A filler episode, basically. A glue episode to establish the new continuity.

We had to get the regular crew back on the Bentenmaru, and the audience (me) demanded that the old crew and the new crew meet each other, and the new crew fly the ship while the old crew watched. Which we got. (UPDATE: Maybe "senior crew" and "junior crew" would be a better way to put it.)

Ai-chan standing on a box of space-oranges (宇宙みかん) in order to reach the controls is a really nice sight gag. However, she's also got the touch. Piloting seems to be in her blood, and she now has had enough experience with the Bentenmaru itself to be able to dock the Bentenmaru at the relay station, while Kane stood there and watched, smiling.

Lessee, what else? The Silent Whisper is now on Bentenmaru. Ai flew it there. Marika is learning how to cook. Gruier and Grunhilde want to go pirating again, and almost certainly that will happen. I suspect other members of the Yacht Club will, too.

All the girls begged Kane to come back and be their faculty advisor, and he said he'd consider it. (Which means he will do it.) I have a feeling that Marika is going to be using the Silent Whisper to commute. And this episode revealed that it's two-seat. For Kane part of the attraction of commuting might be that she lets him fly it.

Next episode? The Yacht Club wind-surfing at the beach in swimsuits. Good Lord, I thought this show wasn't going to have that kind of thing. (Even worse, I think we get Kane in a swimsuit.)

UPDATE: By the way, the yacht club is still operating freely and making visits to the transfer station, so apparently there wasn't any fallout at all, from parents, the school, or any governmental agency. A bit surprising. I thought sure the parents would have spiked, for one thing.

UPDATE: I just watched it again. There was actually a story in this episode, though it wasn't really obvious the first time. Grunhilde starts to get jealous about how Gruier was acting towards Marika.

After all, Gruier is the only family Grunhilde has, and they only just recently achieved rapprochement. And now it seemed as if Grunhilde was losing Gruier to Marika.

But that gets resolved at the end of the episode, and I don't think it'll be back.

Gruier does seem to have a major crush on Marika, though I'm not sure I believe there's any yuri aspect to it. Marika is very admirable, and in her own way she's what Gruier and Grunhilde are expected to grow up to be. Marika is the princess ruler of a very small principality, the Bentenmaru, but in microscopic it really is about the same kind of thing. Gruier is massively impressed by Marika, and likes being with her. Which is all to the good, except for the possible political ramifications if Gruier ever gets caught at it.

Seriously: Marika really is a good role model for both Gruier and Grunhilde. She's strong, and decisive, and brave without being foolhardy. She has the charisma she needs to inspire those who follow her. She isn't perfect, and she makes mistakes. But she always does her best, and her best is pretty damned good.

Misa as an ersatz mother-figure and Marika as a big-sister figure are going to be good influences on our princesses.

UPDATE: Predicted joke for the next episode: It will turn out that Kane can't swim.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in General Anime at 08:57 AM | Comments (14) | Add Comment
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