Well, they crossed me up again. Most of my guesses about the situation were wrong.

The pirate hunter is named Grand Cross. Courier can't find any mention of it in any computer search. The second ship that showed up had a transponder that identified it as the Parabellum. Computer searches confirmed that.

Parabellum is a pirate ship licensed by the Galactic Empire. As to the Grand Cross? The working theory is that it's a prototype battleship, developed as part of a secret program in the Galactic Empire. They decided they needed field tests against armed ships, so it's seeking out pirate ships in this part of the galaxy and engaging them in battle.

Pirates would be a good choice for that. They're well armed and used to fighting. But when they're attacked and destroyed, it won't cause a diplomatic crisis.

The Parabellum, being a pirate ship itself, seems to object to this. It showed up to fight the Grand Cross. No idea who its skipper is (we may still be right about him) but the figure we saw on the outside of the ship was a hologram. He identifies himself as "Ironbeard".

Anyway, Grand Cross shut its power off again for a while, then powered back up and beat a hasty retreat. (About that: I bet it doesn't have a big enough power supply for both its magic drive and its weapons. Obviously that would be fixed in a production version. But the fact that it can't move and shoot at the same time, and that it takes many seconds to switch from one mode to the other, is an interesting weakness.)

The Big Catch is a total loss. But Bentenmaru was able to save her crew, including the captain, and Misa finally gets some work as ship's doctor. There were a lot of wounded, though fortunately no deaths. Bentenmaru's marines worked hard helping to take care of the wounded.

Stone, the captain of the Big Catch, was moderately wounded. As a nice touch, Marika put him in her quarters. (Seems Misa has her own nickname, "Bloody Misa". She has terrible bed-side manner, and that may be part of where it came from.)

Chiaki has returned to Hakuoh Academy. She's been sent as official representative of Kenjo Kurihara. Kenjo wants the sensor records of the attack, which Marika gladly gives them. Kenjo also wants to call a pirate council, inviting all the region's pirates to attend. For that they need the Legendary Chef.

Marika calls in Gruier, who hears all about what's going on. Needless to say, she's sympathetic and more than willing to offer such help as she can. She consults with Serenity Military Intelligence and gets what they've got. That's where the theory about the Grand Cross comes from. (I suspect Marika also gave her the sensor records from the battle, which she forwarded home. I also wouldn't be surprised if she sent the sensor records to the Stellar Navy.)

Anyway, Marika thinks that Oyaji, the cook at the spaceport, is the legendary chef. So they go to visit. He isn't; he's the son of the legendary chef. But he can send out the message that causes all the pirates to collect, and at Marika's request he does so.

So Bentenmaru heads to the place where it's going to happen. Chiaki is on board, wearing her service coveralls from Barbarossa. (Which we see in the ED, and it's nice to see in the regular series.) But the Grand Cross shows up. And then we get a wham line: "If you want a fight, you've got one." That's Marika; she intends to fight.

Which rocked me back a bit.

But it's clear she's thought this through. First, it's not clear that Bentenmaru can flee, so maybe there's no choice. Second, Marika saw the Grand Cross fighting, and has had time to think about it. And there's that potential weakness. When Grand Cross changes modes, maybe it's vulnerable. I think Marika has an idea about how to fight it.

Of course, she doesn't have to win, though that would be nice. She just has to survive. Which may not be any help. We'll find out next episode.

There's a short old man with a tall hat who stands next to Oyaji, in front of Show, in the cast shot at the end of the OP. I suspect that's the Legendary Chef. I think he's still alive, and will be at the council.

According to the preview, there's a woman with long blonde hair we're going to meet. Is she the pilot of the Grand Cross? The hair is different length, so it isn't obvious. Another possibility is that she's the older sister of Gruier and Grunhilde, and current Queen of Serenity. Or maybe something else. (Maybe she's part of the crew of the Parabellum.)

More important, Kenjo is in the next episode, and I'm looking forward to him. He's awesome. And the council will be amazing. It will be cool to see Marika amongst all these middle-aged macho men, how she handles it and how they treat her.

Kane seems to know something. Presumably it has to do with the identity of the caped man. I still think it's Gonzaemon. I still think he was the captain of the Parabellum. Aside from that, I don't have a clue where this is going. Sato is doing a nice job of faking me out, and hooray for that.

One more thing: this episode gave us our first genyouwine cheesecake shot. I'll post it later after I download a sub. It's Ririka, and she sure as hell qualifies as a "hot mom". Wowie!

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in General Anime at 09:55 AM | Comments (12) | Add Comment
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