And we make a pirate raid. Yikes, it was almost a disaster!

Mami was indeed the source of all the costumes. But she didn't make they look like pirates. There was a bear. There was a bunny girl. There was a police woman. There was a cowgirl. There was a nun. Therre was a pit babe. There was a nurse. Mami is completely nuts.

And I was cringing through the first part of this, but it came out OK in the end. If anything, it was particularly successful, because of the novelty.

Little Ai, the one who wears the strange hat all the time, ended up piloting the ship for the approach and docking. And she pulled it off, though it wasn't as smooth as when Kane does it.

The girls were glorying in it. The ship's captain ended up being pleased, and let Marika know. And it looks like Show had warned them about it.

Gruier and Chiaki are doing a good job of supporting Marika, who herself is doing an amazing job. There isn't any doubt that she's got the mark of a great leader, but she still needs the help. It's taking a lot out of her; she's been sleeping like a rock.

The next ep teasers have always been great in this series, but this one may be among the very best. Next episode they're going to make another raid, only this time the target isn't expecting them, and will resist.

In about the second episode, Misa tossed off the fact that Jenny Dolittle's parents had selected a husband for her when she was very small. Well, next episode she's supposed to get married. And she doesn't want to. She is in contact with Lynn, and Lynn requests that the Bentenmaru make a raid to rescue Lynn from a fate-worse-than-death.

With Bentenmaru's regular crew this would be somewhat risky, because the ship Jenny is on is guarded by a squadron of corbacks and at least one battleship. With a crew full of schoolgirls? It's going to be quite the event.

Lynn's been aching for a real electronic battle, and next episode she's going to get it because she's going to have to take on those warships.

I figured that Jenny would eventually be a customer, but this was still a surprise. Still, I expect the yacht club to do pretty well. The raid on Princess Apricot was practice, and this time it's the real thing. For instance, I anticipate that Ai will do a hell of a lot better job piloting.

Seems like every time I finish watching an episode of this series, I always want to watch the next one immediately. Once this is complete, it's going to be the kind of show that no one will be able to stop watching once they begin. "Just one more episode!"

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in General Anime at 09:14 AM | Comments (19) | Add Comment
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1 The ending for this episode really surprised me (I was expecting something else as the "secret").  And like you, I want to see the next episode NOW! 

I just wonder who is going to pay them for the next "gig"...

Posted by: Siergen at April 21, 2012 10:51 AM (3/gGt)

2 That's an interesting question. Jenny is rich, of course. But she's also going against her family, and may not really have access to her wealth.

What I suspect is that this will lead to an in-family row, where they finally acknowledge that she really, really, really doesn't want to marry this guy. Then they make up, and she regains access to her wealth, and pays Marika handsomely.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at April 21, 2012 11:00 AM (+rSRq)

3 And now we see why the narrator was saying at the start, "Space has laws, but no rules."  This one is going to break quite a few of the first, and make up a lot of the second on the fly. (As if they weren't doing the same already.  There's probably a law somewhere against hazardous teen labor!)

But what surprised me was the reference in the preview to "armed corporate fleets."  Those Galactic Empire types are pretty laid back, aren't they?

Oh, and "good job" to Lynn, for reading the mood when they first entered the Princess Apricot, and for looking out for the crew during the raid.

Posted by: ubu at April 21, 2012 11:06 AM (GfCSm)

4  Galactic Empire rule does seem to be rather benign. At one point we were speculating  about a possible revolution, but at this point it hardly seems to be necessary. Everyone's free and prosperous; what's to revolt against?

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at April 21, 2012 12:53 PM (+rSRq)

5 I have a big guess about Jenny: Her company is "Hugh and Dolittle". I bet her fiance is Hugh. Way back when, one family had a son and the other family had a daughter, and they decided that it made the most sense for the corporation for them to marry.

I also bet that her fiance is just as unthrilled about it as she is, and will be happy to call it off. That's simply because it's that kind of show. No ending leaves anyone hurt and crying. The four parents will be disappointed, but not hurt or crying.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at April 21, 2012 02:30 PM (+rSRq)

6 About next week's show (is it Saturday yet?): If Marika was going in with her regular crew, busting into a wedding guarded by warships would almost be routine.  With the yacht club, this is going to be tricky.  Only Marka and Chiaki are close to fully trained for this sort of thing.  Lynn seems to have talent, but she's not a professional, and it's not known how much (if any) military training the princesses have.

I suspect that some of the girls will slip in "undercover", or possibly as guests since they were fellow students of Jenny's.  Then, once they "kidnap" Jenny, they can use her as a human shield to lessen the military response as the Bentenmaru performs the extraction.

Posted by: Siergen at April 21, 2012 03:20 PM (3/gGt)

7

The one thing I'm curious about is  if Lynn is working with Jenny, or if an interested third party might be behind the planned "Dolittle Raid?"  Perhaps someone she's actually in love with?  I wonder because Jenny seemed the type who would accede to such an arrangement out of a sense of responsibility to the family/corporation, as much as she might not want to.  This might be a case of her friends trying to save her in spite of herself.  Which would add another level of complication to the fun.

Oh, and I noticed that there was only one stateroom that had four beds and five occupants.  Heh.

Posted by: Dave Young at April 21, 2012 03:28 PM (ZAk0Z)

8 Here's another odd thought:  Was there more Method to Mami's Madness than there would at first seem to be?  The passengers were focusing on the outrageous costumes much more than on the girls themselves.  Could that have been Mami's intent...to make the girls less likely to be recognized?  Just a thought.

Posted by: Dave Young at April 21, 2012 04:40 PM (ZAk0Z)

9 Dave, about Lynn: In the books, Lynn is lesbian and is in love with Jenny. Not known the extent to which Jenny returns the feelings.

Sato, the director, has said that he's removed all the romance aspects of the story, and in particular that seems to be this, so all they've really shown us is that Lynn and Jenny are close friends. But in terms of the original story being told, I think we can assume that this is Lynn's motivation, even if Sea Of The Morningstar doesn't have gay marriage.

I think it was Jenny that Lynn was surreptitiously communicating with. Not known whether this raid is exclusively Lynn's idea, or whether the two of them talked it over.

But I seriously doubt that there's anyone else involved.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at April 21, 2012 05:17 PM (+rSRq)

10

By the way, just wanted to mention that Show is pretty cool. He comes across as very weird, but he is genuinely concerned with Marika, and doing a lot to help her.

Of course, he has a strong interest in her. She's a big customer of his, as an insurance broker, and she's a big part of his other business, which I guess we could call entertainment booking. Losing Bentenmaru would seriously affect his bottom line.

Even so, he seems to be going the extra mile for her, and that's pretty awesome. Things like warning the captain of the Princess Apricot that Marika's regular crew were all ill, and that Marika's entire crew was trainees. That was pretty helpful, because it prepared the captain to cut Marika some slack for the weirdness of the raid.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at April 21, 2012 06:38 PM (+rSRq)

11 Giving a minor character like Show such depth is really a nice touch.  Regarding Lynn and Jenny, that makes perfect sense, motivationally.  And acknowledging romantic ties between supporting characters certainly wouldn't undercut Sato's main point.  I was actually hoping Misa and Kane were a married couple -- they initially seemed to give that vibe, and it's not the kind of comfortable but competent relationship you see very often in any media.

Posted by: Dave Young at April 21, 2012 07:02 PM (ZAk0Z)

12 Misa and Kane: Misa is a lot older than Kane is. Doesn't it seem to you that Misa is going rather overboard? Some women who are beautiful do that when the years start catching up with them. Misa is trying to hold on to it, even though her looks are starting to fade. She's compensating with sexy clothing, for example.

One demonstration of that is that Misa referred to herself as a bijin, which was rather immodest.

She's about the same age as Ririka, and Ririka has a grown daughter. And Ririka had a pretty long and successful career as a pirate before she got pregnant. I figure Misa and Ririka are both 40-45. Ririka is still pretty damned fine looking, but she isn't trying to be a sexpot the way Misa  is.

They never have said, but it's pretty clear that Kane is in his 20's. He wasn't part of the crew of Bentenmaru when Ririka left, and there are other clues. If he was also 40, he wouldn't have been worried about the school girls getting crushes on him etc. And he wouldn't have been as successful flirting with those two young women just before his sword fight.

Misa isn't quite old enough to be his mother, but she's well outside his radar range. And we have seen nothing whatever on the Bentenmaru to indicate that they are anything besides co-workers.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at April 21, 2012 07:19 PM (+rSRq)

13 I hope that they don't completely drop the romance between Jenny and Lynn.  It makes sense for both their characters and the plot to leave it in, even if it's not explicit.  Also, I it would be a nice gesture acknowledging the importance of lesbian relationships in the early Soviet space program...

Posted by: Siergen at April 21, 2012 07:51 PM (3/gGt)

14 I do like:
When details mentioned in passing 10+ episodes ago are actually important.  It's just subtle foreshadowing, but, still, it's nice to see it done.

Dark Mami:
Is one of the best side characters ever.  She's also completely unique in the series.  She loves that Marika is a pirate, but she's the only character with 0 interest in the space aspects of it.  She likes her school, her job and designing clothes.  Marika's pirate gig is just fun and a way for her to put her work out there. 

Also, if they ever mention her family background, 2:1 odds her family is involved in a lot of less than legal activity.  She's just too manipulative, haha.

On the episode:

I had to pause a few times to laugh about the costumes and the singing.  It was a bit much, but it came out okay.  I did love Ai getting hit on and Jenny coming to the rescue.  Remember, dressed like a prince.  Haha.

Though I really wasn't expecting the cosplay.  I was expecting them to be dressed up as chibi-pirates or something.  That was a tad bit of a shock.

Oh, and Marika can sleep hard.  I imagine there'll eventually be a big joke with Gruier or Chiaki painting something on her face.  Though Gruier, I guess, did get a cuddle session with Marika? haha

On Lynn & Jenny:
I really wasn't expecting this.  I'd seen the Wikipedia entry and Lynn's setup was pretty obvious from the beginning, anyway.  I just assumed that Lynn would go work for Jenny (I was thinking they were in the same class), then they'd both come back as running contract work through Marika.   This was not my expectation.

Yeah, that's most definitely Jenny she was talking to.  Though I wonder if both Jenny and her, soon to be former, fiance are in on ending the wedding.  It'll be interesting to see how it turns out.  It'll also be really interesting to see how Show takes this news.  Or Misa, haha.

They could get Grunhilde & Gruier into the wedding pretty easily.  But I foresee a security detail needing a heart transplant after they found out that detail.

We also have to assume that Jenny's last name as Doolittle was entirely to setup the reference to Doolittle's Raiders.  That's fun.

Posted by: sqa at April 21, 2012 09:17 PM (orsHm)

15 The word of God is "Dolittle". Not that it matters.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at April 21, 2012 09:36 PM (+rSRq)

16

In the books, Lynn is lesbian and is in love with Jenny.

Then I guess it was a tip of the hat to that to have her dressed like someone in a `Zuka cafe.
I really cringed at the outfits..I should have seen it coming but I didn't. The costume thing could have been awful, and defied any suspicion of disbelief but for the offhanded comments from the Captain, which was a nice touch.  

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at April 22, 2012 12:13 AM (EJaOX)

17 Technical term for the costume at the end with the umbrella is "race queen".

Posted by: muon at April 22, 2012 12:50 AM (JXm2R)

18 I have to admit borrowing this idea from a MAL commenter, but:

If they kept the costumes for the normal crew, which outfit would Schnitzer have to wear on the next Raid?

Oh, the random image possibilities!

Posted by: sqa at April 22, 2012 07:38 AM (orsHm)

19 He'd be the dinosaur. (I incorrectly identified it as a bear.)

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at April 22, 2012 07:52 AM (+rSRq)

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