February 09, 2012

Mouretsu Pirates -- some thoughts

They are, I suppose, spoilers so this is below the fold.

 


First, I only just realized that Marika was flying a simulator at the beginning of the first episode. She wasn't really in a ship making a landing. There's a bank of simulators at the school, and she was in one of them. It's not clear if she's ever made such a landing for real, but from later dialogue we know that she's only been to the relay station a couple of times before the events of eps 3-5.

Second, Chiaki. I think this is going to be as much her story as Marika's story. And she's got her own mountain to climb. Like Marika, Chiaki is part of a dynasty of pirate captains, and is fated to replace her father, eventually, as captain of the Barbarossa.

But she isn't ready yet. Being a leader of a combat unit requires many things. She needs to understand ship's systems, and she probably does. She needs guts, and it's clear she's got that. But she also needs to be able to inspire those who serve under her. A good combat leader has charisma.

Marika's got that. You can see it in ep 4 when she talks to the rest of the crew of the Odette II, especially in the scene where she says that they should fight the attackers themselves. And the other girls are all excited and motivated by her.

Chiaki doesn't have that. She's cold, almost repellant. And without it, she'll never be a very successful captain.

Which brings us to the point: I suspect she's going to serve on the Bentenmaru, along with Marika. Why? To get her out from under the shadow of her father. On the Barbarossa, she's the princess. On the Bentenmaru she's just another crew member. They seem to be a nice bunch of people, but they won't be in awe of her. She'll have to win their respect and their friendship. It's going to be a tough slog for her.

Marika and Chiaki between them make one good captain. Each has what the other needs. And I think a lot of the show is going to be about how they each help the other to grow into their respective careers.

Ep 6, coming soon to a Crunchroll near you, is based on the 3-page epilogue of the first of the books, but I think Sato is right to expand it to a full episode. Marika (and us) will be introduced to the Bentenmaru as a ship, and more importantly, to its crew. We've got a lot of new characters to get to know, and from the look of it several of them are major-league eccentric. We're also going to make our first FTL jump, and we may even take a prize. Ep 6 is more series foundation, and I expect more complaints about it being dull. (I don't expect I'll find it to be, myself.)

And we're also going to see Chiaki's first appearance as part of the Bentenmaru crew, and see her difficulties dealing with the rest of the crew.

The only thing Chiaki has smiled for in this series so far is a chocolate parfait. That's got to change, and I think it's going to be one of the major story lines in the series.

But the first thing we're going to see in ep 6 is the official renewal of the Letter of Marque.

UPDATE: Because the captaincy is dynastic, the crew of the Barbarossa doesn't have any say in whether Chiaki will become captain of the ship. But, they're all volunteers. Nothing forces them to serve on that ship, and if Chiaki became captain, the way she is now, I bet half the crew would quit.

And I suspect her father knows it, and that's why he's made arrangements for her to serve on the Bentenmaru.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in General Anime at 02:38 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
Post contains 651 words, total size 4 kb.

1 I think there's at most two scenes worth of material in the epilogue (including Marika coming up to the bridge wearing nothing but a bedsheet), but they might use the rest of the first half of the episode to introduce the ship and the rest of the crew.



Oh, and in her pirate days, mom was apparently "Blaster Ririka", which doesn't surprise me at all.

-j

Posted by: J Greely at February 09, 2012 03:33 PM (fpXGN)

2 You mean

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at February 09, 2012 04:30 PM (+rSRq)

3 Yup.

-j

Posted by: J Greely at February 09, 2012 05:26 PM (fpXGN)

4 Where are you getting that it's based on an epilogue?
A LOT happens, and it's not the sort of thing you'd wanna toss into an epilogue.

I also have a question for Steven in anticipation of Saturday's episode, just for fun.  It said in the preview that Marika goes on her first pirating raid.  Who do you think her target's going to be, and how do you think it's going to work out?


Posted by: tellu541 at February 09, 2012 07:44 PM (pJ1uW)

5

J posted a lot of info about the books (spoiler).

Ep 5 was the last chapter of the first book. The preview of ep 6 shows Marika being trained on the Bentenmaru, and the epilogue is titled "Pirate Course". So I'm making a wild-assed guess.

As to who they'll go after, I don't have the slightest idea.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at February 09, 2012 08:40 PM (+rSRq)

6 Oh, and I'm also making a guess that Sato has rewritten and seriously fleshed out the next segment. I don't think he's slavishly following the books.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at February 09, 2012 08:42 PM (+rSRq)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

Enclose all spoilers in spoiler tags:
      [spoiler]your spoiler here[/spoiler]
Spoilers which are not properly tagged will be ruthlessly deleted on sight.
Also, I hate unsolicited suggestions and advice. (Even when you think you're being funny.)

At Chizumatic, we take pride in being incomplete, incorrect, inconsistent, and unfair. We do all of them deliberately.

How to put links in your comment

Comments are disabled. Post is locked.
11kb generated in CPU 0.0062, elapsed 0.0145 seconds.
21 queries taking 0.0099 seconds, 23 records returned.
Powered by Minx 1.1.6c-pink.