fan service poster from Nyantype.

1 Xiao Mei already has her own 1/6 figure.

2 World exposition:

This is purgatory, right?  I'm not the only one getting that vibe?

3 Seems like an ordinary RPG setting.

4 Well...

I don't think purgatory's supposed to be so happy, soft, fluffy, or to feature such short skirts.

1 In order of most-acceptable to least, I'd rank the borderlines 3, 2, 1, 4. 4 for the O-face, 1 for the melon-mirror. In 2, the head and fan keep the boobs from dominating, and in 3, the dynamic pose and shirt make it a classier pin-up; she's actually doing something, not just showing off the goods.

-j

2 Dunno if I should say.  Since I read this at home and couldn't at work anyway, NFSW is not a consideration for me.

3 J, I don't understand what you're saying.

4 I guess I should make clear: I'm not looking for opinions about the esthetics. I'm looking for a straight yes/no: Are they too ecchi to include? Will they get my readers into trouble?

5 The original version of my post did include something to the effect of "if all you want is hits, post pr0n.  But if you want readers..."

6 I was trying to think about the three female co-workers most likely to walk in and ask me questions, and how likely each one was to trigger a negative response. By that standard, I think 3 and 2 would pass, and 1 and 4 wouldn't, for the reasons I gave.

-j

7 Definitely #4 is no good. #2 and #3 are acceptable IMO.  Since I consider #1 to be borderline I would err on the side of caution and not use it.

8 I would feel uncomfortable having coworkers see any of those, to be honest.

9

Long, long time ago I remember a Dave Berg cartoon in Mad where a girl at the beach is changing her clothing. The door to the changing room opens briefly and shows her partially undressed, and she screams and pulls it shut again. Then at the end she comes out wearing a really skimpy bikini, which shows far more than anything seen in the previous frame, and she is completely comfortable in it.

That picture has been part of the top rotation ever since I switched to the flash file, and no one has ever objected to it. It reveals far more than any of these pictures here do.

...But it's a swimsuit, not a bra, so that makes it OK. Why?

10 IMHO, it's the attitude difference between "skin showing" and "showing off skin"; here, Rio isn't engaging the viewer and shoving the goods into the camera.
-j

11

OK, that's a good point.

Rats. I really like that fourth borderline one, but I guess I can't use it.

12 Also, swimsuits are designed to be seen.  Lacy unmentionables (theoretically) aren't.

13 The argument of "wearer intent" doesn't work in this case, because Medaka definitely wants to be seen in her unmentionables...

14 For what it's worth, 95% of your readers won't have seen the scene in question (and the other 5% won't care), so you have to fall back on "swimsuit vs unmentionables" again. 

Not to argue it or anything. 

15 Frankly, how many people can claim a work-related reason to visit chizumatic during work hours?

If you use that metric, then the fact that you're looking at any of this at work could be grounds for dismissal.  The relative states of undress of the girls in the top rotation picture is icing on the cake for the HR types.

16

Frankly, how many people can claim a work-related reason to visit chizumatic during work hours?

Pixy, for one.

17 Even for my day job.  Since my work revolves around the analysis of memetic flow in social media, I can claim a work-related reason to visit everything from Lambda the Ultimate to 4chan.

18 IMHO?  Use everything but the "boobs only" pic; that one's beyond the pale but the others are fine.

1 That is so...
I cant even...


..and yet...
I find I sort of want them to market burger crystals 'cause I kind of want to try just the burger.

2 It looks like the kind of thing it would be fun to do once, just because. I wonder if JList sells them?

3 Of course they do. Peter knows his customers. It's right at the front page as of this time, possibly trying to cash in on the viral video.

4 IIRC, the first time I saw that video was on j-list's facebook page. They sell it, along with similar ones for making cookies and doughnuts. there's even a sushi candy kit.

1 Wow, the director of - get this - Ranma (!), Simoun (!), and True Tears! And storyboards for Full Moon o Sagashite, too. Not having anything against Mr. Kusakawa, and of course he's done a great job at original Dog Days, but this is like expecting next Tatsuo Sato masterpiece... Well, I dropped Mouretsu Pirates, so... Still, very good vibe here.

2 Just finished watching Dog Days.

I was actually pretty impressed.  It's not shooting for being a masterpiece, but of the entire genre it sits in, it was quite good.  The tone was consistent, the world made sense, it was enjoyable, the characters weren't really a bunch of idiots, it wasn't really setup as a harem series, there were other competent males in the cast and the fan service scenes weren't super distracting.

And, much credit to the writing staff for having a reason for "clothing damage".  That alone makes the series a solid watch.

Though, I could have done without the super detailed list that Cinque had to follow to be able to come back.  I would have preferred an unintentional comedy scene with more "fine print".  Something like "they can return after 2 months if you didn't hate them when you sent them back, but you have 1 year or their memories are permanently gone", then point out most of the false information was due to the fact previous Heroes either didn't want to leave or previous summoners hated the people they summoned.  But, that's being nitpicky.

It was a lot better than most of its genre.  Or at least a lot more consistently enjoyable.

So, looking forward to this.  The new director is competent, and if it was mostly the writer's world then it should come out decent.  Director has a lot of experience with comedy, which won't hurt matters.

3

I do wonder what the story setup will be. Presumably, there's some huge danger elsewhere, and chipmunk-girl shows up and asked for help from Biscotti and Galette. That's my guess, but I wonder what the details will be. Who will eventually respond? What we want is for everyone to respond, but that makes for a pretty crowded story.

Galette: Leo, Gaul, Vert, Jaune, and Noir
Biscotti: Millefiore, Ricotta, Eclair, Brioche, Yukikaze (and likely the fox kit)
Earth: Shinku, Becky, Manami

Plus, presumably, Kuberu as a guide. That's a pretty big group.

4 Oops. Nanami, not Manami.

5 Well, they showed 2 countries and Yukikaze + Brioche encounter roughly 4 demonic swords per year.  Also, weren't they looking for some "Longsword"? (Depending on who translated it)

There's an entire world to flesh out and they can just put in a random demon antagonist.  There's probably also a true capital city they could spend an episode or two in.

Oh, and one thing I really loved from the series.  Shinku just accepted that they're Dog-humans and ran with it.  Right down to playing frisbee with Millefoire.  I like protagonists that end up in strange worlds and just go "eh, I can have some fun with this".  And I couldn't stop laughing at the Leo + Millefoire petting scene.  That was just too funny.

One interesting thing about the show, heavy spoilers:

Spoiler for Relationships: I found it interesting that this really wasn't a harem series.  The only two actual romantic pairings they put forward were Shinku X Millefoire and Shinku X Eclair.  Even for such a large cast, that's all they ever actually put forward.  Which had a really nice effect of preventing the random "make sure to give Haremette Y an episode to appease the fans" problems.  So the pacing wasn't hurt by that needing to be there.

Oh, and I loved the fact even Roland was shipping Shinku X Eclair, haha.  It's not like everyone didn't notice Eclair liked Shinku.  Though, in also one of the "good writing touches", Shinku really only ever saw the Tsun-side of the Tsundere archetype, yet Eclair's friends saw a lot of the dere-side, leading them to attempt to help the relationship along.

One other interesting side bit.  A middle school aged boy would actually make a lot of sense for the type of movements they wanted him to do.  Yes, his jumping ability isn't really doable, but if you've seen boys in gymnastics around that age, they're actually capable of something fairly interesting.  They're actually at, generally, the peak of Strength over Bodyweight.  They're about to put on a lot of height and weight and to reach the same Strength to Bodyweight level, they have to massively increase the amount of strength they have.  (This is why male gymnasts you see compete are all college aged, as the male-focused equipment requires insane amounts of strength)  

Yet, at the same time, these boys don't have specific types of strength available to them yet.  You don't see many Iron Crosses at that age.  They're more like overly strong female gymnasts.  It's one of those things that you don't see often, and I'm pretty sure it wasn't intentional, but it's one of the few times in anime that the young-age-protagonist actually makes a ton of sense.   Plus, seeing Sasuke (Ninja Warrior) in an anime was fun.  That stuff is brutal and awesome.

6

Gravity doesn't work the same in that world as it does in ours, as evidenced by all the floating islands and the odd floating castle, not to mention Shinku's flying flame-sled. So I wasn't too concerned about how Shinku seemed able to jump 50 or more feet in the air -- especially after he started using magic. And likewise, considering his strength, balance and coordination, I wasn't really offended by his ability to jump like that without crashing.

Besides, it's a fantasy. You have to cut some slack for the Rule of Cool.

The director of the first series knows how to do shows that don't get sidetracked by harem aspects, even if there is romance going on. He directed Nanoha A's and Nanoha StrikerS, and Dog Days is quite evidently related, in terms of story telling skill and series construction.

One of the reasons why there isn't any serious harem complication is that everyone can see that Millefiore has a huge crush on Shinku. And, well, she has priority. No one else is going to try to steal him from her as long as she wants him. I think that may have been part of Eclair's circumstances. She is intensely loyal to Millefiore, and would never, never do anything that would inconvenience the princess of the realm. Eclair's sense of duty is the foundation of her entire life. It's her reason for living, the pattern of her existence, the entirety of her self-esteem. Trying to steal the princess's boyfriend isn't acceptable.

I think that absent any other circumstances Rico might have made a play for him. But as it was, because Millefiore is Rico's best friend and princess of the realm, Rico kept him in the friends zone. But a good friend, a close friend, for such a short time.

There were a couple of things that suggested that the city-state ruled by Millefiore is part of a larger empire. Millefiore rules that particular principality, but there's a king or emperor or something elsewhere to whom she owes fealty. (Some of that I get from that wonderful letter at the end, which seems to have been sent to Biscotti from the capital.)

1 About Chiaki: I think that one of the side stories in this series is about how Chiaki has changed. Her father clearly understands that Chiaki needs something before she can take over as captain of Barbarossa, and that Marika has what Chiaki needs.

Part of why he's willing to lend his only daughter to the Bentenmaru is that he thinks Chiaki may learn it from Marika. This job is an example: In plot terms it was necessary for someone to object to it, so that Marika could choose between alternatives, and Chiaki was it. But it was also in character for Chiaki. She's too by-the-book. She doesn't seem to be quite the risk-taker that Marika is. She isn't as dynamic.

And she sure as hell isn't as charismatic. Marika is a leader. She has the ability to inspire her subordinates, to gain their confidence, and convince them to let her take them into scary situations. I don't think Chiaki has that ability yet.

They did that last episode. The other girls got cold feet before the raid on the liner, and Chiaki exploded and started cussing them out. Marika interrupted her and gave an inspirational speech that rallied them all and left them smiling.

Chiaki does understand that there are times to object to the skipper's orders, and there are times to say ryoukai and do what you're told. She won't be insubordinate, and she'll carry out her duties well. She'll be an asset during this mission. But if she'd been in charge, they would have turned it down.

And once it's all over, Chiaki will know that she was wrong and Marika was right, and she'll grow as a result. I don't think Kenjo will be sorry.

Anyone notice that Chiaki doesn't object to -chan any more? She is definitely changing already. And some of the scenes of the two of them together in the captain's quarters have been fun, with Chiaki mothering Marika a bit.

2 On Chiaki:

Also notice that when Chiaki has concerns, she does it out of sight of the others.  The scene in the mess hall was before a final decision was made, so she was giving her opinion on the situation.  But after a decision was made, while she still voices her concern, she knows how to be a good crew member.

That's definitely what Kenjo is up to with sending Chiaki over.  Marika & Kenjo & Ririka are a lot alike, but Chiaki is a really damn good crew member.  She's got the mental chops for being a captain but not the swagger to pull off the Leadership aspects.  That can be trained up a lot until its natural, but it takes time.  Kenjo probably figures he's got a bunch of years left, but he's started fixing that problem in Chiaki before she gets too old.

On the anime:

We'll get to at least episode 19 before all of this story arc is cleared up.  That puts us with 7 episodes left.  Give 1 episode of Dark Mami "filler" (but you know you'll enjoy it), then we can have 6 episodes left for an anime-original story.  I do wonder if the original creator might have come up with something.  There's a massive amount of side-story potential, and they've mentioned that the Bentenmaru does plenty of other work, some of which Marika isn't needed.  They could switch her into one of those stories without changing the canon.

That also leaves and entire story arc that could fill a 24 episode run later, assuming this does well enough.

3 ANN stopped reporting Japanese BD sales, so I have no way to know how well this series is perceived as doing in Japan. I guess we can only hope.

4 I think Marika originally planned... ...on presenting Jenny's kidnapping/rescue to her insurance company as a fait accompli. She was momentarily caught off-guard when Show called to tell her of Hugh and Doolittle's (H&D) demand, but she recovered quickly.

By calmly announcing that she had not yet agreed on the fee with Jenny, and asking Show to witness the negotiations, she put pressure on Jenny to "sweeten the pot". Savvy business woman that she is, Jenny recognized it as a good tactic and made an offer that even the princesses were impressed with. The ploy also demonstrated to Show that, even though friendship was clearly involved her initial decision to help Jenny, there were also sound long-term business reasons for her actions.

I'm now starting to suspect that Jenny's uncle at H&D may have been behind both the initial infestation of the Bentenmaru and the subsequent delays in the medical clearance of the crew. Jenny's friendship with Marika is no secret, and putting the professional crew out of action would eliminate any threat her getting outside help to escape. Now that he knows that that the Bentenmaru is crewed by "amateurs", both he and the H&D fleet will be overconfident, and leave themselves open...

5 On how this storyline likely resolves:

I don't have any knowledge from the books, but it seems obvious the way to resolve this is through outside pressure.  Mostly, firing on the Bentenmaru with Jenny + the entire Yacht Club on board, unprovoked, isn't going to sit well with several people.  Like the government of the Sea of the Morningstar and a lot of Hue & Dolittle's clients.  The joy of outside forcing.

Though Marika pulling that card would land her own butt in a huge set of problems with her high school.  Though, technically, it would be Lynn that probably gets expelled for it.  The boss takes the blame, in that type of situation.

Still, Marika could have something else up her sleeve.  Next week should be fun!

Animesuki's thread has the first volume, first week sales at 4.6k.  Which is super, but it could be a lot worse.  Hard to say if they'll get a second series, though.

6

Marika's deepest trump card is Gruier and Grunhilde being on board. If it looks like Uncle is going to blow Bentenmaru out of the sky, then Marika can reveal their presence. I don't think that Uncle would want responsibility for killing them.

But Marika would rather not do that, because there would be hell to pay afterwards. She really doesn't want it known that she took two of the three legal heirs to the throne of Serenity into combat.

She seems to have made Bentenmaru a target. She wanted Uncle to fire on the ship. I wonder what she's thinking?

Marika is developing into the kind of strategic genius that Yurika was in Nadesico. With Yurika, if she was happy, then if she was doing things that seemed inexplicable it wasn't that she was crazy. It was that you were two steps behind her. And I suspect that's what's going on this time, with Marika. She's got some really clever plan in mind. It's risky, but she takes calculated risks.

One thing I'm looking forward to next time is Chiaki wearing a miko costume and carrying a blaster.

7

One thing Marika has up her sleeve is Lynn's hacking ability combined with Jenny's passwords and H&D security clearance. Between the two of them, they're going to mount a full-scale electronic attack on the H&D flagship, while Marika is doing things to distract Uncle.

Lynn's been straining at the leash to make a big EW attack anyway, and you have to believe her heart would be in this one. And we know she's really good at it. If she has Jenny's passwords to help her, I bet she'll be able to break through military-grade computer security.

8 On Next episode:

Jean Luc T. Marika would never expose the Princesses.  It's not a trump card, it's a "well, we're f'd anyway" card.  It's not that she wouldn't have thought about it, but she'd have quickly eliminated its usefulness.  But having the Princesses not exposed is actually better as they could pressure on Serenity to shift contracts.  External forcing, after all.

I had to go look at the preview again.  I can't believe I missed both Chiaki as a Miko or Jenny having torn up the skirt of the wedding dress.  But the important bit was the broadcast quality video camera that one of the girls was holding.  Marika is going the full Punk'D style with this operation. 

And, seriously, Shrine Maid with Blaster.  That's going to make for some great gifs next episode.

9 They're filming it?  Wow, I had not thought of that.

Losing a single pirate raid is something he could sweep under the carpet and recover from.  Losing to a group of cosplaying school girls on film is not recoverable.  They can either publish the film or use it for blackmail, but either way he's done for.

10

I didn't notice a camera. That is indeed interesting. That would certainly explain a lot. If that's the plan, it's brilliant. Film of him threatening a group of cosplaying high school girls would ruin him. You'd be able to hear the horselaughs all the way to the Pleiades.

Meanwhile, the refrigerator asks How did Jenny get the Silent Whisper out of the liner? Yeah, she's in the cockpit. But the docking bay is closed and pressurized. How did she get outside?

11 The refrigerator answers:  She has H&D company security codes.  Though this may tip H&D off on the need to change their codes, there's not much time to do so. Also, Lynn has shown that she doesn't really need to the codes of an enemy system in order to break in.

12 Siergen, I don't buy that. With a squad of armed men shooting at her, or trying to break into the cockpit of the Silent Whisper, Jenny doesn't have time to hack the ship's controls even if she has passwords that will get her in.

And Lynn wasn't involved. Remember that she was surprised to see the Silent Whisper show up.

13 I was thinking more along the lines of Jenny activating the shuttle bay doors from inside the Silent Whisper cockpit using her security code.  My subcompact has a garage door opener remote control, and I would imagine a state-of-the-art corporate spaceship would have one as well.

My comment about Lynn was in reference to next weeks episode, when Lynn is manning the electronic warfare station instead of joining the boarding party.

14 It looks like Marika's battle plan is to troll the Bentenmaru in front of Uncle to be sure he chases and then break contact (as we just saw.)  Next she'll return, ambush the fleet and knock out the escorts, then escape again.  This time, she'll pretend to have battle damage -- just enough to not be able to do an FTL jump or outrun the ship Uncle is in.  Once she's suckered him out of reach of the damaged escorts, she'll turn and board.  That's when the cameras will come into play.

Miko with a blaster... now that's different.

15

Ubu, you might be right. But that seems a bit on the risky side, especially if your gunnery officer is a rank amateur. On the other hand, I don't have any other ideas. I guess we'll find out next week.]

Is it next Saturday yet?

16 I think Ubu's on to something.  The gunnery officer may be an amateur, but their EW officer is not.  If Marika can FTL into range in an unexpected spot, Lynn may be able to take the escorts' engines offline before they can get a lock on them and open fire.  Then they can lead Uncle's ship on a merry chase.

17 A couple of random comments:  I'm surprised the company thugs would actually shoot at Jenny.  I wonder if they were tranq rounds of some sort?  Also, I really liked how Misa stood up for Marika with the rest of the crew -- "She's the Captain."  End of discussion.  Last, there goes that weird Galactic Empire thing again.  The Empire has no compunctions about selling their new state-of-the-art ships to "wealthy corporations" and "stellar navies."  I wonder if there really is any undelying logic behind the GEs actions.  It's kind of hard to see how the story would unfold any differently if they really weren't there.  Oh -- and what will Marika name the Silent Whisper?  Perhaps The Ririka?

18 I'm really hoping we'll get an explanation on: all the rules, regulations, and exceptions from treaties allowing pirate ships to operate, and yet a medium size corporation has it's own combat fleet and no compunctions about shooting at a ship that hasn't done anything even remotely actionable.  They're committing ACTUAL piracy by shooting at the Bentenmaru, and I hope there's a least a passing mention of that fact.

19 Empire rule seems amazingly benign, doesn't it?

But we've speculated that the warships they allow everyone to buy and own are deliberately downgraded in terms of capability. We've been told explicitly (ep 7) that their computer systems are inferior, for example.

That seems to be one of the advantages the pirates have. In part because of the way they were grandfathered, and the way they slip through the cracks of the regulations, the Bentenmaru has better computers and apparently much better cannons than an equivalent sized treaty ship (i.e. warships permitted under the Empire treaty).

I've also been thinking that armor on these ships is pretty effective. Ordinarily I don't think of space warships as relying on armor for protection, simply because it's heavy and expensive, but with the kind of technology they have, perhaps it's an effective and worthwhile defense against low power beams.

In that way, too, the treaty ships seem inferior. Their weapons poked holes in the armor of the first Corback we saw in ep 8, but I think that the Bentenmaru's armor is better, and might well offer pretty good protection against the deliberately-crippled guns on treaty ships.

That's why Marika isn't hugely terrified about coming under fire from the H&D fleet. Not that it's any picnic, but it isn't one-hit-and-you're-dead territory either. And the treaty ships also have relatively inferior aiming systems. So they can pour out a lot of beams, but most (or all!) of them miss, and any which do hit don't actually do a lot. Bentenmaru's return gunnery, if it comes to that, can cripple relatively easily, as we saw in ep 10. (I don't think Marika intends to try to kill anyone in this.)

20 David: if there are no witnesses, then it never happened.

Uncle is rolling the dice.

21 On Jenny's escapades:

Isn't the ship armed?  Or what happens if you open a FTL jump inside of a ship?  She could probably force her way out in a few ways.  But having the Passcodes is probably the most likely scenario.

On the Ships:

The take on space is a weird combination of past Naval activities.  The "Pirates" are actually some weird combination of 1600s Privateers and current day Private Military Contractors. 

The Galactic Union's forcing ability is something akin to the US Navy in 1992 where its power is well over double what everyone else had, combined.

And the ships, which are GU designs, seem to operate like the current US Military export market.  Yet the entire galaxy is under something like the Washington Naval Treaty from the Post WW1 era ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Naval_Treaty ).

It makes for an interesting universe.  Plus, the GU's force projection isn't quite like the US Navy's in the Blue Water regions.  The reach is long, but it's more against major powers.  The locals police their own areas, so if you're in the "area between areas", then you need your own weapons.

Plus, Jenny & Gruier met at the opening of a "trade route" or "trade tunnel" (can't remember the exact term) run by Hugh & Dolittle.  This is very likely an area of space they keep protected, acting something like a private military merged with a Toll Highway.   The Tolls being less than the Insurance + Weapons cost of running an armed crew.  Which is oddly what the modern Navies are attempting to do off the coast of Somalia at the moment.

On Episode 18:

One of the keys in 17, at the end, is that video of the attack on the Bentenmaru was being sent to the crew in the hospital ship.  That's probably our hint as to what Marika is up to. 

How do you take out a managing Director of a major company?  You mount a coup among the board members.  How do you do that?  Get enough dirt to force a resignation.  Which is exactly why Marika is going to Punk'D the hell out of Uncle.  She has a contract, likely now on the books, to escort and protect Jenny.  She'll have Jenny on video swearing to this, along with the assassination attempt; unprovoked attack on a registered, ID-displayed vessel; plus whatever else dirt Jenny or Lynn might have available.  Yeah, Uncle is screwed.

Oh, and that boarding party in the preview.  Marika doesn't bring Chiaki out, with a weapon, without a good reason.  Marika isn't paying a house call.  She's going to force a step down or she's going to end Uncle.  She has plenty enough cover to invade and capture the capital ship.  If Uncle happens to die in the raid, that's a sad tragedy.  Which is exactly why Chiaki is there.  Both her and Marika can drop a hammer if the situation calls for it.  They won't, but it's going to be on the table for the first time.

On Armor:

I think, if we take the time Schnitzer met the Chamberlain with 4 glowing orbs, this universe is actually built more around armor than offensive weapons.  Which might explain why the weapons that Ririka was showing Marika were so stupidly powerful for ship-boarding.  It might take that much power to blast through bulkheads and personal combat armor.  We'll see more later, I hope.

22 I don't think Marika lured the Corporate fleet there. She specifically said they were going to make a run for Space Takarazuka University to get Jenny into the safe zone around it while they formulated a plan...at this point she may have a plan ( and I think the camera idea mooted above is very likely) but the fleet has arrived prematurely. She's winging it and trying to make the best use of her novice crew.

Oh! Took me a minute to figure out what David did wrong..spoiler needs to be singular.

23 That's probably the logic, but given that they tried to apply pressure through the insurance company, they know that there is contact between the two. Of course, open hostilities started back on the ship when goons showed up and started shooting at Jenny, so presumably uncle is just going for "I won" territory, damn the mess and casualties along the way.

24 Well, technically, Jenny fired first.  I would have too, but I have to say that her accessories to the wedding dress were a bit... unique, and the craft was ready to go -- which means she had a plan to start with. 

I note the goons shot like stormtroopers... unless they were stupid enough to accost her armed with only lethal weapons (figuring on intimidation power), in which case their options became a lot more limited when she fired on them.  Along the lines of, "Crap, we can't even afford to wing her!  Ok, everybody shoot close to her and we'll scare her into surrender!" 

Seriously, this girl stayed cool commanding an unarmed ship in battle, and they thought they were going to walk in and breathe heavy at her?  Baka.

25 I think it's pretty clear that Jenny was prepared to scoot. And it would seem evident that she couldn't have prepared all of that alone, so there must be people on that ship, and people in H&D, who strongly support her, and not just her maid(s).

In fact, simply having the Silent Whisper on that liner is pretty surprising, don't you think?

26 Finale possibility: the yacht club isn't going to get away with a fake Kane again, which means they need someone with a large-ship piloting license. And what form was Ririka seen filing recently? Anyone up for some mother/daughter competition?

-j

27 Re: Silent Whisper-- I figured it was Uncle's new toy, which only made Jenny's escape that much more "in your face." 

Humorous (very not serious) outcome:  what if the result of Uncle's fall is that Jenny takes over Hugh and Dolittle, and the Uncle's son is the one in a political marriage... say to a Princess of Serenity?

28 Re: Chiaki: Her protestation that pirates are ONLY allowed to stage piracy theater on luxury liners, really calls into question the whole point.  I know we discussed it before, so either Chiaki is misinformed about the whole spectrum of pirate activities covered by a Letter of Marque, or she lacks imagination.  I mean, otherwise we only have the insurance companies literally robbing their customers.

29 Mauser, regarding Chiaki: I think the critical statement was that they couldn't do anything really illegal.  That leaves a whole lot of room for doing things that more accountable organizations would not want to be caught directly involved in.  We've already seen one example of that when they went out to meet the ship bringing Gruier the info on the Golden Ghost ship.

30 Silent whisper: Jenny is transfering the title to Marika as partial payment. Which must mean that she owns it, not Uncle. If it was his, she wouldn't have the title.

31 On Chiaki's statements:

I imagine there's a little subtlety in the translation, as well.  The "Pirates" are a PMC.  They're a legalized military force, but they still have rules to operate within.  Otherwise they'd get hunted down, as well.  They exist in the "black" world of political and military operations, yet they don't follow the orders of anyone specifically, just who's paying them and within the rules that won't get them dead or in prison.

Which is Chiaki's point.  Marika's is that, so long as they don't get caught and don't do anything openly criminal, they're fine. Firing your weapons off is only a reprimand, really.  So long as there's no evidence of what you hit, haha.

32 We've got over thirty comments discussing the military strategy and legal tactics of a group of school girls who are moonlighting as space pirates.  I have no idea why some people say that anime fans are "wierd"...

33 Well, ever seen a forum discussion on Vampires Twinkling among Twilight fans?  If you think we're weird... haha

34 As long as we're having fun, who cares?

35 And as long as the catgirls keep breeding faster than logic can snuff them out....

36 We're improving the breed. Only the cleverest, fastest catgirls will survive, and in a few generations mere logic will no longer be enough to kill them.

-j

37

Cleverest?  Fastest?

We're totally selecting for the wrong traits, here...

38  

39 Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. They mature quickly, have very long lifespans, can survive any assault on plausibility, and yet remain remarkably gullible about Earth culture. (and will be available on Blu-ray in the US in 15 days,)

-j

40 RACS says they've got it in stock as of today. Looks like I need to put in another guilt buy.

41

So I just ordered that, plus the Sacred Blacksmith BD, plus the Infinite Stratos BDs.

Not that I really need any of them; they're guilt buys and encouragement purchases.

42 I'm a bit stuck with U.S. media releases. I suppose I could pick Infinite Stratos, thanks for the reminder. I do not feel strongly about it though. My last two buys were Oh Edo Rocket and Wings of Honneamise, which I felt were a must-buy. Anything else I saw reasonably recently is not available.

43

RACS says they've got it in stock as of today. Looks like I need to put in another guilt buy.

For a second I thought that you meant that Mouretsu Pirates was in stock.  Now I have to put my credit card back in my wallet (after it cools down) and wait for Saturday...patiently...waiting...

44

13 BDs for Mouretsu pirates, released once per month in Japan, about, and the second one was released a few days ago. It'll be next year before they're all out.

Sentai has licensed it for North America. I wonder when they'll be permitted to do their release?

Anyway, folks, RACS has "Cat Planet Cuties" (aka Asobi ni Iku Yo) in stock as of today.

45 And I'm going to close this now.