If you thought waiting for this episode was hard, then waiting for the next one is going to be agony.
Sato didn't quite scrub all the romance out of the story. Lynn and Jenny went into a clench as soon as they were reunited, to the sound of squee from the other girls.
Apparently gay marriage is legal in this enlightened age. Marika asked Lynn if they were going to elope.
I had thought we were going to see Bentenmaru raid the ship Lynn was on. But it didn't go like that. Jenny stole a single-seat ship and flew it to the Bentenmaru, and it was winched on board. Seems to be something pretty hot, new, fast, awesome. And she's giving it and its title to Marika as part of payment for this job.
It's a rather ugly situation at Hugh and Dolittle, and Jenny's uncle is behind this all. Seems Jenny is in line of succession to control the corporation. Jenny's uncle wants his son to get it, so he tried to marry Jenny off to a politician. Jenny doesn't want that.
Jenny seems to have started her own company, which may end up in competition with Hugh and Dolittle eventually, so that's another reason. Uncle is a bastard, and Marika is going to push his nose in.
Uncle called Show at the insurance company and told him that if he didn't call off the Bentenmaru, Hugh and Dolittle would stop doing business with them. Show called Marika, and we got an interesting scene where she eventually convinced him to support Bentenmaru instead, with the obvious possibility that Jenny might do business with him out of gratitude. Jenny's company is already a rising star (because Jenny is a savvy business woman) and the fee she offered Bentenmaru (which Show gets a percentage of) was really immense, albeit a bit speculative.
So at the very end, the Hugh and Dolittle fleet (which rivals the Serenity fleet we saw before in size and firepower) found Bentenmaru -- apparently because Marika wanted them to. She's got something in mind. She talked about "taking him out". It's going to be interesting to see what she's thinking.
She looks confident. She's got a little smile on her face. That's probably bad news for Uncle. She's got a plan. And I suspect we're going to find out whether Schnitzer did a good job writing a manual for the weapon systems, because I think Bentenmaru may be doing some shooting.
I'm beginning to wonder about series layout. We've got at least two more episodes in this story, and probably more. I'm not sure I believe this can be stretched out to the end of the series, though. And there just won't be enough time left for the book 4-5-6 arc. Not even close.
This series needs a slam-bang ending. What does Sato have in mind? At this point it seems like it will be anime-original. But what will it be?
My guess? Ririka's new job. That's the last story arc. I bet Ririka rejoins the crew of Bentenmaru. And the last scene of the last episode? Captain Marika and Blaster Ririka making a raid together, and both of them firing their weapons, and saying "It's time for some piracy!"
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.
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.
Posted by: sqa at April 28, 2012 11:43 AM (9gBG3)
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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.
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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...
Posted by: Siergen at April 28, 2012 12:47 PM (3/gGt)
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.
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.
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.
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.
Posted by: sqa at April 28, 2012 02:16 PM (9gBG3)
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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.
Posted by: Siergen at April 28, 2012 03:02 PM (3/gGt)
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.
Posted by: Siergen at April 28, 2012 03:33 PM (3/gGt)
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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.
Posted by: Siergen at April 28, 2012 03:50 PM (3/gGt)
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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.
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.]
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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.
Posted by: Siergen at April 28, 2012 05:52 PM (3/gGt)
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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?
Posted by: Dave Young at April 28, 2012 06:16 PM (ZAk0Z)
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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.
Posted by: David at April 28, 2012 06:58 PM (Kn54v)
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.)
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.
Posted by: sqa at April 28, 2012 09:35 PM (9gBG3)
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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.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at April 29, 2012 12:42 AM (EJaOX)
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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.
Posted by: David at April 29, 2012 08:53 AM (Kn54v)
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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
Posted by: J Greely at April 29, 2012 11:58 AM (2XtN5)
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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.
Posted by: Mauser at April 29, 2012 12:52 PM (cZPoz)
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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.
Posted by: Dave Young at April 29, 2012 02:39 PM (ZAk0Z)
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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.
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.
Posted by: sqa at April 29, 2012 03:48 PM (9gBG3)
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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"...
Posted by: Siergen at April 29, 2012 04:36 PM (3/gGt)
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Well, ever seen a forum discussion on Vampires Twinkling among Twilight fans? If you think we're weird... haha
35
And as long as the catgirls keep breeding faster than logic can snuff them out....
Posted by: Mauser at April 29, 2012 09:42 PM (cZPoz)
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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
Posted by: J Greely at April 30, 2012 11:22 AM (fpXGN)
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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
Posted by: J Greely at April 30, 2012 03:37 PM (fpXGN)
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RACS says they've got it in stock as of today. Looks like I need to put in another guilt buy.
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.
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at April 30, 2012 05:38 PM (5OBKC)
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...
Posted by: Siergen at April 30, 2012 05:44 PM (3/gGt)
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.
Enclose all spoilers in spoiler tags: [spoiler]your spoiler here[/spoiler]
Spoilers which are not properly tagged will be ruthlessly deleted on sight.
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